71 | Climbing North America's Most Iconic Route Part I w/ Bryce & Evan

I think you would agree that there is arguably no rock formation more infamous than El Cap . With its massive presence in the development of North American climbing, iconic size, and technical challenges, it stands as a beacon for climbers worldwide to test their abilities on a sea of stone. When we start climbing, El Cap is often at the forefront of our minds—a dream expressed as “Man, I would love to climb that one day.” But how many of us actually take the steps to make that dream a reality? Sometimes it feels like El Cap is reserved for the pros.

Today, we sit down with previous guests Bryce Ungersma and Evan Geller, two recreational climbers who turned their dream of climbing El Cap into a reality. On May 22nd, they joined the ranks of climbers who have summited El Cap after successfully completing “The Nose” in 3.5 days. We are here to tell their story.

This conversation is split into two one-hour segments. First, we dive into what it was like for Bryce and Evan to make the mental switch from “I want to climb that one day” to “This is real and this is happening.” We’ll explore their training, planning, and preparation, and then discuss the food, water, gear, permits, and logistics needed to get established on the wall.

Their story is a reminder to continue chasing our dreams and pushing the boundaries of what we think is possible for ourselves.

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Resources

Bryce's Instagram

Evan's Instagram

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 6:53 From Dream to Reality
• 15:44 Preparation
• 30:22 Permits, Gear, and Food
• 51:25 The Route Description

Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:22:15
Unknown
Hey everyone, and welcome back to the Climbing Jordi podcast, where Kyle and I sit down with living legends, professional athletes, certified guides and recreational climbers like 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.

00:00:23:05 - 00:00:29:04
Unknown
What's up everybody? Thanks for tuning in and thanks for being a part of the climbing majority.

00:00:29:04 - 00:00:33:07
Unknown
I think you would agree that there is arguably no rock formation more infamous than El Cap,

00:00:33:07 - 00:00:43:22
Unknown
with its massive presence in the development of North American climbing, its iconic size and technical challenge. It stands as a beacon for climbers worldwide to test their abilities.

00:00:44:00 - 00:01:08:14
Unknown
When we start climbing, El Cap is often at the forefront of our minds, a dream expressed as man, I would love to climb that one day. But how many of us actually take the steps to make that dream a reality? Sometimes it feels like El Cap is just reserved for the pros. Today we sit down with our previous guests, Bryson Gershman and Evan Geller, two recreational climbers who turned their dream of climbing El Cap into a reality.

00:01:08:16 - 00:01:28:18
Unknown
On May 22nd. They joined the ranks of climbers who have someone at El Cap after successfully completing the nose in three and a half days. And we are here to tell their story. This conversation is split into two one hour segments. First, we dive into what it was like for Bryce and Evan to make the mental switch from I want to climb that one day to this is real and this is happening.

00:01:28:20 - 00:01:44:13
Unknown
We'll explore their training, planning and preparation and then discuss the food, water, gear, permits and logistics needed to get established on the wall. Their story is a reminder to continue chasing our dreams and pushing the boundaries of what we think is possible for ourselves.

00:01:55:21 - 00:02:01:13
Unknown
dude,

00:02:01:13 - 00:02:05:15
Unknown
are you going up to, Are you staying in Vegas or are you going to,

00:02:05:15 - 00:02:06:21
Unknown
up north again?

00:02:06:21 - 00:02:07:08
Unknown
I mean,

00:02:07:08 - 00:02:17:01
Unknown
Yeah.

00:02:17:03 - 00:02:24:05
Unknown
Is Reno any cooler, or is it, like, near the same?

00:02:24:07 - 00:02:26:08
Unknown
Yeah. For sure.

00:02:30:18 - 00:02:36:21
Unknown
I think the last time we climbed it was when I took the ankle biter. but that was like. Yeah,

00:02:36:21 - 00:02:51:02
Unknown
I was just. It was. It's it's cold. Hard as nails. Mount Watson, it's like a really hard boulder problem, like, right off the ground. And, it's like ten feet of trucks. And so you can't really, like, place through the cracks.

00:02:51:04 - 00:03:10:02
Unknown
I've, I've read, pointed this thing like, five times at least. And for some reason, I just botched the sequence and I was like, maybe like eight feet off the deck, six feet off the deck. And I just came off and landed really hard on my heel and just bruised to the bone, I think. So it's like just not recovering.

00:03:10:09 - 00:03:14:08
Unknown
Yeah. Bummer. Well. Could be a lot worse, man.

00:03:14:08 - 00:03:22:03
Unknown
Yeah. Oh for sure. I was scared when I came down like it hurt. And I was like, oh, that's the first time I've ever, like, actually hurt my feet.

00:03:22:08 - 00:03:24:01
Unknown
So when are you guys going to climb the Hulk?

00:03:24:08 - 00:03:49:03
Unknown
Late July. So my birthday, this is the 27th and I of July, and I typically try to do something alpine or that every year. So got the, the had the permits. I thought I was going to cancel on it, to be honest, because of like Yosemite and not being sure what I want to do. But then I was like, yeah, I'm stoked.

00:03:49:05 - 00:03:55:10
Unknown
I'm gonna do it and then it up. Kyle. And that's how that happened.

00:03:55:10 - 00:04:08:23
Unknown
super psyched to see that message come through. I've been talking about Ivan. It's in Belmont. Check. Like my tick tick list for God for, like, six years, probably. And, just like it never just. It's never lined up. I've even scouted out the hike and everything. And up

00:04:10:07 - 00:04:12:17
Unknown
It's such a cool thing. Feature.

00:04:13:07 - 00:04:18:11
Unknown
That's a really inspiring piece of rock. I've seen a video of, Peter Croft climbing this route up

00:04:19:12 - 00:04:22:14
Unknown
Solar flare. Yeah.

00:04:33:22 - 00:04:56:04
Unknown
Yeah, I just want I want to get revenge. Because, last time I was there, it was like, the worst climbing experience I've ever had. Like, it was just windy, like, the windiest trip I've ever been on, like, nonstop. Like, all night. No sleep. Like, ran out of water on the, you know, just bunch of dumb stuff like that could have been avoided other than.

00:04:56:05 - 00:05:07:03
Unknown
And then on top of that windy, which you're just like, piss and cold, the climb went fine and everything, but just like the enjoyment level was like zero. So.

00:05:07:07 - 00:05:09:15
Unknown
You also said that the climbing itself wasn't that inspiring,

00:05:09:22 - 00:05:24:22
Unknown
Yeah, we did, like the easiest climb on the feature and it's obviously not the best. so positive vibrations will be way better.

00:05:25:00 - 00:05:26:11
Unknown
Yeah.

