Looking for a 3rd for The Nose, El Cap 2022!

Hi gang, Just really finding out there are forums here.  My buddy and I are currently working out logistics and planning for a trip to Yosemite in Fall 2022.  

I've been climbing since 1988, yes, I'm old.  I've done dozens of laps on Whiteside Mtn (The OR) and am just now getting back to a solid 5.10 climber.  (We got a gym here in town so I can properly train!) Climbed in the Tetons and other places out west, but never Yosemite for some odd reason. (Lived in Tahoe for almost 3 years too... *sigh*) 

I'm looking for someone that is 100% stoked, psyched and jazzed about doing the Nose next year in 2022.  I'm not 100% certain my buddy is all in on the trip so that's why I'm looking for a 3rd.  

You'll need to be a STRONG 5.10 climber, have some big wall experience but more importantly have the willingness and desire to become a student of the route so we can succeed!  

Send me a msg or reply and we can talk.

Thanks!

Trae

Edit: I've created a Discord channel #thenose-2020 on our local Macon GA sub-reddit discord.  Just figured it'd be a great place for folks who are interested in doing this challenge.  So far I've had at least 5 people message me privately.  Kind of cool.  Maybe we could get a few teams going and all learn from and train with each other.   Even if you stumble upon this post a couple of months later feel free to join and @Trae me (It will ping my pc and phone).  Look forward to chatting and hopefully soon; climbing with you guys! Click this link to join: https://discord.gg/vYcjv5X 

My advice? Do it as a party of two, not three. Trust me. The extra food, water, gear etc is a hassle. The haul bag (or two) will be massive. The time spent hauling will eat hours upon hours. Getting to a ledge that requires sharing is doable with two, three can be a nightmare. 

Chris Watfordwrote:

My advice? Do it as a party of two, not three. Trust me. The extra food, water, gear etc is a hassle. The haul bag (or two) will be massive. The time spent hauling will eat hours upon hours. Getting to a ledge that requires sharing is doable with two, three can be a nightmare. 

Hey Chris!  LONG time no see ;)  Yeah, you are right about that.  My biggest fear is next year getting here and having 0 partners. :/  I'm not getting any younger and my window to do this thing is getting smaller and smaller.  

Quick questions since you are here...  do you think doing Traditions, New Diversions and the OR in a day would be decent prep for The Nose?  I know it's not even the same kind of climbing, and honestly with 28/29 pitches of C1 :/ yeah...  I want to TRY and be strong enough to free some of those pitches, but in all honesty aiding them will be quicker.   

Do you know of any routes in the SE that we could run laps on aiding to practice? 

Since we FINALLY have a climbing gym in Macon, I'm working on being able to climb 3000' in under 10 hours @ 5.10 in approach shoes. (We're grading fairly on the steep side in our gym so 5.10 there is actually quite close to real 5.10) Working on getting 5.12 redpoint this year and maintain that fitness level.  But even then I'm not under the illusion that I'll be strong enough to free even 1/2 of the pitches on The Nose, and as I mentioned, aiding might end up being way quicker. 

Thanks again for replying.  Great to "see" you!

Generally, in order to free climb fast on El Cap, you gotta get honed on Valley stone.  Aka, have the enduro and skill to climb endless feet on polished jams.  The best prep you can do is get your aid skills, hauling, switch over time, etc... Dialed in.

You might look into hiring a guide - likely cheaper than buying all the gear you’ll need then bailing.  Have them set up a minitrax and do some free climbing - likely way more than you’d do as a novice wall leader.

Curtis Bairdwrote:

Generally, in order to free climb fast on El Cap, you gotta get honed on Valley stone.  Aka, have the enduro and skill to climb endless feet on polished jams.  The best prep you can do is get your aid skills, hauling, switch over time, etc... Dialed in.

Thanks Bill.  Kinda my thoughts as to how it'll be.  As I mentioned before I doubt even if I get where I can climb a strong 5.12 it will prepare me for what I'd need to be able to do on polished stone.  Being able to move cleanly on aid, hauling etc is going to help much more than being able to work on my free climbing skillsets. 

