This years OR Summer show was fast paced for me.

I went in the show and my first stop was the CRKT booth. 

They had only one extra sample of the NIAD knife

NIAD = Nose In A Day Knife

that I would be launching the following day. I had one person in mind that might be in the convention center who would be the most deserving of receiving that sample. Someone who did the very first NIAD. I sent out a text to John Long, and he replied with an affirmative and gave me his location.

En route to meet John I hydrated up at the NUUN booth and caught John among the various climbing vendors. He was delighted to receive the knife. John, with NIAD in hand, could not resist messing around with some wonky posses.

Next up I went down to Outdoor Research  to check in on pack and glove designs with Megan.  

Coolest thing coming out is light subtle belay gloves! -Zero breaking in time. I love em. After a getting a few updates on pack designs and some feedback from Megan on gloves, I moved on to the Access Fund Booth to chat with Tim about AF matters.

In the early afternoon I met with Everett from LaSportiva  and he walked me through the line of new shoes coming out. I’m probably a bit unexciting on this front in that I just love their existing shoes in the line. TC Pros for Yosemite climbing, Xplorers and Gandas for approaches, and Katana velcros for the gym.

I touched base with Daniel over at Tenkara USA  out in the Pavilion. They make the coolest, simplest, and most effective fishing rods you’ve ever handled. (or I’ve handled)

After the show I headed down to REI  in Mill Creek to give a show about my travels with Erik Weihenmayer and adventures in Yosemite. Wonderful little crowd that had great questions. - So cool that an REI is right next to a Momentum Climbing Gym.

After the show it was off to Steve Edward’s home for some CRKT TomaHawk throwing!

Thursday morning started off with a core and exercise class at 7:30 at Momentum in MillCreek.  Then a swing by Massif Gym to chat with an old climbing partner Nick Fowler.

1pm took me to the Blue Water Ropeshttps://bluewaterropes.com/  booth to sign “Speed Climb” books which Falcon had generously donated. A fun list of folks came by including but not limited to: Lynn Hill, Libby Sauter, Chantel Astorga, Konstantin who gave me this wonderful handmade knife, Mike Gauthier from Yosemite Park, John Spalding from Falcon books, Tommy Caldwell, and a host of others.

CRKT’s launch of my new knifes was to take place at 2pm at their booth. The number of people coming by was fantastic.  Sean from GearJunkie came by the booth and let me walk him through the design features of the knives. Sean said we were in the running for the “Best in Show Award!” That was cool just to be considered.

I was busy for two hours at the CRKT booth showing the knives to people coming and going. Just as I was packing up to leave Sean came back by and had a huge Best in Show Poster Board Certificate to award us for the NIAD knife! Wow what a great honor.

Thursday evening was a night out to dinner, drinking, and deserts with the CRKT team to celebrate the launch of the knives and the winning of the award. Still feeling really great that we were recognized and at the same time know that the design had many influences from others. –Notably Trango’s Piranha.

Friday morning was an 8:30 am class at Momentum in MillCreek again. I bopped around from Honey Stinger, to Petzl, to Slingfin, to the AAC, to CRKT, OBOZ, Leki, Nuun, DFX, a noon break with Yoga Slackers. I found out about the crazy samples available in the pavilion out in the lot. – Every manner of: chew, bar, cookie, gel, drink, trail mix, jerky, and shot was available for sampling! Glad I skipped lunch! A must visit area at every show.

I had to leave the show early for a 6pm show down at the Momentum gym in Sandy. I was sharing “Hans’s version of The Race For The Nose.”  The following folks gave stuff to give out at the event, which raised funds for The Access Fund: DFXsports, Nite Ize, Honey Stinger, NUUN, CRKT, Outdoor Retailer, and Falcon Books. After the show a few climbers hung out and went over the beta on The Nose in anal detail with me. Totally geeking out about how to prepare, plan, and execute it. – Loved It!  I stuck around and attempted the wicked hard cracks they have at the gym and did a little bouldering. To cap the night off I threw a token few Tomahawks back at the Edwards establishment.

 Looking forward to the next OR show.

Women in My Life...

Since it is Women's History Month I thought I'd share  some thoughts about the women in my life on International Women's Day.

Jacki on the Pancake Flake,(23rd pitch on The Nose).

First and foremost my wife of 15 years, Jacqueline Adams Florine. Our first date was a hike up to Half Dome, climbed Snake Dike, then descended the Death Slabs!  Jacki was a NY climbing guide when I met her. She quickly became proficient on big walls despite her 'short cliff up-bringing' in the Shawangunks. Within four years of climbing in the West, she soloed The Leaning Tower, Lurking Fear and was the first woman to solo The Nose. An accomplishment that waited 12 years for another woman to repeat. (She also climbed a number of walls with other women and men.) A few years later Jacki became the first woman to climb all 14 of the California 14ers continuously, in under 10 days. A feat I had done years earlier with two other male partners. Jacki did it alone, pairing up with numerous partners who had to tag team to keep up with her. I tagged along with her for the Palisades range traverse*, which bags five 14ers in one sweep. We did it car-to-car in under 20 hours, I don't know of any other woman that has done that. 


Women 'Pre-Jacki:'

Top of Wolf's Head after climbing 20 classics in 20 days.

In the 90s I tried to send The Link Up** with a male partner and failed. Then I got closer to getting it with my friend, Abby Watkins. I finally did my first Link Up successfully with Nancy Feagin. Nancy and Sue McDevitt were the first woman's team to climb NIAD (Nose in a Day) in 1992. Another incredible climbing adventure I did with Nancy in 1993 was ascending all 20 of Steck and Roper's 20 classics in 20 days. 



In 1992, the year before Lynn Hill freed The Nose, she ran up it in under 10 hours with me. Amazing in that while we did it so fast Lynn was actually scoping it for the free climbing possibilities for the following year.

Incidentally, I've climbed El Cap with over 20 different women. In the fall of 2013 I did my only jug less one-day ascent of The Nose with Hazel Findley. Her preference! I have had the pleasure of climbing with incredible climbers, Bobbi Bensmen, Alison Osius/Benge, Tori Allen, Beth Rodden, and a good number of other women. The women I didn't list, should know I appreciate being able to adventure with them.

I feel very fortunate to have adventured with the above women and others. I learned something from each of them and because of it accomplished some of my best adventures. I hope you all get to climb with an incredible woman or three in March! To learn more about women in climbing, check out this great AAC article.

L to R. My sister, Roberta, Niece, Heather, Mom, Maryann, Daughter, Marianna, and Jacki.

Currently there are three special women in my life; my wife Jacki, my daughter Marianna and my mom, Maryann. I likely wouldn't have ever had the opportunity to pursue a non-conformist lifestyle of being a full-time climber in the 90s without the incredible support of my mom. I found a great picture with all three of my special women plus two other women in my life (my sister Roberta and niece Heather). It was taken at my mom's wedding last year. She married her teenage sweetheart after not communicating for over 50 years, but that's another blog post for another time...

Until next time!

*The "Full Palisade Traverse" includes The Middle Palisade, which Jacki did with Peter Coward. I was too tired to do that with her and the rest of the traverse on a separate day.
** "The Linkup" is climbing the Regular NW face route of Half Dome and The Nose of El Capitan in 24 hours. To date I think only three women have done that.

