This one is of straight on of El Capitan with the east side on the right (partially hidden by the trees.) Full image

This is Steve Schneider helping us rig up the portaledge. I got to sleep on the outside.  We sleep with our harnesses on and tethered to the wall, so I feel secure. Full image

It really is that high! The mountain in the background is called Middle Cathedral with the Merced River curving through the meadow. Full image

Here I am climbing out of the Cyclops Eye, a huge indentation high on the wall.  This is the black rock that I mention in the article. This give a sense of the scale of it all. Full image

Last week I returned from climbing El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.  For the third straight year, I went there to climb this 3000' granite monolith with Steve Schneider, a nationally renowned climber with over 100 El Cap ascents, and Michael Brody, another client.  Two years ago, the three of us climbed The Nose, the original El Capitan route, which some claim is the best rock climb in the world.  That first ascent took 45 days spread over 18 months in 1957-58; today however speed climbers not only do it in a day, but the record of 3 hours, 24 minutes, and 4 seconds is expected to be challenged this summer.

Last year Steve and I climbed another route on the west side and reached the summit on my birthday.  This year we attempted the first route on the east face.  Because the face has an image of black rock that resembles North America surrounded by the typical El Cap shades of cream, sand, and orange, it is called the North American Wall.  And so the first route put up on the east side in 1964 was also called the North American Wall.  Other routes nearby were subsequently named Pacific Ocean Wall, Atlantic Ocean Wall, New Jersey Turnpike, Tangerine Trip, El Nino, and Sea of Dreams.     

For me, this was the hardest of the 3 climbs with 7 long days, 5 of which we spent sleeping on a portaledge.  People ask me how I can sleep on it.  Well, not only is it more comfortable than sleeping on a rock ledge, I'm so tired I can't stay awake. Besides we sleep in our harnesses tethered to the wall so I feel secure.

Although it never rained exactly, the clouds often looked threatening.  In the afternoons, as the wind picked up and shade moved over the wall, the weather would quickly change from hot to cold.  One morning, worried about the clouds, I called Leslie S at work and asked her to check weather.com for the Yosemite forecast.  "Sunny, 0 percent chance of rain and 41 degrees."  Zero percent?  That day was totally overcast, it kept getting colder, and even hailed. So much for weather.com.

After getting to the top, we naturally wanted to breathe a sigh of relief and relax, but the day was getting late, we were already a day behind schedule, and Michael was anxious to get back to the Bay Area.  We hurriedly sorted and packed our gear, and despite the fact that almost all the food and water was gone, our large vinyl haul bags (aka "Pigs") were extremely heavy.  We hiked across the top to the East Ledges, rappelled down 4 ropes, hiked a couple more hours reaching the road after 10 pm. Jumping into our cars, we each headed in different directions into the night.  I felt relaxed and tiredness poured through me as I passed a coyote walking down the middle of the road. And with a nameless emotion that brings me to tears, I say "goodbye" to this most beautiful mountain.