Jun29
Aquarian Wall: Solo
One of the two brothers that I have done many many walls with is soloing the Aquarian Wall on El Cap right now. For those uninitiated, soloing does not mean that he is climbing without a rope (that would be free soloing), Peyton is climbing with a rope (and a whole load of stuff that he has to drag behind him the whole time).
Hopefully he has lots of water because Tom is reporting that it’s above 100ºF in The Valley right now. Good luck and be safe Peyton, we’ll be watching you. (Thanks to Tom Evans)
Categories: Climbing
Tags: Aquarian Wall, Big Walls, Climbing, El Cap, Tom Evans
August 15th, 2009 at 8:33 am
Nice! This picture is when Peyton got to Timbuktu ledge. He was way way way behind in terms of water/hydration and was looking at finishing the route majorly dehydrated. But he found 5 gallons stashed on the ledge! He said he cashed 2 liters immediately without stopping, took a short break and then cashed 2 more! Super lucky.
August 15th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Sweet. Where the heck is Peytons internet presence?! I want to hear the story on the whole route!
August 17th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Pman may not be as savvy at “the internets” as some of us. I'm going to suggest that he write some kind of documentary or story or something to be sure all the tales get told. He really did have some crazy stuff happen on that route. I haven't even heard all of it yet, I don't think. For example, at one point he was hauling off two old rusted quarter inchers (b/c they were the ONLY option) and one of the bolts blew out – shock loaded the other bolt (which pman said was the worse looking of the two). So he had to haul the rest on just one old nasty bolt. And I don't think there was anything else for an anchor. Maybe he backed himself up to a nut or something. But anyway – it was sketch as hell apparently, at least in parts.
Hope your trip's going well, Jeff. I'll get the porta-ledge to you somehow before you leave. Don't worry.