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 Credit: Nanook |
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It’s a typically love story--a brief encounter with my buddy Alik when we climb the route in 30 hour push.
First light start
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Tom picked me up leading the sixth pitch.
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CJ(Canadian Jesus) stylin over the Triangle Roof
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Check out the A3 Slime on Hole World
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Alik led through the Anus and into the night
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Alas it was over all too quick and all I could dream about was that sweet mellow crusin, Le Cap style. I remembered how the FAist had followed an impeccable ethic of putting hangers on every single bolt, but 35 years had done it’s trick on the poor things.
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Winter came and I needed a project to check the rehab status of my recently broken ankle. I hiked up to see how she looked:
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Everything looked dry!
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Lost World in yellow Squeeze Play in Red
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I’m no soloist so it was fun to pretend for a few pitches.
Third pitch thin-ness
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Old became new
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Feeling the love
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Spending weeks hiking up and fixing ropes/replacing bolts the beautiful gold corner of Squeeze Play caught my eye.The ankle was feeling good so I convinced Donny and Mike that with enough beer anything was possible
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Mike heading up the first pitch of Squeeze
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Donny did the cleanin
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Courage was everywhere and the climbing was dreamy/pretty casual
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Aliens. Yosemite bigwall bitchenness.
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Lost World is fun but the Holy Grail corner on Squeeze Play is splitter--and it comes with ledges
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Mike leading the dream
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starting up the thin, fun “Test Your Mettle” pitch with MIke belaying/hauling and Donny cleaning
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The Holy Grail, the last gold corner on the Southwest Face of El Cap, is good, times livin
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Once you’ve sent all the pitches that require courage, you can drink courage for breakfast
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Wowza those water lines are pretty in the winter
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A big ledge after a couple days of hangin aint bad either(Donny and I take it in while Mike lead’s the 11th pitch)
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The runoff on the upper pitches of Lurking Fear can be a little fearsome in the winter/spring
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BBRRRR
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Funny thing how the rewards always dwarf the suffering on walls
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The slabs on the top out are pretty sick challenging when wet
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Winter/Spring summit bliss
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Bigwall haulbag glissading--easy on the knees!
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So this is where my love story gets a little strange, like it should have been over but I just couldn’t let go. I found myself dreaming of just one more time.
I mean, what’s a love story without flowers over an idyllic view
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besides, there were only a few more bolts to replace in the middle of Lost World and it would be(almost) all new.
Richie always livens up the party
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Logan was just psyched to be on the wall
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I got to lead the 5th this time, which is a fun one
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Logan leading through the slime as Richie and I stagger at the natural belay. Ahh, natural belays on bigwalls--guess you gotta do everything once in a while.
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Richie beakin it up to the Trangle Roof
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Hangin it out at the roof
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Richie, scopin some butts on the Salathe. ‘Dude, I don’t think that just because they have pony-tails they’re girls’
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Richie on the last pitch before joining West Buttress
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Lurking Fear in season--getting some action
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before we knew it we were taking in the views from the top
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A couple teams climbed Lost World later this spring and said they liked it.
Here’s an updated topo(if this is hard to decipher email me and I’ll send you the pdf).
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Some parting shots
What’s it like up there in the winter?
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1975 gear
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Ahhhh, Le Cap....Always new Love.