00:05:26:11 - 00:05:43:11
Unknown
thing I've learned I say this a lot on this podcast. But the one thing I've learned climbing with like people that are climbing harder than me, like is that like even on the original route on the rainbow wall and some, like, Cloud Tower out here, like, yes, the crux pitch has like a move or two that's like, okay.

00:05:43:11 - 00:05:48:03
Unknown
Yeah, that was 12 a, the entirety of the rest of the climb was like

00:05:50:12 - 00:05:52:07
Unknown
Yeah.

00:06:08:01 - 00:06:30:07
Unknown
Yeah, I think I think PV positive vibration says, like, two little crevices, and the rest is like, maybe ten plus, like ten. See? Like a pitch here or there. That. But the ten I remember because I've done the first three pitches and like the Tennessee pitch, 2 or 3 or whatever, it was like super chill, I thought. And then the 11 cracks.

00:06:30:07 - 00:06:43:22
Unknown
I unsighted at the time. And so I was feeling good, but we bailed because it was getting dark. That was like the day we hiked and we just went up to check it out because we had time. So.

00:06:44:00 - 00:06:51:08
Unknown
Yeah, the second one's the hard one. There you go. There you go.

00:07:44:12 - 00:07:47:08
Unknown
Thanks for having us. Yeah. Good to be back. Thank you.

00:07:49:01 - 00:08:02:04
Unknown
I think the best way to dissect this, I think the whole. I mean, we can just, like, if you guys want to hear about Bryce or you want to hear about Evan, and you want to hear about their stories, go back a couple episodes and look for their for their episodes. We'll do the links in the bio, so you can find them.

00:08:02:10 - 00:08:15:09
Unknown
But today I want to really focus on just this objective. You know, the nose on El Cap. I want to dive into it. and I think the first best way to start that is to to honestly talk about how that idea started and like,

00:08:15:09 - 00:08:21:05
Unknown
what made you believe you could do it and what that prep was like before even touching the wall for the first time.

00:08:21:09 - 00:08:56:09
Unknown
Yeah. I don't know. I think, like a lot of people these days. You know, when I first got into climbing, that was, like, the biggest inspiration that I had is, you know, just towers so tall, you hear about so many great stories. There's so much lore behind it, so much rich history. and so I remember when I first started climbing, I put out a post on Facebook, something along the lines of, you know, my greatest aspiration is to be surrounded by a vertical ocean of the most beautiful rock and just fully emerged into the adventure of climbing the nose of El Capitan, or I think was really anything on El Capitan at

00:08:56:09 - 00:09:20:19
Unknown
the time. and I don't think I ever really thought that it was going to happen, but I knew I wanted it really bad. and so I think all of my climbing since I started has always kind of been with the intention of hoping to do that one day. And, you know, I think I've been climbing for about maybe five years now, and year after year it started actually feeling more realistic.

00:09:20:20 - 00:09:31:02
Unknown
And it helps when you have like a really great climbing partner that you can trust. Who's also on the same level and as equally inspired. yeah, it just kind of manifested itself.

00:09:31:02 - 00:09:40:23
Unknown
and it was actually Bryce invited me to climb the NOAA's. He's been trying to go for it for a couple of years now and hasn't quite had the opportunity.

00:09:41:01 - 00:09:58:18
Unknown
And I always told myself, you know, I'm getting on it no matter what, but the person that I would prefer to climb with would be Bryce. And, yeah, the opportunity came up and I jumped on it. And, there's a lot of anxiety leading up to that from the moment that we made the plans to actually climbing it.

00:09:58:20 - 00:10:04:07
Unknown
and a lot of fears. But, yes, like, I was so inspired, nothing was going to stop it.

00:10:05:08 - 00:10:24:06
Unknown
Bryce. Bryce. As the. As. Like the visionary for this. This. And, like, what was the moment where you were just like. This is possible, and I'm going to do this because I think that, like, there's a huge step there, you know, it's like, you can joke about it, you can talk about it, but then there's actually making that decision of, like, I'm taking this seriously because I believe I can do it.

00:10:25:00 - 00:10:44:22
Unknown
Yeah. Well, I don't remember when I, I don't remember, like, when I first got inspired by the nose. I probably truly got inspired when I went to Yosemite again for the first time as a climber. And I didn't even climb that trip. I was with my wife and another couple friends of ours. nobody else was climbing, so.

00:10:45:00 - 00:11:15:12
Unknown
But I just, you know, you just drive in tunnel view. You see the the nose, and you're just like, oh my gosh. Like that is as a climber, you're like, that is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Like that rock is just perfect and huge and like daunting and and just, inspiring. so I think that was when I first got inspired by it, obviously watching all the classic films like Free Solo and Dawn wall and, Valley Uprising, like all those just get you stoked on such a classic route too.

00:11:15:12 - 00:11:37:07
Unknown
But, the moment I knew I was capable was, so with my previous partner that I was trying to do it with, this is like June 2nd years ago, he and I were free climbing partners, and he was getting stoked on big balling right when I was kind of like, oh, you know what? Like, I think I might want to learn that.

00:11:37:07 - 00:12:01:19
Unknown
But I had always kind of just put it off because it seemed too much like logistical, like nightmare, like dealing with all this stuff. I just, just kind of never appealed to me until I had a partner who got stoked on it, and I was like, okay, like, cool. Yeah, I'll get into it. So he gave me like a big wall book hooking up, I think, and, I just dove in, like for, you know, for when it full, super deep.

00:12:01:20 - 00:12:21:14
Unknown
And then he and I went out there. This was June, so it was like 95 degrees. It was baking hot, but we went and did, West face, Leaning Tower, and we just crushed it like it was. It was a breeze. And as soon as we got off that, I was like, okay, dude. Like. And the whole purpose of doing that was to get ready for the nose.

00:12:21:14 - 00:12:41:20
Unknown
But as soon as we got back from that, like we walked to the base of the nose, like later that same trip, and I was just like, I don't care that 95 and I got to go back to work and all this like, let's go right now. Like I just I knew from that moment I was ready. And, and then a lot of stuff happened where my partner, you know, got injured, right, for our trip.

00:12:41:20 - 00:12:58:00
Unknown
And then he ended up kind of losing interest in Big Wall. And so that's why it took me a couple of years. And, but yeah, I, I knew from then I was going to do it and, I got two young kids, like I've probably mentioned in the last episode. So it wasn't the ideal time to get re stoked to do it.

00:12:58:00 - 00:13:27:18
Unknown
But, yeah, I had a finger injury and that kind of put me, put me out of free climbing for a little bit. And I was like, well, I could still big wall. So, that's when the dream got revived, probably like early this year, I think. And that's when I talked you into doing it. So we made our plans, and Evan and I had already had plans to climb, in El Cap in May, and, other than I had just been crushing it together and having a really good, season in Joshua Tree.

