It had been a year and a half since my last climb. Previously, I had spent six months in South America on a climbing rampage.I climbed difficult objectives that I once only could dream of. And then, all of a sudden, I just stopped climbing. I lost interest in the supertopo forums, deleted the mountain project and climbing weather apps off my phone, sold all my ice climbing gear and shoved my big wall rack deep into my closet. It’s difficult to tell what separated me from my passion. Was it fear of injury and death? Burn out? Or was I just developing other interests? Whatever the reason, I wasn’t climbing.

Over the past year and a half, it started to become clear that a part of my life was missing. Climbing is, was and will always be my freedom. When life burdens me with questions, I find the answers within myself in the mountains.

Last year I prepared for this climb, approached, sat at the base staring at the route and then walked away. The passion was gone and I didn’t wan’t to climb it. You can read about it here. But this year I felt different. I knew I couldn’t walk away again. This time I wanted it, I needed it.

Preparation:

Soloing big walls really comes down to knowing your rope management systems and having maximal endurance and strength. Most importantly, you have to want the climb more than anything. Or else it is easy to turn around.

How did I train for this climb? I didn’t. Well that’s not entirely correct. I just kept up with my normal conditioning. Running in the hills, squats, gym climbing and cycling. I kept in shape but the climb truly relied on muscle memory and all the previous experience I have had climbing big walls. My hope was when I arrived at the base, it would all come back to me; and it did!

Solo wall climbing is hard work. You not only have to climb each pitch, but then rappel down, ascend the ropes and remove your gear and then haul the bag. No wonder why very few people solo big walls. Most solo wall climbers share one of three traits. They are crazy, have no friends or enjoy suffering. I fall into two of those categories. Can you guess which ones?

I used two 70 m ropes which allowed me to link in pairs all the pitches on the route. I bought a custom cut 70 meter static haul line from a tree trimming company. The diameter of my ropes were 10.0mm and 11.1 mm. I prefer heavy ropes soloing especially since I know I’ll be beating them up.

Day 1: 13 Hours

Once I arrived at the base of leaning tower, I dumped down my 100 pound haul bag and took off searching for the start of the route. It was much higher up the approach than I expected. I set down my helmet and jacket at the start of the route and trekked back down to get my haul bag. About halfway down, I began having second thoughts about the climb. Was I prepared? Did I know what I was getting myself into? Would I finish it in time? I wanted to turn back, like I had before, except I realized something. I left my jacket and helmet at the start of the route; so I had to go back up anyway. I fell for my own mind trick! So I hurled my haul bag over my shoulders and hiked back up to the base of the route. The climbing and rope management systems all came back to me and I made it to Ahwahnee Ledge and fixed pitches 5 and 6 two hours before nightfall.