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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 22, 2008 - 06:50pm PT
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We got into a discussion of the Porcelain Wall in Aaron’s 2007 climbing season thread, but that doesn’t seem like the right place to continue. So, now we have a thread to discuss all things Porcelain, and what it’s like to be that bull in the china shop.
The Porcelain Wall (Half Dome’s little brother) got its name from Harding’s original route, “Porcelain Wall.” In the mid-80s a huge rockfall ripped down the wall, decimating everything in the vicinity of the base. Today, there are seven different routes on the wall, two of which have been repeated. Until 2006, when Aaron, Nick, and Dave each climbed a different line, the wall had never seen a second ascent. It was the wall of no repeats, the wall of obscurity.
Half Dome and the Porcelain Wall from the Valley floor.
Half Dome and the Porcelain Wall from the summit of Washington Column.
The following are the seven routes on the Porcelain Wall, from left to right:
 Luminescent Wall – Walt Shipley and John Barbella, 1987
Sky is Falling – Eric Kohl and Bryan Law, 1998
Porcelain Wall – Warren Harding, Steve Bosque, and Dave Lomba, 1976
When Hell Was in Session – Eric Kohl and Pete Takeda, 1995
House of Cards – Dave Turner, 2006
Strange World – Bryan Law and Eric George, 1999
Sargantana – Silvia Vidal and Pep Massip, 1997
Looking up from the base.
Until recently, there hasn’t been much talk about this prominent, yet obscure wall.
Mungeclimber started a thread about Sky is Falling a little while ago:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=527410
Here’s where we began:
Aaron’s thread:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=540846
Minerals:
Hey, you climbed the Porcelain Wall in 2006, at the same time as Dave and Nick, right? That wall went seven years since the last ascent and there were no second ascents until you guys went up there. Do you know anything about Dave’s route? Have you seen a topo? Where does it start and where does it go? How many holes? What did you think of Strange World? Got any other Porcelain info that you would like to share with us? Nice job up there!
Hey Nick, are you out there? Got any stories for us?
aaronj:
minerals-yeah the porcelain rocked! one of my fav solo experiences, thanks for putting up such a stellar route! strange world was rad, by far the most natural route ive done, only 30 holes on the route and almost every belay had 2-3 bolts. the right or flight was hard but i still coulda chopped one rivet! steep as f*#k and good aid. 9 days on route with tons of storms.
i don't know much about daves route but i know the hole count was less than when hell was in session.
it was awesome to be up there with nick simul soloing right next to me. great wall but i totally botched the descent and ended up on the wrong side of the falls in spring and had to back track and wander around for hours dying of lack of beer and ice cream.
nicolamartinez:
Yo guys, I´ts been I while since I posted here last time... Yeah, we had lot´s of fun on the Porcelain Wall. We went up there once with no gear to check the aproach, Aaron still had his gear on the top of El Cap, he climbed Native Son... Me and Dave started hiking our loads to the base, set up a nice base camp to the right side of the wall... Got all the water we needed from a snow bank and started fixing. Dave´s route, House of Cards, starts by Sargantana... I fixed till pitch 4, Kohl and Takeda´s anchors had just the bolts, no hangers, the first and second pitches were all mossy and wet, the upper pitches on the slab were kinda hard, specially the one before the tree. a bunch os blind beaks a couple of rivets and a huge hook traverse, it didn´t end there, I still had to bust some free moves on a loose flake and trhow a sling on the loose tree, it took me 4 or 5 tries to get the job done, once I climbed up the small tree I had to throw another sling on the stronger tree and hoping not to take a whipper on the slab, that wouldn´t be nice. Dave decided to wait for his friend Matt while Aaron and myself kept moving camp... From the tree above the thing got very steep, I had to climb the tree and get to the first rivet, as the thing got higher my biggest concern was to fall on the tree. The A4 pitch was also scary and higher up I got to this wide, loose, massive and sharp blocks pointing at me and hollow... The A5 pitch was short, about 35 or 40 meters, felt good on it, some loose and flaky rock to get to the bottom of the big roof. A couple of pitches of blank rock and a massive rivet ladder, good job for those drillers, I had a hard time hooking the hangers with the tip of my fingers and on the top step of my aiders. The highlight of the route was the Yellow Planaria feature, got really strong updrafts that day, my ropes were flying over my head and my bags were going all over making things harder... Oh that yellow feature, 60 meters of a big suffer fest. the corner was blind I almost ran out of blades and beaks, I fell on a fixed head 3 moves from the anchor, it was getting dark and I didn´t, I thought I was going for the big ride but an upside down knifeblade, somethimes I thank God I was born lightweight, had to jummar up back to the pice hoping for the thing not to pop, replaced the head and got to the anchor, this one was alright, all the hangers were there, I decided to clean in the dark, forgot my water bottle and had to clean and haul with my mouth dry as f*#k... Got the day off the next day to enjoy the view and my body was really sore. f*#king smashed my finger placing a circle head to get to the big ledge. Got a storm and couldn´t really climb again. The pitch above the ledge started with a big traverse on a big flake nad going up some rivets and a bunch of hooks climbing the "death block" to get to the anchor. Last pitch was just hard topping out, everything was wet. Couldn´t really see much up there, was foggy and snowing. Misse the trail on the descent, Aaron toped out 2 days before I did and the same thing happened to him, I spent 9 hours with a 80lbs bag on my back, I always overload myself, got to the other side of the falls, could see the tourists but couldn´t traverse, was a big epic, but I lived, oh yeah when I got to the bus stop they were not running anymore, had to walk one more mile to Curry and hitchhiketo camp 4. The monkeys sent. Peace you all and sorry if it was too detailed pitch by pitch. Good job for the firs ascenters, that was one oh the hardest things I´ve climbed. Fun though.
http://www.nicolamartinez.blogspot.com
http://www.susannalantz.com RIP 03/18/2008
aaronj:
that was great fun wasnt it nick? we had a supergood hang at the base. the snow melt gave us all our water so that was good. i remember watchig nick try and get to the tree, throwing a cam on a long sling while pimping a layback! i was way gripped watching that! remember when i dumped the ledge after blasting and lost the bong in the bergschrund! the sewer pitch was running with so much water drowning was a concern. i got totally hosed becuz my stuff was on the summit of el cap still after an april solo of native son. i went back to get it right after topping out and the fixed lines were gone! so i tried to do the falls trail but the snow was over my head. no dice. went back up to the east ledges with a borrowed rack and rope to try and climb the east ledges but luckily cedar and renan were fixing it! then i could contiue my shuttle of gear directly from the summy of el cap to the base of the porcelain. i believe it was like a 5 day turnaround!
nicolamartinez:
Nice one Aaron... Thank´s for the add´s on the TR bro, so much to say... That was a sick ascent for all of us... It was epic for Aaron to rescue his bags from the top of el cap, I remember watching you on Native Son from the meadow, you weren´t moving cause of that storm... Remember you got your bags from the top and hiked to the base of the Porcelain to join us, you were psyked and not f*#king around... The ringtale cats were there, The tube of fun. You dropped your device and went all the way down to get it, I´m glad you found. You found Eric Kohls beak with his initials on. Aaron kept falling and screaming like a mofo, the placement didn´t want to stick, but you kept trying and got things done. The huge blocks we dropped from up there, there was one that even hit your haul bag... Lot´s of storms... Hope to simul solo something again, was thinking on going highr up and move camp to half dome. Peace and keep adding memories from the good seasons. N
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Aaron, it’s great to hear that you enjoyed Strange World and I really appreciate your nice comments; that makes my day! That route is probably my favorite of all time and the one that I am most proud of. Nice job of soloing it! There was only one rivet on the “Right or Flight” pitch, if I remember correctly… after the string of beaks off of the belay and a dicey hook move. Is that the one? I was probably gripped, hanging on that hook! I always thought that Eric’s (George) pitches were harder. He led the wickedly steep second-to-last pitch with “The Hand” and I was gripped just cleaning it. What did you think of that pitch? “Agent Orange” was my favorite pitch (and probably still is…).
Nick, I just got sucked into your blog website for who knows how long… You’ve got some great photos on there! Sweet shots of your El Cap climbs! And your Porcelain video is awesome! Way cool! I watched it three times and the music is good. Funny to see Clay Wadman’s handwriting (phone number) on the topo… You guys got the topo from “Obscurities”, Chris got the topo from Clay, and Clay got the topo from Eric? Ah, the life of a topo… You did a great job with the video and nice job on getting the second ascent of an ominous route!
“…what you call… steepness…” Classic!!!
Check out Nick’s video here:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=16064387
Well, that ought to get us going. I have a bunch of photos of the two routes that we did as well as some text that I wrote a while back, but it’s all in storage. Maybe I can grab it and plug my computer in at another friend’s house this weekend where I get a wireless signal.
For starters, here’s Klaus doing his best Batman impersonation on the second-to-last pitch of Sky is Falling. Note the triangular summit block – the Diving Board.
(Edited post to add more photos)
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 22, 2008 - 06:53pm PT
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Where's Dave?
