ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 5/21/15

By Tom Evans

Yo… I would love to have tons of shots from today to show you… but… it has rained all afternoon and is still going at 5:30pm…So… Today is Throw Back Thursday and I have selected some shots from 2012 to share with you, just in case you haven’t seen them before.  Today the team, on Zodiac climbed the White Circle, and were last seen heading up the Mark of Zorro.  That does it for today’s news!

ElCap Report 5/20/15

By Tom Evans

Yo.. Blue Bird Day here in the Ditch!  Nothing much going on up on the hill.  So… today I am going to post some shots of people I have from the past.  I am not able to identify all of the people in each shot so I will do what I can. The first four shots are from today.  BTW.. the big holiday weekend is coming up and traffic will be bad in the Valley... so I may not be able to get back to the lodge to do the report for a couple of days... so don't worry... I will combine a couple days when things settle down again.

ElCap Report 5/19/15

By Tom Evans

Yo… Today started out to be a bluebird day, but around 2pm clouds came in and the temperature dropped as the wind became stronger.  Not a lot of action on the Cap today, because people are still holding back, waiting for a better weather forecast.  Actually the conditions are ideal, if you can tolerate a light shower in the evening.

The recent BASE jumping accident has gotten a lot of media coverage and we still have reporters here covering the story.  The Park Service has done an excellent job of getting accident information out to the public.  You can read the details on the NPS website, or on just about any other climbing or BASE website

ElCap Report 5/18/15

By Tom Evans

Yo... sketchy weather has kept the Captain empty on this day.  Many friends of Dean and Graham have come to the Valley to share their grief with those of us here.  Many stories are being exchanged and the memory of the men is thus kept alive.  We pretty much know what happened that Saturday evening but it has not been officially confirmed by the NPS.  Their investigators are working hard on the available photos of the accident and descriptions from witnesses.  The results will be published in good time.  Climbers are rather hardened to the death of friends and we are taking it stride as best we can.

ElCap Report 5/17/15

By Tom Evans

Yo.. I sit at my table, in the Café, as the rain pours down just outside the window.  It started a bit after noon and continues unabated.  The gloom of the day is heightened by the death, last evening, of two of our community’s best people.  Dean Potter, and Graham Hunt, perished late in the evening when a BASE jump from Taft Point went terribly wrong.  Yosemite Search and Rescue received word last night that the men were overdue and immediately sent out ground parties, to search for them.  I awoke, just after dawn, when a helicopter flew low over the house I was staying in, while searching for the men.  I heard that they were over due and was at the EC Meadow, doing my daily shooting, when friends came by and confirmed the tragedy.  The men’s bodies were recovered by noon and many friends gathered throughout the morning and afternoon to seek comfort and share their grief. 

ElCap Report 5/16/15

By Tom Evans

Yo..  Today we had a beautiful day in the Valley.. right up until it started raining!  Fortunately the rain came in very late in the day.  We actually had some action on the Big Stone too!  So here we go Cubicle Pukes… climbing is on for the spring season!  In this report I will also cover a some shots from the past few days…I don’t have many because I was busy with other shooting for the past week.

ElCap Report 5/15/15

By Tom Evans

Yo… Heavy weather here in the Valley today.  Unfortunately not enough rain to make much of a difference in the water situation but just enough to keep climbers off the Big Stone.  Today the Adidas Outdoor crew went down to ElCap and spent some time on the Alcove Swing, along with some slack lining.  I stayed down below and got some video and stills of the crowd doing the swing as there wasn’t much else to do today.

ElCap Report 5/14/15 Start of the Spring Climbing Season!

By Tom Evans

Yo... Don't get too excited about the Report yet.  The weather reverted to March-April stuff and we have snow and rain forecast for the next several days.  There has been some good climbing this spring, so stay tuned... when the weather clears I will be back at it down in the EC meadow. 

I am staying in Yosemite West for the next few days and will be camping somewhere after that.  Here are the present conditions in Yo. West.

ElCap Report 1/14/15 Special Dawn Wall Edition Day 19

Brought to you by Adidas Outdoor

By Tom Evans

Yo.. Spectacular weather continued to be one of the main factors in the “Climb of the Century” aka “The most difficult rock climb in the world.”  I got to the meadow this morning around 8am and the climbing didn’t start until 9am.  The team had spent the night on the “Ship’s Bow” and had 4 difficult pitches to do today.  I got word from Tommy that their intended ETA on the top would be pushed back from noon to about 3pm.  The world had also arrived at the ElCap meadow and massive media coverage, including, live streaming video, was beamed all around the world!  The crowd was large and a forest of “Big Gun” telephoto lenses put my little rig to shame!  A festive atmosphere soon developed as the sun came over the ridge to the south and the meadow warmed in the bright California sun.  The climb was far from over and by now you know the outcome.  Pictures of the event are everywhere, so mine will add little to the history of the event on this day.  But, I will post some of mine so you loyal readers can see what I saw and felt on this historic occasion.

ElCap Report 1/13/15  Special Dawn Wall Edition Day 18

Brought to you by Adidas Outdoor

By Tom Evans

Yo..Unprecedented good weather continues to bless this climb.  We had another blue bird day, that was a bit cold at the start but warmed nicely in the morning sun.  Today was moving day. The men need to get 7 pitches climbed to make it to their chosen bivy spot, the Ship’s Bow, high above.  They haven’t climbed that many pitches in a day before and it would be interesting to see if, after all the two pitches a day climbing, they could saddle up and ride fast.  It started with the ascent of the photographer’s lines to Wino Tower, which took a long time.