Bill Schickwrote:

You might look into hiring a guide - likely cheaper than buying all the gear you’ll need then bailing.  Have them set up a minitrax and do some free climbing - likely way more than you’d do as a novice wall leader.

Can't tell if you are trying to be an asshole, sarcastic, discouraging or just plain mean. (or all) 

Hey Trae, long time for sure. I think anything you can do in the way of long routed would be helpful. not so much getting used to the same type of stone, because certainly valley granite is different than Whitesides, but going there and learning to changeover quickly, leading in blocks of pitches, maybe some hauling. getting fit so that fitness isn't an issue. I think the way it is recommended now is to climb straight through, no haul bags. Just climb through the night and day. However, most folks want to savor the experience - sleeping on ledges, hauling etc. Three is a real drag. Many people used to do it to divide up the leading and hauling, but in reality it adds complexity and weight.  

Bill Schickwrote:

You might look into hiring a guide - likely cheaper than buying all the gear you’ll need then bailing.  Have them set up a minitrax and do some free climbing - likely way more than you’d do as a novice wall leader.

It’s $6000 to be guided up the nose. You can buy a lot of gear for that and sell most of it when you’re done. Not to say that a guide is the wrong idea but it’s definitely the most expensive option. 

Trae McCombswrote:

Can't tell if you are trying to be an asshole, sarcastic, discouraging or just plain mean. (or all) 

None, my advice is the best.  Success is an honest assesment of yourself and the objective and finding a path based on that.

Bill Schickwrote:

None, my advice is the best.  Success is an honest assesment of yourself and the objective and finding a path based on that.

I’m not really sure what this “advice” is all about. The OP has plenty of experience and if he’s done things like the OR on Whitesides, he is plenty capable of climbing the Nose and doing a fair amount of free climbing en route, with the appropriate planning. I’m about the same age and don’t even consider myself a solid 5.10 climber. I’ve done a couple routes up El Cap and runs to Dolt. Sure I mostly aided and A0’ed but what he’s proposing to do isn’t all that extreme, and I’m not sure why it would warrant hiring a guide. He’ll want to free and A0 as much as possible to get it done, but also focus on practicing in and out of aid, hauling (assuming he’s hauling), and other wall logistics. Walls with 3 can be fun and efficient, although maybe free intensive walls that are often done in a push, like the Nose, maybe less so.

Bill Schickwrote:

None, my advice is the best.  Success is an honest assesment of yourself and the objective and finding a path based on that.

Got it, so OP was right with "all of them" 

Trae, perhaps go and do Glass Menagerie at Looking Glass. It will give the flavor of what you might encounter in many ways. Not so much the free climbing, but hanging belays, hauling, moving in and out of aiders etc. 

Chris Watfordwrote:

Trae, perhaps go and do Glass Menagerie at Looking Glass. It will give the flavor of what you might encounter in many ways. Not so much the free climbing, but hanging belays, hauling, moving in and out of aiders etc. 

Thanks so much Chris!  This is the type of advice I was looking for.  Appreciate it.  Heck, we could even run laps on it over and over...   Really appreciate you taking your time to reply.

Warriors wrote:

I've done El Cap a bunch of times in parties of  2, 3 and 4 (and just 1 lol)...really just depends on the 3 IME.  3 can work great. That's how the Bird, Long and Westbay first did NIAD for historical reference.

Yeah three works well if you Strategize it to play to the strengths.  Long was the best free climber, so he led the first block.  Westbay was a phenomenal aid and free climber (and doesn’t get nearly the recognition that he should), so he took the varied middle section.  Aid wizard Bridwell took the last.  

Bill Schickwrote:

You might look into hiring a guide - likely cheaper than buying all the gear you’ll need then bailing.  Have them set up a minitrax and do some free climbing - likely way more than you’d do as a novice wall leader.

Aww, how adorable. Bless your heart... you don't know any better.

csproulwrote:

I’ve done a couple routes up El Cap and runs to Dolt. 

This thread is kind of funny.  I'll assume you did E Buttress and bailed from Dolt, then?  Your tick list suggests just that. 

I am genuinely interested in the OP getting up El Cap, but I think the advice in this thread is absolutely worthless.  

