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So 19 days straight up on the wall? How do they get supplies and food etc? I guess other people let it down to them? Do they just go to the bathroom into the

by bobbles 12y ago

So 19 days straight up on the wall? How do they get supplies and food etc? I guess other people let it down to them? Do they just go to the bathroom into the wind or is this controlled? I feel like many questions about climbing a wall for 19 days are not answered!

schmichael 12y ago
The logistics were pretty insane as you can probably imagine and for that reason alone this ascent probably won't be duplicated for many years. There were sponsors, film crews, friends who ran up supplies, etc. Lots of questions remain unanswered because lots of logistics are involved in such undertakings. Bathroom is "controlled" as you say. Solid waste is packed out. Tom Evans posted daily updates here with a lot more detail: http://www.elcapreport.com/ http://www.elcapreport.com/
codezero 12y ago
In addition to what others have said, they maintained a base camp at ~1200 feet, where they would repel to after each climbing session. I presume they raised and lowered food/gear to there.
- mkingston 12y ago
  Not trying to nitpick, but in case anyone's uncertain (and searching doesn't help), what the parent here means is "rappel" instead of "repel".
  - codezero 12y ago
    Can I blame auto-correct? Thanks for pointing this out!
ojbyrne 12y ago
This article (which is linked from that page) answers many of your questions: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/06/sports/on-el-capitans-dawn-wall-climbers-downtime-is-surprisingly-routine.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/06/sports/on-el-capitans-dawn... Short answer is they returned to their base camp every day, and then went back to their previous progress via ropes.
- pimlottc 12y ago
  Huh, something is strange with the page you linked; I can't scroll down in any way, in three different browsers.
  - thezilch 12y ago
    If your savvy about browser's dev tools, uncheck "overflow: hidden" on the body tag. Presumably you block 3rd party / advertising JS? I've noticed more and more sites that break (and maybe intentionally?) with 3rd party JS disabled.
    - pimlottc 12y ago
      I noticed that too, odd. I guess there is some js that's supposed to disable that after pageload. I wasn't using any blockers, though.
    - MarkSweep 12y ago
      Another way to get around this sort of thing in Firefox is to disable styles on the page. From the menus it's View -> Page Style -> None. On Windows the keyboard accelerator is ALT-V-Y-N.
npsimons 12y ago
Disclaimer: I have yet to do a big wall climb, but I've done a fair few multi-pitch single day routes, and I know people who have done big wall climbs. Typically it's assumed that "big wall" means you spend at least one night sleeping on the wall, and therefore the logistics change, as you rightly wondered. You have to have extra gear to set anchors for your port-a-ledge (for sleeping), and usually extra ropes for your haul-bag (full of gear such as port-a-ledges, food, water, etc). The haul-bag is necessary because you will very quickly tire if you had to carry everything needed for the entire trip while climbing. Once you get to a safe position between pitches, you can haul the haul bag up. For waste management, a typical solution is a 3-4ft, 4in diameter PVC tube capped at one end and modified to be able to be clipped into an anchor, and you pack out everything, for the same reason they require you to pack out everything on the Whitney trail: it's just rude to dump that stuff on the route, and there are so many people there that it would turn into the equivalent of a vertical Victorian street (ie, covered in feces). I've not followed this particular ascent very closely, but I assume it went along the same lines, just with more gear and a bigger support network (much like sherpas for Himalayan mountaineering or marathon support crews).

by bobbles 12y ago

schmichael 12y ago

The logistics were pretty insane as you can probably imagine and for that reason alone this ascent probably won't be duplicated for many years. There were sponsors, film crews, friends who ran up supplies, etc. Lots of questions remain unanswered because lots of logistics are involved in such undertakings. Bathroom is "controlled" as you say. Solid waste is packed out. Tom Evans posted daily updates here with a lot more detail: http://www.elcapreport.com/ http://www.elcapreport.com/

codezero 12y ago

In addition to what others have said, they maintained a base camp at ~1200 feet, where they would repel to after each climbing session. I presume they raised and lowered food/gear to there.

mkingston 12y ago
Not trying to nitpick, but in case anyone's uncertain (and searching doesn't help), what the parent here means is "rappel" instead of "repel".
- codezero 12y ago
  Can I blame auto-correct? Thanks for pointing this out!

ojbyrne 12y ago

This article (which is linked from that page) answers many of your questions: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/06/sports/on-el-capitans-dawn-wall-climbers-downtime-is-surprisingly-routine.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/06/sports/on-el-capitans-dawn... Short answer is they returned to their base camp every day, and then went back to their previous progress via ropes.

pimlottc 12y ago
Huh, something is strange with the page you linked; I can't scroll down in any way, in three different browsers.
- thezilch 12y ago
  If your savvy about browser's dev tools, uncheck "overflow: hidden" on the body tag. Presumably you block 3rd party / advertising JS? I've noticed more and more sites that break (and maybe intentionally?) with 3rd party JS disabled.
  - pimlottc 12y ago
    I noticed that too, odd. I guess there is some js that's supposed to disable that after pageload. I wasn't using any blockers, though.
  - MarkSweep 12y ago
    Another way to get around this sort of thing in Firefox is to disable styles on the page. From the menus it's View -> Page Style -> None. On Windows the keyboard accelerator is ALT-V-Y-N.

npsimons 12y ago

Disclaimer: I have yet to do a big wall climb, but I've done a fair few multi-pitch single day routes, and I know people who have done big wall climbs. Typically it's assumed that "big wall" means you spend at least one night sleeping on the wall, and therefore the logistics change, as you rightly wondered. You have to have extra gear to set anchors for your port-a-ledge (for sleeping), and usually extra ropes for your haul-bag (full of gear such as port-a-ledges, food, water, etc). The haul-bag is necessary because you will very quickly tire if you had to carry everything needed for the entire trip while climbing. Once you get to a safe position between pitches, you can haul the haul bag up. For waste management, a typical solution is a 3-4ft, 4in diameter PVC tube capped at one end and modified to be able to be clipped into an anchor, and you pack out everything, for the same reason they require you to pack out everything on the Whitney trail: it's just rude to dump that stuff on the route, and there are so many people there that it would turn into the equivalent of a vertical Victorian street (ie, covered in feces). I've not followed this particular ascent very closely, but I assume it went along the same lines, just with more gear and a bigger support network (much like sherpas for Himalayan mountaineering or marathon support crews).