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hollyclimber
Big Wall climber
Yosemite, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 6, 2008 - 12:33am PT
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(Due to closure of SuperTopo I plan to move trip reports to www.hollyclimber.com , however this site does not exist yest as of the June 1, 2019 closure)
I just got down from climbing El Cap via a fast ascent of the West Buttress, so I thought I better write up the trip report from last week’s TRIPLE TRIPLE TRIPLE, before I totally forget the story.
On Wednesday, June 25th, Lorna and Sako and I went up for a climb of the Triple Direct on El Capitan. We had been planning a hauling day and two days of climbing, so it was three girls, three routes and three days. The TRIPLE TRIPLE TRIPLE had been talked about for a couple of months and the excitement (and the pressure) was building. We went up during a very smoky time in the Valley, which made everything seem a bit more ominous than usual.
As it turned out, we didn’t commit to the climb until Tuesday morning (as far as I knew) so there was definitely no time for a hauling day. We met for a rack up in Camp 4 on Tuesday night at 6 pm. We had lots of guys looking on and I did put one to work replacing the cord on my fi-fi hook, but for the most part, we had a full peanut gallery while we packed.
So, we met at 3:45 am on Wednesday morning to get started. By 5 am or so, just before true daylight, Lorna was leading the first pitch on the Freeblast. We decided to haul the route, and with three people, this didn’t really cost us much time. I had hauled it before and knew it would go fine.
Here is Sako, getting ready to go!
And here is the Lorna-rator, firing the Freeblast. It was déjà vu for me and Lorna, as we had done the Shield two weeks prior (see photo trip report here http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=618730&msg=624667#msg624667); and she led the entire Freeblast plus the next pitch on that day too.
While Lorna was climbing, someone dropped one of the cam hooks! We could see the cam hook at the base of Pine Line. I was keeping an eye on it. Our friend Heidi planned to come and get our backpacks, so we called her to ask her to get the cam hook too. Here is our cam hook from the top of pitch 3 or so.
And, then these guys came along and only because I was afraid they were going to walk right past our cam hook did I shout down to them that we had dropped it. It was inches from them, but they couldn’t find it. I shouted down to not worry and that I would send someone to get it. Funny, minutes later, literally, Heidi showed up at the base, walked straight to the cam hook and picked it up. I could hear the guys ask her where she found it! Pretty funny. Right under their noses. Luckily the cam hook was rescued for a future adventure.
Here’s the obligatory shot of Middle Cathedral. But for Sako, the ever present Middle was a new sight to her virgin El Cap eyes.
It was fun to have three people on the climb to have someone to chat with at belays and to share the work. Here’s Sako belaying Lorna on the pitch of the Freeblast that leads to the Half Dollar. (with my favorite old haulbag that I brought out of retirement just for this climb because it is the PERFECT size that Metolius no longer makes)
And here’s Lorna and Sako at that belay just before the Half Dollar.
Here’s Lorna on a déjà vu shot, as we have one very similar from the Shield outing, of her getting ready to lead "C1 grass is fun" up to Mammoth.
After Lorna fired the Freeblast plus one pitch, Sako put in a good lead. Then, I took us to Grey Ledges. It was already getting a bit late when we hit Grey Ledges. This is where Lorna and I spent the night when we did the Shield, and we had pre-hauled to Mammoth on that outing. So, we had already done quite a bit more work on this climb by the time we got to Grey, but according to our plan, we were pressing on.
So, here’s Lorna leading us up from Grey, and we are now well in the Muir section of the route.
We climbed on the Muir well into the dark and I had a lot of fun (ok not really) doing all sorts of traversing and lowering out in the dark, including a pitch with top rope tension but no pro. Sako did an awesome job belaying me on all those “takes” “lower slowly” “lower a little more” “stop” “Ok lower” “ok lower more”. It was kind of knarly. And, because of the traversing nature of the pitches, Lorna had to get lowered out on the bag after it was tied in short. So, it was hard work for everyone in the dark.
Finally, we got to our bivy, just below Camp 4, finishing the Salathe and Muir sections of the route. We must have got in around 12:45 am and I was sleeping by 1:45 am. We all woke up and got into action at 5 am in the pre dawn, without alarms. Maybe having no sleeping bags helped with that! Here’s a picture of the morning scene. By the way, this bivy is far and away better than Camp 4!
Before we started climbing at 6 am, the camera caught Sako and Lorna being very grumpy.
OK, really that was a joke. Actually we were all having a great time.
So, we knew through the grapevine that Hans and Yugi were going to make an attempt on the record on Thursday, and this was our day on the Nose section of the route. Since we were starting our climbing pretty early and very high on the route, the only question was where we would be when they passed us.
Here is the first sighting of Yugi!
And the first sighting of Hans!
