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Descriptive Essay On El Capitan

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El Capitan
When you enter the valley, the first thing you probably notice after all of the people is the great granite giant rising up from the meadow and riverbank of the Merced River.
This monster is known as El Capitan, my first introduction to this “rock” was when The Guide told me a story about Ozzy and Sharon Osborne’s kid, Jack. Apparently, his idea of going through a rebellious period, and seriously, as the kid of the front man of Black Sabbath, how do you even define rebellion, was to train and learn how to climb the face of El Capitan. The photo shared with me showed Jack camped out in a swinging hammock nailed to the face of the rocks a million feet in the air. What is wrong with that kid?
I stood in the parking lot and blinked at the rock trying to imagine the sheer guts it takes to climb it. As I am standing there, I notice dots moving up the side. More people doing it! Are they crazy, too?
This towering rock formation rises up to 7,573 feet above sea level and 3,000 feet from the valley floor. It is located at the western end of the valley. Its name is derived from the original Native American name that was loosely translated to mean “rock chief.”
There is a long history of El Capitan scaling, and people, okay, GUYS, think it is a good idea to try and set, then break records of free climbing the face.
There are a number of climbing routes that will take you to the top of El Capitan, and none of them are easy. In fact, some are extremely dangerous.
Because this granite giant was considered impossible to climb, it was climbed and has become a standard for any wall climbing anywhere else in the world.
Since the 1950s, enterprising souls have blazed new trails over this structure and established routes over every face of it.
Yvon Chouinard helped blaze the North American Wall on the southeast face in 1964. Chouinard has equipped us all with his clothing and hiking gear under his Patagonia label. He also helped establish a number of other El Capitan routes.
Free climbing is another challenging pastime where climbers rely on finger holds and bolt placement to scale the face. All other equipment is meant to keep them from falling, not as a climbing aid. Free climbing is usually a solo act.
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