texplorer Posted August 6, 2003 Share Posted August 6, 2003 Well, didn't really know where to post this since there's not an "Other" or "Yosemite" section in TR's. I haven't had much time since coming back from Yos to report but thought some of you might like to hear about how us mortals can do amazing things from time to time. As soon as school let out for summer I headed down to the Mecca of American climbing, Yosemite. I had several goals to try and push my free-climbing grade on some famous yosemite classics but knew that I was not in that great of shape and the temps were getting hot. After being there for a little over a week we I had done several longer classics like the East Butt. of Higher Cathedral, 3rd Pillar of Dana, and the East Butt. of El Cap. These are all excellent routes with classical Yosemite spiciness that I would highly recommend. A friend there wanted to do the Regular route on Half Dome in-a-day but he kinda flaked and I wasn't that motivated to hike up there being that I had already done that route. So, begins this TR. Anytime I take a "big" trip I always try to do a new classic or push my limits a little. Having done 3 long classics was good but I was getting anxious to do something new. One evening, in Camp 4 parking lot, I was spouting my mouth off about how I wanted to climb the Nose of El Cap in a day. It would be almost twice as long as anything I had ever done before "in-a-day" and I hadn't even planned on trying it this season. I guess I shouldn't have opened my mouth cause someone said, "I think Kris is looking for a partner." Well, the climbing community is an interesting web. I had met Kris just a few days earlier, no doubt high on something, in El Cap Meadow. He had just started dating a girl I had met last spring in the valley and climbed Half-dome from Camp 4 to Camp 4 in a day with. As it turned out, Kris had just lead the A5 pitch on the Reticent wall and was looking for someone to go up the Nose. He had the quintessential dirtbag look with torn carhardts and one of those old man style caps with the high brim. On the front of the greasy cap it stated "Beaver Express." Since we were both poaching sites in Camp 4 it took me awhile to find him. Our conversation proceeded as follows. Texplorer: So Kris, I hear you want to do the Nose in-a-day? Kris: Yea, that sounds good, want a King Cobra? Tex: Sip.. .Thanks, so when do you want to go? Kris: Tommorrow lets get ready, and go the next day. Tex: Okay I'll get the rack if you get some topos And so a climbing partner was found. . He was really psyched on the prospect and seemed to be at the least a great aide-climber. It was a really neat feeling to be racking up, filling water bottles, and reviewing the topo just like it was any other long climb. This, however, was not just any other climb. That evening I crawled into my sleeping bag just outside the camp 4 boundary and wondered if we were in for an epic sufferfest, or just another fine day on the rocks. 4:00 I awoke, ate some cereal and dried milk as usual and tried to pinch a loaf to no avail. As we drove through the darkness I could taste the excitement oozing from the edges of my tongue. We left the meadow at about 4:30. I was a dumbass though and went up somewhere other than the start of the route in the predawn darkness. Finally arriving at the base at about 5:00, we roped up. The plan was to lead in blocks and I was to lead the first 4 pitches. After starting up the wrong crack and groveling around above my pro I carefully (and embarrassingly) downclimbed and found the correct start of the route. Two screwups by me had cost us alot of precious cool morning time. My partner later admitted that he was beginning to wonder about my abilities. Anyway, restarting the watch I set off up the route at 5:20 in the morning. The dawn light was just starting to show as I set off up the first pitch. We carried a few bars, bagels and a gallon of water for each of us in a backpack. The rack was a scant set of doubles up to #3 camalot with one 3.5 and one 4. Neither of us had short-fixed before but we both found it remarkably easy. I made it to sickle ledge in about an hour and a half. My partner then took the lead and we smoked through the stovelegs. We simul-climbed some in the stovelegs but made up the most time by short-fixing at every belay. I led the next five up to the top of the boot flake arriving in about 4.5 hours despite having passed 6 parties on the way up (including a few CC.comer's). I had read somewhere that if possible you should not clip the one bolt behind the Texas flake so that you can flip the rope out of the chimney for easy jugging for your second. I am no stranger to soloing, and thought that I should be able to do a 5.8 chimney no problem but I must stay that being 70ft runnout is quite exhilarating experience way up there. Short-fixing again, I headed up to the base of the boot flake where I left the rack. Taking just a #1,2, and 3 camalots I aided/french-freed up leaving no pro on the boot so Kris could just climb, retrieve the rack, and swing directly over. After the King swing we started to slow down due to the heat, exhaustion, and the increased technical and physical difficulty of the climbing. Somewhere in here, his girlfriend flashed her tits to us from over on some route to the left of the nose. Kris did an awesome job backcleaning the entire pitch after the King swing and continuing up. He polished the great roof off pretty quickly and it was my turn to lead again. My last block conisisted of the 5 pitches from the top of the great roof to camp 6. Just after the king swing my biceps were starting to cramp and just jugging had become laborious. I did free the pancake flake but was exhausted. The next pitch is my most hated pitch on the whole climb. Its not so hard as it is awkward. A deep flaring crack that sucks your aiders in. I had flashbacks of the fall when I was leading that infernal pitch by headlamp at 10:30 at night. The next few pitches are haze. On the last pitch of my lead I was feeling nauseated and forced myself to keep going. I remember placing pieces and just hanging there in the blazing sun in a stupor before pulling up and going again. I remember running it out free climbing the last 25 feet or so up to camp 6 and having a sort of "I don't care if I fall" attitude. With trembling arms however I pulled onto the ledge and just layed there on the piss smelling ledge in a dehydrated and exhausting shock. When my partner arrived he pointed out that someone had ditched water there on the ledge. I hadn't even noticed the bottles until then but made quick work of an entire two liter and started to return