00:13:27:18 - 00:13:51:19
Unknown
So I was just like, you know what, dude? Like, let's let's just do the notes. Like, why not? Like, we're we're crushing it. And, I think that's when we were like, oh, cool. Like, let's do this. And, just. Yeah.

00:13:51:21 - 00:14:15:13
Unknown
Yeah. It was like like we were supposed to leave on, like a Sunday night or something Friday night or something. And it was literally like the the night before. And, you know, I, my, my immediate family and like, my parents were planning to go and like, my in-laws were planning to go is this huge ordeal. We had, like, reservations.

00:14:15:15 - 00:14:32:21
Unknown
you know, Curry Village and all this stuff. And like, 24 hours before we were supposed to leave, he, like, calls me. I was like, hey, dude, I, I hurt my wrist or. Yeah, so I can't go. I was like, wow. And I just like, I was, I was with my, my wife and my in-laws at the time.

00:14:32:21 - 00:14:44:10
Unknown
And I just like when I start crying, like I just broke down. I was like, so stoked on this trip. And like 24 hours before it got like, like my dreams got taken away from me. So that was that was rough for sure.

00:14:44:10 - 00:14:54:15
Unknown
It was. It was a big I mean, it's a lifetime goal of mine. Once I like once I was standing at the base after that June trip like I was talking about, and I knew I could do it.

00:14:54:17 - 00:15:02:21
Unknown
Then it was like, you know, then the lifetime dream became a goal and reality. So it was definitely crushing when that happened. But.

00:15:02:21 - 00:15:07:03
Unknown
Do you feel like there was some sort of lesson there? Or do you feel like the universe protected you

00:15:07:22 - 00:15:29:04
Unknown
Yeah, I would definitely go with the universe protecting that. Maybe it just wasn't the right time. Like I had full faith and confidence in that partner years, a great partner. so it wasn't like it was, bad situation, but maybe there was something going on that it shouldn't have happened then because, yeah.

00:15:29:06 - 00:15:32:21
Unknown
Yeah. So. And, yeah.

00:15:32:21 - 00:15:35:00
Unknown
Yeah.

00:15:39:01 - 00:15:42:12
Unknown
Yeah.

00:15:43:00 - 00:16:06:15
Unknown
So if you're, like, starting back a little bit, like you have this, you know, monumental goal. You have this build up going into this thing. you know, like, what square one for? Actually getting ready to do this. Like, where you where you focus more on, like, how am I going to train for this or was it logistics and planning oriented or permits like, like maybe like start off there for someone who's like, you know, like like Evan, right?

00:16:06:15 - 00:16:16:14
Unknown
Like looking at photos and videos of this just magnificent, inspiring piece of rock. Like, how did you start your journey for that? When it was like, really a thing?

00:16:16:14 - 00:16:44:02
Unknown
I think, like, looking at the topo, checking out each page, focusing on, like, the money pitches that are most inspiring for me. It's like I can get inspired, but I have a lot of anxiety and a lot of fear with climbing. and so for me to, like, commit to something that I'm inspired by and so terrified of, I really have to figure out what I'm most excited about and really just hyper focus on it.

00:16:44:04 - 00:17:07:10
Unknown
so that the anxiety, you know, basically it overshadows like the anxiety, even though the anxiety is like always there. Anyways, I think a big part of it too is like, I wanted to know that I was capable of being a big wall climber and, you know, I think I mentioned in my last podcast, I was originally most inspired, climbing wise to do ground up big wall phase.

00:17:07:12 - 00:17:25:07
Unknown
I still don't know if that's ever going to happen if I have it within me, but I know that that would be a good stepping stone would be, you know, climbing the nose of El Capitan. yeah. And then I think the fact that, you know, it was Bryce specifically who asked me if I wanted to climb the nose also was a big part of it, too.

00:17:25:07 - 00:17:42:17
Unknown
It's like, that's always really inspiring. and so we started talking about, like, endurance, you know, you want to climb the nose, you need endurance. You can take a week, but do you really want to take a week? Do you want to haul that much water and that much gear and just have to haul that much in general, you know?

00:17:42:19 - 00:18:04:07
Unknown
so endurance was a big one for me. and then I feel like freeing as much as you can is pretty important. So focusing on a good Joshua Tree season, ten, five nines, ten, five, ten days. I never thought I was capable of that. And once, you know, Bryce and I actually pulled that off. I mean, I think Bryce was far more capable than I was.

00:18:04:09 - 00:18:16:23
Unknown
I don't think there was any doubt in his mind he was going to be able to. But I think neither of us were really sure if I was going to be able to. and once I realized that I could, it was like I started feeling more confident about it. Like, this is a reality. This is something that will actually happen.

00:18:17:01 - 00:18:28:00
Unknown
Even though I didn't end up freeing nearly as much as I thought I would on the nose. which apparently is pretty typical for a lot of people. and then, dialing the systems,

00:18:28:00 - 00:18:45:18
Unknown
you know, there's there are a lot of logistics to it, road management feeling the endurance of like, jumping and like being able to do more efficiently hauling, and then being willing to, like, get kind of crappy sleep, you know, sleeping on, ledges and stuff.

00:18:46:10 - 00:19:01:08
Unknown
I don't know, I remember Bryce and I, years ago, one day, you know, we had plans to go to El Cajon Mountain, and he's, like, calls me up at, like, 9:00 at night. He's like, hey, why don't we just go to night? You know, I was like, really late at night. He's like, we could just go sleep on Commander Ledge.

00:19:01:08 - 00:19:21:13
Unknown
I hear that it could hold four people. That was my first time ever sleeping on a ledge. It does not hold four people. Maybe standing up. It's a sloping ledge where sleep I ever got, but also the most beautiful bivvy, you know, at that time. And it was really inspiring. So yeah, I'd say that there was like a lot of preparation before I ever even made plans.

00:19:21:13 - 00:19:27:09
Unknown
But also once we made the plans, I would say the biggest thing for me was like endurance.

00:19:28:14 - 00:19:30:22
Unknown
Specifically. Like physical and climbing. Endurance.

00:19:31:13 - 00:19:45:19
Unknown
Yeah, just being in good physical shape, hiking. I would go back a little further. I to answer the question myself as like, I just hit the book like get a if you're like as far as like how I

00:19:45:19 - 00:20:04:20
Unknown
from when I like went, hey maybe I could big wall to like actually getting on the nose. The first step for me was definitely like knowledge like and just accumulating as much knowledge as I could like read front to back reading one of these like 300 page big wall tomes like Takes Forever.

00:20:04:20 - 00:20:41:20
Unknown
But when you're stoked, it like was cool reading and so that was huge. And then watching lots of videos for systems and, and then just training like practicing your systems like we have, quarry wall down here at Elkhorn Mountain. And, I mean, that was invaluable for before I did West Face of Leaning Tower also. But it's just like a bolt ladder, and you just learn how to lead a bolt ladder in your Adas and then learn how to do more, and then do that three times, and then do that five times, and then do that, you know, ten times and you're like, oh my gosh, this, this sucks.

