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TR: 'Murica Part 2:The Crowded highway to The Nose |
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27-Nov-2015 11:19:21 PM
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G'day all,
In between climbing obscure hard(ish) trad chossfests with Neil Monteith in the Blue Mountains, I finally got around to finishing the 2nd (of 3) blog updates for my Climbing trip to America, continuing Stephen and My misadventures in Yosemite Valley.
Check out " 'Murica Part 2: The Crowded Superhighway to The Nose on El Capitan" at The Climbing Obscurist here: http://theclimbingobscurist.blogspot.com.au/2015/11/murica-part-2-crowded-superhighway-to.html
This episode also features the infamous The Portaledge Incident™ on El Capitan:
"...news of the Portaledge Incident somehow made its way around The Valley, and it almost became a bit of a joke how often we'd be speaking to someone about our climb, only to have them say something along the lines of: "Hey, you were on the Nose around the time of the Portaledge Incident, did you see it?" Hell, even Tom Evans had a few harsh words to say about the instigators of that Incident, and on his website wrote some veiled criticism regarding it on a photo he posted of the group in question. The one thing that seemed to escape fact in all the people we spoke to about it was where the group was from..."
Regards,
-Paul Thomson
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28-Nov-2015 10:18:21 AM
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Great read, nicely put together blog. Thanks for sharing.
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28-Nov-2015 11:16:06 AM
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Awesome read. Great effort getting around the clusterfu#*s.
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29-Nov-2015 1:04:48 AM
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One of the regrets of my climbing career was never doing the Nose. Many (many!) years ago I got as close as humping our gear up to the base of the route, but my partner managed to slip a disc in his back in the effort, and that was the end of that!
Over the years since then I've read many reports of ascents of the Nose and seen many photos. The problem has been that so many of them talk about and show the same shots of the same iconic landmarks on the route. This blog is the first I've read that made it feel like I was there! It wasn't a report of a speed record attempt or an all free hyper-athlete ascent. It talked about climbing pitches at grades I climbed at. It talked about and showed some of the "ordinary" pitches on the route. It talked about interactions with other people on the face.
So all I can say is - Thanks!
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29-Nov-2015 2:32:45 PM
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On 29/11/2015 PeterW wrote:
>One of the regrets of my climbing career was never doing the Nose.
I used to want to climb the nose......mostly because yankee climbers and their media still think that its somehow the pinacle of climbing. But the photos and stories of crowds and clusterjams eventually outweighed the appeal of the line. There's nothing I like less in climbing than trying to overtake slow parties (or sitting in and climbing at their pace). From an australian climbing perspective it seems really rude to even get on a route if there's another party that you'll likely catch up to.
Anyway, this trip report confirmed my feelings that the best time to climb the nose is prior to 1990. Nowdays it looks like a pretty shitty experience.
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29-Nov-2015 9:13:09 PM
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What a rad TR. Sounds like you had a fun experience, all things considered;)
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29-Nov-2015 10:42:48 PM
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Really enjoyed reading the first two parts. Looking forward to the next chapter!
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30-Nov-2015 10:01:43 AM
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On 29/11/2015 dalai wrote:
>Really enjoyed reading the first two parts. Looking forward to the next chapter!
+1
Many thanks for sharing it with us.
In terms of whether climbing The Nose these days is a good or bad experience I think there is still room for adventure on it, particularly if climbed during inclement conditions that would make most bumblies want to stay off it during same...
Regardless of how the crowd experience evolves over time for it, there is no denying that it is aesthetically the proudest line in Yosemite, and will likely also always be a magnet for climbers due to its history.
ODH wrote;
>Anyway, this trip report confirmed my feelings that the best time to climb the nose is prior to 1990. Nowdays it looks like a pretty shitty experience.
For a while back prior to 1990 it was also a shitty experience, ... until poo-tubes became normalised for multiday ascents.
;-)
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1-Dec-2015 11:53:42 AM
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Think I might have killed somebody if I was caught up in that portaledge debacle!
Nice work
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7-Dec-2015 1:50:28 PM
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Nice one Paul... Inspired battle, great account.
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7-Dec-2015 8:44:06 PM
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Great reads for both this and the Watkins blog. Can't be many parties that have used the South Face of Watkins as a warm-up for The Nose. And maximum style points for the free accommodation arrangement in Yosemite. Thousands of dirtbaggers are gnashing their teeth.
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8-Dec-2015 10:01:59 AM
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Nice read....thanks for posting and happy adventures :p
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