10 Days After... a 23 hour epic

After getting our asses handed to us six pitches up a couple weeks earlier on The Re-Animator we were keen to step back up to the plate. Unfortunately with little time to spare we had to lower our sights and pick something that we thought we could do in a 24-hour push. After some debate we set our sights on Ten Days After as our first choice. Neither of us had done the route and it looked like a fun line.

Leaving LA pre-dawn with a planned stop in Bass Lake I arrived in the Valley a few minutes after 12 and stopped at Bishop’s Terrace to gear up. Steve pulled up a few minutes later straight from Reno and we felt like we had entered the Twighlight Zone. We had been here doing the exact same thing just two weeks before.

It always amazes me that even on a planned “lightweight” push ascent you can have what seems like enough gear to get up a weeklong El Cap route. As we headed out of the Ahwahnee parking lot around 1pm we had a spring in our step and climbing on our mind. Of course starting up the hill the bags seemed to get heavier and our pace slower. An hour and a half later found us by ourselves at the start of the Prow with one party 5 pitches up. We had decided to do the first two pitches of the Prow to save time and stay out of the slime. Neither of these was accomplished. As Steve began his block I cranked up the tunes and made ready to clean like a mad man. At the top of the first pitch sitting at the belay I was covered by spray from the cracks to the right as there had been a ton of rain just the day before. By the time I was cleaning the second pitch I was good and wet.

It took us a couple pitches to shake out the cobwebs but by 8pm we were at the top of the third pitch, Half Dome was glowing orange and we were hitting our stride. As Steve led out the 4th pitch I heard a strange sound and looked up to see what must have been several hundred Swifts darting into the crack just above the belay. They let out high-pitched whistles as they jockeyed for position to see who would get the choicest bivy spot inside the crack. Then just as quickly as it had started the commotion ended and I was once again left to myself while Steve continued up into the darkness. The call of “off belay, line fixed” came a while later as I realized that after cleaning this pitch my block was about to begin. The pitch was steep and slightly traversing and I did not clean it as quickly as I had hoped. Finally after a snack, some fluids and a gear swap I was on my way.

As I made my way up the ¾ inch crack on the 5th pitch I was amazed at how irregular the crack was compared to the ones found on El Cap. Washington Column seems like the bastard little brother with each placement taking much more creativity and finesse as the crack, even though similar in width has so many different nuances making each placement feel completely different than the last.

I fixed the line on the 5th pitch, hauled our pack and began the traverse pitch. The entire pitch was basically fixed with the exception of a yellow alien placement and one hook move. Just as I got to the end of the pitch Steve reached the previous anchor so he lowered out the bag and began following the completely horizontal pitch. I was glad to have clipped all the fixed circle heads on lead rather than while back cleaning. A few of them don’t look as if they will be there much longer. In fact there is quite a bit of fixed mank throughout the route which would prove exciting higher up. I gave Steve a belay as he made his way across and soon we were at the beginning of the 7th pitch that starts up a super cool thin feature next to an awesome looking steep ramp.

As Steve caught up to me at the 6th belay we looked over about 30 feet to our left and slightly lower and saw the party that had been above us on the Prow bivied out in their ledge. We turned up the tunes and they asked if we were on Ten Days After…. You never know what you might encounter while on a wall and these two Brits seemed amused to see us climbing straight through the night. As I cam hooked my way up the first few moves I then encountered some very nasty heads and tried not to breath as I moved past them and eventually clipped a nice bolt that had been recently replaced (thank God). From the bolt I clipped an old head and then a #3 LA that someone had only managed to get in about half way. It was a classic example of choosing a pin that was too fat instead of one the right size that could have been much more bomber. I thought about making a swap for a #2 LA or some other piece of gear but could see another fixed piece out left heading up what seemed to be a possibly expanding feature and decided to keep moving (bad mistake). As I got on the next piece I saw that it was an old RP but could not see the head to judge the condition even though the wire looked to be in OK shape. Not wanting to test the piece too fiercely for fear that I would wreck the placement or rip the cable I decided to move past it and place the next piece. I got all set and began trying to make an inverted cam hook placement but could not get the thing to hold so opted for a Lost Arrow a bit further out. With luck I could make just this one more placement before being able to reach a rivet on the face up and to the left. This is when I made a very rookie mistake that cost me some skin. As I began banging in the LA I did not clip my daisy into the pin but started to just hammer in it a ways thinking I would then clip it after I got it set. It was a long reach and I was leaning way out sideways off the RP. On my third swing the RP I was on literally disintegrated and before I knew what hit me I was airborne. The force of the fall was big and getting bigger with every foot. I heard the fixed pin below the piece that ripped go next as I was going by and then heard the head pop out above me as well.

You know it is a long fall when you have enough time to think, “wow I’m falling and nothing is stopping me”. As I rocketed through the darkness all I could think of was “Am I ever going to stop”. Steve had been lounging at the belay or doing something and was now slammed upwards as he tried to figure out just what had happened. Finally after maybe 40 -45 feet I came to a stop about 5 feet below Steve and off to the side. Steve said all he heard was some hammering, then a pop and then “Oh Fuckkkkkkkkk” as he grabbed for the grigri. By this time the Brit’s were wide awake, laughing and screaming stuff like “Oh yeh mate good go at it eh…. Right, bloody bugger of a fall eh. And Ten points for effort for sure capin.”!. For a minute we all just sort of sat there not really sure what had actually happened and then started laughing and shaking our heads all at the same time. When I looked at the head of the RP I saw several large cracks in it with the wire exposed. The head of the RP had literally exploded which in turn sent me flying. The pin that had ripped was still clipped through the rope as was the cable of the head that had pulled with no sign of the head.

After shaking it off and checking to make sure everything was still where it was supposed to be I headed back up and managed to get through the rest of the pitch all be it a bit slower and much more gingerly.

By 9 am we had reached Tapir with no further escapades and we were starting to feel the effects of the all night push. We drank some coffee, ate some food and Steve led off on the next pitch. By now the Brits were getting close and we had some laughs about the follies of the previous few hours. As we sat on Tapir the sun hit us and started to heat things up. Finally we all decided it might go quicker if we joined forces to the top (we were wrong) but it was fun sharing the final few hours together as well as the North Dome Decent. We topped out 25 hours after starting and given the situation were pretty happy with our performance.  By 6pm we were in the Ahwahnee parking lot and feeling pretty hammered. We did a quick gear sort and with only one 1-hour rest stop/ snooze and a stop at Carl’s Jr. I pulled into my driveway at 1:30 am less than 45 hours after leaving Thursday morning. Of course I was useless the rest of the weekend but it was worth it.