Get out of the Ditch

Yep, it has multiple meanings. I think I first heard Yosemite referred to as "The Ditch" by the blasphemous Gregory Crouch. The second meaning of "The Ditch" is a substitution for "The Grind," "the 40 hour work week," or "The City."

Wednesday (hump day), I finished with a days' work managing Diablo Rock Gym. Headed to the high school to pick up my daughter from track and field practice then dropped her off at her Spanish evening class. I headed home to share a dinner bite with my wife, catch up with my son and throw some clothes in a bag for my Thursday climb. By 6:30pm, I head down to pick up my daughter from class, drop her off at home, give everyone hugs goodbye and start the four-hour drive to Yosemite! Perfect timing too. The commute traffic out of the city had died down and it's clear sailing.

Haven't had coffee yet.

I arrived at my home in Yosemite West just before 11pm and am asleep within minutes.

The alarm goes off at 5:40am but I heard Will Masterman brewing coffee prior to that in prep for our quick morning gear check. Will arranged the rack the day before and I gave it a quick once over. We were aiming to head up the Salathe route for our "Thursday break in the week." Hmm- one #4, one #3, doubles on #2s and #1s, and triples on everything below that, except the smallest tiny cam we had only one of. Two biners of nuts, 10 quick draws, 6 runners and a host biners. Standard personal gear, jugs, speedy stirrups, one etrier, and two small backpacks. Food: a selection of Honey Stinger products, trail mix, hard Monterrey jack cheese, Field Trip Jerky and assorted NUUN tablets. We were out the door by 6:30am and in El Cap meadow by 7am.

It was light and initially I thought we slept in too late since it had been light when we left the house, but it was an unwelcoming 34 degrees according to the dash board thermometer when we parked. It felt about that temp when we started walking to the base. 99% of the time it's been my experience that a "lake of cold air" sits in Yosemite Valley in the mornings, just the 75 to 100-foot rise in altitude from the meadow to the base of the cliff is often as much as a 15 degree temperature change. I was looking forward to that as I curved in my shoulders and shuddered at the beginning of the hike.





We arrived at the base of the Salathe and Will was leading the first pitch at 7:27am! Indeed it had warmed up since leaving the car, but it was still brisk (probably 50 degrees). I was happy to let Will take the lead. "Warming up" on a 5.10 crack in such temperatures should be left to the under 30 crowd.

Will dispatched the first four pitches in good time. I jugged all four as the needed warm up for my leads to come. The sun hit us just as Will handed off the lead to me. You'd think I was wise enough to plan that! I took the next ones to get us to Mammoth terraces by a little after 11am.


By the last three pitches before Mammoth we were down to our T-shirts! Is it really February?!

Heart Ledges, time for a snack break.

Having some salty treats like Jerky, cheese, and trail mix is a much appreciated treat along with the energy food we consumed along the way. (Honey Stinger, and NUUN). Yep, I've done this a few times.


We rapped down a nasty fix line to Heart Ledges. I told Will that he should keep our 70 meter line attached to him while I rappelled. A little curious look came on his face and I answered... Just in the off chance that this old line breaks you'll have a way to get down. Kinda doomsday thinking but never hurts to play it safe.

The rappel, although sketchy with a knot to pass, was uneventful and we started out our climb out left of the Heart Ledges after another brief snack break.

Taking a selfie "under" or inside The Ear.

I "got to" to lead the ear pitch. Lucky me. For those who don't know it, the ear is like climbing along an upside down coffee cone/filter. We refer to it as a bomb bay chimney. It gets narrow enough at the top that you can't get your head in with a helmet on, AND reach high enough to just have your #4 cam get a bite on the rock. At 6'1" I am fortunate with my long reach I was able to keep myself protected for all but two moves as I chimney-ed my way out to the lip. Jugging the ear is no less awkward and Will had his fun navigating the follow.

Enjoying time at The Alcove.

We arrived at the Alcove below El Cap Spire, part way up pitch 20 and took inventory of our situation. It was a little after 4pm, a little windy and when not moving, I had all my clothing on. We figured only a few hours of light left and by my prediction of our rate of ascent we'd be topping out around 2am, that is, if we could keep moving. In great spirits as we were climbing on granite in Yosemite, in February! Nonetheless we were content to head back down to the Valley floor. And so we did.

Will lowering off the ear with moon in sky.

As a little tip on light and fast and bringing just enough to be able to safely retreat, but not too much, we nailed it perfect by bringing a 70-meter lead line and approximately a 30-meter X 7mm tag line. This allowed us the option to do a 50-meter rappel, kind of. I've thrown this combination out to a number of people who asked me what is the minimum amount of rope you need to bring (see further notes at the bottom). I believe I've used the system for one rappel before but this retreat was going to be tricky with a sideways lowering to Heart Ledges. (I believe there is a  rap route straight down from the Hollow Flake, but I didn't know if the spacing was 50 meters or longer. I also wasn't sure that we had a 30-meter tag line, in fact it may have been 25 or less) I knew there were short pitches between us and the Hollow Flake Ledge where we'd need to lower and go sideways, but I didn't know if we'd get lucky and it would be the magical 35 meters between anchors, or less! Hey, time for a science experiment to learn something! Will (Guinea Pig) tied into the rope and I lowered him off. If he reached the next rappel anchor before I saw the bi colored halfway mark on our handy 70-meter Bluewater rope, then we were good to just have Will clip to the anchor and I could immediately rappel with the gri gri I was using to lower Will. This was the case on five of the seven rappels to the Hollow Flake Ledge. When the halfway mark was passed I knew I had to employ the 7mm on the short end of our lead line. Once Will arrived at the anchor that was farther than 35 meters, I tied an overhand knot on my side of the rope and clipped it to his side. Then I tied the 7mm to the short end of the 70 meter lead line (my side). I rappelled on the side Will was on, the knot locked into the rappel anchor and would not be pulled through. I kept a hold of the 7mm line and once arriving to Will we just pulled the 7mm rope and down came the knot and our biner! Ta da! The lower sideways over to Heart Ledges involved some sneaky stuff, but suffice it to say we made it and rappelled the fixed lines to the ground and we were back at the car before 8:30pm.

We didn't "summit" but it's all in the journey and even if we'd made "the top" we'd have only climbed out of a ditch. As it was, we had a fantastic day of climbing. As I type this I am really sore all over,  with a big smile on my face knowing I will recover from the soreness feeling stronger.

I did a little business around the Yosemite neighborhood Friday morning and headed back to the city in time for dinner with my wife, video game with son before dropping him off at friends and then catching a high school basketball game.  Hope your Thursday was fun as well. You weren't stuck in the ditch I hope.

Notes on rope choices. Certainly if you know the descent specifics you can be more exacting on what rope combinations to take. Bringing a 60-meter full-size rope and a 5 or 7 mm X 60-meter tag line is an option. I like the 70 meter lead line because it gives you better options for short fixing when leading. I'm known for being flexible so I'll defer to a partner if they are adamant about another combination.

