There’s nothing quite like that moment in a climb when you realize you’re no longer worried about your headlamp batteries dying – because the sun is starting to rise again. Once again I got to revel in this feeling during our unexpectedly long push (or in this case, shove) of Tangerine Trip on El Capitan. As Phil pulled over the final moves of the climb onto the first flat ground we had seen in a relentlessly steep 25 hrs or so, Dave and I once again laughed at the nearly delirious state we had found ourselves in.
The black cat looks on as climbers navigate the initial pitches of the Trip. Photo: Tom Evans, El Cap Report
Tangerine Trip is one of the very few moderate aid climbs found on the East wall of El Cap. Following a line of traversing (and sometimes even descending) features linked with handfuls of bolt and rivet ladders, it makes for an interesting experience, especially for the follower. The climb was pioneered in 1973 by Charlie Porter, and Jean Paul de St. Croix.
Our plan had developed the week before. Dave and myself are both members on the Yosemite Valley SAR site, and had been scheming to get time off together to climb a more involved route over the course of a couple days. With the all-powerful SAR site planning board looking pretty busy, we decided to climb something a bit more moderate quickly. “We’ll just fix the first 4 on the trip, and go to the top the next day” we decided. “It’ll be mellow.” …The first signs of bargaining about the always insufferable nature of speed climbing on El Cap.
Dave jugging in space with El Cap tree in the background. Photo: Phil Wessler
Wanting a third for our ascent, we recruited Phil, a Tuolumne SAR team member who is no stranger to our domineering overlord El Capitan, and who I had climbed Zenyatta Mondatta with the year before. “Let’s do it!” he texted me… “But why fix pitches?” he said “That’s pretty light duty.” Well, when you’re right your right, so I took our “X’s” of the board for Tuesday and we committed to doing it all Wednesday. Why bring more shame to our families, I mean, we’re already SAR siters.
So with the always enjoyable 3:45am wake up call, we headed up to the base of the east wall. And by about 6 a.m. I took off on the first block. The next 12 hrs or so found us moving fairly quickly up the rock on enjoyable climbing. Morale was high, and the standard feelings of imminent victory over our self-imposed “under 20” hr time frame was looking good. The traversing and severely over-hanging nature of the climb leads for a lot of hard work cleaning and completely free hanging jugging. The accumulation of which resulted in a couple of tired climbers by the time the night shift started. “Only 5 pitches to the top, we got this!” was the general feeling we had as the sun dipped behind the valley to the west.
Around first light at 5:30 a.m. we heard someone cheering at us from down on the valley floor. I’m guessing they weren’t expecting to still see us up there.
6 hrs later had us about 3 pitches further, with no sign of speeding up. As I tried to sleep in the fabric “boson’s chair” that dangled off the side of the face, I realized that the rope hand not moved in 3 or 4 of the songs playing off of our speaker. “WOOOOT!” I yelled upwards, trying to keep the psyche going, a loud and definitive monkey call came back my way. It dawned on me how truly horrific the last block can be, but it’s good to have some serious sufferers up there with you. Around first light at 5:30 a.m. we heard someone cheering at us from down on the valley floor. I’m guessing they weren’t expecting to still see us up there.
By the time we pulled over the top, we felt trampled but victorious. Still able to let nothing but jokes and heckling pass through our lips. The last pitch was the first time we had jugged a rope that wasn’t at least 10 feet off the wall, but it still felt rough. “How you feeling Phil?!” I yelled in jest, knowing full well how we were all feeling “…I want TO DIE!” he yelled back. Ha! excellent the only way to feel after a beating like that. But, as Conrad Anker says “Enlightenment isn’t found on a full stomach, or on a soft pillow.”
Photo: Tom Evans, El Cap Report
Take Away’s
- Tangerine Trip was a great route. The amount of rivets (which many people denounce the route for) was more than made up for by some fun and interesting climbing. While Zodiac is constantly overrun with parties, this makes for a great alternative.
- Clearly abandoned fixed ropes were hanging off of the first 2 pitches of the climb which we removed. If a team bails, it is their responsibility to remove their lines and any trace of the attempt. Please do not take away from the wilderness experience of others due to haste. If you are fixing lines on a big wall climb, please try to do so in a manner timely to your ascent.
- The traversing nature of the route makes for slower moving that should be accounted for. Between pitches 4 and 5, 300 feet of sustained aid climbing probably only moves you up 100 feet vertically.
- There are NO ledges on the entire route. Teams should plan accordingly, bringing COMFORTABLE Boson’s chairs and wall harnesses. The overhanging nature would allow for teams to “flag” their portaledge while hauling and would make for a much better experience.
- There was a large amount of fixed gear on the pitch 5 traverse (crux of the climb?) Without this it would be very hard to do the route completely clean. A handful of lost arrows and sawed offs would most likely be necessary for mere human parties. Cam hooks can often be a great way to avoid nailing.
- Never underestimate the cumulative effect of the day(s). If attempting a route in a day, try to take this into account while deciding blocks, and don’t leave the last person with a large block, its sadistic.
- Bring wag-bags a plastic liter or gallon jug and some tape even on In-A-Day pushes. That way when your IAD turns to two days, you can pack out your human waste effectively. A wag-bag weighs almost nothing, and costs a couple bucks at the Yosemite Mountain Shop.
- Phil Wessler is a Hero.