The Nose Route of El Capitan

The nose route on El Capitan in Yosemite is perhaps the most famous rock climb in the world. At 3400 feet, it is the better part of a vertical mile high. If one were to jump from Dolt Tower only one third of the way up, one would have about 10 seconds to think about it before the ground made its appearance. The first ascent by Warren Harding et. al. in 1958 consumed 45 days.

This was to be my 4th attempt to do the route, the previous three expeditions ending in disappointment. I had partners bail unexpectedly, and one time mother nature pounded us with all of her fury. The magnitude of despair associated with the past failures can better be appreciated when one takes into account the level of effort required to make an attempt on the Nose. Many days of vacation have to be taken, and with a mid-week start to avoid crowds, these vacation days get spent regardless of success. Supplies have to be purchased. Lots of careful planning and packing go into the trip. One tries to get in good shape and the workouts get tailored toward the anticipated project. The drive to Yosemite from San Diego is 7.5 hours each way. Of course, the effort is not a complete waste if one does not complete the route. Every pitch on a big wall adds to the level of experience.

The route is rather hot in the summer, so Spring and Fall are the best times, with the crowding generally less and the days longest in the Spring, although long periods of stable weather can be found in the Fall. There were several other times I wanted to get on the Nose, but my partner or myself couldn't get away from work or encountered other difficulties. Every time I was thwarted from doing the route, I thought about the first attempt when I figured we should have made it. I got a little obsessed with it. "BAIL AND I'll HAVE TO KILL YOU" was my sentiment!

I met Natalie while climbing at Jtree. We got to talking and exchanged e-mail addresses. She had been climbing for only 3 years but was heavily into it. She turned me onto the Ouray Ice Festival and Hueco Rock Rodeo. I got her into leading aid, and by the time we arrived at Yosemite, she had led six or more pitches of aid. She had no previous big wall experience, but was physically strong and smart. Did my previous three failed expeditions put any pressure on her? Naaww... , well maybe a little. "You aren't putting the weight of three failed expeditions on my shoulders, are you?" she remarked. I just told her "Lead or jug," suppressing the obvious third option (DIE MISERABLY).

I showed Natalie how to jug the way I learned, which can be described as alternately standing up on one leg while simultaneously pulling up on the jug handles and then sitting in one's harness. It is quick and convenient when cleaning, but strenuous. Natalie figured right away that it was going to be difficult to jug thousands of feet like that so she learned how to jug on both feet standing up and made special foot loops to facilitate this. Carpe Week Thursday - Get a Fix

At 8:30 am, we arrived at El Cap meadows in Yosemite to fix lines to Sickle ledge. I figured that we would haul a pack containing the extra ropes, water and rain gear so as to make the climbing easier and get Nat into the mechanics of hauling. Natalie led the class 3-4 pitches at the bottom and belayed me up wearing the pack. Nobody else was vying for position so I suggested that Natalie jump right in and lead the first pitch of the route, rated 5.9 A2.

As an experiment, we carried two way radios. The ear phone also acted as a microphone, so the apparatus was hands free. It allowed us to communicate in a normal voice even when we were a pitch apart. This facilitated our communication and I suspect it made Natalie feel more relaxed on the route.

Oddly, there was a fixed rope on the first pitch. Soon the owners arrived and jugged past us. They had tried to fix the day before when it started to rain. They told us of a wave of water approaching from above. When it hit them, they could no longer see the crack they were aiding. They had to put their hands under water and feel their pro. Had we not visited Nat's parents, we too would have been emulating Jacques Cousteau.

Despite the improved weather, it actually rained on us during Natalie's lead. She did a great job, however, French-freeing and getting out of her aiders to free the hard part near the top of the pitch. It was the longest pitch she had ever aided. Other teams appeared behind us, one moving fairly fast.

Following pitch 2, Natalie got her first chance to do a lower out as she followed the short pendulum in the middle of this pitch. In anticipation of climbing in the dark later on, we put our head lamps on our helmets. Not knowing how a Petzel helmet works, I managed to smack Natalie in the eye with her head lamp as I "helped" her with hers. Her exclamation probably made the following parties wonder what was going on.