Humility

This weekend I headed out at 5:45 am Sunday morning from the stables parking lot with the goal of climbing The South Face of Mt Watkins with Will and Naomi. Between “reading” descriptions from The Super Topo guide and Yosemite Bigwalls guide by Erik and Roger, we figured that we would be at the base of the route around 8:30 am.

I put “reading” in quotes above because I only skimmed the directions in regards to the approach, and peaked at the maps. After all it’s MT WATKINS right? – How could you walk up Tenaya canyon and miss it? – Well we did miss it, until we made 5 hours of mistakes in wrong turns and misguided steep scrambling.

Six hours and two minutes after leaving the stables parking lot we arrived at the base of the route! We decided against climbing out of the ditch given how late we arrived at the base. (translation/clarification: “topping out on Watkins, El Cap, or Leaning Tower, is just crawling out of The Ditch, so really do have to “enjoy the journey.”) So, we had a great adventure, exploring various slopes and tiny trails in Tenaya canyon, found a cool water hole, our legs are super fit -or will be when we recover, and we now have a gallon of water stashed at the base of  The South Face Route!

I just got through presenting stories to The AAC International Climbing Meet Friday evening. I was telling them how we have these incredible wild walls here in Yosemite AND they are so accessible and close to your car door. –Funny sort of “foot in mouth” adventure for Sunday. I don’t call 6 hours close to the car door.

Points to remember:

-bring people with you that like to adventure. We had an adventure, the outcome was unkown. We got to explore around a beautiful canyon, in a beautiful place. Our group was joking and laughing and having a good time.

-Read CAREFULLY a couple sentences from past travelers, guidebooks, the net, etc. and save yourself 2 hours, or 3.

-Love the journey.

-When you hike up Tenaya Canyon and you reach West Quarter Dome on your right, THEN you will be far enough up the canyon to head left up to the base of Mt Watkins. (West Quarter Dome is the smaller and on the right when looking up at the two quarter domes. http://www.mountainproject.com/v/105898258)

-when you find a better way don't be stubborn to make the change over to it. Just do it.

I had a great time sharing stories with the AAC group on Friday evening and a super time instructing some of them at the base of El Cap on Saturday morning. I learned a few things “teaching” these experienced climbers. How lucky am I?- Getting to teach a class at the base of El Cap?  I am fortunate that I've picked up techniques from Europeans, Puerto Ricans, South Americans, Brits and Ozzies, Russians, and Asians. I was reviewing some of the ways to use cordelettes with the AAC folks and right there in front of everyone made the decision I'll never double fisherman my cordelette ever again. It reduces the flexibility of the cords use. It deploys

quicker when left untied, derigs quicker, more flexible in application and in adjusting once applied. I'll have a video and or images to post in the future about this. Yes, yes, I'm sure many of you our there are saying DUH, why did it take you so long to figure that out? (Big Thanks to Carol Kotchek and the AAC for inviting me to participate.)

Saturday afternoon I got to go up five pitches on The East Buttress of Middle Cathedral with Diane Payes. Again, we didn’t top out or even get out of The Ditch. That was better then OK for us, we got to climb on awesome granite terrain, with a beautiful alpine glow light on El Cap across the valley, and earn our meal with The AAC group later that evening.

I hope you got to summit something this weekend, or crawl out of a ditch, or just embark on something where you didn’t know the outcome before starting.

Cheers,

Hans

keep like minded people around you...

Holly Webb has been in the Yosemite climbing community for over a decade. She has an impressive

5:30 am El Cap Meadow

list of El Cap ascents. Holly asked me if I’d help her with her “40 by 40 goal.” I said “sure” and then asked just what that was. Holly wanted to climb El Cap 40 times by her 40th birthday. Both Holly and myself currently do not reside in Yosemite and both of us have spouses, work, and kids* to keep us from long protracted adventures up El Cap. I went down the list of routes she may want to do that we could knock out in a day, or that we thought we could do in a day. When it came to The West Face she admitted she had never done the route despite the fact that she had done 27 different routes on El Cap! Done!-West Face it would be.

The Plan: Meet in El Cap Meadow Saturday morning before the sun was up. check in on the gear and supplies and get the hike done by headlamp before the sun could over heat us. Climb as much as possible in the strategic west facing side of El Cap for as long and fast as possible to avoid the sun, perhaps making the summit before “The Orb” gazed on us.

Holly was to bring the complete rack. She’s got more new gear then me. I brought the 70 meter Bluewater. We weren’t planning on stretching pitches or short fixing, but it’s nice to have for emergencies if you want to bail. -And of course could be used to extend some pitches if you wanted. We both brought our favorite energy foods and I threw in a holiday beef log. It was going to be hot so we brought 3 liters of water each. (and some NUUN to flavor it)

Our plan was to free what was fun, french free tougher stuff, or outright aid anything that gave us pause. “Just climbing” the route cause we aren’t hung up on style so much as going up and covering tons of cool ground. -And, it was TONS of cool granite terrain. Despite The West Face being perhaps 2/3rds the length of the tallest El Cap routes it’s still a long route with 16 pitches, many being 50 meters long. If you super imposed it on the east wall it would be taller then the Zodiac.

About 50 meters from the base of the route we turned off our headlamps and could hike the remaining gully by dawn light. Around 7am we started the route. The first two crux 5.11 + pitches of the route are right off the ground, so it’s a tough start to your morning after the hike. We didn’t bother freeing much of those pitches. We did both completely free the 5.10a airy 4th pitch. It has an ultra classic roof move that looks way harder then it is.

The downward traversing pitch.

During the next 7 pitches we mixed and matched some free, aid, and french free to arrive at the top of pitch 11, The Grand Traverse. It was around 11:30 am and we figured we should stop for lunch and enjoy some beef log, trail mix, and other goodies in our bellies for the remaining long 4 pitches, rather then on our backs in the small packs we each were carrying. We mixed and matched again until Thanksgiving ledge then simul-climbed to the top in two long pitches. Topping out in 6 hours and 1 minute from when we started at the base.
Being “The keeper or Librarian of the Speed Records” I looked up to see what the fastest known time was previously. I was stunned that the record for a Female/Male team was 5:59. OOPs we should have taken a little shorter lunch.

ohh, and to the title of this post:  It's nice to have goal seeking friends, be they in your neighborhood or just on your phone list. If you are going to pursue challenges, invariably you are going to need the support of someone who has challenges of their own. When you find like minded folks, put em in your Rolodex for future adventures.

*Holly’s kid is a national champion show dog.

Timed a ride back on the shuttle, a rare but nice finish.

First One Day Solo Ascent of The Triple Direct Route on El Capitan!

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11:17pm Sunday on top of El Cap. 17 hrs 29 mins

I climbed, by myself, The Triple Direct (TD) route on El Capitan on Sunday, July 13th, 2014. Non-Climbers: The TD is a route up the middle of a 2,950-foot-cliff, El Capitan, in Yosemite Valley. A normal party would plan to take four days on the route. The route has been climbed by very high level of experience teams in under six hours. I do not know of any recorded solo speed record to date. I think this might be the first one-day ascent of the route by a soloist! We’d call that TDIAD (I climbed the route in 17 hours and 29 minutes. Car-to-car in 20 hours and 21 minutes.)

