Never heard this storie!

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, that was back in the day when I was a young, lean and mean tuna killing machine.

 

It was non-yak so I didn't think you guys would be interested.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim
[/quote]

He's also a stud on rock!
Being an ex-rockclimber myself, I wanna hear the epic 7 day El Cap climb story.
Was it The Nose route or another? any pics?
Tad
 

Fer reals Jim?! That yt looks bigger than 17lbs bro! I'm gonna have to guess that's a gulf coast model (-: But it's never too late to timetravel!

Holy moly Jim, awesome job brother!! I'm not surprised at all that you have this record, nor surprised that you didn't boast once at all with your humbleness and genuine kindness.

However, I'm glad we found out!

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, that was back in the day when I was a young, lean and mean tuna killing machine.

 

It was non-yak so I didn't think you guys would be interested.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

He's also a stud on rock!
Being an ex-rockclimber myself, I wanna hear the epic 7 day El Cap climb story.
Was it The Nose route or another? any pics?
Tad
 

[/quote]
LOL! Yeah we did the Nose....I do have some pics that I scanned and posted to FaceBook awhile back...here is the link that I think should work even for those non Facebookers:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150637068675192.694300.677140191&type=3&l=17f779db40

Here's the story...

I spent 2 years in between UCSC and Peace Corps driving around the country climbing rocks, drinking beer and doing odd jobs to pay for gas and beer.   

My buddy Tobey and I hatched a plan one night to go do El Cap together. We worked on our crack and multi-pitch technique in Indian Creek, and then on on our aid-climbing technique over on Moonlight Buttress in Zion.

Getting ready at my buddy's property in BootJack outside the Valley we failed to check a weather forecast cuz we were so fixated on starting the climb and it was beautiful and sunny out.

Plan was to do the route in 4 days. First night on El Cap Tower, second at Camp 4, third at Camp 5 and final night on the summitt.

Lugged all the gear to the base and climbed the first 5 or so pitches and then fixed ropes and rappeled down and slept at the base.

In the morning we jumared up the fixed ropes to our high point...hauling the bag SUCKS on that low angle granite when it is super heavy and full of 4 days worth of food and  water. 

We got to El Cap Tower right when the sun was going down...beautiful wide flat ledge with multiple bomber bolts! 

And, we had it all to ourselves...in fact...we hadn't seen another climber all day! How lucky we are we thought...on one of the most popular routes in the world and we got it all to ourselves!!

About midnight when the snow started to fall we realized why nobody else was up there!! They had obviously not been dumb-asses like us and had looked at the weather forecast! 

Hunkered down in the portaledge I actually enjoyed resting and just laying there for the first half day while the snow fell....decided to just eat and drink very sparingly since we didn't know how long it would snow for...Complete white-out when we looked outside the tent...

The wind came up that night (night two) though and started knocking chunks of ice off from the summit overhangs and we could hear them crashing down around us...started to question our strategy right around then....

Next day was complete white out again.... 

That night (night 3) we started getting cabin fever pretty bad...Tobey is already crazy and he started babbling some nonsense about I can't even remember what and putting clif bar wrappers in his mouth and quacking like a duck and I started to get worried!! 

Next day the sun came out and it was awesome seeing the Valley floor all covered with snow and being so high above it and the blue sky and fluffy clouds...everything was still covered in ice though so decided to wait one more day cuz trying to climb up or down on wet frozen rock sounded pretty sketchy...

YOSAR began hollering up at us that day "CLIMBERS ON ELCAP TOWER!! DO YOU NEED A RESCUE?!?"  We yelled back "NO!!!!!!!!".

We had been very conservative with our food and decided we could hang in there one more day before we had to take action to go up or down...we had a bag of jolly ranchers and to pass the time we would pull one out without looking at it and suck on it until it was all gone and then guess the flavor and look at the wrapper in our hand. 