00:20:41:20 - 00:20:45:03
Unknown
But this is what a big wall is probably going to be like. So

00:20:45:03 - 00:21:09:15
Unknown
and then there's other like routes that are big wall, you know, oriented like a follower problem. And so you can learn how to do your lower outs and lower out the bag. And, you know, it's really just about technique and systems. you know, once once you're on the wall, it doesn't matter whether you're on pitch one, 10 or 30, like it's all the same.

00:21:09:15 - 00:21:47:05
Unknown
It's just this it's it's like doing a multi pitch climb. Like, doesn't matter if you're one pitch off the ground or ten pitches off the ground, you're doing the exact same system, the exact same thing. It's just repeat, repeat, repeat and eventually you're done. so definitely a lot of studying, a lot of training, trying to be in good shape and then, yeah, picking a good partner, taking in as much like beta info as you can from whether it's people's comments or trip reports or, you know, there's lots of different techniques and ways to do it.

00:21:47:05 - 00:22:09:14
Unknown
So you kind of got to like pick and choose who you think is giving the best advice. And, yeah, at the end of the day, you just got to keep moving up like you, one pitch after the other. You got to try to move as fast as you can and, don't go down. So what they say bale up?

00:22:09:20 - 00:22:13:11
Unknown
Yeah. Don't be discouraged by the first day. Bale up.

00:22:13:20 - 00:22:20:19
Unknown
How many? How many days do you think you guys spent out collectively practicing systems together before you went after this?

00:22:22:19 - 00:22:29:05
Unknown
If you've been enjoying the climbing majority, please rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts.

00:22:30:02 - 00:22:51:20
Unknown
A dozen maybe or or more. for me, I think it was a couple dozen because I needed to get into shape a bit more than Bryce Price is in better shape than me. so, like like, for instance, quarry wall. I went with Bryce a few times, but I ended up hanging a rope up there, and I would just go there after work because it's like 15 minutes for my work and for a while I was trying to do like, you know, ten laps up.

00:22:51:21 - 00:23:10:13
Unknown
I think it's like maybe 110ft, maybe ten at the most. So I try to do like ten laps. And then eventually I was like doing 15. Ultimately, I wanted to do like 20. I was like, oh, if I could jog the same amount of pitches of El Cap and I can probably, you know, lead some of it, or at the very least, like be in good enough shape for it.

00:23:10:13 - 00:23:15:20
Unknown
So yeah, if he did a dozen, I'd say for me maybe a couple of dozen.

00:23:15:20 - 00:23:38:18
Unknown
Yeah. As far as like your systems go, you, you know, once you kind of have it down, nothing really changes. But you can get faster out of each time. So it's like, yeah, it's amazing how like little tiny incremental like revelations, like each time you go, you like, you think you know exactly how to do the same thing over and over.

00:23:38:18 - 00:23:49:03
Unknown
And but each time you go, you're like, oh, I just learned this tiny little tip or trick. And that saves me like two minutes here and ten minutes there. And that just, you know, I think that adds up.

00:23:49:03 - 00:24:01:16
Unknown
but yeah, I'd say between like eight actual like see one aid practicing at like Mount Woodson and then bolt ladder and a follower problem at Quarry wall.

00:24:01:18 - 00:24:27:09
Unknown
That's it. Yeah. At least a dozen between the two. Like where we were together doing it. Two. So I kind of considered my whole season a Joshua Tree to be training for. the nose, to be honest, just because I always felt like, it would if I was a 510 climber, like pretty solid at 510, then I would have a better chance of being able to free more stuff, or at least just being in better shape and being more efficient.

00:24:27:10 - 00:24:54:11
Unknown
and so yeah, that that like, had a big impact on me having a good season for sure. Yeah. French, French or French Spring or whatever technique you want to do, but just not like, actually aiding every single move is going to be the best thing and the biggest time saver. Like, I've watched some videos of people like, like, and they're like, aiding every single move.

00:24:54:11 - 00:25:19:20
Unknown
And you're like, this looks so brutal. And like, I can't at no wonder it took so long. Or like, why there's traffic jams and stuff, which I hope we can get into, like the actual like it's, you know, what we actually encountered while we were climbing because we got really lucky. I think we were, though, the way we planned it was just it it went really well as far as like not getting stuck behind people.

00:25:20:02 - 00:25:27:04
Unknown
But yeah, if you can, if you can just free as much as you can, you're going to move like five times faster and save yourself a lot of headache.

00:25:27:04 - 00:25:31:23
Unknown
I mean that makes sense. I think it's always going to be faster than standing on gear every

00:25:33:00 - 00:25:33:21
Unknown
Yeah.

00:25:37:16 - 00:25:51:12
Unknown
Yeah. And it's just so much more fun to like, free as much as you can and you get, like, a little out of breath. You get to hard move and you're like, okay, cool. I can just stand in my air like, I don't have to free this. But then, like, transitioning back to freeze, you know, can be kind of hard.

00:25:51:12 - 00:25:55:00
Unknown
But if you can get back into it, then just keep moving.

00:25:59:18 - 00:26:22:04
Unknown
So we were planning for three and a half days and that's that's pretty much what we did. we got so we were planning to leave Sunday morning really early at like 4:00 am so we could get to the valley by like noon, let's say, and then we were going to do our first half day, that Sunday, like the same day we got into the valley.

00:26:22:05 - 00:26:40:14
Unknown
But I spaced it for some reason about needing the entry timed entry, and so we couldn't actually go into the park until 4 p.m. because the, like, peak hours are 5 a.m. to 4 p.m., so you have to go in before or after that. If you don't have a timed entry. So I was like, well, I guess we can sleep in till like eight.

00:26:40:14 - 00:26:57:03
Unknown
And then we tried to time it. So we got there like right at four, which happened to be like perfect. We for like two minutes before the 4:00 cutoff and they like let us in which there's like a half hour line to get in at that point. So it was like really good timing. We were lucky there.

00:26:57:05 - 00:27:22:20
Unknown
But then we like cruise in the Valley. We went straight to El Capitan over. We got our permit and then we just like kind of scoped it out. And we were trying to see, you know, there was some fixed lines from signal. So we were like, okay, well if let's just go to the base, we'll take all of our climbing gear, we'll haul our water, and then we'll just lead up to Sigel with an extra row so that we can fix back down to the ground.

00:27:22:22 - 00:27:41:19
Unknown
And if no one's sleeping up on cycle, which most people don't because it's not that great of a ledge, then we'll just go back to the car, we'll grab all of our stuff and we'll haul and sleep at cycle, which is what we ended up doing. So it took us about three hours just to, to lead up to cycle and then to route back down.

