briham89
Big Wall climber
santa cruz, ca
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From my post a few down:
Climbed this yesterday (3/1/2013) and it was enjoyable with the mild winter we have been having. However, around 12:30pm the wind picked up and blew horsetail fall over on to us. At this point we had just finished the seventh pitch. I got soaked at the belay while my partner linked the next two pitches. Luckily, above seven there wasn't much water hitting the route so it really wasn't a big deal, but pitch seven looked soaked as I was leaving the belay.
If you aren't above pitch seven, and the wind starts blowing you are likely to get soaked.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Oso Flaco, While I haven't climbed the route in a "normal" winter (i.e. one with at least as much snow as we have now), I know many who have. The water from Horsetail Falls can present a problem if the wind is blowing, but I have climbed when the Falls were going, and remained out of the spray. In part, that depends on how fast you climb, and when you start. In my experience, there's more water blowing toward the route later in the day.
I would, however, emphasize Ed's comments about the East Ledges. They're still the best descent, but there are spots that I'm quite certian are slippery and scary now, so make sure you are in good enough shape to have plenty left in your physical and mental tank when you start the descent.
John
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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the route generally is very wet in a "normal" winter from the Horsetail Falls spray.
care also should be given descending the East Ledges as there is little margin for slipping on the descent.
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Oso Flaco
Gym climber
Atascadero, CA
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Is it possible to climb this route in winter? Anyone know if horsetail falls runs and soaks the route in winter? What about snow on the East Ledges descent or the approach? Specifically thinking about February or early March. Thanks!
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benbro
Social climber
San Francisco/South Lake Tahoe
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First time doing this route on Sunday and what a great day out. Approach is steep but went much quicker than we thought, we used the Fish topo but had a copy of the Supertopo as well for reference. We took a single 60m, doubles to 2" and one 3" (could have used one more 3" on hindsight).
We got a bit off route on another crack system linking pitches 2/3, inadvertently skipping he 5.6 left-hand traverse pitch by continuing straight up through a 5.8/5.9ish section, stretching our 60m rope to the absolute limit (not recommended w/o a 70m) and ended up just below the giant belay ledge for pitch 4 - good to know you can do that for passing parties though!
The rest of the climb went well, a bit of spray from the falls when the wind picked up on pitch 5 belay ledge but nothing unmanageable, the climb wasn't wet at all.
Highlights for me (using Fish topo) were Pitch 6 and pitch 8 - both have stellar exposure and beautiful, interesting climbing.
East ledges decent was surprisingly easy to figure out, just arduous and takes a while.
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Alpamayo
Trad climber
Davis, CA
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Perfectly dry.
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Some friends just climbed it, so can't be to bad.
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Oso Flaco
Gym climber
Atascadero, CA
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Anyone know if the East Buttress of El Cap is dry right now? Thanks!
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Paul B
Big Wall climber
Sheffield, UK
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At the top of P5 the gully seems a lot closer than 50ft, it's literally just around the corner from the tree and it seems unnecessary to belay then move. Instead just go straight here and belay off good cams (gold + blue BDs C4s).
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briham89
Big Wall climber
santa cruz, ca
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Climbed this yesterday (3/1/2013) and it was enjoyable with the mild winter we have been having. However, around 12:30pm the wind picked up and blew horsetail fall over on to us. At this point we had just finished the seventh pitch. I got soaked at the belay while my partner linked the next two pitches. Luckily, above seven there wasn't much water hitting the route so it really wasn't a big deal, but pitch seven looked soaked as I was leaving the belay. Also, at the start of pitch 6 don't move too far left. You climb the right side of the gully. I ended up off route to the left and followed a pretty good 5.7 hand crack. Luckily there was a spot for a decent belay and we were able to climb up a bit and then traverse back on route. Overall, a good route, with varied rock type and climbing techniques.
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PellucidWombat
Mountain climber
Draperderr, by Bangerter, Utah
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On P9 I climbed the OW variation last weekend. For those curious to try it, it's pretty fun, and requires more mixed techniques of liebacking, stemming, and reaching in deep for jams and hidden holds rather than doing that much real OW technique.
If you want to try this variation, bring 2 #4 C4 Camalots for pro. Bring a #5 C4 Camalot to move along with you on the middle part if you want to sew it up.
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icaro
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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I climbed this lovely route last week (i think 5/4) and about 4 or 5 (6, 7, 8, 9, 10) of the pitches in the middle of the route were soaking wet from thick showers blown from horsetail falls... pretty much all the water on route was due to the breezy conditions though, so it should be getting drier, if not totally dry if the wind isn't blowing very much. The conditions on route made it considerably more spicy and cold on an otherwise relatively hot day... those wet pitches made the 10b section on pitch 2 seem like a total cakewalk!!
