Climbing the Nose of El Capitan this Fall? Help me dial in my new guide!

Please contact me at erik@yosemitebigwall.com if you have any questions about the Nose, or if you're willing to proofread the text content of my new Climb the Nose book (due out in spring '18). 

This book will have the killer Nose topo, Niad topo, Nose History, Nose Free History, historical photos and essays, plus all the modern beta to get you up there as naked as you want to be (Nose was climbed naked this year for the first time!).

Woot!

Erik Sloan

Rockclimbyosemite.com - Yosemitebigwall.com

I'm also in the process of setting up a climbing school near Yosemite, so happy to lend out gear if folks are interested in climbing the Nose but don't want to buy all the bigwall equipment.

I just went down to the base to check out the action. It was pretty quiet, just one party on the wall, but the smoke is pretty thick, and it is super humid today with clouds, which is unusual. Only one party on the Nose in September? Go For It!

I'd love to proof your text! I've proofed all of my sister's textbooks that she's written and would love to proofread something cool! Cheers!

Thanks for the interest gang! Email me at erik@yosemitebigwall.com for the link. We're all beginners in some areas of life, so I love to hear what people connect to in books and what doesn't make sense. 

Woot

Erik

1) what will differentiate this book from chris macnamara's "road to the nose" e-book? 

http://www.supertopo.com/packs/road2nose.html

2) How is the climbing school going to work given the rules surrounding guiding in the valley? 

Hi Mpech,

Good questions! 

Have you used ST's 'Road to the Nose'? What did you find useful about it? I've been climbing here every year for twenty three years and I haven't met anyone at or on El Cap that says they used that old ebook, but I'd love to hear what worked in it. The current guides to climbing the Nose are arguably not that effective, because there is still a massive failure rate. 

This book will address everything about climbing the Nose - where to park, whether or not to fix ropes, how to deal with other parties, what group and personal items to bring, and also contain tons of historical info and pictures, from Glen Denny, Tom Frost, Lynn Hill, and all the modern badass photags like Corey Rich and Jimmy Chin. 

This will be a print book, proally with a bunch of free videos that compliment, so hopefully that will make it more usable than an ebook.

The new climbing school will not do guiding, at least not initially, in the park, so we should have no problems there. 

I have gotten a ton of good questions and inquiries from this post. I"m always excited to hear about folks adventures leading up to the Big STone, and from their ascents. Keep it coming!

Woot!

Erik Sloan

Rockclimbyosemite.com - Yosemitebigwall.com

Will this book guarantee my summit?  asking for a friend.

For sure! So stoked to see the enthusiasm for this book. It is really going to be incredible. Please spread the word if you know anyone going up on the Nose, as I have the most updated topo available too. 

Some friends suggested that I should put my bio on here, so here's a rough, off the cuff version(no handy pic - just another white dude with brown hair, haha):

I've climbed El Cap 102 times, via the Nose around 25 times and many of those 'regular' 3 - 4 day ascents. I've lived and worked in Yosemite since 2002, but been bigwall climbing here every year since 1994. I love this place! I super duper love Bigwall Climbing! In 1997 Chris McNamara (then 17!) and I revived an old rebolting project started by Steve Sutton in 1995 called the American Safe Climbing Association, and I have replaced, with my awesome partners, over 2,000 old bolts mostly on bigwall climbs here in Yosemite since (I'm no longer associated with the ASCA, which has taken on a broader, national scope, and am in the process of forming a Yosemite-specific nonprofit to continue fixing up routes, which are unfortunately still pretty bad off). 

So I have a ton of experience here, but for me this project is special: the Nose is the most amazing route I can think of, anywhere. It is the coolest climb, and every climber should climb it - even if it's just the Pineline Nose (a couple pitches of 5.7 and 5.9 below the base of the Nose that give you awesome exposure and pictures). I'm psyched to help people climb the Nose because it is complicated, and I had to learn over twenty years ago when there was no guides, no internet, etc. The Nose is difficult, but accessible to the average climber. The current success rate is around 40 - 45%. So my hope is, with a better how-to guide, and better equipment (that people can borrow), I hope we can get that up significantly!

I got into bigwall climbing because I had many injuries as a young sport climber. Bigwall climbing uses big muscle groups, so is easier on the joints, so I stick to the 5.9 and easier climbs and the bigwalls, and my back stays happy and healthy.   

I got an English degree, but otherwise don't have any qualifications for writing the guidebooks to Yosemite, which is something you more fall into because people in your community beg you to take the project on, haha, and guidebooks don't really have that much to do with English anyway, well body english I guess as it is mostly all topos, lines on the page. I became the modern guidebook author here in Yosemite because I was frustrated that there was not a comprehensive bigwall resource. I started drawing topos and in 2008 made a website and put them online for free, until I collected enough to publish, with Roger Putnam, Yosemite Bigwalls: The Complete Guide (which is available as an updated pdf ebook for $10, so basically free;). 

