Teamwork…Communication…and Trust…are all paramount characteristics of a successful climbing partnership. And our safety is based around our own humility, proficiency, and confidence in the mountains…. The perfect balance of all these attributes is a complicated equilibrium to achieve. Today’s story is about what can happen when these pillars start to fall apart. When the ego takes over confidence….and when communication fails to keep everyone on the same page. That is when you find yourself in over your head, unable to retreat, and unable to move forward…at 14000 ft.
Today we sit down with Ethan Morris and Evan Geller. Two climbers from San Diego that found themselves rescuing the very people they were trying to distance themselves from on the East Buttress of Mt. Whitney. A 1000ft route up the tallest mountain in the lower 48. They had no idea they were about to embark on a 48 hr epic involving runouts, loose rocks, panic, and risk of hypothermia……all with no previous alpine experience.
Please rate, review the show, and share this podcast with your friends. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful tools to help us out.
Contact us:
IG: @the.climbing.majority
Email: theclimbingmajoritypodcast@gmail.com
Teamwork…Communication…and Trust…are all paramount characteristics of a successful climbing partnership. And our safety is based around our own humility, proficiency, and confidence in the mountains…. The perfect balance of all these attributes is a complicated equilibrium to achieve. Today’s story is about what can happen when these pillars start to fall apart. When the ego takes over confidence….and when communication fails to keep everyone on the same page. That is when you find yourself in over your head, unable to retreat, and unable to move forward…at 14000 ft.
Today we sit down with Ethan Morris and Evan Geller. Two climbers from San Diego that found themselves rescuing the very people they were trying to distance themselves from on the East Buttress of Mt. Whitney. A 1000ft route up the tallest mountain in the lower 48. They had no idea they were about to embark on a 48 hr epic involving runouts, loose rocks, panic, and risk of hypothermia……all with no previous alpine experience.
Please rate, review the show, and share this podcast with your friends. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful tools to help us out.
Contact us:
IG: @the.climbing.majority
Email: theclimbingmajoritypodcast@gmail.com
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:24:05
Unknown
Hey, everyone. Kyle here. Welcome back to the Climbing Majority podcast, where Max and I sit down with living legends, professional athletes, certified guides and recreational climbers alike to discuss the topics, lessons, stories and experiences found in the life of a climber. If you haven't already, please subscribe, rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts.
00:00:24:18 - 00:00:30:13
Unknown
Teamwork, communication and trust are all paramount characteristics of a
00:00:30:13 - 00:00:32:09
Unknown
successful climbing partnership.
00:00:32:09 - 00:00:38:11
Unknown
and our safety is based around our own humility, proficiency and confidence in the mountains.
00:00:38:11 - 00:00:43:12
Unknown
is the perfect balance of all of these attributes is a complicated equilibrium to achieve.
00:00:43:18 - 00:01:11:11
Unknown
Today's story is about what can happen when these pillars start to fall apart, when the ego takes over confidence, and when communication fails to keep everyone on the same page. That is when you find yourself in over your head, unable to retreat and unable to move forward at 14,000 feet. Today, we sit down with Ethan and Evan, two climbers from San Diego that found themselves rescuing the very people they were trying to distance themselves from on the east buttress of Mount Whitney.
00:01:11:12 - 00:01:14:16
Unknown
A thousand foot route up the tallest mountain in the lower 48.
00:01:15:05 - 00:01:18:01
Unknown
They had no idea that what they were about to embark on
00:01:18:07 - 00:01:22:21
Unknown
was a 48 hour epic involving run outs, loose rock, panic
00:01:22:21 - 00:01:28:15
Unknown
and risk of hypothermia, all with no previous alpine experience.
00:01:41:06 - 00:02:11:14
Unknown
All right, everybody, welcome back to another episode of The Climbing Majority. We're sitting down here with Evan and Ethan. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you. Not to be here. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. We're so excited to have you guys here. I ran into, you know, this story coming down off of Whitney. We had just done an episode about the Mount Russell Trip, you know, a couple episodes back, and, you know, we heard about this story coming down off that mountain, and it was just an inspiring story, just because I think there's lots of lessons to be learned.
00:02:11:16 - 00:02:28:16
Unknown
And, you know, we're here to to learn as a community and to, you know, to hear that story. So, you know, you why don't you guys just take a second to kind of introduce yourselves, You know, how you found climbing a quick background about yourselves, maybe how you guys know each other and, you know, we'll kind of just lead that into the story.
00:02:28:18 - 00:02:48:09
Unknown
Yeah, sure, Kyle. So, my name's Evan Geller. I'm from San Diego. I'm 33 years old, and the way I got into climbing was, you know, back in the day, I think right after I had finished high school, I was living with a guy in a trailer park in Encinitas, and he was working a vital climbing gym in Carlsbad.
00:02:48:09 - 00:03:24:19
Unknown
The first location. And around that time I'd spent many years just kind of smoking a lot of weed and playing video games and kind of just wasted my life really depressed. And he kind of told me, Hey, if you come into vital, you know, you can climb for free. So I went, had a really good time and I enjoyed it so much that I essentially traded my television for a pair of climbing shoes and some climbing Chuck And now that I think about it probably wasn't the best deal in the world, but I did kind of sum up how desperate I was for something, something new, you know, got into it for a little while,
00:03:24:19 - 00:03:47:20
Unknown
bouldering in the gym, pulling on plastic and kind of fell out of it. Flash forward years later, I'm in a relationship. The relationship isn't going so well and depression is kind of hitting me. And she very nicely for a birthday present got me a membership of Vital. I started climbing again and I'm part of this generation. I'm kind of ashamed to say it.
00:03:47:20 - 00:04:15:15
Unknown
They got inspired by free solo. So, you know, at first I, I was really inspired by Alex Honnold and started just kind of doing research and then I ended up watching Tommy Caldwell, you know, climb Dawn Wall. And so I then the real source of inspiration came to me and essentially put out a post on Facebook asking if anybody would be willing to teach some newbies how to climb.
00:04:15:17 - 00:04:35:07
Unknown
And this guy, Casey Stone, responded. And he ended up teaching me and my best friend, Matthew Johnson, how to climb. And then it just kind of took off from there. Wow. Super cool. There's a lot of parallels real quick before you know, we switch stories real quick is I was raised in San Diego, too, and I found bouldering and the same gym and vital nuts.
00:04:35:12 - 00:04:53:15
Unknown
And that gym was really, really, really like formative for myself. Did you go to the one up, like up in Oceanside or the one down in Carlsbad? In Carlsbad? Yeah. The guy who who used to work there, his name was Hayden Hill, and he was the one that hooked me up with free passes. Nice. Dude, There's a there's a small chance we actually climbed in the same gym at the same time.
00:04:53:15 - 00:05:16:10
Unknown
You do look familiar, so I wouldn't be surprised. Please sandbag me. Did you graduate to Mesa Rim at any point? Like, did you get drawn to that gym or did you even know about it? I did, yeah. So, you know, eventually I started getting into leading and had to leave Vital and started going to Mesa Rim and, you know, really enjoyed it there.
00:05:16:10 - 00:05:37:17
Unknown
I always like will appreciate vital though in Carlsbad specifically there's just like a piece of my heart is there just that's where I kind of got started but yeah it's nice to be able to lead over in Mesa Rim for sure. Yeah, there's a couple parallels because I spent my youth smoking weed and playing video games too, So yeah.
00:05:37:19 - 00:05:58:22
Unknown
Yeah, that's funny. I think most of us did that, Yeah. Honestly, you know what? I feel like this is obviously tangential from my climbing, but like, I have a lot of really fond memories. Just rip in video games with good friends, having a good time. Growing up, I got like an N64 as a kid. Like there's some really, like, amazing moments of my life.
00:05:58:22 - 00:06:20:22
Unknown
Just having great times with friends and just playing video games, you know? There's something about it, I don't know. So yeah, it's not really relevant to the climbing majority, but yeah, fond memories. It's still nostalgic for me for sure, but I feel like I can't enjoy video games anymore. I just overdid it, unfortunately. But fair enough. Bring us bring us, you know, introduce yourself.
00:06:20:22 - 00:06:54:14
Unknown
All right. Ethan Morris, San Diego native, grew up in North County. San Marcos, to be exact. Yeah, I just was super into, you know, a young skater kid. And I also went through the whole smoking weed and video games thing like everybody else. And. you must be a San Diego thing. I must be. Yeah. Fast forward. Like, you know, I got into, like, a lot of extreme stuff.
00:06:54:14 - 00:07:26:06
Unknown
I would say like I used to like race motorcycles on the track and, you know, just out of love for just going real fast and scaring myself. I got into skydiving for, I guess like 12 years ago. And you know, got super into like wingsuit thing. And I was a wingsuit coach for a while and I kind of fell out of love with that sport and then, you know, got into a real brief stint with like speed flying paragliding down like hills, you know, kiting them up and running off.
