Darren Hansen

D and I also met in middle school playing soccer...and yes all three of us (Darren, Dan, and myself) played through middle school and then in high school together.  The thing I remember most about D in high school is he was always reading, which could have lead to why he was so good at debate and eventually went on to be lawyer.

D finished up high school, went to college, finished college, decided to enslave himself, went to law school, graduated law school, and is now a climbing bum at a gym on the East coast.  Though he is aspiring to a more lucrative business I think he is enjoying himself for now.

D and I started climbing together, and once again I am not sure how it all came about, but it did.  I think we meshed well since D was new to climbing and crazy enough to tag along with me early in the morning or on some really fun trips.  If you every meet the guy, I think you would quickly see why it was so enjoyable to spend time with him.  He really has a super fun personality.

Cheesin' for the camera

Chels met him for the first time when we went down to St. George for spring break to go climbing.  Darren was crammed in the front seat sitting indian style for over five hours, since the car was that packed.  Not even all the way to our destination and the car died.  But fear not, that did not hamper our climbing down there.

Darren sitting Indian-style in the front seat

Climbing a sweet chimney in St. George, Huckberry Wash, don't worry it's only a 5.4

D, Chels, and I were climbing pretty much every day we could during the summers, and it was tons of fun.

D practicing his rope soloing skills, sans the Grigri or autolocking belay device, on the Wall of Jericho

Blocking the hot sun with his rope bag while belaying up at Utopia

A fun experience climbing with D was when he saved my life after sallying out on a climb and then forcing myself to take a whipper (a really long fall).  Well we ended up about 10' off the ground and I was close enough to him to give him a high five.  D then promptly finished the route and we were done for the day.  The climb was Pet Piranha at the Cliffs of Insanity for those who care about details.

Another fun experience was climbing for my b-day.  D was willing to come and his brothers were in town and they also wanted to come along.  If life wasn't good enough with one Hansen, trying having three of them at once.  It was a hoot!

So I had to put all three of these photos in here

We caught all three of them in the same position on the climb looking out

For those that know Logan Canyon this is T.X. at Fucodile, fun climb!

The final story I will share is on the third pitch of an amazing trad climb up Logan Canyon called Five Minutes for Fighting (careful of the rattlers if you go there).  We were climbing with my brother Brandon, and D was last up.  Well D wandered slightly from the route because he wanted to sequence the face moves rather than sticking to the crack.

Suffice it to say that D pulled off a boulder the size of his entire torso in a fall.  He walked away a little shookin' up with a scraped leg and a bleeding hand.  It was pretty intense.  Thanks to Chelsea I carried a first aid kit in my bag.  So, once we got back to my bag, we put a band-aid on it and climbed another day.

Wrapping stuff up after climbing Bath Rock in The City

Also, just super excited to have another great adventure with D!

Dan Lamarra

Dan was the person I first had in mind when I finally decided to make it a real goal to climb El Cap and start putting a timeline to it.  I have known Dan since middle school when we started playing soccer together.  We had a lot of good times... one of the most memorable for me was in high school.

Dan had this sweet red beater Toyota 4 Runner, named Brian.  We skipped class and went up into the mountains in search of a cave that my brothers had told me about.  I seem to recall that we actually did find the cave, but the real adventure was getting there.  It was quite the muddy day and it was soooo much fun blowing through all the ginormous puddles in Brian!

Dan and Sean (a biker we picked up on the way to St. George) near Prophesy Wall

This is what we woke up to in the morning at the Prophecy Wall  in Veo, Utah...the dry spot is where Dan slept in his bivvy sac :O)

As far as climbing went I started climbing with Dan after high school when we were in college.  I don't know how it all came to be...but alas we started climbing together.  Dan was always game for the big adventures, though he often had a different schedule so the weekday climbing was out of the picture.

Dan sort of speared me toward trad climbing, using gear you take with you up the rock, rather than relying on what others have put there before.  Dan had some experience and I had even less, mostly tinkering around with my brothers gear when they didn't know about it...oops.

At the time I had money to burn or at least I thought I did, so I started to buy gear in bulk with every paycheck.  Soon we had enough gear that we could tackle most of the climbs in our ability.  What fun it was.

A super memorable experience with Dan is going down to Moab with him, Chase, and Julz (Dan's wife, girlfriend at the time).  It was my first day joining up with them and we were on Potash Rd.  The first climb of the day was Bad Mokey Roof, a 5.9 trade route.  It looked fun and I watched both Chase and Dan climb it with ease (sort of, it really is quite tricky).  Then I had a go.

Dan climbing in Moab on 8 Seconds Over Potash

Just a little different angle

Truly I really wish I had pictures...for what insued must have been one of those priceless moments.  I went into the crux backwards and ended up in this heniously awkward off-width position with my upper body stuck between two rocks and my feet sticking out nearly parallel with the ground.  Dan had quite the chuckle as did the rest of the gang.  I wasted so much energy on that first climb that I was practically worthless the rest of the day.