A fast moving pair of dudes caught up to us. One was a guy from Missouri by the name of Chandler. They were fixing lines to Sickle in anticipation of a one day ascent attempt. Chandler had never been on the route before. It was my fifth time on the lower pitches, so I had all of the difficult sections memorized - free the top of the 1st pitch, double hook move near the top of the 3rd, talon hook to the bomber nut placement at the start of the 4th etc. To facilitate Chandler passing us, we let them clip and yard on our pro on pitch 3. Chandler played right through combining pitch 3 and 4, and as he started on pitch 4 I gave him all of the beta.

A pitch below Chandler's partner asked Natalie if she liked her first big wall experience, and would she ever do another? I listened as Natalie explained (complained?) about the speed of aid climbing, the lack of communication even with the radios, the impatience of her partner etc... Perhaps Natalie forgot that the two way radio allowed me to eavesdrop on the entire conversation!

Chandler offered to return the favor and fix our line. I thanked him but declined, figuring there would be no problem doing it ourselves. I had, after all, led the 4th pitch four times before! In the time it took for him to pass, however, something unusual happened. Moisture from all of the recent rains was trying to seep downward along certain lines of the rock. The daytime sun acted to combat this seepage through evaporation. At least this is my theory. Anyway, as dusk set in, we noticed that our pack had become soaking wet. Natalie pointed out the reason. The rock face above us had suddenly became dripping wet! I decided to accept Chandler's offer and gave his partner our haul-line to fix, saving me from executing the pendulum tension traverse on wet slick rock. I figured it was a collaborative effort after all.

From Sickle, we rapped straight down, fixing four lines. We would leave the bottom two lines in place until we were finished with the route. The top two lines we would climb with. The moon and clouds made for an interesting night sky. We woke Chandler and his friends bivied at the base of the route as we reached the ground at 2:48 am. It was well past 5 am when we reached our tent cabin in Curry Village. Friday - Rest Day

In view of the fact that we got down so late, we decided to sleep in and take the day off. It turned out to be an incredibly rainy day anyway, so we avoided climbing in nasty weather. At El Cap meadows we met and spoke with a team including at least one guy from Montana. They planned to fix lines in the rain! We met another pair of guys bailing from the Muir wall. They were in reasonable spirits considering what they had gone through. They said that they had endured enough punishment waiting for the rains to end.

We had dinner with Tracy and Ian at the Mountain Room restaurant. Being essentially our last supper before a week of power bars and bagels, I had a steak dinner with all of the trimmings. Saturday - Get Off the Ground

In the morning we leisurely checked out of our tent cabin abode and had a big breakfast in the cafeteria. Natalie was suffering from that "certain time of month" problem and so we took it easy. Eventually we packed in a load of supplies to the base of the fixed lines, and while Natalie sorted the gear I made two more loads to get all of our water (60 lbs worth) and other gear. We started jugging and hauling by 3 pm. The most difficult thing is getting started. Once you are on the route you have nothing better to do than go up. Severing the umbilical cord with the ground is the hard part.

Dougald MacDonald, editor and owner of Rock and Ice, and an accomplice walked past having just rapped from El Cap Towers. They had tried to do the Nose in a day, but retreated as the upper portions of the route were enshrouded in clouds and rain. Their hands were black with grime.

As we began climbing, a group of tourists hiked up, watching us climb with interest. I was jugging the first pitch and Natalie was answering their touristy questions (What's that? Where are you going? etc) when suddenly something was falling upon us from above, crashing down the rock face with a terrible noise. Natalie quickly told the people to run to the rock wall (items generally bounce away from the rock) and soon a full water bottle smashed down at the edge of the forest some 10 yards from the rock, right where they had been standing. The excitement over, the tourists decided that there might be safer places to hike!

The hauling up the fixed lines was far easier than when I had hauled the first four pitches of the climbing route in my previous attempts. The first four pitches lie on a low angle apron, whereas the fixed lines lie over steeper rock. I used to get bruises on my hips hauling those early pitches, and after that even the easier pitches above would be painful to haul. This time I had no problems hauling whatsoever, and when we later reached the summit, I had no bruises or soreness due to my harness.

