Salathe-Ledge to Ledge

Last year after doing Freerider we had to rap the route to get all of our stashed goodies on the route and we went down the Salathe headwall. Rapping this pitch sparked a psych for a route that I have never had before so this pitch as been in the back of my head for over a year now. When I got out to the Valley this season I began working this route right away and it was not easy. I had to slog my 200 meter cord up to the top with all my other sleeping stuff but it was all well worth the work. After numerous working sessions I put it down first go on lead and was amazingly stoked. The more work you put into a route the greater the reward and this was no exception to that rule. Luckily for Miah and myself he came out to shoot the send and here are some pics of me on the headwall and the sick roof pitch below. Now Cody Sims and I are heading up on Saturday to go from the ground and I just hope the weather is not too hot for us but it should be ok.

P.S. one shot is of the A5 traverse

Freerider in a day

Doing Freerider in a day has been on my mind since I sent the route last year. I think almost everyone that frees an El Cap line thinks of doing it in a day after they send. Finding someone that is psyched to give up 2 days (the support day and a rest day) to support you seems to be difficult. On a rest day on El Cap Bridge I was talking to Mason about how i was supper psyched to try Freerider in a day and he expressed interest in doing it as well. So we pounded fists and just like that we both had our jugging bitches to give freeing El Cap in a day a shot. Last Monday 6/7 I worked the headwall and then the next day Mason and Clay came up to the top to rap the Freerider to get the pitches dialed. The upper corner was still a little wet but after this extremely wet spring the wetness does not affect me because it is almost expected. The boulder problem is completely dry and there is a new "aggressively cleaned" undercling/pocket. I still used the double dyno beta but the pocket makes it a bit easier to set up. Ideally I would have liked to take two rest days before I went for the rig but my friend Miah is coming into town on the 12th and he is amped to shoot at the top of the Captain so I just took one rest day. On Thursday Mason and I woke up at 2 A.M. and started climbing at 3:30 for some reason it always takes longer than you think to get started. This was going to be my first time having someone jugging for me and being my full on supporter as well as being my first time short fixing. We ran up Freeblast in 2 hours or less and were at the Alcove in 4.5 hours. I was psyched for the reason that i was hoping for 5-6 hours to the Alcove and I thought that was ambitious. We took a 20 min. break and eat some food and pizzed some stashed water but little did we know there was a cluster of all clusters on the Spire. I got to the Spire and no one had started climbing but they would not let me pass. Another party started climbing and took there time leading the OW and i got antsy and just started climbing behind him. There where 7 ropes going up this pitch at the same time WTF. After this we where out in front and ready to keep up out pace. At The Boulder Problem i could feel my core was a bit week and made the technical part more difficult but I redialed it in and sent 3rd try. The Sewer pitch was dripping like made so I made the choice to go shirtless to keep my shirts dry. At parts i would reach up for a hand jam and water would be streaming down my arm and the rest of my body. I got more pumped on this pitch than any so far. At the top i shivered and shook all my energy away. The climbing after felt much harder. The corner pitches went well and I had to hang out a while on the 12a traverse at the end and try to figure out what to do but I sent. It was an amazing day and I finished in 12:30 so i was supper stoked on that since I was estimating that 15 hours would be good for me. We made it down in plenty of time for ice cream, Cobras, and Pizza. Thank you so much Mason for being such a bad ass jugger and supporter you killed it and busted your ass for me and I really appreciate it. I will do the same for you in a few day when you CRUSH IT.