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Fogarty
climber
BITD
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Topic Author's Original Post - Dec 11, 2009 - 08:21pm PT
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Think of some Leads in your life, if you fall you DIE!
Any photos or tales?
Is this R or X factor = to A5 but free climbing Maybe stupid question?
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Fogarty
climber
BITD
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 11, 2009 - 08:47pm PT
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Norwegian
Trad climber
Placerville, California
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Dec 11, 2009 - 09:39pm PT
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war-ning, this is a repost cause i only live(d) once:
11/23/99
third saturday of the month. in placerville in the old days this meant free wine on main street in celebration of the local artists recent works.
you can bet i was in regular attendance.
all day i had been craggin up at sugarloaf. climbing well and confident, if not agressive and reckless.
a really good day in the mountains was had. for a long while i had been gawking at the fat merchant crack. i looked longingly at it and knew i could fit into it squeeze style.
hell, i was 23 and living my dirt bag lifestyle: daily excursions in the mountains, simple diet, and a good amount of booze.
that day my interest in the climb peaked. i had to be inside that slot.
but it wasn't to be that day. or was it...
down in p-town, downing wine and shuffling about with my companions. i got good and drunk. the wine swelled my wonder and curiosity and courage, and my mind wrapped itself around that crack up in the hills.
it had started to rain quite hard at dark. geesus i gotta go have a look at the climb. just a look.
so i shoulder up my pack and hike thru the rain into the night of my making, or undoing, or, well, just the night. i get to the climb and peer up into it with my headlamp. i harness up, tie the rope to my gear loop and start up the thing.
it is just like i imagined it. the climb welcomes me higher. and higher. i get to the narrow section and move outwards. just beyond my nose, the rain is covering all. but the insides of the crack are dry.
i had never been here before except in my mind, and my mind didn't lie to me. i squeeze my way thru the slot and pop onto lower angle ground without too much toil.
the anchors are still 60 feet off, up a streaming wet corner. i laugh at the situation as i look about my vicinity. perched on a slab 100' off the ground, in the dark, in a sierra winter storm alone and evil. no rightous. no, just simple old chuck dancin his dance of life.
so i know that i must climb down, as it would be too dangerous to go for the anchors.
so i downclimb the horse. unsaddle. walk back down the mountain, extremely fulfilled and merry. back to town i go, with a little secret under my cap.
later, that stone beer tasted just like stone beer, only, full of hope exploding, or rather imploding like a giant ball of burning hydrogen.
cheer.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Dec 11, 2009 - 09:40pm PT
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Fogarty,
Power Dome? Which route? Nice shot...
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hooblie
climber
sounding out stuff , in the manner of crickets
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Dec 11, 2009 - 10:07pm PT
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i've got a route, weeping moon, above glen aulin camp on the pluto slab, easy 10x. it turned out that way because i was lazy, comfortable and simply kept moving up looking for any natural pro. i looked down a few times, the notion of falling was a little more unpallettable than usual, but i wasn't going to melt off of there nor was i paralyzed.
how does that give me the right to usurp fine terrain in a way that would deter someone who climbs at that level?
the fact that those folks have turned away from it has given me no satisfaction at all.
right away i meant to go back and fix it, but i knew that real bolts, not the stance drilled, single quarter incher, were called for.
twenty two years have passed and i haven't got around to it. that's slovenly, not heroic.
believe me, i never so much as raked in a beer for the glory, on the other hand someone could tumble right into the past.
i hope i get the say so on the final edit, there should be some pressure. i would like it to be recognized as intelligently crafted,
but nobody should fail to come home because i had a sweet groove going on that day.
after all there's just a few of my proud ones that i would still take a shot at, once it's properly completed
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Norwegian
Trad climber
Placerville, California
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Dec 11, 2009 - 10:22pm PT
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leave it undone.
because the undone and the unknown and the uncertain ingnite vitality, even if one's search upon distant emotional shores pitches them into the past, or the future, or that ridiculous place in-between that makes all of the non-sense in both known and imagined worlds.
leave it undone hobblie.
leave the stars to shine in the eyes of dreamers.
for my glance would be compromised if royal had sunk a comfort bolt in that wide crack called the fat-merchant.
hell, my manhood is proped up on that lead.
if you go and safe'n up your route, you damn well might be stealin some young lad's manhood.
leave it undone, i say.
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JuanDeFuca
Big Wall climber
Peenemunde
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Dec 11, 2009 - 10:31pm PT
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"When we share the story with Nidever, he tells us of the recovery he did with SAR of a guy that did the same thing, but never found the bolt, and took the 200 foot grounder"
I was about 30 feet up Cresent Arch when the guy fell.
