72 | Climbing North America's Most Iconic Route Part II w/ Bryce & Evan

Today, we continue our conversation with Bryce and Evan about their recent successful completion of The Nose on El Cap. If you missed episode 71, I recommend checking it out before continuing here.

After listening to their account of what transpired on the wall during those 72 hours, I came to a realization. When we look up at a piece of rock like El Cap, we imagine what it would be like to physically climb it. What moves we would make, what gear we would place, and how we would manage the risks. But after we complete the objective, these aren't the things that stand out in our minds. What we do remember and talk about around the campfire or on the microphone in this case, are the conversations with our partners, the mistakes we make, and how we recovered from them. It's the unforeseeable events that occur during the climb that we remember. Today, we'll focus on these meaningful moments that Bryce and Evan will probably talk about for the rest of their lives.

We'll conclude with a reflection on what completing this monumental climb means to each of them, how it has shaped their perspective as climbers, and its impact on how they choose future objectives. Finally, we end with the simple message. Climbing objectives like The Nose is obtainable for the majority of climbers. We hope that this conversation encourages you to believe in yourself and to chase your climbing dreams with passion and dedication.

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Resources

Bryce's Instagram

Evan's Instagram

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 2:02 Challenges & Turning Points
• 31:54 The Great Roof, Summit, & Decent
• 53:03 Reflections

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.

00:00:24:21 - 00:00:33:07
Unknown
Welcome back, everybody, and thanks for being a part of the climbing Majority. Today we continue our conversation with Bryce and Evan about their recent successful completion of The Nose on El

00:00:33:07 - 00:00:42:13
Unknown
Cap. If you missed episode 71, I recommend checking it out before continuing here. As we dive into their account of what transpired on the wall during those 72 hours.

00:00:42:15 - 00:01:00:09
Unknown
I came to a realization when we look up at a piece of rock like El Cap, we imagine what it would be like to physically climb it. What moves we would make, what gear we would place, and how we would manage the risks. But after we complete the objective, these aren't the things that stand out in our minds.

00:01:00:11 - 00:01:21:19
Unknown
What we do remember and talk around the campfire or on the microphone in this case, are the conversations with our partners, the mistakes we make, and how we recovered for them. It's the unforeseeable events that occur during the climb that we remember. Today, we'll focus on these meaningful moments that Bryce and Evan will probably talk about for the rest of their lives.

00:01:21:21 - 00:01:49:10
Unknown
We'll conclude with a reflection on what completing this monumental climb means to each of them, how it has shaped their perspective as climbers, and its impact on how they choose future objectives. Finally, we end with the simple message climbing objectives like the nose is obtainable for the majority of climbers. We hope that this conversation encourages you to believe in yourself and to chase your climbing dreams with passion and dedication.

00:02:01:22 - 00:02:12:22
Unknown
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 diving into the details.

00:02:13:08 - 00:02:32:04
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.

00:02:32:05 - 00:02:41:06
Unknown
and we just start going. And Evan was going to lead because I led to that first day. Everyone was going to lead everything from cycle, and we were kind of just

00:02:41:06 - 00:02:51:03
Unknown
at first we thought we were going to break it up in like sections of like five pitches so that we need to get the same amount of pitches, which we ended up switching to more of, like a time based system.

00:02:51:03 - 00:03:09:06
Unknown
So each person led for a certain amount of time. because you can yeah. Evan can share his his day once he gets into that. But, some pitches can take forever. Like, great roof is like, I don't know how long it took, but probably, like two hours. You know, it's just like the longest pitch ever. It's all a diff.

00:03:09:07 - 00:03:23:13
Unknown
Unless you're crusher. so to to do it like on a time basis, it makes it way more sense, because then if somebody gets a super easy 30 minute pitch, it's, you know, you're at least leading the same amount of time that way.

00:03:23:13 - 00:03:34:01
Unknown
but it was. Yeah. I mean, Evan can go from leaving sick. All that was all him, I'll tell you, when the nose started getting real fun, days too.

00:03:34:04 - 00:03:50:11
Unknown
So first off, I'm going to rewind a little bit. We're on our way. Or I think it was before we took off to head to Yosemite. I called up my buddy, Casey Stone, the dude who taught me how to climb. I usually just call him randomly, and I tell him, hey, I need some stoke when I'm, like, nervous about something.

00:03:50:13 - 00:04:03:01
Unknown
And I was like, I'm nervous about the nose. And he's like, what are you nervous about? Dude, you got this. I was like, well, I'm scared I might get off route. And he kind of like it was. It wasn't like a rude laugh, but he like, kind of laughed a little bit and he's like, oh, you're good buddy.

00:04:03:01 - 00:04:21:09
Unknown
It's the nose. You know, the you're not going to get off route. And if you do, you're just going to be in a crack parallel to the crack you're supposed to be in. No big deal. I had actually been having nightmares, leading up to the nose about dying on El Cap, which, you know, probably was a result of the anxiety that I was feeling.

00:04:21:11 - 00:04:38:20
Unknown
And they just got like, you know, worse and worse the closer I got to the nose. I was also feeling more and more inspiration at the same time. But yeah, I was definitely pretty anxious. So, you know, he's like, you just to get off route, you just swing back over into, you know, a parallel crack in your back on route.

00:04:38:22 - 00:05:02:23
Unknown
So day two, we take off from Circle Edge. It's my turn to lead. First thing that happens is I, pendulum too far over into, kind of a wider crack than what I should have been in. And we were trying to be really specific with, like, gear. You know, we had we we heard that, you know, typically if you're trying to like French free, one of the things that trips people up is they have the full rack on them.

00:05:02:23 - 00:05:35:15
Unknown
It kind of weighs you down, and it doesn't really inspire you to want to French free or free anything. so we were trying to be really, really beat specific with gear, and I did not have a number four on me. And I found myself basically in a position where the only gear that I really had underneath me was about maybe 15ft below me, and it was two micro cams placed on the left in the right side of a chalk stone that was wedged in between this wide crack that was probably about, and somewhere between number three and number four.

00:05:35:17 - 00:05:53:22
Unknown
And I get up above that and I'm like, shit, I need a number four, and there's a free move that I have to pull on. Since I don't have a number four, I can't eat it. And it seemed like it was going to be like 510 plus or something in my mind at least. anyways, I got stuck in like this, this like stance, and I was just like, the fear hit me.

00:05:53:22 - 00:06:17:22
Unknown
I was like, scared. I was feeling the exposure and I was like, this is not good. This is not a good start to my my block of leading. and I must have stay stood in this position for, would you say like, maybe almost like 45 minutes or so people were catching up to us. and it got to the point where, you know, a couple of guys were starting to pass us because they, you know, knew the correct crack to be in, which was to the left of me.

00:06:17:22 - 00:06:40:17
Unknown
These were like, need parties, not like other multi-day parties. Yeah. In which you tend to get, you know, it's very possible to get passed day one and day two people doing, tower runs, or sorry, don't tall runs. anyways, so, you know, there's like 45 minutes in. This guy was kind of catching up to me and he's like, don't worry, I'll bring you a number for,

00:06:40:19 - 00:06:58:09
Unknown
Anyways, I couldn't wait that long. I felt like I was going to fall, and I felt like it was going to be a tremendous whip. And I did not think that chalk Stone would hold. So I busted the free move and pulled it off. Should have just done it 45 minutes earlier. and it was a little spooked, you know, but got up to the anchor fixed.

00:06:58:09 - 00:07:22:18
Unknown
Bryce started hauling. He got up to me and he looks at me. He goes, all right, well, you ready for your next lead? And I was like, let's do this. halfway between finishing my second lead, I don't know what did it. I don't know if it was the altitude. I don't know if I had was sick and didn't know it beforehand or I wasn't drinking enough water.