Fearing possible rain that night, we put up our A5 portaledge including the expedition storm fly with all its regalia. Later that night, Chandler and his friend came by, climbing with head lamps as they attempted to do the Nose in a day. As he came upon our fully decked out A5 ledge he exclaimed, "we're climbing bleeping Everest!" He mentioned that they were tracking our progress and we wished them luck. We never saw them again, though we did hear shouts of what seemed to be two groups above us topping out the next day. Sunday - My Leading Lady

We woke up leisurely, and as I poked my head out of the rain fly I could see the Montanans rousing. There were at least 4 people on Sickle, so another party must have come up. Initially we couldn't go anywhere due to the Montana party at the 6th (hanging) belay. One of the Montanan group decided to bail and rap the fixed lines. In the mid morning there was no breeze and the sun felt quite hot. However, soon a breeze kicked up and the temperature became quite pleasant. By the time we were packed and ready to move, the Montanans had taken off and appeared to be moving rapidly. They elected to due the traverse rather than the pendulum to reach the Stove Legs, and as far as I could tell, they did an OK job of it. The pendulum pitch can take hours, and I had previously witnessed a guide do the traverse in literally minutes.

With a party in front of us, it was a good chance for Natalie to get in some leading. She led the sixth pitch and hauled the haul sack as I jugged to meet her. We went over the pendulum stuff, and she led the 7th pitch to Dolt Hole. To do this she lowered out and pendulumed over to a non-existent crack, clawed her way up to the easier climbing, and then walked pro up for protection as she ascended without leaving pro behind. When she was roughly level with me she began to leave protection, and soon she was at Dolt Hole. I lowered out the haul sack to her and once again she hauled the sack as I lowered myself out using a 7 mm line I brought for that purpose.

By the time we were in Dolt Hole it was late in the afternoon. The next pitch I knew would take a fair amount of time, and for some reason the Montanans seemed to have slowed and were setting up for the night in the Stovelegs at what appeared to be the eighth belay. We couldn't go much further without passing them, and we were not moving that fast anyway. I began to worry that we might not have enough water. Certainly at the rate we were going, it was going to take more than the allotted 5 days. We set up the Portaledge in Dolt hole and made dinner. I figured that we would move faster and faster as Natalie got up to speed and we learned to work with each other better.

As we prepared to go to sleep we heard a water bottle falling and noticed that we were being pelted by something from above. It turned out to be uncooked linguini.

We never again put up the storm fly. It was extra work, and the weather had taken a decided turn for the better. Occasionally, drops of water would fall on us from above. There was a lot of moisture above us and some of it was getting airborne. Don't sleep with your mouth open I guess! Monday - Wall Rats We Are

The next morning we managed to repack the haul sack without a solid ledge to set it on and took off. Remembering my trick from before, I used a #4.5 Camalot in the "burner off width" to get past a funky spot in the bolt ladder. Lowering out almost back to the belay, I was easily able to swing over to the Stove Leg crack and I started rapidly free climbing up the crack. The fist jams were solid and the Sportiva Boulders I was wearing superbly and comfortably jammed as well. Soon, however, I was looking at a wicked pendulum fall if I blew out, and I put in pro and began aiding and walking up cams. Until even with my previous high point before the pendulum, I couldn't leave any pro, or Natalie would have a tougher time following the pitch.

Natalie was a stair master and weight lifting champion in earlier days. Her strength paid off as she was able to lift and release the haul sack, and while lowering it out she had to push it up and around a significant lip in the rock between Dolt Hole and the Stove Legs. Soon she had cleaned the bolt ladder and lowered herself out and we were looking good. It was a straight shot to Dolt Tower.

Figuring that we would find ourselves in the dark by Dolt Tower, we donned our head lamps early. Unfortunately, the reflector on my head lamp managed to unscrew itself, and when I looked down at one point it fell into the abyss. Luckily, the lamp itself still functioned, sans reflector.