I saw the expression on his face as he fell past me.
The rope absorbed nearly all the energy of the fall but his feet caught and he flipped back hit his skull.
I down climbed and traversed over to him as his belayer lowered him down to me so I could place him on a small ledge.
It took about an hour for him to die.
Juan
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hooblie
climber
sounding out stuff , in the manner of crickets
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Dec 11, 2009 - 10:42pm PT
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yes norwegian, you state nicely the case for "on the other hand." i've still got a pair 'em, hands that is.
the best dichotomies can be well advocated either way, on occasion by either party.
i aspire to have pondered the angles, reflecting moments without guile. for now it's why memorialize accidental boldness?
that pitiful bolt among a few thin wires, it should have been a quiet solo, not an upward bumble resulting in a house of cards.
ok, that's less than generous. maybe it was a ratcheting look see
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lars johansen
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Dec 11, 2009 - 10:58pm PT
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For sure Power Dome Kris. Somewhere to the right of 'Nukey' Mike?
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Norwegian
Trad climber
Placerville, California
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Dec 11, 2009 - 10:59pm PT
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yea hobblie,
There are plenty of vertical paths out there for the folks whom are merely looking for exerercise. most of the time, i am one of those people.
the paths conducive to mental sorting are fewer. and those paths must remain.
Thank you for authoring one.
edit,
i appologize for the unintentional and unfortunate parallel between mine post and juan's.
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ec
climber
ca
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Dec 11, 2009 - 11:09pm PT
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Pressure Sensitive, Moro Rock, Sequoia National Park, pitch 4
Edit: sorry for the tiny pic. the climbers are on the far steep 'edge' on the face. this pitch heads out into a sea of shallow knobs with no real place to rest (or drill on the FA) on 5.8/5.9. My mind is foggy, but some 40 feet out in the middle of the pitch are just a pair of doorknob sized (or smaller) chicken heads to tie-off in tandem, then another 40 feet past those puppies to a full-on Largo-style, 'Advanced Rock Climbing Video' 5.9 mantle (the funny-one, only this one is NOT funny). Once surmounted, I gladly fired in a bolt. Above, there was more of the same run out with only a random slash in the stone that took a #1 Friend, then only a short run out to a huge ledge. You just cannot fall on sh*t like that.
I just remembered "No More Mr. Nice Guy" at The Needles has very potentially deadly run outs as well...(2nd ascent)
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Dec 11, 2009 - 11:12pm PT
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from the TM guide... climbs I've done with an R or an X
White Flake 5.7 R - casual TM route... runout
Great White Book 5.6 R - the all time TM sandbag, great route, good introduction to soloing
South Crack 5.8 R - sure the face is long, use a longer rope and don't belay right under it!
Curve Like Her 5.9 R - couldn't suck it up to find the 5.9 way through the 5.10 & 5.11
The Block, Right 5.8 R - never understood why it got an "R" or a 5.8 rating
Prime Time 5.8 R - didn't seem out of the ordinary for TM
Pippin 5.9 R - didn't find all the bolts and lived to tell
Hot Crossed Buns 5.6 PG/R - it's on the Bunny Slopes! easy to miss bolts
Mere Image 5.7 PG/R - slick moves along a dike, don't get distracted
R.C.A. 5.8 R - take some tricams
El Condor 5.8 R/X - pockets take tricams
Lembert Dome, Northwest Buttress 5.9 PG/R - don't know where this route goes anyway, could be R
Lunar Leap 5.9 R - I didn't leap, did the "5.10" start and risked hitting the ledge
Truck n' Drive 5.9 R - at some point you learn what TM is all about
Left Water Crack 5.7 R - awkward if you don't figure it out... like the squeaky shoe sounds
Right Water Crack 5.8 R - you can blow it if you really try hard
Werner's Wiggle 5.8 R - knowing that Werner soloed this in work boots inspires you
Elephant's Massacre 5.8 R - ground fall if you blow it, you won't...
Marmot Dome - we inadvertently did a new route here, all of the ones in the book have an "R", it is slick, but not particularly tricky
Great Pumpkin 5.8 PG/R - sparse bolts on the top pitch
Peter Peter 5.10a R - rebolted this one a couple of years ago, first pitch is run to the first bolt, upper two pitches run between bolts...
