Thursday, May 31, 2007

Freeridden, or freeloading on Freerider


Success! Over the period of four days I was able to free climb El Capitan via the route Freerider, a three pitch variation to the Salathe Wall that skips the oh-so-impressive (and burly!) Salathe headwall.

I lucked out and met a fabulous partner Tom Moulin while I was up mini-traxioning (rehearsing alone with a self belay) the upper pitches on May 17. Tom was also hoping to free climb el cap, and had already stashed a bunch of food, water and bivy gear to support such an effort. So, after a weekend in the Bay Area and a recon trip from the ground (via some handy fixed ropes and a bunch of climbing) to the boulder problem pitch (the technical crux) with el cap veteran and great climber Nick Martino, we headed up the route, swapping leads, following free, and hauling only a light bag.

A marathon day one brought us to "The Alcove", a great ledge below El Cap Spire. A whole bunch of quality and pretty damn physical climbing including the fearsome monster offwidth pitches. We then took a rest day at the alcove, during which I finally knuckled down and finished Wuthering Heights - neither Tom, nor Cedar and Nick, who climbed the route a day later and shared the Alcove our second night and were resting the next day could be convinced to read more than a page, despite the fitting title and the fact that it was the only book at the bivy (only book on el cap?).

Day three took us up to "The Block" - only 5 pitches higher in a shady morning's climbing. I led the boulder problem pitch and fired first try, to the relief of my extremely thin tip skin. Tom fired the boulder problem on his second try and had the pleasure of leading The Sewer, the foulest pitch on the route, which was soaking and muddy as usual, uggghh. We rested all afternoon, ate most of the last of our food, obsessed about the coming pitches, and tried to ignore the overwhelming smell of urine that accompanies many el cap bivy ledges when it hasn't rained in a while.

Day four took us 8 more pitches to the top. I took my only fall of the climb following the first corner pitch above Soux le toit ledge in the morning, but lowered back to the belay and sent it next try. The second corner pitch, one of the toughest on the route, was nice and dry and I was relieved to fire it first try, but not without a pretty good fight. The traverse over to the "Knights of the Round Table" ledge (where the route leaves the Salathe) felt desperate, with the ricey footholds and exposed position, but I managed not to fall. The final four pitches, including the somewhat fearsome wide pitch went smoothly and we topped out around 3:30PM. We then rapped the route and cleaned off all our stashed gear and trash - this was the part that I dreaded but it went pretty darn smoothly and we were back on the valley floor well before dark and had plenty of time for a shower and pizza at camp curry.

I am eternally indebted to Tom, who was a great partner for the route and put in a lot work stashing all the gear that let us do the climb without hauling heavy bags. Tom came really close to a free ascent too, missing only the second monster (which he actually lowered down to on our rest day and laybacked!), the first corner, and the traverse pitch.

Anyhow, a huge relief to have finally achieved a long-term climbing goal. Now my friend Brian Lenz is out from Jackson for his first week ever in the valley, and he is helping keep me from resting too much, and distracting me from moping around and missing Rose, who is now home in Wisconsin, where I will be joining her in a week. West Face of el cap tomorrow so I gotta rest up...

Ty

Friday, May 25, 2007

Freerider

Friends, Faithful readers of our not-so-faithful Essential Mass Message,

I wish you could have seen what I just saw, the sight that moved me to do a number of things, including but not limited to, calling my parents (who sadly weren't home), contemplating calling everyone who ever knew about Ty's desire to free climb El Cap, and finally sending out an Essential Mass Message. This is really the perfect medium to communicate something that is so inspiring it's too big for the phone. Not to be seen from the ground with the naked eye, only visible through high powered binoculars, Ty Mack is now about 1800 feet off the ground on the face of North America's most majestic (and absolutely fucking huge!) monolith, El Capitan for the first of four days he'll spend on it. He and his partner Tom started at 4 this morning, and if you're familiar with the Freerider route, they're now on the monster off width just below El Cap spire. I felt a little strange peering at those two specks moving (with remarkable speed) up the wall, as I could see them, and they could not see me, but the absolute certainty and skill with which they moved made me resist pulling my eyes out of the binoculars. Ty might turn a becoming shade of red if he reads this, but watching him on that wall, practicing his art, made my heart swell.

Well friends, I hope you are practicing your art too. When I left for college, my dad gave me a short list of things he proposed one should always do; besides cleaning hair out of the shower, living lightly on the earth, and being in the company of folks who love you and whom you love , he advised that people should always be doing something that they love. I hope you are now, (I mean besides reading our blog).

Cheers,

Rose

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Catch Up


Once again we have been too busy to blog, and are running out of excuses so I won't make any. Anyhow, here is what we have been up to since leaving Moab on the 26th of April.

First we drove across S. Utah stopping at Natural Bridges (where we bagged all the major bridges in well under the tourist average of 1.5 hours) and camping in Capital(ol?) Reef NP. Then on to Escalante where we took a gorgous run up Calf Creek to the amazing waterfall pictured at left. The only blemish on this perfect day was a brazen raven who stole our only LaraBar (the new Mole flavor too!) from our pack and then taunted us from the air for a half hour. This day ended in Zion, where we caught up with some old friends of mine in the local climbers ghetto. My hopes for a quick jaunt up Moonlight Buttress were thwarted by the 90+ degree head and the lack of psyched partners, but we were able to do some cragging and I ran up "The Organasm" which was super fun. Then off to Flagstaff where I smashed our mtn biking dreams by driving under a low hanging branch - but it can't be all downhill and daisies can it?

Next down to Phoenix for a nice visit with Rose's grandfather and his wife, who kindly sold us their Chevrolet Cavalier - the ultimate incognito roadtrip vehicle. In it we are invisible to ornery park rangers and marauding bears, knock on wood...

Then on to J-Tree, after which Rose headed to Long Beach for a coffee conference which she enjoyed thoroughly, and I off to Yosemite and the upper pitches on the Salathe and Freerider on El Cap.

Reunited later at Lover's Leap in the glorious Sierras, we had a great visit with the Mack clan, and my folks (who I hadn't seen in almost 3 years!) in Reno.

Then back to Yosemite Valley with a quick detour to catch up with my friend Anne Stanley in Bishop (she is off to Pakistan now for a trek into K2!) - Tioga Pass opened early which helped cut the drive times down.

Then off for a glorious weekend with Rose's aunt Gwynne in Mill Valley - birthday partying, wining and dining, mtn biking, swimming in the icy pacific - what a place!

Now back in the Ditch again (yosemite valley), lurkin' (resting and killing time) and staying at Camp 4 (legendary international climbers ghetto).

More soon - we promise,

Ty