Freerider is a contender for the most
famous free-climb in the world, being El Capitan’s most well-known, achievable
and popular free route. It links together large features, cracks, corners and
chimneys that make for brilliant free-climbing, forging a path through swathes
of immaculate granite. For a keen free-climber with a taste for multiday
adventures this route should be high on the list.
Length: Around 1000m
Pitches: Around 33
Difficulty: Up to 7c+
The
route is in-fact a variation on the super-classic Salathe Wall, which avoids
the Salathe Headwall and the need to have exceptional crack climbing abilities
to climb free. It’s one of the many amazing additions to El Capitan free
climbing made by the Huber brothers and was first climbed in 1998. The brothers
discovered a way of avoiding the Salathe Headwall via an unlikely looking
traverse into another system of cracks. Since then Freerider has become a very
popular free-route and has undoubtedly seen many fast ‘in-a-day’ ascents and
Tommy Caldwell has even climbed this and then free climbed the Nose in less
than 24 hours!
Climbing
El Capitan via any route is a logistical challenge that requires careful
planning and many choices have to be made in developing a strategy, such as
what equipment to take, how far to climb each day and timing climbing for optimal
conditions (e.g. I would advise against climbing the Monster during the hottest
part of the day). The style of climbing and the pitch grading on Freerider doesn’t
make life any easier either and it’s notoriously difficult to anticipate the
difficulty of climbing each pitch. Some routes, such as the Nose, have many
articles, blog posts and even a DVD giving tips, beta and useful info on how to
climb the route. I haven’t seen anything like this for Freerider and there are
many things I wish that I had known about! So, here is what I have learnt about
the route that I think it would be useful to know in order to decide whether
to, and to plan, for a big-wall adventure on Freerider.
Is it too hard?
Of
course you don’t have to free every pitch to have an amazing adventure on the
route, but for many this will be an objective. Freerider manages to combine
almost all styles of rock climbing, crack climbing of course, but also hard
stemming, bouldering, laybacking, slabs and wall climbing! The difficulties of
the route are mainly concentrated in a few hard pitches, which all have names:
the Boulder Problem, the Teflon Corner, the Monster Offwidth and the Endurance
Corners. The remaining pitches are rarely ‘easy’ and typically involve physical
and tiring climbing or technical slabs. The crux pitch is either the Boulder
Problem (5.13a) or the Teflon Corner (5.12d) depending on which option you
choose. The Boulder Problem is around v8 and is technical and crimpy, like a
problem at the Climbing Works. The Teflon Corner is completely different, has
no hand holds, and is a bit like a shorter version of the Quarryman groove.
Therefore, if you’re a boulderer with strong fingers you’ll prefer the Boulder
Problem, if you’re a contortionist who likes bridging then you’ll prefer the
Teflon.
Of
the other hard pitches, the Endurance Corners involve some tricky crack
climbing that I would say is very roughly on a par with London Wall at
Millstone. The Monster Offwidth is something else entirely, I don’t know of any
routes I could compare it to! How difficult you find this pitch will depend on
your offwidth skill, bloody mindedness and cardiovascular fitness. I know of
some top climbers who have freed every pitch except for the Monster Offwidth, a
supposed 11a! Knowing what to expect on this pitch, having a rough idea of how
to climb it and having the right amount of gear will make it feel a lot easier.
In
terms of big-wall skills, I don’t think Freerider requires a very high level of
skill. The wall tends to be fairly steep, clean and the belays are well bolted
making hauling quite easy. Having said that, the easier you find the gear
management and hauling the more energy you will have spare for free-climbing.
My first big-wall was Golden Gate (which climbs most of Freerider) with Calum
Muskett in 2012, who had never climbed a big-wall either. Working it out as we
went, we were terrible at jumaring, struggled to assemble our portaledge,
dropped things, lots things, had forgotten some essential items, and ended up
climbing the Monster offwidth in the baking Californian sun! Needless to say
our experience could have been made a good deal easier if we had bothered to
acquire a minimal amount of big-walling experience.