00:07:22:20 - 00:07:23:15
Unknown
But I

00:07:23:15 - 00:07:45:14
Unknown
swallowed and I felt something stuck in my throat, and it kind of freaked me out. And I started feeling like I was going to start choking gave me a lot of anxiety. And so I'm thinking like, what the hell's going on? And I actually take my fingers and I reach into my throat because I kept trying to swallow whatever it was that was stuck in my throat, and it wouldn't go down, you know, my throat.

00:07:45:15 - 00:08:07:10
Unknown
It just stayed on the outside of the wall was like closing, you know? and so I stuck my finger down my throat and I felt like what felt like a big old flesh ball. and, you know, at this point had been like 20 minutes or so and I'm, like, freaking out and I can't say anything because I literally can't even speak because every time I swallow, I try not to throw up and I'm like, gagging.

00:08:07:10 - 00:08:26:17
Unknown
And Bryce yells, hey, you okay buddy? And so meanwhile I climb with him all the time and I hear this noise from I'm at the belay and I'm hearing this noise I've never heard him make. And I was like, he's just like, I was like, oh my gosh. Like, he's throwing up. Like he's totally throwing up up there.

00:08:26:19 - 00:08:43:17
Unknown
And so we had our walkies and I was like, hey, dude, are you all right? And he's like, and the only thing that I could think of was my fucking throat is prolapse right now. That's what it felt like. It was like it was turning inside out. And it scared the living hell out of me. And suddenly it like, clicked.

00:08:43:17 - 00:08:53:08
Unknown
I was like, oh my God, the premonitions and my nightmares were right. I'm going to die and I'll cap right now, my throat is not supposed to be doing this. This is not normal. This is like really serious.

00:08:53:08 - 00:09:03:18
Unknown
And I'm, like gasping for air because every single time I swallow, I'm gagging. And, so I'm getting, like, lightheaded and,

00:09:03:20 - 00:09:23:03
Unknown
Yeah, he's on a lead. Yeah. On my second lead of the day. And at this point, his block, he's like the first pitch I think was really quick. And then he's maybe on pitch two and a half and it's been like three hours plus like on this pitch alone was probably like an hour and a half at this point.

00:09:23:05 - 00:09:43:19
Unknown
Yeah. So at, you know, after a while, you know, Bryce is just standing there hoping that everything's going to work out and then maybe, you know, just puking and get it all out of my system. Am I going to continue? Or maybe he's wondering if maybe we're going to need a rescue or something, but I couldn't really communicate that well on the walkie talkie, because every single time I tried to talk, I just gag again.

00:09:43:21 - 00:10:02:06
Unknown
so started drinking water and I tried to swallow a little bit less. and I, like, mustered up the courage and the energy to continue on the pitch after a while. Finally, I fix Bryce and he gets up to me and I open my mouth and

00:10:02:06 - 00:10:06:02
Unknown
there's this little thing that dangles from your throat. It's called the the velar.

00:10:06:07 - 00:10:15:14
Unknown
Right? Uvula. Uvula. I always say this wrong. and the thing had swollen up to like, like this, maybe even like this big. It was like this huge

00:10:15:14 - 00:10:16:12
Unknown
saw the picture of it.

00:10:16:12 - 00:10:24:08
Unknown
he I, he like asked me and he's like, can you look at my throat and see like what I was like, sure. I it was like the size of a thumb.

00:10:24:08 - 00:10:40:10
Unknown
Like like just so swollen and huge and like laying on his tongue, like that's how big it was. It was just like, flopped down on his tongue. I was like, oh my gosh, dude, I've never seen anything like that. Like, that is insane.

00:10:40:10 - 00:10:47:21
Unknown
I, also backing up a little bit before I finish that page, after I realize, you know, I've come to the conclusion that, oh my God, the premonitions were right.

00:10:47:21 - 00:11:01:21
Unknown
I'm going to die on El Cap. I'm looking around and I'm like, well, at least I'm on the nose. You know? It's not a bad place to die. And then I remember thinking, no, dying sucks. No matter where you're at. It doesn't matter that I'm on the nose right now. I don't want to die anyway. So then I got the energy, got up and had Bryce take a look.

00:11:01:23 - 00:11:23:20
Unknown
And he was he, like, immediately knew what it was. He was like, I'm pretty sure that's, ovulating. Yes. Or no. I had just said Mandy because as Mandy actually had like a super bad sore throat and her uvula got really, swollen also. So I was like, oh, that's great. Like, Mandy had just had that like a month and a half ago, but hers was nowhere near the size of like his.

00:11:23:20 - 00:11:44:13
Unknown
I don't, you know, but I knew that like, something like that's possible because I had just seen that. so anyways, so he tells me I got you. Have you lied? Lightest? Possibly. No word possibly that that it could. You're you're. So your stepdad gave us that term, but. Yeah. okay. We. So even at that point I was like, dude, all right.

00:11:44:13 - 00:12:07:05
Unknown
Like, hey, is it cool if I just take back over on lead? Like, you need to just chill as much as possible? Like, let's get to, you know, let's get to Adult Tower because we're like a couple pitches from adult. I'm like, once we get there, will be on a nice ledge you can easily repel from adult. If we had to bail, but at least at that point we can get, like, set up a little bit, have a mini break.

00:12:07:07 - 00:12:29:14
Unknown
Sit. You, you know, see what's going on. evaluate the situation. And, so that's what we did. I, we swung leads, I took back over, we cruised up to doll, and I think, like, by jerk. Just like jogging and trying to take, like, a more moderated pace and, like, really taking it easier. Like the swelling was going down.

00:12:29:16 - 00:12:53:15
Unknown
Okay. At some point before we got there, though, it was determined that there was a possibility that I had UV colitis. And I was so disoriented. And as you could tell, I'm are still trying having trouble pronouncing it correctly. I'm not really great with medical terms, but I was so disoriented I started calling involve colitis and so in the process of heading up the adult, we got passed by quite a few people and and people would come up and they'd be like, you okay, bud?

00:12:53:16 - 00:13:13:16
Unknown
And I'd be like, yeah, I got vulvar colitis. And and I must have said, that's like six different people. And none of them had the heart to tell me that I don't have a vulva. bless their hearts. when we finally got up to adults, I called my stepdad, who's a doctor, and instead of, you know, saying, hey, I need you to tell me if we should continue or not.

00:13:13:16 - 00:13:31:07
Unknown
I said, can you tell me about this? Does this sound like, you've colitis? Well, I think I said volvulus, and which he didn't even have the heart to tell me. Like you're going to be okay. You don't have a vulva. you know, and I said, I want to know as much as I can about this so I can tell if I'm going to be okay.

00:13:31:07 - 00:13:51:16
Unknown
Has anybody died from this? As far as you know, what tends to treat it? And he said, you know, some ibuprofen, some Claritin would definitely do you some good. and so, yeah, he thought it he, he was just like, that just sounds bizarre. He's like usually like, you have tonsillitis and then it spreads to your, uvula or, flu can or.

00:13:51:18 - 00:14:14:15
Unknown
Yeah. Some other symptom that cause, you know, some other ailment that then causes that to get swollen. But like forever. And it was just that and it was extremely swollen. So just super weird random freak thing. I also lost quite a bit of energy in the process. So I don't, I don't know if, maybe I did have some symptoms of the flu without realizing it, because I definitely felt much lower energy.

00:14:14:15 - 00:14:21:19
Unknown
But that could have also just been that that day too, just took a lot of energy out of me.

00:14:21:21 - 00:14:25:22
Unknown
Yeah.

00:14:27:15 - 00:14:47:12
Unknown
I, I mean, I knew I shouldn't, but when you're more stressed than you've been, then you could picture yourself being you're gonna need nicotine, right? I tried to minimize it, though, and I tried to drink a lot of water. yeah. And the thing was still swollen until, like, until the last day on the nose. It just the swelling went down significantly every single day.

