Honey, can you pass me a shit bag? - Ousley Creative

1Family styleThe Muir Wall was the perfect routeselection. It qualifies as historic andclassic, ascended in 1965 as the firstnew El Cap route completed by a twopersonteam using ground-up tacticsin lieu of siege style. Long, circuitous,and not particularly difficult (in relativeterms), this line up the southwest facewas also reputed to draw light trafficcompared to other routes. Weenvisioned complete solitude in themassive upper dihedrals I had gazedlongingly at for somany years.With my wifebeing a relativenewcomer to theshenanigansnecessary forsuccess on El Cap,we decided I wouldlead the entireclimb. Since, as ateam, we wereneither ultraproficientnor swift,3we piled on a fewmore days’ rationsto our mini-mountainaccumulating at theHOW THE ROPES GET UP THEREbase of the formation.We made thedeliberate decision to 1 The leader ascends trailing the lead ropemove slowly. (This behind him. This lead rope is clipped throughwas virtually ourlinks (carabiners) attached to the wall athoneymoon after all,various protection points. Theoretically, a leaderand we thought itsenseless to pursue fall will be held and minimized by a protectionminimizing itspoint below him.duration.) We nixedestablishing a high2 The follower cleans the gear left in placepoint on the wallbefore launching for by the leader. On most big wall climbs, thethe summit, which leader and follower ascend by different means.The leader used hands, feet, and hardwaredirectly contacting the rock for upwardprogress. Once the leader reaches a suitable2PITCH 6anchoring location, the lead rope is tied inplace (fixed) for the follower, who ascends itusing clamp-like devices called ascenders. Thistechnique puts the follower completely on hisown, and frees the leader to haul provisions.3 Where a route traverses horizontally, it’susually more efficient for the follower to ascendusing the gear left in place by the leader. Thefollower climbs successive pieces, to which heattaches himself with nylon slings. Each piece iscleaned by the follower after he unweights andmoves past it. Sometimes a piece will be left inplace for the follower to lower out from—like amini-rappel. These fixed lower-out points oftenpre-exist, and are sometimes weathered and ofdubious quality.