#gearforgood

@austinchase310 and I spent the last few days trying to climb El Capitan via 'Lurking Fear'. We got stomped and bailed after two and a half days of hard work on the wall. From the approach to the act of bailing, I think we as a team underestimated the amount of effort and commitment that is needed to climb the Big Stone. I always learn a lot in the Valley, and this trip was an awesome experience to send us back to the drawing boards to re-plan and re-negotiate another attempt. El Cap is just so god damn big!! No matter how many times I come here this wall remains the most intimidating, gigantic, inspiring and beautiful thing I've ever laid eyes on... there's a lifetime of lessons to be learned up there- and I'll return to this rock to be schooled again and again for the rest of my life!! We'll be back! #GearForGood #AdventureOn 📷: @austinchase310 (at Yosemite National Park, El Capitan)

Flashback to Mount Conness a couple years back w/ @patcortinez. Solo on the classic North Ridge. Making my way up to the splendid Sierra for a couple weeks of peak baggin' and scrambling. My fav. #AdventureOn #GearForGood (at Conness Glacier)

Bigwall mode 🤘🏼 Spent the last week gathering gear and mentally preparing for the heat and exposure as @austinchase310 and I get ready for the big stone! Me and this guy have been talking about climbing El Cap since we started climbing together four years ago- and we're finally gonna give it a go. Last year when @emiliooooooo and I climbed The Nose it was easily and without a doubt the greatest and wildest adventure of my life, so I'm STOKED to get back up there via a different route, and to bask in the slow, painful, yet epic and beer fueled process that is "wall style" climbing. Here's Austin back in May on the South Face of the Washington Column. #AdventureOn #GearForGood (at Yosemite National Park)

"Ya dude I think there's a fire somewhere- it would explain the orange sky and drizzle of ash. *Cough* Maybe we should just chill here and drink beer and see if it dies out *cough*..." Sometimes plan B is forced upon you, but sometime's that's alright... Stoked to get back on Lurking Fear aka #LurkingBeer with @austinchase310 again when it cools down. #GearForGood (at Yosemite National Park)

As if the heat wasn't already going to be an issue for us, the massive fire that evacuated thousands from Mariposa sent an enormous cloud of ash and dust slamming into- and essentially choking Yosemite Valley. Apparently this fire has pushed smoke all the way up into Idaho! The sky turned a deep orange-red, and began to dump ash on us. You could stare straight into the sun which was glowing like a vibrant red eclipse. Besides the fact that we we spent 24 hours on the wall choking and coughing and clearing the ledge/ gear of ash, I'd say it was a pretty rad experience... it felt like we were on a bigwall on Mars or something. At first we didn't even really know what was going on- it just looked like the world was going to end... pretty metal. #GearForGood #AdventureOn 📷: @austinchase310 (at Yosemite National Park)

It was awesome to see my mom experience Yosemite for the first time. After a year of shoving photos and movies and stories of the Valley in her face, I finally got her out there for real... she loved it. #GearForGood (at Yosemite National Park)

Finally we hit the summit, and can see the end of the ridge- maybe 4 or 500 meters away. Between us is a vertical tower that we would have to climb up and over and down, before reaching the true end and our planned exit ridge. Light is dying fast and we know even from the end- it's several hours of down climbing/ rappeling/ post holing back to the road- then 7 miles back up the road to the car. To say I was feeling hopeless was an understatement. We both new we were running on fumes, and that we would more than likely make a mistake somewhere down the line if we tried to push to the true end in this state. Plus it would have taken another few hours going over the tower- this drained and in the dark- so we decided that for us, route would end here. I'm not trying to die on a mountain for a few hundred feet, and no human on this planet can take away the work we put in for what has been 5 long days at this point on this god. damned. never. ending. ridge. Tough decisions like this are part of the game. We begin to descend as night falls, determined to get to the car and back to Canmore for Brazilian BBQ before 10pm. Haha. Looking back, I have no idea why we thought it was even in the realm of possibility... #AdventureOn #GearForGood (at Endless Chain Ridge)

Check out this video https://youtu.be/tLnCTd4Brss to learn more about the story and mission of Cotopaxi, and the awesome people who made- and continue to make it all happen! Happy Birthday! 🎂🎉 #AdventureOn (at Cotopaxi)