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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 11, 2011 - 05:07pm PT
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This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of the Salathé Wall by Royal Robbins, Tom Frost and Chuck Pratt in September of 1961. This lavishly illustrated account of the first ascent and first continuous ascent appeared in Galen Rowell's superb Vertical World of Yosemite, 1974. Many of the photos are Galen's own shots along with the classic Tom Frost images.
A gathering in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of this great route is scheduled in Yosemite Valley on Saturday October 22 this season.
Stay tuned for more details from Ken including getting T M Herbert to attend. He was involved in the second attempt at a continuous ascent after Roper and Chouinard gave it a go! Maysho or TC you guys have to rope him into it!
Royal and Tom will be signing books and prints at the Mountain Shop in Camp Curry from 3 - 5 pm on Saturday 10/22 and in front of the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite Village on Sunday 10/23 from 11 am to 1 pm. Stop by and take home a bit of what these amazing men are offering!
The main event will be starting earlier and ending later than ususal so that everyone with questions will be accomodated. The evening will start at 6:30 pm as per my last conversation with Tom.
Check this OP for any updates or changes.
Don't miss this one!
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the goat
climber
north central WA
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Sep 11, 2011 - 05:28pm PT
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Thanks Steve. My favorite shot of Kor, a great man, a great climb.
A day or two after finishing the Salathe, a bespectaled, wiry looking guy approached us along the road at El Cap meadows asking what we had just climbed and what kind of rack he should take for it. We gave him our recommendations and he thanked us and headed back to his rig. My partner and I simultaneously looked at each other blurting out "that was Royal Robbins, wasn't it?" A very curious juxtaposition, mega noobs being asked what rack to take by the master first ascensionist. A 15th anniversary ascent in the bi-centennial year of 1976, way to go RR, what a masterpiece.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Sep 11, 2011 - 05:55pm PT
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My 40th or 39th, can't remember which, anniversary. My first and most memorable El Cap route, did it with Steve Arsenault.
edit: When I did the Salathe I had yet to do a Grade V and people questioned my preparation. I responded by saying that a Grade 6 was merely a collection of Grade 4's where instead of going back to camp at the end of the day you stayed up on the wall- worked out just fine.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Sep 11, 2011 - 06:26pm PT
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Thanks Stevie for posting this great classic account and pointing attention to the route. Yeah, my fortieth too, J-Do---just past, this July!
Imagine 13 bolts on the whole shebang, all located in the lowest 1/5th of the line. That was why it wanders so, of course. It is one of the 'greatest stories ever told' on rock and continues to be a major focus in modern climbing, now both as a free route as well as the great classic mixed route of our golden era.
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Sep 11, 2011 - 07:56pm PT
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It would be interesting to hear from all the Supertopo posters from that generation and what ascent(if they can remember) did they do. IE first , third, fourteenth. I bet there is quite a collection. Post up, men.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 11, 2011 - 08:04pm PT
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Thanks to Bill Amborn this gem in the Mountaineering Notes section of the December 1962 Sierra Club Bulletin.
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spidey
Trad climber
Berkeley CA
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Sep 11, 2011 - 08:08pm PT
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Great pics and thread. The Salathe was my first El Cap climb, first big wall, and an amazing experience all around. I popped a cam and took a nice lead fall at the lip of the great roof, had to jug my lead line about 10-15 feet to get back on the wall. Wild!!!!!
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Sep 11, 2011 - 08:20pm PT
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The article in Rowell's book certainly inspired many to do it, including me and my 2 college climbing pals.
By the time we got to it (1985), cams, sticky rubber and topos had mostly tamed it.
And having a giant cam eliminated some of the hardest mandatory wide moves, except for a little on Hollow Flake and The Ear, which still keep the crowds down.
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Sep 11, 2011 - 08:23pm PT
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One of my favorite articles. Classic Royal. One small detail,
for you finer tuned souls. Nothing important, really, but
the photo by Frost of Royal doing the so-called friction pitch...
(it's my favorite climbing photo of all time)...,
the second photo down from the start of this thread....
If you magnify the photo and look close, of course, Royal
is standing with right foot in an aid sling. That's
ok. Nothig at all wrong with that, but this and other
captions aren't quite accurate....