Magical Mystery Tour 5.8 R - a route up a dome
Right North Book 5.7 PG/R - no pro on easy ground, hella good 5.7 squeeze chimney at crux
Hobbit Book 5.7 R - classic climbing on a face, you're going for it and all is good
Dike Route 5.9 R - scary tales abound, but everyone seems to live
The Vision 5.10a R - at the crux you can't tell why you are somehow sticking to the rock, and you don't dare rush things, stance bolted, and a victim of the bolt wars, you don't want to test the crux protecting bolt
Eagle Dihedral 5.7 ? - given the ratings above, this should have an "R" because of the long run out surprisingly engaging 5.5 pitch off the ledge with no pro for a ways
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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA
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Dec 11, 2009 - 11:33pm PT
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Anybody out there done 'Crying Time Again?' Well, back in the 70's the route had just been put up. One of the FA team wandered into our camp in Tuolumne and told us about this great new route they had just done. I asked for some beta and they said just follow a line of bolts for four or five pitches up the west face on Lembert. My friend Julie Brugger and I decided to give it a go the next day.
The first four or so pitches to the big ledge went without incident. The last pitch was my lead and all I could see was a single bolt 20' off the ledge with a white sling in it. I headed up to the bolt, clipped it and just kept climbing straight up the face. It wasn't too hard, maybe 5.9+/5.10a, but there weren't any more bolts in sight.
About 30' above the bolt I came to a small ledge (6"x12"). It was such a good ledge that when there was no bolt, I figured I was off route. I really didn't think I could downclimb the 50' back to the big ledge so I figured I might as well try to shoot for the top and hope that there was some pro above.
I had to climb about another 80' of more 5.9+/5.10a on some nice small edges to get to the top. I never found any place to put pro. This was definitely a "don't fall" lead. I think Julie was more worried than me about the risk I was taking. She is a solid 5.11 climber and fell at least once following my lead. I was just glad to make it to the top.
Bruce
Postscript- when we got back to camp, Julie told a lot of people about that final pitch and John Sherman, who was in the camp next to us, came over and announced that he was going to do the route the next day and see what all the fuss was about.
He came striding into camp the next day saying that the route wasn't all that hard and there was no 'death lead' on the last pitch. I asked him where he went and he said he took the crack/seam that headed up left from the main ledge. When I told him that I had climbed the face directly above the bolt with the white sling his eyes got really big and he just walked away.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Dec 11, 2009 - 11:38pm PT
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Where's Caylor? Where's Coz?
Those guys know about this stuff!!!!
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martygarrison
Trad climber
The Great North these days......
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Dec 11, 2009 - 11:42pm PT
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geeze too many to remember
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Scared Silly
Trad climber
UT
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Dec 12, 2009 - 12:35am PT
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Oddy, the summer I was finishing up my Ph.D. I got into the grove and got on something like a dozen different R routes that were either 5.10 or 5.11. As I remember I managed to do 10 of them. Most of these were on the granite in the Wasatch. I have done R routes since then but never so many over the summer. I attribute it to just being able to focus really hard cause of trying to finish grad school.
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Greg Barnes
climber
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Dec 12, 2009 - 12:45am PT
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Hey Ed, if you didn't find all the bolts on Pippin, you probably did the 5.7/8 variation to the crux pitch. The 5.9 is actually pretty contrived, following a dike out right when the logical route is shelves and horizontal cracks (well, a bit diagonal) straight up (probably 5.8 around the first bolt, but 5.7 higher).
Actually took me quite a while to figure out where that second bolt was on that pitch when we replaced it, and when I finally spotted it I was wondering why it was way over that-a-way...
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mark miller
Social climber
Reno
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Dec 12, 2009 - 12:55am PT
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I think Ed's list hit's alot of them I've done at least 40% of those routes and talked to Gawd while trying to get up them or find a 1/4" leeper somewhere. I would like to add Red's delight on the Hogsback 5.9-, if you find a bolt your probably more on route then I have ever been ......
About 6 years ago I took a friend up "The Great White book"....We were in the elephant congo line and we noticed an elderly gentlemen in brown polyester pants and long sleeve shirt with a "ranger" style hat on free soloing up the route....We thought?.....Well waiting at the 3rd belay this gentleman cruises up to us and asks if we mind him playin' through. We recognized him as the TM ( Having been ribbed by him at the Leap for racking to much Gear before). Of course you may climb through TM, and have a nice day sir.
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Fogarty
climber
BITD
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 12, 2009 - 01:03am PT
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Ksolem, Yes POWER Dome, Zorro Zone Original start, climb left of the newly protected start, Quite runout as I remember, you can't fall or you go 50 to 80+ in the creek.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Dec 12, 2009 - 01:18am PT
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Greg, sure we didn't go left....
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