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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Dec 28, 2009 - 03:17pm PT
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Nice one prod!
The King Swing was an Epic moment for me, up in my top 5 "best" EC moments...will never forget that pendi. Super fun....just swinging back and forth thinking "This is so f*#king cool, who gets to do this shit!!!!!"
Wall climbers, that's who.
I also concur with Melissa "Looking up at El Cap for the first time after climbing it." What a rush, unforgettable. Top 5 moments for sure.
Another was smoking a spliff in my first Free Hanging bivi on Tripple Direct. My first route. WOW, talk about a perspective slap in the face.
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Dec 28, 2009 - 03:59pm PT
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Nice one, Gagner. Lucky is an old buddy from the Bay Area. A fine partner. Cheers.
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mr p
Big Wall climber
eastside ca
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Dec 28, 2009 - 07:48pm PT
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the white room with walt intense!!!!!
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kent
Trad climber
SLC, Ut
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Dec 28, 2009 - 09:42pm PT
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My first wall, prodigal sun. I was a total gumby climbing with an experienced stranger. We lazily decided to do the wall in a day, but we should have fixed a few before to help the cause. I got to lead 6 of the 9 pitches, including the last three in the dark. Topping out at 2 am, I was overcome with an overwhelming mix of feelings; exhaustion, accomplishment, and excitement for bigger things to come.
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Brendan
Trad climber
Yosemite, CA
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Dec 29, 2009 - 01:00am PT
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PTPP, that is an AWESOME pic of tom in the pig! hahaha.
For me, Getting so lost in the stars that I can't remember where I end and they start.
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 29, 2009 - 04:34am PT
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As PTPP said, "the wall idiots" were able to survive the storm. The reason I count that New Dawn to Tribal Rite ascent as my best Wall Experience, was (go figure) it was the one time hauling all that extra weight made sense. We were able to wait out a long storm, in perfect (sic) comfort.
I should not have written about schadenfreude. That was a cruel, unnecessary thing to mention. I guess my intent was to point out the difference of our methodology of too much weight and too many pigs, compared to the normal system of going up light and fast.
PTPP and I were wall camping, not wall climbing. The weather, then, favored our demented idea of how to go, and attack, The Big Wall. PTPP has had more than his share of ridicule about his wall climbing technique, as being ridiculous. But, that time, on ND to TR, he proved the worth of his conservative style.
I'll never, ever, forget the rescue helicopter coming by, close, to see how we were doing, expecting we were in a bad situation, and calculating how to save another party from the face of El Capitan. Those Naval Aviators out of Lemoore are the best chopper pilots in the world, and they're very smart. When they came by in the clear day after the storm, and saw PTPP and me at ease, drinking coffee in our socks instead of climbing up the Wall, this was probably what they thought:
Those Goddam crazy climbers are insane. Look at these two idiots. I'm never coming back, if these are the lower lifeforms we risk our lives to save . . .. .
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wildone
climber
GHOST TOWN
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Dec 29, 2009 - 05:06am PT
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I'd have to say, pulling up on the worst error bivi ledge, and watching with my partner Eric a Peregrine getting super harassed by a bunch of ravens, and seeing the peregrine gain elevation, dive, then kill the sh#t out of one of the ravens.
Muy infermo. Muy frio.
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 29, 2009 - 05:11am PT
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wildone - I've seen the Birds up there, but not that way.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Dec 29, 2009 - 09:58am PT
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Had a fun time on Octopussy with Kate this fall. Down low, it was so hot I rapped to the ground to grab an extra three gallons of water for fear we would run out.
A week later, it was so cold, we put on our portaledge flies one night just to stay warm. "It's too cold to rain," I declared. "The cold front has come through, no way we'll see precip tonight."
Kate was bivied below, travelling a bit light in anticipation of a third member who decided to bail. So she was without bivi sack - which I think she'll agree could have been a big mistake - and her fly didn't have a floor. There were pretty big holes around the six points of suspension, and she complained of the wind blowing up and through from underneath. She did at least have a good sleeping pad.
In the middle of the night, I was awakened by the increasing thunder of water pouring down on my ledge fly. Evidently it had begun raining, and worst of all, we appeared to be in a runoff zone! I was pretty scared, wondering if my fly could survive the pummelling. It went on for what seemed like several minutes, getting louder and stronger! What made it even more scary was the realization that we were in the exact same spot as where Tommy T. and Erik E. got trapped during The Big Storm. I figured I'd be fine, though, with my floored fly, bivi sack, sleeping pad, extra warm clothes and rain gear.
Eventually, the deluge subsided, and I shouted down to Kate in fear, "Holy frig! Are you OK?!"
Her voice rang up merrily, "Yeah, I'm great! How 'bout you?"
We went back to sleep, and in the morning awoke to discover that it had been snow, not rain, pouring down on our ledges! Thank goodness. We took some cool photos, which I'll post, and declared it to be a Rest Day. Plenty of coffee and hot soup was to follow. We later agreed it was the most fun day of the entire wall.
It was so cold that day, I had to put my bottle of cab into my sleeping bag with me for about three hours in order to warm it up to drinking temperature - sheesh. Had I known how cold it would become, I'd've brought a chardonnay instead.