I continued to do all of the leads this day. Although we were moving fairly well now, I was concerned about the amount of time we were burning up on the lower pitches. Would we have enough water? Then the Montanans appeared rapping down. They were bailing, and they had left their water, a few cans of food and a bunch of raw carrots at Dolt Tower, free for the taking! Suddenly I was elated. With a little extra water, there would be absolutely no question that we could finish the route! What luck! I was chatting with the Montanans on lead and Natalie told me to get a move on, she was belaying and had time to talk, not me! Yes mam! On the final off width pitch, I turned on my head lamp, and the light bulb promptly burned out. I put in the spare and soon we were eating dinner on Dolt Tower. Natalie called her sister Nina on her cell phone and got the extended weather forecast - fair skies until rain next Sunday. To make a flat bed I suspended the portaledge from a bolt on the wall. I took the Montanan's water and food and shoved it under our haul sack lest another party arrive. Give us food and water, and we will climb. Now we were true wall rats, scavenging whatever we could find so we could stay on the wall forever! Tuesday - Nina Was Right

The Montanans had brought big heavy water bottles. I poured their water into our empty two liter soda bottles. Two liter soda bottles are light and compress very small when empty. To uncompress them, you simply blow forcibly into the bottle. They never leak despite repeated cycling. Also, ours were better slung with a thin ribbon of fabric (from the art store) sewed into a loop and duct taped onto the bottles. Everything you bring has to be clippable. One of the Montanan's water bottles had crashed to the ground when we jugged the first pitch and we didn't want to repeat that incident. We couldn't very well take the water without also taking the bottles too, so we stuffed them at the bottom of the haul sack. One of them would later on prove to be very useful.

With the extra water there suddenly was no reason to rush. Also, El Cap Towers was supposed to be the best bivy on the route. I decided that it would be a good goal for the day, with extra time spent fixing Texas Flake. The first pitch required a lower out, but then was straight forward 5.9 to a good ledge. Unfortunately, by the time I arrived at the belay, the clouds started to build rapidly, and a few drops had been hitting me. I realized that I could be caught in a down pour before I got the haul sack and my rain gear. I asked Natalie to transfer my storm jacket on the haul line to be safe. Storm jacket in hand, of course the clouds relaxed and the chance for rain dissipated. Nina was right, the weather was to be clear.

The second pitch to El Cap Towers was somewhat exciting as it was on the wide side. I had foolishly left my #4 camalot near the bottom of the pitch and had to run it a bit in places. The top section leans back a bit and the foot jams are solid.

Natalie led the last pitch to El Cap Towers free. There was plenty of light to push on and fix Texas Flake. We vacillated, but decided not to push on further. It wouldn't save us very much time to fix Texas Flake as it was a free pitch anyway. We seemed to do the best on days when got a good night's rest, and that is what I hoped for this night.

Using Natalie's old fashioned cleaning tool and a rock, I pried open the two cans of tuna fish and can of fresh vegetables that the Montanans had left behind. As we sat on an incredibly flat and horizontal ledge and ate dinner, we observed at least three other parties on the wall up the Valley from us. One pair of Germans above us and fairly near to the Nose route, were doing a lot of talking back and forth. They appeared to be stuck on this one pitch.

Below us we noticed two climbers moving fairly rapidly up our route. They were Spanish speaking. They fixed lines part of the way to the El Cap Towers but bivied at Dolt.

This was the only night we slept directly on a rock ledge. It was just too good to pass up! The Portaledge is always flat, horizontal and soft, which is difficult to pass up. However, El Cap Towers is remarkably flat and horizontal. We got a good night's sleep. Wednesday - Hombres de Mexico - Cuerda and Tenseme

In the morning we arose earlier than normal, having received a good night's sleep. We packed up fairly efficiently. One thing I've learned which many prospective big-wallers probably wonder about concerns the size of the "port-a-can". A half-gallon port-a-can is adequate for two people for four days. This was my experience on Half Dome as well, so I have 2 data points. We would have to improvise another port-a-can the following morning.

