David Trippett Posted May 31, 2007 Posted May 31, 2007 Trip: Yosemite - Various Date: 5/31/2007 Trip Report: I spent the last two weeks in Yosemite from May 14-29. The first week I climbed with Ben Priestly and the second week climbing with some Brazilian friends. Ben and I climbed Half Dome and El Cap, each in a day, freeing up to 5.11c. In addition we soloed Royal Arches, me on-sight and without the little pendulum. Starting from the valley floor we sent Half Dome ground up with no fixed lines. I freed up to 5.11a and Ben took over the aid pitches, except for my on-sight attempt at the first zig-zag that was quickly ended ........ A lot has been written about this route here, so I wont go into detail. For the West Face of El Cap we managed to start and finish the route in the light in spite of some of my route finding errors on the descent. I freed two of the four crux pitches to 5.11c. This route is amazing and is a great one day ride up the Captain. Lots of crazy featured rock and chicken heads and short cruxes make this very doable. After Ben went home I had the pleasure of climbing with two great Brazilian friends, Wagner and Daniel, both from Curitiba . We did the stellar Lost Arrow Spire Direct over three days. I can't say enough about this route, the position is unbeatable, there are plush ledges every four pitches, the aiding is clean, always interesting and real, and the grand finale of the tyrolean makes it a Mega-Classic. The route list below is what we did with the grades we freed at listed... Royal Arches- IV 5.10b- On-Sight Solo Half Dome- Regular Northwest Face, VI 5.11a C1/2 23p - 1 day ascent El Capitan- West Face, V 5.11c A0 20p- 1 Day Ascent Lost Arrow Spire Direct- V 5.10 C2 14p- 3 days Lots of Cragging Here's a few photos, most credits to Michelle Gagnon, Ben Priestly and Wagner Machado....feel free to contact me for any specific route beta. Thanks Half Dome At the Base of Half Dome in the Morning Looking up the Regular Northwest Face Big Ben on Big Sandy Zig Zags with the Visor above Ben at the start of the West Face of El Cap route Looking down the West Face Route Me on the steep second 5.11c crux on the West Face Ben on the big traverse on the West Face El Cap Summit Half Dome from the Captain Ben and El Cap from near the top of Zodiac Yosemite Falls Wall and Lost Arrow Direct Looking up the Arrow Daniel and Wagner on the Arrow Me at the first ledge on the Arrow Wagner racking up on the Arrow Yosemite falls from the Arrow Me leading to the cool tree belay on the Arrow Cool and Shady tree belay on the Arrow Daniel and the Pig Arriving at the 2nd bivy at 2am Kiss, I love you Yosemite Wagner on the Arrow Summit Sorting out the summit anchor cluster with Michelle, a Canmorean who I met in Frey that joined up with us with her boyfriend Martin to do the traverse The Lost Arrow Spire Daniel on the Traverse Me on the Traverse The End Gear Notes: Big and Heavy Approach Notes: too much walking at god awful hours Quote
kevbone Posted May 31, 2007 Posted May 31, 2007 Rad dude....I talked with Beconben about his trip the other day. He said you were a great partner and he had a lot of fun. Great pics..... Quote
David Trippett Posted May 31, 2007 Author Posted May 31, 2007 Rad dude....I talked with Beconben about his trip the other day. He said you were a great partner and he had a lot of fun. Great pics..... Ben is a Great Partner too.....he did all that shit off the couch! Super-Badass! Quote
kevbone Posted May 31, 2007 Posted May 31, 2007 I have been climbing with Ben for about 10 years. He is a good friend. And he is totally off the couch. Quote
David Trippett Posted May 31, 2007 Author Posted May 31, 2007 He's Off the hook fun too!...Thanks again Ben! Quote
mythosgrl Posted May 31, 2007 Posted May 31, 2007 Impressive! Great pictures! I had been waiting to hear about it. Looked like you had a good time. Was it pretty hot down there? Quote
Weekend_Climberz Posted May 31, 2007 Posted May 31, 2007 Nice pics Avi I need to get down to the Valley some day. Too much to do. Quote
SFDukie Posted May 31, 2007 Posted May 31, 2007 (edited) Wow! Too bad the weather didn't cooperate How did you set up the tyrolean? Don Edited May 31, 2007 by SFDukie Quote
David Trippett Posted May 31, 2007 Author Posted May 31, 2007 Wow! Too bad the weather didn't cooperate How did you set up the tyrolean? Don The weather was great! Thanks California! We had some friends meet us near the top....they rapped down to the notch and we summited together and did the Tyrolean. Quote
Alpinfox Posted May 31, 2007 Posted May 31, 2007 Wow! Thanks for the story and pics. Impressive! Quote
corvallisclimb Posted May 31, 2007 Posted May 31, 2007 [rawk][rawk] nice, LAD looks awsome!!! now that really makes me want to drive down on hop on the capitan... Quote
billcoe Posted May 31, 2007 Posted May 31, 2007 Holy shit, when Ben mentioned doing Arches he didn't say free solo. Damn. I thought that other stuff was amazing anyway. Ben rules. Avitrip, that some awesome shit. If you have a bit of free time, I'd like to see the full meal deal on West Face of El Cap. What you took for pro, how early you woke up, did you fix 2 pitches via aid or free and then toss your aiders down....the whole show! Shit nice stuff, thanks for sharing it! Quote
