Posted by katie on 9/1/2006
So, I'm leaving for Yosemite in a few days, where a friend and I are going to try and climb El Cap. I've actually jumared it before in a day, (ridiculous, I know) but I've never done a big wall. Does anyone have any beta/advice?
Petetakeda says:
Hey Katie - Good luck out there! I might try and make it out at the end of September. My advice - do all the leading and get someone else to haul! Seriously though - an El Cap route like the Nose would be perfect - except for the crowds. You can free climb a ton of it and not have to haul a ledge.
slucarelli says:
My advice would be to bring good food, I like granola cereal with dehydrated milk for breakfast, snack bars, dried fruit and gorp during the day, sardines and good bread for dinner, and the most important thing is canned fruit for dessert. I would avoid bringing a stove, they can be more trouble than their worth (like burning up your stuff). And I prefer having a port-a-ledge, just in case (bad weather, didn't make it to the ledge you were hoping to before dark, etc.). Also use the counter-weight method for hauling, meaning the leader hauls at the anchor using body weight and when the 2nd is done cleaning the pitch they jump on the haul line adding their weight to help haul the pig.
katie says:
Thanks for the advice guys! I'm excited!
Zach says:
Two words. GHETTO BLASTER.
Seriously. Really keeps the morale up.
marshall84 says:
Good Luck. I hope to tackle a big wall myself next year. Take really good notes of your experience. I'm dying to hear first hand.
woodchuck07 says:
.and here I thought you've done everything already! Big's are fun, that's for sure. My first big wall, multi-pitch event was an 11 pitch route in RMNP. Would have been so much more fun had I not been suffering from an altitude headache all day, and the fact we ran out of water by 3PM in July. So my beta is 'take plenty of water'.
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