The Road To The Nose
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Long timer lurker, first time poster. I've been climbing for a few years now on mostly trad (lead 5.9 around North East) and ice (lead WI3s). I went to the Yosemite first time last year just to backpack with family. I was in awe! I've never done any aid climbing before and never thought I will. But after seeing the El Cap, I knew right there that I have to climb it one day. |
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The major obstacle to doing a big wall on el cap is not your ability level. It's your endurance. Aiding is straight forward but extremely slow. Plan on taking your time and enjoying being up there. Plan for 6 days. Hell take 2 weeks. It doesn't matter. You will have fun, learn tons and be a much better climber by the time you get off it. Just hang in and don't give up. |
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Train your guts out. Then put them back in and train some more. Make yourself as hard to kill as possible. Before big walls and alpine I like to trail run while breathing through McDonald's straws. And take plenty of WATER. Plan for as much as 4L per day in the heat of the summer. Less in cooler temps. So 5 days on the wall could be as much as 20L per person. But the pig gets lighter the higher you climb. And running out of water WILL shut you down. Wall systems and aiding are pretty much straight forward. And if you haven't already, spend the night high up on a wall and familiarize yourself with vertical camping and hauling the pigs. Also the summit is the goal but so is not dieing or needing a rescue. Know self rescue technique and have an exit strategy for any point up high. |
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Thanks! No question about training, technical/physical/mental skills. I planned on training as much as I can during the summer since I can take the entire time off. That means I can train every day as long as I'm physically able to. Just wondering if dedicating three months in the summer will allow me to climb the Nose. |
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So so advice above. True, endurance is key. A big part of doing walls is just grinding it out every day. In addition to that, if you want to have an enjoyable climb, not just an unpleasant, slow-moving clusterf#ck that will cause grief to yourself and all those around you, you need the following: |
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Fat Dad wrote:1. Get really efficient at climbing trad 5.9-10a. You should be able to handle long pitches of this grade without problem since you'll be doing it all day on the Nose.Yup. It shouldn't be a problem. I climb 5.9 around here at the end of the last season. If I can climb just about everyday, I'm sure I can handle 5.10a/b in efficient manner. Fat Dad wrote:Focus on doing long routes smoothly and efficiently. Focus on smooth change overs at belays and learning to rack gear while cleaning, etc.It's harder to do this in North East (especially at the gunks). I think spending a month or so doing that out west should make me pretty good. Fat Dad wrote:2. Learn to aid and haul efficiently. You owe it to yourselves and the parties behind you to get your system down. If you can't climb a 100' pitch of A1 in about an hour, you need to get faster. Learn to set up a hanging belay, hauling, cleaning aid pitches, particularly a pendulum, etc. Again, you'll be doing a good ten pitches of that stuff a day, and if you take an extra 15 mins. per pitch flopping around, that's an extra 2.5 hrs for the day. Doing a grade V or two, or even some long grade IVs, is a good way to test your preparation and systems. Having said all that, lots of people who aid 5.8 manage to crawl their way up the Nose each year. You may even have to fight just to keep your place in line (e.g., people will try to climb in front and over you, jug your fixed lines, etc., etc.). Once you get a day up the wall, it'll thin out and you'll be good. But it will be MUCH more pleasant and enjoyable if you prepare well for the adventure.This is really why I want to spend time in Yosemite in the summer. How long do you think it would take to be efficient at technical requirement when it comes to this? I have no problem setting up anchor, hanging belay when it comes to trad. I figure if I practice everyday for two weeks should be enough, no? I can't wait for the summer! |
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+1 on Dad's advice. Knowing gear systems, especially at belays, will make the biggest difference between an epic and a good time. Sometimes an extra minute to think a system all the way through can save 15 minutes or more. |
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ToTheNose wrote: It's harder to do this in North East (especially at the gunks). I think spending a month or so doing that out west should make me pretty good.What about Cathedral Ledge, etc. May be far for you but much better prep than the Gunks. My first summer in the Valley (at age 16), I climbed alot with another young guy from the Gunks and he had serious problems at first climbing crack, which is 95% of what you'll be doing. Having said that, within a couple of weeks we did the NW Face of Half Dome without any major problems. We had planned on doing the Nose the week after but I ran out of money and had to bail. Here's what I would do. Go to the Valley and climb all the 5.9/easy .10 standards you can: Reed's Direct, Sacherer Cracker, and long routes too like the NE Butt of Higher Cathedral. South Face of Column would be a good warm up. West Face of Leaning Tower wouldn't be bad either though it's much more aid intensive. If you've got three months, you've even got time to tag Half Dome. The more you climb, the faster and stronger you'll get. Also, buy some cam hooks and learn how to use them. They'll definitely held on the pitches to Sickle. Also, aim for only 3.5 days. Someone suggested bringing 4 Ls. per day for 5 days. Your bags will be so heavily all your energy will go into hauling, not climbing. Bring 2 Ls. per day and bring enough for 4 days. If you're unsure on that subject, do a grade V to find out how much water you'll really need. BRING rain gear (and fiber fill bags). You may not need it but if you do it'll save your life. |
