Liberty Cap, Direct SW Face - VI 5.10 A5

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Gunkie

climber

East Coast US

Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 23, 2009 - 05:18pm PT

A route by no other than Werner Braun & Rick Cashner, May 1982. One hell of an approach.

P1: 50' rap to misc scrambling and tension traverses?
P2: 59
P3: A4
P4: A5
P5: 5.10
P6: 5.10 A2
P7: A4
P8: A4
P9: A3+
P10: A3
P11: 5.9
P12: A1
P13: 5.8 A0 [pendo/tension]

I have a desktop background which is a killer picture of the SW face of Liberty Cap and this route looks like it takes an incredible line up a very clean and bulging wall.

Anyone else take a shot at this good looking climb?

deuce4

climber

Hobart, Australia

Mar 23, 2009 - 06:53pm PT

Climbed an early repeat of this route with the late great Rich Albushcat. Good route, fun partner, good times. I was especially proud of having followed Werner in his footsteps when I led the "A5" pitch!!

Funny, looking on my computer to check the spelling of Richs last name, I came upon this old writeup:

1989 Big Wall Writeup
Correspondents: John Middendorf, Walt Shipley, and Troy Johnson.

Half Dome
Half Dome's Northwest Face received four first ascents during the Fall of 1989. A Peregrine Falcon nesting site near pitch 10 of Bushido closed the entire right half of the wall (from Tis-sa-sack to the right) for most of the season. When it eventually opened during the last week in August, several parties were poised for first ascents.

Shadows
First Ascent: Jim Bridwell, Cedo Kirkpatrick, Charlie Row, and Billy Westbay. Completely independent between Queen of Spades and Tis-sa-sack. Nine days in October were spent on this route after fixing and several false starts. Paul Gagner and Troy Johnson had previously climbed the first four pitches of this route.
Rating: VI,PDH.

The Kali-Yuga
First Ascent: Walt Shipley and John Middendorf. Completely independent between Tis-sa-sack and The White Room, crossing Tis-sa-sack three-quarters of the way up. Seven days in October were spent on this 17 pitch route. Good climbing including a blind chimney, a wild pendulum, 5.10 free-climbing on a thin flake, and many sections of sporty A3+ nailing, copperheading, and hooking. No chiselled heads. Shipley had previously climbed six pitches of this route on the solo, and had left five pitches fixed.
Rating: VI, 5.10, A4.

The Promised Land
First Ascent: Kevin Fosburg, Jeff Hornibrook, and Troy Johnson. Between The Big Chill and The Artic Sea. Connects in with 30 feet of Artic Sea at pitch 4 and 20 feet of The Jet Stream at the top.
Rating: VI, 5.10, A4.

The Jet Stream
First Ascent: Sean Plunkett and Bill Russell. Starts to the right of Bushido, and crosses Bushido and Artic Sea near the top. This 12-pitch route continuously overhangs from pitch 2 to pitch 9. The Jet Stream was climbed simultaneously with The Promised Land in early September, and both parties sat out a storm for three of the twelve days on the route. Rating: PDH. Sean still hasn't delivered Walt's slides from their previous year's ascent of The White Room.

Also of note is Troy Johnson and John Yablonski's ascent of the Half Dome Triple Direct (Artic Sea / Bushido / Jet Stream). This route was climbed in October as a means to obtain Peregrine egg shell fragments from the nesting site near pitch 10 of Bushido. Because of the official nature of the ascent, the team obtained authorization to use a Bosch power drill on the ascent, otherwise strictly illegal for use in areas above the 4200' contour line (includes all of Yosemite's big walls). Rob Ramey participated in the ascent to the nesting site level, whereupon he free-rappelled fixed lines to the ground.

The Peregrine Fund, which introduces captive Peregrine Falcons to natural environments, has done outstanding work in preventing the extinction of this insipring bird. The protective closures during the Peregrine Falcon's nesting periods (January 1 to August 1) of Yosemite's big walls, however, are sometimes of question. The Half Dome closure, the second such big-wall closure of its kind in Yosemite, follows the example set by the El Cap closure, and closes much more area of the wall than reasonably required. Climbers on the wall not directly above or near the nesting sites (say, within a hundred-yard wide vertical band) pose absolutely no threat to the Peregrine Falcons. The birds themselves recognize this best as is demonstated by their graceful soaring and dive-feeding in close vicinity of climbers, even during thier nesting season.

Peter Mayfield has expressed some concern with "Squeeze-Job" routes; that is, new routes which are close to existing routes. Of greater concern, however, is the ever-evolving definition of a natural line. Non-natural lines (i.e., lines whch lack a reasonable amount of natural features) are sometimes considered and/or climbed merely because there are no other routes nearby (e.g. Wings of Steel). In general, the number of holes (includes rivets, bat hooks, and belay bolts) and/or number of manufactured placements is a yardstick of the "naturalness" of the route.

Frequent Dialog on the Kali Yuga:
Climber:"Hey I'm gripped, this hook is starting to crumble, watch me!"
Belayer (lounging on portaledge): "You know what they say, don't you?"
Climber: "No, what?"
Belayer: "Better you than me!" (followed by maniacal laughter).
Climber: "Oh, yeah" (sighs and continues).