00:07:26:06 - 00:07:51:11
Unknown
And and I guess a common draw for me was just like scenery and mountains, you know? And I remember one of my coworkers, like, always had these rock climbing books and like I went to see for ten years, you know, for scripts. And so anyway, like out on these cruises, I would see these, these rock climbing books and magazines and stuff.
00:07:51:11 - 00:08:13:23
Unknown
And I always thought, Man, that's really intense, you know? And, you know, eventually this like kind of progressed. I fell out of love with like skydiving. And then I was just looking for the next thing, basically, and the next thing to scare myself, you know, because I started off skydiving, like, super afraid of heights. And as one does.
00:08:14:01 - 00:08:40:05
Unknown
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I had somebody take me to a vital for the first time. That was my first introduction to actual rock climbing, pulling on plastic. And, you know, I actually got a membership at Vital. I got my tarantulas, you know, super beginner. Yeah. And, you know, got those on and went to vital school about vitals. You could go there at any time, like when you're a member.
00:08:40:07 - 00:09:06:13
Unknown
So I remember many, many sessions around midnight, you know, just like, too embarrassed to climb around other people because I didn't know what I was doing, but I stuck with it for like two years, you know, before I ever actually touched actual rock. And one of my buddies that I know through skydiving and paragliding, he finally took me out to, you know, pretty much the local the local crag here in San Diego.
00:09:06:13 - 00:09:33:06
Unknown
Mission trails that super awesome, polished rock slipped slip and slide. And that was my first experience outside it, you know, And that was in 2018. I looked it up and, you know, I guess I've only been climbing really outside for five years and just inside for two years before that. But yeah, just kind of took all that out and really got super into climbing.
00:09:33:08 - 00:09:58:18
Unknown
I don't jump too often anymore, but, you know, like all my goals of like shifted to, you know, rock climbing, snowboarding stuff that brings me to the mountains, really. So yeah, that's pretty much where I'm at now. So the, you know, there's so many parallels here with just that, that intro story, right? You know, pulling on Plastic Bouldering Gym, San Diego, you know, it's a pretty hard climbing scene for people getting into the sport free solo.
00:09:59:00 - 00:10:22:21
Unknown
Like when we talk about the climbing majority, like this kind of story is the essence of the majority. Like this is what we came to represent is people like this, like people like us, like we have so many parallels here. And so it's super, super special. And I think that one of the cool things about this story, you know, because our we're leading to the story about, you know, an ascent on the east buttress of of Whitney.
00:10:23:03 - 00:10:45:19
Unknown
So not a lot of people take that step to one go from plastic to lead climbing. Then there's lead to outdoor and then obviously there's sport to trad. So kind of fast forward us from, you know, you guys found climbing. You don't need to take a step by step, but what brought you to trad climbing and then ultimately what made your eyes set upon an alpine objective?
00:10:45:20 - 00:11:27:03
Unknown
I'll I'll let Ethan start with that, because he's the one who actually taught me how to try to climb. How did you get into climbing? Ethan? Yeah, So I was, you know, again went to see with a, with a guy engineer who was super into tried climbing. And at the time I was only sport climbing. I had just come back from a trip in Spain and he took me on my first Multipage So, you know, going from, you know, the gym to lead, climbing in the gym to sport, climbing wherever I could, he took me on this multipage and it was El Longbow, you know, five, seven.
00:11:27:03 - 00:11:52:03
Unknown
He, he led all the pitches. And I just remember being so, like, taking back on, on that climb because it just felt so adventurous, you know? It was just crazy. He's he's plugging pieces in and like bringing me up and I remember like, you know, after that glorious hand crack, you know, that kind of cluster of rubble up there.
00:11:52:03 - 00:12:16:00
Unknown
I just remember standing on that and being totally terrified, you know? And I just remember thinking, Man, this is really, really cool. This I would be able to, you know, basically take this skill and bring it to the mountains, you know, for some some routes that are undeveloped or, you know, possible for maybe one day in my future.
00:12:16:02 - 00:12:54:14
Unknown
But mainly I was just really drawn to these real adventurous climbs that seemed so much different than sport climbing. So, yeah, that's, that's pretty much where that brought me. And then obviously as my skills and me being in the sport longer has progressed. And then I started setting my sights on some bigger goals, you know, and a lot of that is just watching my friends, you know, I've got some pretty badass friends, you know, Jonathan and Joshua renege, you know, And they're, they're, they're always like, crushing it, you know?
00:12:54:14 - 00:13:30:10
Unknown
And local legend you had the local legends And so anyway, just seeing them and like all the the mountains that they've summited and stuff, like it was really inspiring for me to eventually one day set my sights on, on a more much bigger objective. So yeah, I'll even touch on that or yeah, please. Yeah. You know, being the, the guy who was inspired by free solo, I really wanted to get on El Capitan, you know, I was like, inspired by the Big Stone, and it seemed like the ultimate form of adventure.
00:13:30:12 - 00:13:50:18
Unknown
And so that's what I was dedicated to. As soon as I started climbing outside, you know, I was talking about wanting to get on El Capitan, doing the nose. I didn't necessarily want to free solo it. And so as soon as I started feeling good, you know, leading sport and was happy to take whips here and there on some harder stuff, essentially.
00:13:50:18 - 00:14:11:06
Unknown
Ethan I got into contact with Ethan via somebody from Facebook there. You know, somebody hit me up and they're like, Hey, I know this guy, Ethan. You should climb with him. You guys would get along really well. You'll be buds. And I hit him up and we me and my buddy Matthew Johnson, we met up with Ethan randomly over in Big Bear, and we climb.
00:14:11:06 - 00:14:32:09
Unknown
Tried for the first time. I just kind of followed him up some stuff, and he seem real confident, like he knew what he was doing and very safe and yeah, then we just we started going on like multiple pitches, started hitting tickets. I think my, my first route with Ethan was finger trip. And then the second one was El Chapo.
00:14:32:09 - 00:14:48:22
Unknown
And it's funny because, you know, we were on our way to El Campo and we were supposed to swing leads and it's it's a cold day and there's snow down at the base. And Ethan says, man, I'm feeling a little froggy. Looks like you might have to lead these pitches. And I was not prepared for that because he was the one with the experience.
00:14:48:22 - 00:15:19:04
Unknown
So I shit my pants getting into the splitter crack whomp splitter crack on the second pitch, just absolutely terrified, hung out at, you know, the crux, getting into it for like 45 minutes, trying to commit and assuming that the gear that I placed was not going to hold and that I'd be swinging into the digi drawer and somehow managed to pull it off, I got a video of myself like screaming, you know, just absolutely absolute joy that I didn't fall and die.
00:15:19:06 - 00:15:41:00
Unknown
And yeah. And then after that, I felt that spirit of adventure and I was like, This is the guy who I should be going on adventures with. And so between him and then my other climbing partner, Bryce Unger. Snider I've managed to tune my trad skills to a degree. Cool man. Yeah, it's funny too. Like, I know Bryce, I've known him for almost a decade now.
00:15:41:02 - 00:15:56:11
Unknown
We used to party pretty hard back in the day, and just as such a rad dude and so, so cool to have all these parallels here is just like blowing my mind. But Bryce is a Brad dude, and that's he's gotten so good at climbing so quick. It blew me away. I was like, What the hell is going on with this?
00:15:56:11 - 00:16:12:06
Unknown
This guy taking? I need to know it's. Yeah, Yeah. Mr. Natural Man. Yeah, he's he's a natural, for sure. Yeah. I saw his kids and I was like, All right, I still have a chance. Slim chance. That's how I feel every time that he has a kid. I'm like, I can catch up to him. And somehow he still can't.
00:16:12:08 - 00:16:48:08
Unknown
Exactly. I can't wait for his kid to climb harder than me to. Yeah, exactly. You know, maybe that dad body is going to take over, you know? I don't know. Yeah, maybe we'll see. So, yeah, I mean, you know, you had said, you know, two years on plastic, five years outside in general, How many years had it been of climbing experience in general before you, you know, okay, let me rephrase this question Is buttress of Witney, is this your first Alpine objective or is this, you know, one of many absolute first?
00:16:48:10 - 00:17:14:07
Unknown
Yeah, I don't think I've ever again climbed above ten K honestly. Never even hiked above ten K. I've gotten off ski lifts pretty high, you know, but and Justin boarded down. So yeah, I was pretty, pretty aggressive. First goal, I guess. That's cool. I mean, how many years of climbing experience have you had? Like was a close to seven?
00:17:14:09 - 00:17:44:15
Unknown
Yeah, I think it was seven total, I guess. Yeah, I did. And what I kept thinking that it was actually like seven outside, you know. But I look back and I was like, Dang, you know, it's only been five years outside. Yeah. You know? So anyway, what kind of grades were you climbing up, You know, I guess Are, you know, just in terms of relative scale for someone listening, it's nice for someone to kind of compare themselves and be like, you know, where am I at and how would this goal align with kind of where I am as a climber.