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aaronj
Big Wall climber
KY
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Feb 22, 2008 - 07:19pm PT
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dude the hand was the gnar. it took me 4 hours spread over 2 days to climb the single move off the thumb. the inside of the palm was chimneying and awkward aid. off the thumb i placed a s.o. angle up n a roof flake. from this placement i was forced to top step out a roof to BARELY place my longest LA 1/4" upside down in a rooflet. it failed time and time again. i couldn't stand the daisy falls after the first 2 hours and built an anchor and rapped for the day. in the AM i jugged back up to the piece and took another 2 hours of daisy falls. my skydiving instructor perry noticed a curve in my spine after this. finally got it to stick and sent the pitch. gnarly sh#t man.
the right or flight only had the one rivt and youre out on beaks and heads facing a factor 2 fall but the hook is right above the rivet. its original so i left it. the rest of the pitch was tied off pins, hurps and drilled horizontal hooking to expanding cams to reach the anchor. pretty hard and i think that youd hit the ramp if you fell, breaking something from a huge whipper.
broke a rib cleaning the lawnmower pitch. lower out and dont jump off folks. i also HOOKED grass. i equalized two hooks pounded in grass and step upto a twig of a tree! threw the chunk of grass off after i used it!
the red and black was sick! super steep, good aid.
agent orange was cool solutionpockets or something and was weird cam placments, took a 20 ftr near the top of that one when a beak blew. 14 heads and beaks in a row and a 2 head held the fall. weathered good storms under the 4 roof bivi. winds strong enough to blow me AND the haulbags up off the anchor.
i got shut down on the upper slab in a storm as i could't climb 5.7 slab in the rain. had to rap back to the bags and hangout for another day.
ripped a TON of small flakes on the topout while hooking. blew screamers on beaks and fell on rivets. missed a bat hook and ended up enhancing OR chiseling hooks to get past the spot. not proud of it and someone should fill it. but i felt i had to do it.
got super lost on the descent. took the gully between broderick and liberty cap to the wrong side of the falls in raging conditions. tourists were 15 ft from me and i couldnt get there. had to reclimb 5th class with a load, traverse the slabs, throw my haulbag off a small cliff and down climb a waterfall to get back to the bridge. i was very happy to run into tom evans, dave and matt back at the lodge. great time on the wall and partying at the base.
dave is headed to the states in a week i believe. he is in chile.
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Double D
climber
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Feb 22, 2008 - 09:07pm PT
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Man that wall is pretty looking! Thanks for the pictures.
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T2
climber
Cardiff by the sea
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Feb 22, 2008 - 09:56pm PT
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F*#king awesome thread and photos!!!
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yo
climber
The Eye of the Snail
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Feb 22, 2008 - 10:04pm PT
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Turner's partner on that route lurks in here sometimes. He'd probably spray it down for us when he rolls in.
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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Feb 22, 2008 - 10:06pm PT
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Great Stuff!
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Mimi
climber
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Feb 22, 2008 - 10:22pm PT
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Awesome! Thanks for the thread. Was reading my old journal the other night and came upon, 7/19/87 backed off of Hollow Flake, 7/20 brunch, hiked up to Porcelain Wall with Walt and Bar. So cool to see these pics!
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Feb 22, 2008 - 10:51pm PT
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Amazing!!!!
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Feb 22, 2008 - 11:42pm PT
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thx for sharing the photos Klaus, great colors on the stone there.
thx Min for starting the thread.
fires the imagination
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Feb 23, 2008 - 12:07am PT
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Nicola, these are completely amazing photos.....we just dont’ see this point of view in climbing and mountaineering. Although clearly we should. Spectacular humanism. I always wondered what this wall looked like, too. Thanks to Klaus. Really good stuff, people.
PH
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2008 - 12:08am PT
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A true wall master in his element – Eric Kohl doing some “not-so-hippie” hooking... This is the traverse pitch (p. 12 – see Klaus photo above) of Sky Is Falling, where we diverged from the Harding route and went left; Harding drilled straight up from this point (mega blank). Klaus thought this section of the wall was cut by a thin horizontal crack and we were hoping for a dreamy blade traverse. When I got to the belay of the previous pitch I looked across the wall and there was no crack. Uh, oh… “Hey, your pitch is blank!” I yelled. Klaus was not happy to hear this. I’ve got a story ‘bout that for later… The next day, he managed to make some sense of some randomly dispersed features and ended up with a pretty wild pitch with a few rivets, lots of hooking, some penjis and tensions, and some effort. At one point, after a desperate penji that took several attempts, he struggled to get a hook to stick; I could tell that this section was hard because things aren’t difficult for Klaus very often. It’s a privilege to belay him and watch him work.
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elcap-pics
climber
Crestline CA
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Feb 23, 2008 - 12:10am PT
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Thanks for the posts all you guys... this is what wall climbing is about folks.... love to read about it from the horses mouths!
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2008 - 12:37am PT
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More on pitch 12…
On that traverse pitch, Klaus placed a #1 blade straight up into the top of that jagged-flake-looking-thing (the high-point of the rope in Klaus’ pic). When I got to it, I carefully lowered out from it. Later, after I finished cleaning the pitch, Klaus says something like… “Damn, I didn’t think that blade was going to hold you!” (I outweigh him by at least 45 to 50 pounds.) This was after I already had to take a big swing (more than expected) because the rivet hanger popped off of the first rivet while he was doing a penji and I didn’t have an extra lower-out line. Woohoo!!!
Nick, those pics are sweet! Thanks for posting them! In your second pic, the mid-80s rock scar is visible as the large patch of cleaner, slightly darker gray rock in the center of the wall above. That whole section (to the left of the huge roof) that is surrounded by wide flakes cut loose. And of course, Klaus wanted to climb right through it. You bagged yourself a proud second ascent there, solo.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Feb 23, 2008 - 01:48am PT
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there must be more...keep the pics comin'
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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Feb 23, 2008 - 03:16am PT
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really bitchen' Klaus
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nicolamartinez
Big Wall climber
Brazil
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Feb 23, 2008 - 09:12am PT
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Aaron, Dave and Amee at Base Camp
Hanging up there
Getting close to the trees
Aaron´s camp on Strange World
When Hell was in Session´s A5 pitch
First rivet ladder, right above the roof
Pitch 7 anchor
Dave Turner climbing the first pitches on the FA of House of Cards
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Feb 23, 2008 - 11:40am PT
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Great photos and stories of an amazing and exciting big wall!
How bad is the approach?
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aaronj
Big Wall climber
KY
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Feb 23, 2008 - 12:46pm PT
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sweet pics, the yellow planaria must be the coolest feature out there.
the approach is just like the slabs to h-dizzle. after the first ropes bust right up dirt hill, traverse right and go up a grarly talus slope andd enjoy the trundling!
super sweeet pics klaus!
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Feb 23, 2008 - 01:05pm PT
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I've been lusting at that Planaria feature for years. It just speaks to you.
Too high an admission cost though and you just had to wonder "why only one or two unrepeated routes on that wall?:
Wonder what the next wall to suddenly get interest? Will we ever get around to Panorama Cliff?
Peace
Karl
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2008 - 01:45pm PT
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Here’s a link to the Obscurities pdf that includes topos for When Hell Was in Session, Strange World, and Sargantana:
http://www.supertopo.com/topos/yosemite/obscurities.pdf
Klaus and I never released a topo for Sky is Falling.
Aaron, you certainly are determined! Hey, did you climb to the right of “The Hand” and behind it, or to the left and outside of it? Eric climbed to the left, onto the features shown in the topo.
Yeah, the “Right or Flight” pitch was pretty cool. I remember when Eric was cleaning it and got to the last circlehead before the hooking section. He had to commit to the #2 circlehead and then lower-off of it. If it blew, he was going into the ramp. I assured him that it was bomber… :)
You hooked GRASS??? LOL!!! Damn!! That pitch was kind of groveler, aye?
Don’t worry about missing that bat-hook – I’m not. That should be yet another lesson to first ascentionists that drilling bat-hook holes on totally blank rock is just dumb.
Klaus had the descent wired because Epperson figured it all out to get his photo gear up to the top of the wall in ’95 to shoot Klaus and Pete. We made it down pretty easily, both times.
Great pics, Klaus! Got more?
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2008 - 02:20pm PT
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This is “Agent Orange”, pitch 9 of Strange World, Eric George cleaning. I loved this pitch – favorite of all time. We were going to try some weird cam-on-the-end-of-a-cheater-stick to get the first placement, but it didn’t work. So I went left instead and made a huge reach back right, to get into the main corner. This pitch ate up a bunch of thin to medium pins and beaks. There is a horizontal wide crack to the right of Eric (climber's right) in the above photo. This must be the area with solution pockets that you referred to, Aaron. I remember taking a lunch break on a beak, before the wide section, and called down for the wide cams and an OE. I choked down half of a Clif bar and slammed the OE. Woohoo, nothing like a little refreshment in the middle of an all-day lead! I climbed up to the wide crack, buzzed and feeling like I owned the world. To my surprise, the crack was filled with several cool minerals – epidote, tourmaline, and a bunch of pink feldspar. The geologist in me was psyched to see such cool stuff in the middle of a wall and I was hooting and hollerin’ like I was flying on the moon. That was so great!
The last section of the pitch was a little tricky – a bunch of #2 and #3 heads that were awkward to place and then a big reach to the right, to slot a #3 head into the bottom of a flake that was slightly expanding. The next placement was an aluminum #2 head that I pounded into a wedge-shape before carefully slotting it above. It held! I then enhanced a #2 placement (the crack blanked out here) and then got a beak, a rurp, and then more beaks. I got to a logical spot for a belay under a series of roofs and called down for the bolt kit, while hanging from another beak. The tag line and the bolt kit seemed really heavy and I was a little worried that the beak would pop with the additional weight. But I was so exhausted and my brain was so numb that it didn’t really matter. I was cooked and just wanted to open another beer and get the belay finished so that I could start hauling. It’s days like these that make getting into your portaledge so nice!
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Feb 23, 2008 - 02:40pm PT
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not that I have any business being up there but I did notice the sublety
"released"
;)
killer thread and pics bump
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Feb 23, 2008 - 03:43pm PT
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extracted from obscurities.pdf for easier viewing here:
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Feb 23, 2008 - 04:07pm PT
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Eric and Brian are the yosemite wall care takers!
you are a big inspiration to me.
so let's have a safety session.
thanks for the pic's
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aaronj
Big Wall climber
injured reserve
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Feb 23, 2008 - 04:33pm PT
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sweet agent orange pic! porcelain is by far the most beautiful wall in the park. so many colors on a STEEP white wall.
i went right and behind the hand. i bootied your nut on this pitch. i saw once on the thumb that it was way better to go left. hard pitch for me and f*#king painful.
i bootied that nut, a river hanger, and a goofy KB painted purple with your initials on the secong pitch.
agent orange was awesome. to think about it though every pitch had something rad. except for the lawnmower which blows. RUNNING with water, slime filled my boots and my hands were pruny by the end of the lead.
i totally forgot about trundling on my stuff nick! dave filmed me do that penji and dropped my cam hook on him, not that any uses that crap anyway. then i trundled, for my own safety of course, that flake and it totally hit my bags out on the haul line below me. i almost core shot the line! totally worth it.
that wall was a blast. tons of ledge time due to storms. i had 20 days of storms out of 50 wall days in 2006. but i starting climbing walls in february with the straw so i guess thats what you get!
