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Snoogie
Trad climber
California
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Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 9, 2009 - 06:29pm PT
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There are alot of climbing Routes poping up in the Hetchy area of yosemite. If anyone Has beta of information it would be great to have as I live in the area of hetch hetchy and am always looking for a climbing partner. if you check out Rockclimbing.com under the yosemite routes you will find all the new routes at hetchy
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Miwok
Trad climber
Mi Wuk Village
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And where are these routes popping up? All I can see is 2 existing routes (Resurrection and S Face) that have been published for sometime.
I heard the HH climbers are Somali Fight Club Pirates. Have you heard different.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Snoogie, that's what he's talking about... rc.com seems all jacked up and full of weird info.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Snoogie,
Did you see the article in Climbing magazine a few years back?
http://www.climbing.com/exclusive/features/hhetchy251/index.html
It has a list of many more routes to explore.
You can also find some info by searching the supertopo forum for Hetchy.
There are a few more routes at Inspiration Point to find and check out; that is part of the fun. If you look close, you might find an old ring angle piton - people have been exploring there for many years.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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least he's not cycling down the road in iced over conditions. He stopped at a sensible spot.
LOL!!!
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lucho
Trad climber
California
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Who are you "Snoogie" identify yourself. and what do you mean you live by hetch hetchy, where?
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Wow, Little Devil looks so rad!
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LuckyPink
climber
the last bivy
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Nov 26, 2009 - 05:27pm PT
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so where's the beta for hetchy? or the river canyon going up from hetchy..
I am aware of the two published routes. I know there is a lot more out there and have some hearsay info which i'm about to check out. (yes i know its cold even icy out there, and not icy enough)
nothing i can find on summitpost , mountainproject, used the above links, searched thru ST.. forget about roc.newb.com there's no real info there as you all know, what am i missing or is there none published?
here's to adventure climbing anyway. LP
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Nov 26, 2009 - 05:55pm PT
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There is not much real beta published, just the route list and some terse descriptions.
You can read about the route done on Wapama by Galen Rowell and Joe Faint in April 1969, in the 1970 AAJ:
http://www.americanalpineclub.org/documents/pdf/aaj/1970/usa1970_109-139.pdf#search="rowell wapama"
Wapama Rock, South Face, Hetch Hetchy Valley, Hetch Hetchy
Valley lies a scant I5 air miles from Yosemite Valley, still within the
confines of the park, but until April, Hetch Hetchy had never heard the
blow of a piton hammer. Both climbers and hikers have scorned it because
it is inundated by a reservoir constructed by the city of San Francisco
some fifty years ago. 1 had heard legends of half submerged walls rising out
of the water, accessible only by boat. Boats are not allowed on the
reservoir and swimming 1s difficult when carrying pounds of hardware.
John Muir’s 19th-century description enchanted me: “The correspondence
between Hetch Hetchy walls . and those of Yosemite . has excited
every observer. . . there is a counterpart of El Capitan that rises sheer and
plain to a height of 1800 feet.” (The Yosemite, pages 193-S). Joe Faint
and I visited Hetch Hetchy and what we found exceeded our expectations.
Muir’s “El Capitan” was there, rising not out of the water but from a level
rock bench about 100 yards wide, which contmued from the base of rhe
cliff almost all the way to the dam. At dawn on April 5 we shouldered
packs and headed along the glacier-polished granite bench for the wall,
prepared for two bivouacs if necessary. Soon we were roping up and
climbing a fourth-class section to the base of the smooth face. Free
climbing gave way to easy aid as I led a pitch ending on a fine ledge. While
waiting for Joe to clean the pitch on Jumars, I examined the wall above.
We had grave doubts about one blank-looking sectlon near the top and
from observation earlier in the year, much of the upper wall stayed dry in
a rain storm. I yelled down to Joe, “Where’s the bolt kit? In the day pack
or in the hauling bag’?” Joe shouted back, “I didn’t pack it. I thought you
did.” I hadn’t! We discussed the merits of going down but decided not to
become another statistic on Chuck Pratt’s ignoble list of reasons why
climbers back off walls. Joe led a mixed pitch up to a ledge at the base of a
grim jam-crack, where he smiled wryly, knowing the problem was mine. As
it turned out, a small crack on the outside wall afforded protection most
of the way, but the upper part was still F9 in difficulty. Later in the day I
watched Joe go over a small overhang toward a large alcove, apparently the
only bivouac site. We had no hammocks and the alcove proved to be a
steep ramp between two walls, not a ledge. It was after sunset when I
hurried, cleaning the pitch, up to Joe and led frantically on above. A worn
photograph in my back pocket seemed to show a faint traverse line around
a corner to my left. Joe lowered me and I pendulumed 30 feet to the left.
