After Six
Sierra Nevada– Rock Climbing
Total Time: 5:30
Distance: 1.0 miles
Elevation Gain: 750′
Crux: 5.7
Pitches: 6
Protection: Double rack of cams 0.5-2 with singles of 3-5, set of nuts
Companions: Holly
Trailhead: El Capital picnic area, full services in the Valley
I was running out of 5.6 multi pitch options in the Valley (having done The Grack, Munginella and Church Tower this year), and aside from Swan Slab Gully and Sunnyside Bench, it was time to graduate to the 5.7s. There were surprisingly few 5.7 multipitch routes in the Valley, with the most popular by far being After Six. First ascended by Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, the 6 pitch route ascends a crack system up Manure Pile Buttress (also known as Ranger Rock) and tops out on a flat glacial polished bench near the top of the feature. Manure Pile Buttress is also home to the “Nutcracker,” the most popular 5.8 multipitch route in the Valley making it a very popular climbing spot for moderate climbers. The crux on After Six is partway up the first pitch in a notoriously slick and polished section, made quite a bit harder after a key tree ripped out the crack that once provided more secure holds. But it protects very well and I was up for the challenge, with Holly and I heading to the Valley on a cold December morning. I had done some solo top roping in the Lower Merced Canyon the week before and was quite warm on the sunny routes, so was a bit surprised when we arrived to the parking area to find my car still read 28 degrees outside. We only packed fleeces, and the climb was still in shade, although was south facing and would be in sun soon enough. We debated pivoting to a sunnier part of the Valley, but the climbs were empty and it seemed that waiting for the sun would waste just as much time as driving to another crag. I walked over to the base while the sun crossed over the upper pitches, finding the first pitch lower angled than I expected, but certainly looking slick as advertised.
I walked back to the car, said it was a go, and the two of us slowly started racking up, the approach taking only 3-5 minutes with no need to leave our packs laying at the base of the climb. A few other climbing parties were heading to the wall at the same time, but all moved off to the right to line up for Nutcracker; we would be only one of two parties on the classic route the entire day. I flaked the rope at the base and after doing our checks, started up the route. The first 1/4 of the pitch is fairly low angled with plenty of holds, and I protected with medium cams and a few nuts to save my pieces for the more desperate climbing that lie ahead. The crack begins to really slicken up at the first bulge about a third of the way up the pitch, and I lie-backed hard to maintain my feet and move through the bulge, cramming a cam into the crack as soon as I was able to lock off. One foot had blown during the sequence, but not enough for me to fall.
The crack was still slick but a bit more featured as I climbed up, cutting out to the right beneath a dark roof on some easier 5.5 face climbing before moving back into the corner below a tree with some cord left for rappeling. I checked the topo and it seemed that it was recommended that you climb past the tree for the first belay, so I moved up the easy crack past to a large ledge and built and anchor off a large manzanita tree. In the time it took me to climb the first pitch (honestly not that slow considering the slickness) the Valley had warmed considerably, and I was glad to have left my fleece in the car, sweating in my long sleeved shirt. Holly started up, with a second group starting up the adjacent After Seven, an alternate 5.8 start that is technically a bit more difficult but less slippery. Although she was out of sight, I felt her move quickly through the first section then slow at the slippery crux. I couldn’t tell if she fell or not but eventually worked through it before her movements stopped completely.
A crackle on the radio came through “Did you overcam the green one? I can’t clean it.”
I didn’t remember that one in particular, but none of the placements were all that challenging on the pitch. She worked at it for a good 15 minutes before I radioed down for her to give up. By now the other leader on After Seven topped up, and I said he was willing to pass us as Holly finished the upper half of the pitch.
As she topped out, she blurted “That was fucking miserable!”
It wasn’t the climbing, it was wrestling with the stuck cam in a slippery spot with no foot stance and climbing in a fleece with the temperatures rapidly rising. There was no one at the base behind and she desperately needed a break, and we planned to let the other two some pass anyways. So I rappelled down to try and free the stuck cam. I was surprised when I saw it, in a nice pod that looked like it wouldn’t walk. Yet somehow it did, into a tight constriction with the trigger swinging to the crack and out of reach. I used my nut pick to try and wiggle it free, gently at first but quickly torquing it as hard as I could to try and free it. After 10 minutes a cable snapped and it no longer seemed worth to effort to free a broken cam, so Holly put me on belay and I climbed back up. Cost of doing business.
