San Diego
Last weekend I took a road trip down to San Diego to visit Val for her birthday. Some of the warmest November days I have ever spent in my life. A good time was had by all.
El Capitan – East Ledges Descent
The East Ledges descent is the quickest way to get down off the top of El Cap.
We were sitting under the rainfly on the summit trying to wait out the rain, and decided we were just going to get colder if we didn’t start moving.
The Nose, The Final Pitches
Climbing from Camp 6 to the top. Once again narrowly avoiding getting rained on while we were climbing.
An El Cap Evening
The pictures are from our third and final night up there.
Currently it is the 3rd week in October and I have been living in the area since May 19th. There haven’t been more than 6 days that saw considerable rain during that time frame. Somehow we managed to be on El Cap for 3 of them.
(Still) Climbing the Nose, El Capitan
The climbing on day 3.
Started out at Camp 4 and ended up at Camp 6.
Climbing The Nose, El Capitan
4 days and 3 nights at the end of September.
These pictures are from the first 2 days.
The photos of us on the wall are courtesy of Tom Evans at www.elcapreport.com.
Big thanks to Richard for being such a cool dude and great climbing partner.
Cathedral Peak
The Friday after the hang glider morning Sean and I climbed Cathedral Peak. The climbing is all quite mild but the setting is pretty special.
Glacier Point Hangliding
To continue what was a pretty surreal couple of weeks, two days after I got down from Half Dome I worked some of my days off monitoring a film crew.
The first day I met them at 6:30am at Glacier Point. The plan was to film some hang gliders who were eventually going to land in the valley.
Hang gliding with a permit is allowable in the park. Base jumping is not.
Half Dome Helicopter Evacuation
Myself along with 80 tourists getting pulled off the top of Half Dome by helicopter due to the Meadow Fire spreading on Sept 7th, 2014.
A big Sunday.
Yosemite Meadow Fire: The Sequel
I have a huge amount of respect for the pilots whose job it is to fly a helicopter full of water through narrow canyons and get as close to a tower of smoke and flames as they can before dropping their cargo.
One thing that has resonated with me since I’ve been living in California is how huge of an operation fighting wildfires is. The ground aspect of fighting this fire involved sending several hundred firefighters up the Mist Trail to work and camp in LYV in the ensuing days.
Also, when you look at the pictures of the flames shooting over the tops of those trees remember that most of those trees are probably 100ft tall, at least.
“I am become Time, the destroyer of worlds.” – Vishnu, the Bhagavad-Gita
Yosemite Meadow Fire
Pictures of what was known as “The Meadow Fire”, in Yosemite National Park, spreading into Little Yosemite Valley and eventually to Cloud’s Rest on September 7th, 2014. A persistent drought combined with windy conditions meant the fire spread quickly.
These were taken from an Iphone in the early afternoon as the fire progressed.
Eventually the 80 or so hikers stranded on Half Dome were evacuated by helicopter with combined efforts of several local rescue agencies.
Jump
We got down from the Prow and the next day we drove to Parachute Center in Lodi and went skydiving.
I was strapped to the front of a dude from Hungary named Roman who didn’t speak much English.
Highly recommended.
The Prow, Washington Column
Last week Richard and I climbed The Prow on Washington Column. This was the first time I had ever slept in a portaledge and the first time I have ever done a route where you have to haul all your gear up with you.
The route is steep and exposed, tall compared to the rest of the planet but a short wall by Yosemite Valley standards.
Props to Richard for swinging leads with me, all his help with rope management and hauling, and his easy-going attitude.
