The plot was hatched late last fall, neither Mark nor I had climbed in the Valley for a number of years so a trip was due before we had to wear depends instead of a wall harness ;-) Some free climbing and one more El Cap route seemed in order!
After the long drive from Boulder we arrived in the ditch late on May 28th and set up in Upper Pines at a nice spot with a stream right outside my tent. It was good to see the Sierra had been receiving some rain to help make up for a very low snow year, the Valley looked pretty green and the falls were flowing well.
Mark would turn 50 while we were in the valley and I would be 55 in just 2 months, hence we dubbed ourselves “Team 105” for the trip. When I was younger it never occurred to me that I would still be functional on the rock at the double nickel mark :-)
For our first day we decided on Serenity Crack to Sons of Yesterday, a really fun link up to get moving on Valley granite. The weather was great, we were first to the base and the climb went quickly in 6 rope lengths – good times!
In the heat of the afternoon we relaxed and hatched the plot for day 2 – Stoner’s Highway on Middle Cathedral. We left camp pretty early for Stoner’s to avoid as much heat as possible on the SE face of Middle.
I had done Stoner’s Highway back in 1987 and remember it being interesting face climbing that keeps your attention. Well, at our “mature” ages we found the climbing to be quite heads up in spots, even with lots of fancy micro cams and brass nuts.
After climbing the first 4 pitches in hot conditions with our shoes scooting on the small holds, we decided it was time to go down to find some shade and have a cold swill :-)
The next day we slept in and were generally lazy… We went down to scope out the Captain and talk about plans for getting on the big stone in a few days. Our original thought was Mescalito, but the upcoming weather forecast showed several days of significant thunderstorms. I have a weather scientist buddy in Boulder who was giving us a custom forecast which confirmed the wet stuff during our El Cap window – hmmm, what to do? We figured we would free climb another day then review the weather outlook.

That evening we decided to do Mary’s Tears to the Northeast Buttress on Higher Cathedral Rock the next day. I had done NEB before, but not Mary’s Tears and Mark had not climbed either route so this link up sounded like a good long day of Valley fun.
We left early in the morning and did the uphill grind to the base – my knees are getting kind of angry these days, so several “Vitamin I” tabs are part of my breakfast routine anymore. It’s amazing how quickly a bottle of 100 Ibuprofen tabs goes away ;-)
The temps were a little cooler this day and we were up quite a bit higher so climbing in the sun was pretty comfortable. The first pitch of Mary’s Tears (5.9 option) was a bit dirty and loose but was over quickly. The second pitch offered some really cool and continuous 5.10 climbing up a nice corner system, maybe 150’ or so.
The third pitch was the business the way we did the route and served up about 170’ of sustained crack and corner climbing with a funky slot and some leaning fists providing the 5.11a crux sections. Very good climbing and a good calorie burner to boot!
Atop the third pitch, Mark swung on by and led the 5.10a left hand variation of the 4th pitch which was pretty good despite lower quality rock. This put us at the base of the Crucifix crux pitch. For years I had thoughts of leading the Crucifix but never made it happen (very easy to opt out :-) and looking up at the crux and the stout pitches above I decided it would have to wait for another lifetime – Mark agreed and we moved into the corner pitches of NEB.
As many folks out there know, NEB is a pretty physical route with lots of grunty corner/squeeze/wideish climbing that provides some good exercise. We did the 10b variation which is steep and cool and you gotta love the easy but super exposed traverse around the corner way up high.
We topped out in mid-afternoon in excellent weather and watched other parties high on the route while descending to our packs. After abusing the knees on the descent, we decided to shower up and celebrate Mark’s 50th birthday with beer and pizza down in Curry :-)
The next day we checked out the posted weather forecast and our custom forecast from my weather buddy in Boulder. 3 days of thunderstorms were still lined up during our El Cap window… We decided to do Virginia to Tangerine Trip instead of Mescalito due to the forecast. We heard from several folks down at the bridge etc. that Virginia/TT is steep enough that you stay dry in most storms so it seemed like the way to go!
Back at camp we began the wall gear organization and packing routine. I hadn’t done any pin work or portaledge lodging in many years, so I had to shake out the cobwebs for the pack job. Mark is super organized so between us we got things sorted out just fine, remembering all the essentials like beer, pop-tarts, wet ones, poop bucket etc. etc. All the comforts required for a 4-5 day trip up the Captain :-)
We planned on a reasonable and somewhat less abusive schedule of about 4 pitches per day with a final night on the summit. The plan was set, the pigs were packed, so we went down to El Cap meadows in the late afternoon to make sure the route was clear.