I am told it was 106 degrees in Yosemite Valley on Sunday; not ideal for climbing El Capitan. I choose The TD because I could climb for the first part of the day in the shade. Then the route goes slightly right around the corner into upper dihedrals so you get late in the day shade too. If I timed it right, I’d only be in the sun for a few hours. Predominately this worked out for me. It’s tough for me to get time to do something big and also climb the days before to get “tuned in,” so I really wanted to use this day, hot or not. Thursday and Friday I climbed with my friend Derrick Lindsey on Tuolumne granite, so that was a great time to get re-familiarized with the rock.

Climbers: (non-climbers this may be Greek, not interesting, or hard to follow.) I started off the ground at 5:48 am. I used a 70m X 9.1mm BlueWater rope. I planned to stretch the rope to full length nearly every lead unless there was some logistical advantage otherwise to do so. I planned to jug, (ascend the rope), with a 4,000-cubic-inch backpack, a bit big for these things but nice to have the room for the approach and descent. My rack was: ten quick draws, ten free biners, four long runners, doubles of everything up to #2 Camalots, one #3 and, in case Alex Honnold is reading or hearing about this, I didn’t take a #4. I took triples of the ½ cams, BD Gray. I also took four offset cams. I took about 20 nuts, mostly tiny ones. To my past partners, yes, I placed a few. I came upon five biners on the route and ended up leaving three and dropping a quick draw, so I was even on that score. However I inadvertently left a #1 camalot on the pitch off the Glowering spot. – Go get it treasure hunters! I self belayed with a Grigri, and brought one aider and one Yates speedy stirrup. I had one gallon and one liter of water, NUUN tablets, HoneyStinger Energy Chews and Protein Bars, and Field Trip Jerky. Although I had a light long sleeve shirt and wind breaker in reserve I climbed the entire route in my Outdoor Research Ferosi NIAD pants* and short sleeve Astro man shirt. (*they are lighter then Schoeller pants and have compartments at the knees which held light padding for my knees)

I climbed the first 2.5 pitches in one pitch. (I, un-roped, soloed up the first 30 ft of pitch “1”) I climbed from 2.5 to 4.5 in a pitch, which left me at the two bolts at the base of the bolted 5.11d section. From there I made it to the ledge, “Triangle Ledge,” after the last face crux. Then from that ledge I made a single long pitch to the top of the half dollar. It’s actually 74 meters from the anchor on that ledge to the anchor on top of the half dollar. I put in a natural pro anchor 4 meters down from the top anchor. From there I un-roped soloed, dragging the rope behind me on the easy terrain for two pitches up to Mammoth Terrace, to avoid jugging that section. I then un-roped soloed the first pitch off Mammoth to the base of the aid pitch that slopes up and right. I did this first aid pitch normally, then the next two I linked. I found five two-liter bottles of water left by someone on the Gray Ledges and drank about a half liter as I still had plenty in my pack to drink. I led up the next pitches, but had a rope snag so had to cut it short to an 80-foot pitch to lower down, retrieve my pack and un-snag the rope. I led the long hard arching left aid pitch just before it turns right to The Muir and combined that with the traverse over to the lower off point. I lowered my self here leaving some biners and swung the pendulum over to the big ledges under Camp 4, then pulled the rope, thus not having to backtrack that portion.

I tried to hide in a little rock corner from the sun on this ledge and stall, changing my shoes and eating. It was hot and this portion of the route was the three or so hours in total that I was in the sun. It was this section where I really was having to dig deep for motivation to continue on. – Note to self, never under estimate the sun and high temperatures power to suck the energy out of you. My consumption of NUUN in my water earlier on the route surely got me through this bit. From this ledge I led diagonally up to the base of the Great Roof. I took a fall on my GriGri within the first ten feet of leading the Great Roof when a cam popped out on me. I took another four-foot fall directly onto my daisy after that, ouch. I led the Great Roof and combined it with the Pancake Flake. From there I made it to Camp 5 with rope to spare. New discovery for me! I led from Camp 5 all the way to Camp 6, about 68 meters! From Camp 6 I found out it’s 71 meters to the block belay! I improvised a natural anchor and “tethered” it to the bolts. Although the moon was nearly full, it was on this lead that I put on my headlamp. From the Block, (that is not there anymore), I led all the way up the final bolt ladder onto the slab section just before it traverses to the right. From there it was just a short 70-foot lead up to the finishing anchors. At these anchors I “Shouldered” everything, then soloed up to the tree to stop the clock at 11:17pm. I figured basically I made 17 long pitches out of the route. There was ample moon light on top and two gallons of water sitting at the tree! I drank about two liters of it and poured a liter in my bottle to have for the descent. After 25 minutes of laying there panting, resting, eating, drinking, and packing my pack, I staggered up to an upright position and began the hike down.

The rappelling crowd was up on top with their 1,000-meter rope dangling off El Cap. A woman on top said she made the rappel in less than six minutes! That was sounding really good rather than the two-hour hike down the east ledges. Alas there were cavers coming up the lines in the middle of the night because it was too hot in the day to do so.

I made it back to my family van at 2:09 am. And back to my bed at 3am. I woke up at 4:15 am to start on Sunday so I did my “BTB” (Bed-to-Bed) time in under 23 hours! I hope your Sunday was equally adventuresome, or maybe you took a rest day since your Saturday was full of fun.

I will be sharing stories next Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014 in Concord at Brenden Theaters.  http://bit.ly/1nEsaxh

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New Nose Record , test post.

June 17th 2012 New Nose Record

This is a very detailed report of the whole ascent I wrote one week after we climbed The Nose in record time. - more than likely it is more than most of you care to read. enjoy...

Alex Honnnold and I climbed The Nose route in 2:23:46 on Sunday June 17th.

I’ve written the following sections below...

----the details of the climb.
----- statistics and numbers:
----leading up to it.
---after the event.
----articles/links


----the details of the climb.

Here’s the straight details of the morning that I can recall now that it’s only four days ago.

Alarm goes off at 4:08 am at my friend’s home, Tom and Theresa, in Yosemite West. I have to pack up my 9 year old son, 11 year daughter, wife, Tom Frost, and our bivy stuff. TnT offered to bring to the meadow anything including two coolers that we couldn’t pack up in the morning hussle. Theresa got up and helped with a few shuttles of gear, sleeping bags, and children to the van. The goal to make a 26 minute drive and meet Alex Honnold in the meadow by 4:50 am. Rats we didn’t turn the key until 4:34 am, no way we can make it! I text Alex to let him know.

It’s light by the time we arrive in El Capitan meadow. we have all the gear set from the night before. a dozen people are already milling about the meadow and a dribble of cars are coming in. after some small talk we start walking into the woods headed to the base of El Capitan.

We get to the base around 5:20 am and there are only 4 people with us. John Ricco, my daughter Marianna, among them. A few things are organized and Alex flakes the rope. It feels like 60 degrees out, - way to warm to be doing a hard climb.

With approach shoes on we solo up Pine Line to head over to the third class ledges where the route starts. At the base of the first pitch Chris Gonzales, Steve Fettke, and Tom Frost are waiting there with smart phones, big camera, and Frost with an old B&W film camera! (Frost did the second Ascent of The Nose in 1960) We slip out of our approach shoes and talk through a few places on the route that require logistical efforts beyond normal simul-climbing. We repeatedly spout out our mantra of “Safety first, fun second, speed third.” Alex interjects that he’s good with moving speed up the list today. I roll my eyes.

