Route Climbed: Lurking Fear Date Climbed: May 22nd, 2004
4+ days with the Gazelle. Led and hauled all pitches. Perfect conditions and good climbing to P13. P15 proved to be the psychological crux. Arduous descent via Falls Trail followed by midnight jog to car at meadow.
Route Climbed: Lurking Fear Date Climbed: July 2005
7/05 - Lurking Fear with Eric Strom. My frist (and maybe last) trip up the big stone. Got my ass handed to me by the heat. Cramps, puking, you name it. Sport hooking = good fun. Thanks Eric for getting me up. Found out Im gonna be a daddy hours before the approach. Silver fish on last 5.10 pitch were not cool.
Route Climbed: trail from camp 4 Date Climbed: October 2003
didn't "climb" it per se, just hiked up past the falls and past Eagle peak to the El Cap summit on a relatively flat trail. Great trail with absolutely no one there - most everybody just stops at the upper yosemite falls but the rest is easy after that. 17 mile round trip.
This was great. Scenic cruising style in 5 days.... My first fall on El Cap snuck up and bit my ass after finishing the Shield roof pitch. I clipped the fixed slings on the belay, bounced 'em cause they looked ancient, OK, they're good. Reach down and backclean for my partner, step up, reaching with other daisy to clip directly into bolt I can now reach, and Wham, i'm airborne. Now I'm swinging around 6 feet from the wall and 40 feet below the belay, with my right hand still stretched out with the daisy I was fractions of a second away from clipping in. Oh well, lesson learned, no harm done. And, a nice clean belay minus the wad of fixed slings.
My first El Cap route, via the road less travelled. Now I know all those traversing pitches, and the gut busting feet pedaling in the air overhangs. It was great fun, not too hard, but engaging. Lots of maginal aliens, and lots of hooking (for us). Almost no rivets or copperheads, an amazing natural passage.
Black Cave bivy get two thumbs up. Pitch 5 chimney/squeeze gets two grunts.
The Best Partners that I've ever had....Finest Rock that I've ever Touched....The Longest Climbs I've ever Climbed.....The Biggest Dreams that I've ever Dreamt.
Mr Midwest, West Face, Lurking Fear, Aquarius, Horse Chutes(Horseplay Var.), The Shield, Muir Wall, The Nose, Mescalito, Pacific Ocean, North American Wall, Zodiac, Lunar Eclipse.
Route Climbed: 8 different routes. Date Climbed: 1986---1993
June 1986---the Nose with Rick Skidmore, a 5 day cruise. Total tourist vacation.
June 1987---Lurking Fear with Rick Skidmore. Loved the last few pitches up to the cave with grass filled cracks.
March 1988---Salathe Wall with Chuck Blackwell. A very cold, very fun time.
June 1991---the Dorn with Rick Skidmore. We stopped at Mammoth Terraces but the 2 days getting there had super fun thin (old A4) slab hooking.
April 1992---the Zodiac with Rick Skidmore. Done on my schools spring break (from teaching). Cool rock.
July 1992---original line of the Wall of the Early Morning Light with Rick Skidmore. Took 7+ days, just touring along having a wonderful time. I loved the dowels.
August 1992---repeated the Nose with Phil Dyment. 2+days. What a great climb.
July 1993---the Pacific Ocean Wall with Rick Skidmore. 9+days. Although we were scenic cruising as usual, it was very hard for us, and very scary. Very satisfying.
Route Climbed: East Buttress Date Climbed: Sept. 2000
Our first idea was to climb Lurking Fear. But we were not fast enough so it would have meant carrying tons of water up the face. That September was really hot indeed, averaging 42ºC. We went for the east buttress and enjoyed it very much.
fine climb. no horror pitches. fantastic situations in upper dihedral. very long and time consuming route. don't miss the lower section below mammoth terraces, must folks climb free blast instead, bad idea. if you're doing the muir, do it from the ground.
lots of nailing in awkward corners (if you're right handed). perfect solitude on the big stone. one bivy ledge on entire climb. some gnarly pitches up top, weird and wide.
