Great Western Pacific Works Bigwall Facelift

This past week Great Western Power Company's 150' smokestack was enhanced. With the consultation of Oakland's Ray Peretti and graphics designed by San Francisco's Mark Getty, Touchstone only needed someone to scale the mighty steel encased concrete monolith.

Touchstone Facilities pooh-bah Russell Olsen was up to the task, with the help of assistant Eric Schmidt. Something this silly needed the attention of someone with big wall experience - Mark Melvin rigged the ropes and pasted most of the stencils. Says Mark, "the pencil thin nature of that thing makes it scarier than all but the hardest big walls I've been on," although he admits the ladder up the side, backed up with a auto belay isn't something you get often on El Capitan.

Check out Russell's awesome work next time you visit! Tell us what you think.