00:14:47:12 - 00:15:03:13
Unknown
I took lots and lots of ibuprofen. Well, I mean, the appropriate amount and, Yeah. And then just made sure I hydrated really well. But I mean, at that point it was like, you know, I kind of realized that if we were going to continue up, there was a good chance that Bryce was going to end up leading a lot of the pitches.

00:15:03:15 - 00:15:20:05
Unknown
I was hoping that wasn't going to be the case and was just going to kind of take it on a pitch to pitch basis and see how I was feeling, but it's like, all right, we can continue up or it's at that point it's not very easy to bail down, especially with pigs. well, yeah. So we were, adult at that point.

00:15:20:10 - 00:15:38:09
Unknown
You know, we kind of made the decision, like, do we bail or do we keep going? His step dad's a doctor, so talking to him gave us, you know, some more reassurance. And with taking a breather and some ibuprofen and stuff, it seemed like the swelling was already going down a bit. And he was, you know, everything was on.

00:15:38:09 - 00:16:02:18
Unknown
Seemed like it was getting better, not worse. So I was pretty adamant that I did not want to go down. not that Evan was saying we should I it was just like, I just did not want to repel what the pigs. I've done that not because I bailed, but like getting off the Leaning tower. You have to do some repels and it just seemed like, you know, just it's just crazy, though.

00:16:02:18 - 00:16:36:01
Unknown
You get up there in some random thing, like a super sore throat, and you're like, what if his throat, like, does swell so much to the point where he can't breathe and drink water or something like that could end your trip right there? Yeah. so we it was just very serious. Like few, you know, it. Plus the wind, like, kicks up like crazy and it was like, oh, my, I, that was the day that, like, I nicked my finger on a, like a mike carabiner and it just, like, was just a gusher for, like, the entire rest of the trip.

00:16:36:05 - 00:16:54:09
Unknown
But it was like my finger was bleeding like crazy. That's when we realized we did bring any climbing tape, like, to the most basic. We did bring climbing tape, and we didn't bring a knife. Yeah, like there was two. I had a knife in the car. I don't know how we did bring climbing tape, but anyways,

00:16:54:09 - 00:16:56:01
Unknown
it was just like everything all of a sudden.

00:16:56:01 - 00:17:16:02
Unknown
What? Really bad like, singer bleeding like crazy. Evan's throat swollen. It's super windy. And it was like. Yeah, like, I totally get why people would just have bailed right there. but I think what really reassured me was I was like, Evan, we've gotten we've climbed a ton of things together. We've gotten through tons of situations like, I don't think this will be any different.

00:17:16:08 - 00:17:30:01
Unknown
Like, we we we've overcome many things in our, you know, history climbing together, and I don't I think we can, you know, as long as, as long as we're seeing progression in the right way and not like a regression and stuff's getting worse, like we can do this.

00:17:30:01 - 00:17:35:15
Unknown
So we yeah, we collectively decided like, hey, we'll we'll go to El Cap Tower.

00:17:35:17 - 00:17:51:01
Unknown
That's where we were planning to spend the night. Anyways. I was just going to leave the rest of the way there. and if we had to, like if we woke, if he woke up in the morning and it was still super swollen or worse, we could always bail from El Cap Tower. So that was the decision we made.

00:17:51:01 - 00:18:06:01
Unknown
And it was it was the right decision for sure. Yeah. Even through all of that, I never wanted to bail at any point. But it was. But also at the same time, it needed to be understood that there was a chance that if we were going to continue up, that I wasn't going to be able to lead all the, you know, the half of the pitches like I had planned, which bombed me out.

00:18:06:01 - 00:18:16:06
Unknown
But I think, you know, bailing or getting a rescue or something would have been on me out much more. And as long as it was still safe, it made sense to continue up.

00:18:16:06 - 00:18:31:17
Unknown
Yeah. I think that's a pivotal moment. I think that it could have gone either way. And. And that speaks a lot to the partnership you guys have. And the goal that you guys had and the commitment level that you guys had to the climb, it's like. Yeah, I mean doing big stuff like this in the alpine or on big walls.

00:18:31:17 - 00:18:38:16
Unknown
Like you have to know your limits, but you also need to be okay with kind of pushing them a little bit as long as you're not, you know,

00:18:39:23 - 00:18:42:04
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.

00:18:47:11 - 00:19:05:11
Unknown
I also couldn't decide that. Like, we should continue going because I really want to get up El Cap. Because if it was going to be dangerous to Bryce, that wouldn't be fair. So it's like when you're making these decisions, you can't just think about yourself. You got to think about your partner, too. You're thinking about your partner's family back at home, and how important is to them that, you know, he comes back, things like that.

00:19:05:11 - 00:19:06:04
Unknown
So

00:19:06:19 - 00:19:29:00
Unknown
Yeah. That was that was our most serious, like, day or moment for sure. That was. That was a long day. It was kind of a blur other than like what? I mean that. Yeah, it was not a blur, but it was just a lot like a serious day. And then. So we slept on El Cap Tower, which is a good place to end up in a situation like that.

00:19:29:00 - 00:19:49:22
Unknown
By the way, of all the civvies that I think that made a big difference, that it was so plush and, and we got in at a decent hour, even though we had that long day like from cycle, the El Cap towers, not terribly far. so we ended up getting there with probably at like 9 p.m., which is like about when it's getting dark in late May.

00:19:50:00 - 00:20:01:20
Unknown
so we got like a full night's sleep that night. It was awesome. Didn't have the need people waking us up at 430 that morning because you're much further up. and then first thing in the morning,

00:20:01:20 - 00:20:11:11
Unknown
leaving El Cap Tower, it's awesome. You have the Texas flag, which is like a 50ft chimney solo. there's like a bolt.

00:20:11:11 - 00:20:26:02
Unknown
There's like a single bolt you can clip if you want, but then the follower has to get inside the chimney, so it's better to not clip it. So you can just flick your rope on the outside and they can jog up the up the outside instead of having to deal with the clip bolt inside the chimney.

00:20:26:02 - 00:20:28:01
Unknown
How far up is it? Like halfway up the

00:20:28:01 - 00:20:37:17
Unknown
Yeah, it's probably like 20ft to the bolt and another 25ft past the bolt or something.

00:20:37:19 - 00:20:41:20
Unknown
It's five nine, and you would be seriously effed up if you fell.

00:20:42:03 - 00:20:53:17
Unknown
I mean, I'm I'm not one to be, like, too afraid of exposure, but it was, like, pretty serious. I mean, I never felt like, oh, my gosh, I'm going to fall. It was very secure, I guess,

00:20:53:17 - 00:21:00:15
Unknown
I wasn't gripped at all, but it was a very serious fall. Like, it's a 100% no fall zone.

00:21:00:15 - 00:21:10:21
Unknown
and then you pop up on top of, Texas Flake, and then your next pitch is the boot flake.

00:21:10:23 - 00:21:31:19
Unknown
and that's where we encountered a couple named parties that were, like, passing us right there. So we we had to wait for one party that passed us, like doing the boot, or they did the boot. And then there was a party, like waiting at the Texas Lake, because it sucks when you get pass even by a need party, because then you're just stuck there.

00:21:31:21 - 00:21:50:22
Unknown
And by the time like they get past you, which is not horribly long. But then there's another need party right below, below you again, it's like, well, if I let you pass me again. Two now I've just been sitting here for an hour and a half, like. And even though you are going to be faster than me, it kind of sucks, because now I just sat here.

00:21:51:00 - 00:22:13:11
Unknown
but it ended up working out. It's not like the worst place to get passed. so we let those two need parties go past and then. And this is all me leading. I do the king swing. I, climb up to Eagle Ledge, and then Evan does a big lower out and he comes over to me, and after his lower out, he has to pull the rope.

