Endeavor Team Challenge 2015 : Race Report Team Ryan Ross, Robert Finlay

Overview Map, Endeavor Team Challenge 2015

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole, 

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul. *

* The first stanza of the poem "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley, the other stanzas will follow throughout this report. This poem would follow us, all the competitors of the Endeavor Team Challenge, throughout the competition. Invictus is a good word, meaning; invincible, unconquered, undefeated, unconquerable.  

Friday night, 11/12 September, 2015, my teammate Ryan Ross, my wife Rebecca, and I have a room in the Bear Valley Lodge. It is midnight. I am nervous and anxious and cannot sleep. In the morning, Ryan and I will begin the athletic event known as the Endeavor Team Challenge. At 6 AM, after months of preparation, we start. I have never, in my entire life, been apprehensive before an athletic event. How did it get to this point?

My Times on Dream of Wild Turkeys, Red Rocks, Nevada

A manipulated image showing me free soloing Dream of Wild Turkeys, top of the 2nd Pitch

Dream of Wild Turkeys: Black Velvet Wall, Black Velvet Canyon, Red Rocks, Nevada

Dream of Wild Turkeys is a 1400 foot rock climb. Back in the day, most climbers considered it 5.9 with maybe a move of 5.10a. It is a ten pitch climb. Pitch is climbers talk, it is the distance you can go on a rope before needing to stop and set up a belay. 

It is a spectacularly fun climb the whole way with plenty of climbing adventure. There is finger and hand crack climbing, there is easy off width climbing, there is water polished face climbing, there is sharp edged face climbing, there is exposure with big air below your feet, and the climb and the setting are beautiful everywhere you look, there are great views of the canyon below and of the desert beyond, and of cliffs left, right, and above.    

I think I've done the route 6 or 7 times. Of those times, I've soloed it 4 or 5, I can't remember. 

I do remember the first time I soloed it...

Steck Salathe on Sentinel Rock : Solo

Sentinel Rock in the Morning. Photo by Dirk Summers

The Sentinel is a beautiful and powerful piece of granite guarding the southern flank of Yosemite Valley. It is 3000 feet from the valley floor to its summit. It is - The Sentinel.

The Steck-Salathe on Sentinel Rock is a classic rock climb in every sense. In fact, it is one of the "Fifty Classic Climbs of North America". Originally a Grade V route, meaning more than a day to do, now it is considered Grade III or just a day of climbing. It has for decades been rated 5.9, but these days its rating has become more like 5.10 minus. It has always been known for being long, arduous, sustained, a route with a wealth of stories of adventure and history. It is famous for its chimneys, its squeeze chimneys, and its off widths. 

Here is a brief of the Steck-Salathe's history. Four attempts are made on the route from 1947 through 1950. And then, from June 30 to July 4, 1950, Allen Steck and John Salathé do the first ascent. Theirs is an epic five day story of adventure, determination, and intense deprivation. In 1953 Royal Robbins makes the second ascent, he also does the third ascent and establishes The Narrows as the primary passage. Henry Barber free soloes the route in 1973. Peter Croft free soloes the route in 1992 as a cool down after he and Hans Florine break the speed record of the 'Nose in a Day" on El Capitan. Derek Hersey dies on this route on May 28, 1993 while free soloing it and no one knows the exact circumstances. His body is found at the base of the route several days after he has gone missing. On July 2-3, 1994 Allen Steck makes his 44th anniversary ascent of the route at the age of 68 along with Brutus of Wyde and Inez. In 1996 Brutus returns to re-bolt the route.

What follows is my story on the Steck-Salathe.

Epinephrine, Robert Finlay, Solo or A Rock Climb, One Guy, No Rope

On the last few moves just above Epinephrine's famous chimneys...

Epinephrine is a rock climb. I've never had a rope on this climb, but over the years would climb it six times. Well, that's not quite true, I had climbed the upper pitches with a rope (a pitch is that section of a climb between two belay points) when Richard Harrison and I climbed Malicious Mischief, a route whose upper pitches coincide with Epinephrine. But that is a different story for another time. Here is my story of Epinephrine...