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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 6, 2003 - 01:20am PT
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OK I feel a tiny bit guilty for posting too much off topic, so here's a trip report from a few years ago to try to atone. I ran into Fish today in the Valley and we chatted about how sick "Wild Thing" was. (we had both suffered on it) so here's my story about it. If this report inspires you to try the climb, you're an idiot and I'm not responsible, but would love to hear what you think afterwards if you do.
Peace
karl
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Wild Thing! My 40th Birthday Rite of Passage
I thought it would be auspicious to commemorate my 40th birthday in May of 1999 with a climb that would be memorably epic, and yet short enough that I could celebrate with friends later in the evening. A full ascent of "Wild Thing" in Yosemite seemed like a good idea at the time. Eight pitches maxing out at 10c lead to the top of the "Folly", a pinnacle just West of Camp 4.
Now there usually is a reason why certain climbs are never done in Yosemite. Since "Wild Thing" has a short approach, I reasoned that the 5.10 offwidth and three pitches of hard chimneys near the top were probably the reason why only a handful of brain-addled misfits (sorry Fish!) had ever done the route. Since a good whuuping was what I was looking for, I felt I was heading in the right direction.
My partner for this endeavor would be Mark "the Great and Powerful Lummox". A good friend and fellow guide, he was obliged by the gravity of the occasion to climb the route of my choosing. I will say this against him though, he WANTED to climb "Wild Thing". We had climbed Steck-Salathe TWICE now, and under my bad influence, he was acquiring the dark and twisted taste for painful wide cracks that ferments slowly like the gradual seduction of most fetishes and perversions.
We arrived at the base of the climb to find that the #5 camalot had a broken trigger wire. I thought seriously of leaving it at the base of the climb since it always seems like a ball and chain hanging off my harness, but I improvised the wire with my Swiss Army Knife and hoped it would work for at least a couple of placements. This was the one decision of the day that I would bless over and over as events unfolded.
Mark lead the 5.9 approach pitches (part of the Good Book) up to Security Ledge where "Wild Thing" proper begins. The climb starts with a bang as you walk out an increasingly narrow ledge until it disappears on the brink of a 250’ drop. You sink a couple of jams in a crack around the corner and swing your feet over into the crack. This quickly leads to an awkward roof/alcove jam session that sends dirt into your eyes a your feet peddle on lichen-encrusted rock. A firm handshake with a cam that I placed at the brink of this roof was the first moral lapse in a long series of ethics degradations that would follow.
I had cleverly lead the first real pitch of the climb to set Mr. Lummox up for the next lead. It had a wide array of vexing and perplexing sections. I had lead this pitch a couple of years earlier when the "Good Book" had been wet and I decided to scope a pitch or two of "Wild Thing" out. It had been exciting enough the first time, and I wanted Mark to share the joy I remembered when reaching the anchors. Poker faced, I handed him the rack and fervently hoped he wouldn’t come to his senses. The pitch starts with an EXPOSED hand traverse where you get a couple of finger jams and commit to swinging your feet around a corner in hopes there will be something to stand on. I assured him that the promised holds would materialize but alas, I watched him with the dawning realization that he was awakening to the Folly of this route.
He handed me the rack and I hung my head in glum acquiescence. I started up the pitch with a happy heart anyway. You can’t fight reality after all. What better 40th birthday mid-life crisis buster than having a 6’5’ young buck hand you the rack hoping for deliverance? I started singing my new version of "Wild Thing"……….."Wide Thing! Da. Da...Da..Da…Da, you make my ears ring! Da. Da...Da..Da…Da, you make my skin sting!, Da. Da...Da..Da…Da, you hurt everything!, Da. Da...Da..Da…Da, Wide Thing!"
After the hand traverse, you down-climb to one of the wildest moves in Yosemite; a blind reach around a corner onto the exposed face to find a crack you only surmise might be there. There, you commit to a couple of marginal finger jams with no feet, and swing out onto the face and ape up the crack until it widens enough to put your foot into. After you surmount Pitch trauma #2, the crack leads straight up, wider and wider, to Pitch trauma #3, an off-width that ends at one rusty 1/4 bolt and some loose, razor sharp flakes tied off with tattered webbing, the best fixed anchor on the whole climb! I had lead this pitch clean the first time, but I admit to more glad-handing of cams this time during the section of trauma #2. Mark followed with the elation of someone who dodged a bullet.