A Good Strategy
There
are, of course, many different ways of approaching a route such as this. If
you’re aiming to free all the pitches but haven’t been up this section of wall
before I’d recommend packing for 5 days on the wall. This involves breaking the
route into 4 climbing days with supplies for an extra day if a rest is needed or
to allow for more time on a crux pitch. This utilises ledges on the wall, The
Hollow Flake (pitch 14), El Cap Spire (pitch 20) and The Block (pitch 24), for
bivis and therefore doesn’t require a portaledge.
There
are almost always fixed lines leading from the ground to the Heart Ledges
(pitch 11) that hang well away from the line of the route. These ropes are
great for hauling the haul bags to Heart Ledges a day or two in advance, which
can then be met on the first day after climbing the Freeblast (pitches 1-11).
Some teams opt to climb the Freeblast in advance and then use the ropes to
re-ascend to Heart Ledges after a rest day to continue the route. I’d prefer to
avoid this strategy if possible as I find it more satisfying to climb the
entire route in one continuous push.
What Gear do you need?
For
a climbing rack, unsurprisingly it’s worth having a large number of friends.
Triples up to friend 3 would be a good idea, one or two fours and I use a 5 and
a 6 on the Monster, which I think makes it quite safe. Both the 5 and the 6 also
come in handy on the Scotty-Burke offwidth higher up. For the vast majority of
the route, the pitches are direct and well protected and it is preferable to
climb on a single rope. A few pitches, however, are more complicated such as
the down-climb onto Heart ledges. For this pitch you need another rope and I
have used a 7mm tag line for this, which I use to pull up the thicker haul line
on the other pitches.
The Route
Day 1: Freeblast, P1 – P14, Ground to
Hollow Flake Ledge
I
suggest linking pitches 1 & 2 and 3 & 4. Pitches 5 and 6 involve tricky
slabs that might both weigh in at about E4 6b in the UK, they will feel hard if
un-chalked. After a line of bolts on pitch 6 there is a difficult traverse left
that can be done at a variety of different heights. My preferred method is to
stay low, using the sidepull/undercut next to the peg from below rather than
standing up into it. After the Half-Dollar Flake there is a good belay ledge
with two pegs rather than two bolts, from there it’s easy to move together up
to the far, far end of Mammoth Terraces. The next step is the long down-climb
from Mammoth to Heart Ledges where the haul bags await. I have a rope, probably
the tag-line, ready to go at Heart so that once the leader has done the down
climb they can tie the tag to the lead line, giving them the extra length
needed to give the second a top-rope on the down climb.
“That’s
the hardest move on rock” said a friend in reference to pitch 12 between Heart Ledges and
Lung Ledge. The hardest rock climbing move of all-time it might not be, but it
is worth not underestimating this pitch. It involves a couple of very thin slab
moves past a bolt and would also be about E4 6b in UK grades. There are two
possible anchors after this pitch and I have usually hauled from the lower of
the two, it’s better equipped and the angle of the ledge helps you put some
weight behind the haul. The next belay after pitch 13 is on trad gear and is
in-situ but needs backing up with some extra kit. It’s then an unpleasant haul
to get the bags up to here.
The
final pitch of the day is the Hollow Flake, one of the longest and most time
consuming pitches on the route. It involves a tricky traverse out to some
crimps and then another tricky move to drop into the long, long down-climb
(about 40-50 meters). The move into the crack is safe for the leader but bold
for the second, I’d recommend the leader places a cam in the crack just after
doing the move on a very long sling. The leader is top-roping for the majority
of the hollow flake itself, except for the upper chimney section which is very
runout, but fortunately not difficult. A number six won’t protect it, only a
‘valley giant’ will work.