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Dec 29, 2009 - 11:45am PT
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I was there when you guys were up on Tribal Rite. I remember being not worried about you at all, while there were some other parties like up on Salathe and Shield that we weren't so sure about. I remember watching Pete lead the Carrot for like 5 hrs in the Meadow...lol. When I saw the pic with all the screamers I understood.
I forget what we got on that year...but shortly after the weather cleared we hopped on the big stone.
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Gagner
climber
Boulder
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Dec 30, 2009 - 01:05pm PT
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The peregrine story reminded me of a time when Chris Bellizie and I did an early ascent of the PO wall (1980) and we were sitting on our ledges set-up at the Island in the Sky ledge. In a fraction of a second a peregrine flew up from below, obviously oblivious that we were on the ledge, to land on it. At the last second, after it saw us, it stalled out for a sec and then turned and dove away. The bird was less that 6' away from us, and of course it happened in a fraction of a second. That was cool.
Paul
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 30, 2009 - 02:34pm PT
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I remember watching Pete lead the Carrot for like 5 hrs in the Meadow...lol. When I saw the pic with all the screamers I understood.
That Carrot thing is like a gigantic, expando stalactite. If I'd tried to clean the pitch in the normal fashion, it would have closed up and crushed the upper pieces. PTPP had to clean it on rappel, from the top down.
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Dec 30, 2009 - 02:56pm PT
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interesting
pretty cool Paul. They are big beautiful birds up close.
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Chief
climber
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Dec 30, 2009 - 03:04pm PT
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My first El Cap route, Mescalito in the fall of 77.
Scott and I did it right after Mark and Max (eighth ascent?).
Five and a half days of golden bliss.
The NA with Schultz and the PO with Sutton stand out as well.
PB
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wayne w
Trad climber
the nw
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Dec 31, 2009 - 04:19am PT
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They have all been spectacular, but a particularly memorable one was Bad Seed in 98 with Brian McCray and Hans Florine. It was my first push of El Cap, the 5th ascent of the route, and we did it in 19:12. When we topped out I remember blurting out, 'that was fun!' I had the biggest smile on my face, for days.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Dec 31, 2009 - 08:39am PT
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Bad Seed was a great route! Not really too hard - although it has its moments as they all seem to - but a really great line straight up the face, nowhere near as wandering as Bad Sign. Bill Russell's 5/16" buttonheads in the belays were still bomber, so we didn't have to replace anything.
The corner systems on Bad Seed are absolutely superb, some great nailing, and really cool geometry. Sharp edges, too - holy. We completely bypassed hauling to one of the belays, the edge was so nasty.
I remember placing lots of heads and beaks, and oh yes - taping down hooks for pro with this really spiffy blue duct tape!
Kate and I did it faster than you guys, though - I believe our time was 10:12. Good Times on Bad Seed!
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Norwegian
Trad climber
Placerville, California
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Dec 31, 2009 - 09:01am PT
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being inside of the crescent arch on half dome was quite surreal.
the offwidth off the deck was punishing.
bailing in a snowstorm thru the night was epic. rappelling sideways with a haulbag made quick work of me.
in the photo you can see the cloud ceiling lowering over the lip of the dome. helicopter rescues insued the following morning, as a foot of snow covered the spring break hordes.
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
obsessively minitracking all winter at Knob Hill
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The rain was possibly the most sublime hour of my life. Sunshine and intermittent clouds rolled over Tuolumne and the high country; Hoffman and Conness shone between the puffies. A sheet of rain crept around the corner from Cloud's Rest, stalling out around the edge of that piney buttress sticking out into the canyon. The evening sun lit it up with a huge rainbow as I was pulling into the Cave, atop the ramp pitch. Meanwhile, downvalley, Mordor! Evil blackness punctuated with flashes from within had subsumed El Cap and points west. It,too, appeared stationary, at least for the moment. Later I heard they had hail, rain, lightning strikes, the whole bit. I wanted no part of this.
Heaven to the east; hell to the west, and me in the middle counting out lightning strikes from beneath the fangs of the Cave like the Count of Tenaya Canyon: "One! Bwah ha ha, Two!bwah-ha-ha, Three!...Boom!" Eventually Mordor closed in and I rapped back over to the Ramp bivy as dusk settled in. Just as I put myself on rappel and began sliding into the dimness, a huge wave of fog washed up the cliff, enveloping me in the grey nothing...purgatory. No exposure, just quiet oceanic stillness, with occasional flickers of lightning to show me the bags over to which I was jugging. Hopped in the ledge and cracked a cold one.
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Prod
Trad climber
Dodge Sprinter Dreaming
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PFC Caylor
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Mike Lechlinski and I made an early ascent of the Shield (mid-70s), before there were any pin scars. What a location. On one pitch, every pin was a blade or Bugaboo and every last one was tied off.
Another time shortly thereafter, I was on a new route on Watkins with Bridwell, Kauk and Schmitz. We couldn't see but a half a pitch ahead of us most of the time and I couldn't believe the route kept coming together like it did. There was a 5.10a freeway dike that cut across the fact at the 2,500 foot level. Without that the route would have 200 bolts, instead of the 30 or so it has.
Lastly, Hugh Burton and I climbed a new wall in El Gran Trono Blanco, Mexico, and we couldn't even see the line from the ground, and only hoped it was there. It was, though barely, and we had a fantastic time with no rippers. One sling bivy and we were off. I consider that one almost a fluke.
JL
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