CHIP CHACE - ENDLESS SUMMER

Endless Summer was my last, and one of my proudest climbs on the East Face. Most of the climb was established in 1990 by Greg Davis and Todd Bibler. They did six brilliant pitches up the south (left) side of the Diagonal Wall, until things blanked out. There they retreated.

It soon became a popular 5.11 to do these six pitches then rap the route. But to me there was an unlikely 7th pitch waiting to be done, so the climb would go all the way to Broadway. This became somewhat of an obsession for me, so we rapped down from Broadway and hand-drilled two bolts to protect some blank climbing on this long last pitch. I returned with Chip in 2005 and we finished the climb, with me leading the 200 foot 7th pitch with no falls at 5.12- and quite a bit of run-out 5.11. It is not clear whether anyone else has repeated this pitch, but most likely Josh Wharton did when he linked Endless Summer to Eroica in a single day. That is truly staggering to me!

In the photo, Chip is leading the 2nd pitch, which is solid 5.11 and a bit unprotected.