The follower of the other twosome was just topping out and it was clear she was fairly inexperienced, insisting that we go up the route first. So I scrambled up to another manzanita at a wide crack and brought up Holly for the start of pitch 2.
To be honest, I would barely consider this second pitch climbing, with an easy low fifth class move off the ledge to a broad platform, followed by a single climbing move up a chimney to the base of a pedestal and start of the third pitch. I only placed one cam the entire pitch, but used up three for a trad anchor as I quickly brought up Holly.
The third pitch is considered the psychological crux of the climb, heading up an airy arete to the left of a wide crack that was supposedly difficult to protect. I started up the pitch, and down low placed pieces often, thinking that my options would run out. But that really never happened, almost always having a spot for a piece, along with some fixed pro within an arching crack higher up. There was a short section of slightly run out face climbing with hug knobs, but it couldn’t have been more than 5.3 and only about 15′ before I reached the next belay, a decent bouldery ledge. I built a quick anchor of a slung boulder so Holly could start up, now with a bit of pressure to move with a group behind us. She cruised up this pitch enjoying herself once more and finding it some of the most interesting climbing of the day despite the easiness of the grade. Looking up the fourth pitch, there was an obvious treed ledge above with the route beyond that out of sight. The fourth pitch (at least the way we broke it up) was a bit shorter than the third but just as easy, following a featured crack up to the ledge with big trees. I moved my belay to the back of the ledge and belayed off an old half living oak tree and Holly quickly joined me on the large ledge. The group behind was nowhere in sight when Holly started up, so we slowed our pace and had a snack before starting up pitch five.
Climbing off the belay, I started up a short but tricky to protect face up to a large crack that angled up to the right. I initially lie backed this, then awkwardly swung around to place a piece.
“This is alot easier than I’m making it look, I’m just climbing like an asshole!” I yelled down to Holly.
This crack led me to a granite trough that I could essentially walk before leading to a short chimney and belay ledge with a huge dead pine tree. I pushed and pulled on the tree, felt like it was solid, and wrapped it with cord before bringing up Holly to the final pitch of the climb and second hardest of the day.
The final pitch has many variations, but the standard route is to follow an arching crack on the right leading to a short 5.6 face then some broken cracks to the route summit. I started up the crack with easy pro, then paused at the base of the face. There were a number of options to do this, including climbing the face directly with no pro, stepping up on a janky manzanita to a shallow crack to the right, or working up a larger crack further right to a 5.8 roof that could be bypassed. After examining the manzanita, I decided to try my luck on the face, working up the crack as far as I could on the left before cutting back right with a narrow lip for hands and no good feet, eventually leading to a huge pod that felt like a Jesus hold with my last piece well below me. From there the climbing eased considerably and I moved past a tree at the edge of the climb and built a belay further off a large pine. With the benefit of a top rope, Holly didn’t even notice the face section and cruised to the top to join me, untying on the broad glacial bench and taking in the views. To the east for Clouds Rest covered in snow, with Half Dome just within view. The Three Brothers towered overhead, with El Capitan and Cathedral Rocks to the east.
There were two other groups that I had finished Nutcracker, one of which was familiar with the walk off and called it “spooky.” Great. To access the walk off, we went straight back from the rim, scrambling up a well worn step about 10′ to a smaller glacial polished bench leading to a steep gully. We started down it and found it easier than it looked from above with places to wedge your body in the steepest spots.
After the first scramble section we reach a branch point, heading right into the forest and another steep chimney (I think left hits a rappel station) before landing on a very well defined and easy to follow use trail through the forest and back to the base of the climb.
Back at the base with hopped in the car, with just enough daylight to do nothing. We drove a few minutes to El Cap Meadow and had a post climb drink before the rapidly cooler temperatures in the valley drove us back into our car, heading to Oakhurst for dinner.
