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Cuckawalla
Trad climber
Grand Junction, CO
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Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 8, 2007 - 02:42pm PT
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12pm my last class is finished, I bike across town throw every cam I have into a pack, grab food water, lots of water, and a chair. Indian Creek? F*#k Indian Creek. I crave the splitters without the dreads,the spray, no ratings, no noise.
Jesse B Picks me up, we drive to a parking lot and wait as Eric drags over a full pack, a cooler with Rockstar PBR, and Negro Modelo. Its Eric's Birthday. Out of Grand Junction we blast the 45 minutes to a green sign that points right to Escalante Canyon. Down a dirt road, loose gravel and bald tires on the Buick. Descend, Descend the Windgate escorts us on either side. We look for a new area. Past the Cabin Wall, past the pot holes our right. The water swirling in the soft formed granite. So funny to see granite below these walls of sandstone. The water looks inviting, especially after a few beers. The temp is in the low 90's.
After pulling over at every buttress and watching as the ranch hands pass us mumbling something kind under their breath as they blast by. Finally we decide and pull over. Stuffing beer and food into empty pockets we press upward towards the cliff band. It wasn't smart for me to wear chacos. After kicking a Cactus we set up shop below unnamed Splitter One. I sit biting at my foot with my mouth trying to get all the spines out. Birthday Racks up:
And Stems the .75 crack that stays uniform only flirting with 1's every so often.
Higher up it opens up and kicks out, luckily a hand crack in the back. Clip the anchors we each get a lap in.
Ode to Calcite:
To thee that which holds together
When the crumbles of the softest sandstone Fades
You bring strength to my smears
and sharpness to my jams
I love thee like the moon and the stars
Collect our sh#t, Jesse B is up for the lead. A thin jagged Calcite laced crack. Jesse sinks it all the way up. We each do a lap, rinse and repeat I am up.
I stem up and jam out the small #1 roof, it feels good to sink the jams. Tag the anchors. We all do a lap.
Eric spies a overhung hand crack that widens through perfect chocolate.
Throw a Four in, then a five. Thrutch. Thrutch. Eric makes some weird sex sounds and we are start laughing.
Fall. He falls with a cam in his hand, luckily he didn't drop it.
Squeeze up. WE take a lap. Sip some warm PBR and Smile.
We inspect the the buttress. there are some hardman routes here. Lots of Chinle approaches to windgate. Enduro Corners, Undone Odubs, Finger cracks. How many have seen a FFA?
A project?
Jesse Is up he finds another splitter finger crack and the light is fading.
He grapples with some chinle and finagles a nut that is way to small for free climbing into the jagged crack and makes a big move to get a tips lock.
The nut sticks perpendiculars to the wall. It gets darker he sends until it gets to green alien size.
The anchors are to high, it chokes down to Blue alien. He lunges for the anchors, we take a lap in the dark,
I see a shooting star and wish for nothing.
It is in the car, each of us sipping on a beer when I realized that not once was a climbing grade mentioned. WE climbed but felt no need to quantify. I Take another pull from the bottle and stare pit at the dirt road ahead of us, the Headlights eating at the Darkness.
Resist the Crowds
--Jesse Z
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TwistedCrank
climber
The banks of reality
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I have fond memories of Escalante Canyon from several trips there in the early 80's with Chuck Grossman and a few other dirtbags whose names have faded from my memory. My first time there Chuck basically said "Pick a crack any crack". More often than not it was first ascent but I don't think we bothered naming or rating very many lines we did. It's like your own private mini Indian Creek Canyon. Chuck taught me the joys of nut stacks there - which were better for looking and laughing at than for protection. We didn't have very many spring-loaded or wide pieces. I still chuckle at the time a scorpion crawled up Chuck's arm as the flake he was laybacking began to disintegrate. Funny in retrospect that is.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Hey, I was there then with Grossman too.
You aren't.....??? are you?!!!
