Double D: Iron Curtain / Bad Sign tale needed

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Russ Walling

Social climber

Out on the sand.... man.....

Topic Author's Original Post - May 17, 2008 - 12:25am PT

I saw this:

Yes indeed. I had to split for a few weeks to work and the Iron Curtain became Born Under a Bad Sign

And now I hope there is a tale or two you could spin about the Iron Curtain attempt with Bill Price. Whaddya say??

Jaybro

Social climber

The West

May 17, 2008 - 12:27am PT

I'd like to hear this one, as well.

Double D

climber

May 17, 2008 - 12:36am PT

Sorry to let you down Russ, but we attempted the route in the late Fall and it just seemed like the days were too short. We came back in the Spring and fixed pitches again. I had to go to my sister's wedding, then she asked me if I could build her a garage so did. I called Bill and asked if He'd wait, but he was fired up to go and I totally couldn't blame him...still don't.

I did learn a very interesting thing about nailing something first, then repeating it. One of the pitches (off the black tower???) was tied off blades and when Bill cleaned it, he leaned back back on the rope and zippered out most of the pitch. On the second ascent (of that pitch) he told me it was pretty bomber because the crusty-hard surface had been eroded by the first pins.

The route was first scoped out by Mike Borris, AKA Big Wall Wally. About a year prior to our first attempt, he told us about a "cat-sized-sewer-rat" that crawled over him when he first slept on the route. That just bust my gut! We relentlessly teased him about that until we got on the route and saw the turds...this dude was big.

LOL

Russ Walling

Social climber

Out on the sand.... man.....

Topic Author's Reply - May 17, 2008 - 01:01am PT

Good enough! Giant rats huh? Yikes! Probably living in the Amazon Pitch and then going wild on the Cats and Frogs ledges.

If you are bored or have the time, here is me and Walts story of the 2nd ascent:

http://fishproducts.com/topos/badsignTR/badsignTR.html

Double D

climber

May 17, 2008 - 02:24am PT

Russ, that was a classic read! Brought back many fine memories of wall life.

I remember the day I fixed the 2nd pitch, the copperhead one. I was re-building my VW engine in the Lodge lot while Bill ran to the Bay so I had to hitch. Bridwell picked me up in his aqua-van and my rack consisted of about 40 heads and that's it. He looked at me, real serious like and said, "what's with the heads, you gonna try and sell some gear at the base?" I think I told him I was trying to figure out a new way to do Moby Dick or something.

Great story though! Man, you had major perseverance! It's pretty cool that you guys both got to lead the lower pitches a bunch.

Bill was an incredibly talented climber. He actually had a sort of leading vendetta on hard aid after we did the 2nd of NJ Turnpike (with Yabo...that's a whole other story!) He had the rotten pitch and in the middle of it he called down to me and said he wanted to lower off and have me lead it. I though he was joking and just started razing him, but he was serious. Yabo put things in perspective for me and convinced me that he was serious. So I finished the pitch and always felt like a jerk razing him so. Truth is, I've never seen Bill remotely scared on a pitch, it just wasn't his style. He was always a pillar of strength.

When he did the 2nd on Sea of Dreams, he had been through a bunch of partners that didn't work out and then just decided to solo it (so to speak). I've never really asked him about it, but always felt it was if he were making a statement... "I'm back in the game."

Watching him from the meadows, I said, "he'll either never speak to Angie again, or he'll marry her". The rest is history.

'Pass the Pitons' Pete

Big Wall climber

like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?

May 17, 2008 - 10:39am PT

It's quite likely that many of the heads on the second pitch are original - while the heads themselves are in good shape, the cables are rusted to bits. Scary!

I backed off from partway up P3 when the big storm hit a few falls ago.

Russ and Dave,

What's the hooking like near the top of P3? Topo says A4, just wondered how desperate it is.

What size is the offwidth on P4? Should I bring my 9" Valley Giant cams?

As for The Sea, has anyone found the original 9 to 5 pitch, or does everyone [like me] climb the Price Is Light variation?

Russ Walling

Social climber

Out on the sand.... man.....

Topic Author's Reply - May 17, 2008 - 11:59am PT

Pete:
It's quite likely that many of the heads on the second pitch are original - while the heads themselves are in good shape, the cables are rusted to bits. Scary!

No way.... route finding was part of the event. Everything (cracks/features) was covered in black something and there were only a couple of heads flopping around in there. Back then, all heads were cleaned out regardless of outcome. With the amount of water that area gets, the heads you are seeing are probably only a few years old, and certainly not 20+ years old.

Pete:
Russ and Dave,
What's the hooking like near the top of P3? Topo says A4, just wondered how desperate it is.

It lost its teeth after I pulled some features and added a rivet. It ain't A4 anymore. Good sized horizontal placements with a maximum of 3 broken bones fall. My account is in the story above. The hard hooking was literally 8 feet from the belay.

What size is the offwidth on P4? Should I bring my 9" Valley Giant cams?

I climbed out to the left of the wide stuff.... maybe did a hook move or two.... nothing there you can't do in Converse Allstars. It is a short section.