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Feb 23, 2008 - 06:50pm PT
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Klaus,
Here's my best guess on an overlay photo, using the topos:
Probably better to draw them in yourself! Here's a cropped version of Nicola's photo:
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Feb 24, 2008 - 01:52pm PT
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Really nice thread fellas,
You don't see up close and personal shots of the Porcelain too often, if at all.
Thanks for the cool Supertopo rarity.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Feb 24, 2008 - 02:52pm PT
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Wow! Nick's blog is fantastic! Tons and tons of Yosemite climbing photos. And the Porcelain video is definitely worth watching.
So what's the best time of year to climb Porcelain Wall? I guess the trick is to make sure you can get snowmelt, to avoid bringing up water - is that what you guys did? If you had to choose an approximate time of year to climb, after the weather has warmed up in the spring-summer but before the snow has melted, when would you go?
Kate! Are you paying attention here? Despite always having loved the look of that yellow Planarian, I'm kinda thinking "orange" might be the colour of choice...
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Stanley Hassinger
climber
Eastern US
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Feb 24, 2008 - 03:40pm PT
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Pete,
How did you get to Nick's blog? Clicking on the link only took me to the photo.
SH
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Feb 24, 2008 - 05:30pm PT
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Try this, Stan. Got it from Bryan's first post:
http://www.nicolamartinez.blogspot.com
It's quite huge with lots of photos, and could take a while to load. Hey Nick, can you not bust it up into pages?
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nicolamartinez
Big Wall climber
Brazil
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Feb 24, 2008 - 07:52pm PT
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Hey Pete, thank´s for the comments on the blogsite and I wish I had the knowlege to do it, But I don´t do really good with this type of stuff, I´ll get someone to help me out at some point though. I think the best time to be up there is around april/may, there is still snow around the weather starts getting better... I have to thank my brother Dave Turner a lot, cause he always inspired me and got me psyked on a new adventure... When he climbed the Reticent I did Mescalito, when he climbed Tempest I did the Sea with Scottie Vincik, ( that´s when he got caught on that big storm and had to stay for 5 days on his ledge a pitch and a half from the summit ), my first wall pushes, Zodiac ( Dave Nick and Walt ) and NA ( Rich, Eric Sloan, Walt and Dave ), when I did Tempest the was putting ou Atlantis... Lot´s of good memories and respect for the man. He put up a beautiful line up there, "House of Cards" with his friend Matt. Worth checking it out, no second ascents yet... Hope you´re all doing good, I´ll be back in april for some more... Peace. Nick
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Stanley Hassinger
climber
Eastern US
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Feb 24, 2008 - 08:46pm PT
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Thanks, Pete. Great blog, Nick! Loved the pictures.
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nicolamartinez
Big Wall climber
Brazil
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Feb 24, 2008 - 09:08pm PT
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One more day inside my ledge, hooking pitch was fixed and another storm rolled in... The only big ledge on the headwall, it´s like a big avenue... Diving board on the background
Peace
N
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Feb 24, 2008 - 10:07pm PT
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Thanks, Nick. Dave is a great source of inspiration, isn't he? When I'm up on the wall, I frequently hear him on the radio - also up on the wall - giving advice and beta to the wannabe's on the ground.
Dave: "So look, it's gonna take you longer than you think, but no worries. Grab yourself a few extra cans of ravioli and a couple extra gallons of water, and go send!"
April or May up at Porcelain? Brrrrrr.......
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Gagner
climber
Boulder
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Feb 25, 2008 - 10:55am PT
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Bill Crouse and I did the 2nd ascent of the Luminescent Wall in 1989, I think that was the year. In my opinion walls are like real estate -location, location, location. And the Porcelain Wall is in a very, very cool location - great views of Half Dome from the side, and the rest of the upper valley. Also, topping out is interesting - the wall goes from overhanging to kicked back in the other direction - fun to haul the last pitch.
Paul
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 25, 2008 - 12:35pm PT
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Well…… So much for the wall of no second ascents until 2006!!! Thanks for posting, Paul.
More photos to follow at some point here…
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nicolamartinez
Big Wall climber
Brazil
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Feb 26, 2008 - 02:44pm PT
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This photo was taken when I was on the top of th Planaria feature... The only wet part was where Dave was climbing. I don´t remember when we blasted, could you help me Aaron? It didn´t look like Klaus photo, but the wall drips in the morning... Peace. N
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 26, 2008 - 03:30pm PT
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Ha! That was a good one, aye Klaus? “Ron Faucet.” My T-shirt was never the same after that. Mungeclimber, this pitch should be right up your alley, along with “The Lawnmower Pitch”…
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Feb 26, 2008 - 03:33pm PT
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Wow, really nice, Bryan.
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 26, 2008 - 03:37pm PT
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Ah, yes, the “Death Splitter”… The overview Porcelain photos that I posted above were taken in 1995 (not 1999… ooops…) and if you look at the lower section of the wall, you can see that there is a lot more rock than there is in the photo that Klaus posted above. The two lower flakes and the huge block above all fell off between the time that I took the pictures above (1995) and when we climbed the route (1998). And yeah, as Klaus mentioned earlier in the thread, our fixed line on the first pitch was chopped by rockfall within a two-day period. No wonder they call it “porcelain”…
Thanks, Clint.
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 26, 2008 - 04:28pm PT
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That’s a great photo of Walt, Klaus. I doubt that any of us would have gone up on that wall if it weren’t for him. I wish that I had the chance to get to know him better.
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 26, 2008 - 04:55pm PT
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Bump… to get us to the next page so that this page doesn’t get overloaded with the photobomb that I’m about to drop…
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 26, 2008 - 04:57pm PT
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We’ve kept pretty quiet about the Porcelain Wall for several years now and I have tried to not say anything here on ST or post any photos. I always figured that I’d save my photos for a magazine article or something like that. But ya know, I really don’t feel like dealing with editors and their power to change things… and what good does it do to keep something a secret? If there ever was a time when we “let the cat out of the bag” here on ST, then this is it. Here’s what I’ve got!
These photos don’t look quite the way I’d like, but I’m still figuring out the whole scanning and tweaking thing and have a hard time with the differences in the way an image looks from monitor to monitor – my old laptop is kinda dead so sometimes the images appear to be oversaturated on newer monitors… I may have to redo some if they look like crap. Time for a new computer soon… Sky is Falling pics to follow later.
FA of STRANGE WORLD, August, 1999
Monkeys at the base – Troy Johnson, Captain Kirk, and Eric George.
EG on the lower section of pitch 6.
Haulbags and BL cleaning pitch 6. Photo by Eric George.
BL cleaning pitch 6, “The Red and Black.” Photo by Eric George.
Looking up at EG at belay 6 in the afternoon.
EG at belay 6.
Looking down on EG at belay 6 in the morning.
EG cleaning the beginning of pitch 7, “Right or Flight.”
EG cleaning the traverse, pitch 7.
EG, almost to the belay, pitch 7.
EG starting out on hooks and a head, pitch 8.
EG nailing on pitch 8.
BL cleaning pitch 8. Photo by Eric George.
Hardware and BL cleaning pitch 8. Photo by Eric George.
EG cleaning pitch 9, “Agent Orange.”
EG chillin’ at belay 10 with lots of air below.
BL and hammer on pitch 11. Photo by Eric George.
Sunset.
Here are a few shots of us up on the wall that “Ansel” Evans took from the Valley floor. Thanks Tom!
EG at belay 6, above “The Red and Black.” Photo by Tom Evans.
EG at belay 6 and BL drilling the third bolt hole at belay 7, after the “Right or Flight.” Photo by Tom Evans.
EG at belay 8 and BL cleaning. Photo by Tom Evans.
Special thanks to Mark Miller for all of the computer time to get this thread started (and for spoiling me with his flat-screen mega-monitor) and to my dirt bike buddy Brock for letting me hang out in his house for the last few days to scan slides, tweak ‘em and post ‘em. Thanks, guys!
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Gene
climber
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Feb 26, 2008 - 05:02pm PT
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Brilliant!
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Feb 26, 2008 - 05:33pm PT
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i have nothing else to say. those are great.
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Gagner
climber
Boulder
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Feb 26, 2008 - 05:45pm PT
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Great shots - and cool to see Troy. The reason Bill and I did Luminescent is because Troy and I had done several new pitches on Half Dome on what became Shadows. Unfortuately we ran into several closed corners, and didn't feel like doing a drill-fest, so we bailed - we jokingly started calling the route the Big Drill.
So I had gear already stashed up at the base of HD that Bill and I just moved down to the Porcelan wall. Bridwell went up and finished the route on HD as Shadows the next year.....
It's great to see the Porcelan getting some coverage - I've always felt it was an under-appreciated, cool wall.
Paul
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 26, 2008 - 06:00pm PT
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The following is a piece that I wrote for an English class at UNR in 2000. It is my account of a day on the Porcelain, August 20th, 1999, when Eric George and I were working on Strange World.
Porcelain Wall – Day 6, “Agent Orange”
Sensing light, an eye slowly opens. I awake from sleep. My body is stiff and tired though warm and comfortable. My hands resist opening. I want to sleep but morning has come and it is light out. Unzipping my sleeping bag, I begin to move, accepting the inevitable. The morning ritual begins as I take off my fuzzy hat to put on my glasses. I look up at Eric’s natural belay (no bolts) consisting of six cams of differing sizes, placed in a short section of a small corner. Although it is probably fine, the belay scares me and I am glad that we did not become part of a twisted and mangled mess of gear at the base, sometime during the night. I roll over and gaze down into space, enjoying the sensation. Thin flakes covered with bright orange lichen drop below my portaledge then disappear out of sight as the wall steepens. Far below, a massive slab rises from the base, mimicking the face of a large dam. The trees appear small but they are large. The August air is cool and still. Sunlight begins to warm the valley floor but we are in the shade and will be until two o’clock.
Eric is awake. “Hey, how’s it goin” I ask him.
