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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 26, 2008 - 12:53am PT
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Free, Fast and Clean
The future of Yosemite climbing
BY CHRIS MACNAMARA [url="http://www.americanalpineclub.org/AAJO/pdfs/1998/117_macnamara_yosemite_aaj1998.pdf"]AAJ 1998 p117[/url]
On a brisk fall night on the top of El Capitan, Eric Sloan and I sat huddled around a fire, warming our bones after a day of replacing bolts on the top of the Big Stone. Out of the darkness stepped Jim Bridwell, who had just topped out on the Wyoming Sheep Ranch. He sat down next to the tire, lit a cigarette and. at our prodding, eased into a tale or two from the 1960s and ’70s.
Here was a man who owned a decade of climbing history-and he was still ticking off Grade Sixers. Eric and I were impressed. As the night grew long, we asked him questions and he spun out answers while the fire lit up the pine trees and kept the cold at bay. Among other things, we both wondered how his recent ascents compared with the ultra classics he had put up in his heyday.
“What do you think of wall climbing in Yosemite today?’ I asked.
Jim was quick to respond.
“Yosemite is dead,” Jim said. “The future of wall climbing is in the big mountains.” These were not words I wanted to hear, and I wanted him to take them back. But the godfather of big-wall climbing had spoken. Whatever disagreement I may have had was withheld as I nodded my head in agreement. The conversation continued as Jim talked about an incredible unclimbed face on Nuptse that others deemed suicidal. I was in awe of his boldness, which threaded such a fine line between vision and insanity. As the fire died down and we went to sleep, I tried to accept Jim’s words about the future of Yosemite-tried to convince myself that I should spend my time in more exotic parts of the world. But in the end, I could not.
For me, Yosemite is very much alive. Granted, it may not be the same as in years past when Bridwell put up his epic ascents, but I believe Yosemite Valley today is vibrant and growing, and that its future will be an exciting one-different, of course, than it has been, but new and challenging in its own singular way.
As every serious climber knows, Yosemite is not just a beautiful place, a grand place or a special place. It is a sacred place, the place where, for decades, the world’s greatest climbers have embellished upon the history of the sport. From putting up the first Grade VI climbs in the world, to making leaps in free climbing standards, to devising enormous equipment advances, Valley climbers have always explored new realms. As a result, Yosemite has been the single most influential area within the world of rock climbing. In my view, it will continue to maintain this place in climbing’s future.
For nearly 40 years, the chief lure of Yosemite and the measure of its greatness was first ascents. From the landmark first ascents of Half Dome and El Capitan, Yosemite was propelled forward as the world’s leader in ingenuity and boldness on rock. The extreme commitment needed for the first ascents of the Muir and Salathe walls shattered what was thought possible on the big routes. Once climbers were sure they could climb El Cap in good style, the challenge lay in finding the most difficult line. This challenge was found on routes like the North America Wall, which in turn paved the way for extreme aid climbs such as the Pacific Ocean Wall and Sea of Dreams. Indeed, nearly every first ascent in Yosemite seemed to make an enormous contribution to the climbing world.
Yet if we continue to gauge Yosemite’s pulse by first ascents, then it is indeed in trouble. Veteran climbers have for years said that there are no new lines left in Yosemite. Still, every year, new wall routes are put up. While some recent first ascents such as The Reticent Wal offer brilliant nailing in well-defined features, most new routes involve lengthy sections of what appears to be blank rock. Surprisingly, these seemingly contrived lines often have remarkably low hole counts, the measuring stick for whether a line is natural or not. So what gives? Had earlier climbers really been missing these “natural lines” for the last 20 years?
Not quite. The definition of “natural line” was simply changed to suit the situation. Some modem climbers, finding few defined features, just recalibrated. Whereas earlier climbers defined a feature as a section of rock that could be climbed without enhancement, some of today’s climbers define a feature as anything that with the help of a drill and chisel can be enhanced into a copperhead or hook placement. By this theory, just about anything is a feature, as demonstrated by the first ascent of Ring of Fire on El Capitan in 1995.
On this route, the climbers declared that they had found a natural line and were going to prove it by not placing any bolts except at belays. They said that in lieu of bolts they had developed certain “new technologies” in order to ascend “blank comers.” They declined, however, to explain these new technologies, saying it would all be in their book about the climb.
