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Burns
Trad climber
Arlington, VA
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Aug 19, 2005 - 03:48pm PT
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Hmm... so if it took Largo 4 hours, and our sweet fast and light tactics got us up the Freeblast in about 3/4 of an eternity, how many haul bags should we bring? The answer? You'd better call Hans or hire a sherpa.
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bobmarley
Trad climber
auburn, california
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Aug 19, 2005 - 05:24pm PT
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"If it's your first time up there, plan on wasting some time figuring all this out."
uh oh. i'm feeling an epic coming on! alright, will let you know how it goes. again, thanks to all for the beta.
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Fingerlocks
Trad climber
where the climbin's good
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Aug 20, 2005 - 05:16pm PT
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Now that my memory of decending from SS is starting to fade, this route is sounding more interesting. So how good is the climbing on this? Anybody want to make the sales pitch?
Or would you steer people to some other climbs of similar effort first?
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Aug 20, 2005 - 10:19pm PT
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You can do the West Face with about 30 feet of aid at 5.10. With the aid it goes a touch harder overall than the Chouinard Herbert but just as fast.
JL
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Mei
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Aug 22, 2005 - 03:16pm PT
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My partner Erik and I got on the route on Sunday. Here is my report:
Approach: The hike to the base of the rock is very enjoyable on a good trail (except for the swarms of bugs escorting us). The first big ramp is long, but not bad. However, even after having done the approach, I'm still not sure about the best way to get to the base of the climb. After the obvious slabby ramp (going right and up), we continued going right through some brushes and trees following the base of the wall. I think it's almost near the end of it, there is a wide crack (#4 cam) in a right facing corner (not a huge corner). Definitely 5th class (feels like 5.8 offwidth). We roped up for it and Erik reached a ledge after a full 200' rope length where there are bolts and slings (for hauling). I guess that's the base of the climb. If you know which wide crack I'm talking about, have we gone too far on the first ramp or should we keep going before cutting back left?
The climb: All in all good, but definitely old school. Most belays have either old bolts/pins that you can back up with gear or a fairly new bolt. I led the seven easiest pitches on the route (1-4 and 13-15) and found route finding tricky in the first four pitches. As for the Afro Cuban Flakes, Erik did realize that the 5.11 variation should be down low only after he got sucked up to all the fixed pins that followed along the 5.12 variation. I aided that traverse. I have to confess that the "dead obvious and much easier holds" that Largo mentioned definitely were not that obvious to my inexperienced eye (that's why you are Largo and I'm Mei). On the other hand, when I was struggling up there aiding with draws and slings, everything else around me (above or below) that were out of reach all looked much better than what I had at hand. The easier pitches (5.10-5.11a) are quite fun but funky sometimes. We spent about 8 hours on the route (counting the approach pitch) and topped out at 4pm. Although the Afro Cuban roof didn't go fast and I spent a long time doing three of the first four pitches off route, I agree that this climb does go fairly fast considering the number of pitches on it.
Descent: I had prepared for worse. It is long, but most of the footings are solid (more solid than the descent to Third Pillar of Dana). However, it demands quite a bit downclimbing that I would not like to do in dark. I can imagine that with big packs that aid climbers haul, the descent can get much more difficult (I was doing a lot of downstepping facing out).
Be aware of loose rock! When we were sorting gear at the base of the rock, a rock fell within 15 feet of us. It sounded like a big bird diving down and only when it hit the ground stirring up dust, I realized that it was a rock. Nobody was above us that time of the day (early morning).
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bobmarley
Trad climber
auburn, california
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Aug 22, 2005 - 04:01pm PT
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mei, nice writeup. did the route saturday actually. i know the 5.8 OW approach you alluded to. we did not do this, but we started to go up it, then downclimbed thinking it wasn't right. you can go up just a bit higher and cut back left again. did not rope up on the approach to the base, but agreed, it's exposed and probably more easy 5th in spots than 4th.
about the afro-cuban flakes pitch, so the fixed piton aid line is 5.12? i thought THAT was the 11c. yeah i got confused there as well. just reread Largo's beta so it looks like it is indeed the low traverse as the 11c. then go directly up the seam? i did do the undercling traverse on those scary flakes and saw the variation, but was a little worried getting gear in those death flakes. i piddled around with gear in the seam but never got anything i thought i could whip onto. so i ended up back at the pitons way too pumped and just pulled right thru. bummer because i'd like to free that part. would somebody confirm where the free variation is supposed to be? i guess going under the afro cuban to the thin seam? now i understand what Largo meant about not too many folks freeing that part. excellent super fun route overall.
tip: bring alot of quicks and slings. we had 14 qd's and slings, not enough i thought. probably 9 QDs and 9 sling draws for next time? alot of fixed iron to clip on that route.
