Day Two
(written September 28, 2006 Last updated February 13, 2014)

The next am we let our friends lead out, and then we left. The climb goes out Sickle Ledge to the right, as the Ledge begins to slope up slowly and finally steeply, becoming an arete.

In the photo below, you can see at the lower left, three people and a white blob (haul bag?) on Sickle Ledge. The Ledge slopes at about a 45 degree angle up to the right, then goes vertical. There is a climber at the belay, with a rope sloping down and slightly to the right. His partner is probably around the corner. This is Pitch 7.

This pitch (Pitch 7) starts as a tension traverse, then leads to the vertical crack (above, it is an inch to the right of the belayer) and the Dolt Hole, a wide spot in the crack. Belay from slings at the end of pitch 7. The next lead is a tension traverse into the famous Stoveleg Crack, where Harding used stove legs a friend cut from some junk in a junkyard to fashion large angle pitons. One of the original Stove Leg Pitons is shown below, from the Yosemite Climbing Museum Collection.

These are other pitons made for the first ascent in 1958 (Yosemite Climbing Museum).

This is a photo of Warren Harding and Mark Powell at the base of El Cap, with a fixed rope between them. This photo was taken during the first ascent, in 1958 (photo in the Yosemite Climbing Museum).

Three pitches up this crack, with one good belay ledge, leads to Dolt Tower, named for "Dolt" Fuerer, above (see next page for photo). We were tired, it was after dark, and just parked our butts here. Slept on ledge, not the portaledge. Fairly comfortable.

Next: Day Three