The morning of September 9th began with excitement as I took three Valley climbers on their first Lost Arrow climb and to experience their first tyrolean across the wide divide. Ha, Perry, and Nate were all relatively new to Yosemite climbing and has not had too many exposures to tradition style and aid climbing.

 

We planned to start early that morning around eight. Everyone was ready except for Nate who was late. It should have been a sign to abort the climb when he behaved non-chalantly and wasting time getting ready. However, we decided to continue since if we can hike somewhat quickly to make up for the delay. Ha has indicated to us that she hikes slow, so we had made accomodation by trying to get an early start and giving her the lightest pack to carry. As it turned out, Nate was not that much faster on the hike, so we were not making great time. We got to the start of the climb after hiking about 4.5 miles up Yosemite Fall trail at about one o'clock in the afternoon. With only two pitches and a tyrolean, I estimated that we should be able to complete the climb in about five hours at most. Since the sun sets around seven-thirty, we should have plenty of time.

 

As, I was explaning the logistic of passing the knot and the tyrolean, I noticed that Nate was not paying attention carefully. I should have aborted the climb, but since he was jumarring and not really climbing, I figured it would not impede our progress. After rappelling into the notch of the Spire, I began the process of setting an achor for the start of the climb while Ha rappel next. She had a little trouble passing the knot, but with a little instruction and patience, she was able to get to the bottom of the notch.

 

Perry and Nate rappel next and while they were rappelling, I began climbing while Ha was belaying me. Apparently, as I was climbing Nate was having difficulty passing the knot on the rappel. However, we managed to get to the first pitch, but Nate was slow with his jumarring. It is now about five o'clock the way the sun is glowing amber in the evening. I began to hurry things up a bit by sorting the gear and preparing for the last pitch. Nate, however, was busy taking photos and has not yet put himself on anchor. 

 

I yelled at him to put his camera away and to pay attention to the time. It was about five-thirty by the time I got to the top of the Spire. Ha, came up next. She was slow, but methodical and made it up with good time. Perry came up next and since he wanted to lead the pitch, I placed all the gear close and left all the gear and draws in place for him to grab and clip. He was a bit nervous, but made it up without much trouble.

 

Now it was Nate's turn to come up. We waited, but nothing is happening. We yelled down to see if he was alright and not response. Finally, we got a respond from him after fifteen minutes of silence. We asked him to put himself on jummar and he screamed back which rope. At this point I was getting frustrated with him and also nervous about the clock as we were losing daylight. 

 

Nate was struggling with the jumarring since there was a bit of traversing on the last pitch and the exposure is now beginning to get to him. His jumar was twisted around the trail rope somehow and he was going very slow. I rappel to him and calmed him down. I then clean all the gear and Nate and I proceeded to jumar to the top of the Spire. We now have about an hour of daylight left. 

 

I set up the tyrolean and explained to everyone the process and how to rig their jumars to the rope. Everyone was payiny attention, except Nate seem to be starring at the scenery. Normally, I would tell a climber to check the scenery out while sitting on top of the Spire. At the moment, getting across before it gets dark is a priority and having Nate viewing the landscape and not paying attention to the rigging made me a concern. I screamed at him to pay attention and asked if he understood what I was explaning. After he indicated he understood, I instructed Perry to make sure everyone rig their jumars correctly and that he was to be the last to come across. Then I dropped in the notch and was caught by the rope after falling about ten feet. After getting across, I fixed both ends of the rope and Ha then came across next. It is now about six-fourty-five and the sun is about to set. Nate was next. He and Perry spent the next three hours on the tyrolean before finally arriving safely back on terra firma.

 

Nate has set his jumar too close together and was not able to move his jumar due to the tension. He was moving extremely slow. Perry, on the other hand, was struggling due to fatigue. He did not realized it would be as strenous. The wind was howling and the temperature began to drop. Since we helped some other climbers to set up their line for the next day, they went to build a campfire and invited us once we get across. Nate and Perry were exhausted, cold, and relieved once they arrived to the safety of the main wall. We pulled the rope, packed up, and headed to the warmth of the campfire.

 

It was not and epic in a sense that we had to rescue anyone and everyone made it safely back, but spending three hours hanging on a tyrolean in the dark would be consider an epic for Nate and Perry. They had to endure the cold weather and also the uncertainty whether they can make it across without being rescue.