That day was scary though cuz it was so clear and warm out all the big blocks of ice were melting and coming down...like BIG block of ice...fridge sized...kept our helmets on tight and stayed in the portaledge as close to the wall as we could...

Our last night on El Cap Tower (fourth night up there) passed and in the morning it looked dry enough to move...checked food and water supply and decided we had enough for 3 more days or so...that should get us to the summit and then hopefully we would find some food and/or water on the summit to help us get down.

That day of climbing involved covering some awesome features: Texas Flake, Boot Flake and King Swing...when I was on top of Boot Flake and Tobey was doing the King Swing beneath me I was looking down on a YOSAR helicopter plucking some guys off of Sickle Ledge...I guess one had slipped and broken his leg, that's what we heard later at least...

Spent that night (night five) in the Grey Bands at Camp 4 looking up at the underside of the ominous Great Roof....pretty intimidating stuff!

The next day I lead off on a cool, technical pitch of free climbing on steep, solid, featured rock to get Tobey in position to go up and under the Roof. He did great and we cruised easily to Camp 5 where we set up for our last night (night six) actually on the wall...

Ate the last of our food except for a handful of clif bars and were down to our last 2 liters of water...

Next day set off up past the Glowering Spot and the Changing Corners pitches and into the summit overhangs at sunset...

TIRED and SORE by this point and just wanted to get OFF the damn wall!! 

As I finally pulled myself over the top and set up the last anchor it was pitch black and we had to bust out the headlamps...

Found a stash of a few power bars and some canned chili and a bottle of water and ate the food and left half of the water for the next day. Passed out on the summit (night seven) and in the morning hiked up to the "real summit" and then loaded the haulbag on my back (complete with full poop tube) and hiked and rappelled back to the Vallley Floor.

 

That night we binged on Pizza and pitchers of beer and finished off the night with tall boys of King Cobra in Tobey's truck.

 

Great experience, and one I am pretty darn sure I will never get a chance to repeat again.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Hercules, Hercules 

 

Wheres the toothless pick???

Man that is some awesome story! As I sit here at work closing my eyes trying to envision your experience, it helps the time to pass! I took a 17 mile hike at Yosemite last year for the first time, ended up near the base of Half Dome but then clouds rolled in fast, thunder came and it showered was an epic journey! 

That was a sweet climbing story Jim! I liked it.

I've only done some rapelling @ Pinnacles, never the climbing aspect.  Wish they would put an elevator in.  Looks fun .... from the ground!

One thing is for sure, being up there is completely different then looking at it on tv or from a postcard, it is quite something else. Almost like being in a dream yet real (the sights, smells, feel, sounds) all your senses amplified feels like a natural high    everything hitting you at once while being up high breathing in that clean air. It's pretty awesome.

Part of me wants to see this "poop tube" but it's probably exactly what I'm imagining. Like a bait tube? Canvas or plastic? OK nevermind I don't wanna know

Part of me wants to see this "poop tube" but it's probably exactly what I'm imagining. Like a bait tube? Canvas or plastic? OK nevermind I don't wanna know

 ...You sick bastard!

I always wondered.......   

A twenty year holdout on a free diving tuna record?!!  You are Sincerely the Man!

 

So where's this 277 Spot?! 

Fantastic climbing story too.   

Part of me wants to see this "poop tube" but it's probably exactly what I'm imagining. Like a bait tube? Canvas or plastic? OK nevermind I don't wanna know

Poop Tubes


A poop tube is a specially designed human waste storage container that is hauled with equipment up the climb. To make a poop tube, you’ll need PVC pipe around 6-10 inches long and 4 inches in diameter, a cap for one end, and a threaded fitting and plug for the other. This method requires the climber to do business into a paper bag, sprinkle with a small amount of kitty litter to reduce odor, and place the bag into the tube. After descending, empty the contents of the tube into any vault toilet.

I'm thinking of 2 grown guys, 4 days....might need one bigger than 6-10 inches......and I grossed myself out just now.
BUT I learned something today!