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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Jul 22, 2007 - 12:02pm PT
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Thanks Peter for en-lightening us.
Sean Jones has recently been admiring and lusting after the Lightning and we often talked about it while hiking back and forth from his new project on the South Face of Half Dome. (More about that soon enough -- I'm filming it.) We had no idea that anyone had ridden the Lightning.
It figures that you, as the OW pioneer of your post-Pratt era, were drawn to it, only to be put off by the crude (though in the end so noble) lack of pro of the day. And that the mad genius Walt Shipley was so obsessed after his many trips passing by toward Southern Belle that he took the relatively extreme measures of aiding and then bolting to become the first to fondle that edgy granite bombay.
Walt is sorely missed. And your insight is much appreciated. Sean will be disappointed, tho briefly, and still inspired to climb it.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 22, 2007 - 12:28pm PT
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By the way, Dougie, Werner was on the first or one of the very early attempts by Walt on this climb, 80's. Walt apparently eventually decided to just lieback it, using giant cams, and got really way out, began to sketch really badly, finally got something in and bailed. Werner says he himself would not go back because it was just too dangerous...and then later Walt finished it off by pre-aiding/bolting it. Werner also says some SAR guys recently may have repeated it.
For 3 decades I thought this line had still not been climbed, until Werner told me last year about Shipley's work on it. It had been one of my secrets, I thought. Lol.
best to you! Ph.
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Jul 22, 2007 - 12:43pm PT
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Interesting that the SAR guys, including Werner the Great, would end up on this. Stat: 25% of all rescues in the Park happen on the Half Dome Trail. Lightning Crack is way in your face from the Nevada Falls switchbacks...
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Jul 22, 2007 - 01:40pm PT
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The time we went up there was truly a full value Walt experience, I was shaking for days.
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
climber
O a k t o w n
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Feb 22, 2009 - 05:05pm PT
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Is this it ? ( any chance of ressurecting those IMAGESHACK dead links ? )
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 22, 2009 - 05:32pm PT
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No Blotchie. It is around the corner to the right, up in the very first part of the hanging valley between Mt Broderick and Liberty Cap. And I don't know if the line has been entirely climbed to the top of Mt Broderick. I'll try to see if I still have some images of it and will edit back here in a few minutes if I do. The thing is really really really horrific. The line further on to the top looks to be incredible climbing.
Okay here are two images of the first half of the line, the half Werner says Walt Shipley did after aiding it to get bolts in. You have to lieback it, you see, it overhangs about 40 degrees for 75-100 ft it seems. Scale is very deceptive, the desperate pitch is way longer than you believe it is. Realize these images are from the mid-seventies and were scanned from black and white prints that had been kicking around since that time, nearly being destroyed in the process of living. This problem was a secret project of mine but I couldn't bring myself to aid and bolt it way back then. Ethics changed and it finally got climbed, at least the most dramatic part of the line.
and then taken a while later, attempt to stitch/merge, some color images:
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Feb 22, 2009 - 06:29pm PT
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How hard is this as a layback? Are Walt's bolts still reliable?
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 22, 2009 - 06:48pm PT
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Stevie,
Werner was with him the first time when he tried to do it with Valley Giants and similar and the layback was too hard to allow him to get good placements. Werner said they were tipping out of there, Walt was screaming and Werner thought they were going to die---Walt in a gigantic fall pulling the few things he had gotten in and Werner being sawed in half by the belay forces. When I tried it back in the earlier 1970's Jim Orey and I tried to offwidth it but it was almost like a roof it was so overhanging. We wanted to lieback it but clearly then would not be able to get anything in most of the time as the wall doesn't have tons of holds and there is lichen. We left the biggest Chouinard hex in it with I think a chartreuse sling, at the very beginning because we couldn't get it out of there. There is a tiny pitch to get to the start of the thing which is actually maybe 5.9 I seem to recall. Funky too.
I have to think that not only is it continuous as all get out as a lieback, it is pretty hard anyway at points. The edge is most of the time good. The main wall is not more than 80-82 degrees though. Incredibly nervy climb. I really hope the line was taken to the top too as those upper pitches look so cool and unusual.
