After a slow, rough start the guys are off and running, so to speak! Mike is feeling much better and the energy is flowing. Mike and Mark completed three pitches today totaling roughly 350 vertical feet. Balky equipment slowed the morning takeoff, but the pace increased by late afternoon.

The guys are happy with today's accomplishments and look forward to their climb tomorrow. Today's climb brought them to the top of the Dolt Tower, a prominent ledge of beautifully sculpted granite about a third of the way up the wall. In skyscraper terms, they are now 100 stories above street level.

Mark and Mike want their friends to know that the old schedule is history. The grinding traverses and broken slab terrain on the first 1500 feet of the climb are particularly tough going for a paraplegic. That's one of the reasons they chose this route, to present a real challenge. Climbing is not a race, it's a journey. It's over when you get to the top, so you may as well enjoy the passage.

Mike and Mark fully expect to make the spacious ledges of El Cap Tower by day¹s end tomorrow.