Kate and Jasmin with Nalumasortoq

Some people know how to climb in the rain, some people don’t. Jasmin Caton and I grew up in the rainy climates of western Alaska, British Columbia and Washington. We know that you don’t melt in the rain, like the inverse of the ‘Wicked Witch of the West’. Indeed we all know rain is wet and chilling, and I would not recommend climbing in it.  However practice makes perfect, and stubbornness pays off. When wind-driven bullets of rain 140 meters from the summit of Ulamatorsuaq hammered us, we put our hoods on, turned our backs to the wind, and kept climbing. BRRR!

Jasmin in the rain Ulamatorsuaq

In those last few pitches Jasmin and I traded off shivering at the belays, imploring the one-step-at-a-time method. We climbed off widths in all our cloths, slippery rain jackets and all. But it is the last foot of 3,300 that I remember the most. That last 31st pitch was 5.7 on the topo, and I rushed up it without much gear. Not that it would have helped in the slick-as-snot squeeze chimney topped by some boulders which created a roof.  My fingers were little ice cubes from the rain and frozen wind blowing up off the pocket of snow 10 feet below me. I could not for the life of me figure out how to pull on to the flat top of the summit, the boulders were breaking in my hands, and I didn’t even have a gear placement to french free with. The walls were so slimy even decent looking footholds were not useful.

My fingers hurt so much I wanted to cry and go home. I blew on them, thrashed around, and finally found a hand jam in the dark crook between boulder and wall. I spent another few minutes (felt like days) trying to figure out how to use it to move somewhere. Then in a moment of brilliance, I put a #2 Camelot in the slot, clipped the rope, and pulled on it, heel hooking the summit and praying, that last foot was terrifying. Falling there would have meant broken bones in a place way too far from safety. I thrashed one last time and belly flopped over in to the wet rosettes of black lichen. My fingers hurt, I felt dull with relief.

Poor frozen Jasmin had some serious slip and slide in the chimney, ended up BatMan-ing the rope, and eventually hugged me on the summit. All was gray around us and we took one blurry summit photo. Clouds had obliterated the spectacular scenery of the Tasermuit Fiord for hours. We changed in to long johns and socks, I replaced some tat at the anchor while Jasmin videoed the fog, then we got the hell out of there.

the blurry summit photo Ulamatorsuaq

Six dark, shivering, wet hours of rappelling later we landed on the ground at dawn. My approach shoes at the base had puddles in them. Apparently the ‘blue bird weather for a week’ had been a sand bag. But it no longer mattered, we had sent!

We Sent, Jasmin under War and Poetery on Ulamatorsuaq

Turns out what we sent was pretty proud. Ulamatorsuaq is the biggest formation we could see from our base camp, it is a vertical 1000 meters (3,300 ft) of granite. We opted to climb “War and Poetry” VI 5.12c, thinking the crack crux would be easier than Moby Dick’s 13a slab…. In hindsight, the endless wide cracks on War and Poetry really slowed us down, and I would do the other next time. This wall, just as big and steep as El Cap, seemed too big to handle when Jasmin and I first showed up. But after climbing Nalumasortoq on the first 2 days, we were eager to try to summit both formations.
On pitch 21 or so, Jasmin called up to me “Now I know why they named it WAR and Poetry!” The second she said that I felt, deep in my core, exactly what she meant. Dark clouds had appeared out over the Arctic Ocean, and this pitch, 5.9, was supposed to be the easy one, but I was slowly doing battle with a squeeze chimney. The poetry had been the day before, 15 beautiful, though provoking, 5.10-5.12 slabs had been a very enjoyable, calf burning, finger tip shredding voyage up to Black Heart ledge.

Jasmin on pitch 26 of "War and Poetry" 5.12+

Regardless of the extreme off widthing and bone chilling wetness that we experienced at the top of Ulamatorsuaq, I will always remember Greenland climbing as hot and sunny hand jams. When we first showed up the weather was perfect, and we hiked straight to the base of the “British Route” 5.12+ on Nalumasortoq. A few 11+ pitches open the route, and then it is 5.10 hands in a corner for 12 pitches.  We ended up at the ‘banana’ just as dusk fell and had a sloping seated bivi for 5 hours.

fun in the sun on Nalumasortoq

Freezing, thirsty and very hungry, we tried to on-sight the two 5.12 pitches. I gave up instantly, the foot holds crumbled away, and I was just too tired. French freeing did the trick, and we climbed the last 4 pitches to the summit. Extraordinary views barely lifted my starved spirits… I don’t do so well when hungry. We descended without incident and full of food, napped in a lovely alpine meadow.

stream through alpine meadow

How am I supposed to sum up such an amazing expedition? The natural beauty in the Tasermuit Fiord was inexplicable.

our front yard from the Banana ledge Bivi on the British route

And next year (or sometime soon) Jasmin and I are hoping to go back and climb more. It was that good. Part of the incentive to return are the amazing people of Nanortaliq. We hope to be able to give back to that community in some meaningful way next time. We were playing with the idea of taking a bunch of the kids climbing for a day on some local crag (which we would have to invent). It seems like encouraging them to climb and love the beautiful landscape they live in would inspire them to live in a way that protects it. Perhaps it would increase the chance that they would fight for its environmental protection in the future.

dew

This expedition, this story, this awe inspiring month was made possible by the Muggs Stump, Jen Higgins, and MEC awards. A million thanks. Further support from Patagonia, Black Diamond, Sterling Ropes, La Sportiva,  and Feathered Friends

really Big Icebergs!

