Climbing El Capitan

How do you put it into words

It has been around 8 months now since the team and I completed our ascent of El Capitan. Which is actually super hard to believe. I have been waiting for the movie to be out until I wrote anything so that I wouldn’t ruin it for people. I also have been struggling with how do you describe such a life-changing, mind-boggling experience.  I want you to know how it felt looking out at Yosemite Valley from over a thousand feet in the air while hanging from a single rope.  I want you to feel the updrafts that pushed the portaledge and made it feel as though I was floating.  I want you to be able to see the brightest stars you have ever seen.  I want you to see the sun as it peeks around El Capitan in the mornings and then hides on the other side as we finished the day. I want you to see the succulents and grass growing from the rock.  I want you to see the “crack swallows” as they swarmed around me while I was climbing and waiting on the portaledge. I want you to see Half Dome at sunrise and the surrounding mountains bathed in sunlight.  I want you to see the Dawn Wall when you realize why it’s called that. These are the things I struggle to put into words.

Words of thanks

So I guess it’s time to try my best.  I have spoken of my selfless friends before but they deserve mentioning again and again.  I don’t want to list them all because I am sure I would miss one and they all deserve recognition.  I had 12 people from all over the country come to help with this ascent.  Some of them I didn’t even know.  They just heard about this mission and changed their vacation plans and came to help.  This wouldn’t have happened without the people in my life.  I am truly thankful to each and everyone that helped me pull this off.

Surprise!

One of the first nights we were there we stayed in North Pines Campground.  We were all just hanging out around camp and a lady who uses a wheelchair and some of her friends started toward our camp.  As they got closer everyone was wondering who are these people and why are they coming to our camp.  Out of the darkness, I heard “Are you Enock?” in a pretty heavy Italian accent.  I looked at the lady and of course, said “yes” with a questioning tone. I was thinking how do you know me? She explained that she had heard about my climb on the internet and decided to be there to do her own climb of the same route.  It was at that moment that I realized by putting myself out there maybe I could encourage others to try things they may not otherwise think possible.  Her name is Eleonora Delnevo and she really did come all the way from Italy to climb El Capitan. She was injured almost exactly a year before while climbing. While talking to her and her team we found out they wanted to start up the same day we had planned.  This posed a bit of a problem.  Eight people all starting up the same route would definitely end up being quite a traffic jam.

After they left we discussed the traffic jam issue and decided to move our schedule up a day to October 4th.  This meant we now had one less day to get everything together.  The next day was spent running around the valley trying to get water, food, and all the other supplies we were lacking for the climb.  After a busy day, we were able to pull that part off.

Blast off!

The morning of October 4th we were up bright and early and headed to the meadow.  I was very emotional when Craig was talking to me and filming.  I got choked up trying to hold it back.  I had waited for this day for so long and worked so hard to make sure I was ready.  The moment was finally here and it was going to happen.  The carry team had me up to the base in just a couple hours.  It was a much easier approach than the year before when we did Washington Column but still not an easy task by any means.  They worked super hard to get me up there.  Christian Cattell had the first ropes already set to go by the time I got there so we thought we were set to go.  Unfortunately, another team member Gary Dunn hurt his shoulder while jugging and had to bow out.  So Christian and Craig headed down into the valley to try to find a fourth member to go up with us.  They came back a few hours later. They didn’t end up finding anyone and we all made the decision to go as a team of 3 including me.  This meant that for a good portion of the climb I would be in a sense on my own.  I wouldn’t have anyone climbing beside me as planned but Craig would be nearby in case I needed something.

The climb

I don’t want to bore anyone with the play by play of 4000 pull ups but I do want to touch on some of the highlights and lowlights of the climb.

When you read 4000 pull ups I am sure you think wow I could never do that.  I had trained for a total of 2 years for those pull-ups so that part I actually found not so hard.  At the end of each day, I wasn’t all that tired.  We climbed about 300 to 400 feet a day. So that meant about 800 pull ups per day.  The part I wasn’t prepared for and really couldn’t train for was being hundreds of feet in the air and about 40 to 50 feet from the wall the entire time I was climbing.  I have to say that was quite scary at times.  It was most scary when the wind would pick up and start spinning me.  I did a lot of staring at my pull up bar and the rope but I also had the opportunity to take in some amazing scenery.

