At the risk of repeating myself, if you're thinking of El Cap - get out there and get on it. The rest of this page is a series of notes made before and after the climb. There's lots here if you dig for it, but don't expect to be spoonfed.
Recommended Practice Climbs
I did the following as practice before heading out to the ditch. All recommended as
bomber C1 placements for getting your system dialed, and in a rough order of
difficulty.
Tryfan Fach - Crack 4
Millstone - Embankment (any of them)
Ilkley Quarry - Curving Cracks
Heptonstall - Curving Crack
Heptonstall - Main Line
Ilkley Quarry - Walewska
Ilkley Quarry - Tufted Crack
Ilkley Quarry - Wellington Crack
Don't be worried about the ethics side - you're not putting anything more than
controlled bodyweight on a normal trad placement so you will be doing less damage than
the average dogger pushing their lead grade. Climbing on a damp day will damage the
rock (especially gritstone) more, so consider some esoteric rock for your initial
experiments. For example Leeds & Bradford based big wall theorists should take a look
at Calverley Quarry (in the connoisseurs section of the Yorkshire millennium grit guide).
This is well out of the way (and filthy) but great for practising hauling and jumarring
on a variety of 20m high slabs, corners and overhangs. The cracks are splitter dude!
It's possible to park at the end of the road making the walk-in less than 5 minutes,
but have a word with the residents so that they know what you're doing and why you're
there. The "turning circle" is a favourite parking spot for the local drug dealers so
they like to know that you're not one of the unsavoury sort.
Physical preparation
Cardio-vascular - I hate running but my bike and swimming helped with the physical
demands of hauling and jugging
Lots of climbing - the best training for climbing is climbing after all
Moving fast on big mountain days - Idwal slabs + Continuation walls + Grey Group twice
in a day?
Massage - a regular weekly session will help to keep the strains and stresses down
Topping out on El Capitan is more about attitude than years of experience. Expect to
suffer, you're going to spend 5 solid days climbing, with just enough water & food to
keep going. It's going to hurt in places you didn't know you had nerves to hurt. But
almost every pitch is classic and the views and situation will blow your mind. Commit
to the climb and prepare to invest a lot of time and energy in preparation.
Spend time in the UK getting your system dialed, with lots of research on the web to
find out about different techniques. Make sure that you can deal with the exposure
(it's huge, but you get used to it) and practice, practice, practice. Concentrate on
the basic aid techniques then get your trad lead grade as high & solid as possible.
Techniques to learn
Leading on aid
Top stepping
Jugging with two ascenders
Jugging with the froggie system
Cleaning with two ascenders
Cleaning with one ascender and a gri-gri
Clip cleaning
Rigging the belay
Hauling
The docking clutch for the pig
Jugging and hauling can be overcome with brute strength and determination. Good
technique will get you there far more efficiently. Wouldn't you rather have that energy
for climbing and enjoying the view? Some Irish lads climbed it the week before us in 7
or 8 days. They had bugger-all experience and even less equipment. But a hell of a lot
of heart.
Clothing
I spent most days climbing in zip-off trousers, t-shirt and single layer pertex
windproof, adding a powerfleece top for belays. A duvet made the evenings & early
mornings much more pleasant. We never used the storm gear and spare thermal layer but I
won't be leaving them on the ground next time. Must remember a couple of pairs of spare
socks.
Personal Gear
Gloves - B&Q leather gloves with the fingertips cut off and seams re-sewn
Helmet - even a roll of fingertape takes on armour piercing properties at terminal
velocity
Yates Shield harness - loads of gear loops and cushy padding
Yates Speed Aiders - the spreader bar makes an excellent handhold
Metolious easy daisies - lovely pieces of kit
Black Diamond daisies - make sure everything's in different colours
Petzl Ascenders - one can be rigged on the harness for the froggie system
Froggie loop and chest harness - homemade but I'd consider the Petzl chest harness
Topo - laminated and with a tie-in loop
Small waterbottle - for mid & post-pitch
Belay device, mini-sling & prussiks
Nut key
The rack
Lots and lots of locking carabiners including ovals
Even more wiregate 'biners
Two sets of nuts - one of wallnuts and one of rocks
Collection of offset nuts
Collection of micro nuts & RPs
Leeper cam hooks - a bent piece of metal with a hole drilled in it, who'd trust that?