“Oh, it’s goin. How ‘bout you” he replies.
“I’m alright”. I make my way out of my sleeping bag, kneel over the edge of my purple portaledge and pee into the void. I find the brown-paper bags, select one and roll the top edge over. I adjust my daisy length, drop my leg-loops and pants, then hang my ass in space and sh#t into the bag. The bag is tossed and sails through the air with a fluttering sound. It begins to spin and then disappears from sight. Joe Satriani is selected for the morning wake up hour. I reach over and insert the tape into our seven-pound tune box and push “play”. For some, music is a necessity on walls. I then remove a can of fruit juice from a stuff-sack and sit down in my portaledge with my back against the wall. I enjoy the juice and relax, contemplating our position. We are eight pitches up Yosemite’s Porcelain Wall, climbing a new route in uncharted territory.
A breakfast of a bagel and cream cheese and a small can of fruit is drawn from the food bucket and slowly consumed. I put on my wall boots and stuff my sleeping bag and then reluctantly, leave the comforts of my portaledge to hang in my harness and aiders. The ledge is disassembled and put into its haul bag. I gather the rest of my bivi (bivouac) gear and start the annoying process of making all of it fit into my haulbag while hanging sideways in my harness. Nothing can be dropped. Eric does the same.
A beautiful left-facing corner soars above us. It is covered with orange and yellow lichen that hides the white granite and makes the wall look surreal and artificial. The corner curves to the left, traverses under a short roof and then continues up a sweep of steeper white rock. I try to estimate the size of the crack system by sight as I sort through piles of hardware, searching for the proper pieces. A 16 oz. Olde English 800 sits in my booze muffler and I sip as I sort, preparing for my lead. Finally, the procrastination ends. Eric puts me on belay. I “dawn” the rack (of hardware), grab the trail line and make my way above the belay. Faced with two choices of where to start, I try to reach the bottom of the corner to my right by duct-taping a small cam to the end of a tent pole section and forcing it into the crack. It does not work. Instead, I climb straight above the belay on a pin, a beak, and a couple heads, being careful not to fall on Eric and the belay. The thin crack ends but I find a small edge far to my right that I am able to hook after several attempts and much sideways strain. Now on the hook, I have great difficulty reaching back to the last head to unclip my aiders and daisy. I finally succeed.
The bottom portion of the corner where I had previously tried to start is cut by a horizontal crack and is detached from the wall. If our tent pole trick had worked, the force of the cam when weighted might have popped the two-ton orange block loose from the wall. Not good. I do not like the thought and it does not calm me. I place a cam above the crack and continue upward. Small particles of lichen float in the air and stick in my eyes and mouth as I scrub the crack with my nut tool. Most of the placements are relatively solid but occasionally, the crack narrows, accepting only thin pins and beaks. Now sixty feet above the belay, I am separated from Eric. I can barely hear the music and I drift into my own little world, conscious only of my immediate surroundings. Except for the sound of my hammer striking metal, the wall is quiet and peaceful. Solve the puzzle. Move upward. I am fueled by exhilaration, caught in a magical dreamland. Time passes quickly and is unnoticed.
By early afternoon, I am over half way up the pitch. The corner arches to the left and again, the crack thins. My smallest cams no longer fit in the shallow groove and I resort to a ball-nut. I then reach to the left and begin pasting a #3 circlehead straight up into the horizontal crack. Suddenly, the ball-nut shifts, making popping noises. The circlehead is expanding the crack and the ball-nut wants to let go. I immediately clip in my next pair of aiders and daisy to the circlehead as a pulse of adrenaline shoots through me. My mind races. I finish placing the circlehead and quickly test it. It holds. It isn’t great but at least I’m off the ball-nut. Another reach to the left and up finds me a decent beak placement and I am able to relax. I yell to Eric. “That was exciting!” I place two more solid beaks and decide to take a break.
The roof just above appears to be wide and I don’t have any big gear. “I need a #3 and #4 Camalot. Free biners. More beaks and small heads. Send me a beer too.” He prepares the gear and I grab the trail line and pull and pull. I am greeted by a new selection of hardware and a nice cold one. Life is good. Half of a Clif Bar (lunch) is washed down with Olde E and I clip the new gear to my rack. Rested and well buzzed, I am ready to finish the rest of the pitch. I hoot and holler into space, feeling like I could jump to the moon. One more beak placement brings me to the wide horizontal crack. Expecting to find a deep crack, my eyes pop with amazement as I see a shallow cavity filled with minerals. “Wow dude! There’s some really cool sh#t up here,” I yell. The cavity is lined with large clumps of epidote (green), biotite (black), potassium feldspar (pink), and quartz - a brilliant display of minerals hiding inside the wall. My psyche is further fueled by the discovery and I traverse the cavity with the large Camalots. Peering around the lip of the roof, I see a thin crack system that leans slightly to the left. The wall steepens and is now pure white, free of the lichen. I grunt and groan as I try to paste a #2 head into a small groove that is barely within reach. The move is awkward and I curse. “Cummon ya puss bucket. Get in there!” Eventually, I am satisfied with the placement and I get on it. I then place three Hybrids in a row where the crack flares; the placements are good.
Above me, I am faced with a workable groove that peters out to the left and a thin flake hanging above and right. “Mmm, it’s going to get fun” I think, and then smile. After placing four heads, I reach far to the right to touch the flake. It is barely within reach. I shape a #3 head into a wedge with my hammer and then, with much effort, place it into a tight slot at the bottom of the flake. Then a wedged #2 head, a chiseled #2 head, and a beak. The tip of a Rurp goes into a small horizontal crack to the left. I don’t like it but it is in the best spot within my reach. It flexes as I weight it. The beak seemed good and I think a head below might hold a fall; I try to calculate my position and look down at the string of pieces. “Wouldn’t want to blow it now,” I think to myself. “I guess it’s steep enough that I won’t hit anything,…but it would be a pretty good ripper… I don’t remember the rope going over any sharp edges.” I become more focussed as I think. “I want to get off of this damn Rurp.” The crack becomes crumbly and I have trouble getting a beak to stick. Thoughts of perishing enter my mind but I rule them out, based on the odds. I look at the base where I would hit and feel the exposure and ominous presence of vast space. I am alive as ever. Another beak sticks into the thin crack, bringing me within two placements of a set of tiered roofs. I have been on lead for eight hours but excitement pushes aside fear and exhaustion. The crack becomes more solid and I place two more beaks. Nearing the end of the rope, I decide to put the belay to my left, under the four roofs. I am happy to have finished the climbing but the pitch is not finished. The corners are blank and force me to drill bolts. “I’ll take the bolt kit now,” I tell Eric. “And make sure you put a beer in it. Gimmie some more biners and some water too.”
“OK. Ready to go,” he yells. The load is heavy and my arms become tired as I pull on the trail line. A second, heavier rope is also attached. I begin to wonder if the extra weight might pop the beak that I’m on. It seems good. I receive the gear and set to work, drilling a rivet. Fifteen minutes and a few sips later, I am on the rivet. Reset. Game over. Back to the safe zone. I am no longer in danger. I take off my rack and clip it to the rivet, glad to be rid of the weight. Another thirty minutes and I have drilled a bolt; my arms feel like they want to fall off. Briefly I rest. “One more bolt and I’m done. Just one more,” I tell myself. I continue to drill and swill in a laborious haze. Finally, after forty minutes, I have a second bolt placed. I clip the rope in. The belay is now complete. I quickly set up the wall hauler on the trail line. “Ready to haul,” I yell. A few moments later he replies.
“Ready to go.” I begin hauling the first load: the hardware bag, the tune box, and my portaledge. I sit down, the bags come up. Sit down. Stand up. Sit down. This slow process eventually brings the bags to me. I pause to rest, clip in the bags and then pull out the tune box. Iron Maiden now fills the air. “At least I can suffer and be happy,” I think. Eric’s haulbag and food bucket are hauled next and clipped in. The constant exertion drains my energy and my body hurts. I drink to numb the pain. Eric lowers out the last load containing my haulbag and food bucket. “Lead line is fixed,” I yell.
“Thank you.” He disassembles the belay and begins to clean the pitch. I haul my bag at a leisurely pace and soon, I have it in reach. It is clipped in. My day’s work is finally over. Exhausted, I get into the belay seat and slump over. My mind can now let go. I feel warm and happy and I rest. I am proud of what I have done.
The sun lies low on the horizon, illuminating the wall with a golden glow. It is eight o’clock. I regain enough energy to pull out my camera and shoot Eric as he cleans the pitch. Shade covers the valley and slowly works its way up the wall, following him. In the last light of the day, the rock shimmers in an intense array of vibrant colors. Oranges, yellows, grays, and whites fade into charcoal black streaks. Random shapes and lines create texture on the surface. It is a truly incredible sight. Shade swallows us as the sun drops below the horizon. The air cools quickly and I put my shirt back on. Eric arrives in time to put on his headlamp before dark and we pull out our nightly accoutrements. Nothing can be dropped. He sets up his portaledge but in my usual lazy fashion, I remain in the belay seat, content with semi-comfort. A random grab into my bag of cans reveals a can of Chef Boyardee Beef Ravioli. It looks good. Wall spoon in hand, I quickly devour it. The nourishment makes me feel better and I drink water (it is very easy to become dehydrated on a wall). I nibble on cheese and candy bars and another beer is opened. My five-gallon food bucket is filled with remaining goodies of all sorts, each in its own zip-lock bag. Fruit bars and candy bars, jelly beans and beef jerky. String cheese and pistachios, peanuts and cookies. I offer a few treats to Eric and he accepts. He drinks a Guinness, his first of the day. I close my food bucket and lower it back down to dangle. Comfort entices me and I decide to set up my portaledge. I take off my wall boots, un-stuff my sleeping bag and settle in to relax with a new selection of music. We exchange words about the day and the climbing and laugh.
