The Nose of El Captain in a Day
At first I wasn't even 100% planning on coming to Yosemite in the fall of 2009, I was stressed and working too much. One of my best buddies and climbing partner Graham Zimmerman got a job on Tuolumne SAR (Search and Rescue), but he would be spending the end of September and October in the Valley on YOSAR. So I would even have a place to stay. Then I watched Masters of Stone 6, that sealed the deal I was stoked to climb in the Valley with Graham. A couple Friends were already driving down and I hopped a ride with them. After arriving in the Valley, Graham suggested that we just get right after it and climb the Nose of El Captain in a day. The Nose (VI 5.10 C2 31 pitches) is one of the ebst climbs in the world, I wasn't sure we could do it in under 24 hours, we had never short fixed before and neither of us had done it (Except I had climbed the first 4 pitches a few years ago "Attempting it") so based on that we decided Graham would lead those pitches thus being an On-sight in our opinion. We brought a triple set of cams to 3" and 2 #4 camalots, nothing bigger, two micro cam sets with the third being offset, all or our 1.5 set of nuts where offsets, we brought 2 hooks, one Sky hook and one cam hook. 2 aiders, stirrups for the second who would jug ever pitch because we planned to short fix. 6 litters of water (We ran out before the top) and a good amount of food. We planned on starting at 4:30am. Or biggest commitment, 1 70m rope. It does feel awesome to walk up to the Base of the Nose with only one rope.
Graham at the base of the route tapping his toe, which he stubbed somewhat badly the day before.
Graham took pitches 1-4 entirely in the dark. At Sickle ledge we swapped and I took Pitches 5-11 from Sickle to the top of Dolt Tower. We got sun light at the top of pitch 6. I really enjoyed short fixing the stove legs but it was quite pumpy and I was very very run out while short fixing them.
Graham took pitches 1-4 entirely in the dark. At Sickle ledge we swapped and I took Pitches 5-11 from Sickle to the top of Dolt Tower. We got sun light at the top of pitch 6. I really enjoyed short fixing the stove legs but it was quite pumpy and I was very very run out while short fixing them.
Below is Graham starting pitch 12.
Graham took pitches 12-16, Dolt Tower to the Eagle ledge
A Tom Adams shot of us, Here graham is leading on Pitch 16, the Boot flake, it took us only 6:30 hr to get to the half way point, we thought we would smoke it but we did slow down. I am jugging behind Texas Fake in this picture
Graham climbing the Boot while I stand on Texas flake to Belay him. Tom Adams said he only sees the moon like this ever 7 years. We passed a party of guides that knew our friends Tino and Alan. The group was extremely nice about letting us pass, maybe because we climbed 4 pitches in the same time it took them to lead one. They where on day 2 or three and spent 2 more days on the wall. We watched their progress after we got down. This made it seam all the more crazy that we could do the route in a day.
Another Amazing shot from Tom on the same pitch
Graham getting close tot he top of the Boot. Because we only had one rope we both "Had" to do the King swing. This was one of the funnest parts of the route. Graham lead the Boot and I lowered him having him clean everything. I lowered him 15ft or so below the boot and he did the massive King swing, then I jugged up about 10-15ft and then I did the massive King swing.
Here I am back in front for pitches 17-27, too long of a block and in retrospect we should have had it shorter, but that's what you get for being greedy. I am leading the 17th pitch, Graham is on the lower left at Eagle ledge and the guy with the Orange Helmet is the team we passed on the King Swing.
Graham jugging up the vertical crack that leads into the Great roof on pitch 22.
Looking back into the Great roof
Short Fixing on the Pancake flake, even while Short fixing I free climbed this amazing feature. It is mostly a 5.10a jug haul on a flake. One of the best pitches on a route full of best pitches.
Graham belaying me on the pitch 23's Pancake Flake.
Here Graham is jugging the Pancake Flake (poor guy) and me at the belay on pitch 23. At this point I had been going full telt for 7 pitches but had three more to go in my block, we should have switched out.
Me leading the Glowering Spot, pitch 25
Looking down at Graham from the top of pitch 26 Camp VI, only one more pitch to go in my block, I was getting tired but was still dispatching the mostly aid pitches in around 40 minutes or so.
Above Graham jugging pitch 27, "The Changing Corners pitch" the Aid and Free Crux (5.14a/C2 tricky). This is actually one of my favorite moments in my entire climbing career, 4 pitches from the top, I felt like we were going to make it. 15 hrs had passed at this point and while worked I knew we were going to make it. Graham was still charging hard. If I wasn't so tired I would have cruised this 150 pitch but It took me nearly an hour. After that Graham took over he managed to climb one more pitch before it got dark. He climbed the final 3 pitches in the Dark, in good time considering we had climbed 3000ft already and it was dark. On the final bolt ladder pitch which is extremely overhanging. A story from a friend of mine named Alan came to me where he swung out in the dark with no headlamp. Graham back cleaned all but the last bolt, once he fixed the rope I unclipped from the anchors and swung into space. The final pitch of the day I was just felling over joyed. I looked down on 6 or 7 parties on the route, head lamps on thousands of feet below me, of the cars driving around the loop. It was amazing. When I pulled up graham hugged me. I was over Joyed, we high fived, almost exactly 17 hours on the route, 32 minutes a pitch for both of us, not bad for climbing our first grade VI in a day. We sat at the tree for a while enjoying the climb, drinking old water from bottles left at the famous tree at the top of the Nose. The moon was half full and we could see half dome, this is likly my favorite day of climbing ever....
Above Graham jugging pitch 27, "The Changing Corners pitch" the Aid and Free Crux (5.14a/C2 tricky). This is actually one of my favorite moments in my entire climbing career, 4 pitches from the top, I felt like we were going to make it. 15 hrs had passed at this point and while worked I knew we were going to make it. Graham was still charging hard. If I wasn't so tired I would have cruised this 150 pitch but It took me nearly an hour. After that Graham took over he managed to climb one more pitch before it got dark. He climbed the final 3 pitches in the Dark, in good time considering we had climbed 3000ft already and it was dark. On the final bolt ladder pitch which is extremely overhanging. A story from a friend of mine named Alan came to me where he swung out in the dark with no headlamp. Graham back cleaned all but the last bolt, once he fixed the rope I unclipped from the anchors and swung into space. The final pitch of the day I was just felling over joyed. I looked down on 6 or 7 parties on the route, head lamps on thousands of feet below me, of the cars driving around the loop. It was amazing. When I pulled up graham hugged me. I was over Joyed, we high fived, almost exactly 17 hours on the route, 32 minutes a pitch for both of us, not bad for climbing our first grade VI in a day. We sat at the tree for a while enjoying the climb, drinking old water from bottles left at the famous tree at the top of the Nose. The moon was half full and we could see half dome, this is likly my favorite day of climbing ever....
