For the descent take care, it might not be easy to locate it especially in the dark.
After topping out you follow a trail and a bunch of cairns down.
Then you continue walking down on some slabs
The rap station is as you walk down facing the valley to the right hand side (Skier's-right)
A chain on a ledge with usually some fixed ropes,
We did 6 raps (the last 2 were short)
Do NOT go left! Do NOT rap from the tat and old rings that are on a very dead looking tree.
After the raps follow a long but obvious trail through the trees and back on the road
Great day out, after attempting the day before and seeing multiple parties including a party of four we postponed till the next day and had the cliff to ourselves. Simuled a few a chunks. Fantastic. Fixed line are up so the descent was easy peasy
This is shortest route on El Cap, I took my first trad climbing fall on this route, a bit scary. Yet, being able to climb on El Cap says it all for the experience.
Awesome day out. Only one 10b move on the second pitch and the rest of this route is just plain amazing. Exposed as anything with plenty enough technical climbing to keep you interested.
With Stephen. OS P2 & P3 (linked), P4, P6 & P7 (linked), P8 & P9 (linked), P11 and P13. 2nd Clean P1, P5, P10 and P12. Amazing position and involved climbing for my first route on El Capitan (sort of). Hard stemming finish on P1, Hard friction Slab start P2, and consistantly hard and runout climbing on P9 (I chose the offwidth variant and had no gear to protect it). Improbably mega climbing with surprisingly complex moves and some real boldness.
Pretty long day, very good. You can link many pitches. A nice way is to solo the first pitch which is really 4th class, and then link the next two pitches - that way you're not doing the 5.10b section off of a belay made of rusty pins.
After topping out you follow a trail and a bunch of cairns down. Then you continue walking down on some slabs The rap station is as you walk down facing the valley to the right hand side (Skier's-right) A chain on a ledge with usually some fixed ropes, We did 6 raps (the last 2 were short)
Do NOT go left! Do NOT rap from the tat and old rings that are on a very dead looking tree.
After the raps follow a long but obvious trail through the trees and back on the road