2007 Yosemite climbing season

Discussion Topic

Return to Forum List

This thread has been locked

Messages 21 - 35 of total 35 in this topic

<< First | < Previous | Show All | Next > | Last >>

Kristoffer

Big Wall climber

Blue Jay, California

Feb 21, 2008 - 09:17pm PT

Nice one Aaron, very proud! Maybe I’ll see you around the ditch some time this season.

Zephyr

pimp daddy wayne

climber

The Bat Caves

Feb 21, 2008 - 09:24pm PT

Aaron, you da man! Hope to see you @ the Titanic for some old fashion bullshitin this summer. Peace man.

Ragz

climber

Tartarus, black hole of the internet

Feb 21, 2008 - 10:04pm PT

Your Psych is contagious.

I'm fondling my gear right now :)

aaronj

Big Wall climber

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 21, 2008 - 10:13pm PT

hey er-body.
clay-i won't steal him forever just for less than 24 hrs at a time! haha
wayne- what up homie! im always down for that! hope to see you this spring
minerals-yeah the porcelain rocked! one of my fav solo experiences, thanks for putting up such a stellar route! strange world was rad, by far the most natural route ive done, only 30 holes on the route and almost every belay had 2-3 bolts. the right or flight was hard but i still coulda chopped one rivet! steep as f*#k and good aid. 9 days on route with tons of storms.
i don't know much about daves route but i know the hole count was less than when hell was in session.
it was awesome to be up there with nick simul soloing right next to me. great wall but i totally botched the descent and ended up on the wrong side of the falls in spring and had to back track and wander around for hours dying of lack of beer and ice cream.

nicolamartinez

Big Wall climber

Brazil

Feb 22, 2008 - 12:58pm PT

Yo guys, I´ts been I while since I posted here last time... Yeah, we had lot´s of fun on the Porcelain Wall. We went up there once with no gear to check the aproach, Aaron still had his gear on the top of El Cap, he climbed Native Son... Me and Dave started hiking our loads to the base, set up a nice base camp to the right side of the wall... Got all the water we needed from a snow bank and started fixing. Dave´s route, House of Cards, starts by Sargantana... I fixed till pitch 4, Kohl and Takeda´s anchors had just the bolts, no hangers, the first and second pitches were all mossy and wet, the upper pitches on the slab were kinda hard, specially the one before the tree. a bunch os blind beaks a couple of rivets and a huge hook traverse, it didn´t end there, I still had to bust some free moves on a loose flake and trhow a sling on the loose tree, it took me 4 or 5 tries to get the job done, once I climbed up the small tree I had to throw another sling on the stronger tree and hoping not to take a whipper on the slab, that wouldn´t be nice. Dave decided to wait for his friend Matt while Aaron and myself kept moving camp... From the tree above the thing got very steep, I had to climb the tree and get to the first rivet, as the thing got higher my biggest concern was to fall on the tree. The A4 pitch was also scary and higher up I got to this wide, loose, massive and sharp blocks pointing at me and hollow... The A5 pitch was short, about 35 or 40 meters, felt good on it, some loose and flaky rock to get to the bottom of the big roof. A couple of pitches of blank rock and a massive rivet ladder, good job for those drillers, I had a hard time hooking the hangers with the tip of my fingers and on the top step of my aiders. The highlight of the route was the Yellow Planaria feature, got really strong updrafts that day, my ropes were flying over my head and my bags were going all over making things harder... Oh that yellow feature, 60 meters of a big suffer fest. the corner was blind I almost ran out of blades and beaks, I fell on a fixed head 3 moves from the anchor, it was getting dark and I didn´t, I thought I was going for the big ride but an upside down knifeblade, somethimes I thank God I was born lightweight, had to jummar up back to the pice hoping for the thing not to pop, replaced the head and got to the anchor, this one was alright, all the hangers were there, I decided to clean in the dark, forgot my water bottle and had to clean and haul with my mouth dry as f*#k... Got the day off the next day to enjoy the view and my body was really sore. f*#king smashed my finger placing a circle head to get to the big ledge. Got a storm and couldn´t really climb again. The pitch above the ledge started with a big traverse on a big flake nad going up some rivets and a bunch of hooks climbing the "death block" to get to the anchor. Last pitch was just hard topping out, everything was wet. Couldn´t really see much up there, was foggy and snowing. Misse the trail on the descent, Aaron toped out 2 days before I did and the same thing happened to him, I spent 9 hours with a 80lbs bag on my back, I always overload myself, got to the other side of the falls, could see the tourists but couldn´t traverse, was a big epic, but I lived, oh yeah when I got to the bus stop they were not running anymore, had to walk one more mile to Curry and hitchhiketo camp 4. The monkeys sent. Peace you all and sorry if it was too detailed pitch by pitch. Good job for the firs ascenters, that was one oh the hardest things I´ve climbed. Fun though.