Eric insists on another fireworks display and produces the night’s rations. An M-80 explodes below us, thundering down the valley; a small brick of firecrackers follows. I am entertained by the disruption but feel paranoia because of the attention possibly drawn. “Just as long as the Rangers don’t see it, I don’t care,” I tell him. He lights off a Roman Candle, shooting colored balls of fire into the air which sparkle as they fall. “I hope they don’t think we need a rescue,” I say. He laughs. More firecrackers flash in darkness, snapping and popping, the subject of innocent fun. I stare into the black, knowing the base is far away. We are perched in a position where only bats, birds, and insects live, far removed from civilization below. We challenge nature, not to conquer it but to experience it and feel its mighty power. We feel our vulnerability, as we are tiny creatures on an immense landscape, subject to nature’s discretion.
I finish my beer, squeeze the can between my fingers and toss it. Several seconds pass as it floats through space. “Tink,…..clank,…clank,…tink,.tink. It reaches the base. Kneeling over the portaledge tubing, I lean out and pee. I become drowsy and sink deep into my sleeping bag. Eric has expired, drifting into a dreamland. The air is calm and cool and distant worlds sparkle in the night sky. I take off my glasses, zip them away safely, and put on my fuzzy hat, thinking of what may lie beyond. I can now go back to sleep.
-Bryan Law, 2/27/00
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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Feb 26, 2008 - 06:20pm PT
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thanks B.
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aaronj
Big Wall climber
injured reserve
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Feb 26, 2008 - 06:22pm PT
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awesome photos and write up brian. nice to see those sick colors again!
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426
Sport climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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Feb 26, 2008 - 06:25pm PT
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fantabulous
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Laddie
Trad climber
Reno, NV
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Feb 26, 2008 - 08:04pm PT
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Great story. It's amazing to read what goes into one day of a big wall first ascent with such great detail.
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bringmedeath
climber
la la land
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Feb 26, 2008 - 08:20pm PT
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god, that is good looking!!!
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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Feb 26, 2008 - 11:20pm PT
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great seeing a pic of Troy Johnson whom I have not seen since, when was it? '89? summer of 90? what a fun guy to hang out with, we had a lot of laughs.
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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Feb 26, 2008 - 11:34pm PT
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Minerals
We just put the thread up on the 10 x 10 big screen in my classroom. Color looks good and the thread looks f*#king awesome. A couple of my students want to drop out and go to the Valley now. Nice work.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Feb 26, 2008 - 11:52pm PT
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Nice stuff Minerals, thanks!
Once upon a time, as a youth, my partner and I found ourselves epicing down North dome gully in the dark and we saw lights at the base of what was to become the Porcelain wall. First ascent related, whether a recon or a bivy before fixing or blasting, I don't know.
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 27, 2008 - 12:08am PT
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Yeah, this thread has been a lot of fun. Here are a few more.
FA of SKY IS FALLING, July, 1998
Klaus on the garden ledge, four pitches up, packing his precious cargo.
EK battling bushes. Not long after this photo was taken, while battling the upper bush in the photo, the cam that Klaus was hanging on popped and he went for a ride. He turned sideways in mid-whipper, hit the small ledge to his left in the photo, and finally stopped about ten feet above the main ledge. When the rope came tight, I was violently dragged several feet across the ledge. Klaus had smacked his head on the ledge part way through the ride; when he got back down to the ledge, I could see that he was bleeding. I was worried that he was hurt but he just wanted to sit down for a few minutes and take a couple of shots of vodka. Then, he got right back on lead. Later, he realized that he suffered a minor concussion in the fall. It amazed me that this didn’t slow him down much more than it did. Insert definition of “hardman” here.
EK cleaning pitch 6 in the evening.
EK nearing the belay on pitch 9.
Will it hold? EK and knifeblade, pitch 10.
More nailing, pitch 10.
EK checking out what lies above, pitch 10.
Beginning pitch 11; EK at belay 10.
Looking down on pitch 11 where we joined the Harding route. EK at belay 10. There were a few remnants on this part of the Harding route – a couple of z-mac rivets with plumber’s tape hangers… Yum, yum…
EK setting up his ledge at belay 10. When I yelled down to him that his traverse pitch was blank, he was bummed. By the time I had finished placing the belay bolts, it was getting late. He didn’t feel like cleaning the pitch in the dark and I didn’t want to have to jug back up and climb the pitch twice. So I hauled my bag and ledge and bivied above while Klaus bivied below.
Setting up his ledge.
The next morning: Going left where Harding went straight up.
Obligatory Klaus swilling pic, 24-ouncer, belay 12.
Portaledge chillin’ and rivet ladder on pitch 13.
The view from belay 13 – not bad.
Nice place to spend an afternoon…
Belay bolt and lichen, belay 13.
EK cleaning the final pin placements of the route. This was another great pitch – a couple of hook moves to beak seams that were connected by horizontal hook traverses, followed by a sweet bugaboo splitter to a cutter summit.
The summit anchor: two arrows and two bugaboos. The wall was still in the shade when I was finishing this pitch. I remember standing on the last pin and reaching up to grab the lip. I could feel the warmth of the sun on my fingers. A few more steps up in my aiders brought me to an incredible view of Half Dome and the high country of the Clark Range. Woohoo! What a summit!!! Later, while we were unpacking our haulbags, I encountered a stuff-sac that was buried in the bottom of my bag. “Ho, what’s this?”…I thought as I felt a couple of cold cylinders. Score two OEs that I had forgotten about, to contribute to our summit celebration!
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 27, 2008 - 12:14am PT
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Thanks - an excellent thread, one that will fit well in the putative index of classic threads. And some pretty amazing adventures and stories.
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Idaho
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Feb 27, 2008 - 12:14am PT
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That was a good one, eh, Minerals? Actually, though, they all are ....Troy & I dug going up to the base with you & EG, the strange world team. T'was a serious pile of oe's at the base there. Good days, good friends....
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Feb 27, 2008 - 12:40am PT
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Wow, thanks for taking the time to create all that and share it. The colors are dazzling and the trip report gives a great perspective on what it was like on your day on Agent Orange! Pretty darn cool.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Feb 27, 2008 - 12:53am PT
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Stunning!
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Shack
Big Wall climber
Reno NV
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Feb 27, 2008 - 02:07am PT
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Awesome pics Bryan, great story too.
I can't wait to see more.
Thanks for sharing.
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P.Kingsbury
Trad climber
Bozeman
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Feb 27, 2008 - 02:13am PT
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kick ass thread!!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Feb 27, 2008 - 10:42am PT
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Klaus,
Nice photo of Walt back there.
He may be gone, but I couldn't get him outa' me if I tried.
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nicolamartinez
Big Wall climber
Brazil
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Feb 27, 2008 - 12:01pm PT
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Yo BLaw, Really good job on the Agent Orange Report... Amazing photos and writting... Thank´s for putting this thread together.
Eric Kohl, nice photos from the FA´s. Proud send...
Peace you all... Nick
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Feb 27, 2008 - 01:38pm PT
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Wow! Great writing and photos, Bryan. Thanks for making what must have been a substantive effort putting this all together.
I can't believe you left the bit in about tossing beer cans and sh#t bags.
Klaus is insane to be up there without a helmet - he's lucky he didn't kill himself hitting that ledge. I would never climb on a big wall without a helmet - I have too few brains to spare.
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bringmedeath
climber
la la land
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Feb 27, 2008 - 04:58pm PT
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Is that whiskey in his bottle?
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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Feb 27, 2008 - 08:59pm PT
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beats politics and cat baths
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WBraun
climber
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Feb 27, 2008 - 09:04pm PT
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Great thread and awesome photos, thanks Brain and Eric.
Real good sh'it man ......
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mark miller
Social climber
Reno
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Feb 27, 2008 - 09:32pm PT
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Having met Klaus, I can say he is definitely the "Rat Terrier" type. You could kick him across the room and he'd still come back saying "is that all you got?". Warren was similar, as a brawler you could just tell these phuckers (even though 50lbs smaller) would be a long night..That's what made them hardmen fer sure!
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Idaho
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Feb 27, 2008 - 10:41pm PT
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Plus if you tell Klaus that he'll die without a helmet, he'll respond with 'so what's it to you?'.
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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Feb 27, 2008 - 11:39pm PT
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really is better than cat baths, politics and hiking.
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Idaho
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Feb 27, 2008 - 11:41pm PT
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Agreed, but cats are tasty, really...I never saw a stray in Korea.
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yo
climber
The Eye of the Snail
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Feb 28, 2008 - 12:08am PT
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sick
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Mimi
climber
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Feb 28, 2008 - 01:12am PT
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This wall has some staying power!
Love that red lichen. Thanks for the pics/TRs guys.
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
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Feb 28, 2008 - 11:08am PT
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Bump for beautiful lichenated evening radness. Thanks!
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Feb 28, 2008 - 11:11am PT
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Wow Bryan, thanks for sharing! Sick...
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Russ Walling
Social climber
Out on the sand.... man.....
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Feb 28, 2008 - 11:27am PT
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Good stuff!
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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Feb 28, 2008 - 07:45pm PT
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because 7/30 is a terrible ratio for front page of a climbing forum.
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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Feb 28, 2008 - 08:08pm PT
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now I know how _, , , _, and ___feel. the power is intoxicating.
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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Feb 28, 2008 - 08:11pm PT
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climbing 100. ___ 7
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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Feb 29, 2008 - 02:52am PT
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.....................
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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Feb 29, 2008 - 09:16pm PT
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page three! f*#king pundits!
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Stanley Hassinger
climber
Eastern US
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Feb 29, 2008 - 10:46pm PT
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To the three of you who simul solo'd the three routes in 2006:
Did you compare notes afterwards? Was any route superior? If so, which was best? Which worst? Why?
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Dirk
climber
Boulder, CO
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“At least I can suffer *and* be happy"
Rad.
Thanks for all the pics and stories, BLaw.
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aaronj
Big Wall climber
injured reserve
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something tells me that each one of us is gonna say our route was most fun.
we mostly just fuct with each other at the base as to who would make the FIRST solo of the porcelain wall. Dave dropped outta the running and found a partner. I took 9 days and Nick took 12, i think.
we definitely compared routes for the rest of the spring. not sure what we came to, just shooting the sh#t in the meadow.