One time I was there with Newberry right after he snookered me into an epic in a large canyon somewhat to the east.
We climbed this moderate crack in the heat and I got down first to the one open beer we had left in the shade.
I noticed that there was a huge bug stuck upside down on the surface of the remaining beer in the dark bottle.
As Jimmy rapped into view I set the bottle down making a loud gulping sound followed by, "Ummmmm! Wow that beer really hits the spot...... Left you some."
He had this really quizical look on his face after chuggin the bug.
(guess this should have been on the route NAME thread,..lol)
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Ratings are overrated.
Man, that looks like fun.
we don't have to show you no stinking ratings!
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Looks like fun! Every one a beauty.
Z
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murcy
climber
San Fran Cisco
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awesome tr. thanks!
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N0_ONE
Social climber
Utah
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Cool, looks like fun!
Ratings are overrated!
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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I'm OK with plinking at those mud stacks across the canyon.
I'm even OK with leaving shells.
As a tracker I tend to enjoy deductive process, so almost anything that tells a story of previous activity has at least some value.
What I'm not OK with is shooting up the beautiful Wingate varnish.
One time in Long Canyon when Charlie was drawing a bead on a varnished boulder with my Dan Wesson I gave him a paternalistic caution which he later told me surprised him.
Indeed, rumors have rebounded that much of the peppering of Escalante's Walls is my handiwork, but in truth I eschew such abuse.
Its a shame that so much exists that it almost feeds on itself by prompting others to do likewise.
What a shame.
Its like the explosion of grafitti on top of Angel's Landing in the past decade.
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TwistedCrank
climber
The banks of reality
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Ron:
We never met in person although as I recall you were in Gunnison once when Chuck was living at the cat house in the SW part of town - for some reason I couldn't come over. Chuck and I did the FA of Interiors including the OW slot to enter instead of cave (cheater) entrance if that helps place who I am. I knew Jimmy - always stopped at Newberry's Store on the way west.
We used to joke that in a couple million years Escalante Creek would erode into the Precambrian basement enough to create a new Black Canyon which would be capped by a couple hundred feet of Wingate Sandstone. A western Colorado dream!
Dirk V.
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Cuckawalla
Trad climber
Grand Junction, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 8, 2007 - 08:44pm PT
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Almost every buttress has a mass load of bullet holes. Cabin wall has a crap load, as well as your typical graffiti. Its too bad.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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I did a route above the cabin and left a blue rap sling.
Big mistake.
Less than two years later I returned and found over 70 seperate impact marks where somebody had attempted to shoot off the sling.
I climbed up to where it hung from a single remaining bolt and lifted the hardware out with two fingers.
I wish the jerk had at least been a marksman and shot it off with one round.
AZOOOOL!!!!!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Nice TR Cuck'
Those b&w calcite photos are totally boss!
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spyork
Social climber
A prison of my own creation
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Wow! Cool stuff. Thanks for all the pics!
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snakefoot
climber
cali
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in the usual kick ass style..........incredible
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nutjob
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
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Makes me crave a multi-week road trip! But I could be in worse shape than having Yosemite be a 3-4 hour drive. Awesome looking place, awesome looking rock, nice write-up.
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lemon_boy
climber
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ZAPPA BUTTRESS!
YEAH BABY!!! one of the most stacked butresses in the canyon. you should check out the OW/sqeeze corner that is about 50 feet right of the corner that eric fell out of (was his birthday friday? if so, i think i know him). the ow sqeeze corner goes up about 120 to 150 feet to the top of the pillar (bring 2 ropes just in case). good anchors up there on the main wall just above the pillar. hope you enjoyed your day. i always do there.
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
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Sounds like a great day.
I used to fantasize about burning down the AAC library and restoring a great deal of adventure to the rest of the world.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Book burner!
Visigoth!
If you have a blister on your foot do you amputate?
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Looks like a fine day. Thanks for inviting us along.
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