I spoke with Alex about negative splits in track & field and the concept of pacing. “Start off slow, go, go, go. Start off fast, just won’t last.” He understood.

After some stretching and last minute gear fiddling I turn to my watch to get things going. It’s 5:49 am. It feels like the temp is high 70s. I hit menu to Chrono and ask Alex if he’s ready. In so many words he lets me know he has been ready for five or ten minutes already.

I have 16 cams*(see leading up to it), 22 quick draws, 3 long runners with biners, and 11 free biners. For my first 1600 ft lead to the top of The Boot Flake that works out to one piece of pro per 31 ft.

The clock is started, I switch it back to TIME and start up the route.

It’s going to get silly with specific detail here so hold on or skip through it.

After about 25 ft up the first pitch I put in a #1 Camalot, another 15 ft I place a .4 gray cam-alot, another 10 ft a .75 green camalot, 5 ft up a draw is clipped to a bashy, 15 more ft a bolt hangar is clipped with a quick draw. Then it’s 30 ft to the anchor where I clip in a long runner. 30 ft up the second pitch I put in a .3 blue camalot, 7 more feet and I put in the 00 purple. This last one is the protection before I go into the flaring pin scars and funky climbing just prior to the pendulum point. 15 ft up I clip a fixed wire with a free biner, then 7 more ft I clip a single biner to the lower off bolt. Alex takes me tight, him now being at the bolt I clipped on the first pitch, he lowers me slowly 5 to 8 ft and I reach right into the crack and yell down “climbing again.” Slack comes in the rope and I hit sequences in a pin scared crack until 30 ft later I am at the anchor for the top of the second pitch. I clip a draw in here and continue climbing into the third ptich. 30 ft up I clip a single biner to a cord fixed to a bong. 30 more ft I clip a draw to a bolt. pull through on a draw to a bolt,but back clean it,. then pull on a tat on a knifeblade, clip a bolt with a draw, Hang on it because Alex needs to have tension to do the pendulum lower out on the second pitch, pull to another bolt, then a tat on a mashed hex, then 15 ft of climbing to the third anchor, clip that with a draw and continue. Climb 25 ft clip a fixed cam, 10 ft to a fixed pin, clip it with a biner, 5 ft to a bolt, stem up 10 ft and clip fixed tat/rope for lower out. Alex takes me tight and lowers me out as I tension my way to the right. I get to a draw someone left on a fixed pin and clip into it. Stem over to Sickle, clip a bolt at head height and yell to Alex to take me off belay.

I move quickly across Sickle ledge. At the anchor I clip in the rope with a long runner. I say good morning to Michael and McKenna who spent the night there. After well wishes to MnM I glance at my watch a few ft up the rock and 17 minutes have pass since I started at the base of the first pitch.(approximately) Moving quickly up the 3rd and 4th class I get about 120 ft from the anchor on Sickle and place a small blue Camalot so Alex can hang on the rope in order to swing over to Sickle in mid pitch 4. I continue up 40 ft and place a .4 camalot with a draw attached at “the pedestal point”,(an obvious upward facing tooth) where I lower to for the pendulum swing. I continue up to the last steep 5.9 hand crack climbing before the anchor, throw in a #1 camalot for protection then continue up to the anchor. I clip a leaver biner on the anchor and yell to Alex to lower me. Alex gets a weighted ride up the 5th class as I head down, cleaning the #1 as I pass by. Arriving at the .4 I ask Alex to hold and I swing over to the Dolt Hole Cracks. We hear a cheer from the forest. While I climb the cracks up to the next lower out, Alex is climbing up the 5th class to the .4 cam. When I arrive at the bolt for the free variation I clip in and yell to Alex that he is good to swing over. Once Alex is in the dihedral below me he yells off and I continue to self tension on the tat and climb to the right on the 5.10 face. I clip the bolt at the base of the Stove legs with a long runner to prevent drag and start climbing the crack. I clip a biner on the first anchor in the Stove Legs and then a fixed piece some 15 ft above. As I climb the next 120 ft to the next bolt along the Stove Legs, Alex is arriving at the bolt I clipped to for him to swing. He grabs the rope heading up to me and switches the Grigri over to me while untying and pulling the rope through the Sickle anchor we had pendulumed from, then re-ties to the end, and continues to simul-climb behind me. I clip the bolt at the end of the 120 ft, 2 to 3” section, this is anchor #8 on my notated Super Topo. I then continue up another 30 ft to clip a biner to a fixed cam. Another 50 ft and I’m at the base of the awkward flare section. I pause here to catch my breath, it’s an eternity I’m told by Alex. I place a small cam at the base and lay back the first 10 ft then work the thin seam out left along with a heel toe in the flare until I can reach a tat out left which I clip with a biner then continue up in 5.7 terrain, after clippping a fixed pin, I go 40 ft farther and arrive at the double bolt anchor. I clip a draw there and continue up the blocky section to to a small overhand where I clip a fixed cam. 25 more ft and a fixed pin gives me my last protection for the 70ft of 3 to 4” crack that takes me eventually to Dolt tower. For 90% of this wide section I use my left fist alternated with a #3 Cam in my right hand. I get in one fixed tat clip during the 160 ft and a draw on the anchor 30 ft below Dolt. Here I yell to Alex that I am off belay, upon his response I haul all the rope up and fix it for him to jug.

A glance at my watch says it’s been 47 minutes since I started the first pitch.(approximately) While Alex is jugging I am headed to the right side of Dolt Tower, I clip the far right bolt and down climb over to the crack that heads to El Cap Tower. -Keeping the anchored rope in one hand as a “self belay.” I reach the anchor above Dolt and clip a draw to it and continue to climb. (anchor 12 on my notated Super Topo) Alex arrives at Dolt to undo the fixed rope before I run out of the length I had hauled up. Once Alex is on the far right side of Dolt he yells up for me to anchor myself so he can swing over. I place the #3 camalot and hang on it briefly for Alex to swing. Alex yells off and we continue to climb. When I reach the easy terrain 20 ft short of the anchor # 13 I yell off belay to Alex. I clip to the anchor and continue up to El Cap tower, clipping a long fixed tat there then heading up to the Texas Flake. Once behind the flake I head to the far west end and chimney my way up. On top of the flake I clip the anchor and yell down to Alex that I’m at the bolt ladder and he summarily has me on belay seconds later. I alternate etrier and adjustable daisy on the diagonal bolt ladder leaving one clipped in half way. Once I reach the thin crack below the boot I inform Alex I’m at the scary part and he reassures me that he’s being attentive. Four cam placements and a fixed nut get me to the 5.10 hand portion on the Achilles heel of the boot. From there I alternate hand jamming and #1 camalot leep frogging until I’m at the wide section that accepts the #3 cam which I place and leave for reassurance. Meanwhile Alex is making his way up the bolt ladder. I reach the top of the boot, clip a leaver biner and yell to Alex to take me. I get lowered and clean all the pieces I placed, hand them to Alex and get on with the King Swing. Again we hear a loud cheer from the meadow before I finish the swing. Once on Eagle ledge I clip the line into the bolt and yell off. Alex appears moments later. A short gear check and hand off of the Grigri to me, is the signal for Alex to take the sharp end. I untie and pull the rope off the top of The Boot while Alex puts some ground between us. I glance at my watch and see one hour and twelve minutes has elapsed since we started at the base of the first pitch.(approximately) Interestingly that is 16 of the 32 pitches and turns out to be exactly half the time it took to climb the route.