The hollow flake is one of the few pitches
on the route that I’d describe as dangerous, I hope that you don’t get to the
chimney on the Hollow Flake when a sudden hail storm hits. This is what happened to us on another
outing I had with James, who was squirming up the start of the chimney section
far from any gear, when hail started to pile up on this shoulders. He didn’t
have a choice but to stay there, wedged, waiting for it to pass. I was in a
t-shirt and as there wasn’t much I could do for him, so I left him to it to
dive around the corner to retrieve a jacket (Sorry). Fortunately it didn’t last
too long and he was able to reverse, escape and get back to the belay.
Day 2: The Monster, P15 – P20, Hollow Flake
Ledge to El Cap Spire
This
is a shorter day than the first, but tough because of needing to haul and because
of the dread of having to climb the Monster hanging over you. It starts off
with a pleasant chimney, but remember to face out – Tom Randall told me he
faced in and turned this pitch into a terrifying sketch-fest. Good climbing
leads to the Ear, take off your helmet, take big gear and lighten your rack.
This is a wild chimney pitch, facing out again, that gives great views out over
the valley. Now, The Monster, probably the most notorious pitch on the route
which involves about 50 meters of hideous offwidth climbing. The difficulty of
this pitch will depend partly on cardiovascular fitness, the strength of your
ankles, having a high pain threshold and skill in climbing wide cracks. In UK
grades, I estimate it would be about E6 4c. Left
side in! The first time I climbed this pitch I had been told that it was
crucial to climb it with a specific side in the crack, but I couldn’t remember
which side. I guessed right side, I was wrong, but I did miraculously manage to
chicken-wing my way up by the skin of my teeth. In doing so I removed the skin
on my tricep which oozed for the next few days and made further offwidths very
painful.
After
a surprisingly hard and technical down-climb/traverse to gain the right arête
of the crack and then swinging inside, it’s left-side in and after a few meters
you get a ledge to rest on and recompose yourself. The trick is this: left side
in, left arm-bar straight in, right hand cupping the arête near your face, left
foot cammed inside the crack and right foot camming with a heel inside the
crack and toe outside. Wiggle your feet alternately and make extremely slow
progress up the crack, after about 800 moves you’ll have done it! For gear I
take one friend 6, a friend 5 and a couple of quickdraws for the pair of bolts
at about a third height. The 6 can be moved ahead of you almost the entire
length, except for one section about 2 thirds of the way where it narrows and
the 5 can be placed and left behind. The difficulties increase slightly in the
very last section as the crack changes in a subtle and appalling way, so it’s
worth taking a good rest at the slight overlap about two-thirds of the way as
it’s the final rest. I also tend to carry a bottle of water on my harness to
have a bit to drink when I’m hanging out at the resting ledges.
After
another short pitch you’re at the Alcove, a complex series of blocks and ledges
that provides a few good bivi spots. If it’s been a long day or if it’s windy
this is a good place to bivi, alternatively the El Cap spire bivi is possibly
the best bivi in the world! The first time I got to the spire, I’d just done
the Monster so had no skin on my arm, Calum was lying in a heap at the Alcove
trying to stem the flow of blood from his nose, we’d lost a belay device and
had forgotten a lighter (dinner had been a sachet of dried Bolognese with cold
water). I think for a while we were seriously tempted to run-away. On the spire
is a single rock, under which we found a Reverso, some Americans gave us a
lighter and Calum finally stopped losing blood.
Day 3: Teflon/Boulder Problem, P21 – P24,
El Cap Spire to The Block
This
is the shortest day in terms of pitches but includes the crux pitch of either
the Teflon corner or the Boulder Problem. When you get to the sloping ledge at
the end of pitch 22, the Boulder Problem pitch is straight above you and the
Teflon Corner out left and completely hidden from view. When we got here for
the first time in 2012, everyone we had spoken to talked about the Boulder
Problem pitch and so we assumed this was the better of the two options. But beware
the topo! From the topo we assumed you climbed the corner above direct in order
to access the Boulder Problem belay. After my partner had taken a couple of
falls trying this desperate corner, out mate James appeared on some fixed lines
and told us we were going the wrong way. At the point the corner gets hard you
swing out right on undercuts and flakes to access a ramp system which leads
easily to the belay.