The next pitch involves reaching across a face traverse to sink a couple of jams in a hanging-tooth kind-of-formation and, after cutting your feet loose yet again, down jamming the tooth and up the other side. I felt very smug after flashing this section, thinking it was the 10c crux. I was sure the Lummox would be worse off following this bit than I was leading it, that is, until I realized I wasn’t at the belay yet, and the real 10c crux was still staring me in the face…a no-feet, horizontal off-width around an exposed corner. Trust me, there was no easy way to pull-off this section except the still-exciting, chicken-livered way that I did it, and will leave to your imagination
There were no anchors at the belay so we were diabolically trapped on the climb. It was getting later and I didn’t want to miss my own birthday party, but the climb traverses so dramatically that, particularly without belay anchors, we couldn’t easily (or at least affordably) bail, even though we wanted to. To make matters worse, like an evil virus that adapts to measures taken to eradicate it, the climb would no longer offer any decent pro for its last 3 pitches. I thought, "Whatever, 5.8, 5.9, and 5.9 chimneys. I have soloed stuff like that. We will just pay our dues and rush off this pile" ….NOT!
The belay was in the bottom of a strange slot that branched off into several different chimneys. I optimistically took the friendliest variation and quickly found myself a 15 foot tunnel-through away from an opening that I thought would harbor the belay. It got narrower and narrower and nothing I could do would squeeze my fat butt through that passage. I took all the gear off my harness and tied the rope to the side of the harness… no dice.
It was too narrow to turn my head and I scraped my nose so much in squeezing and thrutching that the raspberry on my snout eventually bled. I was stuck there in this tight chimney thinking about my girlfriend’s pointed remarks over the winter-weight I had gained. There I was, on my 40th birthday, late for my party, and too fat to climb higher, and without hope of retreat! Fortunately, there was the hope that I was off-route. I down-climbed about 40 feet and headed up a different chimney that I had avoided because it looked harder, unprotected, and pinched off into an off-width. It turned out to be all those things, but now it seemed like the lesser evil indeed.
I won’t treat you to many details from the 5.9 squeeze chimney pitch that followed, although I will say it pinched off into a just-larger-than-a-#5 camalot, horizontal, off-width protected by an ancient 1/4 rusty spinner 20 feet down. The horror of this pitch was so exceeded by the final gauntlet, that it just blends into the general level off desperation that the climb inspired.
On the surface, we were still making the best of it, I was singing silly songs. (to the tune of onward Christian Soldiers) ‘Great and Powerful Luuummoox, cranking up the-a climb! With the cam of Je-Sus, yada, yada…" Underneath the surface, I was dealing with the seriousness of the lead-outs on some very sandbagged pitches. I would rather lead the Wilson Overhang on Sentinel over and over again than these horror shows. I thought of the friends gathered at a party in my honor, wondering why we hadn’t arrived. I thought of my girlfriend baking a special cake for the occasion while I was stuck on this damn stone, literally struggling for survival. I willed to maintain a firm resolve to overcome all obstacles one-pointedly, and in-the-moment now, and offer apologies and love to my friends later.
The last pitch didn’t seem to offer much protection. The outside of the chimney was glassy smooth, hard, and was of a size and orientation that promised to facilitate a long and gory fall. The inside of the chimney was absolutely running with slime and smelled like dog-sh#t. I headed inside the chimney and thrutched for my life. I was getting soaked with slimy goo and every inch of progress entailed a stout effort; slithering from a sideways position to upright then towards the outside of the chimney and then back inside. I could feel the water dripping off my shoes and shirt as I tried to compensate for my increasingly lubricated state. Finally, God relented and I was at the top of the bat-shit encrusted pinnacle known as the Folly. My heart soared with the knowledge that "Wild Thing" was behind me and I could look forward to a series of increasingly safe and comfortable circumstances and blessings. I could tell by the sex noises coming from the last pitch that Lummox enjoyed the chimney as much as I did. We celebrated momentarily and he gratefully thanked me for sparing him the lead on those pitches. Life was getting good in a hurry.
We rapped the top three pitches of the "Good Book" in one 200 foot rappel. Some photographers allowed us to then rap their fixed ropes to the ground, so we were excused from the Folly area with lightning speed. We reached the ground at 7pm which happens to be the moment of my birth! My party was two hours away in North Fork so we got moving. We picked up a friend in Wawona who asked us, "Do you have a dog?’ We asked her if she smelled dog-shit and, when she nodded her head, told her about the last pitch. (My clothes from that climb are still stained after washing with bleach and detergent)
When we arrived at the party at 9:30pm, some friends were playing bluegrass music and there was food left for the two ghosts who had each only eaten a power-bar and half an apple during the day. I got down on my knees and apologized to everyone for being late and expressed love and appreciation from the bottom of my heart for the blessings of my friends and neighbors.
