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ricardo
Gym climber
San Francisco, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 1, 2005 - 02:58pm PT
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"Friends in High Places"
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Pics are available at
http://www.djradio.net/~ricardol/climbing/SouthSeas/Gallery
Solo of South Seas, by Ricardo Lagos
My previous trip reports have been super beta intensive, pitch-by-pitch narratives. This one I hope will be different, since it wasn't so much the actual climbing that is memorable about this route, but rather the experience of being up on El Capitan for 13 days with my friends.
Chosing a route
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Why another solo? -- Why South Seas? -- I asked myself these questions often in the months leading up to this trip. In the rare moments when I would answer them truthfully, the answer was a bit shameful. I wanted to complete with El Capitan, there was a nagging feeling deep down that I was not complete with El Capitan, until I had done one of the long routes, hard routes, and more wild routes. You see, Zodiac, and Tangerine Trip, are awesome routes; and they are trade routes, on the short side of El Capitan. I wanted to have no doubt in my heart that I had experienced El Capitan, before moving on to other projects.
South Seas was David Turner's idea. One morning at the Lodge cafeteria I was bouncing my idea of climbing Zenyatta Mondatta by Dave, his response was:
"Zenyatta? -- thats on the short side. You need to get on a big route. You should do South Seas. The A4 is not really A4, you can totally do it!"
For some reason when I talk to Dave, I am always inspired to push the edge. And I was sold on going on South Seas. I knew that I wanted to climb A3, and his description of the A4 pitch on South Seas left me feeling like it was no big deal.
Preparing to launch -- Fixing on South Seas
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While fixing pitches at the base, I ran into Ammon; him and his girlfriend were fixing pitches on Space. They were a team of 4 (kind of like a all-star team): Cedar Wright, Ammon McNeally, Tim Oneal, and Tim's Brother (sorry I forgot his name). Tim's brother is paraplegic, and was making his first ascent of El Capitan.
After 2 days of hard work, I was fixed up to the 2nd pitch of South Seas, and was looking forward to a good nights sleep, the next day I would blast off. But rest was not what was on "The Space Boys" mind that night, they were already on the wall, partying at the 2nd belay of Space, with 2 ledges, and what I could only imagine was a haulbag full of beer, which they were determined to lighten by the end of the night. I was way too cool to yell at them to ZIP it!, so instead I just grinned and beared it, you'd think that since they were right next to each other they didn't need to scream to talk. All in all, I was actually pretty amused, here I was sleeping in the Alcove, and the foot of El Capitan, Nick and Dave were just at the top of the alcove, and the space boys were partying on their ledges, what a great way to start a wall. Then the most amusing (amusing only after I found out that nobody had died) part of the night came, when I heard Ammon scream "F*#k.. f*#k!" .. and then heard alot of commotion coming from above, and a headlamp come crashing down to the ground. I thought Ammon had fallen out of his ledge, and was now part of the tallus field below. Luckily he was tied in, and had only lost his headlamp when he fell out of the portaledge.
I doubt that any climber doesn't get nervous before starting up a solo ascent on El Capitan. And I was feeling it! Before heading up the first pitch, probably one of the steepest pitches on El Capitan, I sat all racked up in the alcove. Ammon was there, his girlfriend, Ty, his dad, and his sister. I just sat there, and had lunch, taking every precious moment, and not rushing. Finally there was nothing left to do, nothing left to waste time on, I had the rack on me, and the next logical thing was to start climbing. How odd that feeling was, at that exact moment, the last thing I wanted to do was start climbing, specially a pitch that looked pretty hard. I started up, and was not disappointed; right off the belay was already the hardest climbing i'd done, with a pretty bad fall. I was greeted by granite wilderness that is El
Capitan, the bolts on that first pitch, are nothing but scary, the steepness is unrelenting. It took a long time, and I was almost to the anchors, and then it happened. The tell-tale sound of carabiners clanging against each other, and the view of granite rushing past me, filled me with adrenaline. The fall was pretty short, maybe 10 feet, I did pull one piece (a small RP), but the ball-nut below that stopped the fall, the grigri self-belay system had performed once-again, and the pitch was so steep that there was nothing to hit on the way down. I gave a loud howl, and inmediately jugged back up to the high point, determined to do a better job.
