Mescalito   6/4-10/90

Managed to get up this in 7 days with John Imbrie (longtime climbing partner --
his second El Cap route after Salathe in 84).  It was a good little adventure,
but not quite "the finest outing on El Cap" (I heard this from somebody once).
The occasional grainy/loose rock and resident swallows/turds in the last 4
pitches detract some from the rather interesting line.
Had to start the route via Hockey Night in Canada, because a party of 3 with
4 big haul bags had 2 pitches fixed when we arrived at the base.  We got 4
pitches a day, while they got about 3, so we were just ahead of them when
Hockey Night intersected Mescalito.  Getting 4 pitches a day usually meant
John following a pitch in darkness, with the Molar Traverse being an especially
late night.  Fortunately we had a full moon and perfect weather, so this was
not too taxing, until we got close to the top and began anticipating the
descent with killer loads.  (This was enough to prevent me from retrieving
booty fixed pins larger than 5/8" angles, due to their weight...).  I let
John use Wayne's permaledge every night, while I tried various positions in
Charlie Schreck's Forrest singlepoint hammock (fine for 5 days, but a little
tiring up high).  Some highlights:  20' fall on p.3 for John when my homemade
rivet hanger broke under body weight (oops!! -- should have tossed them after
Greg Murphy broke one on the Shield...), 50' runout on p.6 due to backcleaning
Friends, p.11 John sticks somehow to headless rivet and casts for sling on
rivet 6' away with Fish hook (getting it after many attempts), I lasso top of
Bismark with loop in haul line to avoid ow (jingus because it slopes down!),
p.20 2 falls for John in grainy rock (one extra long due to casual belay, but
we retrieve booty #1.5 Friend to make up for it), p.24 we actually finish
before dark and fix our only pitch to stay at first bivvy ledge since p.4.
Verdict:  like Corbett/Wellman said, it's not that much fun after 4-5 days,
so next time we'll do free routes again.