[Unintentional] Alpine Big Walling
It was late November, a huge snowstorm blanketed Yosemite Valley, weather was looking bleak, many climbers had left the valley for sunnier and more desert-like climates. But Mike Holmes, Kyle Higby and I saw a weather window and decided to make the most of some free time and attempt Freerider, a route on El Capitan. This is the same route that was made famous by Alex Honnold when he soloed it without a rope in his famous movie Free Solo.
The group goal was to support my buddy Mike in his attempt to free climb the route (using a rope but not weighting it). I was in need of a vacation from my 9-5 desk job, so when he asked if I'd be interested in supporting his attempt, I was in. A two-day marathon drive from Seattle to Yosemite in my trusty minivan and we were packing up our gear in Church Bowl to blast up the next day.
We were the first ones to climb up this route after the prolonged snowstorm that had passed through and blanketed the valley the previous week, so much of the chalk was washed away, obscuring the path forward. This made for a unique experience. It’s the first time I’ve ever brought a metal shovel on a big wall with me. It was crucial to shoveling out the bivy spots that had about 3’ of snow covering out sleeping spots. For Mike, he also had to figure out almost all of the moves on his own, without relying on previously-chalked up beta.
We spent a total of 6.5 days and 5 nights on El Capitan. 13/30+ the pitches were seeping and wet, our shoes would be soaked by the end of the day, such that we’d sleep with them close to our chests inside our sleeping bags in an attempt to dry them out for the next day.
Due to the late November ascent we had waning hours of daylight and climbed through the night most days, getting to camp late and tired. Mike had a nasty post-covid lingering cough that would result in full-body coughs while he was sending 5.13. I’d never seen such grit and human perseverance on a rock climb. Despite these less than ideal sending conditions, Mike was able to push through in a monumental effort and top out Freerider at the end of day 6!
There was not much time for celebration as we were all dreading the descent and the sun was dipping below the horizon.
The walk off the top of El Cap down the East Ledges and slabs in thigh-deep snow, with over a hundred pounds of gear on our backs, proved to be one of the more terrifying parts of the whole climb. There’s not much footage of this section, but trying to post-hole on steep slab with a haul bag, on icy sections that were no-fall zones wiped out the last of our energies. We stumbled onto the valley floor and to the minivan absolutely destroyed.
Three large pizzas and pitchers of beers from the Pizza deck later, the cramps in our quads were letting up, the aches and scrapes were washed with hot water and we were starting to fondly reminisce about a week of vacation well spent.
Author: Natalie Afonina, an alpine climber and roboticist living in the USA
Find her on Instagram @nat_exploring or www.natexploring.com