Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Northwest Face Of Half Dome

A recent on day climb of Half Dome, started inauspiciously:

There were plenty of reasons to not go. Besides the obvious fact that neither of us has

ever climbed anything this big and committing, we somehow managed to only bring 7 quickdraws on a route notorious for its amount of fixed pro. The prospect of going on a 2200 wall, sleep deprived, inexperienced and ill equipped just seemed like a really bad idea.

The prospect of telling my friends ‘ugh… we decided not to do it.’ however, was even more depressing.”

 

They’re exhausted after 17 pitches, but the prospect of having to “man cuddle” on a bivvy ledge, drove them on.

Very proud of themselves, they got back to camp and heard their friends had just completed both El Cap and Half Dome in one day.. They learn a hard lesson:

And that’s the thing I love about climbing…No matter how proud you think your achievement is, in reality, you are just a huge bitch.”

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