00:22:13:13 - 00:22:19:22
Unknown
because the rope he did a lower out from the top of the boot flake over to Eagle Ledge,

00:22:19:22 - 00:22:36:00
Unknown
and he's pulling the rope and it gets to the end and it's just stuck. And we're like, he's like, dude, it's stuck. Like, okay, well. And he's like looking at it, trying to assess the situation and it's like proper stuck.

00:22:36:00 - 00:22:55:11
Unknown
And I'm like, well, I could like climb up higher and we could try to pull it up. And he's like, no, because it's going through the chain and then coming down. So like even if we got higher it's like not going to help. And so for like dang. Well I mean maybe we'll have to chop 40ft of our rope off like without a knife.

00:22:55:12 - 00:23:14:20
Unknown
Didn't have ever know. so yeah. So we're sitting there, we're trying to figure out what to do. I was like, well, the I'm religious. I'm like, it's time to say a prayer, man, that's for sure. So I'm like, I know you are, but we're praying, man. So because I've had a rope stuck in the past and I'm telling you, like we prayed and it came out.

00:23:14:20 - 00:23:31:16
Unknown
So we sit there and I just like he asked me nicely. He's like, Will you pray with me? And I was like, absolutely. I'm like, oh Lord, I just like, dear Lord, please like give us our robe back. Like we just it would make it so much easier. And I had decided that I was like, because we were at an anchor.

00:23:31:18 - 00:23:50:06
Unknown
And so I'd put a micro tracks on me so that I could, like, progress, capture the rope one way, and just really crank it down with a lot of leverage. And I'm just like feet against the wall, like I'm hauling with the micro tracks on my hardest. Just like leg pressing as hard as I can off of the wall and just boom, it pops.

00:23:50:06 - 00:24:10:06
Unknown
And like our rope came out and somehow the rope had, like, gotten a little knot in it, and it was like either stuck in the rings, like in or the mossy or whatever's up. I think it's messes up there, but it was either stuck there or stuck in the crack, like down below. We still don't know. But that was like, oh, okay.

00:24:10:08 - 00:24:20:08
Unknown
Thank you. Like, we just didn't want to have to chop our, our rope and like, deal with all that. So that was another like kind of close, close call and

00:24:20:08 - 00:24:21:12
Unknown
yeah.

00:24:27:06 - 00:24:29:10
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.

00:24:35:07 - 00:24:43:21
Unknown
Yeah. It was it was stress like many stressful situation for sure.

00:24:43:23 - 00:25:07:19
Unknown
I was already traumatized. So the moment that, like, that rope got stuck, I was wide eyed like, oh, no, this isn't, good. Yeah, yeah. So that was that was, scary. But then after that, it's pretty smooth sailing. Or, not really. I guess. Then we do do a couple more. A pitch, another pitch or two, like pretty short, easy things.

00:25:07:21 - 00:25:29:00
Unknown
And then we did the I did the Lynn Hill Traverse, and that's where I took the Daisy whip. And I was like pretty surprised. Like how bad my back was hurting after that. Like, I, I was that was the it sucks too because like, I would have loved to fallen on the rope, but this little micro offset cam held my whip completely.

00:25:29:02 - 00:25:39:08
Unknown
and it had just blown. I would have just fallen into space. And yeah, I would have been like a 15. Like ten, 15ft or something, but it would have been perfectly nice.

00:25:39:08 - 00:25:42:00
Unknown
was that? Kind of, like, step by step process? Like. Like why did you whip

00:25:43:02 - 00:25:44:07
Unknown
So,

00:25:44:07 - 00:26:03:14
Unknown
so after when you're doing the Lynn Hill, traverse it like it's a 12, a free climbing section or ten DA0, which means you can use the bolts. And if you're 18 off the bolts, you still have to do like a ten D. There's still like ten d free moves that you have to do to get between the bolts, I guess.

00:26:03:14 - 00:26:31:02
Unknown
I think that's like the anyways, towards the end of it, there's this really nice jog rail. and I'm like standing at the very top of my daisy or my ladder and I'm on this jog rail, but I still it was like above me, so I still couldn't see. So I was just judging based on, like, my finger, you know, like when you're blindly in a cam and you're just feeling you're like, okay, that's probably like a point three.

00:26:31:04 - 00:26:50:16
Unknown
And so I grabbed the blue totem and I stuck it in like down in this jug flake, this little crack. And I put my, ladder and my other ladder on it, and I'm instead of, like, really bounce testing it. Good. I must have just not bounced. Test it good enough. So I test it, and then I start climbing up and I get high enough to see.

00:26:50:18 - 00:27:14:23
Unknown
I'm like, oh gosh, that piece is terrible. Like it was just super shallow. And as soon as I saw it and started climbing back down, it blew out. And so I was pretty much like max distance above my last piece. And, fell on the fell on the, the my tether. I have, like an eight millimeter dynamic, rope using pencil adjust.

00:27:15:01 - 00:27:44:11
Unknown
But, even, you know, two six feet of or four feet of eight millimeter dynamic's not going to do anything on a factor two. So it was pretty. It was pretty rough, but I shook it off, I guess, and kept going. And then, the real question, by the way, is, is that still an on site? No, I think maybe, it's I guess I didn't go on rope, but I would say, I would say I took, I took the, the a fall.

00:27:44:13 - 00:28:07:22
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I never would have known he fell and he had to tell me because I never felt the rope, you know, tighten. I don't recommend it. but. Yeah. So that was, some interesting things there. And then after you do that, you do some, like lower angle stuff. And that that was interesting too, because the topo says, oh, like, leave the bag at this belay.

00:28:07:22 - 00:28:25:10
Unknown
And then you climb this climb and then the next time and then you haul from there. So you like basically you don't want to haul like sideways on this low angle stuff. So you climb this pitch and then this pitch and then haul straight up there. But the topo says like, leave that the tag line with the follower.

00:28:25:16 - 00:28:42:17
Unknown
So we like did that. And then it ended up getting stuck in like some other shenanigans. So we had to like wrap back down that pitch, like, and then that's where we were going to swap leads because we're two pitches, one pitch before the great roof at that point. And Evan was like, the one thing he wanted to do was the great roof.

00:28:42:17 - 00:29:02:16
Unknown
So, in between, like, all the shenanigans and getting the bag and then in the midst of this, I'm like, oh, dude, I really got to take crap. but like, we weren't at the bags. It was like the one time we left the bag somewhere else. And of course, that's when I have to take a dump. luckily I had, like, a wag bag with me.

00:29:02:18 - 00:29:23:10
Unknown
so I just like, you know, find a nice, like, ledge. It's pretty low angle, and I use the wag bag, but I still don't have the haul bag or the poop tube or anything with me, so I just just like, whatever. And I, like, chugged my Nalgene and I shove my wag bag in my Nalgene and just, like, carried that up to the next pitch until we could haul, but yeah.

00:29:23:11 - 00:29:26:20
Unknown
So I threw that Nalgene away when I got done, but and then, we

00:29:26:20 - 00:29:44:11
Unknown
did also run out of space in our coop, too, I. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And somehow neither of us realized that the poop tube was way too small. I had actually, I had it for, like, the South Face of Washington column because I wanted to do, like, an overnight, you know, two days on the South face and so I was like, oh, I already have a boob tube.

00:29:44:11 - 00:29:48:10
Unknown
And yeah, we both probably should have noticed we ended up bigger. One.

00:29:48:10 - 00:29:50:13
Unknown
How many? What's the volume of the poop tube?

00:29:50:18 - 00:30:09:16
Unknown
I was like a protein. No, like a pretzel, you know, like it's like you buy a Walmart. It's like that big. It's kind of square. It's got like a handle on it. I mean, we're talking like maybe three liters, like, way too small. Ten liters for sure.

00:30:09:18 - 00:30:14:11
Unknown
Yeah.

