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Pcutler
climber
Iowa
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 26, 2011 - 03:08pm PT
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Its a line that has always looked fun to me. Not in the Supertopo and there's limited info in the don reid guide. I've heard its bold with challenging route finding.
Any beda, stories, or pics?
Just another climb to dream about as I sit in front of my computer looking out the window at the rain.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Apr 26, 2011 - 03:24pm PT
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I've done the Powell-Reed, but not Stoner's Highway. The Powell-Reed has quite a bit of munge (ignore the thread on its definition, please). Stoner's Highway looked cleaner -- and harder. The face itself is a beautiful place to be.
John
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Apr 26, 2011 - 03:30pm PT
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Stoners is a great route. Paradise Lost is great climbing but easier if you need a warm up. There have been a few great threads on Middle climbing over the past few years. 1970s Bolt Protected Slab Climbing
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Latitute 33
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Apr 26, 2011 - 03:46pm PT
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Great climb, but as advised by Roger, you may want to get your "Middle" game on before jumping on it. Middle climbing is fairly distinct and doing an easier (but still exciting and worthy) line like Paradise Lost first may be a good idea.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Apr 26, 2011 - 03:48pm PT
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Don't confuse it with a "modern" 5:10c sport climb.
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pk_davidson
Trad climber
Albuquerque, NM
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Apr 26, 2011 - 03:52pm PT
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Oh, I don't Jim.
It's awfully sporting. ;-)
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BeeHay
Trad climber
San Diego CA
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Apr 26, 2011 - 03:55pm PT
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Ha!, confusion with sport routes will end before 1st bolt!
Did 8 or 10 pitches mid 80's, loved it. Wonder what the bolts are like now?
BH
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Pcutler
climber
Iowa
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 26, 2011 - 04:04pm PT
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Paradise lost gets an "R" rating in the Reid book where Stoners does not. Is it really any more dangerous?
I've had a taste of the runout slab face climbing before - is there any gear? or is it just runout bolts?
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maldaly
Trad climber
Boulder, CO
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Apr 26, 2011 - 04:08pm PT
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Every one of those routes over there is 5 star. Do them all. And...don't worry about the bolts cause you better not fall!
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Apr 26, 2011 - 04:19pm PT
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Nose = faster, zodiac = faster, Mescalito = almost free, Freerider, Salathe, etc etc....
MIDDLE CATHEDRAL = Central Pillar, Stoners, Paradise, Black Rose (Primo), Mother Earth, all old school.
Are there any modern R/X routes going up over there?
Why no interest?????
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Apr 26, 2011 - 04:24pm PT
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I did it years ago. All the info you need is in the Meyers/Reid topo -
bolt locations, crux locations, etc. It's accurate.
The bolts were replaced in 1999, and it gets done on a regular basis.
http://www.safeclimbing.org/areas/california/yosemitefree.htm
"Stoners Highway Replaced 24 bolts All bolts are 3/8". There are still a handful of fixed pins on the route some of which are poor. 08/99 Jack Hoeflich, Greg Barnes"
Paradise Lost is no longer as runout as it was, because Beyer added bolts and fixed heads/pins to its runout pitches 2 and 3. Roger replaced the other bolts last summer (Chad led it to fix the rope for Roger).
As others have suggested, you should be solid doing 5.9 face moves quite a ways out from pro.
Bruce, "Border Country" is a new route on Middle which is runout in places (on the easier pitches).
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tallguy
Trad climber
eastside
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Apr 26, 2011 - 04:38pm PT
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6 pieces of pro on the best protected pitch. If you can do the first 60', you can do the whole route.
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CrackAddict
Trad climber
Joshua Tree
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Apr 26, 2011 - 05:10pm PT
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Did it a long time ago, it seemed that the upper pitches were really hard, with a lot of 5.10+, maybe borderline 5.11a. Also fairly runout but you are never unreasonably runout on crux type moves.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Apr 26, 2011 - 05:22pm PT
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Routes like Stoner's aren't popular because of today's climbers addiction to big numbers (ratings). I'll bet there are "5.13" sport climbers around who think that 5.10 is hiking who would have there hands full getting up Stoner's.
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Apr 26, 2011 - 05:48pm PT
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CrackAddict, your comment about the upper pitches doesn't sound right to me. Speaking only from memory, I would say that they are closer to 5.9.
It sounds like you are describing the upper pitches of the original Powell-Reed route which are rated hard 5.10.