http://www.nicolamartinez.blogspot.com
http://www.susannalantz.com RIP 03/18/2008

aaronj

Big Wall climber

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 22, 2008 - 01:38pm PT

that was great fun wasnt it nick? we had a supergood hang at the base. the snow melt gave us all our water so that was good. i remember watchig nick try and get to the tree, throwing a cam on a long sling while pimping a layback! i was way gripped watching that! remember when i dumped the ledge after blasting and lost the bong in the bergschrund! the sewer pitch was running with so much water drowning was a concern. i got totally hosed becuz my stuff was on the summit of el cap still after an april solo of native son. i went back to get it right after topping out and the fixed lines were gone! so i tried to do the falls trail but the snow was over my head. no dice. went back up to the east ledges with a borrowed rack and rope to try and climb the east ledges but luckily cedar and renan were fixing it! then i could contiue my shuttle of gear directly from the summy of el cap to the base of the porcelain. i believe it was like a 5 day turnaround!

Darnell

Big Wall climber

Chicago

Feb 22, 2008 - 02:33pm PT

Aaron, 21 walls in one year is way proud!! The torch has been passed!!

nicolamartinez

Big Wall climber

Brazil

Feb 22, 2008 - 03:02pm PT

Nice one Aaron... Thank´s for the add´s on the TR bro, so much to say... That was a sick ascent for all of us... It was epic for Aaron to rescue his bags from the top of el cap, I remember watching you on Native Son from the meadow, you weren´t moving cause of that storm... Remember you got your bags from the top and hiked to the base of the Porcelain to join us, you were psyked and not f*#king around... The ringtale cats were there, The tube of fun. You dropped your device and went all the way down to get it, I´m glad you found. You found Eric Kohls beak with his initials on. Aaron kept falling and screaming like a mofo, the placement didn´t want to stick, but you kept trying and got things done. The huge blocks we dropped from up there, there was one that even hit your haul bag... Lot´s of storms... Hope to simul solo something again, was thinking on going highr up and move camp to half dome. Peace and keep adding memories from the good seasons. N

Rich, I´ll never forget the cyclops eye and you waking me up, sumsum bioatch... Hope you´re doing good bro. Peace and much RESPECT. N

Minerals

Social climber

The Deli

Feb 22, 2008 - 03:06pm PT

THIS is what ST is all about! You guys rule!

Hey, I don’t mean to hijack your thread, Aaron. Should I start a new thread on the Porcelain so that we can discuss it more, instead of clogging up your proud 2007 season thread? Mind if I copy your Porcelain posts into the new thread? Nick, is that OK with you?

aaronj

Big Wall climber

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 22, 2008 - 03:14pm PT

yeah for sure dude go for it. ill wait to elaborate on the hand. thanks rich and nice work on zm!

nicolamartinez

Big Wall climber

Brazil

Feb 22, 2008 - 03:24pm PT

Go for it... Nice talking with you all guys. Peace Nick

'Pass the Pitons' Pete

Big Wall climber

like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?

Feb 22, 2008 - 09:25pm PT

"After a fitful few hours of sleep we continued on the west buttress escape instead of the grovely, disgusting finish to the Dihedral wall proper."

What? You don't like grovelling up chimneys filled with dead trees?

"My first four routes of the season had taken a huge toll on my body. My hands were a mess and I was forced to rest for two weeks until I could heal up."

Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!

"We had a unique perspective on our friends Pete and Kate on WSR so we decided to chill for the rest of the day. It is surprisingly easy to laze away the day on a 10x20 granite perch a thousand feet in the sky. We milled around on the ledge and scoped the next days climbing until darkness fell and we settled in with only a rasta-bivy bag each to keep us "warm."

Dude! You guys looked SO MISERABLE up there! Kate and I thought for sure you were gonna bail, and we were surprised the next day to see you send it! Nice!

Sorry to hear about your shoulder, dude. When you take chances and push the envelope, you substantially increase the risk. Good luck in your recovery, and thanks for a great read.

Cheers,
Pete

P.S. The Captain looks very cold, nasty, formidable and intimidating today.... brrr..... I hiked up to the base yesterday and the water was just pouring off.

wayne w

Trad climber

the nw

Feb 23, 2008 - 09:04am PT

Thanks for posting up about your inspiring and most impressive achievements Aaron. While hiking down to the valley floor along the base of El Cap last fall after hearing some of these stories from you I was shaking my head in amazment.

May your shoulder heal quickly.

Look forward to seeing you in the Spring!