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Wade Icey
Social climber
the EPC
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Topic Author's Original Post - Dec 11, 2005 - 04:43pm PT
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I know there are a few of you in torporspace who haven't spent 30 years avoiding the wide stuff. I hear that some folks even like it...
so...Let's say one were temporarily insane and aspiring to the wide side, what would the recommended A-to Zone progression be? Any training tips from the initiated? What's the Big Ditch OW practice circut?
curiouser and curiouser,
Wade
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Dec 11, 2005 - 07:27pm PT
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I'll give you a few wimp-friendly suggestions so you can focus on the technique and not the fear and loathing:
Chingando is easily toproped, so is Generator Crack.
You can climb Reeds Direct and Bongs Away left and throw a rope down Bongs Away center. While you are at Reeds you can do Independence Pinnacle Center and throw a rope down "Steppin Out" which looks sick to me.
Apron Jam isn't much of an OW but you could TR that from a 4th class approach as well. If any rocks come down, duck. Do Mr. Natural while you're there, it will be a relief.
Climb Moby Dick Center (with some modest OW on it) and TR Ahab (which uses some OW technique and will develop core strength and pain tolerance too)
Peace and loathing
karl
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WBraun
climber
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Dec 11, 2005 - 07:41pm PT
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The Road to the Twilight Zone
You must go there and visit.....
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Dec 11, 2005 - 09:47pm PT
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Doggy Do
Chingando
Seceret storm
YinYang pitch 2
Siberian Swarm Screw
Remnent left
Generator Crack
 get up it whatever way works best for you, then do it the other side in, and repeat ad-nauseum
Mental Block
Edge of night
Chopper
-you’re there
Season with
Steck Salathe
crack ‘o’ doom
“ “ Despair
Hollow Flake
Ear
Texas flake & Stovelegs
to taste
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426
Sport climber
Roun' Chatt
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Dec 11, 2005 - 11:18pm PT
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Get a job you can practice wide, too.
(Note the "edgin'" boots)
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Dec 11, 2005 - 11:25pm PT
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I haven't tried Twilight Zone yet, and it may be a few years... but it certainly has enough history to be very attractive.
My good friend Eric says that it's offwidth when you can get your knee in, but not your body (at which point it is probably squeeze).
The best advice is to get in as much milage as possible, which means finding a hardass old school partner willing to take you up on these things, often, or find a top rope which gives you the same sort of practice without said partner. Generator Crack is probably the best know toprope, and a worthy classroom. It goes from wide to offwidth to squeeze.. overhangs slightly and is mercifully short. Ideal for laps.
I generally formulate my "old school" climbing progressions around Meyers' "Yellow Guide" recommendations in Appendix II "Difficult Free Climbs Compared" where he writes: "The following is a partial list of the shorter free routes classified by the predominent character of the crux climbing."
I don't know the status of many of these climbs, so if you go off and get yourself killed it ain't my fault, but I will feel bad...
For Offwidth (3 1/2" to 8") he has the following:
5.9
The Cleft
Peter Pan
Apron Jam
5.10a
Banana Dreams
Cookie, Left
This and That
Nothing Special
Chingando
Reed's Pinnacle, Left
Bong's Away
Hourglass, Right
Gollum, Left
Orange Juice Avenue
Secret Storm
Doggie Do
Geek Towers, Center
Geek Towers, Right
Pink Dreams
Worst Error, Right
Crack of Dispair
Crack of Doom
5.10b
Vendetta
The Slack, Left
Smoky Pillar
Book of Job
Pulpit Pooper
Jam Session
5.10c
Twinkie
The Shaft
Wild Turkey
Edge of Night
Fallout
Mental Block
Barefoot Servants
5.10d
Twilight Zone
Steppin' Out
Plumb Line
5.11a
Cream
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Russ Walling
Social climber
NOT FOR LOAN™ CC3
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Dec 12, 2005 - 07:07pm PT
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I would suggest doing a lot of "flys" to get them man boobs in shape. My right tittie was never the same after the 'Zone.... It felt like most of the muscle was flayed off the bone from pulling so hard.
Besides that... plenty of good advice already.