Peering around the corner, I saw a ledge only five feet higher. Soon 1 was
there and Joe was prusiking in the near darkness. In the pre-dawn glow I
felt I was above Yosemite. Then I had a realization. Peering downward I
saw no roads, gas stations, buildings or campfire smoke. I heard no motors,
shouts or horns. There lay a dark pool of water, rippling quietly. This was
Hetch Hetchy, which had been “ruined”, while Yosemite had been
“saved”. The yellow glow of the morning light crept down the walls and
formed rainbows in the spray of Wapama Falls. I led up from the ledge,
nailing a single crack up the slightly overhanging wall. Joe climbed a
fifth-class section which ended on a lOO-foot-long ledge. The final
headwall bulged ominously overhead. From the end of the ledge I began
climbing free up a difficult overhang, surmounting it only to find hard aid
climbing above. Wishing for a bolt, I made several free moves above a row
of mediocre pitons all driven behind the same flake. Another circuitous aid
pitch brought US to the top of a small buttress, isolated in the center of the
blank section. Above, a small bottoming crack wormed up the wall out of
sight. I gained 30 feet on tied-off pins before I lost half the gain in a flash;
a sawed-off angle piton in a bottoming hole held. This was a fine place for
another pendulum. After several tries I reached a crack far to my left,
Nailing this up an overhanging corner, I finally reached a ledge at the base
of a crack system leading unbroken to the summit. Several classic jams and
laybacks put us on the summit just before the end of the second day.
Hetch Hetchy proved to be a pleasant and surprisingly isolated place to
climb. It was spoiled only by the discouraging realization that an area
“ruined for posterity” 50 years ago seems relatively remote and untrodden
in the context of wilderness today. NCCS V, F9, A4.
GALEN ROWELL
The article includes photos, but no line on the photos showing where the route went.
So I guess Galen started the idea of keeping the beta minimal and trading it for some adventure.
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LuckyPink
climber
the last bivy
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Nov 26, 2009 - 06:50pm PT
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TY CC you are the Man! of course. . I looked all over except AAC .. go figure. Sounds like Rowell's climbing was similar to his driving in technique..
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
merced, california
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May 27, 2012 - 06:23pm PT
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[I put the wrong post out a second ago, sorry.]
I was cruising the web looking for Kolana Rock. That led to lots and lots of good reading about the Double Aitch. I spent some time there in 1970 with Mathis and Randy Hamm and Cowboy Larry. All we did was two ground-up single pitche routes on the lowest part of Wapama beyond the bridge.
Hardly worth the time spent driving there for two total days.
But we were not concerned. The only reason we went was the influence of Joe Kelsey's Modest Proposal.
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1018806&msg=1018806#msg1018806
We were modestly happy and content to leave the news behind for the salamanders to shake their heads over.
We weren't pirates; we were De Flames. Didn't exactly set the woods afire.
Above is Hamm the Hard. Mouse. Walstead. Mathis. (At a later date.)
FYI, Clint--
Hamm led one pitch, Cowboy another.
All more or less rated at HHS (Hetch Hetchy Severe), give or take. 10/70.
Cheers!
Have a safe drive home this weekend, trippers.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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May 27, 2012 - 09:06pm PT
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Mouse,
My post seems to be missing (I think I didn't complete it).
I meant to ask about the location of your one pitch climbs.
You mentioned they were past "the bridge".
Was this the bridge over Wapama Falls?
If so, I usually think of Wapama Rock as being entirely before the bridge,
and after the bridge is a wide unnamed wall, and then eventually there is
Hetch Hetchy Dome.
I noticed some one pitch climbs with old bolt anchors that were not far past the bridge at Wapama Falls - maybe these were yours.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
merced, california
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May 27, 2012 - 09:14pm PT
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HA! I knew you'd come out. I did say Wapama, didn't I? I suppose I meant HH. The bridge the bridge I crossed myself before I crossed that bridge. I mean it was wet wet.
We used no bolts in these efforts, that I recall. If they were ours they were 1/4' rawls with nuts, because I don't recall any of us using anything else. They orta have non-Dolt hangers, no home-mades.
Picture'd be nice, like a mug shot, right?
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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May 27, 2012 - 09:31pm PT
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There's one very obvious one pitch climb, soon after the bridge at Wapama Falls.
It's a big offwidth, but there is a thin crack leading to it.
In 2000, there was an anchor of fixed pitons at the base of the offwidth
(about 40' off the ground).
(photo taken from the trail, just after the Wapama Falls bridge)
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
merced, california
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May 27, 2012 - 10:07pm PT
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This doesn't look familiar. See my comment on the shot of the reservoir, dog. Clint's a bloodhound, on the trail. Owooo...
I'll help all eye can but at this distance and time, but geeze, Louise Krusteaz.
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Jul 27, 2013 - 01:02pm PT
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Great article by Doug
I also say, let the dam go with thoughtful thinking and planning. And let the valley grow back naturally. For for those that agree with me, I think of John Muir's spirit.
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