Greg Child 1984 AAJ Aurora TR

Discussion Topic

Return to Forum List

This thread has been locked

Messages 1 - 14 of total 14 in this topic

Ed Hartouni

Trad climber

Livermore, CA

Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 23, 2008 - 12:37am PT

[url="http://www.americanalpineclub.org/AAJO/pdfs/1984/161_lower48_aaj1984.pdf"]AAJ 1984 p168[/url]

El Capitan, Aurora. In August 1981 Peter Mayfield and I climbed a new route left of Tangerine Trip. We used the bruised and beaten start of the Trip to reach the huge arch where that route traverses right. At this point we went left 180 feet, getting swallowed into a great bomb-bay chimney that we nailed horizontally on the opposite wall so we were encased by walls with sky below--a very odd position in relation to the valley. We then broke out onto a very overhanging wall, finding thin seams that connected readily. A pitch of sustained copperheading behind little scallops gave an A5 pitch. (The attempted second ascent leader took a long fall here, popping a hook and ripping the aforementioned copperheads back to the belay, so it was with hindsight we rated this lead A5.) Above this we bivouacked on a good ledge we named “The American Zone” after a line from a Stones song that recurred frequently on our tape deck. Surprisingly the next section-a dark streak with few visable features-fell not to a rivet ladder but entirely to hooks and natural placements. A seam like the Shield Headwall cracks led to some flapping, expanding flakes, then at the headwall the drill came out in earnest, getting us over to the end of the Tangerine Trip. The ascent took nine days and the climbing was mostly A4 and A3, with 70 holes, 20 for belays. During our climb we enjoyed red sunsets with silhouetted skydivers hurling themselves from the top to the meadows; we saw the spectacle of a giant rope snaking down the Dawn Wall on a winch for some spelunkers to jumar and rappel on; we watched the same rope get dropped and whip down into a trucksized heap at the base; we witnessed an injured party on the Dawn link up with a team on Mescalito to self-rescue themselves; we marvelled at the acrobatics of the ever curious Peregrine. In short, the belaying was never dull. VI, A5.
GREG CHILD, Unaffiliated

El Capitan, Heart of Darkness. In August 1982 Peter Mayfield, Auggie Klein and I attempted a new route taking the thin seams to the right of the North America Wall, planning to continue up the black diorite right of the Sea of Dreams. Though we gave up after nine-and-a-half pitches, the section leading to Calavaros Ledge, on the North America Wall, stands as a fine, and difficult, seven-pitch alternative to the latter route. In the midst of the usual nailing were two-and-a-half pitches of 5.10, somewhat of a departure from the norm. While the route to Calavaros was on sound rock, we found that the black “heart” of the southeast face of El Cap was not merely loose, but decayed and hollow underneath. Drilled holes were of dubious strength due to the nature of these overlapping sheets of rock, but skyhooks were regrettably most useful. A nervewracking lead, mostly hooks on unsound edges, which we named “The Psycho Killer” pitch, followed by a dihedral of shattered blocks, took the wind out of our sails, so after four days we retreated.
GREG CHILD, Unaffiliated

Maysho

climber

Truckee, CA

Nov 23, 2008 - 08:19am PT

Thanks Ed! for posting these. I did not see them the first time around. Aurora was a blast, a great adventure. We barely scoped the wall with binos, knew where to start and went for it. Heart of Darkness was of course an attempt on what became Wyoming Sheep Ranch. Many people have enjoyed that one, though after the two worst pitches at the apex of our attempt, we thought that if we survived, we would be establishing a horrible pile in comparison to the better looking diorite on the Sea to the left and the Turnpike to the right.

Peter

'Pass the Pitons' Pete

Big Wall climber

like Ontario, Canada, eh?

Nov 23, 2008 - 06:50pm PT

Wasn't it The Psycho Killer pitch that was renamed Welcome To Wyoming by the first ascensionists? Bad landing start, up to a very scary rope-cutting roof [the sharpest and most dangerous I have ever seen!] followed by hooking up a blank wall. Finishes on white quartz I think.

Too bad you guys backed off - the climbing gets better above. Were those appallingly bad rivets on that pitch - too long and under-drilled, some only in by about three or four threads! - yours?? I love the description of the rock as it holds true to this day. There are several huge flakes you could easily pull off with your hands.

Aurora is without doubt one of the finest routes on El Cap, and I am amazed it doesn't get climbed any more often. It may be the second-best A4 on the SE Face after Sea of Dreams.

DJS

Trad climber

Mar 19, 2009 - 08:55pm PT

Bump

DJS

Trad climber

Mar 19, 2009 - 09:04pm PT

Bump

Prod

Trad climber

Feb 7, 2011 - 02:52pm PT

Nice find Ed.

Prod.

hoipolloi

climber

A friends backyard with the neighbors wifi

Feb 7, 2011 - 08:07pm PT

This moved Aurora high on the must do list.

You'll see me up there this spring.

Has Aurora been done in the winter yet?

Sonic

Trad climber

Boulder, CO

Aug 22, 2012 - 11:06pm PT

bump

hoipolloi

climber

A friends backyard with the neighbors wifi

Jan 21, 2014 - 06:50pm PT

Bump because I read this once before, and am now reading it again.

I did aurora in fall of 2011 and it was great.

thekidcormier

Gym climber

squamish, b.c.

Aug 11, 2014 - 12:41pm PT

Captivating stories of bold climbing on the captain.

👊bump-worthy as fu<k👊

goatboy smellz

climber

लघिमा

Aug 11, 2014 - 04:40pm PT

I've seen Greg post here a couple times but he seems hesitant to elaborate on any of these threads.
Too bad, he's probably one of the best writers from that era.