Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
Fluoride
Trad climber
on a rock or mountain out west
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - May 15, 2006 - 10:12pm PT
|
Just did that route this past weekend. Simply spectacular. Almost had an alpine feel with the approach, somewhat heads-up route finding up higher and cool summit/ridgeline descent (man, that exposure was sublime). Defintely not a typical valley climb but so very worth it.
When did this route first get done and who did the FA? Saw a bunch of really old pins on it that I imagine have been there since it originally went up.
Thanks in advance.
|
|
Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
|
|
|
May 15, 2006 - 10:21pm PT
|
Arrowhead Arete 5.9 Yosemite Falls; Upper, East; Arrowhead Arete Area, 1956 Mark Powell Bill Feuerer
Roper indicates that it is rated 5.8 (rating creep?). He also writes:
"This is the arete which, when viewed from Yosemite Lodge, rises in striking profile above the Arrowhead Spire. Seen from Yosemite Village, it is deeply cleft on both sides by the great gashes of the West and East Arrowhead Chimneys. This classic route was once regarded as 'possibly the most continuous difficult fifth-class climb in the country.' It is particularly amazing that the first ascent party did the route all free."
good show Fluoride!
|
|
Loomis
climber
Praha, Ceska Republika
|
|
|
May 15, 2006 - 10:23pm PT
|
Mark Powell and others, 1958. Was considered the hardest route in North America when it was established @ 5.8. I have done this route 3 times and love the remoteness of the route. On the 3rd time, did a scary var. pitch.
Edit: Yes, 1956, was going on memory...
|
|
Roger Breedlove
Trad climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
|
|
|
May 15, 2006 - 10:31pm PT
|
Mark Powell and Bill Feuerer. 31 October 1956. Powell was involved in probably 20 first ascents in the Valley from the mid-50s to the mid-1960s. Feuerer was a frequent partner of Powell's and was the "Dolt" of Nose fame.
|
|
Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
|
|
|
May 15, 2006 - 11:18pm PT
|
Memory serves me that it was THE horror climb then, and that Powell did little else after.
|
|
Fluoride
Trad climber
on a rock or mountain out west
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - May 15, 2006 - 11:56pm PT
|
Thanks Ed (& everyone else who answered)!! I knew someone here would know the answer. I knew it was a very very old school free climb but I was thinking 60's, didn't realize it was 1956.
How'd they even come across it back then? Did they just go up the old Indian Trail and come across it? Very proud for those guys back in that day.
That had to have been one of the most fun valley climbs I think I've ever done. The first couple pitches weren't much but after that, holy crap it was an amazing route. The views of Half Dome/Porcelain Wall and the backcountry behind there were mind boggling. I'm going to download some pics tonight and post 'em tomorrow.
The top out and descent were almost as rewarding as the climb itself. The summit was great, but that ridgeline you have to traverse to finally get to the 3rd class area was wild. I had no idea it was that exposed. Definite DNF territory. Then once you get to the three raps, going off into that long freehanging space where the caves underneath each section are so green and wet...looks like somewhere a Gollum would live. Even doing the raps on that route was a complete blast.
I don't know very many people who have done it, but those who have, they've all done it multiple times and I can totally see why. I'd go up and do that route again in a heartbeat.
|
|
Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
|
|
|
May 16, 2006 - 12:48am PT
|
welcome to the obscurists club...
|
|
Fluoride
Trad climber
on a rock or mountain out west
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - May 16, 2006 - 01:14am PT
|
Heh, thanks Ed. I'm enjoying your obscurity threads quite a bit. I'm lucky at the moment I've got a good partner who is up for doing the seldom done stuff. I smiled when I saw the Commissioner's Buttress pic (not sure if it was in fact CB but someone else guessed it) cause that's one that's on our list.
|
|
Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
|
|
|
May 16, 2006 - 11:53am PT
|
The AA was probably the first true adventure climb I did (around 1971, with Phil Gleason). We got rained on and lightning dashed that arete exit, the one thin as a saw blade, just after we've made our way off of it. Then all those free raps down the gulley to the left with ice water pouring over us. I have forgotten many climbs, but not that one. A great adventure!
Also, it was said by many that if Powell had not badly broken his ankle he would have vastly changed climbing because he was a super talent felled by injury.
JL
|
|
rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
|
|
|
May 16, 2006 - 02:51pm PT
|
A picture from the mid-sixties. The climber is Matt Hale. Sorry about the size---the site where it lives keeps 'em big...F11 in IE gives a little more screen acreage.
|
|
Fluoride
Trad climber
on a rock or mountain out west
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - May 16, 2006 - 08:32pm PT
|
A couple vista shots I took along the way on route. Cause in addition to the route itself being spectacular, the views from it were such an amazing bonus:
|
|
Anastasia
Trad climber
Near a mountain, CA
|
|
|
May 16, 2006 - 10:43pm PT
|
Beautiful! Now I have to try it out!
