Free Climbing The Nose - Video

As I became engrossed in exploring unusual techniques and body positions on this pitch, I was increasingly appreciative of its extraordinary nature. Climbing it free would involve an ingenuity and technical finesse that I rarely, if ever, encountered on any other route. After numerous tries over a three-day period, I discovered a bizarre sequence of moves involving delicate smears, stems, back-stepping, cross-stepping, laybacking, arm bars, pinching, palming, etc. Ironically, what initially appeared a pitch that would be desperate for a small person turned out to be a unique expanse of rock that almost seemed custom-designed for someone of my body dimensions and background in climbing.

Meanwhile, Brooke focused his efforts on his own face variant to the left since he figured that the dihedral would be a hopeless investment of his time and energy. Despite intense heat. I was eventually able to climb this pitch with only one fall and felt confident that it would be possible to free climb it under cooler conditions. Brooke and I decided to hike down to the Valley floor to attempt the route from the ground.

This time, we were well prepared with food, water and equipment and we had a much better strategy for budgeting time and energy. Once again, I found myself dangling at the belay 2000 feet above the ground under the Great Roof. But this time, I managed to lead it on my first try. At the end of the day, I led the Glowering Spot while I was well warmed up, thereby eliminating the burden of having to climb it the first thing in the morning, as I did with Simon.

The morning of our final mid-September day, I woke at Camp Five, staring straight up the giant dihedral to the pitch above Camp Six. I had dreamt that I had free climbed this pitch and felt a strong sense of excitement about what was to unfold. Sure enough, just as in my dream, everything flowed together perfectly. The weather was cool and I felt well concentrated as I linked together every move on my first try.