Yosemite Valley, October 2006


Two climbers that are way better than me went to climb East Buttress on El Cap, but they kindly shared the space in the car. I got to climb After Six on Manure Pile Buttress with Annica, which is a much easier climb than EB. However, not used to leading on Yosemite rock, this was a great experience for me and more challangeing than a 5.7 grade sounds.

According to the guide book, After Six is a 5.7, 6 pitch, 600' (200 m) climb. It is mostly well-protected and contains rather varied climbing.

The first pitch of After Six is a 5.7 crack. Scary feet for some placements. I bailed out to the right to easier grounds when the crack got too steep.

We got up in the sun after the first pitch. Cathedral Rock is seen in the background.

I am happy, East Buttress in the back.

Me posing on the last pitch, I thought it would look steeper and cooler, (it felt steeper, but less cool actually).

Manure Pile in the foreground and two higher rocks in the back. I think I managed to mark approximatly how we climbed. Hi-res picture without pink dots.

I think that the East Buttress route basically follows the line where sun and shadow meets on this pic.

Lazy belay stance after pitch one.

El Cap.


Pitch 3 of After Six. There were lots of alternatives to where to belay from so my pitch numbering might be off. (We did the 6 pitch climb in 5 pitches, and it is probably doable in two as well). This, for once, looks much steeper than it was. Annica is maybe 10-15 m down. The guide dude 45-55m down.