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Nice write up John on the East Buttress John.
Here is a bit I wrote when Jeff Foott and I climbed it in 1961, quite an early ascent I believe. I remember vividly the descent down the East Ledges in the dark so we could make it to a Camp 4 party. Foot's current squeeze was waiting at the road for us. Priorities mate!
"By the summer of 1960 we had already climbed a number of routes in the Valley. I always figured that since Jeff was two years older than me, 16, he must be wiser and the go-to guy if we got in a jam. Always worked! The following year we climbed the East Buttress of El Cap together, and felt an attempt of Fairview was in order. I remember the night before we climbed the East Buttress. Kamps came over and gave us a small pep talk. I think he was trying to assure us that we would have no problems but to be careful with a big C. Uncle Bob keeping watch over the newbies. Much appreciated to this day."
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Just finishing a book with Peter Croft (The Trad Climber's Bible) and this is a story (unedited, 1st draft) from that book (due out in 2013.
East Buttress, El Capitan
The East Buttress of El Capitan ascends the far right margin of the monolith. The real business is out left – home of the most celebrated big wall climbs on earth. An ascent of the East Buttress cannot earn you bragging rights to having climbed El Cap; but you do mount some 1,200 feet up the Big Stone, top out and descend via the fabled East Ledges, the very same as if you were climbing the Captain for real. So in a kind of flanking maneuver, you do in fact climb El Capitan.
The East Buttress was a likely challenge early on in my Yosemite career. I had done a handful of longer free routes but had yet to climb the Nose or Salathe or any of the proper trade routes up 3,000 foot-high El Cap. Like many before and after, the East Buttress was a stepping stone to the big time looming, I hoped, in my future. But looking past those stepping stones is a sure way to fall off them, as I would soon discover - the hard way.
One of the boons of trad routes is learning how your ascent fits into the continuum. Once you’ve scaled a legendary climb, you do a virtual lap every time you remember or read your notes afterwards – and the notes of others as well. In this regard the history of the East Buttress is rich and worth mentioning.
As it happened, Yosemite pioneer Al Steck, emboldened by his victories on Sentinel (1950) and Yosemite Point Buttress (1952), quite naturally looked to El Cap. In 1952, the main face out left was far too huge and steep for the gear and mentality of the time. But according to 60s Yosemite climber/historian Steve Roper, “the beautiful black-and-gold buttress on the far eastern flank showed distinct cracks and chimneys on its lower section. Higher, the prospective route blended smoothly into the wall, but here also the rock looked broken and perhaps climbable.”
Steck’s initial effort with Bill Dunmire, Bill and Dick Long, ended when Dunmire took a “zipper” fall on the first pitch, ripping out a string of pitons, nearly hitting the ground and ending up in the Yosemite hospital minus a few quarts of blood, with a bad concussion and a bruised shoulder. Steck returned with Willi Unsoeld (of future Everest fame). The pair battled half way up the wall before rain and waterfalls drove them off. Steck returned a third time, with Unsold, Bill Long and Will Siri. Bivouacking twice on the route, and using lots of aid, they reached the summit on June 1, 1953. Eleven years later, Frank Sacherer, “Father of modern free climbing,” along with Wally Reed, “freed the entire route with hardly a pause.” Ever since, the East Buttress of El Capitan, Grade 4, 5.10, was a Yosemite free climb’s on every hardman’s tic list.
I snagged my Idylwild friend Dean Fidelman (aka, Bullwinkle) and we hitchhiked down to El Cap and marched up to the Nose and another twenty minutes out right along the base, quickly gaining altitude on a narrowing ramp ending at “The Edge of the World." From there, the East Buttress ascends directly up a prominent, symmetrical bombay chimney. Go twenty feet past this start and you pitch off a 1,000ft cliff.
Back then the Yosemite ethic was safety and efficacy, which some of us interpreted as, "Use the least amount of gear humanly possible and climb just as fast as you can." Fools considered this the boldest strategy, and for a time, we tried to outdo each other. Dean and I brought one rope, several slings, about eight assorted nuts and no pack, no water and no food. Aside from swami belts and chalk bags, we had nothing else whatsoever. I didn’t even wear a shirt, nor drag along sneakers for the long hike down.