00:27:41:21 - 00:27:59:20
Unknown
We went and grabbed our the rest of our gear. We brought it to the base, we called it up. And then we ended up like setting up camp at like midnight. on Sunday night, I think we went to sleep at like 130 in the morning. Yeah, it was kind of a late night. Yeah, but.

00:27:59:22 - 00:28:06:16
Unknown
Yeah, yeah. So we were all there by Bryce, led all the pictures up to say, well, he was very,

00:28:06:16 - 00:28:27:20
Unknown
there was one movie on the. I wouldn't call it 11 b slab pictures. I would call it 111 b slab move. otherwise, like pretty free climbable. I did I freed up to that move, and then I ended past that.

00:28:27:22 - 00:28:44:15
Unknown
There's also like one move where you kind of you need a, a hook, and I, we did. We I think we had it, and I didn't even, I just didn't have it on me. so I had to free that. I don't know what the move is. It's probably like 510, but I was like, oh, yeah, how would somebody aid this?

00:28:44:15 - 00:29:15:01
Unknown
And there's just like a little drilled hole that you can put your hook in. well, anyways, yeah, we, I feel like that was a pretty uneventful first night of at least, like getting two signal and then hauling up there, and then we, we had G7 pods, so we slept at six on those, and it's great. But then since you're so close to the ground, you like immediate like 430 rolls around in the morning and there's already like nine people going past you while you're asleep.

00:29:15:01 - 00:29:33:17
Unknown
And so we went to bed at 130, woke up at 430 to like our first night party. And after that I was just like, well, I'm awake. And, so I think Evan slept like another 30 minutes or hour or something. And then by then there was already people, like, forming a line at the base. And so I was like, dude, like, let's go.

00:29:33:17 - 00:29:58:21
Unknown
There's already like 3 or 4 parties at the base by like sunrise. And so we're like, let's, let's just pack up, let's get out of here and start moving, because that's where you really can get slowed down is like going through stove legs and all that. So yeah. The stove legs so.

00:29:58:23 - 00:30:03:05
Unknown
Yeah.

00:30:03:07 - 00:30:21:03
Unknown
Yeah.

00:30:21:05 - 00:30:42:19
Unknown
Yeah. So I mean, the permits are super simple. It's awesome. It's just self registration. There's a little kiosk at El Cap turn over. So like at the El Cap bridge. you just walk up, take out a permit, fill it out, put it in the box, and you're good to go carry it with you. There's no quotas. so it it's not like they limit the amount of people.

00:30:42:19 - 00:31:01:19
Unknown
They just want to know that you're up there. So? So, yeah. Evan, Evan filled that out, and, I my wife framed it for him and gave it to him as a as a, like, a souvenir. So that was pretty cool. Yeah, that was really nice of him.

00:31:01:19 - 00:31:17:12
Unknown
like, dive into this whole kind of route, I just have a couple more questions. If we. We can lock this in. So you said you were in G7 pods. So for someone who's listening, doesn't know that I'm. My understanding is like, those are those new lightweight, like, like it's made of fabric for, like your, your portal edge.

00:31:17:12 - 00:31:17:19
Unknown
Right.

00:31:18:06 - 00:31:19:06
Unknown
Yeah.

00:31:22:17 - 00:31:32:17
Unknown
No. They're single, so they're. It's literally just an air mattress with straps, but it's really reinforced, so it doesn't, you know.

00:31:32:17 - 00:31:34:23
Unknown
know, like, how strong are these bad boys?

00:31:34:23 - 00:31:57:21
Unknown
it's just like a super durable air mattress that you can, like, stand on and poke and rub around and, but, yeah, I mean, I, I slept pretty good every night. I'm, I'm a fan. They're super expensive and very bougie. So, I don't think I'd want it on like an overhanging, you know, big wall root or something that's just straight vertical the whole way.

00:31:57:23 - 00:32:15:20
Unknown
it might there might be certain situations that it's more appropriate for, such as if you have like a ledge that's not extremely comfortable, you can make it a lot more comfortable. honestly, it felt kind of bougie. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's like glamping on the wall because I.

00:32:15:22 - 00:32:17:16
Unknown
Know. Yeah.

00:32:17:16 - 00:32:20:00
Unknown
weight. I'm guessing the pack abilities better.

00:32:20:00 - 00:32:38:10
Unknown
the combined way like bit. So each pod I think is don't quote me on this but like a couple pounds. So and if you think about it like the BD, I think it's the black diamonds. Like the heaviest. It's like 20 pounds. So compare a 20 pound portal ledge to to 2 pound ledges.

00:32:38:10 - 00:33:19:18
Unknown
That's like 4 pounds. And then on the ledge you're probably bringing a sleeping pad also, which is like another pound each. so if you're doing a wall like the nose, where it's mostly, low angle and there's plenty of natural ledges, then the G7 pod just adds like a nice you can, like, flatten any ledge. Perfect. Like, I guess so if you're on a super steep overhanging wall where there's no ledges and you have to, like, cook and go to the bathroom and sleep and do everything on your ledge, then it it would make more sense to bring like a full double aluminum framed ledge, but if you're doing like an alpine wall or

00:33:19:20 - 00:33:37:11
Unknown
something like the nose that has natural ledges, then I think the G7 is just like a luxury. good. And from what I understand, you can also, like, put them next to each other. Or you can do, like, bunk beds with a rainfly, like a single rainfly, which is kind of cool. Not that we needed to do that.

00:33:37:13 - 00:33:46:17
Unknown
Yeah, we got good awesome weather. We had rain flies, as well, but which we did bring just in case. But we didn't, you know, never used them.

00:33:46:23 - 00:34:02:22
Unknown
Nice. And, And so, like, how much water did you bring? Like, I'd love to just knock out some of these, like, logistics before we, like, dive into the climbing, and then we just kind of have, like, a well-rounded idea of, like, you know what you guys are like, how you're self-sufficient, if that makes sense.

00:34:03:17 - 00:34:16:07
Unknown
Yeah. We, so I think we just aim for a gallon each per day. So three and a half days a gallon each. That's seven gallons. Is I think, what we.

00:34:16:09 - 00:34:43:18
Unknown
Yeah. For two or for four or something like that because, so. Yeah, four liters a day each. we ended up running out of water, because somebody forgot to pack one of the, like, gallon. That wasn't my fault. Well. I will actually. So we only brought six because that first day we climbed and then went back to the ground.

00:34:43:18 - 00:35:06:07
Unknown
And so we are bringing six, four or maybe six. And I think it was six and a half was what we were trying to bring for like the nighttime plus then three days. but somehow one of the gallons didn't make it to the base. I saw Bryce secretly take it out. I wasn't looking, he doesn't want to admit it.

