Your favorite trip reports!!!

One final note… it is a special thing to be able to climb El Capitan. There is so much spray about it that I think it becomes just another rock for people to conquer. But for me, it was about feeling the rhythm of one’s body and finding its balance and flow on the rock… an active meditation of the vertical kind. It was about the swifts that soared in the evening sky, the fiery sunsets, the powerful updraft of the wind that lifts one’s portaledge, the little El Cap wall frogs, one’s own personal Milky Way, and the hyper-focus of one’s mind. I thought I would feel empowered after finishing the route, but not so much… I’m profoundly humbled. I struggled greatly through this climb, and was lucky on many incidences.

You can say that Zodiac is a piece of cake, but I was so proud, when I alone topped out in October 2006. I felt a certain calm contentment after my first climb in Yo thinking that I couldn't climb anything better... and I was wrong.
In that October, drinking my last coffee in the Caff just before setting off on my journey home, Tom asked me – What next after the Zod, Regan? What next? Then during the next 6 years he asked me the same question continuously - season after season. Till the last autumn, all my answers were written on the El Cap, but when I finished my MescaMondatta last year, I answered Tom differently– "I am going on Baffin Island".
This is a trip report regarding that answer...

The last pitch of the Direct, before it meets the upper couloir, was the crux , then and now. I started leading that pitch with Tobin belaying on a stance below the big corner, about the same place indicated in the recent photos. I got to Steve’s last gear, where he had lowered off a couple of days before, a tied off ice screw with a carabiner on it.

Above that was a 4 inch wide strip of ice that filled the corner flush to the edges of the crack. Approximately thirty higher, at the top of the corner, right where Huey battles in the video to get picks into the thin ice patch, there was a gigantic overhang of rotten, black-stained snow and ice. It overhung at least 10 feet out from the rock and it looked nightmarish and absolutely unclimbable.

So I looked for another way. The right wall was featureless, but it seemed like there might be a weakness on the left wall: a thin crack system parallel to the corner. This crack system is prominent in the recent photos, but back then it was concealed under a sheet of ice, an inch or two thick. There was a one or two foot foot wide ledge out on that left wall and it looked like I might be able to get to it, stand up on it, and see how it looked from there.

So, I tension traversed out from the screw, got to the ledge, and pretty soon I was committed to either standing up on that ledge or taking a nasty fall back into the corner straight onto Steve’s tied off screw, which was about as solid as it sounds.

I was truly gripped when I stood up on that ledge. It is dead vertical there and I was able to mantle/balance up onto it, and get the picks of the Terrordactyls into the verglas. It was time to get some gear in, but there was nothing to be seen. I held on with one pick and chipped the ice off around the crack with the other Terror. A thin crack appeared and I managed to bang a pin in and lowered off to clean, since I had used up all of our meager gear...

Everybody here is familiar with Patagonia especially the Fitzroy Massiff with the bustling resort town El Chalten at its base. That is "Chamonix Patagonia." Then there is the Torres del Paine which certainly need no introduction. Venture north a degree of latitude or two to the North Patagonia Ice Cap and you have a different and diverse world of mountains, glaciers, rain forests and rolling plains reminiscent of the Serengeti.

Enjoy the following pictorial and come visit!

In 1971, I learned that Fred Beckey, renowned Seattle Mountaineer: had done a Grade V route on Elephant’s Perch. Rumor had it: a convenient belay ledge capped each 150-foot lead. Before the mid 1970’s there was no Sawtooth Range guidebook. Other than an occasional note in climbing journals, climbing history in the Sawtooth Range was all word of mouth.

While climbing in the area in 1973, I spotted a line of weakness on Elephant’s Perch that I assumed was “The Becky Route.” It took me two years to find the right partner for the route.

Here's a few bits of advice which may prove helpfull.

1) Partner Selection is Key;
Strong legs, a willing mind, & clear vision
Are among the more desirable attributes, so choose wisely.
2) Motoring Arrangements
3) Lodging
4) Good Food

I have never trusted Leprechauns. With their abnormally short legs and sneaky lookin grins.....the oversized buckles and green top hats....they just bug me. But in the hills beyond Fresno there is a tale that tells of hidden teasure. A land of green and granite that holds a pot of gold for the boulderer with a sense of adventure.

This Saturday Macronut and I sought to plunder some goods in a new area ne'er visited by human climbers. A neverland of moss, wildflowers and pixies. A boulder garden miles deep, a land of magic sprinkled with granite treats for the wanting hardman.

We left home cloaked in the inky black of dawn, and were soon passing into the realm of the leprechaun, seeking his hoard of fresh FAs.

This is a winter bouldering paradise. Auberry, CA is the closest town about twenty minutes away. The boulders are a polished granite similar to the Valley. It requires that delicate balance between strength and finesse. Pull too hard and you pop off and too soft results the same. Lip traverses, crimps, some cracks, and some water problems are what make this place great. Many of the boulders have sh#t landings, so bring your friends and pads. Multiple pads are used to fill in holes on some problems.