I put on my Boreal vector climbing shoes and led Texas Flake next. After passing loose looking rock below the flake, I entered the chimney. There are actually some pretty good foot holds in the chimney which make it seem not so perilous. Half way up the chimney near the lone bolt, the side of the chimney with the best footholds changes. As I set up the belay, the party behind us arrived at El Cap Towers and Natalie informed me that they were two guys form Mexico. Natalie speaks Spanish fluently, and now she maintained an ongoing dialog. I changed back to my Sportiva Boulder shoes which are far more comfortable for aid climbing.

The Mexicans were going to pass us at some point, but I wasn't going to wait for them. I blasted off to lead Boot Flake as Natalie gave encouragement to one of the Mexicans leading the Texas chimney. They arrived without any water and Natalie gave them the rest of her bottle of water before jugging up to the top of the boot. The Germans were still talking back and forth on that one particular pitch up to our right. Soon, we were ready for the King Swing. The Mexicans were not yet on our heels, so Nat lowered me so that my harness was even with the top of the toe of the boot. Running back and forth and yelling a bit, I fairly easily grabbed a change in angle and the piton was staring me in the face. I clipped it and lowered further for the second swing. Natalie asked me to hold on so that she could get her camera, but being there kind of went to my head and I went for it again, completing the double pendulum. The hardest move of the pitch turned out to be the very last one getting to the belay. I placed a very small stopper as I aided the final move. The hourly tour bus down in the Valley got a good show, as watching climbers execute the King Swing is one of the more scenic views. Soon Natalie and the haul sack joined me. Soon we heard the Mexicans whooping it up in Spanish as they pendulumed over.

Avoiding a loose flake above the belay, I mostly aided to a small roof. At this point the Mexicans had caught up to us and wanted to pass. Natalie acted as an interpreter, and warned the Mexicans about the loose flake. A friend who had done the route told me that his partner grabbed this flake and it moved two inches!

I hung out at the belay while the Mexican leader unclipped our rope and clipped his into our pro and combined pitches with the next pitch, just as Chandler had done when we fixed pitches the first day. This delayed us significantly, but it had to happen at some point. The Mexicans were free climbing or French freeing moves up to about 10d whenever possible. This, combined with a lighter haul sack, gave them the edge in speed. After they passed us we scrambled up the next pitch, sharing the following belay. We did one more class four pitch to a good ledge one pitch below camp four. Since the Mexicans were at Camp 4, we decided to bivy where we were. We had done six pitches this day, despite being delayed by another party. Our speed was picking up!

One of the two Mexicans, Fernando Aguado, was director of the Carlos Carsolio Escalodromo (climbing gym) in Mexico City. Carlos Carsolio is famous for being one of the few to have summited all of the 8000 meter peaks and was an occasional climbing partner of Fernando. Fernando's friend and partner on the Nose was Girado. Thursday - The Great Roof

In the morning we called up to the Mexicans to offer them another bottle of water. Our supplies were looking pretty good, and our water use was below the standard 3 liters per person per day. Also, after unpacking the haul sack we had access to the water bottles in the bottom of the sack. We felt a bit of camaraderie with the Mexicans. They were the only other group near us on the Nose, and we would help each other out as much as possible. The Mexican team, however, had come upon a good deal of bail water (water left by retreating parties) at Camp 4 and were already resupplied!

The heavy water bottles left by the Montanans now would be useful. We cut the top back on the largest one and using duct tape as a seal, fashioned a second port-a-can. Natalie had the idea of bringing Tidy Cat and it helped keep odor to a minimum. Climbing a big wall is a problem solving adventure - problems continually arise and ingenuity is often required.

Once again I put on my Boreal vector climbing shoes, and led to Camp 4. The rock was fairly broken, and there is a short blank face to cross for which I was thankful for the shoes. At the belay I realized that I had screwed up and forgot the haul line! No choice but to rap down to get it and jug back up.

