NIAD Trip Report

My goal for this trip was simple: climb the Nose of El Cap. And yet, there's something very different about goal setting and goal execution. When dreaming up lofty goals, I'm often in the comfort of my own home, watching videos of rad people making rad things look fun and easy. When I'm in a position of "goal execution", I'm scampering around Camp 4 evading rangers, while the Valley's granite monoliths loom over me like that moment yesterday when I almost fell toproping 10a.

Sacherer Cracker - the 10a I barely sent on TR

But things loom over you. It's human nature, and it isn't always bad. The stress and risk involved in some of the more technical sections of the Nose caused us to rethink some of our tactics and make them both safer and more efficient.

So my partner Danny and I set out to climb the Nose of El Capitan over 3 days after about 10 days of practice.  Despite previously poor experiences and much hesitation beforehand, we styled a nearly flawless ascent, far exceeding our estimated pace and ditching water accordingly! We made it to our planned bivy - El Cap Tower - by noon, and charged on until being slowed by other parties. We settled in beneath Camp IV and blasted to the summit by 5pm the following day.

View from Camp IV - where we spent the night on our first run up the Nose.

In short, we climbed the Nose in 2 days, "wall style", hauling 3-4 days worth of supplies.

Valley locals were quick to scoff at our self doubt. "Hauling up the nose on a 2 day ascent? Why? WHY?  Just ditch the pig and do it in a day! It would be way easier!" We were repeatedly encouraged to try the NIAD.

And so the seed was planted. Still, we drove around the valley feeling as though we could retire from climbing for a while - just get tan and drink beer in the meadow for the remainder of the trip. Mission accomplished, right? But we quickly realized that we needed a new objective. We still had a little over a week left, and agreed we had two options: pick a hard free route to try and redpoint (such as Romulan Warbird or Final Frontier), or do what was really on our minds - NIAD.

We quickly settled on NIAD, and it was chaotic and exciting to learn all of the creative tactics that revolve around speed climbing (the cool kind, not the one with red holds). We practiced short fixing, running the Pakistani Death Loop (PDL), simul climbing, double pendulums, and more!

Danny "posing like Jesus" on our descent after doing the South Face of Washington Column IAD.

It was so thrilling! Never before had my beta essays said things like "5.8 to green c3, left crimp, clip pin, stem, purple c3, stand to bolt, call take, lower 12 feet, backclean c3 and pin, pendulum to gray c3". Placing and pulling on gear became moves on the route. This was all so new! Not quite sport or traditional, I didn't know what color box to check for this? I developed efficiency as a french free climber. Over the next 5 or 6 days, we did 1-2 laps to Sickle Ledge each day, which entails the first 4 pitches and the hardest aid climbing on the route. On our NIAD attempt I would lead in one block to Dolt Tower, so I lead every pitch on these laps to Sickle.

Our first run up took approximately 4.5 hours. By the end of that week I was climbing in about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Progress was shaping up well.

Another shot from the descent of Washington Column

We had one last benchmark test we wanted to pass, and that was a practice run up to Dolt Tower. We set out to do this a couple of times, but never even got on the wall, once due to the overwhelming number of slow-moving parties, and once due to poor weather. We were anxious now. My flight left Wednesday afternoon from LAX, and weather was not clearing up until Tuesday. We had one chance to pull this off, and if we didn't, then I'd need to find an alternative way back across the country.

On Monday, we lounged. We lounged HARD. The rack was ready (already on my harness in the correct order for placement), and we read and napped in El Cap Meadow as the skies cleared and brought in some nicer weather. The previous few days of rain had chased most climbers off of the wall. As we inched our way closer and closer to nightfall, nerves grew. Here was our plan:

Hike to base with gear around 9/10pm. Sleep until 11:30pm. Quick PB sandwich, chug as much water as we possibly could, rack up, chug again, blast off at exactly midnight.

And all of that happened - except the sleep part. Between the nerves and the passing hikers/climbers flashing their headlamps our way, there was no chance of sleep. But it was 11:30 now, and we had 31 pitches to climb.

We scrambled up the 4th class to the start of the first pitch. I shed my down jacket, leaving it there with a silent hope that I wouldn't regret it (it was 38 degrees and pitch black). We checked the time and it was exactly midnight. A mandatory fist bump and I was off! I cruised up a few feet of familiar jams, made unfamiliar by the darkness of the night. I placed my first piece (a green c3) and pulled up, quickly realizing the route was still seeping from the previous rains. I almost fell on a mandatory free move, which got in my head. This is the first pitch, your hesitation is making you slow. Danny's silence left me imagining wildly what he must be thinking: "uh oh, rough start. These are the only pitches we have practiced and we aren't even on schedule..."

Of course this was totally psychological, as I was in reality moving at a great pace. I ran a PDL to a stance on the second pitch, and right as I got to where I wanted a belay, Danny had arrived to put me on. I cranked out 15 feet of slippery 10+, pendulumed right, then raced up to the anchor. Here I self belayed for some finicky aid climbing, and made really quick time pausing only at the very end where I must mantle onto a small ledge. I pull up all the slack and run a huge 80-100 ft PDL to start the 4th pitch, because I know I can move SUPER fast here because of the abundance of fixed gear. I hold my breath as I trust an ancient fixed c3, and once I'm past I am feeling very well again! I've now arrived at the pendulum and Danny is just in time to put me on belay. He lowers me, I swing over, layback to Sickle Ledge, and fix the rope with over 100 ft of slack left for me to run up the 4th class.