When was the last time you were pinned to an all day route in the heat?  Climbed many 5.10 pitches with 20 lbs hanging off your body?  Anything east of the Front Range isn't going to prepare you for that - at all - for starters.

Again - w/o too many details - and going into the various levels of wrong, delusional and noobtastic presented here - consider the vast majority of guided ascents of El Cap are "pirate" - 10 or 20 to 1 I'd guess - so maybe consider it.  Most find someone they know, locally.  If you insist on making the journey on your own - that's great - but it's going to require some time - because you really need to climb some IV' and V's in the Valley first - as without, I'm putting your odds around zero on El Cap.  If you're 50+ and haven't already done so in your career - then I'm assuming this style and medium is not a priority for you but you want to climb El Cap anyway - which is a typical client - and I think you'd have a blast, with the right person.

Bill Schickwrote:

This thread is kind of funny.  I'll assume you did E Buttress and bailed from Dolt, then?  Your tick list suggests just that. 

I am genuinely interested in the OP getting up El Cap, but I think the advice in this thread is absolutely worthless.  

When was the last time you were pinned to an all day route in the heat?  Climbed many 5.10 pitches with 20 lbs hanging off your body?  Anything east of the Front Range isn't going to prepare you for that - at all - for starters.

Again - w/o too many details - and going into the various levels of wrong, delusional and noobtastic presented here - consider the vast majority of guided ascents of El Cap are "pirate" - 10 or 20 to 1 I'd guess - so maybe consider it.  Most find someone they know, locally.  If you insist on making the journey on your own - that's great - but it's going to require some time - because you really need to climb some IV' and V's in the Valley first - as without, I'm putting your odds around zero on El Cap.  If you're 50+ and haven't already done so in your career - then I'm assuming this style and medium is not a priority for you but you want to climb El Cap anyway - which is a typical client - and I think you'd have a blast, with the right person.

Nope, you’d assume wrong. I’m not a seasoned wall climber but have been up LF, the EB, and Dolt, RNWFHD, LT, and WC. I’ve also climbed extensively out here at the places the OP has accessible to train, including where I learned to aid climb...Looking Glass. The OP is climbing harder, bigger, and scarier stuff than I can. Yes, it’d be better if the OP was able to try smaller Yosemite walls first, but I can say pretty confidently that you don’t really have a clue what you’re talking about and that it is 100% doable for the OP to prepare for El Cap from out here and be successful. Easy, no, but the notion that he needs to be guided is just plain absurd.

csproulwrote:

Nope, you’d assume wrong.

Lol - sounds like I was nuts-on csproul - you made it 1/4 up the Nose after completing a pile of easy routes - now you're a mentor. 

Again, only because I'm right and quite confident in it - and I enjoy reading all these posts suggesting otherwise - I'll suggest again if the OP doesn't have the time to waste following in your footsteps - which ultimately lead to failure - he might consider finding someone willing to guide him.

Bill Schickwrote:

Lol - sounds like I was nuts-on csproul - you made it 1/4 up the Nose after completing a pile of easy routes - now you're a mentor. 

Again, only because I'm right and quite confident in it - and I enjoy reading all these posts suggesting otherwise - I'll suggest again if the OP doesn't have the time to waste following in your footsteps - which ultimately lead to failure - he might consider finding someone willing to guide him.

It’s ok if you need to feel smug to make yourself feel better. I didn’t fail in any of those routes. I got up my objective each time. I never attempted the Nose itself, never said I did. I’ve failed on other big routes and guess what, they were still great. The OP clearly isn’t looking to get to the top at any cost and by jugging up the route behind a guide , he’s asking for a partner and I’m sure is capable of dealing with the possibility of failure while climbing it on his own terms. Seems like some other pretty strong climbers here agree with me, e.g. Nate and Kevin, both of whom have some pretty impressive climbing resumes. 

csproulwrote:

...jugging up the route behind a guide 

That's your ego, the OP shares it, and I find it funny.  Nobody is suggesting jugging the route.  Even if 6k was TP to you, YMS would gladly belay you to freeclimb.  If you find someone "pirate" style - well, what actually happens is negotiable. No idea of the OP's connections, friends, etc - but at face value as a partner post for the Nose - his post here has little chance of attracting a qualified and experienced partner - and he'll need one...