00:17:44:15 - 00:18:15:00
Unknown
So you guys don't mind just kind of sharing where you are at in terms of a technical proficiency? Yeah, my my grades, I consider myself a total comfort climber, so I'm usually just like Mr. Moderate. You know, I'm totally fine climbing, enjoying the view. You know, I'm I'm usually targeting sevens and eights. Really. You know, I've had a couple of friends like, like my buddy Jeff that, that brought me up l WaPo for the first time.
00:18:15:02 - 00:18:42:15
Unknown
You know, I followed him up some like 1010, you know, and, you know, I can pull the moves and it's just not there in my head, I guess. So I'd rather not take these big trips. And like I said, I like to, I like to cruise, you know, 100% men. I was I was pushing grade for a while and tried, you know, comfortably leading five nines, even warming up occasionally on five nines.
00:18:42:17 - 00:19:03:18
Unknown
But for some reason, the gap between five nines and, you know, five, ten minus seemed like a really big jump for me. And I'm still trying to feel comfortable on ten minus, unfortunately. You know, before this trip, actually, I was in Mexico at Via Azteca, and I decided to lead a route that I probably shouldn't do place gear in.
00:19:03:18 - 00:19:30:19
Unknown
And I ended up decking. So I was kind of, you know, and I know another parallel. And so I'm trying to get, you know, my head back in the game. And I have great partners that have been like really patient, but it's been a process for me. So pushing, pushing grade with Chad for me is still kind of iffy, but I definitely am inspired and I will never give up my student work briefly, like what happened.
00:19:30:21 - 00:19:52:15
Unknown
Sure, I'll make a quick I was about maybe 25, 30 feet up on like a 510 finger crack. It was jagged and I should have known by how jagged it was that the gear wasn't going to hold. And, you know, I, I was I had a black totem in just below me, which is, you know, the piece that gives me the the most inspiration just makes me feel confident.
00:19:52:15 - 00:20:13:04
Unknown
I've whipped on black totems many times where everything else pulled except for Black Totem and it didn't holds. And I actually landed on my heroic blazer and he cushioned the fall and I popped back up, made sure he was okay. And I had so much adrenaline, I decided to get back on and got back into that same position and immediately realized that I had screwed up and ended up eating through the rest of it.
00:20:13:06 - 00:20:54:07
Unknown
So we both walked out pretty much, you know, unscathed, just bruised but pretty terrified. Wow. Wow. Yeah. And then and then later on, you know, he actually sent me a video of some somebody on weekend wipers decking, apparently a whole bunch of people deck on this crack over by us. Decker have have either of you felt kind of like like pressure from your own expectations of yourself climbing that or kind of anchoring grunt with like what you deep down felt was like ready And do you feel maybe like your introduction to climbing through media nowadays, which is all too common, of course, watching these amazing aspirational and inspirational films like Pretty Solo in the Dawn
00:20:54:07 - 00:21:20:02
Unknown
Wall, that that kind of affected like your perception of like getting into climbing really hard, you know, I take that first. Yeah, I would say like, I guess just, you know, comparing myself to others or even these superhero shows, you know, is, is is pretty humbling. You know, like I said, I'm usually just totally fine climbing like the lower grades and enjoying the the experience and the view.
00:21:20:02 - 00:21:51:11
Unknown
And, you know, I just I'm always taken back like when when I consider like the grades that these people are or the caliber of these people that are climbing these grades, it is like so far out of reach for me, you know? And, you know, I do know that I've seen some climbers start off climbing and just be super hard on themselves, you know, like for not getting to this next number, you know, as fast as they thought they should.
00:21:51:11 - 00:22:11:13
Unknown
And for me, I've had to really kind of check that, you know, and just be like, you know, I'm fine where I'm at. I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be and I'm enjoying my time. And that's all that's that's why I'm doing it, you know? So that's pretty much like my take on all that. Yeah, no, I, I really resonate with that.
00:22:11:13 - 00:22:45:20
Unknown
So, like, you know, for me, like, I started climbing in 2019, you know, I too was, you know, I'm a part of this group where, you know, media was a huge part of it. I'm so motivated by these individuals. And I felt this really, really large pressure that I put on myself to to excel in climbing in a way that was not congruent with my physical reality or skill set at the time, you know, and and that put a lot of pressure for me to like want to take risk and try and excel in a way that, like, didn't actually feel good for me, you know, And I felt pressured.
00:22:45:20 - 00:23:03:23
Unknown
I had I made a horrible mistake. I had terrible accident, you know. And so I just think this is this kind of common theme that we do see on, you know, our show and with talking with individuals and, you know, like I'm like you guys, man, like, you know, like I love cruiser, you know, five, seven, five, five, nine trad.
00:23:04:04 - 00:23:25:18
Unknown
That's my bread and butter like I do climb like low tens in sometimes and stuff. And I'm really trying to break into that. But you know my excursion and trying to break into that too fast didn't didn't feel good for me. It wasn't right for me as a climber. And then, of course, like post injury, I've now had this massive process of rebuilding myself psychologically to get comfortable and into the gear.
00:23:25:18 - 00:23:45:08
Unknown
So it just it is I think this all too common thing with climbing with with yeah. Feeling like you should be doing more than you are, if that makes sense. And it's like a pressure you put on yourself. But also there's all these things in the environment that we are, you know, like Kyle and I just before this conversation, we're talking about BAPS.
00:23:45:13 - 00:24:14:07
Unknown
She sent like melt meltdown Beth broadens really famous 514 C you watch it and you're like it's the second thing ever you look at these people like sending so hard climbing so on and like, I mean, we don't even have to go there. Like, are you just like 12 on gear would be like a more reasonable, like long term life for me or something, You know, like, that stuff's just like it's I look at that and it's just like, almost like emotions that you wouldn't associate with sports, like disgust or like you're like, how do you even climb this?
00:24:14:07 - 00:24:31:02
Unknown
Like, we're not the same species, you know? Like, that's just exactly impossible. Yeah, Sorry, I, I think the funny thing is, is and this is what Evan brought up. It's like he started climbing early on, and with the goal of, like, I'm going to go climb El cap. Right? And I think that's like a pretty common thread. I felt like that way.
00:24:31:02 - 00:24:45:23
Unknown
I've got a map of el cap on my wall that I bought when I first started climbing and like, you know, the first thing you think of, you're like, okay, what's the grade? You're like, Okay, if I aid through the crux pitch, it's the lemonade. You're like, Okay, I could send ten, eight. I got this. Yeah, I got this.
00:24:45:23 - 00:25:21:10
Unknown
You know, you're like, Fuck, yeah, yeah. And then, you know, so, you know, like there's, like these unrealistic expectations of yourself because you, like, connect the dots in a straight line. Whereas in reality, it's this nest of multidirectional experiences and understanding of the sport that gets you to be able to climb something like that. Like, you know, Joey Latina who has been on the show, he's, you know, 18, he's climbing 13 sport, he's climbing 12 Strad, and he's just starting to think about climbing the free rider.
00:25:21:11 - 00:25:43:04
Unknown
And so it's like, you know, like he has a level head on his shoulders. He actually understands, you know, what it takes to do something like that. And I think in the beginning when you get so psyched on, you know, free solo and you see all these crazy mountains and you're only understanding of the difficulty is the grades, it's really easy to kind of like whitewash it all down and make it seem way more achievable than it is.
00:25:43:06 - 00:26:00:18
Unknown
And then, you know, you can quickly get yourself in over your head, you know, and get yourself above gear when you're unable to down climb. And, you know, that's when that's when disaster happens. So it's just a it's an interesting place for beginning climber Absolutely. I think, you know, it's common trend in any sport that we get into is to compare ourselves to our peers.
00:26:00:18 - 00:26:26:17
Unknown
You know in, in, in the sport like when we all get into a sport at the same time, especially, you know, like when I got into skydiving, it was, you know, I had a pretty tight knit group that, you know, we all had a gold wing suiting, you know, and some of us progressed into that discipline like a lot faster than others and had the ability to fly our bodies, like way better than others and stuff like that.
00:26:26:17 - 00:26:54:03
Unknown
And it's like, I think whenever I get into something, whether it's surfing, golf, whatever, I have to constantly reassess my ability and like eat a slice of humble pie, basically, you know, and just try to like, recalibrate myself and my progression and kind of build upon my small, like, you know, achievements, you know. So yeah, I think that's super common in any sport.
00:26:54:03 - 00:27:18:13
Unknown
Literally, I think something is funny. But part of the thing, particularly for me is just once I got here, then I found really interesting about climbing for me about this topic of humble pie is for anybody who's probably been in a gym experience, you know, your at least my experience there is it's the most humbling thing ever because there's usually like the kids climbing teams, like the youth, like, you know, like I'll be like looking.