I pop a few Power Bar Gel Blasts and swig some Cytomax. Alex yells down that he has enough pieces in that I am OK to simul-climb. I notice that I forgot to take the ascenders off Alex so I yell up at him to leave them at the next piece. I start climbing with about a 5 ft loop of slack between my Grigri and Alex. My aim to make that the minimum loop size so that if he hits easy ground when I’m in a slow climbing spot I won’t hose him. Most of the time I have 10 ft or more dangling. Alex and I simul-climb through the Gray Bands to the base of the Great roof. Alex leaves a cam for me to pull through on in the 5.11c spot. We pass by a NIAD team at the beginning of the Great Roof that let Alex and I go by as they patiently hung out at the anchor. I made it to the anchor as Alex was going across the horizontal part of the roof. I readied my ascenders and Alex yelled down that he was off at the base of the Pancake Flake. Alex quickly pulled up all the slack and fixed the rope, I began jugging, while Alex led up the Pancake on a big loop. Alex back cleaned the horizontal section of the great roof so I did a big lower out from the left side of the roof to the anchor at the base of the Pancake. I made it to the anchor only seconds before Alex had led up to the point he needed more rope. Alex arrived at the 23rd anchor seconds later and was pulling rope up to fix the line. I clipped my jugs to my side and climbed the Pancake as it’s a little easier then jugging it. Once I hit the 5.11 section I slapped on the ascenders and jugged the remaining 40 ft of the pitch. Alex meanwhile was climbing the next pitch and leaving no gear but a green camalot half way up. Once Alex hit the first tier of Camp 5 he pulled up the rope, fixed it and continued up the ledges to the 12.C pitch. I jugged up and put Alex on belay as soon as I hit Camp 5. While he finished that lead I made my way to the very top of the Camp 5 ledges.

I peeked at my watch to see that one hour and 58 minutes had passed since we started at the base of the first pitch. (approximately) I informed Alex of our split time being about 10 minutes faster then our Thursday run. When Alex hit the glowering spot he pulled up the line and fixed it. Alex climbed the 5.10 above while I jugged the 12c below. Alex made quick work of the pitch and was ready to pull up the slack for fixing to the lower ledges of Camp 6, as I un tied the fixed rope at the Glowering spot. While I jugged the 5.10 Alex climbed to Camp 6 and on into the changing corners pitch.I arrived at the bolt at the lower ledges, un tied it and climbed to camp 6 and 40 ft up into the Changing Corners pitch before Alex had reached the anchor and yelled off belay. A party of three whom we had passed at Sickle three days prior was there at Camp 6 with GoPro camera running. They were more than accomadating in letting us go by as they were in mid pitch jugging off the ledge. After Alex fixed the line I climbed up another 20 ft and then jugged the last 50 ft of the pitch. When I arrived Alex had already finished the next pitch above and was ready to pull up the rope to fix for the last time. I jugged this last pitch to the loose block anchor, anchor #28. I clipped in my ascenders to my side and started simul-climbing to the top. As I reached the horizontal roof in the alcove before the Wild Stance anchor, the rope came tight on me,- signaling me that Alex had arrived at easy ground on the summit and was putting me on the “magic belay.” -Basically meaning the rope goes up, but never comes down. So I could simul climb with abandon and/or jug if needed. Although I was exhausted I climbed as fast as I could. Despite Alex’s wishes I did bust out the etrier for two moves through the bolt ladder. I alternated with a quick draw in one hand and my wrist around the etrier in the other. Just before the angle went to slab I exchanged smiles and hellos to my friend Paul Hara who was hanging there with camera shooting away. Once on lower angle ground I was bear crawling as fast as I could toward the tree and Alex was reeling in the rope to keep it from getting hung up. After I tagged the tree I tug around my waist for the stop watch, switched it from “time mode” to “chrono” and hit stop at 2:23:53.

I was too out of breath to tell Alex the time, or even a yes or no. I just set the watch down for him to read for himself.

Friends: Gina, Brian, Christina, and Paul were on top to meet us and take photos.

Alex said that it took me at least 6 seconds to fumble and find my watch before I hit the stop button. I knew that I started the watch 1 or 2 seconds early at the base. So, although not up to Olympic track standards, we estimate that our actual time was 2:23:46 and we are sticking with that.

----- statistics and numbers:

2.9 seconds per foot
one piece of gear per 32 ft on the first 1600 ft.
4 mins 28 seconds per pitch
Both of us on Sickle in 19 minutes, Huber Brothers made it in 16 minutes
Both of us on Dolt Tower in 49 minutes, Yuji and I made it in 52 minutes
Both of us at Eagle Ledge in one hour and 12 minutes,
Both of us at Camp Five in one hour and 58 minutes,
Both of us at the top in 2:23:46

----leading up to it.

Two years ago I called Alex to give him ideas/strategies for getting the record on The Nose with Ueli Steck. After their attempts last summer Alex tried to connect up with me for some climbing but we couldn’t match schedules. Last fall I climbed with Alex for the first time. We climbed The Nose on Three separate occasions from October 13th, 20th, and November 1st, 2011. our times were: 4:37, 3:16 and 2:37:30 respectively.

Over the winter it was apparent to me, (and I suspect Alex), that if we could just come back to The Nose the following season, a little work on tactics and fitness would yield us the record. Of course busy schedules and the possibility of someone lower the time to beat were looming.

I didn’t care so much as to when, or even if, I would get the record. I knew that training for the record would be rewarding, so I did. I did everything from road biking, to numerous odd challenges at Diablo Rock Gym. see: http://www.touchstoneclimbing.com/diablorock/classes/322-2012challenge Yes! I also got outdoors and climbed at Lovers Leap and even Yosemite in the months leading up to June.

It was foremost the incredible support of my wife Jacqueline that gave me the flexibility to train and the motivation to pull it off. The community around me at Diablo Rock Gym, and even our bedroom community in the suburbs, were both supportive, and inspirational, to me. They made it possible for me being able to get the proper training in.

On June 13th and 14th 2012 Alex and I climbed The Nose in 2:53 and 2:39 respectively. During these two runs we refined the gear we would take. Alex incredibly impressed with how fast I could place gear, but embarrassed that I had to bring so much. On the 13th we climbed the route in four pitches, me leading the first two, Alex the last two. - That is if you count a pitch as when we get gear back to the leader. On thursday we brought a little more gear and did the ascent in two pitches. Alex was Embarrased that I had to bring the big #3 Camalot. I also was bringing a gold Omega Link Cam which was awesome for the Stove Legs, and Boot Flake.- In the end he got me to not use the Link Cam as I never left if for protection, but only used it as a crutch if I needed a placement. Generally Alex would say: “Hans you’ve never fallen there, why do you need to protect it?” I’d come back with “feeling/being safe helps me go faster.” Alex would get me to take three pieces off the rack and I’d negotiate two other pieces back on. In the end it was one #3 camalot, two of every cam size #1 and below. no nuts, 22 quick draws, 3 long runners with biners, 11 free biners, one etrier, ascenders, speedy stirrups, Grigri, 5 locking carabiners, less than a liter of water each. Friends had descent shoes for us on top, - so the ethics folks can say we took assistance if they like.

