ElCap Report 9/14/10

ElCap Report 9/14/10

By Tom Evans

Yo… Yes, yes the ElCap Report is back! I drove up, from my home in Crestline CA yesterday, arriving around 7:30 in the morning. It is always nice to drive into the Valley for the first after a long absence, as it awakens many memories and kindles anticipation. Yesterday I spent the day setting up camp, sorting through equipment, talking with old friends, and later shooting some test shots, down at the Bridge. The weather is warm but not hot and the action is building on the Cap. I spent today shooting at the Bridge and restarting the “Ask a Climber” program for the Fall season.

 

The action on ElCap was sparse but interesting. The Big Trades are dominating the scene at the moment.

Whatever you are doing right now is not important…. What is important is that you get comfortable, lose the distractions and pay attention, because I’m only going to write this once.

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

Zodiac: There were two parties high on the route. One climbed off early in the day and the other later toward evening. Both were teams of two and, since I am new in town, I have no idea who was in them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The so called “Slab Pitch” is the next to the last on Zodiac.

 

 

Lower down a large party of 6 is making its way up the route. This is an effort to help Steve Wampler, who has Cerebral Palsy, climb the route. Go to WamplerFoundation.org and Steve Wampler on Facebook for the details.

One of his purposes is to raise funds for his efforts to take disabled kids into the outdoors to have adventures they would otherwise miss. His is jugging lines fixed by his top notch crew composed of Tommy Thompson, Dave Lane, Todd Offenbacker, Chris McNamara, Corey Rich, and Dane Henry. Today was their third day on the route and things are going a bit slower than planned, due to the heat on that part of the wall. They climbed into the White Circle today and will bivy at the start of the Nipple pitch. There has been a lot of interest in this ascent and a video is being made of the climb.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve Wampler, on the cot in the right of the shot, and part of his bad ass team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cory Rich will shoot anything, in this case some of the freight!

 

 

Tangerine Trip: Three climbers from Denmark are on the lower part of this Charlie Porter route. They climbed from the start of the 2nd pitch today to the top of the 6th by the time I departed around 4pm. They are Sten Noerkjaer, Mads Granlien, Jakob Barfod.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jakob finds that it is always “fun” to be the third man up and have to jug the haul line with the bags!  That line gets to looking pretty thin above you when loaded with the kit and climber!

 

 

Mescalito: Matt Thomsen is soloing this route and I picked him up today climbing the famous, or perhaps infamous, Bismarck pitch this morning. He cruised along on it and was a couple higher when I left this afternoon. Two more days for Matt I think… well, maybe three.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matt getting to the business on the Bismarck, Mescalito.

 

 

The Nose: I spotted a team of three with bags in tow climbing the Great Roof this morning and since they were not on the Nose yesterday, I figure they are a Triple Direct team. They moved smoothly along and were above Camp 5 when I departed. Off tomorrow I think.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aiding the last part of the Pancake Flake pitch late in the morning on the Nose.

 Lower down, two out of the three teams fixed to Sickle Ledge bailed by early afternoon. The remaining team fixed to the top of Sickle and retired to the ground for the night. I talked to two teams today who are going up in the morning and are blasting right from the ground.

Salathe: There is a team of two who climbed to the Block this morning but I didn’t see them go out to Sous le Toit, so maybe they are going to fix and bivy there.

Lower down a team of Five French climbers climbed from Hollow Flake Ledge to the top of the Spire today. They are search and rescue guys from Chamonix and are sporting some sweet shirts, four yellow and one raspberry colored. They seem to be having a good time up there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

French leader climbing the pitch above the Ear in late morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cleaner and jugger moving up the route.

 

 

 

 

Sunset from my home in late August this summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other news: Rumors abound about an ongoing effort of two locals to break the Nose speed record. After a few runs, they are down to around 3 hours… more as the story develops. I am releasing no names at this time.

Pretty calm at the Bridge today. Piton Pete and buddy PJ showed up this afternoon and we had the fabled “first beers of the season” in the afternoon. My Cobra was brought here by my buddy Brian Koepp who was here after some serious health issues and a 4 month coma he awoke from with no memory of who he was! He went from 160 pounds to 85 pounds in the coma, and now is back up to 145. He looked at his collection of pictures and slowly figured out who he is! Pretty scary stuff!! He is now doing well and is really psyched to be back in the Valley!

Thanks Brian!!

The weather looks solid now, if a bit on the warm side. So come on out and get on that route you have always wanted to do. The Face Lift is starting next week so be sure to show up for that as it does the Park a lot of good and a great series of shows and feeds are on the agenda each night.

The great Hans Florine emailed me to tell any NIAD teams to send  him an email for some new(?) information that might be of interest.  I have no idea what it is.... but Hans knows his shit!

So that’s the way it is, on ElCap and here in the Valley, for this the 14th day of September, 2010.

Later Tom Evans

 

 

 

 

 

Go Steve! Just read his

Go Steve!

Just read his webpage, that's awesome! We can all learn something from a man like that.

- eb

great to have you back Tom,

great to have you back Tom, i'll be in the valley in a couple of days...

British Chris

Nice to see you back....

Nice to see you back....

I'll be waiting for the Speed

I'll be waiting for the Speed Record troops to get it done!!!

Cheers Tom, hope this year is as exciting as any....

Hi Tom, Fantastic timing!:

Hi Tom,
Fantastic timing!: You were back the day the three climbers from Denmark started on Tangerine Trip (I'm the girl friend to one of them).
Lovely to see how they are progressing and read your comments.
Thank you SO much!!

TOM !!!!!! you're gonna die

TOM !!!!!!

you're gonna die !

Ian J.

Everything is great at the

Everything is great at the Center of the Universe...Tom's back!
See you soon.

The Princess of the El Cap Bridge :)

Thanks for the great words

Thanks for the great words and pics