Reflecting on a vertiginous student climbing expedition to Yosemite

Last summer, seven students from Imperial's Climbing Club went on an Exploration Board-funded trip to the 'big walls' of Yosemite, USA.

Yosemite National Park is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, with over four million visitors flocking to see its spectacular scenery each year. Most are happy to amble along the marked trails — but for others it holds a more menacing, irresistible challenge. With its towering granite cliff faces, it is arguably one of the birthplaces of modern rock climbing, and is certainly still seen as a proving ground for up and coming climbers.

So it was for a team of seven students from Imperial’s Mountaineering Club who submitted a plan to the College’s Exploration Board for daring trip to take on some of those formidable monolithic peaks.

From the moment the proposal was accepted by the panel of 20-some experts and representatives from the advisory panel of the Exploration Board, it was clear that it wasn’t going to be a regular summer for those students.

“As I attempted to abseil down the cliff, the wind abruptly picked up, blowing the ropes almost ninety degrees at right angles to the face. Unable to abseil down normally, I was forced to use one hand to claw my way back against the direction of the wind using a crack in the rock face as my other hand attempted to run the rope through the abseil device, all whilst descending the several hundred metre tall rock face,” recounts team member and Physics undergraduate Jo Robbings.

The seven adventurers spent between one month and six weeks in Yosemite, facing multiday ascents of between 400m and 1km — significantly higher than anything they had tried previously. It was also the first time they had attempted an appreciable amount of ‘trad climbing’ where the protection preventing the climber from falling is placed into the natural gaps and fissures in the rock by the climber, rather than relying on preplaced bolts.

“Our biggest challenge was the sheer exposure,” recalled Ben Coope (Mechanical Engineering). “Nothing could have prepared us for the terror of hanging hundreds of feet above the ground being battered by the elements.”

Among the most daunting challenges was tackling the 30m ‘chimneys’ — cracks in the rock too narrow to place protection and often too dark to see the detail in the rock ahead.

“The experience could be punishing both physically and mentally, and at times I felt so exhausted I could barely raise a sandwich to my mouth,” explained Ben. “But you take a look around at the staggering view around, and that is enough to keep you going.”

The exhausting days hauling themselves and their equipment up unforgiving vertical rock face were at times followed by nights spent on thin, exposed ledges hundreds of metres above the ground. In the case of one climb completed by Tom Wheeler (Physics) and Ben Coope, accommodation for the evening was an artificial tent-like structure attached by ropes to a secure point on the cliff which juts out from the rock with nothing beneath it.

The group achieved their aim of successfully climbing three big wall routes in the valley between them: Washington Column (James Lawson, Mike and Jo), Half Dome (Tom and Ben), and El Capitan (Jo)

“Pulling over the top of ‘Half Dome’ after 15 hours of continuous climbing was one of the biggest accomplishments in our lives,” said Tom.

The crowning achievement though went to the youngest and sole female member of the group, Jo Robbings, who successfully ascended 800m over ‘The Nose’ of El Capitan, an iconic vertical rock formation. To put the feat into perspective, the Shard, the tallest building in the EU, stands at just 305m. Jo had reached the halfway point of the climb with Imperial PhD student James Lawson (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) when they realised they did not have enough water left to last them to the top of the climb. Just as they were about to abandon their attempt and descend the mountain, a German team reached their ledge. A plan was formed to combine the two team’s water resources and send the two strongest climbers from each team onwards to the top, whilst the remaining members would return to the base of the mountain, allowing Jo and her new teammate to successfully complete the four day climb.

With all members of the team having earning their ‘big wall spurs,’ they hope to return to Yosemite with in the future with renewed confidence and experience to tackle more of the almost limitless selection of routes on offer.

“I personally feel as if I’ve only scratched the surface of the huge amount of potential within Yosemite, and I have a long list of routes I’d still love to tick off in the valley now that I’ve got some more experience in big walling,” says Jo. 

Looking at long term goals the group are also keen to tackle some of the great faces of the Alps, which will require a higher level of alpine mountaineering experience. And who knows perhaps beyond to Patagonia and the Himalayas.

Big walls of the world, prepare yourself for an Imperial assault!