El Capitan - The Nose (VI 5.9 C2)

I can go on and talk about how nerve-wracking it was getting on the longest wall my partner and I ever attempted, after confirming plans to jump on it a whole TWO DAYS in advance. But, I don't feel like it. To me this climb was about having time of my life. It's the NOSE- one of the most aesthetic rock climbs in the world! Splitting El Capitan in half, The Nose is composed of solid rock, splitter cracks of all sizes and a few bivy ledges that blew my mind. It's physical features are known not only to majority of rock climbers that fill up Yosemite Valley every year, but to tourists alike. This climb is so classic, there is a whole Supertopo guidebook dedicated to climbing this route – “Road to The Nose.” I wanted to do the King Swing, sink a hand jam into Stoveleg crack, spent a night on El Cap tower, discover how huge the “Great Roof” is up-close, and of course have a chance to stand on top of El Cap in day-light.

The Nose goes up the central buttress of El Capitan

Alix on King Swing - one of the highlights of our climb

Looking up at El Cap from the bottom

Climbing Lurking Fear two weeks prior was awesome, but something was missing. We missed all the views from the summit (since we topped out in the dark), did not sleep on the wall, and to be honest the line LF takes does not make you feel like you are on El Cap proper- it is too close to the western edge. This time Alix and I planned on a much slower ascent that would let us appreciate the climb at a reasonable pace, without too many epics. In addition, we picked a flawless weather window - no “30% of snow showers” this time!

Alix- first pitch of the Nose 

Alix on 2nd pitch

Me on pitch 4

On the day we drove in, I was as excited as I have ever been driving into Yosemite Valley. Even though the Nose was one of my big goals for 2013, I did not think I would jump on it so early in the year. Our ascent started from fixing first four pitches to Sickle ledge. While packing our haul bag in the parking lot, we decided to haul to Sickle after fixing the lines, mainly to avoid traversing/slabby terrain on first few pitches. Alix led the first two pitches and I took third and fourth. Day went smooth, and we were happy about our choice for hauling. We slept that night at camp 4 and woke up early to get back to work. Day two was a long one- move from Sickle to El Cap tower.

My shadow

Sean Leary (blue) and Chris McNamera (red) on their way to IAD ascent 

Alix in Dolt Hole

Alix climbing up the Stoveleg crack

Starting my block

Wide and splitter

Friday (day 2) started out with a bit of surprise. While racking on top of 6^th pitch Alix noticed a fast moving party on initial pitches. Turned out it was Chris McNamara (who is responsible for making Supertopo), and Sean Leary (who held prior Speed Record for The Nose)! To say they moved fast is an understatement. Before Alix was done leading sixth pitch, they already passed us. After a super duper cluster-f**k on pitch 8 (had to rappel down to free an end of our stuck lead rope and our haul bag got stuck under a roof), things got better and we moved without too many other problems. I got to lead pitches 10-14, which I was able to mostly free climb (French free through the crux of 11^th short OW pitch). Pitch 10 was probably my favorite, even though 12 and 13 were also really fun.

 

Me on pitch 12

View towards Cathedral Rocks

El Cap Tower. Ledge with an awesome view!

Alix obviously happy to have the best partner in the world

Frog that I saw from my sleeping bag

We got to the top of El Cap tower with enough daylight for Alix to fix 15^th pitch. It was a nice head start of her block for day three (pitches 15-19). Even though it was a long day, she did well to deal with a run out chimney, which took us to the top of Texas Flake! Day two was my favorite day of our climb. We got to do some cool free climbing, topped El Cap tower before dark, had time to relax, enjoy the views, eat well, talk, and went to sleep early enough to recover.

Good Morning El Cap

Pig

Alix starting up the bolt ladder towards Boot Flake

Can you spot Horsetail falls?

Horsetail Falls eliminated by morning light

Alix on King Swing!

