Nose In a Day trip report!

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Enjoy! I trained for almost a year to accomplish this goal. It felt easier than I expected and I can't wait to try to go even faster. My hands hurt for 3 straight days afterwards.

Badass! Very proud style and ascent!

Sounds like an incredible send. Out of curiosity, how many times have you climbed the nose before? (If ever?)

Nice work Jeff! 2 Zion walls in a day should be cake compared to NIAD. ...why not 3?

grog m wrote:Sounds like an incredible send. Out of curiosity, how many times have you climbed the nose before? (If ever?)

I hadn't ever climbed the nose before. Did a practice run to sickle, a practice run to dolt, and a practice run to eagle before committing to the route.

Trout, If you want to try to link up some walls in Zion let me know. I'm on the Tuesday/Wednesday weekend right now.

Amazing vision and grit, JeffL! So amazing to watch this come together. Keep crushing, Homie!

Hell yeah, awesome!

I trained for almost a year to accomplish this goal.

Tell us about your training! I'd be really interested to read about your program.

Sirius wrote:Hell yeah, awesome! I trained for almost a year to accomplish this goal. Tell us about your training! I'd be really interested to read about your program.

I wouldn't say it was much of a program. The idea that this was even possible was planted in my head after reading Hans Florine's speed climbing book. After this, I set out on a mission to learn how to aid climb. I first climbed prodigal sun, short-fixing the entire way, leading the entire route. A month later I decided I needed to learn how to jumar, so I rope solo'd moonlight buttress. That trip report can also be found on my blog. These two walls got me comfortable aiding, how to reduce clusters, and how to self belay. I actually hurt my shoulder jumaring on Moonlight, it set me back almost a month.

As spring came, I shifted my focus to linking free climbs. I'd always been a fan of grade IV's, so I sought partners who desired to link grade IV's together. I fell in love with simul-climbing easier routes, and was able to cover lots of ground in days that were usually 8-12 hour car to car days. I also focused a LOT on my head space. I started thinking of my climbing skills as protection. I lead Supercrack in Indian Creek with just two hexes, to prove to myself that I could do it. It's also how the FA did it, so that's pretty neat. I also dabbled a bit more into free soloing, but that's entirely personal and I won't go into detail here.

Mid to late summer I focused on projecting my free ability and doing HUGE days in the alpine. I learned better movement, and how to try really hard on routes at and above my climbing limit. For the big alpine days, we would hike to Lone Peak Cirque which gains 5,000ish feet of elevation and is the most miserable hike I've ever done. After hiking we would climb as many pitches as we could, with really tired legs. I wanted to train myself to keep climbing sustained 5.9 and 5.10 even when exhausted. I also worked on managing my body on these alpine days. I used to get headaches and drink WAY too much water thinking it was from dehydration. I learned that I needed electrolyte's and better sources of food.

At the end of the summer, as the trip to Yosemite was getting close, I focused on my nervous system. I began trail running, and doing ridge traverses 5.4 and easier as fast as possible. I wanted to see how long I could sustain a very high level of exertion. I focused on keeping my breathing under control and moving with a purpose.

The only thing I was missing was jugging technique. I watched and rewatched C Mac's youtube videos and got the slab jugging technique wired. Smaller movements was my key to success. I practiced solo aiding and then cleaning on an overhanging 5.13 finger crack, and also got that technique to be more reasonable.

There's three big things I can recommend to anyone aspiring to climb the nose in a day. First is jugging technique/efficiency/speed. I can't emphasize this enough, because your partner is depending on you to put them on belay ASAP. Leading on a huge PDL is dangerous, so the faster you can put him back on belay, the safer he will feel and the faster he can move. Second is head space and confidence in yourself. You're only bringing a double rack, so you need to run things out a long way and ensure you don't fall. You need to be able to accept consequences of 40 to 100 foot falls, and move in a way that you WON'T fall when the stakes are high. You can always tie in short or self belay, but that tradeoff in safety will cost time. Third, do a practice run. Not to Dolt tower, but to Eagle Ledge. Rehearsing the bolt ladder, c1+ section below the boot, and the King Swing (especially for the follower) will save you tons of time.

Any other questions, feel free to ask. As a disclaimer, please note that we took much more risk than necessary in the interest of time savings. You could self belay or bring a silent partner to make many sections more safe. I found the grigri to be a royal pain in the ass for free climbing. Best to tie in short a few times or use a SP. A friend of mine who I gathered beta from said he climbed the route in 22ish hours without taking big risks.

how much was it aid and how much was it free? Did you try to free as much as possible and then aid what you needed? What's the ratio between aid/free? Did you wear a pack for your food and water?

Probably 80 to 90 percent free. Only used aiders on the great roof, changing corners, glowering spot, and the two bolt ladders. We did a good amount of French free, especially on the first 4 pitches. Basically if it was faster to pull on a cam or fixed gear, do it. We made sure to keep our weight on our feet and get back to free climbing as soon as possible. We brought one rei flash pack with food, 6 liters of water, a windbreaker, and a wag bag just in case.

Hi Jeff,

Really enjoyed reading the report and the summary of your year of preparation. I'm in no position to be able to climb with you, unfortunately, (way too low on fitness and time) but connect with the mentality of long days simulclimbing easy terrain. That's a goal of mine. I'm interested in trying to do things like the full Exum ridge and eventually multipitch alpine routes up to around 5.8 in that style. I wonder if you'd comment a bit more on how you worked up to that?

Well done! Inspiring climbing! One day I hope to accomplish the same.

That's pretty damn cool. Big respect!

ton wrote:Hi Jeff, Really enjoyed reading the report and the summary of your year of preparation. I'm in no position to be able to climb with you, unfortunately, (way too low on fitness and time) but connect with the mentality of long days simulclimbing easy terrain. That's a goal of mine. I'm interested in trying to do things like the full Exum ridge and eventually multipitch alpine routes up to around 5.8 in that style. I wonder if you'd comment a bit more on how you worked up to that?

I think I just kind of did it... I fell in love with moving quickly and not being chained to a belay. Read Han's Florine's book on a speed climbing would be my biggest recommendation. Note that simul climbing should be considered soloing with the ability to ask for a belay. When you simul, you don't really need big days, but fitness is pretty important. You pretty much move the entire time. You don't want to get tired and make a mistake 2000 feet up on a route.

Wow, just reading this now. Very inspiring! Keep up the good work!

Cool to read. Nice work!

Thanks for sharing. Brings back memories. My partner actually busted his foot taking that leap off of Dolt. Glad to hear you had a different experience.