The Radio
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The radio is your only link to the real world. A world where people frolick on the meadow, eat real food, take showers, and most of all, live a life that is not full of stress from leading the next pich.
There were so many memorable conversations on the radio. Like when on the first night I turned on channel 2-10, and listened to Kate describe what it was like to log airtime on Tribal Rite, to the tune of about 120+ feet. It was pretty amazing, that she was even talking to us. How many people have survived 120+' falls? The other thing that impressed me was how connected we were with Kate in that moment. Dave and Pete spent some time giving support to Kate, since she was weighing her options. (To bail or not to bail?). Everyone on the radio was super-cool and supported Kate, by letting her know that she should do whatever she felt was right, and that there was no shame in going down. (I would have called for a rescue!)
Kate is a pretty cool kitten, even though I have not met her yet; it was pretty damm nice to have encouragement during the early part of the wall.
I was pretty somber about heading out on lead on the A4 pitch of South Seas, and got a pep talk from Pete on the radio before heading up. Dave reassured me that I would be alright. And I carried the radio while on lead; Pete suggested I give him a call if I need "On The Wall Technichal Assistance". There was no need to use the radio though, the pith got sent without incident, and was mentally and emotionally the crux of the early part of the wall.
Reality Check
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"I think its going to take you 14 days, thats my guess"...
The words hung in my brain. Pete had just made his prediction on how long he thought it would take me to complete this route, and it was only my second day on the wall.
I had planned for 10 climbing days, 1 rest day. Just in case things got rought I'd brought enough water for 12 luxurious days, and food for 12 days. 14 days? -- that would be a long time.
By the second day on the wall though I already knew that my original calculations were off. Almost every pitch so far had some section that was not trivial, and my speed on the A3 or C3 sections was pretty slow. The difference between A2 and A3 is that in A2 you have a variety of placements you can make, in A3 there is usually only 1 placement that works -- so you have to figure out how to use it.
I began doing the math, it looked to me like 13 days, and that would be without a rest day. I slowly began to let that reality sink in. It was pretty important to let it sink in slowly, so that fears of not having enough water, food, or toilet paper wouldn't freak me out.
The water would not be a situation, the weather was cool, and I was consuming far less than I'd anticipated. Food though would have to be rationed. -- When I finally reached the summit, I had no food left in the bag.
The paper crux vs. the mental crux vs. the technichal crux
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South seas is harder than the PO. But it wasn't the South Seas that gave me trouble. On paper, pitch 5 is the crux of the route, rated at A4, and noted as expanding, the pitch traverses right under a flake.
Emotionally, the stress of leading that pitch was incredible, when I finished leading it, I just sat in the portaledge, eating jelly bellies, and talking to myself. Though technically the pitch is not that hard, i'd rate it A3, there is alot of small gear, but if you avoid nailing, the expando is very short, and not that expando.
The mental crux came later, finally on day 7 or 8 i got up to the 17th pitch of the Pacific Ocean Wall. This is the pitch below the bering straits. I had been looking forward to seeing the infamous trenched heads pitch. And there it was. The pitch starts fairly stiff right off the belay, heads, to fixed rurps, to more heads, and finally a crack. While testing the 2nd head, it blew. The trenches that I could see infront of me were crap. They were downward sloping spoons. After 30 minutes of heading, beaking, trying to place a rurp, I finally had a mental breakdown. I felt like I lost my nerve, and could not continue without something to keep me off the belay. -- 2 heads I had placed blew while testing, so my trust in heads in that moment was non-existant. Finally after agonizing over the choices, I finally declared the trenches blown, and placed a rivet. It was a low moment in my climb, I felt like I had failed some test. The rest of the pitch is pretty heads up, and I felt a bit better about myself by doing most of it clean on difficult cam placements, but the damage had been done.
