Sitting at the top of this relatively short route we were feeling puffed up - like we had arrived as rock climbers - when all of a sudden I took a break from my snack of orange slices and sardines to look below. There about half a pitch down were two guys free soloing this route at prodigious speed. "Mark, you are not going to believe this," is what I said. Moments later, at the peak of their game, Bachar and Kauk pulled up onto the ledge. A friendly conversation was had, which at different times included two key questions: Do you ever worry about falling? Do you want to use our rap line? The answers blew my doors off ... From Kauk, "You have never fallen off a sidewalk have you, well something this easy is like a sidewalk to me." As for Bachar, he said, "no thanks," and proceeded to down climb the route.
I believe this was just their warm-up for a "Half-Dome Day." (I will refer you to John Long's brilliant essay, "The Only Blasphemy" for a riveting account of a different half-dome day.)
In 1976 Peter Livesey - a top Brit climber - wrote an essay "I Feel Rock," which had a section about Reed Pinnacle Direct which spurred me to want to do the route. The essay can be found in the anthology GAMES CLIMBERS PLAY or on the FOOTLESS CROW website.
http://footlesscrow.blogspot.com/2012/06/i-feel-rock.html
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