The Nose, round 2.

Jugging a free hanging rope 2,500 feet above the valley floor will get your blood pumping. When you swing out from the wall, you realize that you're not often that far away from the rest of the planet.

After getting bouted on our In A Day attempt on the Nose, Andy and I were thirsty for a re-match. Elliot had just arrived in the valley, and he was all psyched up to do some hard aid climbing. I've lost my taste for pure aid over the years, so I convinced him to join me and Andy for a wall style three man ascent of the Nose.

When you go as a team of three, one guy leads, the second guy jugs the lead line and cleans the gear, and the third guy gets to jug a free hanging line. When the wall is steep, which it is for the last few pitches, this leaves you dangling in space. It's exciting.

Overall, the climb was a lot of fun. The team of three led to a lot of laughing at the belays, instead of spending all that time alone. Most hanging belays turned into epic clusters with all the ropes running everywhere, but we managed to stay sane. The climbing was unbelievable and classic, as it always is. Once again, I want to go back and do more of it free.

Standing on the summit was a great feeling. Andy and I had finally ticked the Nose together, and I had climbed El Cap with Elliot, which we'd been talking about for months.

So now I get to recover for a few days, then I get one more shot at something big before it's time to leave. I've got a few climbs in mind, but if anyone had any suggestions, I'm all ears.