Third day started out with a bang. Alix led Boot Flake pitch and we both performed the famous King Swing. King Swing ended up being damn fun for both of us, but took a while to complete since neither of us have done it before. Right after that we witnessed a huge rock fall from the top of Middle Cathedral. Rock fall swept down DNB route and filled up the air around Middle Cathedral with dust. After watching that, a BASE jumper flew by not too far from us. Alix led pitches 18 and 19, and it was my turn to lead. Pitch 20 turned out to be straight forward with some free and aid climbing. 21st was actually memorable and had cool face moves which I was able to climb free. Since we hauled our pig from the top of 19 I had to rap down and free it. This is where a IAD team (David and Jim) passed us. In my opinion, hauling to the top of 21^st pitch was annoying all the way from 15^th. I believe we ended third day in the dark partly due to extra time we spent clustering with our haul-bag, and letting IAD guys pass. Not sure what could have been done differently though…

Alix on pitch 17

Jugging back up after releasing our bag- Great Roof right above

Someone is enjoying this day!

Me leading the Great Roof

My spacious (NOT)  ledge - no moving around tonight!

Next I led the Great Roof. It was exciting to be under that huge formation. Thoughts of Honnold soloing it while grabbing old tat on few of the fixed pitons were frightening! Even with a rope, potential for a pendulum fall into rock wall to my left had me placing pieces with care. Aid climbing here however is easy. Pancake flake was next, and the light was really fading. After only a few free moves I stepped into my aiders and did my best to get up that pitch quickly. One more (awkward/annoying) pitch got us to camp V. For me, this was the low point of our climb. I was tired and annoyed by the last pitch. All I wanted to do was take all my climbing gear off and go to sleep, but I still had to climb another 25ft up to another ledge. First ‘2 person’ bivy was not big enough for Alix and I to sleep on. Next bivy I found just higher was barely big enough for my body. For this night I tied in extra short!

Starting my block on Day 4 (Glowering Spot - pitch 25)

Alix jugging

Changing Corners

Some cool looking roofs

Beautiful crack on Pitch 28

Alix jugging

Closer look at Alix jugging

It was hard to get up in the morning, and we didn’t really get going till after 8am. My block of pitches for the day was 25-28, after which Alix had 29-31. Changing corners was a memorable pitch because both of us did not see any way how a human could free climb it. I tried to jump into free climbing mode for pitch 28 (5.10d), but made it only to the first ‘rest’ stance before aiding remainder of hard climbing. I ended up transitioning back to free climbing on 5.8 terrain, but was really annoyed crack on that pitch isn’t any bigger- red camalots is not my happy size.

Having a great day again! (or excited she does not have to jug any longer)

Checking out the exposure from top of pitch 28

Alix on pitch 30

View towards high Sierra

SICK!

Pig is almost over the lip!

Through last 3 pitches I made sure our ropes stayed organized, we avoid clusters, but mostly I was looking down at the view of Yosemite Valley and tail of the Nose far beneath us - it was wild! When we got to last (bolt ladder) pitch I started to get electrified. Even though I was less than a 100 feet from the top, I couldn’t believe we were actually about to complete The Nose. Universally it isn’t a big deal, but for Alix and I it was a huge personal accomplishment in climbing! Watching the pig swing out into space and than doing a free hanging jug 3000ft off the deck was unreal. It was so glorious I took my time jugging this pitch (hope Alix does not read this), and acquired numerous photos (touron mode-ON!). We topped out around 4pm, but still had to sort equipment and hurry towards East Ledges descent. Since it was mid March, daylight was limited.

Looking down

View of Half Dome. Not a bad wall I see there...

Top of El Cap

Some of the garbage I removed

Our plan was to get down before dark, which we accomplished. Even though we wanted to ‘take our time’ by doing it in four days, it still was a rat race in the end. Next day Alix had classes and I had to work. Our only real celebration was two double doubles and ‘animal style’ fries at In-N-Out.  By 3am I was home in San Francisco. We didn't even take a Huber brothers wanna be poser shot in the meadows...

Maybe I need to learn how to use photoshop? 

As usual, day after we completed our ascent I was curious to why I had any desire to choose complicated and demanding outings…Next weekend I did a few fun and mellow free climbs in Yosemite (Kor Beck, first few pitches of CPoF, Catchy, Knob Job, Sherrie’s Crack, Super Slacker’s Highway). Now that I type this trip report I daydream of attempting Nose in a day, Salathe, The Shield, and other walls around Yosemite. My short term memory must be terrible! Perhaps a positive quality for a wanna be mountaineer.