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Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Jun 10, 2007 - 02:52pm PT

A few historic shots from Climb by Godfrey and Chelton 1977.
Bill Forest and Kris Walker with gear after their first ascent of the Painted Wall in 1972.
A telephoto of Bill Forest leading the crux 24th pitch.
Kris Walker cleaning the crux pitch.

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Jun 22, 2007 - 11:39am PT

A few more classic shots from Vertigo Games by Glenn Randall 1983. Lou Dawson and Rich Jack on the second ascent of the Hallucinogen Wall. Chris Lea photo.

Bryan "The Hobbit" Becker on Fantasy island, same route. Ed Webster photo.

deuce4

Big Wall climber

the Southwest

Jun 22, 2007 - 09:08pm PT

First Winter Ascent of Hallucinogin Wall, with Mugs Stump, 1992:

Getting stuck on the way in, before we got the snowmobiles (Tim Kudo in the photo):

The wall:

Feeling committed after the descent:

Yes! Getting started...

Mugs coming up

Particularly Nice Weather...

Thumbs up

Yep, thumbs up, my friend, looks like we're getting out of this ditch after all...

Last Pitch:

We miss you Mugs!

mooser

Trad climber

seattle

Jun 23, 2007 - 10:10am PT

What an incredible thread. You guys inspire the heck out of me.

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Jun 23, 2007 - 10:31am PT

Great shots John,I miss that Mugs too! Nice portrait of him though all smiles. I bet you had the place to yourselves on that one.

Tarbuster

climber

right here, right now

Topic Author's Reply - Jun 23, 2007 - 11:02am PT

Good job pullin' up those slides John!

philo

Trad climber

boulder, co.

Jun 23, 2007 - 11:20am PT

Here is a nice trick for those scorching hot Black Canyon blister fests. When you get to the river, have you and your partner soak an extra t-shirt each in the cold river water and stow them in a water proof stuff sack inside your day pack. Then in the blinding heat half way up the wall you can slip on the shirt for instant air conditioning. Extremely refreshing! Enough relief to carry you to the rim.

Rhodo-Router

Gym climber

Otto, NC

Jun 23, 2007 - 11:25am PT

Also a good trick for driving through the desert sans A/C.

Great photos, Deuce. It's gotta be hard to see friends go, but I'm glad you had some shots of the good times. Mugs inspired a lot of people.

eeyonkee

Trad climber

Golden, CO

Oct 19, 2007 - 10:19am PT

Bump. Headed to the Black this afternoon. Any new stories out there? A Stratosfear story would be nice...or any other.

-btw, I don't know how I missed those last couple of posts. Awesome pictures!

Chiloe

Trad climber

Lee, NH

Oct 19, 2007 - 10:25am PT

Yeah this stuff is quality, thanks for bumping it eeyonkee.

eeyonkee

Trad climber

Golden, CO

Oct 19, 2007 - 10:42am PT

It should be fun and interesting tomorrow. I'll be climbing with Mike Pennings. Since we last climbed together in 1992 or 1993, he's done absolutely amazing things at the Black and elsewhere - climbing Grade Vs in a few hours and linking up Grade Vs. I'm not used to being the slow one on the team.

Tarbuster

climber

right here, right now

Topic Author's Reply - Oct 19, 2007 - 10:48am PT

Should be a good trip Greg!

climber

A chartreuse glider in an azure blue sky...

Oct 19, 2007 - 02:05pm PT

Those slate spires are magnificent Tar! Did you climb them babies?

Tarbuster

climber

right here, right now

Topic Author's Reply - Oct 19, 2007 - 02:11pm PT

No way,
Those are "For Your Eyes Only"!

J. Werlin

climber

Cedaredge

Oct 21, 2007 - 07:57pm PT

Get any climbing done Grug or did the weather shut you guys down?

Handjam Belay

Gym climber

expat from the truth

Oct 21, 2007 - 08:34pm PT

Note portaledge on hip. December 1999.

eeyonkee

Trad climber

Golden, CO

Oct 22, 2007 - 10:11am PT

JWerlin, the weather was fine, at least on Saturday. Woke up to two inches of snow on Sunday.

Well my day out with Mike turned out to be an interesting one, albeit in a different way than I had figured. As we were getting ready for the climb, a relatively new one called Sistine Reality (5.11+, 11 pitches on the Gothic Pillar), I was joking that I was gonna "be like Mike"...no pack, shoes and water bottle hanging from harness, jacket wrapped around waist. We took a lighter rack than I typically take and one rope. The whole "just a rack and shirt on your back" thing.

So, after hiking a bit towards the Painted Wall, we scramble down some gully worse than most in the Black. I lead a 5.8 pitch and then Mike leads a 5.10 R pitch. The 5.10 R pitch is tricky, and it takes him a while to find the right place to traverse left.

My lead, the first of four 5.11 pitches. The 5.11 is supposedly down low, although it does not feel all that hard as I climb through the lower part, and I'm suspicious that the hard climbing is still above. The pitch is mentally taxing, lots of loose rock and not a lot of good placements, but it does not feel all that hard. Towards the end of the pitch, I attempt to lieback off the only holds that aren't loose and place my left foot on a descent smear. Suddenly, my foot slips and I'm off. I pull my top two pieces and end up taking a fall of 45-50 feet - mostly head first.

Mike calls up to me, I tell him I'm alright. I shake it off and give 'er another go. This time, I bolster the protection at the top as best as I could and quickly surmount the little 5.10 section that I had fallen on. Now it appears to be only 5.9 up a lower angle section to the belay - 5.9, but with no protection. Now, my memory is a little fuzzy here, but I think I started to pull on a hold that gave way. For a second, I thought I could catch myself, but then suddenly I'm off again - Yikes! Somehow,I'm heading down headfirst again. Well, this one turned out to be truly a whopper...more than twice as far as I have fallen in my entire 37 years of climbing. At the end of the fall, I was only about 25 feet above Mike. I had taken a 75-footer. Surprisingly, my only obvious injuries were to my forearms, where I sustained some bad rope burns, and shoulders, which were merely sore. My left forearm was purple and bulging with the swelling.

Mike suggests that maybe we should bail. In retrospect, that was the obvious and only thing we could have done, as I was pretty weak and getting worse. Mike goes up to my high point and sets up a rappel. After getting down to me, he has me rap down to (near) the ground on a single strand, and then he sets up a couple of raps to get himself down. Back up the god-awful gully.

Sheesh! I had been SO looking forward to climbing again with Mike. I'm still coming to grips with this. I rarely fall in the Black, and to take two whippers back-to-back is kind of sobering (and frankly, a little embarrassing). Mike's just a great guy, and he was understanding and helpful through the whole ordeal. I hope to have another adventure in the Black
with him - ideally one that ends with a successful ascent. On the other hand, this is the kind of thing that makes the Black Canyon so special.