Werner said last year that he though some of the SAR guys had been on it recently.
best to you, p.
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Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
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Feb 22, 2009 - 06:52pm PT
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I remember running into to Cilley in the valley once when I was on a brief weekend soiree...
"Walt's out bolting that route you guys tried on Broderick," he said, distainfuly.
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WBraun
climber
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Feb 22, 2009 - 07:18pm PT
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OK I tried it originally with someone who I can't remember who, and failed. If you fall in the beginning you hit that ledge and die or become a wheelchair for life.
Then I told Walt about and he started going up there and on one of his attempts ran it out staring death itself in the eye. He got out a ways to where it kind of pinches off and was trembling for his life and miraculously placed a stopper or some such thing out there and lowered off. Told me then he's gonna bolt it so it can be climbed without dieing. hahaha
Danna Drummond aka Maddog did the second ascent I believe with Jon Gleason son of Phil Gleason.
Peter wasn't this originally a Klemens vision that he really had his eyes on and wished he could do it way back when we would sit in your VW van listening to Hendrix and Cream?
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Feb 22, 2009 - 08:39pm PT
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Days of Hendrix and Cream. The next Merchant of Ironmongery film!
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Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
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Feb 22, 2009 - 08:43pm PT
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That was a # 3 friend, Werner, I didn't think he was gonna pull it off/ survive.
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WBraun
climber
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Feb 22, 2009 - 09:00pm PT
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Number 3 friend tipped out Jaybro?
Hahaha
Walt was pretty crazy sometimes, eh?
Not that we are so sane either ......
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Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
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Feb 22, 2009 - 09:09pm PT
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Yeah, we all walk that line, Walt just had a particularly colorful way of doing it!
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 22, 2009 - 10:55pm PT
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Wern,
One thing that Klemens and I never ever talked about was our secret projects. We were the offwidth dragons but also bros. It was kind of fun knowing that each of us was brewing up secret science. But we did really dig each other and we knew there was plenty of this "non-climbing" to go around then. Plenty of the new climbing.
"The Goat" (as JB and I and I think you, called him) spent oodles of time hiking the crap out of the valley when he had some kind of joint or muscle thing going on way back then in 71 or so. God I loved him. Anyway, when he was tromping solo through all those obscure weird-assed funky brushy sections of the Valley, he saw stuff and made permanent note of these lines, and sometimes told Bridwell. Those two were even closer.
I think he didn't quite get to a lot of it though; he left not that many seasons later. I never even heard about Cream until he had almost got it down. I remember hanging in the VW van, him telling me about checking it out, urging me to go fire it soon.
Mark was pretty powerful, really bright, and like the rest of us, was trying to make something out of this weird place we all were in, this Non-Era, this place where it seemed the climbing was coming to an end. How wrong we turned out to be. And he did great. A very bold and bright guy.
There was this winter when he moved to Hawaii. Honolulu, exactly. I was born there and loved getting a couple of letters he sent back then. I hadn't been back since 1952... I think I still have them in the heap of stuff from my life the last 60 years. Anyway he went there to try to get into surfing and I think for other reasons I never knew.
hugs, ph.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 9, 2010 - 09:32am PT
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Renewing the links that have died on Imageshack with Photobucket ones;
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Thanks for the bump Peter,
Looks like a great line but after reading this thread no way would i get on it! Ha ha.
Z
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 9, 2010 - 10:55am PT
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Zander, apparently Walt put bolts in on another trip on aid, see--- that is how it eventually got done. I don't know how hard it it is now with that stuff installed. Probably this one lead is not so much difficult as incredibly sustained.
And it has been repeated too, recently also. I think the more urgent question here is whether the route was pushed all the way to the top of Broderick and not just this bitchy initial lead. The climbing above this tough pitch always appeared to me to be spectacular. It would be far more interesting to do the entire line instead of diddling around with the bottom of it only.
If you are dreaming of offwidthing it, forget it. It goes for many many feet at about 40 degrees right and then eases up. It is a lieback but a granddaddy one. We tried back in 1972/74 to offwidth it and of course immediately concluded it was an unprotectable lieback.
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