Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 19, 2010 - 02:38pm PT
|
An engaging Mead Hargis account of Grand Alpinism in a curious setting!
Thanks again to Jim Phillips.
|
|
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 19, 2010 - 11:26pm PT
|
Snowy Bump!
|
|
crunch
Social climber
CO
|
|
|
Sep 20, 2010 - 01:20am PT
|
Outer Space, summer:
Down with snow!
|
|
Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
|
|
|
Sep 20, 2010 - 01:40am PT
|
What must they have been feeling out there? Easy 5.9 in the summer... a long way from home in the winter.
I've got fond memories of that climb. One of the proudest leads of my life was on Outer Space. In summer, no less!
Eric Hirst had put up a variation to the first two pitches, which offered one okay pitch and one stellar pitch instead of two crap pitches. Since he'd already done it, he led the first and offered me the second. The crux -- assuming a fine summer day -- is a 10b move from an easy 5.8 corner into a fun 10a finger crack. But although it was summer, and sunny, it had been pouring rain for days and the easy 5.8 corner was a forty-foot vertical watercourse. Which I didn't really appreciate until I'd committed to it. Getting up that "easy" corner involved some very real climbing. The technical crux was a relief after getting to the top of the corner.
[Historical note: We found out later that at least part of Eric's "new variation" was in fact an old variation put up a decade or so earlier by Pat Timson. But there were no marks of Pat's passage, and Eric believed he was on new ground.]
Edit: What's the picture in the post above? No way that's Outer Space. Or at least not the real Outer Space.
|
|
Todd Eastman
climber
Bellingham, WA
|
|
|
Sep 20, 2010 - 02:03am PT
|
The Hargis article is about "Outer Space" in Washington State. The "Outer Space" in Eldorado Canyon is only Outer State...
|
|
Allen Hill
Social climber
CO.
|
|
|
Sep 20, 2010 - 03:54am PT
|
Mead Hargis was clearly super hardcore. Great article.
|
|
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 20, 2010 - 09:25pm PT
|
Sometimes a great notion...Bump!
|
|
martygarrison
Trad climber
The Great North these days......
|
|
|
Sep 20, 2010 - 09:39pm PT
|
Mead was the coolest dude. always ran into him while he was rangering
|
|
Oxymoron
Big Wall climber
total Disarray
|
|
|
Sep 20, 2010 - 10:56pm PT
|
Is this "Outer Space" in a guide?
Where is it? Just wondering.
|
|
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 20, 2010 - 11:10pm PT
|
Two of the best 5.6 handcrack with knobs pitches anywhere...unless they are choked with ice! LOL
|
|
Oxymoron
Big Wall climber
total Disarray
|
|
|
Sep 20, 2010 - 11:17pm PT
|
Thank You, Ms. Tami.
I'm not from around here....Good info, yo?
I'm liking it.
|
|
Mike Bolte
Trad climber
Planet Earth
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2010 - 12:11am PT
|
crunch's outer space is the other famous route by that name outside the little hamlet of boulder. A bit steeper and more strenuous than the one on snow creek wall.
|
|
Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2010 - 12:24am PT
|
Outer Space, I was told, was the "best route in the world" and many would agree. I'd put it in my "top 10 desert island" multi-pitch rock climbs
Hmmm. I'd put it in my "top 10 over-rated" climbs.
Not that it's bad. In fact it's quite nice, but it sure never seemed like a top-ten climb to me. The long crack splitting the chicken head-covered face at the top is kind of fun, but the rest of it is sub-ordinary. If you start it with the new variation it's better, but still not great.
I really don't understand how it got that reputation.
|
|
donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2010 - 12:27am PT
|
Ghost, you're right on- there are better climbs on Snow Creek Wall, not that Outer Space isn't good.
|
|
Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2010 - 12:36am PT
|
Ghost, you're right on- there are better climbs on Snow Creek Wall, not that Outer Space isn't good.
I haven't climbed any of the others on Snow Creek Wall, but there sure are plenty of Moderate alpine rock climbs in the US that are way better than Outer Space.
Washington Pass? Cochise? Needles? Organ Mountains? To mention just a few areas in the US with great climbs that spring immediately to mind. And I've never climbed in Montana, Wyoming, or Idaho, and hardly at all in Colorado.
And if I remember, there are a few quite decent alpine rock climbs in Canada.
Outer Space is fine, but it ain't great.
|
|
Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2010 - 01:28am PT
|
Nailing on Outer Space for practice alpinism - it's kinda weird.
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2010 - 01:42am PT
|
Weird? It was 1970 and I sure as hell wouldn't have called any of those
guys weird to their faces. I did have a good laugh at Mark's expense once
as he ran off screaming like a 7th grade girl from an admittedly ginormous
rattler. OK, maybe he only just ran. That coulda been me screaming.
|
|
Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2010 - 03:04am PT
|
Good point - 1969/70 was very early in the days of nuts/clean climbing.
I guess I was thinking of New Hampshire in the mid-1970s, where some people nailed free/clean routes for winter ascents. By then, clean climbing was normal, though.
Maybe not exactly weird, but would you be comfy saying "Burgie, you have a funny voice!" ? :-)
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2010 - 11:35am PT
|
^^^ LOL! The dood had bigger forearms than my thighs!
|
|
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 21, 2010 - 11:42am PT
|
Some people are still nailing free/clean routes and beating their chests over it...
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!