This past weekend, Luke and I decided to climb Lurking Fear, a ~20 pitch route on the Southwest Face of El Capitan. The upper pitches are on the slabby side, so most advice was to travel light, because hauling would be bad on the upper part of the route. We decided to fix ropes up [...]
You know those days when everything just clicks into place? I’ve been having more of those recently… I first saw Tales of Power in the extras on the Sharp End – Madeleine Sorkin and Kate Rutherford were climbing a steep, beautiful thin hands splitter in Yosemite. This is the kind of line I just can’t [...]
The power of Twitter always amazes me. People from all over California and the USA came to Yosemite this past weekend to climb as part of the 1st Annual Yosemite Tweetup. We were not graced with the typical California sun, but it didn’t matter. Our community bonded over the campfire and through the climbs we [...]
Given the month of January to take into account my fitness and focus, I feel ready to be hopeful for 2011. Unmet goals can be seen as failure, but I like to start by aiming high. It is hard to know how the year will unfold. I am excited for 2011 and my “success” will [...]
One of my climbing goals for myself for 2011 is to work on projecting climbs. I have a strong tendency to idolize my dream climbs and save them for an onsight go. Sometimes, this works out great (as with Sunshine Dihedral). Other times, it does not. Although onsighting is a great skill to have, I [...]
I slip on the ice for the third time in as many feet. I can see my breath and there is snow everywhere. The valley floor, in Yosemite, is covered in a foot of frozen water (snow). Why am I here? At the end of 2009, I left the land of eternal sunshine (San Diego) [...]
proj·ect n. 1. A plan or proposal; a scheme. See Synonyms at plan. 2. An undertaking requiring concerted effort. 3. An extensive task undertaken by a student or group of students to apply, illustrate, or supplement lessons. My project, of free climbing El Capitan, is one of great proportions. The sheer magnitude of the this [...]
When you drive into the Yosemite Valley on Hwy-120, the view is unmistakable. El Capitan and Half Dome dominate the horizon. As you wind down towards the valley floor you can catch glimpses of a black and gold pillar off to your right, perched above the Merced. This overhanging rock spire is the Rostrum. The [...]
For me just about everything starts with a plan. I like figuring out logistics and taking all the steps to prepare for a big climb. Maybe it helps calm me down, which is really useful when thinking about climbing something as large as Half Dome. My goal was to free climb the Regular Northwest Face, with Roberto [...]
“Dude, turn around!” yells Chris from the belay. Looking back, a thick wall of mist obscures the other side of the valley. A flurry of snow blows past and I keep going, anxious to get to the next belay. Tucked under a tree, I stare out a the sheets of rain coming down. It’s not [...]
[This is a long overdue trip report from December 2009.] At 4am the alarm started blaring and I stumbled out of bed. Where was I? The unfamiliar dark room didn’t seem like home as I pulled on clothes, grabbed food and made my way out the door. In the car I started blankly at the [...]
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