El Capitan, Reach for the Sky, 1989. This route, done in the fall of 1989, starts several hundred yards left of the West Face route and above the huge chockstones in the gully. I spent eight days and four nights on the wall on this eight-bolt solo effort. The route is 90% free and wanders up to the extreme right end of Salami Ledge and then follows that route to the rim. With long runouts, 5.8 to 5.10 face climbing is linked with hooking or the odd crack. The two hardest “free” pitches were first led on aid, worked on for hours and then “freed” on a top rope.

James Beyer