ElCap Report 9/24/16

ElCap Report 9/24/2016

By Tom Evans

Yo.. Continued fine weather seems to be the driving force behind the recent surge of climbers on ElCap.  I was able to shoot ElCap for a few hours today and worked for Adidas the rest of the day.  Tomorrow will be mostly Adidas so the reports may thin out a bit over the next week or so.  Lots of cool climbing going on so with that said…

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

I noticed Joe Marlay and John Verb(?) sniffing around the start of Lunar Eclipse this morning.. assume they will be on it very soon as Joe has the hots for the route since I promised really cool shots of it!!

1)  Zodiac:  Alex Vaught is doing good work on this excellent route.  Here he is on the MOZ pitch this morning.  He is probably heading for Peanut Ledge tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2)  Shortest Straw:  Bart Bledsoe is moving along well on this recently popular route.  Here he is on the 5th pitch this afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3)  The three man team on the Trip is making good time on this popular but not so great route.  Here they are waiting for the leader to finish the 10th pitch this morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4)  Over on Heartland Chris is seen here with John at the belay this morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5)  Later in the day I saw Pete moving up some kit as the shade was coming on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6)  Over on Native Son, I got a shot from out west, of Sean Warren, cleaning the long pitch leading to the Wing.  You can see that the ElCap Tree is no longer among the living.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7)  Over on the PO I got this shot of Eli Nissan just after the shade enveloped him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8)  Earlier in the day I got this one of Steve cleaning near the Sharks Fin on SSPO.  Love the pants!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9)  Robbie got the Rubber Band Man pendulum and after a time nailed it.  Here he is responding to our hoots and calls up to him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nose:  As usual there was a lot of action on this historic route.

10)  Hauling kit to the belay at the start of the Jardine Traverse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11)  Old Timer back cleaning on the lead at the Lynn Hill Traverse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12)  Myles Wittman leading to the Boot Flake in late afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13)  Pancho Gomez waiting it out on top of Texas Flake.  The line across the pic is some kind on an artifact and I will remove it later..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14)  Hauling kit on the Salathe, below the Ear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did see the Mark Hudon crew climb Freeblast today on their way to a Freerider attempt.

 

15)  Mystery climb of the day!  What is it?  Maybe Seth and Dave or perhaps Jordan and Levy are on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other news:  Facelift is wrapping up and the season is in full swing now so come on out….or stay tuned to the Report for all the action!

Capt. Tom

Re. #12 & #13

Thanks for the great shots Tom and for the color commentary. Great to meet you in the Valley. What a gift to be able to watch these incredible athletes! Thanks for sharing. Kurt Wittman

#7 is a fantastic shot!!!

#7 is a fantastic shot!!! love it, tom. gives the vastness of the wall and way-out-there-ness!!!

thanks for the report
b.bob

The Shield

Hey Tom!
My husband Ian McEleney and his partner Chad Cochrane are climbing the Shield this week and were at Mammoth Terraces last night. Any chance you could snap a few pictures of their progress this week? They wore bright colors just for you! Thanks very much! Jess

That is the end of the 4th

That is the end of the 4th pitch of Excalibur.

The 5th pitch goes up that

The 5th pitch goes up that cool splitter.
Matt Thomsen