00:30:14:13 - 00:30:28:01
Unknown
Yeah, I, I mean, most of the time it's pretty windy. So you're just like as a guy, you're just like a sprinkler, like just out in the wind and it's just going off. But.

00:30:28:03 - 00:30:59:19
Unknown
It depends. I did both depending on like where I was. But many, many times the worst is when you're like going off of, like El Cap Tower and you're like aiming south towards like that, you know, Zodiac and all that. But the wind is just like straight back up and it's like there's nothing you can do as I got to tell you, I didn't think that I would have issues trying to figure out how to poop in a land bag, because apparently I've been doing it wrong this whole time.

00:30:59:21 - 00:31:20:07
Unknown
I've been peeing in wag bags while I poop. And apparently you're supposed to pee first, but I don't. It was, like, not easy to figure out how to pee while you have to poop without pooping and so I kind of struggle with that a little bit. I was pretty much scared that I was going to poop myself every time I tried to pee before pooping.

00:31:20:09 - 00:31:37:18
Unknown
And, yeah, that was actually kind of a bit of a struggle. And a friend of mine said, I mean, I thought this was like, pretty basic. I maybe I might have some issues, I don't know, but that was not that easy. Verbatim. Yeah. I saw a buddy of mine send me, like, a link for, like, a little clip.

00:31:37:18 - 00:31:45:13
Unknown
It's like you can just kind of clip it off. Like, you have that exact,

00:31:45:13 - 00:31:53:04
Unknown
I ended up figuring it out. Luckily.

00:31:53:04 - 00:32:02:15
Unknown
great roof like? You know, that's such an infamous pitch. you always see pictures of it. It always, like, looks like such a fucking crazy thing. The free climb. Like, what was that experience like, going through that roof?

00:32:04:21 - 00:32:11:07
Unknown
If you've been enjoying the climbing majority, please rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts.

00:32:13:07 - 00:32:34:21
Unknown
so, you know, at this point, I had started leading a little bit. my energy was kind of coming back, and, you know, I think we knew we were topping out when we were when we, you know, were planning on topping out. And so, once we got to the gray roof, Bryce kind of looked at me and I was more concerned about getting up to the top at a reasonable time, not getting my leads in.

00:32:34:21 - 00:32:56:01
Unknown
So I wasn't even thinking about the possibility of me leading the gray roof, even though that's that was like the pitch that I was most excited about. And Bryce looks at me and he goes, you're up, dude, I need a break. And you should definitely lead the great roof. And I was just like, yeah, you're absolutely right. And, first thing about the gray roof is, I cannot believe that people have freed that thing.

00:32:56:02 - 00:33:25:06
Unknown
I mean, it's still just getting up to the roof itself, but the roof is I mean, it's like straight vertical and it's like, you know, very small crack and, like, pin scars and. Yeah, Lynn Hill doing that, being the first person to free that is absolutely mind boggling. And you know, most people I think know that. But you don't really know until you're actually under that roof looking at it and trying to picture yourself freeing it.

00:33:25:08 - 00:33:53:03
Unknown
very inspiring. Or just like, how long and how long that pitches and how big the great roof itself is. Like getting to the great roof is like 100ft of I feel like it was like 100ft of like at least just finger crack, like the finger crack. And then, yeah, the great roof is just, huge. So, aiding is not difficult, though, honestly, it was it was just a lot of fun.

00:33:53:03 - 00:34:23:15
Unknown
I really just enjoyed myself on the entire pitch. There was never any question as to whether or not I was going to take a whip or anything like that. you know, there was like water seeping out of the roof and that didn't create any issues whatsoever. the gear is pretty thin, but at that point, you know, you've you've been on the wall for a while and you've been doing some aiding, and you're probably feeling pretty confident when you do have to aid, you know, I mean, to the point where, like, if you're aiding a lot of, the nose, you start leapfrogging pieces and back cleaning.

00:34:23:15 - 00:34:47:04
Unknown
And, I mean, there were a few times where I was like, oh, I need to leave a piece. Like, I am like, you know, 40ft above my last piece because I'm feeling so confident. And it's like easy to forget that you should leave some gear. So at times Elisa was for me. Yeah. No, I it it's funny because I had the same experience where you just get so confident in your pieces because you've been waiting them and using them and like you put, you put in the can and you're like, yeah, it's armor.

00:34:47:04 - 00:35:05:21
Unknown
Like, of course it's good. And I would do the same thing. But when Evan would do it, I'm like, man, is he going to like really clean that and not like put another piece in. But then when it was my lead, I found myself doing the same thing because you're just like, yeah, it's just so you trust your gear after using it so much.

00:35:05:21 - 00:35:19:05
Unknown
like, are you working with three pieces or you're working with two? So, like, if you're, you're, you're resting on one and then you stand up on it to place to second and then you wait that one and then you keep doing that. Like, is that the system for move it up with those on

00:35:19:21 - 00:35:52:07
Unknown
I think it just depends on what the terrain is like. I think you use like, many different techniques. Sometimes, like, sometimes you just clip your days, like if you're leapfrogging force in its splitter for, for 50ft or whatever, you just clip both of your daisies into the number fours and yeah, like you kind of free climb, but you're just making sure that one is like weighted the whole time so that, you know, it's good you push the other one up and then you kind of stand up on that and just repeat.

00:35:52:11 - 00:36:13:11
Unknown
But other times, yeah, you're working like three pieces because you might have like the rope clipped in as, just in case everything blew. But then as you get a new high point piece, you clip the rope up to like a new piece that's above you, and then you reach down below you, and you take that piece out that you were using for pro, and now you're using it.

00:36:13:13 - 00:36:35:22
Unknown
You put it back on your harness because you want to use it later. But in the meantime, you you're now you're on top rope, but you also are like standing on a piece, let's say, because you're in your ladder on a piece that is, you know, you that's that's kind of the stuff. Like I was saying, when you, you just like the more you do it, the quicker you are at navigating all of that because it's always like different.

00:36:36:02 - 00:36:39:22
Unknown
I guess the terrain is like dictates what you're doing.

00:36:40:03 - 00:36:47:18
Unknown
how much of the time would you guys say you were, like, a piece or two away from a huge, massive, like, fall?

00:36:48:16 - 00:37:06:21
Unknown
not often. Yeah, not often, but but, you know, probably like 3 or 4 times. And when you notice it, it's like it's pretty noticeable, that's all. And you, you find yourself. I found myself thinking about it a few times after, you know, but it wasn't like, I would say like 10% of the time you're like or 10% or less.

00:37:06:21 - 00:37:21:18
Unknown
You're like, oh my gosh, I would take a huge web. Both of these pieces blue. but when you, you know, you aware of it, when you're in that situation, you just know, like, okay, I'm heads up right now. It's like.

00:37:21:20 - 00:37:39:03
Unknown
But yeah. So Evan crushed the great roof. I'm really glad that he, encouraged me to do that, because I was I was getting. I mean, no matter what, you're not going to be bummed when you're on the nose unless things are going really, really bad. So I was having a great time, but I knew, you know, that this was not the way that I envisioned it.

00:37:39:03 - 00:37:57:01
Unknown
The whole idea was for me. I wanted it to be an on site. You know, me and whoever I'm going up with, it needs to be both of our first times going up, because that's more adventurous. and then, yeah, I just had certain expectations. I wanted to lead half of it. I wanted to, you know, equal leadership roles.

00:37:57:03 - 00:38:15:06
Unknown
That's not how it turned out to be. However, I do think that, I find I feel very lucky that, you know, Bryce was in the shape and was willing to lead so many of the pitches to get us up to the top and was so capable. And I was also very grateful to be able to be, form of support for him.