I shot up the first pitch and stemmed right over the 5.10 at the start of pitch two, not bothering to place protection. Up above the route wandered from crack to flake to shallow corner. I was counting on a load of fixed pins; there were none and the few nuts I brought along were mostly the wrong size so the pro was thin to lacking – two or three pieces for 150 foot pitches. I got eaten alive by piss ants at the belay tree atop pitch two, and never found those hoped-for fixed pins till pitch 6.
But this was great climbing for sure, way out there on that face and so high off the deck and pretty continuous. We could never rap off the thing with one rope and eight nuts, half of them wires, which added excitement to the effort.
In a couple hours we were nearing the top. Right around pitch 9 or 10, we ran into the famous “Knobby Wall.” I had grown up looking at Himalayan hero Willi Unsold pulling up this steep dark face with the great sweep of the Southwest buttress of El Cap towering behind him, and I was onto those knobs like all get out. It was glorious, and I thought it all wrong and cowardly that, evidenced by a string of rusty ring angle pitons, the route veered off right when the knobs kept on straight above. I took the direct line, of course, feeling like Hermes, loving life and climbing and all of creation when all at once the knobs ran out, and there was no crack and no pro, and I was out maybe forty feet off a fixed ring angle peg from old Willie Unsold’s very rack, and down below Bullwinkle was belaying off a bunk wired nut and antediluvian soft iron peg that would probably blow if I took the big one.
If this were a narrative, I could write five pages about our close call, and the ghastly experience of down-climbing to slightly better holds, finally pulling a sketchy traverse, by the skin of my teeth, to escape off the holdless wall and back onto the normal route. I had made a jackass, rookie error way off the ground, and I knew it.
Thankfully, while rapping down the east ledges to the valley floor, I understood in a flash that there was no crime in making a mistake so long as I immediately course-corrected. And if this trip report illustrates nothing more, it underscores the danger of going off half-cocked, mistaking raw climbing ability for mastery. Probably because I had the daylights scared out of me, I came to immediately appreciate that long, trad rock climbs of any grade or angle are deadly serious affairs. Route finding, placing adequate protection, building bomber anchors, minimizing risks and managing time and enthusiasm are much more the marks of mastery than running the rope into a dead end and having to perform last ditch heroics to save the team.
I wouldn’t have been the first to die for such impudence.
That day on the East Buttress was when I started to grow all the way up as a rock climber, where my cockiness, another word for recklessness, ran its natural course and my childish gusto blossomed into respect. I would go onto climb El Capitan many times after that first foray on the East Buttress, but I never came so close to disaster as on that Knobby Wall. And I would never again underestimated the seriousness of a big rock climb, or assume that if holds were there I could simply pull on through, no problem.
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Cascade Mountains and Monterey Bay
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did this wonderful route several times in the early 60s
once with Chris Frederics
returned with Frank Sacherer to try and free it...we didn't quite
(Frank was encouraging me to do all the East Ridges in one week...but i never went up to do the East Ridge of Higher Cathedral Rock)
while i was in the Tetons, Frank managed the FFA
shortly afterwards Royal and Liz and I did the 2nd FA
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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as of Sunday May 6th 2012 it looked dry enough to climb
but it depends on what you consider "dry enough"
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cencalclimber
climber
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Ok, so it was wet last month. Any know if it has dried out by now? Was hoping to get up there this next weekend!
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PellucidWombat
Mountain climber
Draperderr, by Bangerter, Utah
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Last Monday afternoon Horsetail Falls was flowing strong and spraying water all over the route.
[Edit: The area looked pretty dry as of April 22]
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RMLeahy
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Probably the wettest route in the Valley right now.
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Falcon16
Trad climber
Kingsburg, ca
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Anyone know if its dry right now?
Thanks!
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anilk
Trad climber
Santa Barbara, CA
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Has anyone climbed this recently? I was told of rock-fall last year in this area, is the approach still the same?
Thanks!
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Sonic
Trad climber
Golden, Co
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Do it!! Awesome route. Cant wait till I can link this with the mort!
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tornado
climber
lawrence kansas
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all dry. I bet you'll have the route all to yourself this coming weekend.
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cedric
Trad climber
LOS ALTOS
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Anyone knows if the waterfall is still running?
Thanks !
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karodrinker
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
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I'm sure it would be, get on it! Such a fun climb up old featured rock
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jfailing
Trad climber
PDX
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Anyone know if this route is dry right now?
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Fishy
climber
Tasmania
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Climbed it last week of June. Brilliant route, with a bit of everything - somehow felt like the essence of what long Yos moderates are all about.
Several pitches in the middle were getting some light spray from the falls when the wind picked up late morning, but not enough to stop yoou.