Anyone climbing on the east face of El Cap that year didn’t have to wait for the book to find out what these “new technologies” were. For more than 20 days the repetitive tap-tap-tap of steel drill against rock could be heard echoing throughout the big stone.
The climbers were using tactics common on modem aid lines; they just took them to the extreme. Ring of Fire, however, showed just where the practice of drilling and chiseling the rock can lead. Eventually, there could be hundreds of routes on El Cap, each separated from another by only a few feet. Without some restraint, El Cap could come to look like a hightraffic sport climbing area, or a very tall gym wall with scenery. The adventure and challenge of finding natural lines and then adapting oneself to the rock would give way to using force to bring the rock down to one’s level.
Still, while the prospects for first ascents in Yosemite might not be particularly bright, any lack of new route potential is made up for in other areas. In the arena of free, speed and hammerless climbing, the challenges remain wide open, begging to be tapped in Yosemite as nowhere else.
For the past several years, most cutting-edge free climbing has been done in sport climbing areas. But recently, many of the world’s top free climbers have returned to Yosemite to free climb big walls. Drawn by adventure and the commitment required to climb a big wall, combined with the sheer beauty of Valley crack climbs, many climbers are finding some of the best free climbs in the world on faces that once were believed to be impossible to ascend by any means.
Free climbing big walls is nothing new; climbers have been steadily ticking off Grade V walls for the last two decades. Yet recently there has been a burst of activity. Notable climbs, like Lynn Hill’s free ascent of the Nose, have reminded climbers that while many of the ultra classics have gone free, the list of Grade V and VI walls waiting for their first free ascents remains extensive.
While first free ascents may offer the highest rewards, repeating long routes also is becoming increasingly common. Alex Huber’s free ascent of the Salathe Wall has set off a wave of attempts. As free climbing standards continue to escalate, ascents of routes such as the Salathe that once were mind-boggling will become commonplace. The Salathe may very well be Yosemite’s next Astroman, a testpiece that prospective Valley free climbers “warm up on” before attempting the 5.14 wall routes that undoubtedly will be climbed in the future. In addition, impressive efforts like Steve Schneider’s on Excalibur pave the way for free ascents that may contain some sections of mandatory aid but still offer thousands of feet of free climbing.
Speed climbing is another realm in which Yosemite offers immense potential. Originally, speed ascents were used by climbers to train for alpine routes in Patagonia and the Himalayas. But today, as John Middendorf points out, “The dependence on fixed gear and bolts in these fast ascents will limit their training value for climbs outside of the Valley.” Instead of being reserved for alpine training, Yosemite’s speed climbing today has developed into a sport of its own. It is not uncommon for two or three parties to climb the Nose in a day, while multi-day siege affairs like Zenyatta Mondatta and Iron Hawk now are falling in times just over 24 hours. Many climbers with jobs in the surrounding area now go to the Valley for the weekend, climb a Grade Sixer and are back in the office by the time a “normal” party they passed has climbed a handful of pitches.
This increased popularity of speed climbing has made the sport more competitive, as most speed climbing teams head up with the hopes of bettering the time of the fastest ascent before them. Yet while the incentive of setting a record may add a bit of fun to the game, there are too many subjective factors to keep such records from ever bearing too much weight. Fixed gear, the use of cheater sticks and whether a party has climbed a route before gives one team an advantage over the next and will keep speed climbing from ever becoming too competitive.
Clean climbing, on the other hand, is something that needs to be taken more seriously. Since Doug Robinson first wrote of it in the 1973 Chouinard catalog, clean climbing has been the right thing to do. It still is; but increasingly, if climbing is to endure, it is the necessary thing to do as well.
As the sport has emerged into public view, it has caught the eye of land managers, government agencies and assorted politicians. With more and more climbers entering wilderness areas, officials now are deciding how the sport fits into the overall picture of human wilderness use. With such weighty decisions in the balance, it is more important than ever to climb as cleanly as possible.
Hammerless aid climbing is one form of clean climbing that has gained acceptance lately, but it has not gone nearly as far as it can. Despite a well-publicized first hammerless ascent of the Shield on El Cap, only one hammerless repeat has been made in the last five years. Hundreds of other parties have continued to nail, with clear results: RURP seams now take one-inch sawed angles and continue to widen.