old5ten - Aug 15, 2005 2:08 am
Route Climbed: Lurking Fear Date Climbed: May 22nd, 20044+ days with the Gazelle. Led and hauled all pitches. Perfect conditions and good climbing to P13. P15 proved to be the psychological crux. Arduous descent via Falls Trail followed by midnight jog to car at meadow.
cottersnow - Aug 4, 2005 4:44 pm
Route Climbed: Lurking Fear Date Climbed: 6-20-05First El Cap route. Would recommend it. Four Days and 2 nights on the wall. Bivied at the pillar of despair w/ 3 people on a double ledge - good fun!
salad - Aug 2, 2005 5:00 pm
Route Climbed: Lurking Fear Date Climbed: July 20057/05 - Lurking Fear with Eric Strom. My frist (and maybe last) trip up the big stone. Got my ass handed to me by the heat. Cramps, puking, you name it. Sport hooking = good fun. Thanks Eric for getting me up. Found out Im gonna be a daddy hours before the approach. Silver fish on last 5.10 pitch were not cool.
stoneloan - Jul 22, 2005 12:54 pm
Route Climbed: Nose Date Climbed: 1999see trip report
Summerteeth - Jul 11, 2005 7:20 pm
Route Climbed: Shortest Straw Date Climbed: Sept.15-17, 1999Two bivies. We fixed no lines.
Summerteeth - Jul 11, 2005 7:14 pm
Route Climbed: Iron Hawk Date Climbed: Sept. 28-Oct. 6, 1998My first route in Yosemite.
bbirtle - Jul 7, 2005 1:05 pm
Route Climbed: The Cheesy Way (via Yosemite Falls) Date Climbed: Sept 20, 1998Seemed kind of wimpy to climb such a famous mountain by the easy back door route. Anyway fine weather, views, good hike.
ksolem - Feb 18, 2005 11:27 pm
Route Climbed: Mescalito Date Climbed: October, 2000Well, to all the folks on here with stacks of El Cap routes to their credit I say cheers. I have one so far, and it was a great climb. Done with Rob.
bigwallt - Feb 16, 2005 2:13 am
Route Climbed: Various Date Climbed: Started in 1987 thru presentLunar Eclipse
Zodiac (4 ascents)
The Shortest Straw
Zenyatta Mendotta (winter ascent)
Kaos (2nd ascent)
Lost in America
Tangerine Trip
Iron Hawk
Atlantic Ocean wall (4th ascent)
Pacific Ocean Wall (solo)
Wall of the Early Morning Light
The Shield
The Muir Wall
The Salathe' Wall
Lurking Fear
brutus of wyde - Jan 26, 2005 6:17 pm
Route Climbed: several Date Climbed: Various, starting in 1978from Tamarack Flat via trail 1978
East Buttress with Pat and the Gunkies 1979
Salathe' Wall with Eric Perlman in 1982
Nose with Nygil in 1984
East Buttress with Tobias 6.5 hrs. car-to-car 1986
East Buttress with Mattie Thompson 1994
Zodiac with Eric Coomer 1995
Magic Mushroom with Coomer and Amanda Tarr 1996
Lurking Fear with Paul Espinosa 1996
Tangerine Trip with Coomer and Craig Francois 1996
East Buttress with Em Holland 1997
Zenyatta Mondata with Tom McMillan 1997
Salathe' Wall with Inez Drixelius 1997
Muir Wall (complete) with Nurse Ratchet 2001
Tempest (3rd ascent) with McMillan and Valerio Folco 2001
stoneman5 - Sep 13, 2004 7:29 pm
Route Climbed: East Buttress Date Climbed: September, 2003Really, really nice. The Hubers were freeing the Zodiac next to us, pretty monumental. Plus we got to use their fixed ropes on the descent!
orandall - Sep 2, 2004 2:41 pm
Route Climbed: trail from camp 4 Date Climbed: October 2003didn't "climb" it per se, just hiked up past the falls and past Eagle peak to the El Cap summit on a relatively flat trail. Great trail with absolutely no one there - most everybody just stops at the upper yosemite falls but the rest is easy after that. 17 mile round trip.
