Some photos related to the Valley Giant cams

Stéphane Pennequin's Nutstory Museum Christmas Card Photo, 2010
Magnesium #12 Old-School Style Valley Giant, C. 2005
Chouinard Crag Hammer, c. 1972-1976

The Poison Pill bivi,
P6 of Scorched Earth, El Capitan. At the left skyline is El Cap Tower,
with
Texas and Boot Flakes just above. The dark spots at low center are
climbers on the Sea of Dreams.

The fearsome Leavittator crack, 1500 feet up Scorched Earth on El
Capitan. The photo doesn't do the overhang of the wall justice. The
crack begins as an A4 knifeblade seam, and gets wider and wider,
reaching a maximum of 24 inches. Randy Leavitt freed the Leavittator at
5.11d when
he and Rob Slater did the first ascent of Scorched Earth. The other
side of the "Golden Finger of Fate" flake has another wide crack. Walt
Shipley and
Troy Johnson rated that side A1 when they did the first ascent of
Native Son, which was done concurrent with Scorched Earth, in 1987.

Ascending a fixed rope past the Lazer Beam crack, P18 on Bermuda Dunes,
El
Capitan. Notice our camp on the off-route ledge and El Cap
Spire, far below. Bermuda Dunes follows the corner system that starts
in the Alcove (base of the Spire) and passes through the center of the
photo.

This is the "Pine Island" bivi on Bermuda Dunes, top of pitch 20. It's
about 100 feet right and
level with the Salathe Roof. The huge roofs above this spot provided
enough shade so the
little "Charlie Brown Christmas" tree could survive on what little
water seeped out of the cracks.