If you look at the red, 1964 Roper guide, there is a picture of the NE face of Middle with two variation of the Powell Reed route marked with line drawings. In 1964, both versions were aid. The original route goes more or less straight up and follows the shallow, right facing corner system up and slightly right to the Powell Reed ledges. This version was free climbed by Tom Higgins and Bob Kamps and rated hard 5.10. The second version moves up and to the left on less distinct features but slightly lower angle rock. In 1964, Frank Sacherer and Dick Erb did the second all free ascent of the Powell Reed and free climbed the left hand aid version. They rated the entire climb 5.9. Tom and Bob believed they had done the original route all free at 5.10+; Sacherer and Erb thought they done the route all free at 5.9 with better route finding. It was still a sore point in the early 70s when I wrote my history of Middle climbing.
There are two interesting points about all of this. The first is that both free versions of the route are shown as aid variations in the 1964 Roper guide, so it is not so simple to say which all free team was right. I subscribe to the view that there were two aid versions and, hence, two free versions. (I climbed the left hand, Sacherer-Erb version in about 1973 and thought that the climb was reasonably 5.9. as described by Sacherer and Erb. I never climbed the Kamps-Higgins straight up version.)
The second interesting point is that I think that the upper pitches of Stoners are the same as the left hand version of the Powell-Reed. At least it looks that way on in line drawings and topos, and sounds reasonable since none of the Stoners first ascent team had climbed the Powell-Reed, and I recall that we all pointed the straight up version as the route.
Has anyone done both Stoners and the left version of the Powell-Reed, and has a good memory of the specifics care to comment?
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Apr 26, 2011 - 06:39pm PT
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Stoner's is a great route. I climbed it twice bitd, once with Ericson and Vogel in May '77 and once with Hensel in Aug. '77. Originally you had to rap off a single 1/4" bolt at the top of the 9th pitch. Very scary on a crag famous for bolt failure. The climbing and runouts seemed pretty reasonable for the time. I'm not sayin' it wasn't a little bit scary!
I've never done the top part of the Powell/Reed.
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henny
Social climber
The Past
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Apr 26, 2011 - 06:57pm PT
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I remember that rappel. Single quarter incher, and the stories of bolt/hanger failure on the lower pitches were still floating around, making it even more exciting. DE was up for going first, so I just unclipped and stood there, figuring that way at least I wouldn't get taken along.
Anybody else remember those stories? Wasn't there something wierd that happened while the route was being put up? Rockamazzo? Like a bad batch of bolts around that timeframe or something.
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rick d
climber
ol pueblo, az
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Apr 26, 2011 - 07:36pm PT
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I'll be a denier, i bailed after the 3rd pitch because I found it boring.
gimmie a crack!
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madturtle
Trad climber
folsom, ca
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Apr 26, 2011 - 07:51pm PT
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I climbed the 1st 5 pitches of stoners as described in the Reid book in 2003ish. I thought the route was outstanding, gear was adequate enough to not be terrified but sparse enough make it memorable and keep my very full attention. A lot of thin tenous moves. We rapped off of good bolts I believe, or at least nothing scary enough to be memorable. I've heard it gets scary higher up though. I'm about a 10d leader for ref.
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Apr 26, 2011 - 08:32pm PT
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Stoner's Highway came out of the hours we used to spend traversing at the base. I came across an interesting looking section and climbed up about 15 feet and said, "I think there's a route here." The others looked up at the face shooting overhead for 2,000 feet and asked, "What makes you think so?" or something like that. I didn't have an answer but was willing to find out.
The first move off the deck is like 5.10a so that made it seem serious right off. All the way up we kept saying, "If we get this section, it's in the bag." I think I was 18, Kevin was probably 17, Ed Barry 18, and all the others who chipped in around that age. We had almost no experience.
The trickiest part was route finding, and climbing a big face route like that in those old red PAs, which were crappy on Middle. That was a fabulous adventure for us.
Little known fact: The first pitch was originally led with just two bolts, the one protecting the 5.10a stuff down low, and the one protecting the 10c traverse. After that, we just ran it to the belay off a couple pathetic blades. Kevin and I both led the pitch like this and it was XXX dangerous because if you pinged on the greasy 5.10 after the traverse you'd go for a 50 foot swinger and just eat sh#t. Later, Kevin wisely put a bolt in after the traverse believing no one would want to do the route staring at that kind of whipper.
Good times. Fond memories.
JL
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