00:27:18:13 - 00:27:39:08
Unknown
I'm like, that, that could be my long term project. SAT there or something. And then some like, like ten year old child, like, just like walks up and like, starts climbing, get in on sliding. And it's like it's just a such a humbling experience, you know, just be like, wow, I'm going to spend the next ten years of my life trying to progress to what this, like literal child just like, walked up, you know?
00:27:39:13 - 00:28:07:21
Unknown
So yeah, I think it's just like a good, humbling experience. And there's something about it that I was reminiscing and laughing about. But climbing is, is a very humble experience. And if you're there, you know, in this kind of egocentric way, looking for outcomes and not focusing on like you're comparing yourself to your previous self, then yeah, you're probably going to be left perpetually dissatisfied because there's like seven year olds right now who are better than you will be in 15 years if you dedicated your whole life to it.
00:28:07:23 - 00:28:25:23
Unknown
It's like, you know, it's just a bad game. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And mean. What were you going to say? I was going to say a big part of it for me is that all this stuff seemed impossible at first. You know, like the first time I went out and climbed on top up at mission trails, crack a dust, did not see myself getting to the top.
00:28:25:23 - 00:28:41:11
Unknown
And when I got to the top, I felt proud. And it made me wonder what else I was capable of. And that's why I like pushing. It's not so much because I want to be one of the greats. It used to be like that. And then I came to realize that I can just be my own Great. And that's fine.
00:28:41:13 - 00:29:00:18
Unknown
But every time that I push myself and I get to the top, it's not just that feeling of overcoming a challenge, but it's it's, wow, what else can I do? I want to find out. And so one of the things I love about pushing grades specifically, but that being said, you know, I also thought I was hot shit when I started climbing.
00:29:00:18 - 00:29:21:17
Unknown
I thought I was so cool. And now I'm like this, This is for fucking nerds. We're all a bunch of nerds worshiping rocks, you know? Yeah, there's really it's. I mean, it's cool, Don't get me wrong. I love it, but I don't tell people. This is the coolest shit ever. You should come and try this anymore. So, like, if somebody wants to go climbing down, you know?
00:29:21:19 - 00:29:37:08
Unknown
But. Yeah, yeah. The other thing is that I see routes five, 12, five, 13 that are out of my realm, that I'm inspired by and I would love to be able to get on those routes. Sometimes I love to get on Astral Man. I used to really want to get on the vampire over to Keats. I was inspired by that.
00:29:37:10 - 00:29:57:06
Unknown
And so it would be really cool to be able to lead those things. Yeah, it's it's a it's a delicate balance for sure, to want to push yourself and to be safe at the same time. And then there's the whole conversation of how do you spend as much time as you need to to progress in the grades and then, you know, where's the career come into it and how are we making money?
00:29:57:06 - 00:30:19:19
Unknown
And it's just a big mess, but we're all here for it. I will say what I detect. I was definitely being very cocky and I recognized that I was I was like egotistical when I hopped up that route and didn't even think about it and humbled myself. So now I have to reevaluate, which is actually I know it's just a part of it and I kind of enjoy reevaluating it now.
00:30:19:21 - 00:30:48:07
Unknown
Yeah. And you did it without any price paid, which is pretty awesome. Yeah. Lucky I had a heroic player that caught me really? Yeah. You're lucky you didn't injure him or her. Yeah, very lucky. Yeah. cool. Well, let's dive in. Let's dive into the story here. So, you know, give us a rundown of kind of like, you know, what your plan was, who you were climbing with, and and logistically kind of what you guys were up against.
00:30:48:10 - 00:31:07:15
Unknown
You know, we are we are talking about the the East buttress of Whitney. Yeah. So I always wanted to get over to Whitney. I was always very inspired by, you know, the 14 ERs and I started bagging Peaks very recently. And essentially we have two mutual friends. It's a boyfriend and girlfriend, one from Florida, and then one from Texas.
00:31:07:17 - 00:31:26:09
Unknown
And they been climbing with them for a while and they mentioned that they were going on a four month trip and they wanted to start with east buttress of malware and then they wanted to go do a big wall in Yosemite, which I had been training for, you know, South Base of Washington column. And so we discussed it.
00:31:26:09 - 00:31:46:16
Unknown
You know, I asked them if I could bring Ethan, and they said, absolutely, I actually know them because of Ethan. So we all started training. I started, you know, bagging the local 14 hours, you know, close by. And I was a little bit worried about altitude sickness because I've had issues with altitude in the past. So the whole thing was very intimidating for me.
00:31:46:16 - 00:32:07:03
Unknown
But I was very, very inspired. And my climbing partner, Bryce, you know, is telling me stories about Whitney, about Mithra, or that he draw Mal Russell Positive vibrations over it, you know, The Incredible Hulk. And so it's something that I always wanted to get into, and I think Ethan had always been really interested as well as well, but it wasn't quite on his radar at the time.
00:32:07:09 - 00:32:37:20
Unknown
And so when they brought it up to us, you know, I said, Let's do this. That sounds awesome. Ethan's on board, let's do it. And so we were training and training and, you know, time came to go to Mal Whitney and they took off before us. Then they had kind of mentioned us beforehand their plan. And at one point, my buddy had kind of just thrown out that he was thinking about simul climbing it with a 40 meter rope.
00:32:37:22 - 00:32:59:14
Unknown
And between him and his girlfriend, they probably each had about maybe a year and a half to two years of experience. So still pretty new. But they both pick up very, very quickly, very safe climbers. The guy actually the way I met him is he started climbing lead rope solo because he didn't have any partners. And Ethan hit me up and he said, you've got to go climb with this guy.
00:32:59:14 - 00:33:17:04
Unknown
He needs some partners. He doesn't need to be lead rope soloing right now. So, you know, I definitely trusted him. But I did mention I don't think it's a good idea to bring a 40 meter or two small climber. You know, I think that's a terrible idea. I think the words that I said was, you're going to die.
00:33:17:06 - 00:33:50:22
Unknown
And so, you know, it's kind of moved on. And fast forward, we're heading over to Whitney and we're really excited they're there. The day before, and Ethan and I are on our way. And as soon as we get up to the portal, Ethan actually is and starts not feeling too well, you know, So next morning comes in. We're all supposed to be heading up to the portal and our friends decide to head up and we decide to go down so that we can acclimate a little bit and so the Ethan could, you know, talk with his buddy Jonathan running and get some advice.
00:33:51:00 - 00:34:10:22
Unknown
So the deal was we meet them up at Upper Boy Scout the next day. And if we're not there the next day, they continue without us. Ethan ended up feeling a lot better, you know, after talking to his buddy, Jonathan got some inspiration, and we decided to go back up to, like, 8000 feet and acclimate a little bit.
00:34:10:22 - 00:34:28:23
Unknown
And so by the end of the night, we were both feeling good, woke up the next morning and we made the trek up to Upper Boy Scout, and I think we got off route a little bit on the way somehow for us. But, you know, the hike wasn't too bad. Started feeling the altitude near the end of the last push up to Upper Boy Scout.
00:34:28:23 - 00:34:47:15
Unknown
But we ended up meeting up with our friends and enjoyed a breathtaking view and, you know, felt real proud of ourselves, a little intimidated for what was to come the next morning. But the plan was to wake up with an alpine star. We had our coffee and our breakfast in and be at the base as the sun was coming up.
00:34:47:15 - 00:35:09:13
Unknown
You know that typical move for alpine climbing real quick. So were you guys planning on climbing the route like, together or staggered? Like, were they going to go first, what was kind of a little distance there and maybe talk to me a little bit about like, you know, you questioned his decision to say more with 40 by, you know, saying that he's going to kill himself.
00:35:09:15 - 00:35:26:13
Unknown
But did he come back out with like a you know, well, this is why, you know, like, did he have a logical explanation for why he wanted to or had he daddy smiled before, Like maybe talk to us a little bit about kind of like what you think his decision process there was. Sure. Yeah. I think that's actually pretty important.
00:35:26:14 - 00:35:49:01
Unknown
So I think a big part of it was that they looked at the grade, you know, which which is five, seven, five, eight. And, you know, we're under the impression that a good majority of it was fourth and fifth class scrambling. So, you know, I think in his mind he was thinking this should be really easy. We're not going to be falling on this.
00:35:49:03 - 00:36:16:02
Unknown
It's mostly going to be hiking, you know, really exposed, rock protected. And I think that they also both just had a lot of confidence in themselves and in each other. So, you know, I think maybe it would have been a good idea if I had mentioned that most alpine routes don't warrant an R rating, But typically R rated R, there's plenty of sections where if you fall, there's severe consequences.
