That last pitch of the nose is a bitch, but we'll get to that in a minute. The last night of sleep on the other hand was...laughable. In this picture you'll see a triangle shaped ledge. That ledge is good for two right? In my drawing below I've pointed out some of the details of…
Month: October 2011
Climbing footage
The Grind
The biggest shock of the climb was the feeling of starting out each morning and re-introducing yourself to your new bizarre life. By the end of each day you've desensitized again, then with eating and music you'd lull yourself into a comfort zone. In the morning you'd get thrown back into your prison life where…
Prison Mentality
Eating breakfast on El Cap gave me this weird feeling that I would guess prison or being stranded on a desert island would be like. You know when you see the movies where there's a group of people crouched in a circle around the last of their provisions and they're waiting like dogs to get…
“Turns out fear is a great suppository”
Ok, after that sweet and sensitive post, lets talk about what everybody asks me about. Shit...and piss. It's not in my nature to talk about this kind of stuff, ask my wife or Heath. I'm a pretty private person about my bathroom habits, but this climbing thing forces you to change your ways. Of course…
Location location location
You could be watching your millionth sunset over the ocean, or flying over a tropical Island, but every once in a while everyone gets a chance to be absolutely blown over by the scene in front of them, it's one of the greatest feelings in the world. El Cap pretty much guarantees you an opportunity…
Trust the Gear
I think that Heath and I both assumed that at the end of each day we'd just be zombied out, totally drained, and just wanting to sleep. Not the case really. I think the biggest surprise after day one was that it wasn't as hard as expected. Granted, we're not the guys doing the lead…
Trial by fire
Day one: Up early, which wasn't a problem for either of us for the few days prior to the start, we were always awake and waiting for the sun to rise. Awake, with that feeling you used to have when you were a kid and your mom dropped you off at the first day of…
El Capitan “how to”
In order to give you the clearest picture of how a team of four go up El Cap, I think I've got to go over a few terms and some basic principles. We, just like you, hadn't a clue how to climb as a team, especially a team with two additional haul bags disguised as…
Slacks from Banana Republic and 9 pounds of beer
The day before we left the ground I kept saying "I just want to start. I just want to get up there." I'd seen El Cap, I'd met our leaders, I wasn't scared of climbing, so I just wanted it to start ASAP. I was sick of being anxious. Originally Timmy told us that we'd…
Continue reading ➞ Slacks from Banana Republic and 9 pounds of beer
WE'RE REALLY DOING IT 