brandon - Jul 6, 2004 6:58 pm
Route Climbed: Shield Date Climbed: June 2004This was great. Scenic cruising style in 5 days.... My first fall on El Cap snuck up and bit my ass after finishing the Shield roof pitch. I clipped the fixed slings on the belay, bounced 'em cause they looked ancient, OK, they're good. Reach down and backclean for my partner, step up, reaching with other daisy to clip directly into bolt I can now reach, and Wham, i'm airborne. Now I'm swinging around 6 feet from the wall and 40 feet below the belay, with my right hand still stretched out with the daisy I was fractions of a second away from clipping in. Oh well, lesson learned, no harm done. And, a nice clean belay minus the wad of fixed slings.
mtnfoto - Jan 20, 2004 7:15 pm
Route Climbed: E Buttress Date Climbed: Spring 1995Climbed with Mark Hoffman. A classic!
brandon - Sep 30, 2003 7:46 pm
Route Climbed: NA Wall Date Climbed: Sept 2003My first El Cap route, via the road less travelled. Now I know all those traversing pitches, and the gut busting feet pedaling in the air overhangs. It was great fun, not too hard, but engaging. Lots of maginal aliens, and lots of hooking (for us). Almost no rivets or copperheads, an amazing natural passage.
Black Cave bivy get two thumbs up. Pitch 5 chimney/squeeze gets two grunts.
bigwally - Aug 25, 2003 9:56 am
Route Climbed: Various Date Climbed: 1977-1990The Best Partners that I've ever had....Finest Rock that I've ever Touched....The Longest Climbs I've ever Climbed.....The Biggest Dreams that I've ever Dreamt.
Mr Midwest, West Face, Lurking Fear, Aquarius, Horse Chutes(Horseplay Var.), The Shield, Muir Wall, The Nose, Mescalito, Pacific Ocean, North American Wall, Zodiac, Lunar Eclipse.
BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO LIVE OUT THEIR DREAMS
wallspeck - May 12, 2003 10:57 pm
Route Climbed: 8 different routes. Date Climbed: 1986---1993June 1986---the Nose with Rick Skidmore, a 5 day cruise. Total tourist vacation.
June 1987---Lurking Fear with Rick Skidmore. Loved the last few pitches up to the cave with grass filled cracks.
March 1988---Salathe Wall with Chuck Blackwell. A very cold, very fun time.
June 1991---the Dorn with Rick Skidmore. We stopped at Mammoth Terraces but the 2 days getting there had super fun thin (old A4) slab hooking.
April 1992---the Zodiac with Rick Skidmore. Done on my schools spring break (from teaching). Cool rock.
July 1992---original line of the Wall of the Early Morning Light with Rick Skidmore. Took 7+ days, just touring along having a wonderful time. I loved the dowels.
August 1992---repeated the Nose with Phil Dyment. 2+days. What a great climb.
July 1993---the Pacific Ocean Wall with Rick Skidmore. 9+days. Although we were scenic cruising as usual, it was very hard for us, and very scary. Very satisfying.
July 1995--- East Buttress.
TodoVertical - Dec 4, 2002 2:40 pm
Route Climbed: East Buttress Date Climbed: Sept. 2000Our first idea was to climb Lurking Fear. But we were not fast enough so it would have meant carrying tons of water up the face. That September was really hot indeed, averaging 42ºC. We went for the east buttress and enjoyed it very much.
kullaberg - Nov 27, 2002 10:20 pm
Route Climbed: muir wall Date Climbed: may 92fine climb. no horror pitches. fantastic situations in upper dihedral. very long and time consuming route. don't miss the lower section below mammoth terraces, must folks climb free blast instead, bad idea. if you're doing the muir, do it from the ground.
kullaberg - Nov 27, 2002 10:16 pm
Route Climbed: dihedral wall Date Climbed: may 90lots of nailing in awkward corners (if you're right handed). perfect solitude on the big stone. one bivy ledge on entire climb. some gnarly pitches up top, weird and wide.