At story time on the last night, Dave told us a big one. We had seen a rescue helicopter a couple of times fly in below us while we were climbing and it sparked Timmy's memory, "Dave's been pulled off the wall before." (We later found out that the helicopter was picking up a guy who…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
WE'RE REALLY DOING IT 