Salathe, Bloody Salathe

Back in the USA. What a shit hole.

After making a B-line to Yosemite (the only interesting place in Kalifornia)and being reunited with Anna-V, it was all systems go for El Capitan! Ufortunately, due to gimpyness brought on by old age and alcoholism, I was in no shape for free climbing. But thanks to the absolutely shit weather we had here in "sunny" Kalifornia it didn't make much difference cuz there was no climbing anyway! We arrived to see Garry and Alex from Tassie going ape-shit from cabin fever.

Between blizzards and monsoons we got in some climbing as I limped to the crag. Gaz and Alex aided the nose and then were evicted from the valley upon return. Oh yeah, before I forget... Id like to give a big FUCK YOU to rangers everywhere, but especially the cunt who works in the box at camp 4.

After healing up a bit and dropping $700 on big wall gear, we were ready for el capitan! Our first big wall would be Salathe. After looking at the diagram on the protraction we figured out how to haul our gear up to the heart ledge. Jugging up the ropes took a little more time to get down, but no biggie. We rapped back down and climbed freeblast with one fall... Kind of funny though. It was on one of the slabs passed a little roof and up to bolts. I spent some time on the roof as the gear is fiddly, and I guess Anna thought that was the crux so she starts eating a chocolate bar. When I get to real crux and slip off I fall and fall and start running backwards down the slab! I look down to see Anna has shoved the candy bar in her mouth and first feeds slack then takes in. :) Pretty funny.

I climbed the hollow flake in tennis shoes but forgot the socks and still scraped my ankle up. The pitch is a bit involved and us big wall bumblies took 5 hours to get from heart to the hollow flake ledge. Considering the entire route has been climbed in 4.5 hours I am a little humbled. That said, I know some of these speed ascents are a little questionable. And they probably don't have time for sex at the belays, which kind of cheapens the experience. Anyway, both our teams end up getting in each others way and in the evening we are log jammed at the alcove with the Austrians above us on the spire and another unknown team quickly catching up with us from below. All 3 teams meet in the middle of El Capitan, 500 metres off the deck.

We had decided to bivy in the Alcove even though there was plenty of light left. I was tired and the logistics of climbing over another team were boring the shit out of me. We figured we would get some sleep and let the other teams well and truly pass us. So I was sleeping when the other team reached the alcove. I mumbled some apology about our gear being a mess and he said he was French and didnt speak english so proceeded to lead up the chimney to the spire with his belayer 10 meters on the cliff below. Alot of parties finish the pitch this way. I glanced up at him once to see him cruising up the chimney before I lied back down to sleep. A bit of conversation from the spire drifted down to me and then I heard a very odd noise. A kind of -fwipp! fwipp! fwipp!- and then -THUD!-. It sounded to me as if someone up there had dropped a haul bag! If only.

Anna screamed something and I looked up to see Frenchie dangling upside down unconscious about 2 meters above a big slab behind the spire. The odd noise I heard was the rope flaking out as he fell and the thud was him whacking the cliff. Well, that woke me up. I wasn't wearing a harness but I threw on my shoes and ran up to see what I could do. I knew that you don't live long in his position. As I scrambled up the slab I screamed down to his unseen belayer, "Lower him! Lower him slowly!" The poor guy below responded, "Lower who? Jeano! Jeano! Are you OK?" Anna explained the situation to the belayer quite well because in the minute it took me to get up to Jeano, he was getting lowered slowly. I cradled him in my arms to keep him horizontal. This guy looked pretty bad. Lots of blood, near totally unconscious, and breathing raggedly and irregular. I screamed up at Stephan to help us and for someone to call "triple zero"... Kind of stupid cuz emergency is 911 in the USA!

Stephan came down and we spend a couple ineffective minutes rigging a chest harness and trying to lower this fella down to the bivy spot on the alcove. It is difficult because one of his legs is stuck in the slab. The belayer quickly joined Anna at the alcove and I can hear him talking on the phone with search and rescue. At this stage, me and Stephan realize that without some complicated rig we cannot free his leg to lower him down the slab. While we are struggling to quickly free Jeano I hear the belayer respond to a question, "I am sorry, I do not know his heart rate". Realizing the call is worthless I yell down to the belayer, "Hang up on them and get up here and help us!" He replies, "Yes, but there is no security, no rope..." To which I retort, "Its easy! Stop being a pussy and get up here and help us!".

With the belayer, a swiss climber named Tibalt, the four of us quickly got Jeano to the bivy. Two of us weighted the lead line, which was tied off at the belay 10 meters down the cliff, and freed his leg. Then Anna cut the lead line and Stephan lowered him by hand as me and Tibalt walked him down the slab to the bivy. Anna grabbed all our sleeping gear and prepared as warm a spot as possible for Jeano. We were able to lower him onto his back in the bivy spot and his head rested between my legs. So now we had him sorted out and ready for the helicopter rescue. We saved a man's life and could probably finish the route! All we had to do was call the rescue boys back and tell them, "One to go!" Turns out... Not so fucking easy.

Tibalt called emergency and I heard him say "His complexion? I do not know. His face is covered in blood". Now I am a bit impatient because the conversation does not contain any, "Yeah. See ya guys soon! Thanks for the rescue!" So I get the phone and tell the operator,"Right. This is NOT a minor hiking accident. We are on El Cap Spire with a DYING man. He is not dead yet but he needs a helicopter evacuation RIGHT NOW! If you do not get up here RIGHT NOW, he will probably die." To which, the operator informed me that they do not enact rescues like this at night and we would have to wait until morning for a helicopter rescue. Not fun.

The night proved cold and wet in the alcove. For the first hour, Jeano coughed up blood and vomited until empty then dry heaved. Tibalt thought he "would not pass the night." His head wound was pissing with blood and 2 first aid kits and a t shirt were quickly soaked. It took a minute to find the wound and properly apply pressure. After 30 minutes of compression, we shifted Jeano to a better position and lifted the bandage to look at the wound. Blood pumped out at a steady pace. Tibalt then adjusted the bandages and put as much pressure as he dared on Jeano's head. Over an hour later, Tibalt was exhausted and had to rest.

We commandeered a stashed bag of bivy gear and Tibalt rested himself in a warm bag. I checked the wound and was relieved to see it had almost entirely stopped bleeding. The night passed slowly and at first light, the helicopters started coming. The ensuing rescue by Yosemite Search and Rescue was conducted efficiently and without any drama. The guys that rescued Jeano were cool. However, these are law enforcement rangers as well as rescue and they enjoy busting climbers camping illegally. Its the same deal with cops. %2 of what they do is cool and %98 is bullshit. Anyway, we moved him into a gurney and a chopper came and plucked him off the cliff.

After the rescue, a lack of motivation coupled with blood soaked gear forced us to retreat. The prognosis for Jeano?

FULL-RECOVERY

Thanks to Tibalt and Stephan and Anna. Thanks to YOSAR, including the dozen people at the summit ready for Plan B: Two 500 meter abseils!