Climbing the North Face  

Ed and  Jim shouted, as they gave each other a victory hug, "Yeah! We did it!."

They were exhilarated, exhausted, hungry and thirsty.  They had just completed 21 hours  of  non-stop, free- climbing *  up  the 2500 foot  sheer granite wall,  The North Face, of Half Dome in Yosemite.

Each hand hold and foot step was critical and essential to their success. Moving rapidly, like spiders on a rock wall, they took turns each leading 6 pitches of 150-200 feet. There were 24 pitches in all. The leader climbed  first  and was belayed from below. Then he belayed his partner from above. For the largest portion of the climb, they free climbed; however, in order to keep up their momentum, for a few short pitches they had to resort to aid climbing  and "short fixing" pitches. (Short fixing ** is more risky, but it is the only way to climb a wall this huge in a day.) Pitch after pitch they climbed up the 2500 foot granite face; passing others who were astonished at how fast they were climbing. What they climbed in one day, many take 2-3 days to do.  From the time they left  their camp and returned to it, Ed and Jim  hiked and climbed for 27 hours straight!   

They started the actual climb at  6:30 AM and climbed till about 4 AM the next morning. The great majority of time they climbed in darkness -- the deep  dark shadows of the north facing wall and the the darkness of the night sky. For only a few precious minutes, they 

sunset when the  entire wall was bathed in pink and golden light.

With so much darkness, headlamps were vitally important for their success and safety.  A significant distance from the top, Ed  stopped for a moment to rearrange his clothing, and much to his horror, his headlamp slipped off his helmet and dropped into the black abyss-taking 1-2-3-4-5- 6 seconds for it to hit the ground!

They thought they were doomed -how could they finish the climb without light!

Fortunately, being a "mature climber", Ed had brought an emergency light.

They had run out of food and water by this point but they still had a dim light and so could finish the climb.  Although they ran out of two crucial items,  Ed had packed  another one. While hanging on the rock, he dug in his pocket for the map and was so relieved when he felt his granny glasses  as well.   Without  them it would have been impossible for him to read the route map.  Just picture it, spiders wearing granny glasses.

Ed Mosshart and Jim Matthews are older climbers, 52 and 50 respectively.

Ed had received massages from Nikki prior to his climb due to pain in his hamstring and knee (he also has a bulging disc and extra vertebra, but massage can't  directly help those, and they didn't bother him during the climb).   Fortunately, the massage therapy and chiropractic treatments had prepared him well for his climb and he started and climbed the whole distance pain free.  ( See the article below to learn of the benefits of massage for rock climbers)

*Free climbing is a type of rock climbing in which the climber uses only hands, feet and other parts of the body to ascend. While ropes and protection may be used as insurance against falls and their consequences, no artificial aids are employed to make upwards progress.(  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_climbing)

** "Short fixes" is when the leader reaches the upper belay station, he pulls up all of the extra lead rope and "short fixes" it to the upper station. He leaves only enough rope beneath to allow his partner ,who cleans the pitch, to perform the climb. 

For pictures and descriptions of climbing( by another group)  the North Face see: 

http://www.gdargaud.net/Climbing/HalfDome.html

 For a detailed description of the climb, see:  

 http://www.ghiz.org/halfdome.shtml