I would like to thank all the folks who climb with me for good wishes and support over the years. May you all live passionately with great heart! Thanks for reading this far!
Peace and Love
Karl Baba
There's more trip reports on my website at
http://member.newsguy.com/~climbing/
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vernon
Trad climber
san francisco, ca
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not off topic at all. classic Karl!
vern
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Russ Walling
Social climber
Bishop, Ca.
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Right on Karl!
I'll add from our ascent (with Walt Shipley): started late, took way too long, did the last couple of chimney pitches in the dark, no headlamp of course. Crux pitch was my lead, got out there and started pimping up the finger crack and just as soon as I could get my fatties in there I was plugged right on top of a very noisy bat! Furry bastard scared the piss outta me! Total panic set in while trying to get pro in and having a bat wiggling under my fingers. Creepy..... Probably one of the best pitches I've ever done at any grade. It was so dark on the top that we could not tell if we had threaded the rope correctly (or at all) into the wad of bird sh#t encrusted slings for the rap.... sketch.... on one of the raps the rope was a bit short and we had to kinda "drop" onto the slings at the bolted belay on the overhanging wall.... way sketch! Got down about 10:01pm.... just late enough to miss the Olde E at the gift shop... it closes at 10pm. Could have really used one!
Russ
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rbreedlove
Trad climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Reaching into a cracks and having something wiggle around under my fingers is one of my worst, nightmarish fears. Your story gave me an involuntary spinal shiver.
Roger
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mike
climber
tahoe city,ca
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Forgot where it was, but I remember a finger lock that was the front door of a hornets' nest. Aparently, I invited 150 of them to a party. Hauled ass to the belay, and had to wait 2hrs for my second to climb past it.
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Jody
Mountain climber
CA
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Karl, cool story...but don't apologize for posting too much off topic. Someone besides me needs to.:)
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Rhodo-Router
Trad climber
Otto, NC
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Great story.
I guess sport climbers don't really get this stuff...
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Oct 18, 2012 - 01:17pm PT
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Bump for Climbing !!
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Oct 21, 2012 - 10:52pm PT
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A wild and memorable climb for sure. Here is Dale Bard leading the crux.
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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Oct 21, 2012 - 10:55pm PT
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Bad Ass in any decade!
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MH2
climber
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Oct 21, 2012 - 11:25pm PT
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Great story and couldn't be more appropriate for a mid-life climb since it seems to encapsulate the challenges met in life, especially as it gets harder toward the end. May there be a party waiting for you still, Karl.
"I didn’t want to miss my own birthday party"
Funny horror movie telegraphy.
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Lasti
Trad climber
Budapest
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Sep 19, 2013 - 05:33am PT
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This should not sink into oblivion.
Dredged up from the annals thanks to a crosspost from eeyonkee's Wild Valley Week ticklist thread.
Lasti
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Sep 19, 2013 - 10:09am PT
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Dang, I had forgotten about this gem of a TR! I guess I had also forgot how long Wild Thing is even though I've done it three times. I guess I forgot about the bat sh#t too...Hmmm, more than anything, this might be a tough climb to talk a partner into doing, particularly if they read this account.
I really enjoyed this write-up.
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Alexey
climber
San Jose, CA
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Sep 19, 2013 - 04:46pm PT
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great report, interesting route ( I red report looking at the topo), you had happy 40 th Birthday Karl
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Sep 19, 2013 - 05:22pm PT
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Excellent story!
I'm weeks away from 40, and if I had been going to the valley every weekend this spring/summer I would be foaming at the mouth for this thing. But now I'm soft and squishy and just get scared imagining it.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Sep 19, 2013 - 06:04pm PT
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Thanks to those who bumped this. What a great TR!
John
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David Wilson
climber
CA
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Sep 19, 2013 - 06:09pm PT
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Greg, your partner is maybe Alexey above. He who knows not fear - a veritable russian crack assassin !
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Sep 19, 2013 - 06:34pm PT
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Still a fun read, the 2nd or 3rd time around!
One of Karl's gems.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Sep 19, 2013 - 08:12pm PT
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Nicely done! Obscure classics need marketing in the Valley. Currently the herd instinct is alive and well....98% of climbers there do 2% of the routes.
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Loco de Pedra
Mountain climber
Around the World
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Sep 20, 2013 - 12:27pm PT
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very good tr. inspiring
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