ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 6/14/09
By Tom Evans
Yo… Wow, what a beautiful late April day we had today!  Nice, puffy clouds and intermittent sunshine make it sweet… unfortunately, the wall was nearly empty.  Two solo’s were on the starting pitches of Zodiac and OK Tony and Clay, with his son, stopped by on their way to start the Nose.  Clay’s son, Grant is just 11 but seems to have been well trained by Clay.  He did look a little concerned when I said “Son you are going to die”, the traditional good luck send off for climbers heading to ElCap.  They walked off with the two adults trying to reassure the lad that all would be well!
Several climbers stopped by including Ian just down from the Albatross, Leo and Pete just down from the VA/Trip and BW Kate here to climb some choss pile called “Bad Seed” over in the water zone east of Zodiac, with Pete. 
Today’s Report is brought to you by an old Yosemite hand, Chris VanLuden, aka Spaz, just back for a run on Golden Gate with the Colorado Kid, Hayden Kennedy.  They have lines fixed and gear stashed and a few gallons of water left by Alex and Conrad a couple of days ago when they sent El Corazon in just 3 days.
Here it is … kind of sparse but still a report worth reading….
Today’s ECR….

Zodiac:  The Spanish team bivied at the belay on the pitch to Peanut ledge last night.  Today I saw them climb to that famous ledge and above toward the last pitches.  Off today!
Spanish climbing above Peanut Ledge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below there were two solo’s working on the start of this route.  Maybe a team soon?  Probably not!

Lost in America:  I saw the long overdue Korean team climb over the top around 3pm today.  They were moving right along after a long wait in the early sunshine to warm up I assume.  Tough guys, these Korean climbers.
Lower down the three man team of Justin, Brian, and Seth are moving along pretty well and seem to be enjoying the route.
Brian climbing off the bivy on LA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Climbing in the center part of the route later in the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nose:  I saw the 4 man Korean team topping out this afternoon early and the Swiss team and another one of two climbers were lined up behind… All of them are off by now.
Lower down I didn’t see anyone although our Jr. climbing ranger, Max and partner were off to fix the route to Sickle late in the morning… we will see who shows up in the Stovelegs tomorrow!

Blast from the Past:
Tom Evans and Erika Kutcher share a moment in the C4 lot a few weeks before her untimely death in 2005.  She was a great climber and loved by all.  Miss you Sweetie!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other news:  The teams from the past several days are down now.  Conrad and Alex sent El Corazon in just 3 days.  Pete and Leo sent VA/Trip in just 10 days!  Ian and Pierre sent the Albatross in 4 days and really liked the route, saying that it was better than the Shield!  They concurred with the SAR push team from last fall, who were schooled hard on the pitch off the Canoe, that the pitch was pretty hard!  Bob and Ryan, who I had been looking for on the Shield, had a change of heart and bailed over to LF, where they were promptly washed off, late in day, yesterday!  They were licking their wounds over a big breakfast in the Café this morning.  Ken Yager stopped by this morning after taking a couple of weeks to set up the Granite Frontiers show at the Autry Museum.  Scott Stowe was by to relax with the bridge crew.
ElCap in afternoon light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that’s the way it is for this the 14th day of June 2009.
Later Tom