to the land of the living. Now all I had to do was jug to the top! Amazingly I starting feeling much better and by the time we reached the top I felt totally normal again (except for the cramping biceps). We topped out in about 15.5 hours and made it down the east ledges in the daylight. On the way down we met the Huber brothers and their groupies atop Zodiac, which they had recently speed climbed in less than 3 hours. Alex was clearly lit as he swaggered getting up and pronounced, "No more biers, no more cigarrettes. . . ." Looking back now I have to say it was hard but much easier than hauling a bag up that thing the way Brad and I did in the fall. I didn't climb much the rest of trip due to an injury I somehow did on the climb on the extensors of my wrist but I didn't care. Climbing the Nose is a big deal but you don't have to be a superstar to get up that thing -even in a day. There is nothing like pushing it to the edge, being dehydrated in total misery, climbing classic pitches on a classic route, seeing tits 2000ft off the deck, and coming back to tell about it. I guess when I started climbing I always thought if I could do. . . . .(fill in the blank).. . .I would be a "climber." Over the years that (blank) has changed over and over again. I remember when it was to lead a 5.10, .11, .12 sport climb, boulder with the hardcore guys at the gym, or lead my first trad .10, .11, .12. Well, now I am a climber (even though I can't pull V7). You can all spray me to hell now but I'll be looking for partners for more walls this next fall. . . . .anyone up for tangerine trip in a push? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fence_Sitter Posted August 6, 2003 Share Posted August 6, 2003 nice guy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fejas Posted August 6, 2003 Share Posted August 6, 2003 Where the hell is the "I'm not worthy gremlem"..... Thats fuckin big dood... That bigger that anything I will ever accomplish in my climbing life time... I shouldn't say never, but something of that caliber is so beyond anything I've ever or plan on doing in the future... YOUR TOP NOTCH TEX!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunglehead Posted August 6, 2003 Share Posted August 6, 2003 I'm with FEJAS, crazy, and Waaay bigger than anything I've ever even thought of doing. Great job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lummox Posted August 6, 2003 Share Posted August 6, 2003 texplorer said: You can all spray me to hell now but I'll be looking for partners for more walls this next fall. . . . .anyone up for tangerine trip in a push? not in a push. great tr and nice job on the nostril. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Flash_Amazing Posted August 6, 2003 Share Posted August 6, 2003 Fuckin' A, sounded a damn sight harder than 5.13! Good on you, mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted August 6, 2003 Share Posted August 6, 2003 tangerine trip in the original style ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkrueger Posted August 6, 2003 Share Posted August 6, 2003 Rumors of the feat preceded your return to the PNW, so it's great to finally read your TR. Nice job Texpossible! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marko Posted August 6, 2003 Share Posted August 6, 2003 Nice frickin' job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMR Posted August 6, 2003 Share Posted August 6, 2003 Man...that's a sweet read! Good job!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sk Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 TEX You so Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terminal_Gravity Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 Excellent, Tex! Impressive Job....and a nice TR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crackman Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 hmmm... didn't I see a surprisingly similar TR a while back by some ex-Pimpz dude??? I enjoyed the extended version. If you ever find out who left that water up there, you owe them quite a few Come to think of it, yeah, it was mine . Nice work K! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sk Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 Crackman said: hmmm... didn't I see a surprisingly similar TR a while back by some ex-Pimpz dude??? I enjoyed the extended version. If you ever find out who left that water up there, you owe them quite a few Come to think of it, yeah, it was mine . Nice work K! I know who you are Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambone Posted August 8, 2003 Share Posted August 8, 2003 nice job tex! Nose in a day is a very prowd send! You were king for a day, times don't matter, non-stop is what seperates the men from the boys, I aspire to get there someday. The Trip will go in a push, specialy with all those new bolts! If I were to do it though, I'd probably fix the first 4 and blast, cause those pitches suck and eat up a bunch of time. Email me if you want specific, current beta. Nice job again! Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thelawgoddess Posted August 12, 2003 Share Posted August 12, 2003 way cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terminal_Gravity Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 Hey Tex, I was inspired by you and kind of wanted a taste of what all that climbing in a day felt like. Without the time to head to the valley or the level of skill that you have, I decided to try, in a small way, a local alternative. Saturday, I did 17 laps of a 190' route on a local crag. After about 12 laps I had to really focus on effcient use of muscles. I drank almost a gallon, it seemed like more than enough but I never had to piss. After 14, I started seeing my movements as if from a distance and had strangly clear visions of past events of my life. It was like I had two brains, one for climbing and one for day dreaming. I wasn't really trying to hurry but the 3200 feet of climbing and rappeling took just under 5 hours. After it was done I have an even greater respect for your accomplishment. Unfortunately, I saw no breasts; except in my dreams. A couple of questions, Did you pee? Did you and your partner feel like you had to hurry constantly or just move effeciently and smoothly? After exaustion started setting in, did you find that you were forced to become a better, smoother climber to compensate for the loss of muscle strength? -TG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billcoe Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 Sweet: Thanks for sharing Tex. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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