I just need to finish my teaching gig before I run off.
|
|
Fluoride
Trad climber
on a rock or mountain out west
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - May 17, 2006 - 12:38am PT
|
Yeah Anastasia, it's a definite must-do. Just truly classic in every sense.
However, while Chris' ST guides are for the most part accurate, I have to say the description and topo in his valley guide for this route was somewhat off the mark (we kind of knew the beta for the route but looked at Chris' guide just to compare with what we had). The approach isn't "heinous". He says to not bother with a 60M rope as the ledges for belays are decent. But with a 60M, we linked it so we did the climb in 5 1/2 pitches instead of the 7 pitches he has it at (plus a couple of the belays he has on the topo weren't nearly as good as if you climbed about another 20-30 ft to an even better one than in his book). I think he also had the topout/ridgeline as an 8th pitch...but you'd want to either just freesolo it or if you choose to stay roped, do it in very short sections just slinging a double length runner with biner around the obvious formations. In other words treating it like an alpine climb with short roped sections. You'd never want to do the whole ridgeline in one rope length...way too much penji potential as well as rope drag. But again, it's solo-able anyway.
I'm going to do a write up for the climbing routes section, will go more into detail there.
|
|
Loomis
climber
Praha, Ceska Republika
|
|
|
May 17, 2006 - 12:43am PT
|
rgold, here's a post friendly version of your pic. Thank you, it captures the spirit of the climb for me, Scott.
flouride, cool pic of arrowhead spire.
|
|
Fluoride
Trad climber
on a rock or mountain out west
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - May 17, 2006 - 01:43am PT
|
Thanks Scott.
I'm so lame, I didn't a pic of the rock one on the way up cause we were just stoked to get on it and I spaced the camera. I took this pic from when we finished the descent. Was in the shade by that point and the route isn't really visible from this angle, but the formation is still cool:
|
|
Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
|
|
|
Nov 12, 2008 - 12:59am PT
|
bump
|
|
Fluoride
Trad climber
Hollywood, CA
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 12, 2008 - 01:24am PT
|
Whoa, I can't believe this old post found it's way back to the front page. Man, time flies.
Now that 2 1/2 years have passed and more trips to the valley have come and gone, I can add it's a much better approach in the spring than in the fall. It was SO goddamn dirty and loose when I went up to do it again this past September (this route never gets old). A full summer's worth of dead dry leaves and dirt built up on the ground made for quite a difference in the approach.
I highly recommend doing it in spring. The approach really isn't that bad. But it's in better shape and definitely goes faster when the ground is more saturated and the scrambles less dusty.
|
|
Fletcher
Trad climber
Max V02
|
|
|
Nov 12, 2008 - 01:24am PT
|
Wow, thanks for sharing Fluoride! Added to my to-do list.
Fletch
|
|
guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
|
|
|
Nov 12, 2008 - 01:58am PT
|
Some past Arete Memories.
Especially nostalgic after seeing Powell this weekend at the Nose Reunion. Last time I saw him was when Roper and I climbed Castle Rock Spire with him in 1961. Climbing with Powell was one of the highlights of my climbing career. Sitting around a campfire, passing around a gallon of cheap red wine, Powell was the maestro at quick and witty limericks.
Brings back fond and not so fond memories. In Sept 1960, Mort Hempel, Phil Scott, Art "the Move" Gran and myself made an attempt on the Arrowhead Arete.
On that long and difficult approach, Gran, who was ahead of us all, knocked a large rock loose. We all scattered and tried to decipher which way it would go. I lost and rolled with the rock for 500 ft to the base. Beat up, severely bruised and one hell of a mess I was fortunate to have no broken bones. Scott who had grown up in Hawaii, took off his boots, put me on his back and carried be to the valley floor and the hospital. Rugged dude.
Spent a good month on crutches and remember the high school coach calling me chicken shi#t for not playing football, I could only smile.
Went back the next summer and completed the route with a smaller crew. Also climbed the East Arrowhead Buttress Overhang Bypass route that summer with Roper. Another fun trip that summer was a climb of Castle Rock Spire with Roper and Powell. Have boxes and boxes of slides and photos from this era but have to get through the scanning process first. Someday!
Another small coincidence- Its March 1988,Boche and I just sailed my boat into Honolulu after a 17 day passage from Tahiti and were in the Hawaii Yacht Club sucking down some tall cool ones and junk burgers. I'm in the head and I hear this voice which could only be Phil Scott. As you know, few people have a voice as distinctive as Phil. Sure enough it was-had not seen him since the Arrowhead Arete climb in 1960! He had been visiting his brother, a retired navy submarine commander. I remember when Phil was a student at Cal he lived in a tent in Strawberry canyon behind the Botanical Gardens. Quite a character.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!