Ten years ago, this might have been acceptable. Today, however, hammerless protection technology is so sophisticated that there no longer is an excuse to nail. Hammerless climbing often is faster than nailing and can be made just as safe. And while preserving the integrity of the line is the main argument for its use, hammerless climbing does more than just preserve the rock: It adds an entirely new adventure to the game.
On the first ascent of the Shield in 1972, Charlie Porter placed 35 RURPs in a row on the Triple Cracks Pitch. When Charlie Fowler led this pitch in 1993 on the first hammerless ascent, he hand-placed bird beaks, angles and nuts. Although the equipment was different, the sense of adventure was the same. Both parties pushed the level of boldness; Porter was trying to avoid placing bolts and Fowler was trying to avoid using a hammer. The first clean ascent of the Shield showed that an intricate hammerless pitch is every bit as rewarding as a hard nailing pitch-and it adds the satisfaction of knowing that you did not change the route for
the next guy.
Unfortunately, when some routes have gone hammerless at hard grades, subsequent parties have been intimidated into thinking that the climbs are too dangerous for them to attempt cleanly. They shouldn’t be. Instead, all climbers should be inspired to reach within themselves for the patience and resolve necessary to do the route as hammerless as they possibly can. For some, it may mean not using the hammer at all; for others, it may mean using the hammer only when the danger becomes too great. But only when every party makes the pledge to climb as cleanly as they feel possible will the true potential for clean climbing be realized.
The first ascent may always be the most glorious and rewarding climbing achievement a climber can earn. Those who only see adventure in Yosemite in first ascents will be forced up lines that are more and more contrived. But many will continue to devote time to first ascents in the big mountains as well-and rarely do these climbers go to the alpine walls without first making numerous pilgrimages to Yosemite. The world’s best rock climbers and alpinists will continue to visit Yosemite, current standards will continue to evolve, and an entirely new realm of adventures for the Valley climber will be the result. I believe the potential of Yosemite is decided by what our vision lets us see. For those who are not limited by past accomplishments but are instead inspired by them, an exciting future with opportunities in speed, free and hammerless climbing is on a horizon still brimming with potential
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Tez
Mountain climber
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Nov 26, 2008 - 09:30am PT
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Thanks Ed!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Nov 28, 2008 - 11:14pm PT
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I hope some of this fire and brimstone finds its way into the big wall manual!
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10b4me
climber
the gray bands
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Nov 29, 2008 - 12:55am PT
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Chris, do you still feel this way?
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BriGuy
Trad climber
SL,UT
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Nov 29, 2008 - 12:02pm PT
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Thanks for posting guys, great topic.
There is so much gear out there for specialized clean climbing, and I don't think it gets used as often as it should.
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Nov 29, 2008 - 02:18pm PT
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too bad so much of that cool clean gear is do hard to get you hands on.
Hey Bri, did you end up with a couple extra can hooks after ZM? Email me if ya did. Cheers.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Nov 29, 2008 - 11:17pm PT
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"Some modem climbers, finding few defined features, just recalibrated. Whereas earlier climbers defined a feature as a section of rock that could be climbed without enhancement, some of today’s climbers define a feature as anything that with the help of a drill and chisel can be enhanced into a copperhead or hook placement. By this theory, just about anything is a feature, as demonstrated by the first ascent of Ring of Fire on El Capitan in 1995.
On this route, the climbers declared that they had found a natural line and were going to prove it by not placing any bolts except at belays. They said that in lieu of bolts they had developed certain “new technologies” in order to ascend “blank comers.” They declined, however, to explain these new technologies, saying it would all be in their book about the climb.
Ring of Fire, however, showed just where the practice of drilling and chiseling the rock can lead. Eventually, there could be hundreds of routes on El Cap, each separated from another by only a few feet. Without some restraint, El Cap could come to look like a hightraffic sport climbing area, or a very tall gym wall with scenery. The adventure and challenge of finding natural lines and then adapting oneself to the rock would give way to using force to bring the rock down to one’s level."
Chris, what do you mean? Mark? Richard?
"Clean climbing, on the other hand, is something that needs to be taken more seriously. Since Doug Robinson first wrote of it in the 1973 Chouinard catalog, clean climbing has been the right thing to do."
Too bad Doug doesn't .... well, you know.