Me.
Black Diamond Zodiac gear harness - your harness gear loops will not hold it all!
Gri-gri - aid leads are slooooooow and boring for belayer
Small hammer for cleaning awkward placements
Every friend you can afford - we took about thirty friends from 0.1 camalot upwards including Metolious TCUs (they work a treat in pin scars and easier to get than CCH Aliens) and some big guns - up to Camalot old size 4.5 (new size 5)
The ropes
60m of 11mm single lead rope
60m of 10mm static haul line
60m of 9mm half line for trailing and lowering out
We didn't really use the third line but it came in useful on the king swing. In future
I'll be looking to use it as a true trail line to avoid carrying such a large rack on
every pitch.
Hauling
Petzl ProTraxion - big pulley, proper ball bearing and integral jumar
Rope protector - cut the top off a 2L plastic bottle
Petzl Swivel - saves the rope from twisting when the haul bag rolls sideways
Docking clutch - see Dr Piton's posts
Black Diamond 170L haul bag
Vertical Camping
Sleeping bag & liner - synthetic only, no down
Thermarest - the full length Expedition version was luxurious
Bivi bag - Solo Raider without poles and pegs
Pee bottle - clearly marked
Hammock - we took one for Keith which made our cramped belays a lot more comfortable
I slept in my harness every night, but not my helmet as I couldn't get comfy enough.
Miscellaneous
Big roll of gaffer tape - it fixes everything
Tie-in loops - add them to everything
Camera - it's impossible to take bad photos on El Cap
Suncream and block - there's nothing to hide behind and the majority of The Nose gets
the sun all day
Poop tube, wag bags and extra loo paper - when it's full, cut open a water bottle,
stuff it full and gaffer it shut afterwards
Headtorch - permanently fixed to the helmet
Titanium kettle and pocket rocket - for that morning cup of tea
Wetwipes, toothpaste & brush - not that personal hygiene was very high on my priorities
Water
Two litre water bottles - bought from Asda in the UK with a tie-in loop clove hitched
to the neck. You can't get them for love nor money in the valley. We rationed three
litres each per day + two more each for the descent/contingency. This made a total of
fourteen bottles when we jugged up on the second day, with our personal bottles full
too.
My big wall menu
Breakfast
Granola bars - with peanuts and chocolate is yummy
Tin of peaches
Tortillas with peanut butter and jelly
Cup of sweet black tea
Lunch
Cliff/Mojo/Odwalla bars
Dried mango slices
Treats - M&Ms and gummy bears
Tea
Tortillas with salami, cheese and coney mustard
Tin of ravioli or spagetthi
Whatever's left from breakfast and lunch
What I would change
Spare socks - one pair for 6 days was not enough
Multi-day contact lenses - it's not easy to get daily disposables in with filthy
fingers every morning
What we dropped
Batteries from Keith's headtorch
Camera lens cap
The cap off the toothpaste
A roll of fingertape
An empty tin of peaches
The bottom of the poop tube
The contents of the poop tube
But no climbing gear
Recommended Websites
Rockclimbing.com
Search for Dr Piton's old posts, especially for the gear lists and indexes. The forum's
kinda quiet but it's a goldmine of information to dig in.
Supertopo
Home of some big wall legends (and Dr Piton), lurking here is a constant pleasure.
And many many more...
These forums will direct you to the hundreds of other sources around the internet, or
Google it.
Recommended Books
Yosemite Big Walls - Supertopo
Yosemite Free Climbs - Supertopo
The Road to the Nose - PDF from Supertopo
Big Wall Climbing - Long and Middendorf
Camp 4 - Steve Roper
El Capitan - Daniel Duane
Recommended DVDs/Videos
Blood, Sweat and Bagels - Sheffield's finest take on Salathe Wall free
Action Adept Yosemite Valley - lots of hard aid footage
The Centre of the Universe - the Hubers showing off
Cold Haul - captures the physical demands of aid climbing
Return2Sender - parallojams from finger cracks to offwidths