00:36:16:04 - 00:36:39:22
Unknown
I kind of just assumed that they that they knew that. And I probably shouldn't have assumed that because I know that I look back. I'm not sure if they really realized that, but I think they were just thinking it was going to be a safe romp on some five seven honestly, with mostly fourth and fifth class. So they were thinking they can move fast and be really efficient and by the end of it they'd have similar climbing down and that would that would have been their first time ever smiling as well.
00:36:40:00 - 00:37:06:05
Unknown
Wow. Wow. Yeah. Okay. And then you guys, so you guys were going up there and you guys were planning on pitching it out. I'm assuming you guys brought a 60 meter and you guys were planning on starting after them, like slightly staggered or kind of what was your approach there? We didn't really have a plan for staggered or not, but I figured once we got up there, I basically got geared up and we we took off first.
00:37:06:05 - 00:37:42:21
Unknown
So obviously on the route, there are many ways of it. There's multiple spots where you can actually climb, you know, together in parallel. So anyway, we, we started up and yeah, like I said, there was no real plan on, on who should go first or who should in or who should be traveling. You know, my thought was though, that if they were going to bust out a 40 meter when we start climbing, if there was a possibility that was still going to happen, that we should go ahead, because I pretty much assumed that it was their choice.
00:37:42:22 - 00:38:02:00
Unknown
And despite it being a bad choice and that we should, you know, have to trail behind their slow ascents, you know, not to be a dick or anything like that. But at that point, we need to make sure that we were moving and grooved in and getting up to the top for, you know, we were in danger. So we're so.
00:38:02:02 - 00:38:24:01
Unknown
Okay, First question, what time did you guys get to the base where you guys Alpine start or was it like a late start? Well, yeah, we were supposed to start as the sun came up and I thought we were moving fast, but we started at like 9:00 in the morning somehow. Okay. From the tent or at the base, we left up or Boy Scout at, We got up at 330 and then we left around 415.
00:38:24:03 - 00:39:01:19
Unknown
So then we hiked up there up to Glacier where we got water on the way, stashed our gear, our trekking poles and stuff are. Yeah, what else? Where we had tracking falls and some, some other our water filter stuff like that we stashed at, at a rock near Iceberg. Iceberg. Sorry. Iceberg. Yeah. Yeah. And so yeah we, we started from there, We like got geared up putting our ice axes and our packs because the notch was actually frozen over and we heard about that.
00:39:01:19 - 00:39:27:22
Unknown
So we heard multiple parties say that was actually the crux of the whole climb for them. It was the most scariest. So yeah, we were hearing stories about people rappelling off of tracking pools, tracking the ice. So we were already kind of terrified of that descent. Yeah, Yeah. And I just want to back up real quick, too, because like when I got up to the portal and I started feeling this massive headache, altitude sickness, so I had like 3 hours of sleep that night.
00:39:28:00 - 00:39:55:03
Unknown
We went back down to Lone Pine. I felt like a million bucks. Also had COVID right before. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. Yeah, I was on a we're going to have to cover it a week before all this too. So. So anyway, then we go back up, and, you know, the night before we were going to hike up to Upper Boy Scout, I also got like three or 4 hours of sleep, so I just really wasn't sleeping too well.
00:39:55:03 - 00:40:19:11
Unknown
And I figured once we got up to Upper Boy Scout, I'd be so exhausted that I would get a good night's rest. So and sure enough, I wake up right in the middle of the night and I'm thinking about this 40 meter rope thinking, great. Now that's actually limited us to a 40 meter meter out, you know, And now we have one longer end because if we have to tie the ropes together, we're stuck at 40 meters, right?
00:40:19:11 - 00:40:41:10
Unknown
So 20 meters at times. And yeah, so it was a bummer. Instead of having like a 460 meter with the double rope. Yeah, that's all I could think about. You guys were planning on, like, wrapping down together as a team, like two sets of teams as a team. And that was the plan. Like to get a tag line or Beal escape or.
00:40:41:10 - 00:41:01:18
Unknown
Right. No. Okay. Yeah. And it's so it sounds like this this 40 meter rope decision was a pretty large source of tension between your guys as parties. You know, it sounds like you guys were were like, hey, don't do it. It's a bad idea. And they're like, Fuck you. We're doing it anyway all the way up until the end.
00:41:01:20 - 00:41:21:20
Unknown
You know, I think that, you know, you had said that there were some words that you guys exchanged, like right before you left. Yeah, Yeah. Just the base of the route. Yeah. Just as Ethan, you know, he leaves the first pitch and I'm standing right next to my buddy's girlfriend, and, you know, he. He's also leading directly next to Ethan, you know, And Ethan yells.
00:41:21:20 - 00:41:42:19
Unknown
Evan, And they climb on. And I look over at my buddy's girlfriend, and I said, I told you guys not to bring a 40 meter was a bad call. And I started climbing and I did not mean to be that dramatic. It was just what came out. But I think I really freaked her out. And maybe subconsciously I wanted to freak you out so that maybe by the time she got up to him, she could tell him that maybe they should head back down.
00:41:42:21 - 00:42:00:02
Unknown
I know exactly what was going on subconsciously, but there must have been some reason why I said that so dramatically. I mean, it just sounds like some frustration. It sounds like there was a lack of communication or a lack of teamwork. You know, it's like if you guys were planning on climbing this together, then there should be some terms agreed upon.
00:42:00:02 - 00:42:14:22
Unknown
If you guys are climbing it separate, then fine, do your own thing. But don't rely on us and we won't rely on you and we won't try to work this together. You know, it seems like there was a kind of a mixed bag of kind of things going on where it's like you guys were together, but you also weren't at the same time.
00:42:14:22 - 00:42:34:07
Unknown
So, you know, things weren't agreed upon. So I think that's, you know, there's some tension there for sure. We wanted to be together when they busted out the 40, it turned into. Right. I guess it's every man for themselves at this point. So Ethan and I just started to move in and. Yeah. So you guys didn't know it was a 40 until the last fucking second, right before you guys started climbing or what?
00:42:34:07 - 00:42:56:06
Unknown
Yeah, I didn't. And that's part of my fault for not checking like, you know, everybody's gear down at the portal. But Evan knew that they were bringing a 40 or at least planning on it. I knew they had talked about it and I was hoping that they had taken my advice and then found out once we had gotten to Whitney that they had brought the 40.
00:42:56:08 - 00:43:15:13
Unknown
Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. So they left for the hike a day before us because of my sickness. So our our plan was to rally with them up at Upper Boy Scout, and then, you know, we would be back on schedule to, to make the the ascent the next morning. So you guys are you guys are climbing. What happened next.
00:43:15:15 - 00:43:39:19
Unknown
Yup. So yeah, I remember I got up to I took the first pitch, you know, just to get into it. And I remember we realized that we were already off route, so we were supposed to start off in a little dark hydro. We hiked up just to the right of it. So we had to go up and over this little like a rat, I guess, to get back on route.
00:43:39:21 - 00:44:00:21
Unknown
And then once I got in there, I looked up and I said, Evan, this looks like the route, you know, And I think we're we're good here. So I was blowing him up and I remember our other buddy was like, I heard some frustration because he had an ice ax on his back and he was like kind of in this little like overhanging area.
00:44:00:21 - 00:44:22:17
Unknown
So he was already getting held up, you know? So I remember I had come around this this move and it was like a little awkward. But, you know, I'm just thinking we got to move because actually there was a a potential storm on the horizon at 2 p.m.. So what was that? I said 20% chance of precipitation, like 100.
00:44:22:20 - 00:44:44:08
Unknown
Yeah. I was on, I was on the fishhook. A red. Yeah. When that storm like we were on the same day and I remember looking up at the clouds and I'm like fuck yeah, God damn it. Yeah, but, but it wasn't like, it wasn't like we're fucked. It was just like we could be fucked. Yeah, exactly. So we, we basically had a five window that we were like, we need up, you know, get up this thing.
00:44:44:08 - 00:45:08:22
Unknown
And so Evan and I were swinging leads, like, just spot on, you know, like being real efficient at passing gear. You know, Evan took the next pitch, and that was when we left the other two climbers. Basically at that first that first pitch. So Evan and I were going and, you know, we had rocky talkies and those things that are amazing.
00:45:09:00 - 00:45:33:19
Unknown
So we were just able to communicate really well, tell each other how we're doing a good job. You know, you're you're crushing it, whatever, pumping each other up. And I don't even know how many pitches we did around the theaters. Yeah, I think we're about top of the fifth, maybe six pitches up. And that's when we got to hell over the radio and said, Hey, Evan, Ethan, we're in trouble.
00:45:33:21 - 00:46:08:15
Unknown
And so, we're we were like, Okay, elaborate, know. And at this time it was, it was, I think about 1230 by then. Yeah, something like that. And so they were saying, We're in trouble, we're in over our heads. Yeah, this route is spicier than we realize. We're not going to be able to swing leads. Simulink is not working out, and we're too high up to be able to wrap down with the amount of gear that we have wrapping 20 meters at a time.