The technichal crux? -- my vote would have to go for the section of the illusion chain that climbs a loose and hollow flake (expanding flake!). It sounds horrible, as you ride the flake, and you can swear that you feel like moving back and forth. I could see imagery of me surfing the flake back to the tallus.
Memorable Moments
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Most of the memories from 13 days are kind of jumbled together. It is a long time afterall. But what really sticks out for me are the moments that were shared with friends. (A different experience when you're soloing).
On day 5 my brother, Joy, Kevin, and Sandhia arrived in the valley to start their vacation, and give me encouragement. Hearing them talk about the feasts they were enjoying at camp4, and how amazed they were to actually see what big wall climbing was about was awesome. Rodrigo had brought a telescope to the valley, and they could see all the details of what was going on high up El Capitan. The wind was howling, my aiders were blowing sideways, sometimes coming back to hit me on the head, and I would hear over the radio:
"Turn around and wave to the camera dude..."
When South Seas came very close to Space, I spent a few days in close proximity with Dave Turner. His new route shared a few pitches with Space. It was pretty funny getting beta from him on the pitch leading up to the shark fin as I climbed it. As he lead a pitch, and I lead mine, we'd chat back and forth about future projects, photography, women, etc.
Towards the end of the route, I caught up with Nick. Nick would casually talk about leading a pitch with 11 beaks in a row, expanding rock, and hooks thrown in for spice. On tempest, it was casual to have to place 10 heads on a row on lead. (I had only placed 2 heads on the entire South Seas to PO).
The Summit
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Finally 13 days after blasting off, I arrived at one of the greatest places on earth. The summit of El Cap. It was late afternoon, I was out of food, but I was on top. All along the way I had kept some sanity by telling myself that once I'd finish, I would never have to do this again. On the summit though, I already knew that the road taken to get here was well worth it, and there would be other routes in the future.
Alot of reasons to climb were clear then. I love putting myself in situations that dont have an easy way out. When you are on a wall solo, nobody else is going to bail you out. I love to solo because it contrasts so boldly with my everyday life, where I have the choice to pull a ripcord from a situation and get out.
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WBraun
climber
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This was great Ricardo, thanks for that nice story of your great adventure. I got scared reading it.
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Russ Walling
Social climber
THIS SPACE FOR RENT
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Bravo-Bad-ASSSSSS™™™
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Shack
Big Wall climber
So. Cal.
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Ricardo, there is no doubt..you are officially BAD ASSS™™™!!
Awsome!
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Gunkie
climber
East Coast US
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Awesome! Thanks for sharing.
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the Fet
Trad climber
Loomis, CA
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Fantastic TR Ricardo, your best yet by far due to exploring your thoughts and emotions.
My only constructive criticism is to delete "When I finally reached the summit, I had no food left in the bag."
IMO it's better to leave us guessing until the end if you summited or not.
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malabarista
Trad climber
San Francisco, Ca
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thanks for the great TR -very inspiring... i'm also wondering what my next route on el cap will be as you were at the time before your solo. i relate to the feeling of wanting a sense of completeness with it too, but i don't know if such a thing is real (for me), as originally i thought once up by any route would be enough.
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spyork
Trad climber
Fremont, CA
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Nice trip report. Someday I might climb El Cap, but I doubt I would have the fortitude to make it a solo endeavour. I am still working on my free climbing goals.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Steve
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John F. Kerry
Social climber
Boston, MA
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Superb effort on the SS, Ricardo. Thank you for taking the time to put together the report & share it. I love it when people succeed!
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up2top
Big Wall climber
Phoenix, AZ
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Bro -- tears of joy for ya. Really. Thanks for keeping me inspired.