00:38:15:06 - 00:38:34:08
Unknown
And I feel like I did a fairly good job of supporting him in that. and, you know, in return, he tried to support me whenever, you know, I was able to lead a pitch after that whole ordeal on day two. And I'll always be very grateful for that. That being said, I also need to go back and do it again and get 50% of the leads as well.

00:38:34:11 - 00:38:38:04
Unknown
I just feel like that's important to me for some stupid reason. But

00:38:38:10 - 00:39:06:10
Unknown
Yeah. For sure. Man, I think it's, It's a cool, you know, statement to the partnership, and you know, it always. It can't always be 5050 and it's it's cool to have flexibility on both sides of the parties to. And I think it's, you know, just as admirable to be the person to offer, you know, taking over more of the weight and also being able to recognize when you can't pull, you know, 50% of the weight and not, you know, cause that to be a dramatic situation or, you know, make that more stressful for the party in general.

00:39:06:10 - 00:39:13:23
Unknown
And so there's this give and take. And I'm sure in the future there'll be a moment where, you know, you pull the weight more for Bryson. You know, he did here.

00:39:17:08 - 00:39:54:22
Unknown
Yeah. I look forward to the opportunity one day to be able to, you know, step up in a position of leadership. Hopefully not in, like, some sort of dire situation like that, but, you know, by the end of the the route I it ended up being I think I led seven and he led 21. So I got about a quarter of it in the in the end though, like more importantly, I think then who can lead how many pitches like the vibe was is really important because I mean, we've been climbing for so long and we've we've had our fair share of break ups and fights and, and drama with like just getting

00:39:54:22 - 00:40:20:01
Unknown
frustrated over, you know, stuff when you're doing that much hanging out and but on the nose, it just seemed like, you know, we everything we were just vibed really good, vibes. Not the right word, but, You know, if if I was getting frustrated, we could communicate that if he was getting scared or frustrated that he could communicate that.

00:40:20:01 - 00:40:51:04
Unknown
And I think, you know, we ran into it, right? we ran into this other duo that was like trying to. It was on our last day. And so we're, like, really close to the top. I was leading Changing Corners, which is another extremely long. I mean, long lead. And, this party was like below us and the guys just like, hey, like, you know, he's like, yelling up to me, like, was changing corners, like, you know, and he's like Spanish or Italian or something.

00:40:51:04 - 00:41:10:07
Unknown
And I'm like, yeah. Like he's like, oh, like, fix the rope for us. You know, like, and we're just. Devon has was at the place that he ended up talking to him more, but apparently, like, they were just two random guys that met in the Valley, and like, the one guy was like a Spanish 513 crasher who's just like, oh, yeah, let's go up here.

00:41:10:07 - 00:41:26:19
Unknown
And the other guy, I never met him, so I don't know, but it's like the vibes were so off with, and like, well, there was a huge communication barrier between them. They were having trouble communicating, you know, when it was fixed, when it was good to jug, when, you know, when it was time to release the bag.

00:41:26:20 - 00:41:44:09
Unknown
So basically Bryce was like at the top of a pitch and I was getting ready to jug. And this guy gets up to me and he's telling me, you know, he's talking on his radio, trying to tell his partner that he's good to jug and his partner's like, what? And it's taking him a while to actually figure out what he's trying to say.

00:41:44:11 - 00:42:04:03
Unknown
And so the guy says, hey, listen, can you, like, tag our rope up? Like, just bring it up with you while you chug that and fix it to the anchor? At first, he wanted to fix our our he wanted to jug our whole line. Yeah. And this is like the the belay above. Changing corners is like the most hanging belay on the entire route, except for the last one.

00:42:04:08 - 00:42:22:10
Unknown
It's just like a dead vertical wall. There's nothing to stand on. There's no space for anything. And this guy's, like, wanting to jug our whole line so that they can, like, pass us. I was just like, no, dude, this is, like, not the place to do this. If they are really wanting to pass us, that's fine. But like, not here.

00:42:22:11 - 00:42:42:01
Unknown
So anyways, I though I'm going back was just like that did not seem like a fun experience at all and even and I despite troubles and you know, a few hiccups here and there, like we both had a great time and so yeah partner partners huge as it was good. Yeah.

00:42:42:01 - 00:42:45:16
Unknown
what was the title of your podcast? The the Timeless Nature of Climbing

00:42:46:14 - 00:42:48:09
Unknown
Yeah, yeah.

00:42:56:17 - 00:43:16:02
Unknown
And not everybody gets that. You know, some people, they show up to the Valley and they're inspired, but they don't have that partner that they've, you know, been able to synchronize with, I guess, or like that they know how to support and get that support that they need and they still get after it. And, it just makes me feel like very lucky to have like a real partnership.

00:43:16:04 - 00:43:17:15
Unknown
Same.

00:43:17:15 - 00:43:36:04
Unknown
agree. I, I've heard of multiple or heard of multiple situations from people where they like. Yeah, just kind of hard to find climbing partners. And, I've been grateful enough to not have to experience that. so I definitely think it's, it's an issue for some people for sure. And that's tough. I'm not sure what the solution there is.

00:43:36:11 - 00:43:53:21
Unknown
Yeah. So I think we're like, at that point, we're almost to the top. I've kind of got lost of where? He did great riff.

00:43:53:23 - 00:44:20:08
Unknown
Changing quarter, changing quarters. well, let me zoom back or go down a couple a little bit. So after Great Roof, there's like two more pitches to camp five, which is where we're going to be that night. And I think I took over leading after Great Roof again. And I was like, smoke that night. and I was like, I got, I thought I got this blue totem stuck and I'm just like trying to get it out.

00:44:20:08 - 00:44:35:00
Unknown
It's like I'm like, I just can't get this thing out. And he's like, just leave it. I'm like, if I can't get it out, I know you can't get it out in my head. like, I'm not going to leave it. And I'm like, my fingers bleeding everywhere again. and I'm like, whatever, I'll just leave it.

00:44:35:02 - 00:44:48:15
Unknown
And then so I finally get up and I get to where, like, camp five is, and I'm looking at the bar and I'm looking at what I'm seeing is just like, not the same at all. And I'm like, I know this, like, should be camp five, but I like cannot find these three bolts that is on the tow bow.

00:44:48:15 - 00:45:08:06
Unknown
And so I'm like, climb up a little bit and I like fix this bolt like climb down and doing all this shenanigans, I'm like, I need to stop climbing like we need this is where we're going to stay that night. But it was like that one time on that trip where I was like, I'm safe, but I'm like, I'm going downhill.

00:45:08:08 - 00:45:23:01
Unknown
So anyways, Evan ends up getting in the blue. Tell him. And he said it like comes right out and that he, like, climbs up to me and he like, he's like, oh, the two bolts are like right here, dude that you've been looking for. I'm like, and he's like, you're just really tired, man. I'm like, yeah, no, I am like.

00:45:23:03 - 00:45:38:05
Unknown
And then like, I'm like, I just don't understand. Like he's like, you're just really tired, man. I'm like, yeah, I know. And like again, I keep like bringing it up. And he keeps just saying, like you're just really tired, man. I'm like, okay, dude, I get that. I'm really tired. Like, I'm f ING up. I understand, but like, stop telling me that, okay?

00:45:38:07 - 00:45:55:04
Unknown
He's like, all right, cool, man. Like, glad you told me that you're good enough, you know? So that's where like that I was trying to lead into that with like, the partnership and how important it is. And but anyways, so we set up Bivvy at camp five next morning. I think I led all the pitches the last day.

00:45:55:06 - 00:46:10:00
Unknown
Yeah, it was, it was like, let's just get to let's let's just get to the top. I'm sure we get up there today. You're like three days in and you're, you're not like over climbing, but you're ready to get to the top. Like you've gone through all these ordeals, you feel like it's close and you just got, you know, you just want to get up there.