We scoped the route at about 4:30pm and it was empty, so we headed back to camp for some final packing tweaks and settled in for our last night in a campground – I was looking forward to getting away from the incessant campfires!
We got up early on Thursday, drove to the meadow and unloaded the pigs for a little uphill hiking :-) We schlepped the gear to the base in 4 man loads, so we hiked up together then tag teamed to get everything to the base.
To our surprise, there was a team of 2 Brits that had climbed the first two pitches of Virginia late the day before (after our scoping) and they had bivied on top of pitch 2.
We chatted with them for a few minutes and decided things should work out ok since they would basically have a full day on us as we didn’t start climbing until after noon. We also decided to start with the first pitch of Lost in America since the climbing looked better and we would be out of their way.
The Brits decided to bivy atop pitch 4 and the pitch 3 anchors didn’t look like a great spot, so we called it a short first day and set up our bivy on top of pitch 2.
By now, the first thunderstorm of the route had set in and the Valley was getting a decent dose of rain, wind, thunder and lightning.
We were staying totally dry as advertised and the rain curtain was at least 50’ out from us. We got the ledge all set up and I kicked back to enjoy a brown ale and watch the storm. It was pretty cool to be on a portaledge again after almost 20 years, lots of memories.
We relaxed a bit and got things organized for the next day. We also chatted with the Brits who were busy fixing pitch 5 of Virginia before retiring for the evening. It was wild watching the leader rap back down to 4 after fixing, he was WAY out in space! This route was going to be a steep one!!
The second day we got going reasonably early and the first pack up went pretty well given our wall rustiness ;-) We climbed pitches 3 and 4 of Virginia which were pretty cool and really steep!
At the 4th belay, we decided to switch onto Tangerine Trip to avoid potential bumper pool with the Brits on the next few pitches of Virginia. Plus, this would give us the super cool “Avatar” diagonal crack pitch of TTrip next!
Mark did a great job leading the long and continuous 5th pitch of TTrip – this thing is long, steep and exposed. During his lead, the storm of the day brewed up pretty good and before long the Valley was getting pummeled with rain and thunder.
We watched the lower angled sections of the Captain get soaked and again, amazingly, we stayed perfectly dry and just kept climbing. It was surreal to watch the rain curtain so far out from the wall.
We set up our bivy atop pitch 6 which was a good spot. Although there was no ledge of any kind, the angle and flatness of the wall allowed a super stable ledge setup.
The storm started to clear after we got set up and again, a fine cloud and light show ensued. What an amazing place to be!
We dined on the usual wall food and took in the view. The Brits were bivied at the top of the next pitch where Virginia terminates into TTrip and we chatted a bit, both amazed at the weather proofness of the route.
Day 3 dawned clear with a nice partial moon above Middle Cathedral.
After breakfast with a view our breakdown went smoothly, our clusterfux already reducing a bit from the previous day :-) I led the first pitch of the day which started out with some wide crack – I free climbed a bit, then some French free, then full on aid as the crack quickly thinned and the weight of the wall rack significantly reduced my free climbing abilities…
Mark then took off on pitch 8 which was somewhat circuitous and required a bit of trickery. About this time the winds were already whipping up for today’s storm activity.
Following the pitch required many lower outs and surprisingly, the latter half of the pitch was actually vertical to somewhat slabby – what a nice break from the ultra steep!
By the time I got to the 8th belay, the storm was kicking up. I put on my rock shoes to free climb the 5.10c cracks of pitch 9. Having a full haul line, haul rig, shoes and more gear than necessary made the pitch a good workout and I found myself really huffing and puffing by the end, but it was nice to do some free climbing regardless.
I caught up to the Brits at the 9th belay where the second shortly departed to clean pitch 10.
About now the storm was in high gear with heavy rain, thunder and some lightning. You could see the Valley getting pummeled but again we stayed dry except for just a little wind whipped rain.
Within just a few minutes Horsetail Falls went from a mild flow to a full on waterfall – it was pretty wild to watch! The team of Erik E. and Kate were on Bad to the Bone and they quickly deployed their ledges and flies just in time for the run off. It looked like they were getting totally soaked by the falls! Later I found out that the heaviest flow missed their ledges which was good news although they still got plenty wet!