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nicolamartinez
Big Wall climber
Brazil
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Aaron and Dave getting safe right after Aaron dropped his piece of gear... That was an amazing trip. Can´t wait to find out more somewhere else... See you soon. N
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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"Did you compare notes afterwards? Was any route superior? If so, which was best? Which worst? Why?"
heh, sounds like, school...
'Your essay will be judged solely on composition, grammar, and STYLE!!!'
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Here are a couple photos from a week ago, during the storm. A very hostile, menacing and frightening looking place!
Even in the grey skies, you can still see the colours!
Brrrrr.......
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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because 7/30 is a terrible ratio for front page of a climbing forum.
The forum's gone downhill but this thread is still climbing the walls. I'm enjoying it though I've never set foot on the Porcelain Wall.
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Sweet thread. gotta knock it to the top
Z
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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12:30 PST bump
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Ahwahnee Bartender
Big Wall climber
Fog Town
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I've had my eye on the Porcelain Wall since I lived in the valley in 1975. One day walking around Camp 4, I saw this note on the bulletin board and since it was just a day before the pull date - I swiped it. Pretty cool.
Respect,
Theo
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hungry man
Trad climber
around
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How do you get all those ropes up there? best thread EVER!!!!
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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even better than bigwall nutrition and rusty pin racks imho
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Gene
climber
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just cuz.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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oh, and don't even think about keep on posting a link to your site in every post cl1mbforum.com.
you got to spray like Locker before you can do that.
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nicolamartinez
Big Wall climber
Brazil
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Circle of death, fragile on the begining and lot´s of loose blocks inside of the wide crack.
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 6, 2008 - 01:57pm PT
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Hey, thanks everyone for all of your comments! I’m glad that you guys and gals have enjoyed this thread – it’s been fun! Looking at all of the photos here brings back some pretty cool memories.
It looks like the version of the Strange World topo that made it into the Obscurities does not show the two intermediate hauling stations on the slab between belay 1 and belay 4. We drilled two anchors on the slab for hauling so that we didn’t have to haul up that corner system. Aaron, did you use these hauling anchors or did you not know that they are there?
Cool pic, Nick! Something tells me that the Circle of Death pitch won’t be there forever… Looks gripping!
Aaron wrote:
“i went right and behind the hand. i bootied your nut on this pitch.”
“i bootied that nut, a river hanger, and a goofy KB painted purple with your initials on the secong pitch.”
Yeah, I remember leaving that nut. It was so steep there that once I unclipped from the nut, I had a hard time reaching back in to get it. So I said, “Screw it!” Turns out that both Singer and I paint our pins purple (Plum Safety Purple to be exact), thinking that no one else would ever paint their pins such a weird color. It’s worked so far…
The “Lawnmower Pitch” wasn’t running with water when I led it, but the “Ron Faucet” pitch sure was! But hey, that makes for a well-rounded route, right? Ya gotta have a little of everything…
Deathboy wrote:
“Is that whiskey in his bottle?”
Jake, you must be referring to the pic of Klaus nailing on pitch 10. No, I think it’s Gatorade or something similar. He had vodka on that route, which brings me to another short story…
On one of the pitches (can’t remember exactly which pitch) Klaus called down for some water. I decided to play a little trick on him and filled his water bottle about a quarter-full of vodka. “OK, you got it!” I yelled. He pulled up the bottle, unscrewed the cap, and started drinking.
“Hey, that’s not water!” he said… “But thanks anyway!” I laughed and then sent him some real water.
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aaronj
Big Wall climber
injured reserve
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yeah i hauled off those anchors. they were way more convenient than hauling the route which was low angle and blocky. i fixed to four and was gonna haul from the ground with ropes tied together and pass the knot but found those on the way down.
gnarly photos nick. how was the wideness? remember climbing the "death flake" labeled do not climb on the topo?
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nicolamartinez
Big Wall climber
Brazil
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Thank´s BLaw, I´m sure it won´t be there for so long. Nice comments on the thread. Aaron, the begining of the pitch, from what I remember was thin, i had a hard time having my placements to stick, then I got to the wide part, thought I was safe, I was wrong, the blocks are sitting inside of the crack, they are sharp, big and loose, I didn´t really want to fall they wuld for sure cut my lead line, had to back clean a bunch of placements cause I only had one #5 cam ( I´m glad my friend Nicolas Favresse let me borrow his ), this pitch was harder then the A5 pitch on my point of view. I remember I missed the bathook, the death flake was so expanding, but I made without the hook move... Scary... Hope you are doing good bro. I´ll be back soon. Nick
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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bump for a killer thread
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nutjob
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
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First time through reading this, amazed I waited so long. Outstanding.
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Idaho
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Mar 12, 2008 - 01:21am PT
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Super Bump....This is a Magic Wall..
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nicolamartinez
Big Wall climber
Brazil
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Hey Dave where are your photos, TR from House of Cards brotha. Hope you're doing good. Peace. N
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Apr 30, 2008 - 08:23pm PT
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Found on rockclimbing.com:
House Of Cards -5.9 A4+
First Ascent: dave turner and matt meinzer
Type of Climb: Rock Aid
Safety Rating: X
Pitches: 15
Protection: hooks, beaks, pins, cams to #4, normal hard aid rack
Length (ft): 1700
Description:
splitting the middle of the headwall, this absurdly steep aid route was put in in may of 2006 by valley local dave t and sacramento resident matt m. it took ten days of difficult climbing to establish this route, which is located to the right of 'when hell was in session'. very clean route, with some heads up climbing that will be found high on the route. very commiting due to the steepness, retreat would be difficult.
Descent Options:
descend the back side of the wall, heading for the snake dike trail.
Submitted by: solodavet on 2007-04-01
http://www.rockclimbing.com/routes/North_America/United_States/California/Yosemite_N..._Park/Porcelain_Wall/House_Of_Cards_84666.html
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Hoots
climber
Tacoma, Toyota
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I read this several months back, and loved it, and it resurfaced again and am even more stoked about it after having done 3 routes on WC this summer and staring endlessly in awe of this thing! Bump this puppy!
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Where are YOU from?
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I like that XREZ North Dome view....What an awesome piece o' rock, eh?
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Mar 27, 2009 - 02:37am PT
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at the risk of pushing some other nice threads down the list... the weather is nice and a phone call this afternoon had me pacing and wanting to go to the Valley.
wallbump
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Aug 19, 2009 - 05:00pm PT
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since I saw a bump of another nice wall thread earlier
this one is a favorite thread, tho it looks like Klaus' pics have been shrunk by shutterfly
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 19, 2009 - 05:39pm PT
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Hey Dave, let's see a topo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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climbing content bump
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nicolamartinez
Big Wall climber
Brazil
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Oct 31, 2009 - 11:24pm PT
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BUMP, cause it's worth it. Good memories. Thinking on heading back up there !!!
Peace you all
Nick
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 6, 2009 - 06:53pm PT
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I found a few photo scans on my computer and figured I’d add a few more photos here…
Drilling on pitch 13, Sky is Falling
Photo by Eric Kohl
Sending on pitch 9, Sky is Falling
Photo by Eric Kohl
Belay 12 bivy, Sky is Falling
Photo by Eric Kohl
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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This really is one of the finest Threads I have read on ST.
These shots of our beloved SR are from a trip in the "Year of the Flood", sometimes in the late 90s(?) to duplicate the famous Adams shot of the NW Face.
"Beneath the Diving Board lies a formidable wall-The Porcelain Wall"- Roper
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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really nice Guido and Minerals!
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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Man what a thread!
Looks like good times were mandatory.
What about Klaus and the battle of the bushes fall....then sending! Sick.
Bosque told me about the route he did with Warren. He said it was ominous, and that it was a great adventure.
He said Warren had it all dialed. Some good stories came from that FA.
Keep up the great pix!
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Mucci,
Any way we can get the Bosque stories added here?
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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I'll see him before the holiday, maybe some pictures are floating around?
He is very humble and one of the most genuine individuals I have ever met.
It would be great if I can get him to post up, not likely though.
Oh and "Porcelain BUMP"
Mucci
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bmacd
Trad climber
Beautiful BC
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Feb 13, 2010 - 02:19pm PT
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By far one of Supertopos finest threads. Great photos and well written Minerals, thanks for sharing !
This is documentary movie grade material.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Mar 17, 2010 - 03:50pm PT
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near thar...
content bump
what lines go up thru this region?
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bergbryce
Mountain climber
Oakland
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Apr 15, 2011 - 07:56pm PT
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Well, that wasn't a very productive afternoon at work.
What a thread.
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
bouldering
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Aug 25, 2011 - 03:33am PT
|
From a recent RNWF TR
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
wussing off the topout on Roadside Attraction
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Aug 25, 2011 - 06:32am PT
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So, the Porcelain Pup, anyone ever hike up for that one? I spotted the obvious J-shaped crack once, from Mirror Lake. Then I couldn't ever find it again.
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bubble boy
Big Wall climber
Mammoth, CA
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Nice work Erik!
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hoipolloi
climber
A friends backyard with the neighbors wifi
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Klaus, does one of your lines go up the big hanging silver die hedral high and left?
love the look of that wall up there...
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Erik Sloan
climber
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You got it right Klaus, I'm working on the topo.
I got a feeling that Eric told Bryan to draw that yellow line cause he wanted to save those splitter cracks it angles to, and go back and finish where he had recon-ed via that way. Some nice mellow climbing there for that wall. A lot of blank/choss too.
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Erik Sloan
climber
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And while we're asking for topos....
How bout the one for Sky is Falling Eric?
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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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I picked up a shop copy of Rock and Ice #7 over at Marmot as they liquidate to the studs and there's a great interview with Harding by Neal Kaptain that discusses the Porcelain Wall. I'll have it up this weekend unless someone beats me to the punch. Hang tight.
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ROPE GUN
Big Wall climber
EASTERN SIERRA AND YOSE
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BUMP
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Erik Sloan
climber
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Post up that article Marty! Woot!
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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Mar 10, 2012 - 02:47pm PT
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From Rock and Ice Number 7, March 1985
Does Neal Kaptain lurk here? I only met him once, bouldering at the Joe Brown Boulder at Roubidoux, maybe 1989 or 90. He must've had fun with this. Too bad Galen isn't around to chime in.
