I feel bad when I open my bear box at 2:00 AM in Camp 4 because it sqeaks really loud. But there isn't much I can do about that - and hopefully I didn't wake up too many other climbers as I munched on my pop tarts and canned peaches on Sunday morning. I have a hard time getting breakfast down on the morning of a big climb, and this was going to be the biggest climb I'd ever attempted. Andy and Tony's headlamps were shining over by their bear boxes, and after a few minutes, we silently met up and walked over to the parking lot.
The 15 minute approach hike to the base of the Nose is just steep enough to break a sweat if you're carrying gear, even if it's only 45 degrees out. We had Gnarles Barkley pumping out of our little Big Wall Speaker, which was the luxury item for the climb. Music was going to the be key for our success.
Tony and I had both done the route before - each taking 3 days on our previous climbs. Andy has a few wall routes to his name, but none of us had ever done anything in a push before. Climbing a wall in a push means you don't bivy on the route. You climb through the night, into the next day, and sometimes into the next night too. It's pretty grueling, but you save a lot of effort because you don't have to haul a 60 pound bag with all your food, water, and bivy gear.
My block of pitches was first, so I tied in and started climbing right at 3:00 AM. The first few pitches of the Nose are very polished, awkward, and feature the aid crux of the route. I had us up to Sickle ledge in about three hours, as the sun was coming up. That wasn't as fast as I had hoped, but wasn't terrible. Sickle is 4 pitches up, and the time it takes you to get there is supposed to be 10% of your total route time. 3 hours to Sickle meant 30 hours on the route, probably. So far, so good.
I haded over the lead after Sickle, and Andy got us up the Stovelegs Cracks. They're named after the pitons Warren Harding used to nail up them on the first ascent, which were forged from some old iron stove legs. Fortunately, we free climb them now at about 5.9, which is a lot faster than nailing.
Warren Harding blew everyone's mind when he first climbed the route in 1958. He spent 47 days up there. The second ascent went a little faster - they did it in about 6 days I think. Minds were blown again in 1975 by the first in-a-day ascent by John Long, Jim Bridwell, and Billy Westbay. These days, climbing the Nose in a day, or NIAD, is something of a benchmark for valley climbers. Plenty of people have pulled it off, but it's still an accomplishment. You've really got to be comfortable moving fast, and have your system dialed with your partner.
Unfortunately, we couldn't really get our system dialed with a party of three. The belays were always a mess with ropes running everywhere, it took too long to clean pitches, and we couldn't get the leader off the belay any faster with the third man. I'll try the climb again at some point in a party of two.
We arrived at Dolt Tower right at noon, 9 hours after leaving the ground. Dolt is pitch 11 out of 32, but the climbing gets slower up higher, so it's really only 25% up the route. Our total projected time had slipped to 36 hours, which was a little more than we were prepared to endure. 30 hours is a pretty long push. 36 hours is getting a little crazy. So we ate most of our food, stashed the water we had left for future thirsty parties, and started rapping to the ground.
The climb wasn't a failure - 11 awesome pitches in 9 hours makes for a good day of cragging on the big stone. As a collective first attempt at a big wall push, I'd say we did alright. We learned a lot, and now I have a new objective to keep me motivated. The climb will still be there when I'm ready for it.
Plus, it's always good to get humbled. That way, you know you're trying.
Another incredible visit to the Valley. I probably crushed more King Cobras than hard pitches, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Met some new friends, hung out with a lot of old ones, and basically had a blast. 