00:35:06:09 - 00:35:14:07
Unknown
but by run out of water, I mean, like, we we had water all the way to the top, and then we just, like, had to hike down without much water. So

00:35:14:07 - 00:35:21:05
Unknown
I remember saying something along the lines of, we shouldn't bank on it, but I bet there's a good chance there might be some water stashed at the top.

00:35:21:07 - 00:35:46:10
Unknown
Sure enough, there was some sort of liquid stash at the top, but it was pretty sus looking. that was like the last hour we ran out basically, which ended up being a pretty rough hour. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Was it? No, there was a perfectly good gallon that like near Zodiac, the top of Zodiac. And we both took a little of that, but we didn't drink the sus liquid that was at the top.

00:35:46:10 - 00:35:48:06
Unknown
No, I

00:35:48:06 - 00:35:57:15
Unknown
couldn't tell if it was Gatorade or something else, you know. Yeah. Don't drink the yellow Gatorade. Water.

00:35:57:17 - 00:35:59:06
Unknown
No, no, I agree.

00:35:59:06 - 00:36:00:04
Unknown
off the label.

00:36:00:04 - 00:36:01:21
Unknown
I, I, we can get into

00:36:01:21 - 00:36:12:07
Unknown
this later, but I had to, repurpose my Nalgene as a poop tube on one of the pitches.

00:36:12:09 - 00:36:17:01
Unknown
Well, that's another story we could talk about. we learned some lessons.

00:36:17:01 - 00:36:34:09
Unknown
no. But, yeah, going back to logistics, we brought the two g7's. We brought, couple haul bags. We brought seven, six and a half gallons of water, sleeping bags, extra clothes, food. We brought way too much food. I don't know how we both.

00:36:36:20 - 00:36:40:08
Unknown
did you plan out your calories, or was it more like.

00:36:40:08 - 00:37:04:02
Unknown
I did, I plan, I think I was aiming for like, 5000 a day, which, you know, because I backpack and I typically go for like 4 to 5000 a day while I'm backpacking. And I figured I'd be burning at least that much big volume. but I don't know, somehow, like, we, I swear we had, like, three extra days worth of food when we finish, and I ate food and snacks the whole time.

00:37:04:02 - 00:37:28:21
Unknown
So I don't know if, like, I just don't know what happened with the food because I'm very detail oriented and I, I know I had like three extra days of food. It's crazy. Yeah, I had a lot of extra food too. I personally don't calorie count. I really should start doing that for me. that's actually one of my challenges for like big walling is in general when I climb, I don't eat enough snacks.

00:37:28:23 - 00:37:47:00
Unknown
And it was, you know, discussed between Bryce and I that if we're going to do this, I need to be eating a snack at every, every single day and probably drinking water every time I hit my vape on the oh, I knew that.

00:37:47:02 - 00:38:08:22
Unknown
in DCP anti LSD now, no, I, you know, they, they tell you if you have sugar on a daily basis, don't kick sugar on a big wall. If you smoke nicotine, don't decide to kick nicotine on a big wall. So I went with the things that, you know, my vices. you know, I mean, not all of them, you know, like, I smoke a little bit of, you know, weed here and there.

00:38:08:22 - 00:38:15:15
Unknown
I didn't bring any weed. And I was happily, water, coffee and food myself, but,

00:38:15:15 - 00:38:26:05
Unknown
it's important to maybe mention to you that we had a target weight for the pigs. You know, you're kind of. We were given a suggestion that one of the things that kind of screws people up on the first day is too much weight.

00:38:26:07 - 00:38:53:19
Unknown
and obviously, you lose weight as you go up, but, you know, somebody told us around 95 to like 100 pounds, I think was like ideal for success. And so total, total. And I think we ended up going a bit above that. That's that's not counting your climbing gear though. So. The, the haul bag would they. I think the suggestion was like 90 pounds for the haul bag which would be your water, your food, your cart, your camping stuff.

00:38:53:21 - 00:38:57:05
Unknown
and we were probably like, more like 110. I would say

00:38:57:05 - 00:39:11:05
Unknown
that would be a lesson that I learned was bring less weight. Like, and I'm even, you know, like I said, I do I try to be an ultralight backpacker. So, I guess because it's your first wall, you're just like, oh, yeah, we can bring this and bring that.

00:39:11:05 - 00:39:30:21
Unknown
And then you forget the most important things, like a pocket knife. But you bring two days worth of extra food and all this other stuff. So, I'd say less food, a little bit more water, because we found ourselves debating whether or not we should bring an extra, you know, another gallon. And, you know, because we were so close to our target weight.

00:39:30:23 - 00:39:40:09
Unknown
And it's weird debating things like that, you know, I mean, it wasn't really debate. It was more of a discussion, but. Yeah, yeah,

00:39:40:09 - 00:39:46:17
Unknown
yeah. Well, but I think I was worried about zonked out, you know, calorie intake. And still I brought too much snacks.

00:39:46:17 - 00:39:59:08
Unknown
yeah. The first time I learned like that. Kind of like long endurance food consumption was like big alpine objectives in the Tetons, where it's like, you got 6000ft of vertical feet over six miles that you have to cover before you even start the

00:40:00:00 - 00:40:00:17
Unknown
Yeah.

00:40:16:16 - 00:40:18:23
Unknown
Too late. Yeah, yeah.

00:40:20:19 - 00:40:35:14
Unknown
in terms of, like, what actual food? I think this is a question that everybody's interested in. Everyone's like the obvious. The obvious route for dinner is like the tree that dries freed mountain house food that everyone you know, Max has got an iron stomach, so it doesn't affect him. But at least for me, it gives me like crazy

00:40:36:05 - 00:40:37:13
Unknown
But.

00:40:49:03 - 00:41:07:15
Unknown
Yeah. I mean, I think we're pretty similar on that. I mean, maybe obviously, like, flavor preferences and everything, like, that's different, but, we we brought a jet boil. Evan tried to say that we should, and I was like, have fun, though. We are going to have hot coffee in the morning, and we're going to have hot meals at night.

00:41:07:17 - 00:41:26:12
Unknown
that was a non-negotiable for me, and I think that was definitely the right call. It was the right call. so anyways, yeah, we had a jet boil. We brought freeze dried meals for dinners, for breakfast. Neither of us really were, like, super stoked to eat breakfast in the morning because you kind of just get going right away, you know?

00:41:26:12 - 00:41:44:13
Unknown
So we just do. I mean, I think one of the mornings I had a breakfast and then after that I was like, yeah, no, I can't do that again. It's just too much food. Those meals, those breakfast meals are like 800, 900 calories, like first thing in the morning and you're just like.

00:41:44:15 - 00:42:06:05
Unknown
Yeah, that's that's where like a whole day and a half of extra food was. But I would just replace it with like a protein bar in the morning, like like a bar bar and maybe peanut butter packet or something. You know, just get some calories but don't, like, overdo it. And then literally just every single pitch, every belay, just eat something like I had lots of nuts.