Breathtaking sights

For those of you that don’t climb, I can only say you are missing out on a really special way to see the world.  I saw places that I never knew existed in the valley.  Everything looked as though it was meant to be there as if there was some order to how the world was put together.  All the imperfections disappear and you are left with the most breathtaking beauty your eyes will ever gaze upon. The rock up close is much different than you see from the meadow.  It is actually full of colors, from the lichen in greens, yellows, black, and orange to the different shades of grays and whites.  I also had no idea that things actually grew on the rock beside the lichen of course.  I was able to see a few types of succulents and different grasses which were a huge surprise.  I’ll never forget waking up each morning and watching the sun kissing the rock across the valley as it came around El Cap and lit up the Dawn Wall.

We slept on portaledges and I also used one between pitches to lay on.  I did this so I wouldn’t be sitting any more than I had to in order to prevent sores. I am happy to report I came out of it sore free.  During the day while I was on the portaledge I could feel the powerful updrafts pushing on my back as I lay there.  At times it would push the portaledge up in the air a little bit making it float.

I can’t remember which pitch we were on but there is a crack way up there that swallows have decided to use as a home. This is why they have the name “crack swallows”. While we were near this crack they kept flying around us in a rhythmic dance.  It was quite an amazing sight to watch.  It was as if we were part of the show on the inside looking out.

Pitch 7

Pitch seven is considered the go or no-go moment.  Where you must decide if you are going to bail or if you are going to keep going to the top. It is apparently much harder to get back down after this pitch.  I had been thinking about this for the last six pitches.  We were on the portaledge at this crux moment where I had to decide for myself if I had what it took to complete nine more pitches.  Christian and Craig broke the ice and for some reason, I instantly felt sick to my stomach.  We went back and forth with it’s up to you buddy, and we will support whatever decision you make statements.  I kept saying I don’t know I feel sick.  I said a lot of people put a lot of effort into getting me here and I don’t want to disappoint them.  The guys, of course, said they were sure that everyone would be fine with whatever I decided.  Then something flipped in my head.  I thought to myself, think about what you just did.  You are seven pitches into this and you have been fine the whole way.  Suck it up buttercup its time to climb.  So I told them I will try.  As expected once I got climbing my stomach was fine.  I had just been psyching myself out in my head.  It is amazing the power the brain has to make or break a person. I looked at the guys and yelled out “Send the haul bags we are going to the top!”

The belay incident

I also had the opportunity to belay for Christian and to help him with hauling the haul bags. I was making it to the anchors pretty fast so I would grab the tail end of the cordelette that was being used to haul, and did my best to at least help.  My belaying experience was something to remember also.  I was taught to leave a bit of rope out so when it hung it made a smile between me and the climber.  This was not the correct method for El Cap as I found out the hard way.  I was belaying Christian as he was setting my next rope.  I can’t remember which pitch but it was way up there.  So he yelled out “falling!” and in the position, I was in I could not reel in the little bit of extra rope I had out fast enough.  As you can imagine a person falling on a rope that is catching them has some force to it.  So that extra rope acted like a bit of a catapult and shot me off the portaledge.  Not to worry,  I was tied in and safe but definitely scared me and I am sure Christian. I did do my job correctly though and caught the fall and all was well after Craig grabbed the rope and pulled me back to the portaledge. Needless to say, that was my last belaying experience on this climb.

