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Mr.T
Big Wall climber
topanga
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 15, 2008 - 07:58pm PT
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Twelve Days of hard work and pure joy left me at the top of The Capitan. Here are some photos:
Ottowa Doug had soloed the route a couple weeks before - and so gave me some good beta (when it says "no cams on pitch", don't belive it...), an autographed z-ton, and those amazing green pants.
The New Dawn pitches were good, clean, and pretty straight foreward, but I still found myself with some mini-epic on nearly every pitch (forgetting the topo helped). Here's a loose-ass block... a pin scar suckered me into thinking it was solid. Just placing the stopper moved the whole block about half an inch.... Yikes!
The hauling wasn't "too" bad, except the pitch onto Lay Lady, which worked me soooo good. I spent half a day on the ledge just reading and staying out of the sun.
The pitches above Lay Lady mus be great free climbing, but had me puckering, racing the fading light without a headlamp, walking tipped out cams and pulling all kinds of shenanigans to get gear.
My only human contact was on El Cap Tower, when Clay and Corbin came racing by on the nose. Geat to see these fun-lovin bros!!!
I did a lot of laying around, just thinking and reading. This was the first big route where I felt completely comfortable being there. I didn't catch the summit fever, and enjoyed immensely simply patiently slowly suffering my way up the wall.
Some images from the Nose part - looking out from Texas Flake
An old bolt next to the Boot. I wonder if this was placed by Harding? It's right next to the crack in the boot.
Lots of wildlife and flowerage. The frogs come out of the cracks at dusk below Lay Lady, hopping across the face. A milipeed way up in the middle of nowhere - how do they get there? And perigrines, dive bombing like crazy, making the base jumpers look crude and oafish.
So what were the Tribal Rite pitches like?
Clean golden granite!
Open expanses!
Good corners!
An "easy" "crux" pitch
Early Light
Good ledges
Better views
Wierd pro
Good pro
And if that's not enough to get your lazy sport-dawgin arse up there, Tribal Rite even dangles a beautiful carrot in front o your nose!!!
The two unusual things that happened were some intense road construction or invasive plant removal or something at night - LOUD noise and crazy bright lights in the midde of the night actually kept me awake - I took to cutting little squares out of my sleeping pad and duct taping them into my ears to get some peace and quiet!
There was also a huge rockfall around gulf stream. I think I'll pass on that one....
Thanks to Tom and Doug and Gene and all the monkeys for the support and encouragement (and bright green pants)!!!!!
Thank you sir, may I have another!?!?!?
 Zak Tourville
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Russ Walling
Social climber
Out on the sand.... man.....
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Jul 15, 2008 - 08:12pm PT
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Good job!
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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Jul 15, 2008 - 08:16pm PT
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FANTASTIC!!!
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Jonny D
Social climber
Lost Angelez, Kalifornia
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Jul 15, 2008 - 08:30pm PT
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Bitchin!!!
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Jul 15, 2008 - 08:32pm PT
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Wigball!! Looks beautiful
Peace
karl
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Jul 15, 2008 - 09:02pm PT
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swanky styling
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Ottawa Doug
Social climber
Ottawa, Canada
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Jul 15, 2008 - 09:38pm PT
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Congrats Wigball!!!!!! Great TR on TR. I'm glad to see the pants continue to live on. Superb pics you took really show the route well. You climbed during some big heat. Good job hanging in there. Wild pic of the rockfall at the base.
Cheers,
Doug
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elcap-pics
climber
Crestline CA
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Jul 15, 2008 - 09:39pm PT
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Really sweet Bro... glad it went so well for you... I felt bad about leaving while you were in the middle of the route but I had to go.... nice pics... what did you think about the difficulty of the route? Recommend it?
Congats Tom
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Jul 15, 2008 - 09:43pm PT
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Wow, that is a bad-ass TR of a wall, dude. Very cool. Almost...almost makes me want to do my first wall.
Nice job!!!
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Jul 15, 2008 - 10:07pm PT
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Great TR!
Lotsa spooky old heads on that one, eh? I pulled one, and heard later that someone else also zipper-whipped on similar "fixed" gear.
Did the leader clean the Carrot pitch on rappel, or did the second come up, fighting to get gear out of the tightening expando?
And, how'd you like the haul to the right end of the ledge below Texas Flake? The bag comes up that narrowing squeeze and gets stuck at the top. Those bolts should have been placed three feet further to the right. They're probably rusty enough for someone to pull them, fill the holes and redrill them properly.
By comparison, how about the last haul, the final pitch of Wall of the Early Morning light? That is probably one of the best top-outs on the Cap, with the belay just left of a diving board ledge, so the bag rides up a smooth wall all the way to the bolts. That station demonstrates how conscientious and skilled Harding was.
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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Jul 15, 2008 - 10:09pm PT
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killer!
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Ezra
Trad climber
WA, NC
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Jul 15, 2008 - 10:09pm PT
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bump for the real deal!
Good Job!
-e
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Prod
Social climber
Charlevoix, MI
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Jul 15, 2008 - 10:17pm PT
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Love the Good ledges pic. You look happier than a pig in sh#t.
Cheers.
Prod.
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WBraun
climber
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Jul 15, 2008 - 10:21pm PT
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Mr T
That was a great picture story. We did the second ascent and I don't remember sh'it.
Thanks ....
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Jul 15, 2008 - 10:50pm PT
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Really great TR - and most excellent photos. Really enjoyed it! Thanks!!
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Clayman
Trad climber
CA, now Flagstaff
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Jul 15, 2008 - 11:36pm PT
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ooouuuuugh!! wigball!
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Double D
climber
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Jul 16, 2008 - 12:42am PT
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NICE!
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pc
climber
East of Seattle
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Jul 16, 2008 - 12:57am PT
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Excellent!
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Captain...or Skully
Big Wall climber
Yonder
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Jul 16, 2008 - 12:59am PT
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Hey WigBall...Killer Ledge is a cool spot on the Captain, huh?Nice shots, man. And good job, too. Even with freaky green pants.
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Standing Strong
Trad climber
united states of T*R
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Jul 16, 2008 - 01:05am PT
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" Lots of wildlife and flowerage. The frogs come out of the cracks at dusk below Lay Lady, hopping across the face. A milipeed way up in the middle of nowhere - how do they get there? And perigrines, dive bombing like crazy, making the base jumpers look crude and oafish. "
oooo cool. thank you! thanks for bringing us up there with you :)
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