ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 10/11/09
By Tom Evans
Yo… The weather, my God the Weather!  Still totally sweet.  Today was a slow one on the bridge and the wall.  Seems the teams have delayed starting until after the big storm, forecast to begin late tomorrow.  Some teams are taking these good days to fix and haul to the routes they are interested in.  Good plan!  The teams presently on the face are getting up high and heading off.  There are a couple of parties who will have to face the wrath of the weather in the coming days as there is no way they can get off in time.

Today’s Report is brought to you in the memory of David Waggoner, the inventor of the fabulous “Aliens”, who passed away today.  He contributed greatly to clean climbing here in the Valley and elsewhere.  While his production methods lead to much frustration in the climbing community, we could never get enough of this gear! 
Today’s ElCap Report… written just for you… unique in all the world!

Zodiac:  Karl and Kevin have slowed down a bit now and will probably spend the night on Peanut Ledge and get off tomorrow. 

The team below, according to our “real” climbing ranger, Jesse, is not make up of climbing rangers but a local SAR guy, Jacob and Montana Neil.  So that means all the fun slander I have done the past several reports is, in reality, not true… damn I hate it when I have to retract the good stuff!  I went back and corrected the mistakes.
Read the disclaimer…. Anyway, these guys are getting it done but have slowed and just might get caught high up by the storm.
Ninja team member and bags on Zodiac.  See why black sucks?!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jacob and Neil, hauling and cleaning to the top of the White Circle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trip:  The Koreans finished with the Bolt ladders in the afternoon and completed the climb at 7pm.  Congratulations men!
Lower down Regan, the Polish solo climber, is moving along at a steady pace but will not make it before the storm hits.  He is a tough bird and will be just fine.
Regan returning to the belay on the Trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lower down Althea, a woman who soloed Zodiac last year, is fixing on the Trip and will most likely wait the storm out before blasting on the route.

Nose:  The lower part of the route is empty.  The two yellow shirts, Humberto and Leo, climbed slowly through the Grey Bands this afternoon and had not gotten on the GR by the time I left at 3.  They could get caught in the storm high on the face if they don’t step on the gas soon. 
The Vanessa, Wes, Big Swiss, Turi, team were headed into Camp 5 and may push to C6 if they know about the approaching storm.
High above the team with the white haul bag and one yellow shirt topped out this afternoon.

The Muir:  Nicki climbed to the start of the last pitch late yesterday and turned around and came back to the belay!  Today he lead the Direct finish put up by the Polish solo climber, Jacek Czyz  who put up a route on the left wall of the dihedral that is really difficult and has not seen a second ascent.  It looked like a great way to finish the route… straight up over the summit cap.  Good on you Nicki!!  We need a detailed topo of the finish.
Nicki atop the direct finish on the Muir.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lower down the Muir team of Jack and Kevin bailed from Mammoth, citing the approaching storm as the reason.  Those first 10 pitches are not the quality of a big wall route and those who do them are usually very negative about the experience.

Salathe;  There were several parties on Salathe/Freerider and all are most likely getting off tomorrow.  There were a couple of local pukes taking kit up to the Alcove for most of the day.
Action on the Headwall this afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dihedral:  I didn’t get out west this afternoon so I don’t know if the team from yesterday fixed and came down for the storm or are staying up there.  I will check tomorrow for sure.

Feature of the Day:  (yesterday’s was The Flake on the Dihedral Wall)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other news:  The bridge was quiet today and will be more so in the future as the EC Shuttle has its last day tomorrow.  We are getting ready for the early season storm and are hoping for a spell of good weather afterward.  Some are saying the Season is going to be over… the leaves haven’t even turned!!  I’m staying on no matter what is going on with the Captain!!
Hell I may even have some vacation time!
So that’s the way it is for this the 11th day of October, 2009.
Later Tom