El Capitan
New route activity on El Cap is dwindling to a trickle due to the developed nature of the monolith. To the left of the West Face, Jim Beyer soloed a new route, much of which went free at 5.11 (some of which was initially aided at up to A4+). Dan McDevitt and Sue Bonovich (now Sue McDevitt) climbed Octopussy (VI, 5.9, A3), a direct route which starts off the Peter Pan ledge and connects in with pitch 15 of Never Never Land. The initial pitches were originally attempted as the start to Never Never Land. Sue recently climbed El Cap for her eighth time! Steve Grossman climbed the Central Scrutinizer, and Eric Brand and Doug Englekirk climbed Genesis (VI, 5.11, A4+), which starts on El Cap Tower and joins the Dawn Wall below the Dawn roof. Tracy Dorton and Rick Lovelace linked together South Seas, Mescalito, and the Dawn Wall for a triple direct on the right side. On the far right side, Troy Johnson and Bill Russell climbed The Bad Seed (VI, PDH), just to the right of Born Under a Bad Sign. A second ascent soon after by Alan Humprey and Barry Ward confirmed the difficulty of the route. Just to the right of On the Waterfront, Alan Humprey and Eric Kohl climbed The High Plains Dripper (VI, 5.11, A5). Pitches on the Dripper include the Technical Ecstasy (A5), the Toofus Tormentor, Flakey Flix, and the Multi-Death Block.

The Atlantic Ocean Wall, Space, and The Wyoming Sheep Ranch all received their 3rd ascents this year. The AO was climbed by Alan Humphrey and Eric Kohl, Space by Steve Gerberding and Nadim Melkonian, and the Sheep Ranch by Xaver Bongard (who also soloed the Jolly Roger earlier in the year) and John Middendorf. The Sheep Ranch team climbed a new 3-pitch variation through the Cyclops Roof (A2+) instead of the normal finish on the NA wall.

Rand Black has recently completed a complete poster size topo map of El Cap, depicting over 65 routes in unbroken topo form. Countless cartological hours were spent on this masterpiece of topographical excellence.

Yosemite Falls Wall
Eric Kohl has been active in developing the Yosemite Falls wall, with four new routes to his credit. In order from left to right, The Wheel of Torture (VI, 5.7, A4), climbed solo by Kohl, ascend the wall to the left of the Falls. Watch out for the Plate of Fate. Alan Humprey and Kohl climbed Via Sin Liquor (VI, 5.9, A4) to the right of the Falls. Kohl and Middendorf climbed Route 66 (VI, 5.10, A4) which takes the buttress above Geek Towers. Route 66 was named for the exact number of holes required for this 10 pitch route. And on the solo, Kohl climbed Dante's Disco Inferno (VI, 5.9, A3+) on the wall left of the Lost Arrow Chimney.

Other Valley Walls
Steve Bosque and Rich Albushcat climbed Flashback (V, 5.7, A3) on Sentinel, a completely independent route to the right of the Psychedelic Wall. Bosque and Albushcat teamed up with Murray Barnet for the first ascent of the Panorama Cliff (VI,5.10,A3), 18 pitches up the center of the wall. Previously unreported is Bosque and Ken Yaeger's ascent of a 14 pitch route on Liberty Cap's SW prow, Turkey Shoot (V,5.9,A3), and Bosque and Albushcat's ascent on the BOLT Wall (Brother Of Leaning Tower), a route which starts on the Leaning Tower traverse, crosses the chimney, and finishes on the BOLT headwall.

Mideast Crisis on Washington's Column received a second ascent by Rich Albushcat and Ken Sauls, as did Roulette on the Leaning Tower by Paul Gagner and Bill Krause. Tucker Tech made the first solo and second overall ascent of Teneya's Terror on Mt Watkins. Warren Harding (now 65 years old) teamed up with Mike Corbett and Steve Bosque for the 30th anniversary ascent of the Nose. The team bivied at each and every camp, and topped out on the same day in November as Harding, Merry, and Whitmore originally did in 1959!

Steve Schneider's impressive fast solo ascents of the Nose on El Cap (21.5 hours) and the Direct Route on Half Dome (22 hours) have left most long-route climbers in awe. Werner Braun, Kevin Fosburg, and Rick Cashner climbed the Zodiac in 19 hours in the Spring. Rick Lovelace teamed up with John Middendorf for a fast (7 hour, 15 minutes) ascent of the Prow on Washington's Column. Speed ascents of the long classic routes in Yosemite are gaining in popularity, and the Nose-in-a-day is now receiving countless ascents, including three separate one-day ascents in one season by Don Snyder.

Gunkie

climber

East Coast US

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 24, 2009 - 06:47am PT

That write up was published about the time when I first began to hit the valley for annual trips. I think I read that exact recap back BITD.

It's funny, amazing accomplishments on wall routes back then seem so much bigger than similar feats pulled off today. I wonder if the medium of reporting [magazines v. e-zines/blogs/messageboards] affects the tactile nature of the events?

Mungeclimber

Trad climber

sorry, just posting out loud.

Dec 7, 2010 - 10:37pm PT

bumping this

thx Peter for the link

tom woods

Gym climber

Bishop, CA

Dec 8, 2010 - 12:05am PT

Lot's of fun history here.

I've never climbed liberty cap. Where does a guy get good info on routes up there?

I used to scope some easy looking free lines on the back side. There is harder looking stuff in the corridor between liberty and broderick.

I think someone (Peter Haan?) posted an abstract photo of some of that stuff here on the supertopo.

elcap-pics

Big Wall climber

Crestline CA

Dec 8, 2010 - 12:31am PT

Looks like the first "ElCap Report".... sans the pics... thanks for putting this in... love the history stuff...

Rhodo-Router

Gym climber

the secret topout on the Chockstone Chimney

Nov 13, 2011 - 10:31pm PT

"Climbed an early repeat of this route with the late great Rich Albushcat. Good route, fun partner, good times. I was especially proud of having followed Werner in his footsteps when I led the "A5" pitch!!"

That's all you have to say about it?