Another great time is when Dan and I put up a couple first ascents up Logan Canyon.  It was awesome.  Dan danced up this super flaky and sparse crack line, to which I was very grateful to be seconding, especially when the bat flew out and tried to eat me.

This is one of the first ascents we did near Swan Flats in Logan Canyon, super fun route, it was like a Cracker Jack box

All in all, I would have to say that I have had awesome times with Dan and look forward to another big adventure.

Route Selection

Route selection...think of it as if you were choosing what combination of roads to take on an epic roadtrip.  That is the gist of what we are doing.

This is a huge ordeal, for it will allow us to understand the gear we will need to bring, what type of training we need to do (aiding, pendulums, nailing, etc.)  So, here is where we stand so far...


El Capitan Routes

- The Nose, El Capitan, 15 min approach, 5 days, 31 pitches, 5.14a or 5.9 C2
- Muir Wall, El Capitan, 15 min approach, 5 days, 33 pitches, A2 5.9
- North American Wall, El Capitan, 30 min approach, 5 days, 27 pitches, A2 5.8
- Zodiac, El Capitan, 45 min approach, 4 days, 16 pitches, A2 5.7
- The Shield, El Capitan, 10 min approach, 6 days, 33 pitches, A3 5.8
- *** Salathe Wall, El Capitan, 10 min approach, 4 days, 35 pitches, 5.13b or 5.9 C2 ***
- *** Free Rider, El Capitan, 10 min approach, 4 days, 35 pitches, 5.12d ***
The starred routes are the more likely candidates. Free Rider is a variation of the typical Salathe Wall, so the bulk of it with either route will be the same.

Prep in Yosemite
http://www.supertopo.com/bigwalls/yosemite/bigwalls.html#routelist
- Lost Arrow Spire Direct, Lost Arrow Spire, 3 hr approach, 1-2 days, 10 pitches, 5.8 C2
- South Face, Washington Column, 1.5 hr approach, 2 days, 9 pitches, 5.8 C1, typically a starter route in Yosemite
- The Prow, Washington Column, 1.5 hr approach, 3 days, 12 pitches, 5.6 C2F, not sure what the F stands for, which may or may not be a good thing, eh?

Prep in Zion
http://www.supertopo.com/packs/zion-climbing.html?s=route&o=ASC&v=&ftr=&cur=0#list
- Iron Messiah, The Spearhead, III/IV, 15 min approach, 3 to 5 hours, 6 pitches, 5.10
- Moonlight Buttress, Moonlight Buttress Area, IV, 1 day, 9 pitches, 5.12+ or 5.9 C1
- Spaceshot, Leaning Wall, IV, 2 days, 9 pitches, 5.13 or 5.6 C2

All told there is not a shortage of climbing to do, but rather a shortage of time we will be able to invest in this.

Questions Anyone?

I thought it might be good to address of few of life's essentials while on the side of the big stone.  There are a lot of things to think about.  Food, water, shelter, closest latrine, etc.

If you have questions feel free to ask, you never know, I might actually answer them.

So, without further adieu, here is a little Q & A.

Q: If this adventure lasts over a night, how do you sleep?

A: You get to sleep on the side of the cliff, on a ledge (if available), or you have to bring something along with you. It could be a hammock, a piece of plywood rigged up with some webbing or rope, or it could be an overpriced portaledge.  Found this picture online and thought it showed how crazy things can get with multiple people camping on the side of a cliff.

Q: How do you carry all that gear, do you wear a backpack while climbing?

A: Heavens no... there are much more efficient ways to get stuff up the side of the rock then carrying it all the way. First, option is to rent a sherpa who would pack it instead (common in Alpine climbing - say in the Himalayas). If you don't have money to do that, find an unemployed lawyer (thanks D)!

In all seriousness you use a method called hauling and it is a ton of work.

Here is one possible variation of hauling.

You have to haul multiple bags up and they can get snagged up on ledges. Sometimes you have to repel down to the snag and get things straightened up, which then leads to you needing to ascend or jumar the line.

I read a story of one guy who was one pitch from the top and his haul bag got snagged. He was tired and exhausted, so instead of taking the time to repelling down to unsnag it he just pulled with all his might. Well let's just say all the contents of the bag poured out into space, over half of which were never seen again in the wreckage at the bottom of the climb.

Q:  What about food and water?

A:  Food is typical backpacking food.  Light weight and non-perishable.  Water is a precious,but heavy commodity.  Here are some water bottles I have crafted for this epic adventure. Duct tape and webbing and old 2 Liter bottles. Learned it from a climbing book!

Q: So since this adventure will last more than a day... how does one take care of business up there when nature calls?

A: Answer... a poop tube. I just made this a week ago or so. Sorry, I don't think it would be appropriate showing pictures of it in action, so this is all you get.

 

A Little Piece of History

So, I thought it prudent to explain in brief as to the history behind this adventure. For starters, some beta (information) on the locale for those new to the climbing world.

Here is the "the valley."

Yosemite National Park is in California and is the first instance of the federal government setting aside land for the distinct purpose of preservation and public use (1864).