The portaledge routine

At the end of every day, we would set up camp on 2 portaledges.  When I say we it was mostly Christian and Craig.  I took care of my stuff but they did the bulk of the setting up. We cooked with a Jetboil and ate mostly add water type meals.  We did have snacks during the day.  I loved the cereal bars.  We had oatmeal for breakfast and lots and lots of water, 20 gallons in total.  We ended up having leftover water which means we probably didn’t drink as much as we should but we didn’t bonk out.(term climbers use for when we don’t eat or drink enough and have to stop climbing)  Now I will get brutally honest. The bathroom routine is quite different when you are living on a 4 ft by 8 ft space.  I think this was my main concern about this climb.  How do you use the bathroom?   It is very difficult to get dressed or really do anything in that small of a space when you can’t stand up. Your body is already taking up a huge chunk of the space.  I brought along a plastic camp toilet that we put garbage bags in with laundry detergent for smell reduction.  Essentially this is where you get to know your partners very well.  I do want other disabled people to know that it is doable though as long as you plan ahead.

Topping out

We topped out after 5 days on the wall.  I am not sure I can capture that feeling in words. Yes, people had gone before us but for this one moment, this was our big accomplishment.  Even as I sit here now I am tearing up thinking about coming over that edge and how it seemingly did not want to let me.  I struggled more in that last foot then I did for the other 1799.  As I lay there by the edge having just pulled off the biggest climb of my life it just hit me and I couldn’t hold back the emotion.  We all just hugged and cried.  After 2 years of training, disappointment, and exhilarating moments I finally got to see the top of El Capitan.  The view is like nothing else. Half Dome off to the left seemed so much more majestic.  There were trees up there haha.  The coolest campsite that seemed like it was made for us.  The bird that was using its beak to dig around in the soil for something to eat.  The comradery of a group of people who had just accomplished something big.

My own personal hell (the descent)

Based on that heading you might think the descent was not that much fun.  You would be correct haha.  We descended off the east ledges which is where just about every climbing group gets off the top.  I was strapped into a rescue litter just like I was for the carry to the base.  However, this time I was strapped in there for nearly 17 hours.  I basically had to go within myself and just let it happen. I was very quiet the entire time unless spoken to. There was very steep rock that the team had to lower me down with ropes but not so steep that I wasn’t sliding all the way. It was so dusty that at some points it was almost choking and hard to breath.  There are a series of rappels which Christian skillfully guided me down.  That was the easiest part for me.  When we got to the bottom of those rappels it was dark and people up above were knocking rocks down onto us.  It is about 400 ft of rappels so the rocks had some distance to gain speed. I think that was the scariest part of the descent.  I had no way to move and couldn’t look around to see where things were coming from. At one point a rock came toward my head.  Frank Robertson had the not so great privilege of stopping that rock with his thumb wedged between the rescue litter and the rock.  I was pretty impressed that he just took it in stride and just switched hands to keep carrying. Gary Dunn also met us at the bottom with some other carriers and food. He was a lifesaver from the ground. He organized the whole descent team and had everything in place for it to happen.   Then there was the manzanita.  If you have never experienced this plant it is the sharpest thing I have ever witnessed in nature. Everyone ended up with cuts on their legs from this stuff. At some point, a piece of it got wedged under my back and for some reason I just took it.  I could have easily asked someone to remove it but maybe I was trying to join in the suffering.  Who knows. Everyone that was involved in this descent worked so brutally hard for all those hours.  They did this all because they wanted to make sure I was safe and got to live out my dream.  There really are no words to express enough thanks and gratitude to everyone involved and I hope I can repay their efforts some day in some way.

What now?

To answer that question,  I have been talking to friends who were on this trip and some that were not and we are planning my ascent of Mt Rainier.  I am hoping to pull this off sometime in the next couple years.  We will be doing a couple training trips at smaller but similar peaks to figure out systems and what might be involved.  I have also been asked by friends to participate in a human-powered boat expedition up the coast of Alaska for 750 miles. As with Mt. Rainier, this has special meaning to me.  It is Nick Halls’ brother Aaron that has asked me to participate.  I haven’t completely said yes but I am looking into the logistics and would love to pull this one off.  This summer I am hoping to hike into Mt. Katahdin with friends to scope out possible routes for me to climb.  That will hopefully happen in August.  The fun never stops. There are too many mountains and a great big world to explore.  Like the North Face says “Never stop exploring!”

Links of interest:

The North Face – Enock Movie
Eleonora Delnevo Back to the Top