ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 6/9/15

By Tom Evans

Yo.. We had some great climbing weather today, as it cooled off when the clouds came in late morning.  Most of the popular routes have little traffic, as the weather reports continue to negatively impact climbers thinking.  I left around 4pm today as there was little action on the cliff but we had a great group of climbers hanging at the Bridge today.  Check out the last 7 shots for pics of today’s Bridge Crew.

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

1)  Bad to the Bone:  Erik and Kate finished the route today and made it down to the Bridge in time to hang with the crew.  This shot shows Erik starting the last pitch from a cool looking belay bunker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2)  Zodiac:  The 4 person TER team climbed the Black Tower today, after an early start!  They have yet to hit their stride and are slow getting things done.  Here the leader is at the top of the Tower itself..not quite wanting to stand up yet!  An interesting side light is that all the members of this team are over 55 years of age... so we can cut them some slack!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3)  Zenyata Mondatta: The solo Korean climber showed up today and is climbing well.  Here he is looking good on the third pitch. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4)  Tangerine Trip:  Suddenly wildly popular, this route is getting a lot of traffic because it stays dry even in heavy rain.  The two man Colorado team bailed as the traffic was too much for their time schedule.  The Korean team couldn’t seem to get engaged and this shot is as high as the team got today…closely watched by the Black Cat, of course!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5)  North American Wall:  The Climbing Ranger team moved smartly along yesterday so that they could bivy at the Cyclopes Eye ledges.  Today they went to the top around 4pm.  This shot shows the most “elderly” member of the team, Bud Miller, taking on the awkward pitch to the start of the traverse pitch above the Eye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6)  Cameron King got the call for the difficult and scary pitch traversing the Cyclops Roof.  After a sketchy start he threw down some good free and aid climbing to completed the pitch, as Bud and Eric looked on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7)  Nose:  The only team on the Nose, Craig and Justin, continued on the route today, after climbing to ECT yesterday to bivy.  I arrived just in time to see Craig do the King Swing.  He hit it nicely early on but reached a bit too far for a hold and fell backwards off the corner.  Here he goes!  He came back and finished it without any problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8)  Later Justin climbed up past the Tan Band to the beginning of the Gray Bands Traverse.  They were at Camp 4 when it began to rain but the rain was short lived and not a problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9)  Rob’s Project:  Rob Miller and Elliot Faber are working on a direct start to the PreMuir route from the deck and are presently on the slab next to the Salathe start known as the Freeblast.  Here they are today, working on one of the pitches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10)  Freerider/Salathe:  A Korean team is working on the Salathe and we see them here on the Hollow Flake pitch. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TOM'S SHOTS OF THE DAY!!!

The next shots are of some of the crew of climbers here at the Bridge this afternoon. 

11)  Kate Robertson is in the black jacket, at the center of the shot, having just arrived down from Bad to the Bone.  Other’s from the left, Shayna, Jim, Andy, Kate, Ailish, Kyle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12)  Erik Eriksson, Kate’s partner, is a legend in big wall Yosemite climbing and big routes in the high mountains.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13)  Shayna Brown is the “it girl” of the season, with ascents of Zodiac and the women’s team climb of the NA Wall, last week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14)  Rob Miller, Mark Hudon, and Elliot Faber, talking it over at Elliot’s van, this afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15)  Jim Reynolds, who you remember from last year’s solo ascent of Cosmos, also SIAD'S and NIAD'S…seen here with today’s climbing partner, Alix.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16)  British Legend, Andy Kirkpatrick, speed talking at the Bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17)  Erik Eriksson and John Selove, discussing John’s solo of the Shortest Straw, where the two parties climbed across from each other for a time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other news:  Payton and Stanley Hassinger, brothers from NC, arrived today to haul kit to New Dawn.  Both are excellent climbers, with several ElCap routes under their belts.  I gave Payton the shirt off my back, because he was planning on wearing a POS dark shirt on the climb!  Watch for a nice yellow shirt on New Dawn!

Steve Schneider is here and working with Piton Pete to fix the lower part of the Real Nose… blasting day… TBA.  Steve was at the Bridge today but I didn’t get a shot with him in it.

Matt Lambert and partner Chris had the day off, after Matt dropped his phone off the route yesterday and retreated to Merced to get a new one.  They are fixed and will be back in the next day or so.

So that’s the way it is, for this Tuesday, the 9^th day of June, 2015.

Capt. Tom…staying dry at the Bridge…just for me!