We got a taste of big wall climbing today, by climbing on the giant wall that is El Capitan.
But not before an early morning adventure on the vast slabs of Glacier Apron Point. With a big day ahead of us, we were up early and starting up the first pitch of 'Monday Morning Slab' (5.5) as the sun burst into the valley.
On the other side of the valley, the morning sun was creating a full spectrum rainbow on the mist from Yosemite Falls. The phenomena lasted about half an hour as the sun crept up into the blue sky and made the early start really worthwhile.
We followed a big corner system up for a few pitches to the spacious ledge at the top of the slabs. We wished it could have gone on for longer.
A few abseils (and a temporarily stuck rope) later and we were scampering back to camp.
We packed up camp pretty quickly and drove out to the base of El Capitan, where we planned to climb a route on an area called 'The Footstool' (5.4). It's only a 50m route, but it gets you up onto the side of the big wall, with amazing views across to 'The Nose' so it feels really high! Just standing at the base of the cliff feels incredible. Looking up, it's 900m to the top and dizzying just to try and comprehend the size.
The route, was actually really fun climbing, with decent holds and just enough protection to keep you concentrating. But the situation was everything! Just knowing that we were starting up a route on El Capitan was a buzz!
The route ended at a good sized shelf that is possibly one of the greatest belay ledges in the world in terms of comfort and views.
To our right was 'The Nose' route of El Cap, to the left, the Yosemite valley and above us lay hundreds of meters of vertical granite. Below us the base of the cliff slopes away, giving us the impression of being much higher than we actually were.
We spent a while sitting, looking and laughing. What a great last route in the valley. Above us, an aid route followed a line of bolts and pegs precariously upwards into the unknown. We opted to descend!
A final abseil led us back to terra firma. There is an alarming amount of freshly broken granite littering the base of the cliff. Huge granite worktops that looked freshly deposited are scattered everywhere, warning that it's no place to be hanging around. The freshly broken rocks revealed all kinds of amazing looking crystals and formations, but we hurried off before a new delivery arrived.
We did stop briefly to check out what 'The Nose' route looks like. How someone has climbed it solo or in under three hours is mind boggling!
It was nearly 3pm by the time we were back at the van, fed and psyched up for some time on the road. Our next stop was Cupertino, (just south of San Francisco). The drive was pretty slow getting out of the park, but certainly picturesque. There was a detour at one point where a considerable landslide had completely wiped out the road - it was such an unbelievable scene of destruction that I nearly drove off the otherside of the road while looking at it! Concentrate Martin!
After a few hours, the scenery changed to more agricultral land. A quick coffee break in Merced (not recommended as a tourist destination) then a few more hours on the road and we arrived at Anna and Jonathon's house, where we were greeted with open arms, fine wines and delicious home cooked food! A long, but well filled day that ended well into the early hours...
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