Side note, could the caption be right for that image of Harding on the Moose's Tooth? That doesn't seem like a climate that'd be forgiving of Daisy Dukes. Then again, Batso was harder than most.
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Zander
climber
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Mar 10, 2012 - 10:31pm PT
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Nice Mart(y)
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Erik Sloan
climber
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Mar 11, 2012 - 02:00pm PT
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Nice, the thread is growing!
Eric--about the yellow lines: I'm sure that Harding didn't climb those cracks because higher on the route there were bathooks next to a clean 3" crack, as they must not of had the bigger gear. And they left evidence of their passing everywhere, so it is impossible that they didn't even drill a belay bolt or something on that crack section. The splitter crack Bryan's yellow line follows is mostly #3-#5 camalot size, some bigger too.
The route you and Walt took would allow you to climb nearly the whole first part of the wall with no bolts, but even in this extreme drought time those pitches were still running with water, so we looked for a more direct line to those splitters which did involve one pitch of mostly bolts. Still, The first seven pitches of the Direct(the 'new' part though not all new because Eric had climbed a couple, the second half being the Harding route) are very natural: five pitches have no lead bolts, one pitch has half a pitch of bolt ladder, and one pitch has a lot of bolts. No harder than A3 though there is still some looseness. After that you're on the Harding route and Warren wasn't kidding about the blankness of the upper wall.
Dave Turner gave me his notes to make a HOC topo. I've made a draft but haven't been able to get ahold of Dave to edit it(and his partner told me I'm missing the last three pitches,hahahha). So it's coming.
best,
erik
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Darnell
Big Wall climber
Sequoia Ntl. Pk.
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Mar 11, 2012 - 05:22pm PT
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Yeah that wall is pretty rad. We got lucky with the weather this winter, we never would have been able to do it last winter. The approach was quite engaging, pretty hefty "buy in" on that wall. There were long blank sections but there were also more features on our route than I thought there would be. Some VERY loose pitches up there, kind of blew my mind a couple of times, was really worried about crushing Nanook while he was belaying right below me. Can't remember which pitch but I also thought at one point I was going to pull off a huge block and cut my rope. We fixed a few pitches and Erik went back up by himself during a break and lead a pitch or two by himself, I was really impressed by his solo lead from the trees (pitch 5?)
he really hung it out on that one, way up there on that cold, north facing wall above a ledge, he finally put a bolt in. Proud!
I was really inspired by how tough Harding and his crew were, up there in 1971 suffering and getting it done. Hard men for sure. I did get one of Hardings old biners, and one of Walt's with his initials stamped on it. I wanted to get a couple of Hardings Rivets and home made aluminum hangers, there were only a few on the whole route as they had chopped everything else. But we would have destroyed them trying to pull them. The aluminum hangers were so soft that after I clipped them and weighted them (thought they were going to fail) I had a real hard time getting the biners off the hangers cause they bent and molded around the biner.
gota go back to work, more later
richie
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N0_ONE
Social climber
Utah
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Mar 12, 2012 - 11:03am PT
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Right on! Thanks guys! Finally something worth reading on ST!
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Zander
climber
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Mar 13, 2012 - 10:37am PT
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This thread could really use a few more photos of this outrageous wall!
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Erik Sloan
climber
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Mar 13, 2012 - 12:14pm PT
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Sorry Klaus, what I was saying was if you climb the upper section of the Harding route you will find broken off bolts and bathooks all over, like literally every 12-14 inches in places, some bolts remain which you saw that have homemade plumber's tape hangers. So I was just saying if they had climbed the middle pitches of the Direct(where Bryan's yellow line is drawn), which features a 200'+ section of 2"-8" crack, I find it impossible to believe that they wouldn't have left some indication of their passage--a bathook, a broken off bolt, or a bolt. We found nothing like that till we hit your and Walt's bail slings at the headwall.
Also, because from Warren's account this was a mega-siege(though I'm sure we got em beat, having spent 4 months to climb the Direct!) it would make more sense that they stayed right of those middle-ledge-trees and fixed straight up to the ledges beneath headwall. I call that place the cemetary, or the 'million trundle bivy'
where's Bryan? SIF topo?
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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Mar 13, 2012 - 12:42pm PT
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The yellow line is not where the p wall route goes. Warren did not climb the wide cracks mentioned above.
Talk about obscure. There are pictures of the team at the ledge where the purple and yellow meet.
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Erik Sloan
climber
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Mar 13, 2012 - 04:09pm PT
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Yeah, considering we know where the Porcelain wall starts for three pitches because Klaus reclimbed two of them on WHWIS(and you can see rap stations from the base) and we know that they got to the ledges beneath the headwall and that Richie and I followed their route to the top. It is just three pitches of pretty thin climbing and rivets that separates those two places. Seems logical considering they had more thin gear than wide.
Enough about climbing though, how bout this old photo from when we were kids:
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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Mar 13, 2012 - 09:20pm PT
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sweet pix.
That bivy at the base has the mark of a killing field.
Was the intent of the route ever really a question?
Sounds like nobody knows how/where they got up to the ledge.
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WBraun
climber
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Mar 13, 2012 - 09:25pm PT
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Sounds like nobody knows how/where they got up to the ledge.
That ain't true.
Use your brain and you'll figure it out.
Modern climbers?
Can't do anything without a topo, cell phone, iPad, GPS, Satellite uplink, or drooling into a stupid beer .....
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
|
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Mar 14, 2012 - 02:38am PT
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Nanook,
Are there a couple of slings left around the tree from when you climbed it?
Those will kill it when it grows a little larger diameter....
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Erik Sloan
climber
|
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Mar 14, 2012 - 03:44am PT
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Good story here.
Yeah Clint, pieces of 11mm rope I cut to use as long slings because the tree is so big that you would have to have two or three runners girthed the whole time. Don't worry, I left them a foot loose to account for growth.....though this year there might not be too much growth,hahahha.
Klaus, I don't know what it was like in '76 but the Planaria and above follow pretty big brown water streaks. We were glad to be to the left of that as there was water falling over there kinda like the Southeast face of EC the whole winter. We could have avoided the upper headwall with some pretty natural traversing and a one pitch bolt ladder to the top of the Planaria, but I was worried about the weather making that area really wet and we didn't believe for a minute that Warren and crew would really chop all their bolts.
Climb it!
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bringmedeath
climber
la la land
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Mar 14, 2012 - 12:27pm PT
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Warren must have thought Robbins was a total prick, hell I did too when I met him.
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 15, 2012 - 05:28pm PT
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Thanks for posting the photo with the Harding line more accurately drawn, Erik. The photo of the lines on the Porcelain that I posted earlier in this thread was based on a color photocopy of the same image that I had drawn on several years ago. Klaus and I discussed the routes on the Porcelain back then (way before I started this thread) and the lines that I drew were based on those discussions. Without Klaus’ input, I would have had no idea where to draw the lower portion of the Harding route, and would have had a tough time figuring out exactly where the lower portion of The Luminescent Wall goes.
Ok, the Harding route was climbed in ’76. I don’t know where I came up with 1971… or 1978… Hmmmmmm… Oh, well. The ’87 Meyers/Reid guide lists the FA as 1975 and the ’93 Reid guide lists it as mid-‘70s. (First post of this thread now edited to correct this date error.)
That’s interesting that Harding pretty much drilled up the lower slab of the wall as well as the headwall. Eric George and I were joking about doing a more direct start to Strange World (right up the lower slab) when we started the route and we made sarcastic references to Wings of Steel.
You must have seen where Klaus and I joined the Harding route on the upper headwall for about half a pitch. I led that pitch and as I mentioned earlier in this thread, I was bat-hooking the empty holes where rivets had been chopped. It was kind of sketchy, considering that the holes were not drilled at the right angle for hooking. I got frustrated with hooking the holes and finally decided to put machine bolt rivets into the old holes towards the end of the pitch. Well, Harding et al were using drill bits that were slightly smaller in diameter than the 17/64” bits that we were using and so when I tried to drill the empty holes deeper to accommodate our rivets, I had a lot of problems with the bit binding. The holes were still too small in diameter for machine head rivets and so when I placed them, the rivets didn’t go in too well and I think one or two of them looked pretty botched. Do you remember seeing those? I wasn’t too happy about it, but didn’t know what else to do. Those old Z-macs with plumber’s tape hangers were pretty sketch too. And I know what you mean about how it’s tough to get a biner in and out of those chincy old hangers.
So, did you only place 3/8” bolts and rivets on the Harding route to restore it, or did you place quarter-inchers for rivets too? How many of the original holes were you able to reuse? That seems like a lot of work!
Marty(r), thanks for posting the R&I article!
Hey Mucci, can you get any photos or stories out of Bosque? That would be way cool.
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Darnell
Big Wall climber
Sequoia Ntl. Pk.
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Mar 17, 2012 - 03:35pm PT
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Bryan that pitch that you lead that joins the Harding route was more than kinda sketchy, I was impressed by how far you bat hooked before putting in a machine head. I tried to get some beaks into that shallow flake, seam on the right and finally gave up and put in a couple bolts. It was freaky in the dark!
Which of you two lead the traverse out left through the green lichen? That pitch looked scary.
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 17, 2012 - 03:57pm PT
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Erik,
As far as the section where we joined the Harding route, I wouldn’t exactly call the climbing an epic, just frustrating and sketchy. When I first joined the route, I placed a couple of beaks and maybe a couple of heads in the thin left-facing corner that Harding et al drilled next to. I figured that if gear could be placed in the crack, then why not, because drilling next to a crack is lame. Some of those empty holes next to the crack could have been patched; the ones where it is blank obviously needed a new rivet.
That is a bummer that Rich put in a new belay on that pitch. The spot where Harding belayed and we belayed has a really thin stance for your feet, as you saw. That is definitely the logical place to belay and the new belay bolts should certainly be removed. Just because a section of climbing entails a bunch of drilling doesn’t mean that it’s cool to start moving belays around.
Did you reuse any original holes for bolt replacement, or did you just drill new holes next to the old ones, like you did on the upper ladders of the Trip, etc.?