00:42:06:05 - 00:42:33:19
Unknown
I had like fruit bars, I had lower bars, bars. You know, I'm, I'm gluten free and dairy free, so I'm like a little limited on what I can do. A lot of the. Oh. Yeah. A lot of the protein bars have like, whey protein, which kind of messes me up. So, but yeah, just lots of bars.

00:42:33:19 - 00:42:57:11
Unknown
Nuts. Did, like, as calorie dense as you can get, so lots of fat. I made sure to bring some gummies. You know, beef jerky was pretty important to me. what did I have? I had, like, some Mike and I and some gummy bear. Some, like, sour gummy worms. I had to, like, fill my pockets.

00:42:57:11 - 00:43:19:21
Unknown
I know myself, and if I don't have snacks in my pockets, I'm probably not snacking. And it was so important that I snack. So I like the beginning of the day, you know, as I would start eating breakfast or my breakfast snack, I would just be filling my pockets. And, I did like a lot of Clif Bar is just because they're so simple, even though they're really so unexciting, and you kind of have to just force them down at certain points.

00:43:19:23 - 00:43:39:01
Unknown
but, yeah, I was hungry. Yeah, yeah. That's the thing is that when you're burning that many calories, as soon as you get a little nibble, you start getting pretty hungry, for sure. I made the mistake of bringing the mountain house. I'm not sure if it was mountain house, but freeze dried, chicken pad Thai. And I made it spicy every night.

00:43:39:03 - 00:43:43:00
Unknown
Don't do that. That's a bad idea. I should have known better.

00:43:43:08 - 00:43:47:05
Unknown
What is it? what is it, a mistake going down, or was it a mistake coming out?

00:43:47:05 - 00:44:03:20
Unknown
I think that latter. Yeah. I'm gonna, I think there's a long. It's like Ring of Fire. That's the best way to describe it. I went as plain as could be. I just got, like, the chicken and rice. Like, I made sure to not go, don't have curry on the big wall, that's for sure.

00:44:06:04 - 00:44:20:00
Unknown
I think it was interesting, Evan, what you said about not just quitting your vices before going up a wall like that, obviously. I mean, I think that most people are going to argue, like, okay, well, handle your vices before you go on the wall, but, I mean, that's not realistic for a lot of people. So I think that it's interesting.

00:44:20:00 - 00:44:28:02
Unknown
I think it's just an interesting thing to to recommend. It's like, don't just quit whatever you're like, don't just if you're a daily drinker, don't I guess I don't know what

00:44:32:03 - 00:44:35:03
Unknown
Don't give up coffee on the big wall. And.

00:44:46:00 - 00:44:52:03
Unknown
Yeah. That's not the time to do that.

00:44:52:11 - 00:44:53:10
Unknown
Like.

00:44:53:10 - 00:44:53:20
Unknown
Is

00:44:53:20 - 00:44:58:12
Unknown
it, Warren Harding's the first one to have climbed cap. Is that right? Is

00:44:59:08 - 00:45:00:11
Unknown
Yeah.

00:45:00:11 - 00:45:02:12
Unknown
Yeah.

00:45:08:03 - 00:45:11:23
Unknown
Yeah.

00:45:19:13 - 00:45:36:09
Unknown
I mean, I got Pete, that rock that that dude has, like, you know, so much alcohol up every single big wall. And I'm not saying that I, you know, recommend people do that. You can always quit what you're doing a bit ahead of time before the objective to just don't get on the objective.

00:45:36:09 - 00:45:37:09
Unknown
Yeah, yeah.

00:45:46:21 - 00:45:56:10
Unknown
That does sound rad. I'm not la la it. Good luck. Yeah, the.

00:45:56:10 - 00:46:01:10
Unknown
Yeah. You're like tripping balls. Just like, run out, like jam and cracks.

00:46:01:12 - 00:46:02:03
Unknown
It's like, wow.

00:46:02:06 - 00:46:06:08
Unknown
I do aspire to be that good of a climber one day, but yeah, not.

00:46:06:08 - 00:46:08:08
Unknown
Speaking of comfort, though, pretty crazy

00:46:08:08 - 00:46:26:22
Unknown
how quickly you just attuned to the wall. Like. Like, you know, people are like, what's it like to sleep up there? How do you go poop up there? Like, is it, you know, isn't it scary like. And it it's funny because after the first day, like you, you just like, don't realize you're up on the wall.

00:46:26:22 - 00:47:00:05
Unknown
Like, you're kind of just immune to it. Like the valley. You keep getting, like, a little bit better view as you go up, but like, and there are a few spots when you're at near the very top where you look down, you're like, whoa, this is awesome. But yeah, for the most part, like you, you get so used to being tied in that your brain knows that you're safe, like, and so you're, you can, like, walk to the edge of the ledge and go to the bathroom or sleep and then like, wake up in the night and look over and see it like the abyss and but yeah, like those those guys that are doing

00:47:00:05 - 00:47:05:16
Unknown
acid and stuff, it's like they just lived up there. So it was like nothing different for them. You know.

00:47:05:16 - 00:47:15:17
Unknown
No. That's really. That's really interesting. Like point. I've never obviously, like, been up on, like a wall like that. Big and consistent where there's no ledges or anything you can't get off on. But,

00:47:15:17 - 00:47:32:08
Unknown
I think there's, like, something about just these type of sports and suffering and whether that's like, you know, ice climbing or big walling or rock climbing or whatever, like you kind of like in the world we live in now, we're inundated with just so many choices and so much stimulation.

00:47:32:08 - 00:47:45:18
Unknown
It's like you're trying to watch a movie on Netflix and you don't know what to choose. You know, it's like you're just like paralyzed by having too many options. Whereas like, you go on these adventures and it's just like life is just broken down very simply. It's like my world

00:47:47:04 - 00:47:48:16
Unknown
It.

00:48:04:23 - 00:48:12:09
Unknown
You know.

00:48:18:16 - 00:48:20:00
Unknown
Yeah. Definitely.

00:48:20:00 - 00:48:32:18
Unknown
So I think that we've, I'd like. Max, if I'm wrong here. I think we've laid out the general logistics of kind of. Okay. All right.

00:48:32:20 - 00:48:34:06
Unknown
There you go.

00:48:34:06 - 00:48:48:01
Unknown
I had it, like, very dialed down. I had a buddy who does like Nihad, Christian, and he really helped me, like you tell me what his like, need rack was. And I compared that with, like, a couple other recommendations, but

00:48:48:01 - 00:48:55:15
Unknown
we brought, double set of totems, black to the green, plus a red.