 I'm always sharing with the awesome visitors of Yosemite, either about the climbing history or routes, or about the amazing spots to drink deep from this mountain paradise. I work at the Yosemite Lodge Bar, in the evenings.  

Someone asked how my Climb the Nose guide would be different from Chris McNamara's Road to the Nose. RthN was made by Chris in the early 2000s, when he was in his early 20s. Over the years the material was not refined, through talking to students and trying different didactic strategies, and that is really no surprise as Chris, at that time, had no teaching experience that I can recall (Chris lives in Tahoe now, and hasn't climbed regularly in Yosemite for over a decade, and we're no longer close).

I've been trying to make it down to El Cap each day to check out the scene. Thank you for your interest, and I look forward to meeting many of you at or on the Big Stone!

Woot!

Erik  

Great bio, Eric. Thanks for posting. I've seen your posts, but never knew your background. Gives perspective to man behind the guidebook. 

Woot!

Erik

Well the smoke cleared pretty good today, and the action on the Captain is pretty slow. I just went down to the meadow and base, and it was pretty perfect!

Nose: One party fixing to Sickle, and one bailing from the Stovelegs, one in the Grey Bands, and two topping out. Pretty much wide open!

Muir: one team at the top of the dihedral, top out tonight.

Salathe: Didn't see anyone. Crazy!

New Dawn / Tribal Rite: The hilarious and talenty Andy Kirkpatrick has a posse headed up this. They were working low but looked good. 

Mescalito: What? No one on Mescalito in September? Crazy how good that route is, ten years ago would have a party on every pitch for the first seven or so.

NA Wall: Empty

Tangerine Trip / Zodiac : A couple teams topped out yesterday, and I didn't see anyone there today. Crazy good up on the wall, all breezy and perfect. Get after it!

Woot!

Erik

(I'm no longer associated with the ASCA, which has taken on a broader, national scope, and am in the process of forming a Yosemite-specific nonprofit to continue fixing up routes, which are unfortunately still pretty bad off). 

Hi Erik, 

Like you, I love Yosemite deeply and feel that it's worth protecting in every way. That's a good baseline for mutual understanding and respect. You and I have never met, and if/when we do I'll bear you zero ill will.  

But, unless my understanding of you and your actions changes, I'll never support your commercial endeavors, or support you as a representative custodian or steward of Yosemite climbing, because I've learned about your bolting ethics through threads similar to this one. 

In your quote above, you are vague about why you're no longer associated with the ASCA. My understanding is that it's because of your poor bolting ethics. I feel that when I've seen you called out for clear and egregious breaches in Yosemite community standards, you refuse to take responsibility and instead employ a number of easily recognizable and, frankly, embarrassing deflections (others do it too, I'm supported by the vast and silent majority, etc etc).

When I get on climbing websites, it's for climbing stuff, not interpersonal drama bullshit - so I've never waded into this stuff.

But, if I hadn't learned about your ethics from others in just such threads, I wouldn't have known who I would have been supporting and what values they espouse. I think it's important, which is I guess why I'm responding here to one of your self-promotional posts. Hope you won't mistake my response for one of the rabid attacks I've seen you absorb elsewhere - it's not that. It's also important to me to acknowledge that you've done a shit-ton of valuable bolt replacement work, which I appreciate. I do think owning past mistakes and committing to a change going forward could do a lot.

Peace to you.

Hi Sirius,

Interesting post. What exactly are you tweaked about - like routes you've climbed, etc.?

This thread is about the Nose route on El Cap, which has about 40% success rate right now. This is not a self-promotional post, as anyone who has ever made a guidebook can chip in here and assure you that you could make far more working at am/pm for minimum wage than you will ever earn from a guidebook. I'm making a book to help people climb El Cap because I have had a lot of fun climbing the mountain, and would like to see more people succeed.

Here's a good question: what's the hardest pitch on the Nose for the average, 5.9 / 5.10 leading, party?

Woot! E

I think a comprehensive updated book would be great for the climbing world.

Setting expectations in the book will be really helpful. A "5.9" climber might be able to do all the moves on the nose but might not know all the logistics involved. Photos of the logistic crux pitches would be helpful. Things like traversing cracks aren't typically practiced by many climbers.

Also, it would be helpful to know the crux styles to practice on while at a home crag. Which pitches can be really difficult for short people and which techniques can they use to solve it, etc. Are there pitches that are more accident prone than others? If possible, including a few AAC accident reports on the Nose would be enlightening for people.

For gear beta, would be helpful to give in different brands like Metolius.

Erik Sloan wrote:

Best

Matt

Pitch breakdown is pretty sweet. Pictures are always appreciated. 

Specific pitch beta, and common mistakes to avoid is super helpful. Put as much of that in as possible.