00:46:10:00 - 00:46:26:11
Unknown
You also really feel like you're on the nose on the fourth day, like, I mean on the way up the day, one day to day three. You're looking up and you're like, it's not that far up there. I forget what the term is. You use foreshortening. Foreshortening? Yeah. You know, it's like you're you're on it and you're like, oh, it looks like, you know, a couple of ramps up.

00:46:26:11 - 00:46:48:06
Unknown
Tickets, you know, or whodunit or something like that. But then once you're, you just keep going and it keeps going and stretching further and further. By the fourth day you're like, oh, we are up here. We are on the nose. And the exposures like, not like scary at that point. So you're like, oh, like, this is why the nose this is why you climb up cap, because you are up here.

00:46:48:09 - 00:47:13:16
Unknown
Cool. Beautiful. Yeah, yeah. but yeah, the fourth day, I just tried to blast through everything. I don't really think anything eventful happened the fourth day, to be honest. Like, I think it was just smooth sailing the whole day. Lost in number four. Oh, yeah, I a number three decided to jump off my harness. I was kind of in this like groove and I, wanted to go back clean a piece because it was like the rope.

00:47:13:16 - 00:47:36:09
Unknown
It was at the apex. And so the rope was like, kind of pulling it into this, this crack. And so, like, I clipped a bolt and I like, kind of down climbed. And as I was down climbing this groove, this number three just like jumps off my harness, I didn't even know, like, I, I didn't even hear it and everything goes rock, rock, rock, rock like and like and he's like, hey, did did you lose a number three?

00:47:36:11 - 00:47:58:23
Unknown
I was like, I'm like, oh yeah, I did. I'm like, whoa, that's scary. I just dropped the number three from like 20 700ft off of the deck. and this party, this night party that topped out at that. So I was like, did you guys happen to see a number three? You go flying by and he's like, yeah, yeah, we totally heard it go whizzing by him like, that's what?

00:47:59:00 - 00:48:35:05
Unknown
Like that was probably my biggest fear. It was like getting hit by somebody else's gear. And my number number three, just like. Yeah. It's crazy. but, that was probably the only eventful thing on the last day. And then, we topped out and, well, the as you're getting to the very end, there's like the final, like bolt ladder basically, and it's just the most hero position you've ever been in because you're like 20 900ft off the ground and you're on this like, overhanging bull ladder.

00:48:35:07 - 00:48:57:22
Unknown
And, I have it posted on my Instagram, I think. But you're just like, looking down and it's like, so cool to just be hanging over air, 20 900ft of air. And, that's when you're really just, like, taking it all in and you're like, wow. Like, we climb this and we're like, topping out. This is this is pretty epic.

00:48:58:00 - 00:49:25:00
Unknown
Yeah. So and then after that, you just do like this short little traverse pitch, and then you're at the top and you got to wait for your follower to jump up and then shuttle your bags to the tree. And then, and then the least enjoyable part of the whole climb is, well, walking off the descent, like.

00:49:25:10 - 00:49:29:02
Unknown
that's a good question. Probably about 72 hours.

00:49:29:02 - 00:49:53:05
Unknown
I forgot to stop my, my stopwatch. Honestly. no, I don't think we were really thinking about it. Honestly, I I'm sure that Bryce can figure out if he thinks. Yeah, I think I would be, because we probably summit. We started around, like, 5 p.m.. We started at 6 p.m. on Sunday, and we finished around 6 p.m. on.

00:49:53:07 - 00:50:23:15
Unknown
Wednesday. So that 72 hours or is that 90? Yeah. So 72 hours. yeah. And, it was cool. There was a and like I said, and I had party, Tavish, I forget his last name, but he's Yosemite crasher, dude. He was, like, just topping out from his Nyad. So we got to share the summit with them and then kind of watch them walk off, because neither of us had done the descent.

00:50:23:15 - 00:50:44:21
Unknown
So the descent wasn't nearly as like it was pretty straightforward, pretty easy to find. I felt like, yeah. And luckily we got to do it in the daylight. but we were like out of water. And I was very dehydrated. I, I get dehydrated quick if I'm not drinking a lot of water. And I had kind of been like rationing for the last part of the day already.

00:50:44:23 - 00:51:09:13
Unknown
And so I was just I was just so ready to get down and like I said, we had like a lot of extra food and packs. Just felt so heavy. Was it walking off? And I mean, you have to do like a 3000ft plus descent to get down. And there's, there is like a handful of repels. But for the most part, you're just like walking down slab and then you, walk down slab forever.

00:51:09:13 - 00:51:26:01
Unknown
You end up getting into the repels, and then from there you think like you're pretty close, but then you just, like, wind down this, like, gully and then wind down through the trees and you're just like, walk and lock and walk and your knees are just, like, completely shot. And I was like, had to stop multiple times and just like, sit down.

00:51:26:01 - 00:51:39:20
Unknown
And I was like, pretty, even was trying to, like, talk to me about something. And I was like, dude, I just like, can't talk to you right now. I don't know, like, he or I, I think he was asking like, hey, are we going to sleep in the Valley tonight? And I was like, I have no idea, dude.

00:51:39:20 - 00:51:58:09
Unknown
I just, I need to get to the car. So we finally he finally get to like the flat ground, which seemed like forever, I'm sure without parks and do it after doing the no. That really wasn't that bad of a desert, but finally gets the fire ground and then you have like a half mile of walking just around the Valley Loop to get back to your car.

00:51:58:11 - 00:52:16:06
Unknown
And so we're just like walking in every single car that drives by were like trying to hitch a ride and like, probably took us like ten cars or something. And then this nice girl just stopped and she's like, oh, where are you going? And we're like, oh, cop crossover. She's like, okay, cool, hop in and totally gives us a ride for like the last quarter mile.

00:52:16:09 - 00:52:33:21
Unknown
She was an angel. That was like a really nice thing. But then we got yeah, got back to the car and man, you're just smoked tired.

00:52:33:23 - 00:52:49:02
Unknown
I mean, not really. We had stuff in the beer box, but it wasn't anything amazing. It was probably the same stuff we had been eating on the whole. But somebody offered me a beer and I turned it down. I was just I was like, nah, I can't even enjoy a beer right now.

00:52:49:02 - 00:52:50:13
Unknown
I just chugged a lot of water.

00:52:50:13 - 00:53:03:07
Unknown
I needed water, but yeah, that was that was a wrap of our. Oh, cap. Yes, it, that.

00:53:03:09 - 00:53:29:08
Unknown
Dude, we actually. So the, climactic thing is that we, we just left the valley because I was, I, you know, I was ready to get home to the family, to be honest. that's probably the main motivation, because. And we didn't really have a campsite or anything, so we could have both, like bivvy done in my van, but, we decided to just drive to, oh.

00:53:29:08 - 00:53:53:06
Unknown
Was it cold? Hard and flat or whatever it is? It's like 20 minutes outside the park, and we just crashed out there and then woke up first thing in the morning. Just drove home. So we didn't even get to see it the next morning. but, I will say I've watched I like, rewatched the Alex and Tommy speed climbing the nose, on real rock or Red bull TV or whatever it is.

00:53:53:08 - 00:54:14:07
Unknown
I think it's real rock and it's so surreal now watching that. And just like before, you just like, watch it and you fantasize about being up there and, like, what they must be going through and then rewatching it and you're like, dude, I remember that pitch. Like, I've been to there. I've done that movie. I it's like so amazing to like, know that you're in.

00:54:14:11 - 00:54:33:11
Unknown
You like, just feel like you're in the, you're in that group, that community that's done it. It's pretty wild. And obviously they're free climbing in two hours and we aid climb that in three days. But nonetheless, it's just like it feels so inclusive, like to like, watch other people do it. Now. It's weird.

00:54:37:21 - 00:54:49:04
Unknown
have you guys, like, pulled any, I don't know, like, big lessons or meaning or anything from it. Like has it has the reality of what you've done set in like, you know, have you had time to reflect.