The pitch below the Great Roof goes free at 5.9 so I left my shoes on and headed out. A breeze had kicked up and began to blow water which had been dripping down somewhere off to our left, onto our pitch. Although there wasn't a cloud in the sky, it was now raining pretty good right on the rock face I had to cross! Luckily the route traverses and soon I was back on dry rock. At the crux, laden with a haul line, aiders and a huge rack, I lazily elected to aid a move I should have freed. Worse, I placed a very poor nut and I should have know better. It popped and I stubbed my left toe into the rock as I came to a stop. Since I was wearing my tight climbing shoes, it smarted all the more. I had to climb more slowly the rest of the day avoiding use of my big left toe. Natalie had some fun following this pitch on belay. She freed all of the moves, including the crux on which I had stumbled. I changed back into my Sportiva Boulder shoes.

The Great Roof is a fairly long pitch. Not even Lynn Hill was going to free it this day. It was dripping wet in many places. In order for the follower to follow without aiding as well, the leader has to consider which pro to leave behind so that the follower can lower out without problems. I didn't think that there was an A2 move on this pitch, but I had some small TCU's to work with.

The next pitch was the Pancake Flake. It was uneventful, except that the haul bag got hung up on a roof. Actually, it got hung up on "The Roof" as Natalie pointed out. She had to rappel down to clear it. We were managing problems pretty efficiently by this point.

After 10 pm, I led the last pitch to camp 5 with the use of my head lamp. It is a flaring chimney sort of thing with a crack at the back. At the top there is a short friction slab, but there was pro, and my Boulders were adequate for the task. We set up the Portaledge, ate dinner and crashed. The Mexicans were within a pitch of us above. Friday - The Big Push

We were now in striking distance of the summit and we intended to make a big push to get there. Only nine more pitches. As we were starting out a helmet fell past us from above and I yelled down "rock" as it sailed past us. One of the Mexicans had lost their helmet. We had hopefully dropped very little. The reflector had fallen from my head lamp, and Natalie couldn't find her sun glasses which presumably had fallen.

The pitch above camp 5 went free, and Natalie once again had fun following it on belay. The next pitch took us to the "Glowering Spot" which is a nice flat ledge big enough to sit on. Someone had left behind a zip lock bag full of garbage and feces.

The next two pitches can be combined and so we did so. Part of the motivation for combining these pitches is that the intermediate belay is pretty marginal looking. At the halfway belay, it is a bit confusing as to which way to go. We followed some internet beta and went wide right along a ledge system, pulling a 5.8 free move up an off width, going back wide left to clip bolts and finally coming back to clean all pro left wide right. This necessitated doing the 5.8 move twice. The end result brings one to camp 6 which is a fairly large flat ledge. Water dripped down in places, so it was not as pleasant as it might be. A crack at the back was literally stuffed with water bottles, most of them full. It seems that many people had to bail earlier in the Spring and left water. Although a good place to bivy, we had not intention of staying there.

Leading out from camp 6, I felt a little worried. Then I remembered reading about an accident where a guy took a fall here and was injured. I placed a nut and pulled on it and a big chunk of rock flexed and moved. The rock is a bit chossy right above camp 6. I was a little more careful in this section. Once again, the route description points out that the next two pitches can be combined. The intermediate belay is so meager that I didn't think twice about combining the pitches. The second half of the combined pitch follows Lynn Hill's "Houdini" dihedral (13a) which is reached after a short traverse to the right. The dihedral is aided with small stoppers. Attempting to keep rope drag down after the traverse, I lowered down and back cleaned a bolt. Higher up I realized to my horror that the left edge of the dihedral is very sharp, and the rope goes right over this edge threatening to cut it should one fall. Eventually I lowered down and reclipped the traverse bolt which pins the rope over a smoother section of the edge. Finally I neared the belay. A loop of 11 mm rope hung down and I clipped it automatically without looking more carefully, thinking that it was fixed pro. Turns out someone had stuck an albatross of a belay seat into a crack near the belay, and the rope was part of it. As soon as I stood on it, it blew right out and I went flying. When I came to a stop I looked back to see a piece of cardboard used to cushion the seat fluttering off into the void. I had to laugh at my own stupidity! I shoved the seat back where I had "found" it but folded the loops of rope higher so as not to tempt the next party to come past. Combining the last two pitches made for the longest pitch of the entire climb. Natalie found the hanging belay a little spooky. I had taken a fall there, and the shade and breeze combined to make the temperature for the belayer cold. The Mexicans were by this time a few pitches ahead of us and summited sometime during the evening.