David Trippett Posted May 31, 2007 Author Posted May 31, 2007 The deal on West Face was we did it ground up and led in blocks. We used a 70m rope and I led the first 8 pitches short fixing where it was possible with Ben jumaring on my block for speed. I french freed the first 11b crux, and fell once on the second 11b crux, then fired it all free right after the fall. I short fixed, soloing any easy pitches while Ben came up until the next crux, an 11c, which I french freed as well and linked to a lower 10c to make a 68m pitch*(see side story). After that was the hardest crux, an overhanging, 11c bulge which I freed entirely after two falls (although at that early in the morning the first 11b is probably the crux). After that we swapped leads and linked any pitches we could to the Thanksgiving ledge and then simul-climbed to the summit. We woke up at 3am and were climbing by ~7am. We were finished climbing by ~5pm. For the west face gear we took a 70m rope, doubles of everything from #.5 camalot to #2 with one #3 and three yellow aliens, two greens and a blue plus some nuts. Lots of slings and some draws. You could get by with less Aliens....but why?... they're so cute! We weren't super duper fast...but I thought the style was good given the abilities of the team and the results were positive....we achieved our goal of home before dark. It could definately be done faster. * That 68m pitch was crazy and was sort of an accident, the lower 10c I passed without realizing it and I kept climbing...I remember looking at my dwindling rack and wondering when the pitch would end.....finally I do some hard moves to this old manky looking hanging belay and I am wondering WTF?!.....this thing shouldn't be til the next pitch. So I clip into it to look at my topo and I managed to link the two pitches to one....which worked out well in hind sight.....anyway, I had no gear, so I clipped a free biner to the threads on the old manky anchor and still had to finish the pitch with no gear to protect the next 4 meters of 11a climbing(there was no way that anchor could be used to jumar on). So i finished the pitch with almost no rope and no gear and I arrive at the Belay ready to jump off that ledge when there is nothing to make an anchor. When I get there there is this perfect horn which I have just enough rope left to sling with a bight!... allowing safe fixing.... I am no badass, far from it.....but that of the most memorable pitches of my life. What a lucky bastard! BTW....THE WEST FACE IS AWESOME....DO IT!! Quote
tradclimbguy Posted May 31, 2007 Posted May 31, 2007 Nice work, sounds like a fun trip. I'm headin for the valley in another week too. Nothing big this time down although the West Face might be fun to jump on, it looks like a better route than I had envisioned. Always nice to see some pics of the Valley. Quote
pink_chalk Posted June 1, 2007 Posted June 1, 2007 Sweetness! Way to get it done Benny-boy, off-the-couch style! Thumbs up to both of you! Quote
maxhasson Posted June 15, 2007 Posted June 15, 2007 The arches are 5.9, still, that's pretty dicey slab soloing. Quote
David Trippett Posted June 15, 2007 Author Posted June 15, 2007 must have been upgraded? http://www.supertopo.com/rockclimbing/route.html?r=yoraroya ....Its a bit of sandbag at 5.9, not that i necessarily agree with 10b.... Quote
maxhasson Posted June 15, 2007 Posted June 15, 2007 Sandbags are quintissential yosemite. However, i was just talking shit, I've always gone for the monkey swing, which may be less safe than the freeway, but feels somehow more secure. Chris makes incredibly detailed topos but I think the old, often quite conservative grades are better for reasons I can't even explain. Nice trip, but maybe don't spray so hard next time, I had to put on my gore-tex suit... max (no offense intended) hasson Quote
David Trippett Posted June 15, 2007 Author Posted June 15, 2007 Ok Max...no spray was intended, in all honesty.... perhaps no one will accuse me of being overly modest.... and I'm quite aware of where my abilities fit-in in the grand pecking order...but in the context of what gets done around there on a daily basis.... what we did was pretty mundane and the report was made in that spirit, anyway, thanks for the advice! Quote
texplorer Posted June 16, 2007 Posted June 16, 2007 Mundane or no that was a pretty badass trip. The regular route on half dome is still one of my favorites. Thanks for the west face beta, I have been thinking about getting on that someday. Your report reminds me of my first trip to the Valley. Nice work on some classics. Quote
billcoe Posted June 16, 2007 Posted June 16, 2007 Ok Max...no spray was intended, in all honesty.... perhaps no one will accuse me of being overly modest.... and I'm quite aware of where my abilities fit-in in the grand pecking order...but in the context of what gets done around there on a daily basis.... what we did was pretty mundane and the report was made in that spirit, anyway, thanks for the advice! I call Bullshit Max, there was no spray. These guys climbed some great routes in awesome style, and Avitrip put some work into putting together a great Trip Report. Thanks again for sharing it! Awesome shit Trip. Theres some damn solid climbers on this site who haven't done those routes, and these guys cranked em out in a week! Like Tex, I think 1/2 dome rules, and also have wanted to do the West Face in a day but have never had the cahones. I suspect that my window may have passed me by, and appreciate Avitrips enthusiasm. However, even if I don't get on it, I can read about it and love it via the internet! Max, maybe you can point to a Trip Report you did which is the epitome of perfection which can act as a basis of greatness for the rest of us (no offense intended)? Quote
Blake Posted June 19, 2007 Posted June 19, 2007 Max, maybe you can point to a Trip Report you did which is the epitome of perfection which can act as a basis of greatness for the rest of us (no offense intended)? just do a search under the username "Blake" Quote
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