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James
Social climber
My Subconcious
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Dec 12, 2005 - 07:40pm PT
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A steady stemming diet will get you up this thing. It involves a little stacking. The best way to get there is to park at the cookie and hike. A six friend and a #5 camalot are the only big gear you need. You can sling a horn and place a 3 camalot after the crux. It's pretty overrated as far as difficulty. Cream, Mental Block...are way harder.
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deuce4
Big Wall climber
the Southwest
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Dec 12, 2005 - 07:54pm PT
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Don't forget Bad Ass Mama!
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Russ Walling
Social climber
NOT FOR LOAN™ CC3
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Dec 12, 2005 - 08:50pm PT
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Cream, Mental Block...are way harder.
Have you done those two and the Zone?!?
hmmmm..... My findings are a complete opposite.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Dec 12, 2005 - 09:26pm PT
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What fish said, esp re Mental block
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Dec 12, 2005 - 09:45pm PT
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Man, that is one ominous and forbidding road. Would be interesting to corral all the top comp. tour climbers/teams and throw an offwidth comp in the annual mix and see how they all fair - could be a great equalizer...
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Russ Walling
Social climber
NOT FOR LOAN™ CC3
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Dec 14, 2005 - 01:37pm PT
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Bump for James...... Waiting..........
Side note: wasn't there a list of OW's on here that was in order of grimness or something? Did I post that? Jaybro??
Ferret out the link oh skilled ones....
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Dec 14, 2005 - 02:57pm PT
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I don't know if this was the case for James, but I know that my impression of the ow grimness continuum is very much colored by when in the course of learning the technique I attempt a given route.
When you're on the "Road to..." the 1st one is harder than the 5th one is harder than the 15th one...even if a person already solid with the technique at a given grade would say the exact opposite.
There's that body size thing too.
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lucho
Trad climber
San Francisco
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Dec 14, 2005 - 03:05pm PT
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Russ Walling wrote "Have you done those two and the Zone?!? "
Of course he's done those two and the Zone!, I remember him spraying to me about them. James and the rest of the Monkeys arent one to talk about things that they havent experienced first hand. He also mentioned Orange Juice Avenue.
Lucho
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Wade Icey
Social climber
the EPC
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 14, 2005 - 03:19pm PT
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"a list of OW's on here that was in order of grimness"- I've got to see that. I don't seem to have a 'search the forum' function and my 'search Stuportorpor' doesn't yield a grimness list. Can someone post or email me and tell how to find it?
Thanks for the responses- although Russ' Man-Boob post may have scared me off climbing for good.
ready to thrutch,
Wade
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Russ Walling
Social climber
NOT FOR LOAN™ CC3
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Dec 14, 2005 - 03:20pm PT
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Lucho writes: Of course he's done those two and the Zone!, I remember him spraying to me about them. James and the rest of the Monkeys arent one to talk about things that they havent experienced first hand.
Interesting. I thought the basic tenet of spray and esp.of internet spray was to talk right out of your ass about things that you know nothing about.
It would be refreshing to actually have someone talking about something they know about first hand.
Side note: OJ Ave is a POS.... Hope the "Wings Guys" didn't do the first or I'm gonna get reamered again.
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Russ Walling
Social climber
NOT FOR LOAN™ CC3
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Dec 14, 2005 - 03:34pm PT
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Curious and confused.....
James writes in the other thread link: "Mental block is "easy" for the grade compared to a lot of OW"
Yet above he says: "Cream, Mental Block...are way harder. " (than Twilight Zone)
Yellow Myers:
Cream is 11a
Mental Block is 10c
Tzone is 10d
Clarification please.
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lucho
Trad climber
San Francisco
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Dec 14, 2005 - 06:47pm PT
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OK Russ W. you're right I shouldnt have posted if I myself didnt have first hand knowledge. I just dont like seeing my buddy questioned about sh#t he writes cause I know he wouldnt write anything about that he hasnt done. Its as simple as that. I called him and asked him if he'd done these routes and told me that yes he had been on them. I do know he was goin after it on all offwidths before his injury and that he was getting good at them. The day he did the Zone he had onsighted OJAve and Generator Crack. I havent seen OJAve, so I cant comment on its quality, he did say it was chossy.
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