00:46:08:17 - 00:46:29:10
Unknown
So so they're basically asking us if they could, you know, tail our rope and just micro tracks every single pitch on on on our role. And, you know, I think I kind of talk to Ethan and say, hey, what do you think about this? You know, we're kind of in a bit of a bind here. This kind of changes everything.
00:46:29:12 - 00:46:50:03
Unknown
You know, it's supposed to rain by 2 p.m.. It can get real serious. We started late. What should we do? And we both determined we can't leave our friends. Absolutely no way that we could morally make that decision. So, you know, we tried to encourage them to lead. That was the idea. Hey, we'll just tell them you know, build them up, tell them that they got this.
00:46:50:03 - 00:47:12:20
Unknown
And, you know, our buddy decided that he would continue to try and he we decided we would wait for him to try to get to us. And by the time that he gets to us, it had taken, you know, an extra hour. They're moving real slow because they were shaking up. And so we decided to let them micro tracks essentially our rope.
00:47:12:22 - 00:47:34:03
Unknown
And Ethan and I kind of coordinated. So Ethan determined that the best thing for me to do was going to be to play rope gun and that he would hang in the back and just kind of keep everybody with a positive mindset and make sure that they were constantly safe and tied into the system so that nobody was injured or or, you know, something worse.
00:47:34:04 - 00:47:50:02
Unknown
So, yeah, we kind of just got into survival mode, You know, when your eyes get real wide all of a sudden and you're just reacting and you're not even thinking, you're almost like a clear mind. I just got into rope gun mode and started leading page after page after pitch. I just want him back you up just a little bit.
00:47:50:02 - 00:48:09:23
Unknown
So when I was waiting on that ledge after that, after they had held us, Evan said, Hey, go ahead and fix the rope. So I went ahead and, you know, fixed the rope for them to come up the single strand and and as I'm waiting there, I ended up waiting there for two and a half hours, you know.
00:48:09:23 - 00:48:35:00
Unknown
So I thought they were like really close to us. And meanwhile they were moving like, really slow at this point. You know, fatigue has really set in for them. And I went from a little nice bomber ledge in the sun to complete shade. Right. So by the time they actually got up to me, my teeth are chattering, my legs are, you know, move in.
00:48:35:02 - 00:48:58:15
Unknown
And then that's when we decided. All right, in the interest of time, Evan, you need to play rope gun. When our when our buddies got up to us, I could just see that blank stare on their face, you know, almost like, kind of half with it. Like almost nobody saw them. So I knew that there was some, like, cognitive issues there, you know, with just being safe.
00:48:58:15 - 00:49:20:20
Unknown
And so I was talking him through literally every every like, action, basically, like telling him like, okay, get out a locker, come into the shelf right here, get a clove hitch, like, tie in there, lock it down. I was like, You're safe now, right? And just vocalizing all the steps, you know, and just really keeping him with me.
00:49:20:20 - 00:49:57:14
Unknown
And so, yeah, unfortunately, his girlfriend had gotten a bit hysterical and she was crying at some point. And, you know, so anyway, they just felt like they were just like really, I guess, in over their heads, you know, beat down, fatigued and just really just at this point and just probably just wanting to be off the rock, you know, and I know we've all been there, whether it be a storm coming in or whatever, but there had been questions about, you know, a potential rescue a few times where Ethan and I were just like, no, we're not.
00:49:57:14 - 00:50:22:14
Unknown
They're not necessary. We're just going to keep moving. Yeah. So, yeah, I'll, I'll let you keep talking about the kitchen and out. Yeah. So, so as I'm pitching it out, somehow I end up getting a bit off route and I end up in like no man's land. And then an area filled with, like death blocks and ice and snow and.
00:50:22:16 - 00:50:54:22
Unknown
Yeah, I, I feel like an idiot for doing it, but it's where I ended up and I couldn't quite reverse what I was doing. So I ended up setting an anchor, communicated with everybody and brought three people over. And so this horrible area on on the Rock and I so for the next pitch, I ended up having to do some pretty unprotected like what felt like ten above probably was like five eight you know but in the heat of the moment just felt a lot harder than what I was expecting on some in a really exposed position.
00:50:55:04 - 00:51:11:04
Unknown
But I remember just climbing so like, so well, I didn't I couldn't understand how I was climbing so well. I think it shows I was trapped in a survival mode, so I managed to get us out of that position and we start move in. And at this point, each individual page is taking this like an hour and a half.
00:51:11:05 - 00:51:39:08
Unknown
You know because we're limited to 30 meters at this point. So basically the rig that we had was we had Evan on lead, somebody tied into the middle of the 60 and then, you know, they would haul up their partner on the 40. So that's the only way we could really divvy up the rope to, like, get everybody safe, not simul climbing and build the anchors along the way, you know.
00:51:39:10 - 00:52:01:09
Unknown
So it was forever at this point. Yeah. So I remember, you know, there was like one single page that I was trying to avoid. It was the off with not much of an off with climber. And I heard something about like a five, nine or ten a you know, potential off with pitch and somehow, you know, I ended up getting on it of course.
00:52:01:11 - 00:52:27:20
Unknown
And I remember everybody kind of cursing me like, What the hell, dude? Why did you choose the off with? And but, you know, we ended up making it through we actually ended up summiting like 9:30 p.m.. Yeah, forever. It was dark. I don't know how we didn't get rain because, you know, I don't know too much about when you but what I've been told is that, you know, if it says 10% almost guaranteed, you're going to be getting rain by 2 p.m. and it was 20% and somehow we didn't get any rain.
00:52:27:22 - 00:52:46:01
Unknown
And, and I, I don't really know how to explain that. I'm just really grateful. But once we got up to the top, we were all freezing. You know, I couldn't feel our hands, couldn't feel our feet. You know, we were planning on wrapping the icy notch and pretty much I decided immediately that we weren't in the position to be able to do that.
00:52:46:01 - 00:53:17:08
Unknown
So not at night anyway. Yeah. So we got we got prepared to hunker down in the the little I don't know if you'd call it a cabin or what would you call that thing up top. Yeah. Just a little house. I don't know. A little open door structure at the top, you know, and I've admittedly been through a few epics myself in my days of climbing, so I had hunkered down in some some classic Shiver Bibi's a couple of times, so I think I was a little bit more prepared for it than everybody else.
00:53:17:10 - 00:53:38:13
Unknown
Ethan had brought an extra pair of socks, which was really smart. I think he was the only person that had extra socks. I brought gloves. Nobody else had gloves. Our friends had an emergency blanket for limited layers. Yeah, I had my snowboarding gloves. Yeah, you had gloves. But the thing is, the little hut up top, you know, since the doors open and we had just gotten a huge snow, you know what?
00:53:38:13 - 00:54:00:22
Unknown
San Diego or California would consider a big snowstorm. It was extra icy. You know, as you as you know, around that time. So the wind had actually blown in a bunch of snow into the hut and created a massive ice block right in the middle of the floor. So the floor was frozen and wet. And so sleeping on the floor was actually made us more cold.
00:54:01:00 - 00:54:22:02
Unknown
I ended up just laying down the we had the 60 meter ended up like trying to sleep on the 60 meter. And just as I was starting to fall asleep, they woke me up and they had basically determined that they were worried about hypothermia and frostbite because they hadn't been able to feel their fingers in their hands for a while and that the best thing to do seemed to be to go to a lower altitude.
00:54:22:04 - 00:54:45:03
Unknown
And since we weren't able to do the icy night, you're not feeling up to it. We only had one other option, which was to do the 11 mile hike back down to the portal. And yeah, we so crampons and ice axes. First time we've ever even used any of this stuff. You know, we make the trek down, it's like 1130 at night at this point.
00:54:45:05 - 00:55:06:20
Unknown
And it's funny because, you know, just as we were coming down, I think some lady all by herself, you know, she must have been like 45, 50 years old, just came up with no no crampons, no ice ax, just hiking through the ice, you know, like it was no big deal. And we were getting ready for, like, the biggest trek of our lives with the most fatigue we've ever experienced.
00:55:06:22 - 00:55:34:04
Unknown
It's a mish down the 99 switchbacks. You know, at one point, you know, we had been dealing with so much fatigue that heading towards the 99 switchbacks, we actually lost sight of our friends who kind of knew knew the route a bit better than us. And Ethan and I started heading straight towards like imminent death. We realized that, like where we were heading was extremely steep, and if we had continued, we probably would have slipped to our death just in time.
00:55:34:04 - 00:55:54:02
Unknown
We turn left and we saw lights off in the distance, so we made it sharp left and got back on trail. The fatigue was so bad, you know, that every mile that we hiked, we our bodies forced us to take a 15 minute nap. We would all sit down at the same time. No choice. Just our bodies would force us to and we lay down.