The Brits were hanging out above at the pitch 10 anchors and the storm showed no sign of letting off soon, so we decided to set up for the night at the 9th belay. Ellie’s Brown Ale #3 was cheerfully consumed along with the usual fine dining as the storm finally diminished…
Sunday morning dawned clear and crisp and day 4 started with the usual chores; making a contribution to the bucket, eating breakfast, packing up and racking for the next pitch.
Mark started off the day leading pitch 10 which offered very steep but solid cam and nut placements.
Lowering out the bags offered the usual mind-tweek.
Pitch 11 had some cool thin placements, then some rivets and hooks to the belay.
I took off on pitch 12 which had thin A2+ placements for a fairly long section, then some rivets and a few funky cams to the belay which actually had a small stance that could accommodate your feet – nice!
Unlike the last 3 days, the weather stayed nice into the afternoon with just some puffy white clouds, a welcome change.
Pitch 13 started with some straightforward placements, then turned into an awkward corner with good placements, then degraded into a somewhat chossy steep ramp/corner feature. This was the stinker pitch on the route and was not particularly fun to lead or clean.
After some colorful language which helped me clean the pitch ;-) we decided to set up for the night.
A bunch of Swallows called the roof above us home and it was entertaining to watch them buzz around our bivy in the evening – they even continued their acrobatics through the night – amazing little fighter jets they are!

Another beautiful morning dawned and our plan was to complete the 4 pitches to the summit and sleep on top of the Captain that night.
Pitch 14 had some awkward cracks to start and then many rivets with a couple of hook moves to the most exposed belay of the route – you’re just hanging your ass out over about 1700’ of air with featureless stone all around!
Your brain is telling you that you should not be here and it’s kind of a battle to keep the exposure at bay.
The next pitch began overhanging but then changed to vertical terrain partway through. We were both excited to get on some vertical for a change to calm the exposure monkeys dancing in our brains!
The 15th pitch starts with some steep rivets, then follows a thin left trending corner on vertical (yes, only vertical!) terrain. The wind was whipping up a little, but the weather looked good for topping out and a summit bivy :-)
By this time, the bucket was getting pretty ripe, so a little breeze was appreciated!
The 16th pitch had some rivets, some hooks, some free climbing and some easy cam hopping up a corner to an actual LEDGE (yes, a ledge, with a tree even!).
It was so nice to have a ledge to work with and break the yawning void below. Only one pitch to the top now – we were pretty damn stoked to summit shortly! A quick 5.6ish free climbing pitch led to the summit and I quickly rigged a 2 stage haul set up to get all our junk to the top.
This pitch was slabby so some teamwork and hard pulling was in order to get the bags to the top.
All bodies and bags reached the summit about 4pm :-)
SUMMIT!! It’s always a mixed bag of emotions to top out on the Captain, but after 4.5 days on the route, we were ready. The weather was great and we had extra food and water to celebrate!
I stripped down and dumped a whole 2 liter bottle over my stanky self in a vicious bird bath maneuver which was quite enjoyable. I had brought along a spare t-shirt and skivs which were a welcome treat – I threw the toxic base layers I had removed into the bottom of the haul bag – scary stuff!

We pigged out on all sorts of food and had stacks of water as we watched the evening colors fall on the Valley. The view of Half Dome was fantastic, there were no bugs and nobody around – a great way to end the wall!
We both slept pretty well on solid earth despite minimal padding. Dawn was beautiful and quite a pleasure from solid ground. We chowed down on the leftover food, then packed up the pigs for the old guy crux of the route – the descent…
I always forget how much work the descent involves. Big bags, slabs, raps on nasty fixed lines and dirty gully hiking with swarms of bugs makes for a degrading finish that is best forgotten ;-)
We hobbled into the El Cap picnic ground and suddenly it was all over - we were hammered but happy.
We stuffed the gear into the truck and went over to the meadows where we grabbed some long shots from Tom Evans (Thanks Tom!!)
After a shower, we grabbed a couple of poser pics before leaving the Valley.
We bolted out of the valley and headed to the Mobil Station in Lee Vining for fish tacos and a beer – the perfect way to end the trip before the drive back to CO!!!