Mescalito

Peder Ourom’s account of his July 1980 ascent with Walt Shipley. The 20th ascent of Mescalito, Yosemite, California

I hit the angle piton for the final time, and just as I was easing onto it, El Capitan shook violently. Horrified, I watched a new crack shoot out sideways from the piton to the left, travelling sideways 15 feet.  A huge thousand-pound flake of rock was falling off, and I was attached to it (story written by Peder Ourom; audio created with help from Google NotebookLM).

The Ascent of the Shield

Listen to the summary of Peder Ourom’s account of his 1979 climb with Ward Robinson and Paul Berntsen. To get to the start of the Shield, they need to climb the first 10 pitches of the Salathe Wall, then the next 10 pitches on the Muir Wall, before ascending the steep roof pitch that commits one to the 1000’ high granite shield. From this point on the climb, retreating would be close to impossible (story written by Peder Ourom; audio created with help from Google NotebookLM).

Scaling the Zodiac

A cool audio summarizing the exciting 1979 Zodiac climb by Perry Beckham, Peder Ourom, and Matt Taylor (story written by Peder Ourom; audio created with help from Google NotebookLM).