Why would you climb hard bigwall projects in Yosemite in winter?
One of the hardest routes on El Cap, The Dawn Wall, was done by Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson in January 2015. What are some of the reasons to choose to climb such a hard route in winter, when the conditions are probably more adversary?
rock-climbing climbing yosemite big-wall-climbing
asked 12 hours ago
Paul PaulsenPaul Paulsen
2,62111347
add a comment |
One of the hardest routes on El Cap, The Dawn Wall, was done by Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson in January 2015. What are some of the reasons to choose to climb such a hard route in winter, when the conditions are probably more adversary?
rock-climbing climbing yosemite big-wall-climbing
asked 12 hours ago
Paul PaulsenPaul Paulsen
2,62111347
2
No bugs. Fewer people. What else do you want to do? The challenge of it. Etc...
– Jon Custer
11 hours ago
add a comment |
One of the hardest routes on El Cap, The Dawn Wall, was done by Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson in January 2015. What are some of the reasons to choose to climb such a hard route in winter, when the conditions are probably more adversary?
rock-climbing climbing yosemite big-wall-climbing
asked 12 hours ago
Paul PaulsenPaul Paulsen
2,62111347
One of the hardest routes on El Cap, The Dawn Wall, was done by Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson in January 2015. What are some of the reasons to choose to climb such a hard route in winter, when the conditions are probably more adversary?
rock-climbing climbing yosemite big-wall-climbing
rock-climbing climbing yosemite big-wall-climbing
asked 12 hours ago
Paul PaulsenPaul Paulsen
2,62111347
asked 12 hours ago
Paul PaulsenPaul Paulsen
2,62111347
edited 6 hours ago
Paul Paulsen
asked 12 hours ago
Paul PaulsenPaul Paulsen
2,62111347
asked 12 hours ago
Paul PaulsenPaul Paulsen
2,62111347
asked 12 hours ago
Paul PaulsenPaul Paulsen
2,62111347
2,62111347
2
No bugs. Fewer people. What else do you want to do? The challenge of it. Etc...
– Jon Custer
11 hours ago
add a comment |
2
No bugs. Fewer people. What else do you want to do? The challenge of it. Etc...
– Jon Custer
11 hours ago
2
2
No bugs. Fewer people. What else do you want to do? The challenge of it. Etc...
– Jon Custer
11 hours ago
No bugs. Fewer people. What else do you want to do? The challenge of it. Etc...
– Jon Custer
11 hours ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
I just finished Caldwell's book Push. The big walls in Yosemite are essentially vertical deserts. Even in winter they're in the full sun much of the day. It would drop below freezing at night, but during the day temperatures would regularly get above 50 °F. In the summer the heat can be overwhelming. Aside from the difficulty of performing extremely gymnastic climbing in high temps, sweaty hands make tenuous holds impossible. Gymnastic chalk can only do so much to counteract that. It also turns out that the spring and fall shoulder seasons are problematic because ice forms on the wall every night and peels off during the day. After several close calls with baseball sized hunks of ice, they found it slightly less hazzardous during colder periods. On the other hand when it got too cold, the rubber on climbing shoes wouldn't grip as well, and they would just take a rest day on their porta-ledge.
edited 6 hours ago
Volker Siegel
1052
answered 11 hours ago
Charles E. GrantCharles E. Grant
2,324920
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "395"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2foutdoors.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f21638%2fwhy-would-you-climb-hard-bigwall-projects-in-yosemite-in-winter%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
I just finished Caldwell's book Push. The big walls in Yosemite are essentially vertical deserts. Even in winter they're in the full sun much of the day. It would drop below freezing at night, but during the day temperatures would regularly get above 50 °F. In the summer the heat can be overwhelming. Aside from the difficulty of performing extremely gymnastic climbing in high temps, sweaty hands make tenuous holds impossible. Gymnastic chalk can only do so much to counteract that. It also turns out that the spring and fall shoulder seasons are problematic because ice forms on the wall every night and peels off during the day. After several close calls with baseball sized hunks of ice, they found it slightly less hazzardous during colder periods. On the other hand when it got too cold, the rubber on climbing shoes wouldn't grip as well, and they would just take a rest day on their porta-ledge.
edited 6 hours ago
Volker Siegel
1052
answered 11 hours ago
Charles E. GrantCharles E. Grant
2,324920
add a comment |
I just finished Caldwell's book Push. The big walls in Yosemite are essentially vertical deserts. Even in winter they're in the full sun much of the day. It would drop below freezing at night, but during the day temperatures would regularly get above 50 °F. In the summer the heat can be overwhelming. Aside from the difficulty of performing extremely gymnastic climbing in high temps, sweaty hands make tenuous holds impossible. Gymnastic chalk can only do so much to counteract that. It also turns out that the spring and fall shoulder seasons are problematic because ice forms on the wall every night and peels off during the day. After several close calls with baseball sized hunks of ice, they found it slightly less hazzardous during colder periods. On the other hand when it got too cold, the rubber on climbing shoes wouldn't grip as well, and they would just take a rest day on their porta-ledge.
edited 6 hours ago
Volker Siegel
1052
answered 11 hours ago
Charles E. GrantCharles E. Grant
2,324920
add a comment |
I just finished Caldwell's book Push. The big walls in Yosemite are essentially vertical deserts. Even in winter they're in the full sun much of the day. It would drop below freezing at night, but during the day temperatures would regularly get above 50 °F. In the summer the heat can be overwhelming. Aside from the difficulty of performing extremely gymnastic climbing in high temps, sweaty hands make tenuous holds impossible. Gymnastic chalk can only do so much to counteract that. It also turns out that the spring and fall shoulder seasons are problematic because ice forms on the wall every night and peels off during the day. After several close calls with baseball sized hunks of ice, they found it slightly less hazzardous during colder periods. On the other hand when it got too cold, the rubber on climbing shoes wouldn't grip as well, and they would just take a rest day on their porta-ledge.
edited 6 hours ago
Volker Siegel
1052
answered 11 hours ago
Charles E. GrantCharles E. Grant
2,324920
I just finished Caldwell's book Push. The big walls in Yosemite are essentially vertical deserts. Even in winter they're in the full sun much of the day. It would drop below freezing at night, but during the day temperatures would regularly get above 50 °F. In the summer the heat can be overwhelming. Aside from the difficulty of performing extremely gymnastic climbing in high temps, sweaty hands make tenuous holds impossible. Gymnastic chalk can only do so much to counteract that. It also turns out that the spring and fall shoulder seasons are problematic because ice forms on the wall every night and peels off during the day. After several close calls with baseball sized hunks of ice, they found it slightly less hazzardous during colder periods. On the other hand when it got too cold, the rubber on climbing shoes wouldn't grip as well, and they would just take a rest day on their porta-ledge.
edited 6 hours ago
Volker Siegel
1052
answered 11 hours ago
Charles E. GrantCharles E. Grant
2,324920
edited 6 hours ago
Volker Siegel
1052
edited 6 hours ago
Volker Siegel
1052
edited 6 hours ago
Volker Siegel
1052
1052
answered 11 hours ago
Charles E. GrantCharles E. Grant
2,324920
answered 11 hours ago
Charles E. GrantCharles E. Grant
2,324920
answered 11 hours ago
Charles E. GrantCharles E. Grant
2,324920
2,324920
add a comment |
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to The Great Outdoors Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2foutdoors.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f21638%2fwhy-would-you-climb-hard-bigwall-projects-in-yosemite-in-winter%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
2
No bugs. Fewer people. What else do you want to do? The challenge of it. Etc...
– Jon Custer
11 hours ago