South Face trip report:
We got a late start and I drove the whole way up. We got to sleep maybe around midnight, but were planning on waking at 4am. I had the biggest anxiety attack that night and couldn't sleep at all. I paced and thought and sweat bullets the whole night worrying. We hiked in the next morning; the plan was to spend two days on the wall. We were the first to hike up, but there was another party with fixed ropes up four pitches, and another with fixed ropes up 2 pitches. The lower party was very slow, even compared to us, and we were stuck behind them most of the day. Carl lead the first pitch which went free at 5.8. It was a messy corner, but he handled it well after working up the courage. We had to wait at the base of the second pitch for quite a while. There was a nice big ledge. A british guy was soloing up behind us. I was meant to lead the 2nd pitch. I had got 5 or 6 moves up a perfectly easy crack when my sleep deprivation caught up with me. I was on the edge physically and emotionally and was just freaking out. My brain wasn't working, and neither were my limbs. I came back down in shame and Carl led the rest. We waited a long time at the top of the second pitch as well. Then Carl lead the third pitch which had some free bits. I hauled on the third pitch, one of the dirtiest and rockiest of the climb, and learned what a drag (literally) hauling can be. Dinner ledge is at the top of the 3rd pitch, so that is where we left our haul bag. We had to wait at this ledge for more than 2 hours. Scott lead the next pitch, which starts out free and then goes into the Kor roof. He had to wait at each placement for the party ahead of us; perhaps he was a bit hasty getting off the ground. Scott opted not to stop at the intermediate anchor and joined the crowd at the top of the pitch where a person or two, plus two full haul bags were waiting as well. Carl cleaned the roof, a task more difficult than leading it. He got caught in the wind and went spinning about under the roof. Cleaning it was epic; in his struggling he had a bolt pop out on him!!! Finishing the fifth pitch that night had been our goal, but it was getting dark, and we still had the slow party to contend with. We claimed the best spot on Dinner ledge, ate dinner, and went to sleep. We were sharing the ledge that night with two German guys, and the three guys in the slow party (two of which opted to sleep on a portaledge). The next morning I jumared up to the top of the fourth pitch. Scott jumared up behind me and lead half a pitch, a traverse, before fixing lines for Carl. I had a bit of a time cleaning the traverse, but made it in the end. Carl jugged up to join us there and Scott lead the second half of the 5th pitch. Carl lead the nice clean crack of  the 6th pitch, which was to be our last pitch, and I cleaned it, learning along the way how to clean weighted nuts without a wall hammer. We knew by this hour that we couldn't make it to the top without an epic, so why not get an early start home. We rapped down, but the third pitch ate Carl's rope; it is a very diry pitch with lots of corners to get stuck in. We rapped a fixed line down the first pitch to join Scott, who'd been rapping ahead of us with the haul bag. We'd retrieved a stuck rope belonging to another party so we had enough ropes to do this. We had pizza in Curry village with the owner of the retreived rope, and then headed home.