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handsome B
Gym climber
Saskatoon, Saskatchawan
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Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 30, 2003 - 04:20pm PT
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Is it possible/wise to attempt the Nose during the end of December?
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Ammon
Big Wall climber
Bay Area
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Nov 30, 2003 - 04:59pm PT
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It's possible but probably not wise (unless it's stellar outside and you know you can get up it in half a day).
It gets really wet in the upper pitches. Everything from above, funnels down most of the route. Waterfalls will appear within minutes. Huge ice can peel off the summit slabs.
I'm not trying to deter you. BUT, it is probably the worst route on El Cap that you would want to be in serious conditions.
Or, you could go for it with a portaledge and expedition fly... all the right gear... and be just fine.
Cheers, Ammon
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Nov 30, 2003 - 07:54pm PT
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The Salathe might be the absolute worst. The Block is in a waterfall, and the Jungle and the Ear get soaked too.
Nose might be doable if it's totally unwintery. (ie If it doesn't rain or snow much in the next month and the weather look totally bomber for a week when you start.)
Peace
karl
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yo
Sport climber
Fresno, CA
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Can't be any worse than Saskatoon in December.
Get a solid forecast and send it. Seemed like it was 70 degrees on the Cap all last February, so it can easily be done if you're not stupid about it.
I wonder what the West Face is like in a storm?
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Flash
Ice climber
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That is an awesome story from Herson!
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weekender
climber
Oaklanc CA
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With a nice window of clear dry weather beforehand, you can reasonably climb the Nose in winter without suffering too much. I've done it twice in winter - one time was really cold but the climbing was fantastic when we were in the sun (see Herson story referenced above); the other time was beautiful dry sunny climbing in t-shirts for the most part(1st week of January.
Likewise, Half Dome in winter is also pretty reasonable if there's been a good period of dry weather before you head up.
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handsome B
Gym climber
Saskatoon, Saskatchawan
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 1, 2003 - 07:22pm PT
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we are looking at a two person party doing the Nose in four days, obviously we will only start if there are five days of good weather ahead of us and we cant see any ice/snow/water on the route. if anyone knows of the current wetness conditions in the valley it would be greatly appreciated, is there snow on the rim?
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WBraun
climber
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It's butt ass cold outside right now at 10:52 PM, but clear. I remember one winter there was this guy soloing it and he got caught in a big ass storm. When he got to the top there was so much snow he couldn't hike off or gave up. He went back to the lip and rappeled the route to get back down. I watched the whole thing. Mark Chappman did it a long time ago and he hiked down in the snow......took him two days to get down from the top as I remember. No, he didn't solo it, can't remember who his partner was. Rappelling the route isn't bad. I remember Steve Grossman hiking up to the top of the nose a few times and rappeling it. He was looking for gear booty. He'd do it from C4 and back in half a day or so.
Werner
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| Messages 1 - 9 of total 9 in this topic |
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