El Cap Pizza

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Jay S

Mountain climber

Silver Gate, Mt

Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 12, 2018 - 09:14am PT

El Cap Pizza

I left Montana on April 1st and managed to get a ride to Ashton Idaho. The sun was setting and some kids where making fun of me telling me I would never get a ride out of town as the sun was setting. I feel like somewhat of an April Fool with my big backpack with a bright climbing rope attached for attention.

A Subaru pulls over and offers me a ride. It is a family going to San Francisco. We drive through Nevada all night with me driving part of the way. I get out of the car at 6 am in Truckee and hitch another ride to the Lake Tahoe. I call my friend Willy who left Montana the week before and he is amazed I have made it to Tahoe so quick.

We have been planning an El Cap climb all winter. We drive over Carson pass in Willy’s truck and arrive in the Valley. We make a significant error by jumping on the South Face of the Column first. Our aid climbing skills are not up to par for a one day ascent so we retreat to the Curry deck for Pete’s Wicked Ales.

The next day we climb Royal Arches and a couple of pitches of the South face of North Dome which we should have done first to get comfortable on moving on rock again after spending a winter on snow and ice.
Willy is now out of time so our El Cap climb is toast.

I spend the next couple of weeks climbing a lot with two curry employees named Michael and Stu. They have different days off so it gives me four days a week to pursue longer routes with the highlights being East Buttress El Cap, Arches/Crest Jewel and Steck Salathe on the Sentinel.

Michael was a big guy so he wouldn’t fit in the narrows so he had to off width it after my lead. It was so narrow I couldn’t turn me head in a couple of spots but I enjoyed it. We got off route at the top in the dark and ended up on the last pitch of the Chouinard Herbert to finish. A long descent by headlamp brought us back to the valley floor by midnight.

In the morning I go over to a friend’s house for coffee and he turns on the TV and says check this out. It is the video of the poor trucker being drug out of his truck and beat to death in the Rodney King riots.

I had recently taken the Manager of the Curry Pizza Stand rock climbing on the Apron and Stu and I were going up to climb the Nose so we went over to the Pizza stand and got a pizza with everything on it. I mean everything, this thing was like drooping when they brought it out it was so heavy and thick. People were looking at it and saying what in the hell is that. That’s the El Cap Pizza.

Stu and I had already fixed the four pitches up to Sickle Ledge so the next day we blasted off. We got up to Dolt Tower for the night. In the morning Stu went over to the far side of the ledge to take a dump with one of the big freezer zip locks. Stu brings the zip lock back to me and holds it up and says check this out. There was a turd in there that goes one, two and three bends in this giant zip lock. We are just like wow! I have never seen anything like it ever. El Cap Pizza

ron gomez

Trad climber

fallbrook,ca

Jan 12, 2018 - 09:22am PT

Well ok, different kind of trip report!?
Peace

Mungeclimber

Trad climber

Nothing creative to say

Jan 12, 2018 - 10:14am PT

buahahahaa

divad

Trad climber

wmass

Jan 12, 2018 - 10:29am PT

TFPU

and you didn't die...

Lambone

Big Wall climber

Ashland, Or

Jan 12, 2018 - 11:28am PT

Did someone order El Cap Pizza?

Oplopanax

Mountain climber

The Deep Woods

Jan 12, 2018 - 12:31pm PT

what was the ratemypoo.com consensus on that one?

Gnome Ofthe Diabase

climber

Out Of Bed

Jan 12, 2018 - 05:46pm PT

what to say ? besides that shjt happens

ya gnow, 2 #2s,

http://www.supertopo.com/tr/Wag-Bag-Therapy/t13255n.html

Jay S

Mountain climber

Silver Gate, Mt

Topic Author's Reply - Jan 12, 2018 - 06:38pm PT

I don't think it had anchovies but it was over twenty five years ago so some details or not as sharp as others.

We didn't top out but that is another story.

Jay