The Road to El Cap
I teach a lot of learn to lead classes. Afterwards, I often have students tell me their dreams of climbing El Capitan. This goal is large. Very large. Like 3000’ tall large. Without a road map to get there it can be quite intimidating and people don’t know where to start. This post aims to provide folks with a timeline and intermediate goals so they can better prepare for the daunting task of climbing The Captain. The time estimates I give are assuming you get out and practice every other weekend. All in all, this journey will take you three years if you’re heavily dedicated and moving at a breakneck pace. Expect more like four to five years if you do other things with your life besides climbing. The sooner your start, the sooner you get there.
Step 1: Start by leading
Doesn’t matter if it’s in the gym or outside, you have to start leading. El Cap isn’t going to have a top-rope on it for you. Being above your protection, comfort with taking falls when appropriate, and flawless clipping skills will serve as a solid foundation as you continue your journey.
left: Cole Lawrence leading Left Pile in Big Cottonwood Canyon
Estimated time required: 1-2 months
Benchmark: You are extremely comfortable finding, leading, and cleaning sport routes outside at the 5.10 grade.
Step 2: Placing Pro
Even though there’s the occasional bolt-ladder here and there, anything up El Cap is definitively a trad climb. You need to understand the limitations of your protection and the rock you place it in. Additionally, you’ll need to be able to understand drawn topos and read rock to stay on route. Crack climbing skills certainly help and will speed your progress up the wall, but they’re not necessarily required.
left: inspecting a student’s trad placements after a mock-lead in Big Cottonwood Canyon
Estimated time required: 6 months - 1 year
Benchmark: You are comfortable finding, leading, staying on route, on single-pitch trad climb up to 5.9. You can build solid gear anchors in under 2 minutes.
Step 3: Higher and Higher; getting yourself out of jams
Do you have a 6000’ rope? If not, you’ll have to learn how to multi-pitch climb. These skills are arguably more important than the aid climbing techniques to come. Multi-pitch climbing will expose you to a variety of situations and problems you need to solve on the fly. Having a large toolbox enables you to implement an appropriate solution smoothly and safely. The more practice you have at this step the better. You should aim for constant refinement of your systems; it’s not enough to get up and down a climb, you need to do it efficiently and quickly without compromising safety. Clean rope management should be a top priority.
In addition to standard multi-pitch skills, self-rescue is a vital part of this step as well. You will mess up on big walls. You need to be able to deal with things without it being overwhelming. A haul-bag is essentially another member of your party, except it’s unconscious, you sit and stand on it’s head, and you’re allowed to kick it from time to time.
Estimated time required: 1 year
Benchmark: 3-4 pitch routes are a casual half-day outing for you. This includes descending. You’re back on the ground after a 6-10 pitch route well before dark. Your transitions (both climbing and rappelling) are smooth and have minimal rope-management issues.
Step 4: Aid is Aid
Only eleven people have free-climbed The Nose. Unless you’re the next Lynn Hill, you’ll need to aid climb. This is going to be the hardest skill-set for you to learn. It will require the most dedication and practice. You’ll need to get creative to facilitate your training. It will be physically demanding. You will be scared. Most importantly, this part probably won’t be much fun.
This is when you’ll start to need specialty gear. At an absolute minimum, you’ll need ascenders. But in reality you’ll also need daisy chains, ladders, a progress capture pulley, approach shoes, a fifi hook, and finger-less gloves. You also can start to expand your trad rack to include things like micro cams and brass nuts.
Start by aiding routes you’ve already done. The best ones to try first are sport climbs with closely spaced bolts and low-angle trad climbs that follow cracks. Eventually you’ll need to get on a wide variety of terrain (low-angle, vert, splitters, corners, overhangs, traverses), but start with the easier options to build familiarly with the concepts, movement, and your equipment. Always practice new skills in situations with minimal consequences. This can be on the ground, or with a top-rope backup. Find a friend willing to hold the rope for an hour at a time, or consider learning how to top rope solo.
left: Andrew performs a hook move on the Town Drunk Aid Boulder
Make your training measurable. by timing yourself aiding a route. Do it four more times and aim to improve your time with each attempt. Do the same while following (jugging, cleaning) the route. Aim to be fluid and efficient as opposed to fast and frantic in all your movements. Keep a journal and come back to the route eventually to see your improvement over time. Make sure to include routes with traversing sections or roofs that require you to perform tension traverses, pendulums, lower-outs, and re-aiding.
You may have to manufacture your own training environments in order to give yourself appropriate challenges. When I first started out I hung slings off bolts to simulate bolt-ladders. I crafted a “jugging treadmill” that slowly lowered me at the perfect rate so I could ascend 60m all while staying only two feet off the ground. I performed tension traverses and lower-outs back and forth on adjacent sport routes. You need to do what you need to in order to gain proficiency in these new skills.
Not only do you need to practice on single-pitch routes, you need to dial in your rope-management and anchor organizational skills on multipitch routes. Do a few 3-4 pitch routes above your free-climbing limit with the intention of aiding them; make sure there’s no mandatory free-climbing you can’t do. Again, time each pitch.
Finally, put it all together and do an honest-to-goodness aid route. You’re looking for something in the C1 to C2- range that you can do in a day (eight pitches or fewer).