The next pitch involved more free climbing as well as aid, and brought us to a small ledge. A small drip of water insured that anyone staying there for the night would get soaking wet in some portions. There was no loose death block in front of the anchors. There was a loose block off to the side, but no reason to go near it. We continued past to the "tiny alcove". Instead of a rock ledge, it was instead an awkward sloping v-groove protected by a roof. It was late and with no sign of impending weather we decided to bivy. We were at this point a mere 2 pitches from the summit. I was skeptical that the portaledge could be set up in such an awkward place, but Natalie was optimistic. After fumbling with the thing for a considerable time I got it set up. The anchor was not over the middle of the ledge, but it worked. Natalie complained about a lack of levelness, but I waved it off as remarkably flat. Whenever we had a disagreement, Natalie always turned out to be right. This night we slept head to head which is cozier, but offers less room on the portaledge.

Eating dinner, I asked Natalie if her chocolate contained nuts since it seemed a bit crunchy. She said that it didn't as I had thought. The next morning she couldn't exactly locate her remaining chocolate covered espresso beans! Didn't stop me from sleeping well. We had climbed 7 pitches this day. Saturday - Summit

In the morning Natalie pointed out that one corner of the portaledge, where her head would have been had we slept head to toe, sloped down a foot or more below the rest of the ledge. Oh well, so it wasn't perfectly flat! I just thought that it was nice of Natalie to want to sleep head to head with me the past night.

It seemed fitting for Natalie to lead the final two pitches and she was ready to go. On the first pitch she led a roof to get started and then took a slight detour, veering too far to the right. Realizing that she was off course, she back tracked and removed pro, then French-freed a hand jam crack to the belay. Popping out of the alcove we could view the entire route. We were on top of the world. Many climbing parties could be seen way down below. The view from above looks quite different, and it took awhile to get oriented as to what was what.

Natalie led the summit overhang bolt ladder next. As Natalie hauled the haul sack it hung a good 10 or more feet from the rock it seemed. She belayed and hauled from the anchors overlooking the entire route. I scrambled up to the upper anchors which are recessed from the edge, and belayed Natalie up. I had thought about letting out a Tarzan-like yell when I summited or something like that. But although I was elated, I just took in the sights and enjoyed the feeling. We shuttled our gear further up among the trees. A pack of deer wandered past and looked us over.

We had spent no less than 7 nights on the route, and spent about 7 days of climbing not counting the day of fixing. Hey, we easily bested Warren Harding's record of 45 days for the ascent!

We dumped out everything and repacked for the descent. For dinner we had one can of tuna and a little cheese which I managed to eke out of the spray can. We put water in our dijon mustard bottle to make it go further. With a few other scraps we managed to make a meal out of it all. I used the remaining duct tape to hold my deteriorating Sportiva Boulder climbing shoes together for the descent. We poured out one 2-liter water bottle saving one for the descent.

Natalie took the 200 foot, 9 mm haul line, and the 11 mm, 165 foot lead line both tied to her back. On her chest and waist harness she racked the larger cams and hexes, while supporting the massive rack of metal climbing equipment on two overlapping shoulder harnesses. In her hands she carried the two pot-a cans. I wore the massive haul sack containing everything else as a backpack, and carried the portaledge in my hands. We ascertained that we could indeed move with all of the gear, but it wasn't easy. Natalie's idea was to hike out the Yosemite Falls trail as it was straight forward although long. The internet beta we had stated that although their party had done this, the hike was so arduous that the guy wished to just jump off the cliff and hopefully land in a tree! The more I thought about it I realized that our shortest and thus easiest descent would be down the East Ledges descent. We would have to wait until the light of the next day to do it. Without a portaledge and rain fly, the hike wouldn't be nearly so bad. It is possible to easily haul up a route more than you want to carry back down!

