It’s been almost a couple of weeks since I was in Yosemite National Park making an attempt to sit climb Zodiac on El Capitan. I have had some time to process and think about the whole experience. I have also been traveling with Sandy for the last week and have been very tired when we stopped so I haven’t attempted to put the whole experience of livin’ on a ledge into words until now.
I don’t want to give too much away because there is a movie coming out about the whole experience but I know some of you have been waiting for my perspective so I will touch on some of the highlights.
We started up the wall on October 4th, a day earlier than planned because believe it or not, another adaptive climber from Italy was planning to start the same day. Pretty cool to see this sport getting more popular and people realizing it is in the realm of possibilities.
The day we started we already were having problems as one of the team hurt his shoulder and couldn’t climb so we had to decide whether to go as a team of 3 or search the valley for a 4th. I waited at the base for the team to go into the valley and do some searching. They came back a few hours later with a decision but I will let you see the movie for that haha.
The climb went really well and efficiently. I did have some moments of doubt of course but my teammates talked me through and encouraged me to go on. Most people would think that the 4000 or so pull-ups to get to the top would be the hardest part but that isn’t necessarily true. It is the mental aspect that really tries a person’s will to go on and persevere. I definitely had my moments of mentally wondering if I could go on and dealing with the exposure of being 1000 ft in the air hanging 40 ft from the wall in space. I used breathing techniques taught to me by Sean O’ Neill to deal with this issue as well as staring at the rope and climbing fast to the anchor haha.
Another major crux of the climb is living on a portaledge for 5 nights as a disabled climber. It is very difficult to use the bathroom and do other daily living tasks in a 4 ft x 7 ft space. Also in the space is all of our gear, my sleeping bag, shoes, harnesses, and everything else we need to climb. It was all thanks to my teammates that I was able to pull this off with some very personal moments haha.
I really want you all to see the movie and the amazing job Craig Muderlak will do with putting it all together so I won’t say too much more. I also want to thank everyone that made my dream possible from the climbing team to the carry team and everyone that donated their hard earned money to make it happen. Also thanks to Paradox Sports for all the help with learning how to climb and advice over the past few years. I don’t have any photos to post because I left my phone safely in the haul bag when I was climbing but Craig took lots of photos and those will come out over the next weeks and months. I can’t wait to show everyone how amazing this experience was and all the amazing people that were involved.
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