I had wussed out on the crux of pitch one and pitch two, but now I was chuckling and having a good time. I was at least 10 feet out from my last piece and fully engrossed in the improbably face climbing. Despite my non-commitment a few minutes earlier things had instantly turned around when the climbing got easier. With each rope length we progressed up the West Face of El Capitan my arms filled with lead.
It was an odd type of day and a weird style of climbing. After the first handful of pitches there are only a few bolts and pitons to guide the way. To our good fortune the climbing comprised mostly of golden crimps and jugs that dotted the face.
Looking up at the endless granite of the West Face
Even though it was the first week of May I was freezing. Loosing feeling in my hands on each of the first six pitches. Belays were the worst. The breeze would kick up and steal my hard earned heat. Even when the sun came around the corner we weren’t warm. So it goes sometimes in Yosemite. Hot one day, frozen the next.
Since I had taken the first two pitches Jonathan lead the upper two crux pitches. This gave me the opportunity to try out the sequence I had though up last time. With burning fingers I managed to make it through the mystic moves of the super long 5th pitch. The next pitch seemed to fit Jonathan and he nabbed a proud onsight.
The upper part of the route should have gone faster but the route finding was a challenge. Once I was so convinced I was off route that I lowered almost all the way back to the belay. Luckily Jonathan believed otherwise and convinced me that we were on track. A final cruxy pitch put us on Thanksgiving ledge as the light started to die. There was hope with all of the difficulties behind us.
Jonathan took over the sharp end and we simuled the last 600’ in a couple blocks. Finally high up on El Capitan we unroped and walked to the summit in total darkness.
The descent seemed foreign and unfamiliar despite having been up there two days prior. Eventually the landmarks jogged my memory and we shuffled down the east ledges, back at the car around midnight. It was a very long day, mostly due to our slow climbing and uncertainty on the upper pitches.
Sometimes these big routes turn into big adventures, complete with uncertainty, darkness and a touch of epic. I learned that I need to commit much quicker and surely my next time up the route will be much faster.
I’ll be back!
– Luke