Biggest issue was the ant tree!!! In actual fact, it was not actually a tree, but an entire ant continent - the little blighters were swarming over every surface for 5 yards in every direction from the tree itself.
They also covered the next short section of crack above the tree, and of course the rope runs through them, and so as the second comes up you continually schlepp ants up to you - there is no escaping them! Took us 20 mins just to get the worst of them off bodies/ropes/camelbacks - we weren't finally rid of them for another 2 pitches.
Good luck - climb fast through the ants - great route!
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Highlife
Trad climber
California
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Route is completely soaked after the first 5 pitches.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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The normal semi-hanging belay station for the Nose pitch is tucked under the diorite bulge at the bottom of the obvious crack.
I took the time to excavate a much more comfortable belay stance on a footledge about twenty feet down and left of the normal spot.
This alternative allows you to climb one of the best pitches without mucking around with an awkward belay. Much mo betta!
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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I also did this route back in the dark ages..1986. Other than that one move right off of the belay on pitch 2, I never thought that there was any 5.9 above, and I basically soloed it with a partner that I had just taught how to belay.
It is a beautiful climb all the way, and that section climbing those huge dinner plate jugs might be the funnest thing ever.
I think that it is totally doable for the masses. Just grab a piece of gear on that single crux move and enjoy the rest.
I think that there are two long old routes in the valley to aspire to. The East Buttress and the Steck-Salathe, which are both unreal fun. Of the two, the East Buttress is far less sustained and pretty much a beauty the whole way. Easier than the Steck Salathe in my opinion.
Go do it! You will be happy you did.
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California, now Ireland
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Not beta but I did in back in 1976 and I rate in five stars (4-1/2 at least)
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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here's a TR from Gary and my trip up EBEC
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=406258
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Chris McNamara
SuperTopo staff member
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Great photo trip report here:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=696807
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Oscar
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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I'm planning to do the E buttress in October, do any body knows if there is still a plague of ants by the second pitch?.
Thank you
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summerprophet
Mountain climber
Cali Via Canada
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We climbed the East Butress August 4th 2007.
We followed the fishtopo (available for free from his website), with the only exception being the linking of pitch 4 with the lower half of pitch 5 to belay under a large roof.
Overall, the anchors are not the best as they are frequently behind fractured rock, or large (suspect) blocks. Be prepared to build 4 (or 5) piece anchors.
Pitch breakdown
1. {5.9} Climb the chimney, not to bad as far as valley chimneys go. Lots of small and midsize gear, face holds, and hand/fist cracks make for a pleasant jaunt. The crux of the pitch is actually more of a stemming problem right below the anchor, don't let the chimney scare you off. If you solo the 5.6 section to a treed ledge, you can pull enough rope to drop both ends to the belayer and haul the packs while he/she climbs.
2. {5.10b} From the piton anchor, you are immediately into the crux. This is more problem solving then stamina, scratch your head for a while and figure out the moves. (hint: go high with feet on crimpers) From there an awkward shuffle up a groove. Fingerlocks and sidepulls are available, climb to a large comfortable ledge at the second tree. (early morning shade)
3. {5.6} Traverse out right then down, then right to easy face climbing on a beautiful wall. After encountering a fixed pin, continue right, and stay on the spectacular arete until easier ground, and a huge ledge with a tree. (20 ft of simul climbing required)
4. {5.8} Climb up the path of least resistance. A few variations on this, and a few epics have been told of this pitch. I headed up the cracks on the left to about a height of 25m before traversing across the slab rightward to attain another crack system. Continue up the 5.8 hand cracks to a spectacular (yet uncomfortable) sling belay under a roof.(shaded)
5. {5.5} Climb hand and fist cracks to a large ledge below the headwall. When in doubt go right. (short pitch)
6. {5.9} Personal crux. Start up a sustained arcing finger and hand crack/lip to the base of the chimney. The gear is better than it looks from the belay. Scramble up easy ground to the chimney. Continue up the chimney until a solid fist jam brings your feet to small edges heading left. Go left, and pull some difficult face/crack climbing up past a few pins. You will end up back in the chimney on easier ground (avoiding the offwidth)and then climb up to a small ledge under a broken headwall.
7. {5.5} Climb left under the headwall, trending upwards on easy ground. Build anchor at the large ledge with spectacular views.
8. {5.7} Head right across the first pillar, then up, over and down the second. Knobs, scallops and cracks on incredible exposed ground take you to some broken ledges. Keep going to the very large ledge with lots of loose rock and blissful afternoon shade.