00:48:55:18 - 00:49:21:10
Unknown
Okay. So we don't use any nuts or actually even use some nuts, I think. But you could easily do no nuts. I would say, the smallest cam we brought, like the zero point, one point to offset C4 and the .2.3. So the smallest to Z for offsets. Super useful. We use those quite a bit. I actually whipped the only fall we had on the whole route.

00:49:21:12 - 00:49:48:00
Unknown
I took a daisy fall onto the smallest offset, the four, and it was a factor two on my daisy and the piece held. So that had to have been at least like 4 to 5 kilonewton like right at its max. And it was actually upside down. So the big lobe was on the bottom. It's kind of crazy that's born, but it held my factor to Daisy fall anyways, so props to that.

00:49:48:00 - 00:50:08:08
Unknown
double rack of totems from Black to green and then like triple red, double yellow, double, double number two, double number three, double number four. that was it. Actually, we brought, we had triples of the finger size two. So triples in point three to point five.

00:50:08:08 - 00:50:12:01
Unknown
Yeah

00:50:12:01 - 00:50:26:12
Unknown
yeah. Two twos to threes two fours. Three ones. Actually three from point three to .75.

00:50:26:14 - 00:50:30:03
Unknown
Yeah. Two totems. And then one D4.

00:50:30:03 - 00:50:50:09
Unknown
And it was it was it was perfect. I would say the you can definitely do it with only two threes and two fours. You just have to be prepared for like a 30 40ft run out. But you're like leapfrogging. So you're on like two pieces the whole time. If you're free climbing it, you could still leapfrog them and just have two pieces.

00:50:50:11 - 00:51:18:10
Unknown
But there's there's some pretty long splitter pitches of like number three and number four. It's pretty fun. and then yeah, definitely triples of like the some of the smaller stuff. There's a lot of splitters up there. It's it's it's inspiring climbing. Like even though you do do a lot of aid, you're you're just like, man, I wish I wasn't as tired because these pitches are like five star pitches on their own.

00:51:18:15 - 00:51:21:02
Unknown
So many five star pitches.

00:51:21:02 - 00:51:46:01
Unknown
So what if you want to, like, legit. Not logistically. Like, for someone who might not be so familiar with the climb itself, you know, we just talked about circle. Edge. Like, will you guys break down the basically the topo of the route in terms of like the sections and like where the rests are. Give us a picture of like what that journey looks like before we actually walk down that road.

00:51:46:20 - 00:52:14:23
Unknown
Yeah. So I would say you you probably break it down best in, like, where you're planning a bivvy or sleep each night would be, like, the most logical way, I think, to break it up. So each day, the first where you stop and everyone's going to be a little bit different, but for the most part there's like identifiable features are sick a ledge which is four pitches up.

00:52:15:01 - 00:52:39:02
Unknown
A lot of people go there just to like practice doing a cycle run and you can rappel off really easy. and then the next feature, like when you leave sick, all you go do the stove legs. And that's just like a lot of really nice and cracks, a lot of good free climbing, but also pretty confused in route finding, as Evan would love to explain later.

00:52:39:04 - 00:52:58:03
Unknown
and then you get to Adult Tower and then a couple more pitches, and then you're at El Cap Tower, and that's like the mega ledge. Like you sleep there for sure, no matter what your plan is, because it's amazing. And when you get to El Cap Tower, you can actually see the whole rest of the wall. So you can see like North America wall.

00:52:58:05 - 00:53:22:00
Unknown
You can see like Zodiac and everything like East Buttress and all that. So prior to that, you're because, you know, the nose splits it like this. And so you start out on the left side of the nose and you're traversing right as you're doing all this that I just described, until you get to El Cap Tower, and that's when you're kind of at like the rightmost portion of what you're going to do.

00:53:22:02 - 00:53:43:11
Unknown
And that's where you can see, like the other side of the wall for the first time. And then right off El Cap Tower, you do a couple notables. You do like the boots like and or Texas Flake and then the boot flake and then the king swing are all like the three features immediately after El Cap Tower. and then after the King swing, you kind of move back left.

00:53:43:13 - 00:54:03:11
Unknown
So you've been moving right the whole time. Now you start moving back left. You do a couple. We did the Len Hill Traverse, which is shortly after that, King Swing, which was notable. That's where I took my Daisy whip. and then you do a couple not so notable pitches. Still moving left, and then you get to the great roof.

00:54:03:11 - 00:54:23:03
Unknown
And that's where for the first time, like, the wall's like steep, I guess. So up until that point, there's some steeper pitches, but it's mostly like lower angle until you hit that like the great roof pitch or maybe even like the pitch right before that, but that's when you like, really. I would say you're kind of like on the headwall at that point.

00:54:23:05 - 00:54:43:15
Unknown
And that's when you're really like starting to get the exposure. So then you do the great roof, another pitch or two you're at changing corners is another like really notable one. And then from changing quarters to the top, it's just like a few more pitches of just steep, good climbing. yeah. So we, we slept at circle El Cap Tower.

00:54:43:15 - 00:55:03:04
Unknown
We were thinking about going to camp five, right? Yeah. Sick, sick. We ended up going to camp five. Yeah. We were told camp five was actually better. And, you know, I'll get into, you know, another reason why we ended up going to camp five as well. that's something that happened on day two. but yeah, we definitely didn't regret that decision anyways.

00:55:03:04 - 00:55:07:13
Unknown
And then topped out last, you know, on the fourth day.

00:55:08:08 - 00:55:19:04
Unknown
Nice. Sick. So. Yeah. I mean, I think that, having laid that that kind of map out, bring us back to it's got to kind of where we left off on that story with you guys on circle and and kind of just let's let's start

00:55:20:19 - 00:55:39:15
Unknown
Cool. Yeah. So, like I said, day one, we we got to cycle. Everything was going cruiser. I was like, man, big is so easy. This is fun. This is great. We get, like, no sleep that night, get woken up super early, a bunch of people at the base. So we're like, all right, let's just go pack up.

00:55:39:16 - 00:55:42:15
Unknown
and we just start going. And Evan was going to lead because

00:55:42:15 - 00:55:49:17
Unknown
That's it for today's episode, everybody, I want to extend a huge thanks to Bryce and Evan for coming back on the show to share their story.

00:55:49:19 - 00:56:06:18
Unknown
And thank you, listeners for tuning in. If you'd like to learn more about Bryce and Evan and their story, check out the links in our show notes. One final thing. We need your help. Please share this podcast with your friends. Word of mouth is the best way to support the show. Plus, don't forget you can watch our full episodes on YouTube.

00:56:06:20 - 00:56:27:01
Unknown
Stay tuned for our next episode, where we dive into the details of their ascent of the nose, involving a factor two for a surprise medical issue and running out of water right before the descent. Until then, keep exploring, stay safe. And as always, thanks for being a part of the climbing majority. See you in two weeks.