00:55:54:02 - 00:56:32:20
Unknown
Next thing you know, all of our eyes would be closed and we'd all wake up at the same time. Within 15 minutes, you know, wide eyed. Hey, let's hit it. Let's keep going. 11 miles, 11 naps. Yeah, Genuinely. Yeah, It was like it was 10 hours of marching. So it was just we ended up finally getting all the way down to the van at, like 90 and so it was just incredible fatigue for myself, you know, like 3 hours, maybe 4 hours the next night of sleep and then two and a half hours and night that night like to start this actual summit push.
00:56:32:22 - 00:57:13:12
Unknown
And so for some reason, I didn't feel like tired, like I have, you know, in the past where you have that sand in the eyes feeling or anything like that. It was more or less just complete and utter body fatigue where I felt like I wanted to collapse, you know? So I had brought enough snacks to last me, you know, as like maybe an emergency to ration some, but mainly to like, get us like up to the summit, down the notch, down the mountain here, out back to our gear and then back to camp, you know, and not like an additional 10 hours of fatigue and and hiking and stuff like that.
00:57:13:12 - 00:57:40:05
Unknown
So, yeah, it was super brutal. I had those, like, chest pains, you know, where you feel like your body's eating itself and just super, super exhausted, fatigued. My back was hurting, so bad from the mini daypack, you know, with all the weight in it, with the with my climbing shoes and the gear and all that stuff that I just kept telling Evan like, Hey, I got to lay down and I would lay on, you know, a very cold frozen rock.
00:57:40:07 - 00:58:02:21
Unknown
And then, you know, we would wake up ten, 20 minutes later and keep marching on. Usually surrounded by hikers that were on their way up wondering what the hell was going on with us. Now, we talked to so many people on the way down that rumors flew around the mountain within a day, and everybody knew that we were the idiots that pulled an epic on East budgets and not any.
00:58:02:23 - 00:58:29:10
Unknown
Yeah. man, There's a lot to unpack there. Yeah. So since. Since we got back to the van at like, 9 a.m., we had the most epic, mediocre breakfast that we've ever had at, at the portal, you know, got some hot coffee, went to sleep, basically slept until the next day, and then we had to make the march up to go pick up our gear.
00:58:29:12 - 00:58:50:17
Unknown
And so that was another nine hour round trip hike back up to go get our tents and all that stuff, which we had right on the lake, which was probably the most magical place I've ever camped in my life. But, you know, at this point, my Achilles was already given me some life issue. I was like, man, this thing's really tight.
00:58:50:18 - 00:59:12:09
Unknown
I don't know what's going on. And I just powered through it. And then when I got back from the hike, I look down and my ankle is completely blown up. So I definitely strained my Achilles. And so that pretty much tabled our we were headed to Yosemite after this trip. You were supposed to do the South Face of Washington column.
00:59:12:11 - 00:59:39:15
Unknown
Needless to say, it did not end up happening. So yeah, that that pretty much completed my climbing for this whole this all week long excursion and I had to like soak my leg in the you know in the river and your 70 and just try to ice it as much as possible elevate it and stuff so yeah that was, that was basically basically the mission right there was to do that.
00:59:39:17 - 01:00:06:08
Unknown
Did like panic ever set in to any member of the group. You know because in in an extreme situation like that like that's that's where panic can like start to you know creep did it did you see it in anybody's eyes. Definitely panic was set in early on in our other friends eyes for sure. I mean when we got up into the house, you know, three quarters of the floor was complete ice.
01:00:06:08 - 01:00:26:06
Unknown
BLOCK So I was shivering, living in one little corner with my back on the stone wall. Evan was in the doorway. I found a little sign that I was able to prop up in the door to block some of the wind coming in. And and then they were laying together with an emergency blanket and they still couldn't feel their feet, you know.
01:00:26:06 - 01:01:01:17
Unknown
So I think for them, it was it was pretty scary. Like for that part for me, when we were shiver being up in that little house I knew was going to be a really miserable night. So I just decided, you know, why don't we just start hiking 11 miles Didn't sound too long at that time. And I was thinking, Yeah, let's get to lower elevation, Let's get some warmth and get away from this window, because it was like in the high 20 and it was pretty freaking cold, you know?
01:01:01:19 - 01:01:32:02
Unknown
Luckily I had a coffee and multiple layers on my snowboarding gloves. I had a boot arm. I was pretty good wool socks. And like Evan said, I had socks and stuff. But yeah, I think panic set in pretty early for them and that's why I was like really focused on calming them down and they actually are on me later on that I was like instrumental in them, like together, you know, or, or just being able to like, talk to them.
01:01:32:02 - 01:02:05:20
Unknown
Like just real matter of fact, you know, like, just talk to them about what step they need to do. I confirmed with them multiple times like, you're safe now, right? You know, it's stuff like that. I think in like some severe situations where things can get really bad, I have a knack for just like kind of really focusing up and like, making my way through, like unpacking each step that needs to take place for things to go really well, you know?
01:02:05:22 - 01:02:21:18
Unknown
Yeah, I'm just wondering. So, like, like what are some like, key takeaways from from you guys? Like, what do you think you could do to help kind of prevent a situation like that in the future for yourselves? Well, I think Evan and I have talked about going back up and doing like, you know, something on Mount Russell next or something like that.
01:02:21:18 - 01:02:58:16
Unknown
And I think I think our biggest takeaway was that we want to go by ourselves really. It's I mean, it's it's really unfortunate to say that. But at the same time, like, I feel just like Evan said, like early on in the story, you know, it's like you have your your friends are with you. We should be self-supporting in our own teams, but at the same time you're totally torn because you don't want to leave people, you know, friends you know, or even anybody really back to be fend for themselves in.
01:02:58:16 - 01:03:22:04
Unknown
Such a situation where they're not having a good time, you know, and it looks like if could go really bad for them and then you're torn because you're in the Alpine, right. So it's like what they do could totally put everybody in jeopardy. Right. So that's why I think like going forward, you know, we'll have like an enrage and stuff like that for like emergency.
01:03:22:05 - 01:03:41:13
Unknown
But it would be just really ideal to be like self-supporting and self-sufficient as just a team of two. Do you? I don't know you guys. Do you normally bring a tag line on any adventures or anything you've ever done? Have you ever done that? Yeah, I honestly, I don't think I was prepared to to have to repel at all.
01:03:41:13 - 01:04:04:18
Unknown
I, I really think that I was ready for Fletchers. I think Ethan and I both were and in my mind there was no doubt I was getting up. And maybe that's one of my downfalls is that no matter how confident you are, you should always be prepared and have a backup plan of how to get off, because really the most successful you could be is just coming home safely by whatever means, right?
01:04:04:20 - 01:04:22:15
Unknown
Yeah, that's that's kind of what I was alluding to, essentially. Yeah, It's it's just like, you know, it can even be something as simple as like, you know, a random rock falls because of free store cycle and cut to rope and half you got one rope and you're just both. So going like, well, fuck, you know, it's like yeah.
01:04:22:15 - 01:04:41:14
Unknown
So I would definitely say like tagline be Escape is definitely going to be a good thing. The future for sure. Yeah, that's a crazy story, man. Just like be in somewhere that committed and you know, like I, you know, I'm not like the most adverse experience alpine climber. I have some of my own experience. But yeah it's it's just a very different process being up there.
01:04:41:14 - 01:05:12:07
Unknown
You know, it's like much more committing, much less forgiving environment, more run out rockfall, more variables to consider. And yeah, it's really serious. And also like you might be the 11 or 12 sport climber in the gym maybe you just always on site ten be ten C crowd like that's great. But like if you've done that in really, really like calculated controlled environments and, and these circum stances, but then you might be on a59 and all of a sudden it's horrifically run out.
01:05:12:08 - 01:05:33:05
Unknown
You've got to make sure you're not pushing rock off onto a belair, you're frozen, exhausted, glucose deprived and shitting your pants. Then it's like it's not the same thing anymore. You know what I mean? Like, it's like, Yeah, maybe you climb ten, be in the gym. But have you ever done that in the worst position ever? Well, you feel like you've got to shit your pants or something.
01:05:33:05 - 01:06:03:18
Unknown
You know what I mean? Like, it's just. It's just things can get really serious really quick. And I think that as climbers, we need a really healthy respect for for the environments we're going into and to to turn down the hubris dial. You know, it's like and because I'm sure we've all been there, you know, just like you just I think that it's it's pretty surprising to me, though, that this party went from I'm going to small the East buttress to I can't even lead a single pitch.
01:06:03:20 - 01:06:42:22
Unknown
And to me that's like pretty shocking. And I don't know what that is attributed to or how you could mitigate, you know, someone's decision like that. You know, like, is it you know, is it something that you didn't know about the person? Like, what do you think happened there? You know, I mean, there's obviously just like a freeze up, But, you know, do you did did they have you know, obviously there's not enough experience, but is there something that you guys missed maybe in terms of judging their personalities or, you know, how could you have avoided maybe climb with them in the first place knowing that you know how you know, I guess you get
01:06:42:22 - 01:07:00:09
Unknown
what I'm trying to ask here. Was there some sort of way you could avoid that? I think it's honestly it's not to to different from me being cocky and getting on a trade route and decking overstock or I sometimes I can be an oversight over. I think that they were overly stoked. I think that they had too much confidence in themselves.
