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Mescalito VI, A3 / C3, 5.7 (5.10d) The “grand” of the trade routes on El Cap other trad routes: the nose salathé the shield triple direct zodiac (cleaned) lurking fear tangerine trip etc. |
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character |
26 pitches, ledges: anchorage(5), bismark(18),
beleay 19, belay 23 21 hanging belays, pitch 21 perhaps A3+ if
fixed gear blown |
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long, sustained, immaculate rock, goes
hammerless with lots of aliens (blue to red) and off-set aliens, perfect
hauling, great anchors (3 – 5 bolts on every
belay, much better equipped than The Nose) much wind (gusty) after
13:00 p.m. until 19:00 p.m. |
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CD |
Slightshow on CD featuring both teams, approx.
90 pictures |
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DVD |
DVD covers the full climb of Mescalito (approx. 75 minutes !) … it rocks Contact: h.wurzer@web.de |
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Date of climb |
19. – 25th September 2005 |
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Teams |
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report |
by Henry Wurzer, see more on this website of same author |
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Prior to the 19th of September I started with fixing
by by soloing the first 2 pitches, then Toto came
into the valley and we fixed together pitch 3 and 4. From there 3 ropes to
ground. On next day I returned and solo fixed the 5th pitch to |
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Henry jugging 1st pitch from ground, right pic: Henry doing the 3rd
pitch (up right thrones seagull and molar traverse) |
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Henry cleaning pitch 4 in the afternoon during the fixing
process |
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day 1 |
So, early we headed to the base with some more stuff (sleeping bags,
food, stove etc..) and lowered the bags hanging above ground (the bears took
out earlier all Gatorade, but left the water) and repacked them for the final
push. Leo Burke helped us with toilet-paper and matches. We jugged and hauled
the bags (using 2 haul lines and 2 traxions) to |
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Henry cleaning the seagull-pitch cleaning the seagull traverse
– the point of no return ! |
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day 2 |
On Tuesday, the 20th, we woke up late - a little bit tired
from yesterday’s work. We managed at this day to belay 10 with no
nailing at these pitches by using our offset aliens. Toto led the two C3
pitches. At this day lot of clouds covered the sky, so it was a little bit
cold, but good for climbing and in the late afternoon the coulds formed to a
storm, which started the at about 18:00. Luckily we were on belay 10 and
managed to set up the rainfly and the portaledge when the first rain hit us.
The Spaniards were not that lucky, testing their rain gear they still were in
best mood. |
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Eduardo jugging and Castillo cleaning pitch 7, Manu cleaning
pitch 9
Toto enjoying the portaledge-rainfly-shelter while Henry cook ramen-noodle-soup,
we stayed dry while outside lightning and rain played their epic game |
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day 3 |
Next day came up with perfect |
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Henry hooking to the right on pitch 11 to the big half-moon
crack before the Molar Traverse
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It appeared that we were not the fastest climbers since we could
not manage to do more than 3 pitches a day. Also making a video coverage of
the climb took away time resp. slowed down our progress. But considering the
film material we got, it was worthwile to spend 1 or 2 more days on the wall.
At belay 13, which resides over a sloping 5.4 ledge, we prepared for the next
night and enjoyed the fading light on the portaledge. |
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day 4 |
We had a good night and got up early. The sleeping bag was so cosy,
so it took us a while to get ready after breakfast with hot coffee, bagel
with cream cheese etc….Toto had to do bad work in the chimney above us
(5.9 free), which he aided – it was a groaner. After that I took on to
the rivet ladder with some hooks in between and got to the anchors below the
1 /2 pitch rivet ladder. Toto started off with some aliens and after 25 feet
a lot of rivet hangers were placed. The belay was on blank wall over and the
portaledge hang perfectly. This was our 4th bivy. Below us we
could see during the day the Spaniards working their way up. Communication
was not possible, the wind was blowing too much
after noon. Like on the days before Toto used to shout his special “cry
for joy”into the air and along the walls, which sounded like an intense
coyote (oooooouuuuuuuuhhhhh ….), which came out randomly and was always
a surprise in the calm realms of rock. As we were higher up, the stonemonkeys
special cry “uuuuuhhhhhh” had no response anymore.