As for hammerless ascents of clean routes, much of it is skill and how good you are placing micros and cam hooks, but much of it is luck, depending on the heads and pins you need to be fixed being fixed.
Thanks Ed.
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MSmith
Big Wall climber
Portland, Oregon
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Nov 30, 2008 - 12:42am PT
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Chris mentioned Ring of Fire in a 1999 article which I responded to in the following issue. I'm leery to respond here as I'm not wanting to launch an attack against Chris, especially on his own site. Chris likely gleaned some or most of his information from others, which probably led to inaccuracies in his view of the climb. I think it is fair to say, and I believe Chris would concur, that he would not characterize the climb in the same way if he were to write about it today. But lest I remain silent and appear to accept what is in this thread as fact . . . Ring of Fire was not put up on chiseled heads or flakes. (Ah, yes, what is "enhanced" you ask? Why don't we wade into that topic and see if we can push this thread to a thousand posts? I'm sure that someone can come forward to assert that one blow of the pick to remove one crystal from a seam is just as dirty as a full-on trenched head). But back to the topic, RoF was not chiseled and it exceeded the standard of climbing of many well respected routes.
"the climbers declared that they had found a natural line and were going to prove it by not placing any bolts except at belays" -- Wow, how would not placing bolts in pitches prove a line was "natural?" Quite an assertion, I'd say. Must have been Richard who said that when I wasn't around, because it didn't come from me, and Richard's basic ability to handle logic is suspect anyway.
"They said that in lieu of bolts they had developed certain “new technologies” in order to ascend blank corners." Actually, there is some truth to this one. We had developed a lead alloy head and had used it successfully in essentially blank corners on a granite test cliff. However, we found that it didn't work well on El Cap granite and I recall only employing three of them on the climb.
"saying it would all be in their book about the climb." Richard is a dog. Evidently, he secretly intended to send me up on the hard leads, then write a book after the climb to get all the royalties, just like WoS. Guess I'm lucky this time that the climb didn't make the rags and thereby set him up for another book.
"For more than 20 days the repetitive tap-tap-tap of steel drill against rock could be heard echoing throughout the big stone." Yep, throughout the Big Stone, from Lurking Fear to Waterfall Route, for weeks were heard the echoes steel on rock. This probably disturbed the experience of dozens of parties, and for that I am sorry.
"The climbers were using tactics common on modem aid lines; they just took them to the extreme. Ring of Fire, however, showed just where the practice of drilling and chiseling the rock can lead. Eventually, there could be hundreds of routes on El Cap, each separated from another by only a few feet." Well, there you have it. Since 1996 many dozens of new routes have gone up, proving that RoF has led to the proliferation of ill-advised routes.
"The climbers were using tactics common on modem aid lines; they just took them to the extreme." The problem here is that no one has, to my knowledge, done the SA. This view may well have been accepted by Valley locals at the time, but without the SA, it is speculation. The SA will show the speculation to be nothing more than that, 'speculation'.
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Double D
climber
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Nov 30, 2008 - 03:06pm PT
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I smell a massively silly controversy brewing...no less on a route that hasn't been seconded...
Taking bets, 1,000 posts? 2,000?
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GDavis
Trad climber
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Nov 30, 2008 - 03:16pm PT
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madbolter1
Big Wall climber
Walla Walla, WA
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"Ring of Fire, however, showed just where the practice of drilling and chiseling the rock can lead."
Yup... it can lead to the top... and by a NEW ROUTE too.
These pitiful "route convervationists" are SO misguided!
There SHOULD be hundreds of routes on El Cap, separated by just a few feet. 'Cause when things reach THAT point, we can finally start multiplying the number of those prestigious FAs by a few orders of magnitude. Think about it... one or two hook moves to "connect" two "routes" can then be called yet another a "new route," named--like, er, "Son of Squeeze Playboy's Main Squeeze," or something really cool like that--and heap honor upon yet another first-ascentionist!
Climbing guides could even start a new business: FA-Safari. They could get a client up some combination of routes or another to the exact launching off placement for the new route, then provide the belay while their client BAGS THE ROUTE (two way-heinous barely-enhanced hook moves). (Gotta do enough enhancing that the route is repeatable!) The guide can document the FA with pictures and a topo, and yet another HARD MAN or woman can go down in history. FAs for the masses. Like naming a star. "Look through the scope, pop. See that shiny spot up there? Yes, right there. That's my rivet! That's my ROUTE! I named it 'Machine Play.'"