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Aug 22, 2005 - 04:49pm PT
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Bobmarley and Mei--
Sorry about that vague beta. Although I've done the route various times, it's been like 25 years so I must have forgotten some of the fine points. Anyhow, I DO remember this much.
After that 5.11A stemming pitch, the route jogs straight right. There were a few bolts and fixed pins in the Afro Cuban flake, and just below a few feet were some grainly rounded traverse holds that also followed a line leading directly right. I remember cranking across the high line till I clipped a few pieces then angling slightly right and down across those lower holds--basically not sticking to either the high (5.12) or the lower (5.11) line exclusively. At the end of the traverse there's the seam running through a small roof. There's no good place to rest here and you have to quickly slot the best wire (small and sketchy) you can get and crank through on fingertip locks to easier climbing a few body lengths above. The pro is bunk right there but I had some good stuff up and left and figured if I ripped, that stuff would hold. But you do have to go for it, no doubt. I think if you stay too low you won't get enough pro to go for it, so as far as leading this pitch, staying high might be a bit harder but far less risky. You can traverse acros, but not really get gear, in those "death flakes," so you gotta clip some stuff in the high line and then go for it down low and hope you don't blow.
JL
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Mei
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Aug 22, 2005 - 09:11pm PT
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Largo, No, your beta was not vague. Thank you (and everyone else on this thread, and on this website while I'm at it) for all the beta you have kindly offered.
Beta is beta -- they are usually offered with good intention and to the best knowledge of the author. But then beta is beta -- they are just some textual or graphical description of the author's personal experience under a certain circumstance. The author might see things you don't see, and vice verse. A hand crack for him might be a fist crack for you. When it comes to the usage of beta, I dearly believe in an unspoken rule -- the use of the beta is solely done at your own discretion and risk. Hmm...I will not even mention how I turned a four mile approach to Mt. Conness to a twelve mile approach with beta from four different sources. Ooops, did I just say it?
We found a topo on C-H right below Belay #4. It is neatly hand drawn and laminated and offers some descriptive beta. For example, for the pitch below the Afro-Cuban Flakes at the double roof, it says "5.11a or A1, chump". For Pitch 15, it says "Ain't nothing!" :-D
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robmo
Gym climber
San Francisco
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Aug 24, 2005 - 02:18pm PT
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Ah, you found one of our new SuperDope-o's. My partner dropped one somewhere on the route, and now I know where.
Another interesting aspect of our day on the C-H was that I forgot a belay device. I poked through all of the fallen stuff around the base until I found an ATC someone had dropped. Worked like a charm.
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Mei
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Aug 24, 2005 - 03:14pm PT
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[robmo] Another interesting aspect of our day on the C-H was that I forgot a belay device. I poked through all of the fallen stuff around the base until I found an ATC someone had dropped. Worked like a charm.
Talk about "Worked like a charm." Before I reached the top of Pitch 4, I found this piece of white plastic on a small ledge. Thought it was trash, so I simply stuffed it into my pocket and continued up. Then when I was bringing my partner up, I saw his topo fall out of his pocket when he was making a high step right above that same ledge. Uh-oh. Anyway, while switching leads, I took the plastic out of my pocket just to check what exactly it was. I was amazed to find out that it was another copy of the topo, better than what he was carrying. :-D
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Sep 21, 2005 - 09:17am PT
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John, when did Pete Livesy die? (And how, if it is not in bad taste to ask)
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426
Sport climber
Obed
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Sep 21, 2005 - 09:35am PT
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IIRC, Herbert told me that Chessman was executed on the day of the FA...
/ campfire lore
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Sep 21, 2005 - 11:56am PT
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Here's a short blurb from a British journal.
PETE LIVESEY
Rock climber, fell-runner, athlete, caver, canoeist and orienteer: Pete Livesey reached great heights in all of these sports. An outdoor pursuits lecturer at Ilkley College, he took up orienteering in his 40's and within two years was topping the M45 rankings in Britain. He also had a remarkable record as a fell runner, including four consecutive top ten placings in the Karrimor Mountain Marathon. He died of cancer on February 26th, 1998.
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland, CA
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Feb 27, 2014 - 08:34pm PT
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Bummmmmmp
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snowhazed
Trad climber
Oaksterdam, CA
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Did the route yesterday- so BUMP
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Karl, your comment on the approach makes me feel better. I never had trouble getting to the base of the Steck-Salathe or the West Face, but I have yet to find a ropeless route to the base of any of the routes left of Steck-Salathe.
Caryl Chessman died in the gas chamber in 1960, several years before the FA of the C-H. He was executed for kidnapping (he allegedly forced his rape victims into his car, which was technically kidnapping. Rape was never a capital offense in California). I was still in third grade, but I vividly remember the cover of Time magazine with his face and the green gas chamber looming behind.
While on death row, he wrote several best sellers.
John
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crankster
Trad climber
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Man, I'm a wimp. Took 1 1/2 days...but it was '76.
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