Jasmin headed in to the fog

muscles!

a land of light and dark

artic cotton

home

iceberg

dark sea iceberg

so much for high preasure and sun

jasmin gives the weather (in previous photo) the bird

Jasmin jammin on the british route

Jasmin on the lovely bow string pitch

our life by the sea

light and shadow

moon rise

nalumasortoq in the fog

it allways looked like this

sun set from the british route

waking up on the british route

The princess cruse up the Freerider, and all womens team free ascent….

I have approximately 30 bruises, I tried to count them, but some blend together, 5 gobbles (cuts or abrasions from the rock), one on the ankle, one on each shoulder, a small one on my hand, and a tiny one on my wrist. I feel like I fared pretty well on that huge physical endeavor called the Freerider.

In short here are some of the things I learned on what we are calling the ‘princess cruise’ up the Freerider that are worth sharing…..

#1 have your friends leave all the food and water at the first bivi (So sorry they got snowed off…. but thanks Katie, Hayden and Ben)

#2 leave your unfinished whiskey as rent payment to your portaledge friends.

#3 only bring a photographer who is willing to help you haul! thanks Mikey

#4 even the worlds most popular climbs can be empty: make way for the princess’s!

#5 don’t get intimidated! there is a lot of climbing up there, take it one pitch at a time, or looking up will make you want puke.

#6 try really hard………. duh

#7 have fun

Here is the long version…..

Madaleine at the top of the last off width

5 years ago, I thought freeing El Cap was an impossible goal. The huge scale, logistics, and physicality of freeing a big wall seemed beyond me. Over the years climbing started feeling easier, I spent more time on big routes, and Madaleine and I built up our endurance together on long routes like Moonlight and the North West Face of Half Dome. Alpine climbing in Patagonia helped me understand huge objectives, and I learned to break down my intimidation but just focusing on one pitch at a time. Just do the task at hand…

We started up the Free Blast early on a Monday morning, planing to spend the 5 day work week on the Captain. A long time, but even though we had rapped in from the top to figure out the harder pitches, we knew we would need time to rest our bodies and use the shady parts of the day. The first day’s Free Blast went pretty smooth, the slabs a bit slow, but soon we were down climbing and then up the Hollow flake and home for the night on Hollow flake ledge.

breakfast on the Hollow Flake ledge

Waking up day 2 we were stiff already. We crawled in to the Monster Crack, successfully wiggling our bodies up the 7 inch fissure (take 2 #6’s for this one) Photographer Mikey Schaefer met us at the Alcove and helped haul our bags to El Cap Spire for a beautiful bivi.

The Cathedrals in morning light

Day three was  exciting, I fell off the boulder problem twice before a last minute change in my sequence to send it the third try in the hot sun. Madaleine followed and then I struggled my way up the muddy jungle of the sewer. All my cloths were wet and I shivered belaying Mad up the sloppy chimney.

We set up camp on the Block and planed to stay 2 nights, this sloping bivi for 2 turned out deluxe since Nick and Cody left a double portaledge stashed for their send of the Salathe. Mikey broke out the whiskey and told us we had to finish the bottle….. a few sips put us strait to sleep.

morning on the block

Morning came with high clouds, and the day was perfectly cool for the three 5.12 pitches on the agenda. I had a minor melt down when I thought my fore arms were going to explode on the first corner. I fell off. I was furious, my arms hurt so bad by day 3. I pulled the rope, and was fine the next go…. turns out it helps to warm up a bit.

Pitch 28 was wet… it is a distinct crux of the route, the last pitch under the roof of the Salathe headwall. Madaleine tagged up my cotton shirt (the only one I had on) and shoved it in the key finger locks, eventually soaking up all the water. Now that my shirt was wet, and the holds were dry, she cruised up the knee baring, lay backing enduro corner. Thrilled, I followed.

Mikey hard at work making photos hanging off the Salathe roof

The Freerider route then traverses left on wild pinches, one of the most exposed beautiful pitches, number 29 has no feet and huge hand holds. Unfortunately Madaleine broke a crimp all the way at the end, fell, and had to back aid to come back to the anchor. I was freezing (wet cotton shirt) and so warmed back up by traversing out left, sending one of my nemesis pitches. I sat in the golden evening sun, as Madaleine followed (perhaps more scary then the lead), we were sending!