We rested nearly 3 days. Alex went back packing and slept at 10,000 ft on Friday night, I went to the East Bay and played with kids, managed the gym, and slept at 550 ft. We met Saturday afternoon in El Cap meadow and went over our strategy one last time and decided to meet the following morning at 4:50 am in the meadow. Temps were forecast to be HOT.

---after the event.

I hung out in the meadow with friends, jumped in the river with my kids. Then drove back to the suburbs of the East Bay. I went to Water World with my kids, we’ve got season passes! I’ve answered a ton of interview questions via email, facebook, in person, and over the phone. Alex did a poster signing in Fresno the Tuesday afterwards and was delighted to have a large crowd come by to meet him. Alex and I are doing a show of pictures and video on Thursday the 28th evening 7:30 pm at Pipeworks gym in Sacramento. I’ll be doing something similar on Monday July 2nd in the evening at Great Western Power Company in Oakland. I will do some shows in the North East in September. I am staying fit and not sure what the next climbing adventure will be. It may be a biking or other adventure. They’ll be something. Am I feeling post event depressed? - No, I’ve got plenty of things to look forward to.

----


It was covered so far in a few media places...

http://www.rockandice.com/news/2047-honnold-and-florine-set-new-nose-speed-record

http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/06/18/2878165/climbers-set-record-on-el-capitans.html#storylink=misearch

http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/florine_honnold_set_new_nose_speed_record/

http://lamorinda.patch.com/articles/lafayette-s-hans-florine-scorches-el-cap-again#photo-1000238

http://sierraclub.typepad.com/explore/2012/06/speed-record-broken-on-el-caps-nose.html

It was announced in the NYT the day before our attempt.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/16/sports/rock-climber-alex-honnold-tackles-yosemites-biggest-rock-faces.html?pagewanted=all

Great photos: http://www.elcapreport.com/content/elcap-report-61712

History: http://www.speedclimb.com/yosemite/thenose.htm#98

more links to video and comments from others: https://www.facebook.com/HansFlorineclimbs

If you are motivated to take on a challenge come visit the Diablo Rock Gym and pick up our challenge list for 2012.

all the best. Speed be with you.

Hans

ON 11/16/11 I set out to do more challenges in a day than the best record on this endeavor previously set by Nick Diaz, who completed 61 challenges in a day. In order to do this I would need to climb, boulder, swim, ride, run, lift and exercise a ton.

Starting at 6:26 am and finishing at 10:05 pm I ended up doing 68 challenges, along with Mike Rogers who joined me for all but two that he did separately than me. - Mike did two challenges I did not do and I did two he did not do.

Here's a list in no particular order of things we did during the day:

Climbed 40 routes, half being 5.10 or harder, one 5.12 twice
Bouldered 35 problems and 3 long traverses
Bench pressed my body weight
120 jumping jacks, 10 burpees, 100 crunches, 69 situps, ten push ups, four one arm pushups
Ran a 9 minute mile
did 21 pull-ups, one muscle up, 15 push-ups, 68 lunges, 60 squats, 11 one legged squats, 11 one legged butt to heel squats, 5 squats on a Bosu ball, 5 squats with body weight on shoulders, 200 jump ropes, 10 bar dips, and 12 back extensions.
1500 meters on a rowing ergometer, 100 calories burned on an eliptical machine, 100 floors climbed on a stairmaster.
Took a Yoga and Cardio Boxing class.
held two 25 lb plates smooth sides out with one hand, closed a Captains of Crush #1
Campused: 1-3-5, 1-4-6, two handed dyno one and two rung gaps
swam 11 lengths of a 18 meter pool.
two 10 minute steam sessions

I didn't feel "too sore" the day after, but was noticeably tired for a few days. What if every week of your life you did something stressful enough on your body that you felt sore from it? would you be incredible fit for just about anything?

On October 13th I climbed for the first time with Alex Honnold. (the young man featured on 60 minutes a month ago http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7383158n ) We climbed The Nose route in 4:37. On the way to the base Alex said: "you don't get out that much, you can lead me up the whole thing if you want." I lead the route to camp four and Alex led the second half.

One week later, October 20th, we climbed The Nose again and made it in 3:16:30. I led to the Boot Flake and Alex led to the top.

On November 1st we climbed The Nose in 2:37:30. Same deal, I led to The Boot and Alex led to the top. Interestingly we both led for about 1:18. This was just 45 seconds slower than the existing record and 25 seconds slower than my best time set in 2008 with Yuji Hirayama.(Sean and Dean have the best time right now)

We've been starting the route anywhere from 8am to 11 am in the morning, depending on our schedules and the temperatures. Temps are as low as 50 in the valley floor but always above 60 or 70 on the wall where we start the climb.

You can see an article on our attempt here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/11/02/2600120/yosemite-climbers-attempt-speed.html or see facebook posts here: http://www.facebook.com/hans.florine

The weather looks like it has decided it for us. - We'll have to let the record stand for another 7 to 11 months. The route is too wet and likely won't dry out until May or later.

I believe now I have the season updates now included in the following pages. http://speedclimb.com/yosemite/compare.htm and here: http://www.speedclimb.com/yosemite/Elcap.htm

Give credit where it is due! If you or someone you know has climbed NIAD, make sure they are on the list.

In case any of you want to train with me in person I'm often at www.Diablorockgym.com (I manage the place) Just last week I did 68 challenges in a single day. see link There is a ton of fitness things we can all do to stay sane during the "dark days of winter."

Hoping you all got in your Fall Climbing goals or better yet are still getting after them. (like me)

Speed be with you.

Hans

Well I did go up on the week of June 13th and I got up The Nose twice!

On Monday June 13th with Lisa Coleman in 15:30:16 Between Dolt and El Cap Tower we passed a Japanese team, Mr Kim and Mr Sianagee. Mr Sianagee had come to Yosemite in 1981 to climb The Nose. He had only made it half way through the stove legs and had to return to the ground. He was already four pitches past his high point of 30 years prior!

I rested two days and headed up The Nose on Thursday with Craig Demartino. Craig had lost his right leg below the knee some years back due to a climbing accident. I climbed Lurking Fear with Craig in 2007 in a day.(Craig led half the route) Craig and I passed no fewer than 8 parties and we're passed by a NIAD Team. We passed people from Korea, Japan, Wisconsin, California, and from Yosemite. Our time was 13:47:13. We took a little rest below the Great Roof so I could get a haircut from my friend Sarah Land. This may be a first! A three footed ascent AND a haircut In A Day!

As Craig and I arrived at the Wild stance below the final crack and bolt ladder, the last pitch, we ran into,... you guessed it, Mr Kim and Mr Sianagee! At 6:50 pm he was looking like he was going to spend that night on the summit. That must have been one heck of an emotional summit for him. I guess that was a first too, - not even Warren Harding took 30 years to get up the route.