01:07:00:11 - 01:07:21:18
Unknown
I don't think that they had enough experience where they've heard of enough situations or scenarios where shit's gotten real. You know what one quote that comes to mind and you know, there's different forms of adventure, but in an adventure, until she starts going wrong and everybody wants adventure until it's adventure time. Right? And don't get me wrong, you don't always have to seek out that form of adventure.
01:07:22:00 - 01:07:44:06
Unknown
But I think that's what it comes down to, is I had a better idea of what happens when she goes wrong to a degree, and I don't think they they did because they were limited experience. Right. And you people come out of the gym and this again, no offense to my friends because honestly, I've been climbing with them for a while and this might be one of the only two mistakes I've ever seen them make.
01:07:44:06 - 01:08:12:10
Unknown
Then again, it only takes one bad mistake sometimes. But, you know, sometimes people come out of the gym and and they think about grades and they don't see the bigger picture, which is everything else to take into account weather, which is constantly changing altitude. You know, the your ability to synchronize with your partner, you know, smiling requires typical practice in a lot of good communication and a lot of good synchronicity.
01:08:12:12 - 01:08:43:13
Unknown
And typically your strongest climber needs to be the follower. Right. And in this situation, I don't think that they knew that because if that was the case, they would have known that the only person that could lead was the stronger climber, because they had really the only leading experience. And you know, they mentioned to me that, yeah, now we know that Alpine routes are rated R and, you know, some people would even say that the East Buttress is a peewee route and it's really pretty mellow compared to a lot of other routes.
01:08:43:13 - 01:09:01:18
Unknown
It really is all relative. But I think that the key point is that sometimes you don't know until you're in the situation. And so I like to make an effort of learning from all of my friends mistakes that I'll have to learn from my own mistakes. And I've just had more opportunity to learn from more friends mistakes, to be honest.
01:09:01:20 - 01:09:27:16
Unknown
And I also take responsibility because I think that I probably could have done a little bit more investigation and found out for sure whether or not they were bringing the 40 put my foot down. But a part of me also, it kind of scares me because if we hadn't showed up that day, I wonder most likely they would have hopped on by themselves on a 40 and who knows, maybe if they didn't have somebody to rescue them, maybe they would have gotten up on their own.
01:09:27:16 - 01:09:48:17
Unknown
Maybe they would have wrapped down earlier, or maybe they would have ended up getting you stuck in. There's just so many different things that could have happened. I'm honestly just glad that we were there. And even though it didn't go the way that I would have liked, it's still one for the books. And you know, the important thing is that we all made it back safely.
01:09:48:17 - 01:10:07:12
Unknown
And I think we all walked away with some very, very valuable lessons that are ultimately going to help us in the future. For sure, men. And that's why we're sitting down here. It's like, you know, everybody makes mistakes. We all get ourselves into these situations. I've done it. You know, it's not not anything new. And we're not here to to shame anybody.
01:10:07:12 - 01:10:24:10
Unknown
It's all about just taking these experiences and learning from them, you know, because, you know, it does get real. And, you know, it's a matter of how do we avoid these situations in the first place. And then also, what is it like when you're in them so that you can better how to handle it? Yeah. And so, you know, that's just why we're here.
01:10:24:10 - 01:10:48:09
Unknown
So, you know, I appreciate you guys sitting down and telling the story. Yeah Well, we appreciate you guys listening. Yes. Yeah. Yes. It's it's a wild story, man. It's it's pretty crazy. It's I mean, strangely enough, I really want to climb the the, you know, buttress of Whitney. Now, I don't know why this story has inspired me to do that, but.
01:10:48:11 - 01:11:04:22
Unknown
But yeah, I you know, I was looking at some pictures beforehand and stuff. It looks like a really just stellar, beautiful climb. And Whitney Pace and you know, from like, I've seen a lot of footage and stuff from Kyle's ascent there on the Fishhook and that area just just looks really beautiful, you know, like, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's it's incredible.
01:11:04:22 - 01:11:25:03
Unknown
And while I was up there, I was able to take some photos because obviously we're there at sunset, you know, So I got to take some really incredible photos. And my buddy said, Well, at least you get to see Whitney. How almost nobody gets to see Whitney, you know? And I'm like, Yeah, I don't know if that's super great.
01:11:25:05 - 01:11:45:18
Unknown
Great. So yeah, yeah, we did survive. And I love sunsets on mountains, man. Yeah, I always find myself on the top of them and at sunset and I'm always just like, This is the best. Yeah, yeah. We Had to go visit George Renick, too, over at the climbing portal. And I think he was the perfect person to see directly after pulling an on.
01:11:45:22 - 01:12:08:19
Unknown
Yeah, I he's probably just like you guys are. You guys are fine. I was sick. Yeah. You know what it's like I tell you some stories. Yeah. Jonathan did. His brother called me right after and said, Well, congratulations on your first Alpine resort, you know, So that was pretty cool. That was pretty cool. Yeah. One more one more thing to note as well.
01:12:08:21 - 01:12:26:00
Unknown
So, yeah, while we were heading back up, I was ahead of the group, you know, to go retrieve our gear after going back down to the portal. And I guess there was a San Diego local named Kellen. Don't know the guy's last name, and he was on his way, his way down from summiting after us at 11 like 730, 12:00 in the morning.
01:12:26:00 - 01:12:48:10
Unknown
Him and his partner apparently summited and it was like no big deal to them. I don't know where his partner was. I don't know what happened. But we only met Kalon and he was drinking a handful of Fireball and taking shots for each individual person that he passed on the way. Yeah. So I guess it's all relative perspective perspectives.
01:12:48:12 - 01:13:06:19
Unknown
Yeah, he was. He was wondering why we took off because he said, all of us could have huddled together, you know, and frozen out. He's like, I brought the fireball. Yeah. Maybe that's the secret. You got to know that's the secret. Yeah. And you hunker down. So, I mean, just build from a different path is the reality.
01:13:06:19 - 01:13:25:00
Unknown
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I will forever be impressed by that. Yeah. Yeah. He's probably shivered on the top of the mountain. More than you can count on your, you know, And the next time, the next time you guys are up in that situation, you know, hopefully it's a different scenario, but it'll be, it'll be less for him. Yeah.
01:13:25:06 - 01:13:51:16
Unknown
Yeah. Nice. Awesome guys. Yeah. I mean, thanks for coming on the show. It's always great to have these conversations and, you know, respect what you're doing. What's what's next Shoot. What's next for you guys? I want to get on some grade five big wall. So I'm planning on going back to Yosemite. And basically every year I plan to do a grade five big wall and then weather ends up interrupting the plan.
01:13:51:16 - 01:14:27:14
Unknown
So I end up getting on some crazy grade for Big wall. And so I'm going to get on the south face of Washington, call on the west, face the leaning tower and the prowl next season. And that's the plan for me. 60 or while you about. Yeah I just want to get back in the in the alpine honestly I have Russell in my sights so I'm just going to try to talk to this guy and going up there with me and yeah, I just saw, you know Joshua Tree just started against him and I had a pretty, pretty stellar out there a couple weeks ago.
01:14:27:16 - 01:14:50:13
Unknown
You know, I just got back from Colorado on a work trip. I was looking at some pretty killer rocks out there. yeah, as far as climbing goes, I'm just all over. I want to get back down to El Paso. Chico. I did that last year, and, yeah, just all the local stuff. Looking forward to hockey season again.
01:14:50:13 - 01:15:08:23
Unknown
Next season are all we're. You guys ever make it out to Red Rocks? I have not. He did another shivery baby out there on that golden epic on it. okay Epic enough for you guys. You guys weren't the ones that got stuck up there on the ice sheets where, you know. No, no. We did not end up getting rescued.
01:15:08:23 - 01:15:31:07
Unknown
We pulled the classic shaver baby. And then same old in the morning and then did the gnarly descents. So, you know, I would say we probably set a record for the slowest descent or slow its descent without a rescue, possibly. But we did on sight, No falls. So nice. Nice. Good for you guys. Yeah. And then I did dream of wild turkeys another time, which was really good.
01:15:31:07 - 01:15:45:11
Unknown
So I recently the bug for Red Rocks. I love it. They're cool, man. I live out here. So if you ever out here, give me a shout out. Read a place to stay and a partner to climb with. Absolutely. Looking forward to that. Yeah, we're good, guys. Thanks a lot for coming on the show, man. I appreciate it.
01:15:45:11 - 01:15:50:22
Unknown
It's been great to chat with you.