Of COURSE, some connectors will need small rivet ladders to make the route go (should be RIVETS to "keep the commitment level high"), but such drilled connectors could also get cool names, like, er, "Son of a Machine Head Squeeze," or some other way-cool name like that.
After awhile (this would be SO great), anybody could pick the EXACT line they wanted to repeat, move by move, and certain exact combinations of moves could become TRADE ROUTES. Like, you could do one small (fixed, of course) copperhead off the deck on "Son of the Mother's Heartland," followed by a rivet on "Mother of a Bleeding Heart Son," followed by a (way gripping) claw placement on "Your Mother Has a Bleeding Heart," followed by half a pitch of rivets on "Momma's Son's Got a Machine Heart," followed by ten feet of (way uncool) enhanced hook placements on "The Acne Headwall," followed by a natural hook and one small copperhead on "Clearasil Face" to the anchor. And so on. That route might be called "The Mega Direct."
Forget PITCH topos. We want PLACEMENT TOPOS!
With placement topos, truly fine-grained credit for "routes" can be properly assigned: "'Nightmare on Machine Squeeze's two placements are a mixed bag. S. Walt Corbettman's trepidation showed a bit too much when he went with the 3/8" bolt instead of a rivet for the first placement. But, beefy bolts HAVE become the norm, since many consider rivets to be 'artificial difficulty,' and if you're going to place a bolt, then it should be one that's gonna last. But, that stylistic debate aside, Corbettman completely redeemed himself with the APPARENTLY natural claw for the second and last placement to the route. I say 'apparently' only because S. Walt Corbettman has had a history of enhancing placements in the past, which sullies 'Nightmare' by association. But these two placements taken as they appear to be, provide a nice outing for anyone looking for a well-protected natural hook move on their way up the SE grid of El Cap. One and a half thumbs up."
Of course, in the quest for glory, there will always be lame, unqualified wanna-bes that take the common tactics to the extreme. Like some jerk will surely get caught using the pick of his hammer to make a copperhead groove just a bit better on his one-head connector route. What a BOTCH JOB!!! Idiots like that should just stay home! Surely any number of Valley Locals could have put that route up in way better style, and here this jerk ruins one of the few remaining (down to less than 15,000 now) new routes by botching the key (only) placement! STOLEN GLORY! People will do anything to get their name on an El Cap FA... even take common tactics to the extreme.
It's sad when unqualified glory-hounds take the few remaining FAs away from the the qualified glory-hounds. After all, there is only SO much rock on El Cap, and before long ALL the possible FAs will be gone! Let's leave the future connectors and connectors to connectors and connectors to connectors to connectors and connectors to connectors to connectors to connectors to the connector-putter-uppers that have already demonstrated that they can put up new connectors in quality style, so that all the rest of us can aspire to repeat PROPERLY up-put connectors and thereby heap ongoing glory ONLY onto the deserving.
Speaking of connectors and glory going to the deserving, I feel really saddened now that the opportunity to hype Ring of Fire has passed. After making all the grandiose claims I did about the route and about our motivations (to whom, I don't have any clue, but Mark's right: I'm just like that, so I MUST have done it), somehow it slipped my mind to actually WRITE the magazine articles, books, and movie scripts that would have brought the route to the public prominence that we were hoping for.
We did OUR part to bring El Cap to the masses, and all I hear about it is moaning and sniveling, now even from Mark. I guess he's such a sell-out to the Valley Boys now that he'll even slander his lifelong partner if he thinks that'll get him back in the good graces of the Local Climbing Hierarchy Elite. I bet the putz is even now scoping out some new FA connector that he'll put up with some Valley Local or another, a Local that can wave the magic credibility wand over his efforts. Then he can do pretty much whatever he wants, and it'll be blessed and glorified, and FINALLY Mark will get the FA GLORY he has always wanted but has always been denied because he was always saddled with ME! It's pathetic of him, but I understand it after all these years.
So, slander on, Mark, slander on. I may be a dog, but at least like a dog, I'm loyal. Get whatever glory you can. I'm down with it.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 1, 2008 - 10:26am PT
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maybe you could avoid the histrionics and just link to a topo for the climb?