9. {5.7} Climb upward and to the right of the large block/pillar hanging above you. A small chimney leads to mixed face and crack moves to the top.
Rack-
set and a half of nuts.
two smallest C3's very useful for pitches 2 and 3
doubles from #1 TCU to #2 camalot
single #3 camalot
60 meter rope
long runners
lots and lots of water
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Fingerlocks
Trad climber
where the climbin's good
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The ants at the top of pitch two are plentiful and active right now. I wouldn’t advise belaying anywhere near them, instead it would be better to go ahead and do the short easy pitch three and belay there. No ants seem to live at that belay, but you will probably drag some up there on your rope, and legs, and arms....
The water fall is nothing more than a drip now. During the afternoon a few drops would blow over. These would glint in the sunlight which was cool to watch, but the rock stayed dry.
A yellow/green and a green/blue offset Alien would be quite useful.
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Alexey
climber
San Jose, CA
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in march you'll be scrued by Horse Tail Falls on this route
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lizard fiasco
Trad climber
Berkeley, CA
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I notice there aren't many March TR's. Has anyone climbed this recently or in early spring of past years? Any beta on route moisture is much appreciated...
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Duke-
Trad climber
SF, aka: Dirkastan
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Dave G. and I were rained off of this climb a couple of years ago (Pt7 ?). We had to leave a few nuts, but it was still a great day.
-D
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Grahm Doe
Sport climber
Just South Of Heaven
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If you can bring a 70 meter rope and refrence super topo you can link belay station 1 to 3, 3 to 5, 5 to 7 with a little easy simal climbing, 8 to 10, 11 to 13, for a total of 8 mega pitches. 1st timers can expect a 12 hour day car to car. It was bone dry today with perfect temps...
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luca
Trad climber
milano italy
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I climbed the route on the 1 september with my young daughter marta aged 12. it went a big adventure, 14 ours from car to car!
we enjoied a lot the beautiful and committing climbing (we aren't used to crack climbing...). We aided the 5.10 crux, but it is very well safe with a fixed nut high on the left crack so you can try free without problem. on belay 11 the two piton are missing and you cannot put good pro.
great route, good steck and company, great sacherer FFA 1965
rappelling D we found fixed ropes but we preferred ours 60 meters.
the topo is very good and clear, you cannot miss the route.
beautiful day
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George Bell
Trad climber
Colorado
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Be wary on this route in the spring. Even if the waterfall seems to be missing it in the early morning, and it is dry, the wind can shift and hose the route! This happened to us once in April, and this seemed to be a daily pattern to the winds.
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malabarista
Trad climber
Colorado
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The 10b crux is only about 2 or 3 moves and I was able to get a solid nut placement to the left above the belay. For me the crux was definitely the 5.9 offwidth. I used handstacks in the crack, some funky stemming, and edges on the face for my left foot. It seemed like there was about a 10 foot section in the OW where there was no possibility for me to place any pro (only carrying up to 3.5" cams). The climb has some less than stellar pitches, but the good ones more than make up for this.
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poop_tube
Trad climber
Colorado
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My friend and I climbed the route in July of 2004. There was some tricky routefinding or perhaps it was simply our lack of experience. Most notibly p8 contains a ton of off route gear and slings to the right of the arete. Be sure to look at the topo and stay left here. My friend ended up having to jump off when he ran out of cracks to place pro, and by the looks of it he was not the first one to do that.
One of the fixed lines on the East Ledges was in poor condition and I had wished that we brought 2 ropes. This was the last rap that was closest to the wall you hike by and I believe it is 70m long and as with any fixed line, be prepared to rap past knots.
In all, sweet route and a great adventure.
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Claude
climber
where I'll end up
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Did it over the weekend. Pretty funny. We were completely way too geared and psyched for this thing. Slept at Miami trailhead, at the meadow by 4:00, at the chimney by 5:00. Noone on el cap at all, a few on the trip, but not much else happening on the captian. if it wasn't for the arete pitch, the 5.9 lieback pitch into the face or offwidth pitch, or the views of el cap, the route owuld be pretty dang un-fun. Just get it done. Thanks ASCA for the bolts on the east ledges, the ropes are in okay condition, which we used. In hindsight, would have slept until 10:00, brought 3 cams, four nuts, and more food.
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vegastradguy
Trad climber
Las Vegas, NV
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excellent route. very heady for the grade. one of the best topouts i've had the pleasure of being on. definitely makes you want to do one of the routes down the way...
we climbed this route on June 1st and got a little love from Horsetail falls, but not that much.
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