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Fat Dad wrote:
1. Get really efficient at climbing trad 5.9-10a. You should be able to handle long pitches of this grade without problem since you'll be doing it all day on the Nose. Yup. It shouldn't be a problem. I climb 5.9 around here at the end of the last season. If I can climb just about everyday, I'm sure I can handle 5.10a/b in efficient manner. Just something I learned on El Cap: 5.10 thousands of feet up, with all of the gear that an aid lead entails hanging off of you, is different than anything you can imagine until you have to do it. I don't think that being solid on .10- is the right goal: being solid on Valley .10+ might correlate better to freeing 5.9/5.10- up high. I remember thinking from the ground that the Pancake Flake looks like it'll be a fun, no frills lead. I'm sure that for many people it is. For me, at least, unclipping from that semi-hanging belay with the wind whipping, the maw yawning, the Great Roof at my shoulder, and my jugs, hauler, mondo rack, aiders, wall shoes, haul line, etc etc etc hanging off of me involved difficulties I couldn't have imagined. Freeing with confidence up on El Cap is no joke. Part of the game! One common road to El Cap: 1. Get confident on all kinds of 5.10's around the Valley 2. Aid some pitches, clean, haul, jug, practice traverses 3. South Face Wash Col 4. West Face Leaning Tower 5. Have at it |
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Why are you in such a hurry? Do you have cancer? Not long to live? |
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Sirius wrote:I don't think that being solid on .10- is the right goal: being solid on Valley .10+ might correlate better to freeing 5.9/5.10- up high.I don't disagree with the logic of climbing harder 10s equating to easier free climbing. However, I don't think we should give the impression that you need to be solid on Valley .10+ before being ready for the Nose. It would help, sure. Necessary, no. I'd wager that the majority of climbers out there, even ones climbing some .12 sport wouldn't be solid on a variety of .10+ Valley cracks. |
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Just my 2¢: Keep in mind that you don't have to lead every pitch with the entire rack. Get comfortable using a zip line (also very handy for lowering out bags on traverses) and start out with only the gear you think you'll actually need. Send for anything extra if the situation arises. |
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JLP wrote:I'd agree w/ Mike if we were talking about frigging your way up Astroman, but we're not. It's just the Nose. It's a rite of passage to the many harder objectives done in the Valley and beyond since 1958. Very few do it as honed and highly experienced climbers. Most are gumbies.I agree. While I think it is important to cut your teeth on some smaller walls first, the Nose is an early stop on the path to big wall glory. Plus, sometimes it's good to push yourself. When I first did El Cap in 1983, we opted for Zodiac, which then was still a pretty hard nail up. Although I had done Half Dome and the Prow, most of my nailing experience was on practice rocks. Our average age was only 18. It really challenged my partner and I and I found myself bargaining with God on a number of pitches. But we did it without serious incident and it was a grand adventure. And it wouldn't have happened had we not stuck our necks out. About 15 years ago, I met a buddy in the Valley to do another big nailing route on the Captain. We did the math and figured our vacation was too short for that and hit the Cookie and Arch Rock all week. At the end of the week I told my buddy we should try Astroman or the Rostrum and he just kind of laughed it off. Looking back, I think we would have made a respectable effort. Now I'm a dad and fatter and climb just a few times a year. Though I still cling pathetically to hopes of one day climbing it, I'm afraid my Astroman moment have have passed. |
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Hmmm, similar questions to my own. What I'm wondering about, for doing the Nose or other big Yosemite routes is how much aid skills are needed, and how much free skills? |
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Well, IMHO, you should be able to ramble up middle 5.10 hand and fist cracks quite confidently. The Nose is one of the most popular rock climbs in the world and there are frequently several parties on the climb at the same time in the "climbing season". |
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" So far I've been hauling concrete blocks and jugging in the quarry, and practicing cleaning roofs/traverses on the wall. I seem to be able to aid C1 at a respectable speed, but yet again 40ft doesn't tell you too much."