Mikey making photos at sunset

In order to lighten our load, and haul less we decided to spend 2 nights on the block. So we fixed our lines back to our bivi, drank a touch more whiskey, smiled a lot, and watched the clouds light up pink. The next morning is where I got most of my bruises….. the 31st pitch (of 35) is rated 10d, but it is wide and steep. I think I tried harder on that pitch then any other…. 5.12 effort for sure. I walked my #6 for half an hour, whenI  finally got to a hand jam, I  felt like we were done.

It is so special to be up on El Cap. what a view!

THANK YOU to all those that supported this mission!

rocks and tree

I think what happened is that is was dark and rainy for the whole month of May, and while we climbed a bit in the rain, mostly we just moped around and I never had anything worth blogging. July came with a banner full of sun, and perfect climbing temps. Madaleine Sorkin showed up and we started feverishly working on the Freerider route on El Capitan. On the days off I had to make jewelry and swim in the river, my family has been visiting,  so really there just hasn’t been much time to spare.

Madaleine and the rack

I have been painting and drawing a little, and now Madaleine and I are headed up for a free attempt on the Freerider. I’m pretty intimidated by how hard I know I will have to try. But I am so excited! It feels like something we can totally do….. if we can just try really REALLY hard. Some of the challenges come from the toiling that we have created for ourselves by choosing to spend 5 days on the route. This means that we have to hall 8-10 gallons of water, food, sleeping and cooking gear to sustain ourselves for the climb. We have  been trying to reduce that epic effort in a number of ways.

El Cap

Lucky for us Hayden Kenedy, Katey Lambert and Ben Dito bailed off the Golden Golden gate route in a wild storm early in May. And they left a Haul bag full of food and water in anticipation of going back once the weather cleared. Unfortunately they never had the chance to go back. So there is a whole bag of food on Hollow Flake Ledge just waiting for me and Madaleine to go use it! The rest of our gear we will pre haul to Heart ledge with the help of Dave Turner.

In the end we decided to go super light (cause I’m to little to haul big loads) and not bring a porta-ledge. We are hoping we can sleep on natural ledges the whole way. First night on Hollow Flake Ledge, second on the Spire, third on the Bolck, and then probably rap back down and sleep on the block the forth night as well…. It all seems so complicated, but hey we need all the help we can get.

So here is some art from the last month, and I will let you all know how it goes up there on the Freerider…. wish us luck!

The Sentinel

Sonora Sunset

Sonora

yosemite

Pine and Half Dome

1st and most elegant, to Ben Moon’s Photo of Nicole wearing a pair with knots.

2nd and most joyful, to Alex Loer and Rosemarry for the best single stone on a swing photo ever.

3rd and most fun, to Jen Conover  and an amazing unknown bearded man, thanks!

For more information check out suspendedstonedesign.com, and find the Stones In Action Gallery on Facebook. Please feel free to tag your photos suspended stone design, and they will show up in the gallery!

Send in your favorites by the end of May 2010 to:

suspendedstonedesign@gmail.com

I will give away 1 FREE necklace to the creator of my favorite photo as incentive for helping me display my art. Thanks in advance for your help!

Kate, post deep water soloing in Venezuela, wearing a trio pendant

I am hoping to make a gallery of all the amazing climbers, bikers, skiers, adventurers that are out there with suspended stones designs on. You people are the best ‘advertizing’ I have, and I would like to honor and share that, but I need your help. I want to post the gallery on the Suspended Stone Design Face Book Page, in the ‘Stones in Action’ gallery immediately. And eventualy there will be a page on my website that will have a sideshow of them.

It would be a great way to build the culture of these stones that tie us together, and inspire people to take this art out on wild adventures.

Kate, new routing on Acopon Tepui, Venezuela wearing a trio pendant.

Again, please send your favorite photos to suspendedstonedesign@gmail.com

thanks!

Clouded Acopon Tepui

the village of Yunek, Venezuela

woven tools

Our time in Venezuela was characterized by long days toiling on our new route. Jumaring fixed lines, climbing a few pitches of mind boggling overhanging sand stone consumed us. We found only a few moments to explore other aspects of our Venezuelan base camp. But when we did, this is what we found. Fine woven tools, practical for the Pemon natives everyday life, and easily created from the grasses of the Gran Sabana.

basket making

shadows cross jungle tree

we found the lemon tree the last day...

Go check out my favorites:

BORDER COUNTRY: Jeremy Collins and friends made an insane animation about Mikey Schaefer, Dana Drummond, and Jermey’s new route on Middle Cathedral, Yosemite. It is called Border Country, because ’sometimes a climb is just a climb and sometimes it is more then that.’ They named their climb after a poem Johny Copp wrote just before we lost he, Micha Dash and Wade Johnson to the mountains of China. It is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL piece!

And 24 HOURS OF HORSESHOE HELL…. some of you may know this story all to well by now, but the video is a fun reminder of why it is ‘totally worth it’ to suffer while sport climbing.