Estimated time required: 1-2 years
Benchmark: A route similar to The Glass Menagerie (5.10, C2, IV) or Touchstone (5.10a/b, C2, V) done in a very long day (fix and fire is an option)
Step 5: A Room with a View
This is the final branch in the skill tree! You’re nearly there. New gear needed for this step includes a progress capture pulley (the 2nd generation minitrax is my favorite), swivel, and a haulbag. Now you need to learn how to plan for an overnight wall, deal with a haulbag, haul, live and sleep on the wall.
Planning is a huge part of an overnight wall. You need water (1 gal/person/day), food (more than you think), sleeping kit, climbing gear, plus all the little things needed to be comfortable enough throughout the day and night (toothbrush, contacts, sunglasses). You should have every member of a party carry a copy of the topo on them at all times. Walkie talkies aren’t a bad idea, either. I highly suggest a checklist to make sure you don’t forget anything. Figure out your approach, descent, and where you want to spend the night. The main goal here is to get you used to thinking about all the complex logistics involved for an overnight wall. For your practice session you can just camp out on top of a two pitch route - a single pitch would work, but is somewhat limiting. Be sure you’re allowed to camp wherever you choose!
Packing a haul-bag is harder than it sounds. You need to be able to access everything when needed but also not drop anything. Having some cushioning on the outside is a stellar idea (foam pads work extremely well). Practice loading your bag with a real load, schlepping it to the wall, and setting it up to haul (hint: you’ll have to at least partially unpack it). Using rocks you find at base of the crag for weight will just leave you with holes in your haul-bag.
above: the author in Camp 4 packing a haul-bag for a multi-day climb up The Nose. Photo credit: Chris Lile
Hauling is probably the most exhausting part of big-walling. After you aid a pitch, you’ll need to haul the the bag while your partner jugs the lead line. The bag needs to be released by the follower before they can start jugging, so get your haul system dialed so you can be ready to go as fast as possible. It’s not a bad idea to have your follower practice lowering out the bag as well (you’ll need to do two pitches to accomplish this). Figure out how to efficiently use your body weight to haul. If you’re exhausted after one pitch, imagine doing the same process twelve times in a day. Simple 1:1 hauling should be your focus, but if you’re solid on that you can try out space hauling. If you’re around 100lbs, congratulations, it’s almost guaranteed you need to learn 2:1 or 3:1 haul systems. Included with hauling is docking and releasing the bag plus rappelling with one (wearing it on your back isn’t an option).
When you get to camp, rig your ropes in a way that enables you to move around and sleep. You’ll stayed tied in while sleeping. If you plan on using a portaledge, you should have learned to set that up on the ground; it’s much harder when you’re hanging on the side of a wall. Once camp is established, eat a meal (careful if using a flame or hot objects around nylon), don’t drop your sleeping pad, and hit the hay. Bonus points if you learn how to use a wagbag while dangling your ass off the side of your portaledge.
above: Chris Lile enjoying the view after setting up camp early on El Cap Tower
Pack it all up in the morning and descend the route via rappelling. Rapping with the pig is just as important as hauling it.
Make note of what worked and what needs improvement, then try it again.
Estimated time required: 1 year
Benchmark: A route similar to The Glass Menagerie (5.10, C2, IV), or Touchstone (5.10a/b, C2, V) done in two days (one night on the wall) finishing before dark each day.
Step 6: Pilgrimage to Mecca
Feeling ready? Make your way to Yosemite, but don’t hike straight to the toe of El Cap with your haulbag already packed. While it is tempting to launch off on your epic adventure right away, it’s best to take some time to get used to the rock in The Valley. Most likely it’ll be slicker and have more pin scars than you’re used to. Do some free climbing, practice aiding the single pitch routes at crags or on boulders. Tackle a more mellow wall like Leaning Tower or Washington Column. Chances are you’ll figure out something you need to tweak in your system.
above: The author on Skull Queen, Washington Column. photo credit: Ben Wu
Estimated time required: 1 week
Benchmark: South Face of Washington Column or West Face of Leaning Tower done in two days.
Step 7: The Big Stone
If those routes went well for you, then you’re ready, or at least ready enough for The Big Stone. Lurking Fear or The Nose each have their own challenges. I wouldn’t say one is much easier than the other, but The Nose tends to take folks longer and has more crowds. If you have time, start with Lurking Fear and then move on to the iconic section of rock you’ve been staring at since you’ve arrived in The Valley. Hopefully all that work you put in pays off.
left: haul-bags and portaledges leaving the ground for a trip up The Nose
Estimated time required: 5 days
Benchmark: Lurking Fear done in 3-4 days or The Nose done in 4-5 days.
While this post doesn’t tell you everything you need to know, it should have at least given you an idea of the path you’ll be taking. Understand that everyone seeking to climb El Cap has a different set of circumstances, previous experiences, and challenges. It might take you three years, or a decade. Be patient with yourself and try to stay motivated through the setbacks. The Nose still has a summit rate of only 50%. This means that half of the parties that attempt the route end up retreating before reaching the top. Stack the odds in your favor by preparing as much as you can before going for the big one.
Have fun; stay smart
-Adam
The Nose, 2021: 2.5 days
Nose in a Day, 2023: 15:32 and 13:13