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day 5 |
The 5th day started nicely with a rivet ladder
followed by thin cracks leading to a horizontal roof, above which was the first
stance since long. Reaching this belay I first enjoyed the rest of my feet on
some small horizontal features and was happy to see above the Bismark ledge.
Toto blitzed this pitch up to Bismark. When we reached the plush Bismark
ledge, we sat down and enjoyed the grand view around us. There were 2 gallons
of water left by others, so I took some water and took a shower in the bright
sun. We rested about 2 hours and as the head of an Spanish climber appeared
on the belay below we knew it was time to do the “bismark”,
actually a beautiful pitch with a 5.10d off-width at the end (or aid with
7-10” cams). Toto made a good job there, the pitch is an aid beauty,
and above is a good ledge too. We fixed this pitch and the next one to the
bolts midway after a tension traverse. We rapped down and enjoyed the rest of
the day on Bismark. The Spaniards meanwhile arrived there too, so we had much
talk and fun. We relaxed and prepared our bivy, but they went on to fix
Bismark as well. Since they were 3 and could better share the work, they were
faster than we. So we decided to let them pass, what finally resulted that we
stuck together for the last pitches. |
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Enoying the plush Bismark ledge day and night |
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day 6 |
Early in the morning Manu and Edu of the Spaniards jugged up and
Manu finished my pitch 20. Meanwhile we all lay on the ledge of belay 19 in
the sun, ready for going on. Castillo started for pitch 21 and the pitch
turned out to be the one of most difficult on the whole climb, however it
took him long, so we were in the aiders at the belay for quite a time. Due to
this enforced delay we jugged the next to pitches and prepared the portledge on belay 22,
which we reached before sunset. Edu of the Spaniards led the next pitch in
the night and so they slept on belay 23, which has a good, slightly sloping
ledge. |
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On belay 19 – hanging out while Manu is finishing pitch
20. below: Castillo cleaning this pitch
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day 7 |
We woke up the next morning, our 7th day on the wall
now and somehow the prospect of topping out today made me happy as I had no
good climbing mood today ….. |
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Last pitch to go …. and a bolt ladder leads to the top
Relaxing, chilling out – the wall is bagged,
yooohooo…. we ate up all the food what was left – the pigs were still
murder to bring down. A restful night on flat ground awaited us, but
…we had weather in |
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A cool rock adventure, which we never
forget, has finally come to an end …… 5 days ahead of us a spanish climber named David soloed
Mescalito taking 10 days of fun |
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gear |
We brougth more than we used (which is no fault) and in 1
instance we had too little Too little: 1 x #6 cam or pink trango tube for pitch #19, unless
you like to free-climb (8m 5.10d) and bring extra climbing shoes for one Too much: pitons Usual big wall equipment: 1 double portaledge + fly, 2 haulbags,
2 haul-lines, 2 wallhaulers, 1 x 10,5 mm 60 m supersafe mammut lead rope CCH aliens: 3 black(smallest), 4 blue, 8 green, 8 yellow, 6 red,
3 orange, 3 violett, 2 black CCH aliens offset: 3 blue-green, 3 green-yellow (very handy
those – avoids hammering) Other cams: 3 of each #2,5 – 4, 1x #4,5, 1 x #5 Nuts: 6 of each small HB offsets, 6 of medium HB offsets, 3 of
big HB offsets, 3-4 bigger normal nuts Rivet hangers: 15 chinching Copper heads: 5 of each small, medium and big (never used, but
some have to be replaced soon) Pitons: 3-4 of each small angles, medium angles, small and
medium lost arrows Bolt kit, rivets: none, we brought a fishing-rod-cheater-stick
in case of emergency Biners: all in all about 100 and additional 20 screwers and 2
swivels Runners: ca. 20 Others: ascenders, helmet, harness, first aid kit, stove + gas,
rain gear, windstopper, sleeping bag, shit tube etc.. |