Rich,
Thanks. Klaus led the traverse pitch. He was expecting a killer knifeblade splitter across the wall, based on earlier scoping… but there was no killer splitter. There’s a photo that Klaus took of me cleaning the pitch in the 1999 BD catalog. Here’s a photo of Klaus beginning the pitch, from earlier in this thread.
And here’s a photo of the pitch where we joined the Harding route, from the same post with the above photo. Harding et al climbed up the left side (climber’s right) of the protrusion of rock in the photo and I climbed off our belay (right side of protrusion) on a bunch of beaks before joining the Harding route.
The Yosemite gigapans are pretty cool for checking out features. Take a look at the Porcelain on this one; the light is really good:
http://gigapan.org/gigapans/42873
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Erik Sloan
climber
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Mar 17, 2012 - 05:17pm PT
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Yeah B, I hear ya
I said it was a bummer that Richie stopped early on that pitch-which he certainly wouldn't have done if you had left the hangers on the belay bolts. I don't know if you heard about Nikki's solo of WHWIS but it sounded pretty epic at times because the hangers had been removed and the nuts had rusted on the bolts and couldn't be removed. N ended up having to use stoppers he said which made getting the belay situated for upward pull difficult(because he was soloing), because he couldn't even tighten the nuts down tight on the wires so they were prone to sliding out and loading the bolts weird. I guess that's all part of being prepared,hahhahaha. Good Times!
We found mostly holes with broken off bolts or bathooks, not a lot of useable holes for bolts. Though we did have to resort to using the bathooks a bit. Still hard for me to believe they would have broken off all those bolts, which looked like a lot of work.
Klaus--that SIF splitter looks awesome! one of you two post up that topo.
cheers,
e
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Darnell
Big Wall climber
Sequoia Ntl. Pk.
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Mar 18, 2012 - 12:40pm PT
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Yeah if I could have seen the belay bolts, (without the hangers) I would of climbed up to them. I also had no idea how far you had climbed before joining the Harding route, I was starting to wonder if you had climbed only 30 ft or so before joining, so I was worried that I would run out of rope or would not be able to tag up before I reached your belay, so I stopped.
We were pretty low on bolts on our route, so we did everything we could to conserve them, used every feature we could
Wow, great photo's Bryan, I need to take the time and read this whole thread.
Won't happen today though, it's snowed over 4 feet in the last 36 hours here.
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Erik Sloan
climber
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Mar 18, 2012 - 02:08pm PT
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Ahhh, snowy days to dream of big walls. Here's a pic where you see the splitter 5th pitch of the direct. The red rope in the photo didn't get tied up tight enough and gotten eaten by the foot thick ice--had to cut it loose cause it was so buried in the ice I couldn't hack it free. crazy!
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 18, 2012 - 11:22pm PT
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Matt, as far as I know, the routes that have not been repeated are Sky is Falling, House of Cards, and Sargantana. Paul Gagner posted earlier in this thread that he and Bill Crouse did the second ascent of The Luminescent Wall in 1989. Sargantana climbs the big features on the far right side of the wall and only a short section of the upper headwall. The line doesn’t look terribly appealing to me.
Erik, in retrospect, I agree that taking hangers off belay bolts is a bad idea. It’s cheap and lame. Klaus and I also took hangers off of belay bolts on Hurricane Jingus on the Falls Wall and on The Hazing in the Fishers, so those routes require bolt hangers and a wrench. I never pulled any of the hangers on the other routes that I have put up.
On a side note, we did leave the hangers on the protection bolts on the first two (free) pitches. They are recycled Leeper hangers that I pulled off of Zenyatta during bolt replacement, which should add a little 'nostalgia' to the route.
At the belay that we shared with the Harding route, the bolt with the hanger should have had a tie-off sling on it, because I had to lower out from the belay to begin cleaning the traverse. Harding was probably using 50m ropes back then and I presume that you guys were using at least 60m ropes. Regardless of where we belayed, wouldn’t you expect to run into evidence of a Harding belay within 50m of the lower belay, or did you move other belays around on the Harding route as well? I don’t mean to argue about the new belay; it’s just that it doesn’t make any sense to me.
“We found mostly holes with broken off bolts or bathooks, not a lot of useable holes for bolts.”
From what I saw on the section of the Harding route that I climbed, I think all of the rivets came out of the holes cleanly during the chop, leaving the holes empty, which I either bat-hooked, or filled with a machine head. But that’s the only section of the Harding route that I saw. Did you patch all of the holes on the route that you couldn’t reuse?
The splitter in the photo above that Klaus posted no longer exists (pitch 4 of SIF). The right side of the crack fell off a few years ago or so. I wonder if some of our bolts on the first few pitches got taken out by rockfall. Probably…
Glad you like the photos, Rich. Thanks. There are a bunch more, earlier in this thread. Do you guys have any more photos to post?
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 3, 2012 - 01:13am PT
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So, no answers on whether you reused or patched any of the old holes on the Harding route, Erik? Should we assume that you just drilled new holes next to the old ones and didn’t patch anything, like you have done in the past?
I know that you took your power drill up on the Porcelain and used it with a silencer again. Some things never change…
Ok, on to topos.
There was never a topo of Sky is Falling floating around the Internet. Klaus didn’t want to give out the topo because he was upset with the fact that holes had been added to some of his routes in the past by subsequent ascents. His solution was to keep this route a secret but I guess he has now changed his mind on the matter. Here is the topo that Klaus drew that is based on notes that he took during the FA:
And here is the really rough topo that I drew from memory over three years after the FA:
The reason that I drew a topo three years later is because Klaus wouldn’t give me a copy of the topo that he drew, fearing that I would give out copies of his topo and not keep it a secret. I wanted to have a topo of the route before I forgot most of the details, so I drew up what I remembered, but never showed it to anyone other than Klaus. Later on, he finally decided to give me a copy of his topo.
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DaveT.
Big Wall climber
southeast face portaledge
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May 10, 2012 - 03:16am PT
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Ha!
Guess i was too busy climbing to be concerned with topos. Never once drew a topo for anyone else, or ever handed one out. I put my routes up for me, not you, and not for supertopo. Erik wanted my notes, so I handed them over and said 'do what you want'.
Some of the route has fallen off, so good luck on the second!
DT
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Captain...or Skully
climber
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May 13, 2012 - 02:55pm PT
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Nanook. You were asked a question. How about it?
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
bouldering
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May 13, 2012 - 06:55pm PT
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crickets chirping
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cleo
Social climber
the canyon below the Ditch!!!!
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May 17, 2012 - 10:39pm PT
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saw somebody going up there this afternoon... fixed a few pitches and look to blast off tomorrow?
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j-tree
Big Wall climber
Classroom to crag to summer camp
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May 17, 2012 - 11:10pm PT
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Someone tell Tom!
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Captain...or Skully
climber
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May 18, 2012 - 12:13am PT
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That is what seems to be the Agenda, I reckon. If you build it...?
The Heavy Hand, man. If that's Love, then Love can go wrong.
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j-tree
Big Wall climber
Classroom to crag to summer camp
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I thought medicinal cards didn't apply in National parks?
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 9, 2014 - 01:24pm PT
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There was a TR version of this thread that was bumped yesterday. The TR version was not posted by me and was created by the “moderators” of this site, apparently to add to the trip report section. The TR consisted of a copy of this thread up until Jeremy’s post on 8/19/09. A duplication of this thread simply adds to the unorganized chaos that is SuperTopo. Two separate version of the same thread aren’t necessary and it creates confusion, with additional posts on one thread but not the other.
The TR is now deleted and the additional posts since Jeremy’s post are shown below. Biotch, if you’d like to repost the image of the House of Cards topo, please feel free to do so. Apologies to anyone who may not agree with the deletion of the extraneous TR. Carry on.
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Erik Sloan
climber
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No doubt this is an awesome, awesome thread.
Porcelain is so good! When Ryan, Parker and I did the Direct summer before last we fixed three and did it in daylight, so I'd say just go for it in a day ala the Tower.....though bivying up there is awesome too! Tommy Bairstowe soloed the Direct that fall in three days. Had an awesome time.
There is only water from snow melt for a short time in the spring. Otherwise Mirror Lake is the closest water.
The summit is a pretty sic bivy too, and an easy one to have friends meet you at.
Woot!
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Thanks to all of you bad ass dudes for sharing your experiences, photos and stories.
Incredible Yosemite history.
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MisterE
Gym climber
Being In Sierra Happy Of Place
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Bad-ass bump.
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Mr_T
Trad climber
Northern California
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Jun 22, 2016 - 01:17pm PT
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Anyone been up there recently?
Headed up to do the Direct on Saturday.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Jun 22, 2016 - 02:55pm PT
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Doesn't that cook in the Summer afternoons?
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Mr_T
Trad climber
Northern California
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Jun 22, 2016 - 05:00pm PT
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I thought it wound't be much worse than Half Dome. It sure does look like it's getting full sun at 3PM. Are we going to get cooked?
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Sonic
Trad climber
Boulder, Co
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Nov 15, 2016 - 10:40am PT
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Stoke Bump!
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland, CA
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Nov 15, 2016 - 12:21pm PT
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
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Nov 26, 2016 - 11:06pm PT
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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Nov 26, 2016 - 11:20pm PT
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Fascinating texture! I guess the name is fitting.
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Da-Veed
Big Wall climber
Bigfork
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Sep 13, 2018 - 07:29am PT
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Two pump bump
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Mr_T
Trad climber
Northern California
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Sep 13, 2018 - 10:18am PT
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Just topped Direct North Face two days ago. Fantastic line. I'll post up a TR soon.
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Da-Veed
Big Wall climber
Bigfork
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Sep 13, 2018 - 12:02pm PT
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Awesome, looking forward to hearing about it!
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Mr_T
Trad climber
Northern California
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Sep 13, 2018 - 02:36pm PT
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The approach is the crux. The route "only gets easier" in the sense that it goes from hard to moderate.
We tried to do it last July in 90 degree heat. Trip ended with me dry heaving then passing out at the bivy. Right now it's perfect. Gets direct sun only from 3PM to 6PM.
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| Messages 1 - 186 of total 186 in this topic |
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