Eight years later, thanks to some of the ground work laid, Yellowstone became the first National Park. It wasn't until a Scottish-born alpinist by the name of John Muir took the president camping in the area for three days that he convinced the president to make Yosemite a National Park (see pic below). It took three more years for the federal government to make it a National Park in 1906, previous to that it had been a state park for California. How cool would that be to go camping with the president in the Yosemite Valley!?

All that was all done about 10 years before there was even the National Park service. Who, when it came on line, took over the care and preservation of the park.

El Capitan, commonly referred to as "El Cap" in the climbing world, is one of the more prominent features of the Yosemite valley. Another well known feature of the valley is Half Dome, which if any of you have a North Face jacket are constantly reminded of it. Both are pictured below.

El Capitan (Think Spanish!)

Half Dome, the real thing.

Half Dome, cool eh?

El Cap is a vertical wall just under 3/4 mi. in height. It completely dwarfs the giant sequoas at its base. The first successful attempt at climbing this giant stone was headed up by predigious mountaineer Warren Harding in 1958. It took him 47 days over the course of 18 months to successfully navigate his way to the top. The second great milestone was by Royal Robbins & co. in 1960 who were able to climb "the Nose", the prominent prow on the wall, in seven days.

Later in 1975 the Nose was climbed in 1 day. What a feat! Now the record is 2 hrs 36 min and 45 secs, set on 6 November 2010 by Dean Potter and Sean Leary.

So, as far as our little trio goes...we hope to catch it somewhere between the one day to seven day mark. It typically takes climbers, depending on the route - and there are hundreds to thousands of them on El Cap alone- 3 to 5 days.  That is most likely the timeframe we will be working in.

Since it takes several days to climb, we have to take along extra gear for the required bivys (bivouacs or encampments).  In order to do this the whole climbing pattern adapts to the gear load and the longevity of the route.  This style of climbing requires camping on the side of a cliff, either on natural ledges or man-made portaledges as pictured below.

Portaledge, exciting huh!?!

It will also entail climbing techniques like aiding, jumarring, pendulums, hauling, and much more. It is quite the undertaking, but I am super excited at the chance to take it on.

Info gleaned from NPS and Wikipedia and miscellaneous climbing books I've read.

The Journey Begins...

One time while climbing, I believe up in "The City" with my buddy Dan, he mentioned to me his desire to climb El Cap before the age of 30. At the time I just thought, "Wow, that would be quite the undertaking. But at the same time extremely cool." I didn't anticipate that the ambition to scale that wall would grow so strong inside myself but alas, it has...

As the story goes, Dan and I climbed quite a bit together and had awesome adventures. We've saved each others lives, tackled great odds, put up some first ascents which were sketchy to say the least. Each has his strengths and weaknesses, but I love climbing with Dan. He is solid. But as fate would have it school became a bigger priority, we both have gotten hitched to great ladies, and although we still climb together when we can work it out it has gotten harder.
In the interim I have climbed with a whole assortment of folks, and loved every minute of it. I thought I would show of few pics of those who I have climbed with (not close to all-inclusive). I figured I better give a shout out to all those in the pics below.

Ken, Chase, Brittany on a trip to "the creek".

Nic, Morgan, and Jesse all at the first of my climbing in Logan.

Shann, Jess, and Dutin having a ball up in Logan Canyon.

Chels, Loller, and Cletus

(side note - Loller, Cletus and I would climb till we couldn't see any more it would be so dark out. One night Cletus' mom was so worried she sent the cops up the canyon looking for us and they pulled us over. Good times.)

Jeff, Elliot, and Chase. All good times to be had for sure.

Then Garrett, who nearly died on the trip that is photoed here.

One of my other really good partners, besides my wife of course, was Darrin. D, Chels, and I would climb almost every day of the summer up in Logan Canyon. We had so much fun. I could usually convince D that we could get our homework done later. It was great times. D and I climbed a whole bunch together and had several fun experiences, like the time he tried to rip down the entire mountain on himself, but only succeeded with a boulder the size of his upperbody. What came of it? Merely a fleshwound, and a decent amount of blood. Awesome.

Well I sort of internalized the goal of climbing El Cap and have thought a lot about it as I've continued climbing. Just earlier this year I texted Dan and I asked him if he still wanted to do it. He said he hadn't been climbing a lot, but the desire was still there. I said great, how about in two years time? That is the year that I believe both of us will be turning 30. I knew D has had the desire to climb it for a great while as well. And so D is also on board.

And so it begins. A year of personal training (2011). Next year teaming up, Dan, D, and myself, and working through the system of playing and living in a vertical world (2012). Then the following year tackling the monolith of Yosemite (2013), after bagging a few routes in Zion and maybe some other places as well.

Here she is!

To say the least I am super stoked and plan to work at this while living life and supporting the fam. But it is out there and all y'all can hold me to it. There is of course some flexibility in the plan, but we are all super excited about it!

More to come on what I am doing to train and what I am learning about. Enjoy!