THE FOLLOWING IS THE COOLEST PART OF THE ENTIRE NIAD EXPERIENCE.

Once Danny has finished following, I am well on my way into the 5.9+ section. I had never lead here before, so I was in onsight mode, by headlamp. Danny has me on belay at this point, and I clip the anchors and call for a take. From Danny's stance on Sickle Ledge, to where I am hanging at the anchor, is almost a full rope length. So we got creative!

I call for a take, and Danny reels in on the grigri. I am at a pendulum point now, and need to be lowered quite a ways. Danny then begins to free climb with an assisted toprope courtesy of my counterweighting him. As he climbs up, I am lowered down and begin swinging to the right. Once low enough, I yell for him to stop. I snatch the corner, climb 50 feet or so of no-fall 5.8 to another pendulum point. I clip a bolt and ask for another take, and Danny takes off free climbing on a power toprope again while I am being lowered and swinging into the stovelegs!

There is something just purely rad about simulclimbing on a big wall by headlamp after engineering some wild speed shenanigans.

One morning, I was woken by the voices of Alex and Tommy simulclimbing Freerider. A small step up from our 4th class simuling...

I was feeling much better mentally at this point, and we had agreed to rerack here. I turned off my headlamp and gazed at the valley below. It was a perfectly clear night, and I was just started to feel cold (still sub-40 degrees) as Danny arrived at the anchor. The next 400 feet or so flew by as I jammed and leapfrogged cams up perfect splitters. I knew if I made it to Dolt tower before dawn, I was on time.

I finished my block standing atop Dolt, and readied the gear for Danny as I would be following the next 9 pitches to Camp IV. I finally asked Danny what time it was: "Three thirty!" YESSSS! First 11 pitches in 3:30!

Danny hydrating on El Cap Tower during our 2-day ascent. We arrived here around 4-5 am during the NIAD.

Perfectly on schedule, we swapped leads efficiently and were at El Cap Tower in less than an hour. We passed some friends who were sleeping there and were atop the Texas Flake soon enough. Danny styled the one section of the route which had him nervous - a few moves transitioning from the bolt ladder into the boot flake. Soon enough he had landed the King Swing on Eagle Ledge and I was re-aiding to see what this King Swing was all about!

I had followed this pitch on our two day ascent so I didn't get to do the swing, but without haul bags it was quicker for me to also do the King Swing as I followed Danny. I'd largely underestimated this maneuver, and after a few failed swings, I tensioned over as Danny threw me a small tag line to help me cheat my way to Eagle Ledge. I handed him the rack and he also experienced a bit of hesitation here with some seeping and hollow flakes. All went safely and smoothly though, and by the time we were at Camp IV our headlamps had long been stowed away! Winds were calm and it was a gorgeous day.

At Camp IV, we had climbed 20 of the 31 pitches, but this is considered to be the "halfway mark". We swapped leads again, and I began my second block of the day - 5 pitches to Camp VI. The Great Roof was certainly the slowest I moved on the route. In fact, Danny worried the sleeping party from El Cap Tower (now awake and moving) was gaining quickly on us.

I was a bit embarrassed but the wear and tear was evident in my climbing. These pitches were so much easier on our previous ascent when they were the first pitches of the day after a full night of sleep. Now I was pulling out my aiders in sections I had previously french freed. I finished the great roof and ran a PDL up the glorious Pancake Flake. What I had casually sprinted up freely the previous time now felt strenuous and quite scary without a belay.

I slowly worked my way to Camp V, and awaited Danny here without short fixing. The aid climbing from here to the Glowering Spot is somewhat serious, so I eagerly rested until being properly on belay. I actually made pretty good work of this pitch, and it was now late enough in the morning for Tom Evans to have snapped this cool photo!

I'm in the green leading some tenuous aid, while Danny belays from Camp V.
Photo: Tom Evans

I was a bit rejuvenated at the thought of only having one more pitch to lead, so I quested up to Camp VI as fast as I could, wishing I could enjoy the perfect 11- corner instead of leapfrogging green, red, and yellow camalots up the pitch. Regardless, I pulled onto the luxurious Camp VI and my block was OVER! With one hell of a view, I awaited Danny beneath the changing corners pitch.

Danny resting on Camp VI during our 2-day ascent.

5 pitches from the summit! At this point we were both battered, but confident the summit was in the bag. I lagged quite a bit as I followed, as the pitches were steep and sometimes overhanging here. My biceps cramped as I jumared behind, but it was irrelevant now. We could take hours per pitch and still summit in time. However, perhaps the most important time constraint which we managed to succeed at is topping out in time for pizza at the pizza deck! Danny flew through the final bolt ladder and after I'd followed, he let me scamper up the last little bit of 3rd class to the El Cap Tree!

I can't say this is a dream realized, because I had not dreamed I would be able to pull off such a feat going into this trip. Standing on top of El Cap after 13 hours and 44 minutes of climbing was totally satisfying. I peacefully power napped and sunburned until starting the descent. I've never been more willing to spend $26 on a large pizza to myself. It had been well earned.

Swollen joints and a bloodied hand are small prices to pay, and they make you look tough.

*I elaborated much more on my leads for this ascent, because I never lead any of the pitches on Danny's blocks, and following is relatively straightforward/uninteresting. However, this was a 100% team effort and Danny was the perfect partner. He styled some of the more difficult pitches, such as the Texas Flake Chimney, the King Swing, Lynn Hill Traverse, and the Changing Corners. THANK YOU DANNY! We were psyched and safe, and somehow we ended up being relatively fast as well.

And there you have it!