At the base of the route in the morning light, Sloan Larsen and Daniel Kennedy prepping for the route above, 10 pitches of the best moderate terrain in the Valley.
Sloan Larsen on pitch 6, a wonderful 60 meter rope stretcher of everything good, fingers, hands, fists, laybacking, and some good stemming. It doesn't get much better that this.
Sloan nearing the belay ledge at the end of pitch 6, with El Cap meadow and the Merced River far below.
Daniel pacing himself on the long 6th pitch as he cleans the gear. We were quite fortunate to have only one other party on the route that day, a very uncommon event given the well deserved popularity of the route.
Sloan nearing the top, it turned out to be a longer day than normal as the descent gully was choked with snow. We had rappels through waterfalls, a number of rappels off snow bollards, a very alpine finish to a great day in Yosemite Valley.
Great Climbing :)
ReplyDelete