Central Latitudes on the Pacific Ocean Wall on Yosemite's El Capitan

by Dave Diegelman

Title

Central Latitudes on the Pacific Ocean Wall on Yosemite's El Capitan

Artist

Dave Diegelman

Medium

Photograph - Archival Photographs

Description

Central Latitudes on the Pacific Ocean Wall on Yosemite's El Capitan... In early May of 1978 Augie Klein-18, Bill Price-17 and myself-19 met secretly in the cabin of Mike Arechiga and his wife who worked for Curry, to start racking gear for the 3rd ascent of the Pacific Ocean Wall on Yosemite's El Capitan. We knew of at least one other team that had their eye on nabbing the 3rd ascent and we didn't want to give anyone a heads up of our intentions. It was an unusually wet spring so getting on the route early, even while wet from runoff, seemed to be the best strategy to fly under the radar so that's what we did.

Upon fixing the first few pitches there was a swarm of onlookers from El Cap meadows. This route had the reputation of being the hardest big wall in the world at that time. It was envisioned by the legendary Jim Bridwell (RIP) who had an eye for scant lines. Billy Westbay (RIP), Jay Fiske and Fred East joined after other previous partners Mike Graham and Rik Rieder met a grim fate when Rik fell and crushed his head on pitch 4 necessitating a self rescue-retreat that was both heroic and miraculous resulting in Rik getting a plate put in his skull. Rik was a close friend to us and brother of Kurt, who was one of our gang of punks climbing the grades. Everyone in camp 4 was just rolling their eyes at our stab at this, telling us it's just a bad idea. Upon committing to the climb we invited Guy Thompson along to help with the task of hauling and of course the supply of green contraband, but most importantly we wanted to pay tribute to the first ascents' style. Big walls weren't all that popular back then so we literally had the east side of El Cap to ourselves.

After finishing the "Central Latitude's" pitch I saw the stunning lighting and called out for the camera on the tag line. I had brought several lenses and decided to use my 24mm wide angle to capture the light and texture that graced the North American wall as it veered from vertical to very overhanging. Horsetail falls was running in the background and just starting to get full from the recently melting snow on top. Tying off the last rurp and knife-blade placements acted as a buffer to the main anchors just in case things went sideways for Bill who was cleaning it.

What we lacked in age we made up for with determination and several days later we topped out.

If you're interested in acquiring a mural-sized wall covering of this piece, feel free to inquire via email. It's a part of my Limited Edition series, with only 100 prints available. Please note that the price increases as it sells. Just like all my editions, you can obtain certificates of authenticity by providing proof of purchase and your mailing address. Please send the necessary information to ddiegelman@gmail.com.

Photo & Text All Rights Reserved © Dave Diegelman

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Uploaded

May 4th, 2023

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