Wow! What a babe! That's the spirit! One way to practise jugging a free-hanging rope, something you'll have to do if you fix pitches on the Trip or Zodiac for instance, is to set up a sling and carabiner around a high tree branch. Set up your rope as a toprope, and have your partner stand nearby with the rope running through a belay device on his harness. As you climb towards the tree branch, the belayer lets out rope. Keep going til you climb the whole rope. This is how cavers set their "jugging speed records" but to me it seems slightly easier to pull rope down than it is to actually climb a stationary rope. Not sure what the real physics are behind it, but I can tell you it's easier to jug a sliding rope than one just hanging. If you think you're good to go jugging free-hanging rope with your standard Yosemite system of an aider on each jug, tell me how you feel after pulling all two hundred feet through your belayer's device. Then you'll know to go buy yourself a C26 Torse chest harness for twenty bucks, and make up a Frog system. As for The Nose, why not? You've got three months. It's only C1, so practise aid climbing every crack you can find. Stuff at Cathedral is perfect. The Slot on the Practice Slabs, for instance, is so Yosemite-like you'd swear it was cut out of Yosemite and flown across the country. Get your systems dialled - practise hauling bags of rocks or water or [God bless her, what a sweetie!] concrete blocks. If you use rocks, make sure you choose round not pointy ones, and make sure you put extra padding in your pig if it will rub against the wall at all. Then when you get to Yosemite, go climb some Grade V's first, stuff like Leaning Tower and Washington Column. Figure out your systems on the real rock, and have fun climbing superb but smaller big walls. You'll learn how much you can haul, how much water you'll need, all that kind of stuff. I'll be there May 20 to June 30 and mid-Sept to late-Oct, so look me up - we will have a beer, and like, talk about it, eh? Incidentally, once you get accomplished at big wall climbing, you can get up the couch and do it without any training whatsoever. My hands usually cramp up the first couple days, because the last time I touched rock [or plastic] would have been on the summit months before. But I usually manage to wobble to the summit. After a week or two. ;) But training is probably a really good idea if you haven't done it before. |
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Mike Anderson has posted the best advice . Period . |
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All the beta you are hearing here is essentially the same as in that book- learn to climb this kind of stuff efficiently, learn systems, work up to bigger goals, etc. |
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Oh and if you want the really friendly response from Pete, better get a chickier-sounding handle ;) |
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Kevin McLaughlin wrote:Mike Anderson has posted the best advice . Period .I give him a lot of credit for raising a topic that some don't like to hear or consider. However, I disagree with his approach to the Captain. Sure, the Captain can be a final feather in a cap or, for some, the first of many, many ascents. How many has Pete had--probably somewhere in the 30s. Shawn Mitchell, who seems to have disappeared from this site, did it with a mutual friends of ours when they were both only 16. We're not talking a ground up, on sight, free ascent. For some, the Nose is just another wall. The most important virtues here are preparation and work ethic. You fight thru the crowds at the bottom. You keep going when you're stiff, your hands feel like hamburger and you're hungry and thirsty, etc., and you get to the top. For a first timer on the Captain, that's a complete victory. |
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JLP wrote:Maybe Mike can tell us more about something I read on the net about getting bouted on AstromanOnsighting all but one pitch = bouted? Since we're calling people out, tell us how you did on it JLP. |