ElCap Report 5/27/10

ElCap Report 5/27/10

By Tom Evans

Yo… all the news from a rainy day here in the Valley. Mostly it was on and off showers that didn’t bother anyone climbing on the SE Face of the Captain. Tomorrow we have hopes of a long term change in the weather and lots of folks are poised to launch. The smart ones took my advice and went hauling loads and fixing pitches today. We are all pretty sick of the Spring conditions thus far. So here it is without the opening mush…

Today’s ElCap Report … written just for you… unique in all the world!

Zodiac: Mike Donaldson bivied at the start of the Black Tower pitch and was up it by early afternoon and was soon hauling kit to the ledge. I left before he started the next lead, if indeed he did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike Donaldson, “WORST DRESSED CLIMBER OF THE DAY”

Higher up, Meg Curry continues to climb. Yep, this woman has some hard bark on her. I watched her lead the famous, Nipple Pitch, today and she got the thing done in a reasonable time and seemed to have no trouble with it. She did hit the stick, but only a couple of times and at places others have used one. So I will cut her some slack on the stick of the day! She had hauled and set up the belay as I departed in a heavy rain squall. She is completely protected from any rain, so I figure she just might lead the MOZ before turning in for the night. I’m kind of proud of this woman myself, as she didn’t look like she had a chance when she started, and now is way up on the route looking like a big wall climber!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meg leading the Nipple pitch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meg finishing up on the Nipple pitch.

ZM: The old German team did not press on up the Lightning Bolt Roofs last evening, so I got to shoot that red shirt I wanted to shoot last week.  I think Markus lead it… does anyone out there know who is who in that team?… anyway it went well and they decided to stay at the present belay. So Marc went up and cleaned it and then came down and they retired to the comforts of their ledge for the rest of the time I was there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Markus leading the Lightning Bolt Roofs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First light on ZM.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Markus finishing the pitch.

Scenic shot of the Day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ElCap’s Nose in profile, taken from the Bridal Vail turn out.

In other news: Like I said above, several teams are hauling to the base and fixing pitches today in anticipation of getting a jump on the slacker pukes who are sitting around waiting for perfect weather. A solo is going on Tribal, a three man team on Mescalito, two teams are headed up the Trip, two more are going to Zodiac, untold numbers of pretenders lurk in the bushes at the base of the Nose, Pete is ready on Pace Maker, there is some action on Mirage and the Fear. So it looks like things will explode this weekend.

Stefan Brunner, his buddy Johnny and his girlfriend Gerda, marched off to fix on Zodiac this afternoon and I got a shot of them heading down the road.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that’s the way it is for this the 27th Day of May, 2010.

Signing off from the Bridge, this is Ansel Evans..Bye Bye!

 

 

Marcus has the purple

Marcus has the purple helmet...

Nice write up and love all

Nice write up and love all the pictures, but especially the one of the Austrians - Stefan, John and Gerte (sp?). Glad to see them heading up again!

Alison

Yee Haw!!

Yee Haw!!

Amazing shots, Tom. Love the lightning bolt roofs.

Nice, it is smart to use rain

Nice, it is smart to use rain days for fixing/staging. Tom stop giving away all the monkey's secrets! ;)
Lambone

Hi Tom Thanks for the Photo

Hi Tom

Thanks for the Photo from my Brother and his friends..
The three are happy and O.K.
Thank you!!!

IG
Tom

Hi Tom - you got it right.

Hi Tom - you got it right. Markus is the one with the red helmet and the other one is Marc, who insider call "el Torro".
Greetings from Switzerland - Andi

Tribal Rite is going to get

Tribal Rite is going to get quite some traffic this spring. First the guys from Mammoth, a solo going up right now, and me. I'll be on Tribal Rite proper sometime the middle of next week.

Mark Hudon

That Meg girl should post up

That Meg girl should post up a TR on the Taco after she gets down. She looks good up there.

Thanks for being there and bringing it to us. Those of us who watch from the net and get out there just on weakends! Always awesome pics!

Hey Tom, You got any more

Hey Tom, You got any more pics from back in the day?

This makes my penus hard.

This makes my penus hard.

The crowd wanted the scenic

The crowd wanted the scenic shot of

the day and so Tom brought it back. What an entertainer@

Ciao,

Doug

FAT CITY!!

FAT CITY!!