I was leading the roof when Yugi came up. We had asked Hans on first sighting what he wanted us to do. He said “Just cheer for us!”. We also asked Yugi if we should delay leading the roof and he waved us on. And, as he approached me from below I asked what to do. I was able to get a hook move to the side to get out of his way. It was pretty fun to be passed by them.
Here is a picture of the crowd at Tom’s van, taken from the Great Roof.
And, my shoes at the same magnification while leading the Great Roof.
After Hans and Yugi were gone, Lorna cleaned the Great Roof.
Sako hauled the Great Roof for her first El Cap haul, on her second day on El Cap.
At a hanging belay, Sako and I compared shoes.
We also noticed a pink blip lower on the Nose. What is this rope? Where is it and why? I want it because it is pink. You can even see the bolts in this picture. The rope was pretty far away, it looked like it would be much smaller, but the camera revealed it as a full on rope.
The Nose pitches were going pretty fast. Here is Lorna leading off of Camp 6 to do the Changing Corners pitch.
I did most of the Nose leading to balance out Lorna’s big lead-fest from Day 1, but I don’t like leading the Changing Corners, so that helped a lot for Lorna to do that pitch. I don’t like the Alcove much either, but Lorna sent me up there and it was a lot better than I remember. I guess I hadn’t been on the Nose since 2003, so that’s quite a few El Cap routes ago and I must be better now! That was kind of fun, to see how pitches that were hard for me in the past were much easier this time around.
Here’s me wearing my new warmy shirt that my friend Sue gave me. Its perfect for an extra layer!
This is Sako following the next to last pitch of the route.
Its about to get dark. Lorna led the last pitch and we got full darkness during that time. Because the pitch is long, we couldn’t hear her when she was done. Normally, in the absence of verbal communication, the haul line going up tells the follower that the line is fixed. But, since we had our free jugger going up the haul line, we didn’t have even that hint. So, we waited a long time. Finally we went for it, and everything was fine. We all topped out around 10 pm, absolutely exhausted. We ate a little and settled in for a very cold second shivy. Sleeping on the top in a bivy sack with no sleeping bag and no pad is no fun. I won’t be doing it again if I can help it!
In the morning, it was clean up, pack up.
And, drink some beer!! THANKS ANDY AND JO FOR THE BEER!!
And so, with a second bivy on top and a hike down on Day three, we accomplished the TRIPLE TRIPLE TRIPLE. Next time though, I would do the climbing in three days instead of two days for a more fun pace! The Triple Direct was pretty fun, and seemed to me to be perfect as an intro to El Cap route.
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L
climber
Soy latte center of the Known Universe
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Utterly fantastic TR Holly!!!!
You, Sako and Lorna rock big time! And to get passed by the Speed Team--totally amazing! What fantastic timing.
The photos were simply great--loved the one of Lorna under the great roof. Glad to see her Botox lip is just a pink dot now ;-)
Thanks again for taking us along on your climb. Really enjoyed it.
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pimp daddy wayne
climber
The Bat Caves
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TOTALY BITCHIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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LuckyPink
climber
the last bivy
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woo HOOOOOOO... good goin' ladies
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BKW
Mountain climber
Central Texas
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Awsome, way to go girls.
Totally badass.
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wildone
climber
Where you want to be
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Good goin Holly and Sako! Can't say that for your other friend cause I don't know her. Good goin' anyway. Glad you got the hang of this trip report thing Holly. I miss you-maybe I'll run into you again someday.
Ben Montoya
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Shack
Big Wall climber
Reno NV
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Awesome.
"I'm not worthy".
*hangs head in shame*
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swill
Social climber
Colorado
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So cool. You do the best trip reports on this sight.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Speed climbing, with a camera - great stuff. Thanks for sharing.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Very nicely done. You guys are tearin' the captain up. Kick ass!
I especially like the shot of Middle Cathedral. Unique vantage point.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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A very fine report, plus it looks you were having lots of fun.
The fourth-last photo, of Sako jumaring the second-last pitch, is a bit unusual. The rock etc is in focus, but she's moving so fast that she's blurred!
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Just so COOL Holly, L, and S!
What a blast.
I've really enjoyed your reports this summer.
Keep it alive!!!!!
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Prod
Social climber
Charlevoix, MI
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Great TR. What next?
Prod.
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elcap-pics
climber
Crestline CA
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As usual this season... the girls are out in force!! Nice report as usual Holly...
Tom
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PhilG
Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
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Great job, ladies!
Excellent and beautiful trip report.
Way to go, Sako!!
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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Super enjoyed your Thread and pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Way cool. I'm amazed at all the gear you climb with.
In the picture of Loma starting on the Changing Corners pitch, what's that laminated piece of paper? A route topo? What is the coil of purple rope for?
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