Ed
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Corey Fields
Trad climber
Austin, TX
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Nice Ricardo, I really like the way you did your report, very cool!
Corey
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alik
Big Wall climber
edmonton
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I'm curious how the section high on the PO where Dave pulled the massive block off this spring went. When I talked to him about it he sugested that the pitch would probably be a lot harder without the block (possibly requiring drilling?). Were you the first to climb the pitch since the trundle?
Good job on your solo. That's a really proud route for your 3rd wall.
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ricardo
Gym climber
San Francisco, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 1, 2005 - 04:57pm PT
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I'm going to post alot of pictures tonight -- but i just finished doing the writeup and i couldn't wait to post it ..
alik: do you remember which pitch he pulled a block off on PO .. i didn't talk to him about it, and nothing seemed to be "missing" a section ..
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Right on Ricardo!
How did the big pendulum go? (Nothing Atolls?)
I remember watching a poor guy struggle with that for hours. Seemed like it would be even harder solo.
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ricardo
Gym climber
San Francisco, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 1, 2005 - 05:06pm PT
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I didn't get to do the Nothing Atolls penji because South Seas joins the PO after that penji..
but instead i got to do the "Rubber Band Man" penji .. which is broken up into 1 short (and easy) penji, and then a longer one ..
.. it was hard .. took me 5 tries to get it, and i fell off the holds 2x before i got a talon-hook on an edge. --
oh!! -- one thing i forgot to pu into the TR .. a thankyou note to my sponsors.. (thats right i got sponsored for this route! -- fish gave me one of his rope bags for this route)..
=
FISH Gear -- they are the bomb! .. I beta tested one of their new rope bags.. (the single one) and it performed flawleslly .. much better than the bags i was using before. Thanks Fish.
the adjustable straps let you move the bag around the belay with no fear of dropping it, and you can adjust its height without unclipping it.. :-) .. anyways ... russ is a cool dude, he hooked me up with lots of stuff that got me to the top.
=
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alik
Big Wall climber
edmonton
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Ricardo,
I'm pretty sure the block I speak of was on one the pitches above the highbrow. Possibly the second last. Although it was quite a while ago that he told me about this so don't quote me on that. I'm getting old, my memory aint what it used to be...
Pretty funny story though. I guess he was plugging away cams behind this thing, same as everyone else had for the last 30 years, when it cuts loose (really bad luck). So he rides the block for 60 feet before it chops his daisies, and continues to the deck, thankfully without dave attatched! Spooky...
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ricardo
Gym climber
San Francisco, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 1, 2005 - 07:58pm PT
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alik:
hmm .. well since i dont remember there being anything amiss on the last few pitches ..then it must not be a big deal ..
.. there is a bit of losse stuff below the highbrow ..
in fact there was a ton of loose stuff all over the right side of the captain during the time i was there .. here is a short recap of the stuff that came down
* dave let loose a longboard size flake on a new pitch from about the same height as the black tower.
* nick tangled with part of the killer whale and part of it came off. from my recollection it was about the size of a park picnic table. -- slammed into mescalito about p3, and shattered into a million pieces -- lucky nobody was there, or werner would have had a busy day.
* i touched a few loose blocks below the shark fin, and a microwave sized block went down.
* pete dropped a pine cone on aaron
this was the big stuff ... little smaller pieces came down almost everyday. --
with so many folks climbing, it was not a particularly safe time to walk by the alcove. --
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Darnell
Big Wall climber
Chicago
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The monkeys are sending!!
Nice job Ricky!!
May I call you Ricky?
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poop_tube
Trad climber
Irvine, CA
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Nice send Ricardo! RAD
Are you gonna make a cool slide show again??? :)
Dave is awesome. I did my first solo over the summer and don't know if I would have done it had I not ran into him the night before. Pretty inspiring.
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Hey ricardo,
curious...did you clip all the bad jingus heads, or just leave them unclipped and risk the big ride?
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