We decided to bivy on the summit. We found cans of food nearby, but left them for a more needy party. That night was the coldest for some reason. We had to close up our sleeping bags and bivy sacks quite snugly. Sun - Descent

We had some trepidation about the East Ledges descent. Just a few weeks earlier a friend of mine had descended the Falls trail as the East Ledges were wet. Certainly there were still portions that were wet, and if we couldn't get across one of these we would have to climb back up to the Falls trail.

We started picking our way down, mostly staying near the edge where Natalie found a string of cairns. Finally at a rest, Natalie croaked out that she was having trouble breathing! Turns out that when I tied the ropes on her, it was like a Boa constrictor trying to choke the life out of her. We retied the ropes getting her to inhale first, and the problem was remedied.

The friction slabs were steep, but not so much as to really be worrisome. We passed many caches of water. We had to pass a few wet spots, but these turned out to either be in flat sections, or they were narrow enough to present little trouble. In the "green belt" I smelled the wonderful aroma of Yosemite bay, and gathered a bunch of leaves for home cooking. Further on, Natalie found some sage. Nearing the rappels, we came across the "wild dikes" rock formation, and I have to say it is one of the most spectacular things. A large patch of wild marbled dikes graces the side of the mountain. At this point the friction slabs get a little steeper and more interesting. There was a fixed rap line to facilitate part of this area.

The official rap anchors are found when you can go no further. There were several fixed lines here. These lines have knots in them periodically. After two long raps, there is a short rap. A little scrambling leads to a forth rap which is not absolutely necessary but is convenient when carrying loads. We could hear our Mexican friends climbing on Manure Pile Buttress and they whistled to us, waving as they summitted.

On the initially steep and loose trail I got moving smoothly when all of the sudden I came across a coral snake. With no time to check for red-on-yellow, kill a fellow or red-on-black, OK Jack, I fell awkwardly avoiding the thing as it slunk off into the forest. No harm done. Soon we were in the forest being eaten alive by skeeters. At the parking lot we dropped our loads. A Russian family graciously gave us bottled water. Natalie sorted gear while I hiked to get the car. A bear wandering in the woods near the road slowed the traffic up at one point.

We went to Curry Village for showers to remove a week of grime. My sportiva Boulder shoes which had served their purpose but were now held together by duct tape went straight into the garbage can. Natalie had wanted to eat at the pasta bar, but it and virtually everything else was closed. We went to the Mountain Room Restaurant for a steak dinner. We headed out of the Valley intending to stay in a hotel a few hours south. We tried to leave, we really did. But Natalie remembered that we had two fixed lines to retrieve! I hit the brakes and we headed for another night in the Curry Village tent cabins. During the night a bear broke into a nearby cabin and munched on a cooler as nearby tenants yelled to make him go away. Monday - Fetch and Drive

In the morning we went to Yosemite Village to shop for pictures of El Cap, misc memorabilia and breakfast. As we parked to hike in and retrieve our fixed lines, we saw a bunch of helicopters in El Cap Meadows preparing for a rescue up in Tuolumne. Two guys in front of our car were sorting gear. They had just done "Lost in America", an A5 aid route.

We hiked in and Natalie jugged up to free our fixed lines. Meanwhile, a group of guys from Spain wandered by gathering beta on the Nose route. I told them Natalie spoke Spanish, so they hung out to talk to her. We heard our Mexican friends off to our right, occasionally yelling "cuerda"...etc. I think that they were doing the East Buttress as they had mentioned planning to get on it. Pretty prolific climbing vacation they were having! We gave the Spanish guys a lot of beta, route descriptions and pointed out some features from El Cap Meadows. We shook hands with the Spanish guys, said goodby to the A5ers and headed home. In Oakhurst we stopped at the espresso shop. Natalie was wearing shorts and her legs were quite bruised from all of the gear banging against her legs. It required a little explanation in the shop! In Lancaster we gave Natalie's mom bay and sage in exchange for dinner. I dropped Natalie off at LAX and I headed home to San Diego, having completed my 19th "50-classic" climb. Aftermath

We both lost a significant amount of weight. Although we both missed unexcused days from work, her boss was in Japan at the time, and mine kept me on anyway. Nat's hair wouldn't comb out for a week, and 1-2 weeks after the trip, both of our hands started to peel.

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