It does look as though he is doing his characteristic pushing
down, half manteling, friction moves. He didn't do that section
all free. And, as I said, that's ok. It doesn't matter in the
slightest, but we sometimes exaggerate things a bit, as time
moves us away from the original experience.... The goal was to
get up in good style, and not simply put up another route with
a hundred bolts.... Royal told me they were worried about their
goal, after placing so many bolts right there. But then things
went boltless the rest of the way....
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 11, 2011 - 08:40pm PT
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That those guys were able to keep the bolt count at 13 and not exceed 5.9+ is truly amazing!
All of 5.10 right where Royal is in that shot and above one of the original aid cruxes so no harm in a little etrier...LOL
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Sep 11, 2011 - 10:00pm PT
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When I did it in 74, we had forgotten the guide book so my buddy ran back to the road and copied the description on a piece of lens cleaning paper, a very abbreviated version, maybe six sentences for the whole route.
Back then, we could count on one fixed piece per pitch and one fixed piece per anchor. I was the "free climber" of the team but didn't consider myself a confident 5.9 leader.
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Sep 11, 2011 - 10:10pm PT
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Warbler and Mark Hudon, I so wish I had known you guys
back then and been on some adventures with you. Both of you
are among my heroes.
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Sep 11, 2011 - 10:12pm PT
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Steve, you mention that Royal's article appeared in Vertical World of
Yosemite. Yes. But that wasn't the first place, right? Just to be
clear...?
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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Sep 11, 2011 - 10:13pm PT
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Maybe I'll do wall someday...
Good post, Steve-O!
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Sep 11, 2011 - 10:16pm PT
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I remember approaching the Ear with a lot of trepidation because Kor had said it was scary. Turned out to be a lot easier than expected with good footholds and even gear.
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Sep 11, 2011 - 10:28pm PT
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Dang! Thanks, Pat, the feeling is completely mutual.
PS, given that I'm not dead yet and the 40th anniversary of my first ascent of the Salathe is coming up in 2014, I'm planning to gather a group of young bucks to haul the Freerider for me so that I can go back and climb it "as free as can be" for me!
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Sep 11, 2011 - 10:36pm PT
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The Ear. Probably not the difficulty so much as the exposure.
Imagine going up on that route for the first time, no beta, no
knowledge, bad manky old shoes, weird gear, Columbia or
goldline ropes that weren't all that strong, really. I mean, now
someone could probably walk a big Friend right up the
whole way.... But that factor of the unknown, that
"adventure" which was their joy to know.... Who cares about
any difficulty? That was 1961, and the light had its own
special richness back in those rare days of so few
climbers. I love the way Royal describes the Sierra,
its splendor, and the quiet sense we get of both Pratt
and Frost. Not much was known about the big walls. I dream
about those times. It would have been the best thing you
could ever do in life, practically, to be a membor of that
Salathe Wall team. How could you ever
forget being up there with those true friends? How did anyone
know how far climbing would progress in the coming decades?
I admire those men, those
pioneers, the example they set of integrity. How did
I know they each would become my friend. If ever I
was jealous of anything, it's that time, the feel of those
holds in afternoon sun, in cool morning, the grip on the
rope, the ring of a piton driven, amid the silence of those
resplendent lonely heights.... I was a boy then, but I
knew how powerful that ascent was. I never want those
visions to leave my memory....
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Sep 11, 2011 - 11:09pm PT
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> Steve, you mention that Royal's article appeared in Vertical World of
Yosemite. Yes. But that wasn't the first place, right? Just to be
clear...?
Steve's intro is entirely accurate. And in the first paragraph of the article, Rowell mentions that the text is taken from the 1963 AAJ. However, the photo selection and captions are by Rowell.
"Royal Robbins leading difficult friction climbing..."
Even if his foot is in an aid sling, I'm sure there was some mandatory free on that pitch, so the caption is reasonably descriptive of the overall pitch. Maybe a little jarring, though, if you enlarge and see the aid sling. :-)
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Ghoulwe
Trad climber
Spokane, WA
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Sep 11, 2011 - 11:31pm PT
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Thanks for the memories Steve. Climbed the Salathe in '76 with Max Jones. My first El Cap route and my 2nd big wall. Great history and great climbing on that route - felt like we were following in some powerful footsteps. Loved the experience!
Eric Barrett
Spokane, WA
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bergbryce
Mountain climber
South Lake Tahoe, CA
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Sep 12, 2011 - 12:27am PT
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Awesome read, thanks for posting.
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