The
boulder problem itself is said to be about V8 and, after flashing it on that
first day, I’ve come to learn that it is extremely conditions dependant and
skin intensive! If you get there in cool conditions and like V8 crimping, this
is the pitch for you. If you’re more of a Quarryman groove type, however, then
you’ll prefer the Teflon Corner. I much prefer the Teflon since I find it
easier that the Boulder Problem and it doesn’t trash your skin. This pitch also
has an entry pitch to an awkward stance on the right before the corner gets
really smooth.
There
is one more long pitch leading to the large, but sloping, ledge called the
Block. This pitch doesn’t get a big grade and it’s steady almost the whole way,
until the very last move to reach to ledge! Beware the sting in the tail. Having
done this pitch on several occasions now, I still haven’t found a good way of
doing this move.
Day 4: The
Enduro-Corners, P15 – P33, The Block to the Top
After
hopefully getting a reasonable night’s sleep on the Block it’s a big day to the
top. The first pitch of the day is very good but also quite tricky, a lot like
an E4 5c you might find in the UK. It’s slightly run-out face climbing most of
the way until a wild thin-crack finale leads to the Sous-Le-Toit ledge. This is where we caught up with team
‘butter-fingers’. This team had previously dropped their entire rack down the
Hollow Flake, retreated to the valley, borrowed another rack and re-ascended to
continue the route. They were good guys except when above you, and on this
pitch alone we received several cams, a crack-pipe and were pissed on.
For
me, the first Endurance corner, graded 5.11c, is the hardest pitch on the
route. Most of the pitch is climbed on ‘killer-hands’ but at the end it turns
into desperate finger-locks that I usually end up laybacking in bad style
despite good intentions. I have always split the corners into two pitches using
the intermediate bolt belay. I much prefer the second Eduro pitch, which starts
with technical laybacking using a left knee-bar before turning into fantastic
finger locking. I’ve seen Madalaine climb this pitch front-on using invisible
jams, but it’s a mystery to me how you can do this. It’s a good idea to haul
from Sous-le-Toit after this pitch (26) at the hanging stance below the big
roofs. I’d give both these pitches 12b, or in UK terms at least E5 6b.
This
is where the Freerider variation breaks lefts from Salathe wall via an
ingenious traverse left into the unknown. A very airy and intimidating pitch!
The difficulties are condensed into a tricky boulder problem to leave a
hands-off rest. It’s worth having good systems here because, even though it
isn’t a long pitch, it’s very hard to communicate around the corner.
The
next significant feature is the Scotty-Burke offwidth, which did give me a very
hard time the first time I tried it. The climbing to get to the offwidth from
the round table feels like burly E4 6b. It’s possible to belay at the very
start of the offwidth using one bolt and the number 6 friend, but I wouldn’t
recommend it. The difficulties are short-lived and concentrated around the initial
wide section. I layback here a few moves through the steepness before pulling
back into the crack and using the Monster technique for the remainder. I have
heard, however, of people getting their ropes core-shot by falling from the
layback and their ropes running down the sharp edge of the crack... something
to be aware of! You’re now into the home stretch, just a few pitches to go and
nothing too difficult. There is a wild heel hook move on pitch 32 to look out
for, this is also like a boulder problem at the works! Finally, flop over the
top onto the biggest area of flat ground you’ll have been on in 4-5 days.
Regardless
of which pitches you’ve freed and which you haven’t, getting up this climb is a
great achievement. This is a route to free as much as possible simply because
the climbing is so incredibly good, each pitch on its own would be a classic
single pitch route! The constant problem solving and excellent climbing
partnership that are required to survive the ups and downs on the wall, and the
unpredictability of the experience and outcome, make this one of the most
adventurous types of climbing. This is what has drawn me back to Yosemite year
after year.
