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El Capitan Nose In A Day Intensive Beta video: 90-minute beta video with close up high-res photos, gear, systems, detailed tactics and strategies, descent details
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*I have done the Nose in a Day on El Capitan five times, and Lurking Fear in a half-day. The Nose is one of the greatest rock climbs in the world, on an incomparable cliff, in the sublime Yosemite Valley. The consistent quality of the route, the amazing granite, the positioning, and the whole experience is second to none. AND IT IS DOABLE for solid climbers who are motivated! I'm not at all what anyone would call a super-strong or elite climber, and never was; my forte has always been endurance and efficiency. And that I really love climbing and like to have fun doing it! *As of 2022 I am in my 43rd year of climbing--rock, ice, alpine, walling. I learned at tiny 35-foot tall Carderock outside Washington DC when Jimmy Carter was President. I bought Royal Robbin's 'Advanced Rockcraft' and memorized it without understanding most of it. Same with 'Fifty Classic Climbs of North America.' I stared at the BW photos of El Capitan, dreaming wild dreams, incapable of grasping the scale of it. I learned to lead at obscure cliffs in Maryland, then Seneca Rocks WV and The Gunks in NY. I started with ratty old used EB climbing shoes ($35) and a 100-foot Goldline laid rope tied around my waist with what I thought was a Bowline. Two years into my climbing career someone pointed out that I was using my figure 8 rappel device incorrectly. And that my Bowline was wrong too. I am not sure why I am alive. But I kept learning all the time. *I now live north of LA and climb a lot at the Needles, Yosemite, Tahquitz/Suicide, and am involved in major sport route development in the local desert. I do a lot of moderate stuff in the High Sierra East Side, and I have done the '38 route on the Eiger N Face twice. *I share here all that I've learned about what it takes to be a non-pro level climber and still be successful with a big project like the NIAD. *A while back a friend from the local gym approached me about NIAD beta, so we did a zoom call which I recorded. It is 90 minutes long and packed full of helpful information. Lots of visuals, photos and videos clips, closeups of route sections with intensive beta, tips on gear and systems, how to bail at various points, detailed beta on the East Ledges descent route, and of course a few scary stories! And yes, these two guys I'm talking to in the video did their NIAD! *I first did the NIAD at age 34, after climbing for 19 years. According to Hans Florine, I may be the first person who did a NIAD on a first attempt, and first visit to the Valley. I had never climbed there before. The Nose was my first Valley route! Time was 17 hours, and my friend Bill had done the route twice so we had no routefinding/systems issues. I led about 2/3rds of it. I was very fit and climbed 5.12 regularly, and had led a lot of easier 5.13s, and was a strong trad climber. I could cruise 5.11 crack confidently. We climbed a lot free, some French-free, short-fixing in blocks, and aiding anything at 5.12a and above. *I then had two aborted attempts over several years, bailing once at the top of Boot Flake, and once at the top of Eagle ledge after riding a loose block down a wide crack for a few feet!!! I realized I was too cocky after my first successful run. I needed to think things through better. *I later did a 23hr NIAD, a 13.40 NIAD, and finally, aged 54, a 12.05. *My only claim to fame: I have been on (probably) the most over-educated NIAD team, and one of the oldest: two MDs and a PhD, all over 50, as a team of three. Nerds RULE. *I also did Lurking Fear with my friend the amazing Tim Klein in 12hrs, aged 54. If he hadn't been with me he would have blazed it in 7 hours--there was no way I could keep up with him. I had not climbed in two months while I had been in Italy teaching. It was literally an off-the-couch adventure. We drove home to LA that night. *I am not a pro, nor even a particularly great climber. I climb one day per week and do not do extended trips. I am married, have three married kids and six grandkids, and a very busy career teaching, writing, and traveling widely for speaking engagements. I am a senior humanities professor and I live in Florence Italy for much of the summer which is wonderful but puts a serious dent in my Sierra season. I simply can't climb all the time. I am not much into climbing gyms. But I like endurance climbing, efficient systems, and long days where I wonder if I am going to make it. Mostly I am just very determined and stubborn. *RULE#1 if you want to do the NIAD: Climbing is primarily an activity we engage in FOR PLEASURE. Yes, it is exciting, adventurous, athletic, often painful, and definitely risky. BUT it is above all supposed to be FUN. Approach the NIAD project as something you want to do for FUN, for PLEASURE, and you'll be more likely to succeed. TO THE RIM!  THE VIDEO: |
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Something is seriously wrong with that audio |
Brooks K wrote: |
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Yeah Zoom audio not the best...and I have a huge Koi pond in my yard which fills with frogs in the spring.... |
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Sounds like a solid beta dump! Kudos to you for putting the work in. Commenting in case I ever become decent at climbing and want to come back to it. However ....... as a matter of "style" "ethos" or whatever is the proper humanities concept to call it ......... I prefer to quest up the long classics with minimal beta and a partner who has not done the route beforehand either. It is just so much fun. Since we inevitably get lost and gumby up the things horrendously, in the Valley I like climbing when it's "too hot" and no one else is en route. Highlights so far include starting up the Nose in the rain with a light free rack, running out of water in the Narrows on Steck Salathe, and romping up Serenity/Sons in 90F heat with a banjo-playing Greek man who I found in the boulders by Camp4. |
Grant Horner wrote: I just re-read your post (I need MINIMUM two tries for reading comprehension) and see you have emphasized the fun factor. Mastering a route and covering it ultra fast .... yeah , I can dig it!! I think on-sight questing and dialed-up flying are just two different kinds of adventure. No reason to discount one for the other! Thanks again man! |
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JT.... King of the Gumbies here. My first NIAD was a serious fluke--followed by two exciting and fun total failures! |
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Super helpful, thanks! |
Brooks K wrote: The g damn frogs are giving me Havana syndrome. Terrible. |
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Greetings Grant, The frogs notwithstanding, I thought you had some nice insights here. Thanks for sharing. Please consider maybe doing a scaled-down, re-recorded version, if you have the energy. Grant Horner wrote: Amen to the nerd team love. The key to success is maybe getting that MD to PhD ratio correct Cheers from Osaka, John |
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TFPU |
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Saving this thread in case I ever hear someone talking about how kids these days have taken the adventure out of climbing or spray too much |
Kevin DeWeese wrote: reminds me of the guy from WA who posted about a *niad* where they jugged to sickle and finished in around 20-22hrs (can't recall exactly), which would be quite borderline with the first 4... What about people with no degrees and not even a HS diploma? |
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Absolutely heinous video.....subscribe to any of the most popular Youtube channels and you could get a good laugh, learn something, etc.......want Niad beta - send this to Hans and beg him to make the same video, or just climb a bunch of long Valley grade 4s and 5s and have a great time....Nose best route ever, for sure! |