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madbolter1
Big Wall climber
Walla Walla, WA
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The histrionics are your own, my friend. You started with them, and you will end with them. No actual "discussion" can be fruitful, as has already been proved on the Taco.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 1, 2008 - 08:18pm PT
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my intention was not to post something related to Ring of Fire but to get CMac's article into circulation.
However, my attempt to get info on RoF has been a singular failure... even the FA date is in disagreement from the sources that I have. My request for information from the FA team didn't result in much, though I may only have asked on the ST Forum, and response there may not have been acceptable to the FA Team.
As for complaining that no one has done a 2nd Ascent, well, is there a topo in circulation, or does one have to know how to get in touch with the FA team to get one, and under what conditions? To first order, a site like SuperTopo is at least to provide the access to information on climbs. If not formally sanctioned in the books or official distributions, then through the Forum exchange...
I guess I am not sympathetic to the argument that the community's opinion is ill formed without an SA if no one knows how to do an SA.
If I type "Ring of Fire" "El Capitan" into Google I don't get much useful information...
madbolter1 did provide a correction to the list of climbs I have collected (here)
If you have provided a link to the RoF information I have missed it, I'll look more carefully. aldude mentions RoF in his Unrepeated El Cap Routes? without prejudice... looks like there is some genuine interest out there.
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Prod
Trad climber
A place w/o Avitars apparently
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Great stuff. Thanks Ed and C mac!
Prod.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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How 'bout it, Mark and Richard? Let's see the Ring of Fire topo, eh?
[you guys are a couple of nuts....]
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Ryan Tetz
Trad climber
Flagstaff, AZ
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Now you guys don't like each other?
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madbolter1
Big Wall climber
Walla Walla, WA
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Yes, we are nuts. I'll admit that. Regarding a topo, well, we just aren't inclined to do that.
Contrary to what has been claimed in this very thread, we did Ring of Fire entirely for ourselves and simply didn't (and don't) care if anybody ever knew or knows anything about it. Nothing about that attitude has changed over the years. We gave a topo directly to John Dill simply because we know that the Park Service likes to know where anchors are for rescue purposes. If he then released info about the route to others, that's out of our control. Regarding the claims we supposedly made about the route, or supposed motivations we had for doing it, we didn't.
So, from our point of view, the "route" doesn't exist. We simply went up to see what we could do, and we did what we could do. We refuse to be drawn into a single iota of discussion about it.
If people want to speculate that we're hiding something, that's just fine. How can we "hide" what is sitting there in plain sight for anybody to see? But, we won't be drawn into an explanation or defense of any aspect of the ascent. People have already been on parts of the route. It is what it is in whatever condition remains of it. Not our issue anymore.
If you want more info, it's easy enough to get onto the route. The start is located on the blank face just left of the obvious corner where the rock turns into the deep alcove that forms the start of NA Wall. So, the start is on the obvious face between the Sea and NA Wall, just left of the corner that is just left of the NA Wall alcove. Look up from there about 145 feet, and you'll see big rap-hangered anchor bolts. That pitch is hook-protected hooking. We invite anybody to give it a shot. You will not find micro-flakes, so the issue of "repeatability" does not arise. Anybody can repeat that pitch without drilling. There are features all the way up. From that first anchor, you go up.
Ratings? Well, our ratings have never meant anything to anybody anyway. So, provide whatever ratings seem good as you go up. The start is clear, the route is clear once you're on it? What need is there of a topo?
Enjoy.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 2, 2008 - 01:36am PT
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thanks for the info...
...in spite of your protestations, you seem to have been "drawn into" the discussion...
If you want more info, it's easy enough to get onto the route. The start is located on the blank face just left of the obvious corner where the rock turns into the deep alcove that forms the start of NA Wall. So, the start is on the obvious face between the Sea and NA Wall, just left of the corner that is just left of the NA Wall alcove. Look up from there about 145 feet, and you'll see big rap-hangered anchor bolts. That pitch is hook-protected hooking. We invite anybody to give it a shot. You will not find micro-flakes, so the issue of "repeatability" does not arise. Anybody can repeat that pitch without drilling. There are features all the way up. From that first anchor, you go up.
I'll be sure to take a look next time I'm up there, but that's probably all I'll be taking (well, maybe a few photos...).
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