Funny reading my last post on March 31st stating that Spring was almost here! I think Spring this year was June 1st to June 5th.

Gear tip: Buy some Link Cams from Omega Pacific! You've probably heard that they can plug in anywhere and heard that they get stuck easy. Maybe you've heard that they've broken. All true. and they break in particularly poor placements where nearly ANY OTHER CAM has been shown to break as well. yes, they are expensive, but the price is worth the performance they deliver. I've been caught saying that using them is cheating. Tip: do not bury the cam deep in a crack, alas do not bury ANY CAM deep in a crack. Most cams in most placements "walk" deeper into a crack, for ease of cleaning you want to place a cam as shallow in the crack as is safe for holding a fall.

I am headed to Yosemite next week with a plan to climb El Cap twice in four days. Although I've been managing Diablo Rock Gym* the past 6 months, I haven't been getting in much crack climbing. We all know that outside climbing has it's skills that take some practice getting back to speed:) I've been making a trip or two to GWPC and BIW to run a lap or two on their cracks. If you need an introduction or re-intro to outdoor climbing, join me: http://www.mtadventure.com/pages/rock/special.html

Although it will be less frequent this summer, remember I lead a train for climbing class on Tuesday evenings at 8pm at Diablo Rock Gym. Check their calendar for dates.

I hope you'll all make THE LIST this year or report in to me if your name is already missing. http://www.noseinaday.com/

For shorter tidbits: http://twitter.com/hansflorine and: http://www.facebook.com/hans.florine

Spring is basically here! what should I do about my gear?

What sort of rack should you build for heading outside?

As point of reference I pull up what Yuji Hirayama and I used to climb The Nose In A Day, (NIAD) in 2002 and "flush out" a rack from there so that you can get up most any climb.

"For our 2002 ascent we carried one #3 camalot, one #2, two #1s, one.75, one .5, and doubles below that,(some of our smaller cams were Metolious tricams). 6 nuts, one cam hook, one etrier, 17 quick draws, 18 free biners, 6 long runners, a Gri gri, a couple lockers, Petzl jugs, and a set of JJs, (jugging loops)."

If you are only free climbing you can ignore the etriers, jugs, and JJs.

Here's the things I'd add to the above rack for anyone who just wants to have a reasonable rack to take on just about any trad climb.:

A set of tiny offset Nuts, and 6 more .5 to 1 inch regular nuts.

A #.5, #.75, #1, and #2 Link-Cam from Omega Pacific (These didn't exist in 2002)

Two Cordelets, theses are 5 to 7 mm cords in 18 to 22 ft in length, great for anchors on trees, gear, LARGE boulders, or bolts.

Offset Metolious tricams are really nice for pin scares or any flaring placement. Get the middle four of the six sizes they make.

Get a rappel device, I would most recommend a Petzl Reverso as it has Top Belay lock off capabilities that a regular stitch plate device does not have. -the Reverso only costs a small bit more than a standard stitch plate type device.

If you know you are going to be doing wide cracks then buy another #2 camalot, another #3 and two #4s. There are very few cracks that are continuously wide and require more than this, on the occasion that they do, I recommend asking to borrow from friends. (ask me if you need)

Lastly if you know a crack you are headed up is notorious for a certain size for a long distance than add to this rack accordingly or borrow. For the people who really like to have plenty of everything and then some get more in the .5 to 1.5 inch range than I've listed.

Happy climbing,

Hans

BIG WALL Speed Competition! Awesome! Figures it is in an Eastern Block area. Wish I could go! http://paklenica.hr/Paklenica_en/Paklenica_BWSC_2011_EN.htm

I just committed to going to Boulder CO for the National Championships. I did my first 5.13 in 7 or 8 years. Time to ramp up.

I am now the manager at Diablo Rock Gym in Concord California. We are having a great time with a community of motivated people all psyched to get fit for various reasons. Stop in if you are in the neighborhood. http://diablorockgym.com/

We've got a challenge list going for 2011 that is really getting people fit and they are having fun doing it. That's the key isn't it! http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11478976/2011DIABLORockGymChallengeList.pdf

I am offering a day of climbing, (in 2011), to anyone who donates
$2,000, in my and their name, to any of the organizations listed
below. You must commit and actually make payment to the
organization by end of the day Friday January 14th 2011.

(no particular order)
http://www.accessfund.org/
http://www.aynrand.org/
http://www.bigcitymountaineers.org/
http://www.yobasecamp.com/fund.htm
http://www.naturebridge.org/yosemite
http://lasf.org/
http://www.yosemiteconservancy.org/

feel free to call or email me with questions regarding limitations of this offer. (Minimally you must be able to pay for my expenses to get to the climbing place where we share the day)

You've got a Thermarest or camping pad that sits in your closet or garage for 362 days out of the year. Let's put it to use more often! - Do ab exercises on it!

One of the reasons it is difficult to do ab exercises is that on a hard floor or even moderately cushioned carpeted floor your lower back is hurting from the ground pressure on it. If you are wearing a belt or the waist band on your pants is bulky it is worse. However if you've got a pad that you've kept handy in your family room discreetly hidden behind the couch then it's super easy and comfortable to bust out some abs while you are watching TV or in between Face Book and blogging posts.

I have been doing 100 abs a day for over 4 years now. Keeping a strong core is really fantastic for avoiding injury in any endeavor. so... Put your camping pads to use!

Habitual fitness.

I am now four years into doing 100 abs a day. Initially it was a challenge thrown out that it would be tough to do 100 reps for 100 days of anything. http://fitnessrank.com/100club/ - it didn't matter if it was push-ups, squats, or pull-ups. Abs seemed to be the easiest so I tried that first. I failed many times, I distinctly remember getting as far as 79 days consecutively one time and missing a day, Then! having to start over! I can also remember being on a BART train at 11:45 pm one night and realizing I hadn't done my situps yet! Darn the carpet on those trains has no padding. Eventually I did do the 100 day straight run. My friend Rich Fettke actually went a year without missing a day. I managed doing a year with only missing 7 days. I did "make-up days" and realized that to average 100 abs a day from then on out would be a healthy habit. Each year I moved to a different ab exercise. Sit-ups, crunchs, Atomic Situps, bicycles, etc. two years ago I tried adding push-ups to the regime and kept having trouble keeping up. Finally I got where I could do 10 push-ups everyday for a year. Last year I bumped it up to 40 push-ups every day and now have been doing that in addition to the abs for 14 months. this month I started doing 20 squats and 50 hand gripper closings as well.

Go ahead and give 100 reps for 100 days a try without missing a single day. I've now done it for Sit-ups, Jumping Jacks, and Pull-ups.

OK, It's October 12th, - two years to the day that we set the speed record on The Nose of El Cap. And it's Columbus day - this week. "They said it couldn't be done."

It was a cool summer and who knows what will happen in the next month, but we all know what is going to happen in two months. - It will be too cold and wet to climb in Yosemite. SOOO get out there and get some climbing in.

I got in a great day of three medium length routes at Lovers Leap last weekend. temps were awesome. Did you know I can legally guide at Lovers Leap? not much time left this season to do it. try getting me directly or using www.skaboosh.com

happy climbing