00:54:49:06 - 00:55:16:14
Unknown
for me, I think it just shaped my, like, identity as a climber. Like, I don't think it shaped my identity so much as, like, my climbing identity. Like, if that's a little subsection of my identity, I just feel like it kind of like. Like I can identify as somebody who climbed El Cap and who's like at that, I'll say at that level, but my other takeaway is just like how it was pretty easy.

00:55:16:16 - 00:55:34:18
Unknown
Like, it doesn't feel and sound easy when we're, like rehashing the story and like talking about all the difficulties that we went through. But like, I would just encourage anybody that they can do it. And I get it. Like, we I did my homework and I did my training and my practice. But

00:55:34:18 - 00:55:37:19
Unknown
like at the end of the day, it like none of it's really that hard.

00:55:37:20 - 00:55:53:21
Unknown
It's just a matter of persevering and just wanting to do it and like push on and keep going day after day and try to be fast and keep, you know, focusing on your systems the whole time. And, and yeah, I'd say it was

00:55:53:21 - 00:56:03:16
Unknown
as like monuments of an achievement as it was also like, I think a lot of people could, could do it if they wanted to like it, but nothing special about me, that's for sure.

00:56:03:20 - 00:56:04:13
Unknown
So.

00:56:05:15 - 00:56:07:19
Unknown
I would say,

00:56:07:19 - 00:56:26:20
Unknown
I don't really have a whole lot of things in my life that I feel like I'm very proud of, and it was really nice feeling to feel proud of myself for sticking, sticking with something, especially a dream that really, when I first thought of it, seemed so obscure, like, yeah, you want to do that, but is that really ever going to happen?

00:56:26:22 - 00:56:53:15
Unknown
And so I found something in my life that means enough to me to actually be willing to persevere through a lot and put in the work. so it's kind of surreal, but but it's interesting because it's like it's so meaningless and it's so absurd. the how something so meaningless can mean so much at the same time, but at the same time, it was just another route to take off the list.

00:56:53:15 - 00:56:55:13
Unknown
It's so strange. You know,

00:56:55:13 - 00:57:10:07
Unknown
I was riding a high for like, two weeks, feeling like I was existing in what I call super position. Like where the universe lines up and you have this extreme amount of confidence and you feel like you could take on the world. And I thought maybe, you know, I finished climbing the nose and maybe I'd never be depressed again.

00:57:10:07 - 00:57:21:18
Unknown
Well, it turns out I'm still depressed. I just have something to be proud of as well, which is actually pretty nice. You know, it doesn't change much, but it does at the same time. It's kind of hard to explain.

00:57:21:18 - 00:57:37:22
Unknown
It was it was surreal, though. Standing in the you said, how was it like the next day? But even that night, I think when you when we finally got back to the van and you're just like, finally setting in and relaxing and you're looking up and the moon's like lighting it up, and

00:57:37:22 - 00:57:45:08
Unknown
it's like before I looked up there and I wondered, I like, looked up in wonder of like, what's it like up there?

00:57:45:10 - 00:58:06:11
Unknown
And now I like, look up and it's still so hard to like, wrap your mind around like the perspective of it all because it's just so big and like, how do you compress three and a half days of adventure and work and suffering into, like, what you can see as just this? Like wall that's this big

00:58:06:11 - 00:58:24:02
Unknown
and you really have to like, like this podcast, like it's like I kind of had told even before the podcast, like, I think I've compartmentalize, like out because, like, I can't really get stoked on it right now because I tending more towards the family and we have our plans in October, which I'm stoked for.

00:58:24:04 - 00:58:46:04
Unknown
But like until then, I can't, you know, if if I didn't have any commitments, I would be like need training in the Valley right now. But like I can't get stoked on that because it's not realistic. So I kind of like, you know, like compartmentalize it. But going back to, like that feeling of standing in the valley, you're just like, wow, like I've experienced that.

00:58:46:04 - 00:58:53:22
Unknown
I know what it's like. I see the headlamps up there at night and I know, like, what that feeling is like, and, it's just really cool.

00:58:59:19 - 00:59:01:03
Unknown
Yeah, yeah.

00:59:07:17 - 00:59:16:21
Unknown
Yeah, I don't know, I think, I think it's all been said. Yeah. It's, it's a really cool accomplishment. I mean, I'm kind of curious if you think you'd ever want to try the nose in a day.

00:59:17:12 - 00:59:32:00
Unknown
Oh, 100%. I will do the, I want I will try to do the nose in a day in my life, but, it just you have to commit to, like.

00:59:32:02 - 00:59:53:11
Unknown
I mean, Kyle and I are planning to go back to go in October and do it ourselves, so I definitely plan to do it again. but as far as, like, training for now at some commitment there. So I just don't have the free time and the capacity to do that. But few years down the road, when the kids are a little bigger, I 100% well, we'll, do that and I think it's achievable.

00:59:53:11 - 01:00:06:10
Unknown
I like I really do I don't think it's it seems maybe impossible until you've climbed the nose and you see all these other people doing it and you're like, oh, yeah, it's just you got to move really quick and have your system down.

01:00:06:10 - 01:00:13:02
Unknown
the biggest shift is? Is it like, do you have to take on more risk? Do you have to be a stronger climber as it all about

01:00:13:11 - 01:00:44:06
Unknown
Endurance. Stronger, stronger climber for sure. More endurance. I mean, you. Yeah. Those I mean, probably just being stronger and more fit. 100% efficient. Yeah. Free and more efficient. I mean, you're not hauling, so you're you're way lighter, but at the same time, you're, like, moving over way more ground. Can't have any like faffing. You have to you have to know the beta of the route really good too, because there's tons of little nuance here and there.

01:00:44:06 - 01:01:03:00
Unknown
And I'm sure like one of the people that passed us, she I think she was on like her 13th Nyad. Ranger Michelle, that's Nelson in Ranger Michelle shout out. Yeah. I think it was like 13 or something. And I'm sure every time she still goes, she learned something new. So that.

01:01:03:00 - 01:01:06:23
Unknown
I was going to say I understand the appeal for for doing big balls in a day.

01:01:07:01 - 01:01:25:00
Unknown
Hauling sucks. Like it really sucks. And I honestly don't talk Kyle out of it. It's not as though it's worth it. It's not that bad. If you can do it without hauling, it's just going to be more fun. You get more fun in less work, that's all. Yeah. I, I personally, I love combining two of my favorite things camping and climbing.

01:01:25:00 - 01:01:45:00
Unknown
So I, I also see the appeal of hauling and taking a few days. I like I like enjoy that. But I definitely would love to do some big walls in a day. It'll take me longer to get to that point, but I'm committed because that sounds amazing. Yeah, yeah, plenty of smaller walls to like gets gets you in shape for need.

01:01:45:02 - 01:01:56:15
Unknown
That would be equally fun. So the thing is, as soon as you bust out the all Fifi or the Fifi hook, everything just slows down. So if you can avoid busting that out, that's always going to be better.

01:01:57:18 - 01:02:14:15
Unknown
That concludes today's episode, everyone. It's been a really great time reconnecting with Bryce and Evan, and we were psyched to be able to share their story. And thank you listeners for tuning in. If you'd like to learn more about Bryce and Evan, check out the links in our show notes. One final thing please share this podcast with your friends.

01:02:14:17 - 01:02:36:10
Unknown
Word of mouth is the best way to support the show. Plus, don't forget you can watch our full episodes on YouTube. Stay tuned for our next episode with Bryant High. Sell Yosemite Crusher and none other than the founder and operator of the Gravity Lab YouTube channel. Until then, keep exploring, stay safe. And as always, thanks for being a part of the climbing majority.

01:02:36:12 - 01:02:37:21
Unknown
See you in two weeks.