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philo
Trad climber
boulder, co.
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Tar I am the ghost of chossmass past. I have also wondered about you for a long time. It seems we haunted many of the same places at about the same times. Certainly we have many mutual aquaintances. The Name is Phil Broscovak long time Gunnistoner.
Back when I actually was a climber I didn't talk much about it. Sort of the Gunnison way. Now that my juvenile juice has turned to geriatric jelly I am more inclined to wallow in perceived past glory. We should gather for a brew and a BS session sometime.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 1, 2007 - 03:22pm PT
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Excellent Phil let's do.
Keep an eye out for the occasional Boulder Super Taco gatherings we post up as well.
We just did one at Southern Sun prior to Johnny Copp's slide show.
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
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Yikes, Philbert! I think I have always been too scared to fall down there, even with the relative benefit of those springy things afforded by my relative nOObness. Falling off the Hooker sounds like a bad idea there-- bet it would make for a good cartoon there in the next edition of that book. Thanks for relating that story.
Reddirt, I think I share that E-coaster's fascination for the deepest, darkest thing around. I want to say it's sort of like the Whitesides of the west--another place I have only tiptoed around the edges of the real deal.
Consequently, the to-do list is long down there. There's nothing quite like waking up in the predawn campground and slinking out, unsure of how the day is going to go, and gunning all day for who knows what. You don't really get to do that much where I come from, but it's extremely satisfying.
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Tahoe climber
Trad climber
a dark-green forester out west
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Wow - what a kick-ass thread! All the great stories make my hands sweaty - I'm reaching for a chalk bag and tape as we speak!
Visited the Black in late September.
Climbed Comic Relief with a buddy.
It was a great intro to the Black, that's for sure!
Whopping exposure!
Particularly on P2: plenty of pucker for this poser!
Beautiful movement!
Dodging plate sized throwing stars (aka: loose rocks)!
I had such a good time - first time I've felt "at home" in a long time. The Black will get more visits from this poser, for sure. More, please?
-Aaron
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bob d'antonio
Trad climber
Taos, NM
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If you climb long enough in the "Black" you will have a story to tell...here mine.
I took my friend Kelly on the Goss-Logan for our first route as partners in the Black. She led half of a pitch and then I lead the rest of the route. Things when well. She drinks most of the water by pitch eight but we make it to the rim (and beer) by 6:30 pm...life is good.
Next route was her pick and she wants to do the Movable Stoned Voyage. She picked the start...I said she was wrong ...she told me I was alway taking control so I back off a little. Up the start of Air Voyage we go. At the top of the first tower....700 feet up I know we are off route. I head left and up towards the Stoned Oven...crank a hard pitch into a crack system and belay...there hope. I continue up then see chalk...more hope. Crank up the crack to an overhang and no more chalk..crank the overhang and I feel like I'm in the middle of no-mans-land. It getting late...5pm...one rope and small Black rack. I tell Kelly I'm coming down and will try to climb over to Air Voyage.
Down climb a little and then clean the gear and traverse right (more chalk) toward familiar ground. I hit the lower off-width...climb up 20 feet...go to place my only number four friend and watch it fall out of my hand and down towards the river.
Things were a little serious before...now they are really serious. I want out... my ass has been handed to me...no water, no gear and now what? I down climb/slither the 20 feet to the traverse and gear and somehow down climb and remove gear and reach Kelly... I let her down to the big ledge and then lower from a fixed piece to the big ledge and old quarter inch bolts. I'm ready to stop and bivy...and do the walk of shame the next day. Kelly wants water and wants to keep rapping. I give in again. We rap off the old bolts and leave a sling, reach an old bong and rap...from there leaving one of Kelly camalots...Payback. By luck she make it to a small ledge...plugs in two cams and I come down. I pull the rope...it getting dark...the rope get stuck. I'm ready to freak out... again. I grab the other end and lead up and get the other end unstuck, continue up and then lower from the previous rap. It's now dark...and we continue our journey down. Kelly goes first and yells back up that she at the end of the rope and no belay...I tell her to start swinging left to right....she yell back no...I tell her to just f*#king do it...she does and on the right is a fixed Jim Beyer rope. She grabs the rope and clips in. I remembered the rope from early in the day and it saves us. We lower 50 feet to a good ledge and regroup. Kelly starts saying lets go down and she not going to make it without water...I say no...she wants water...I say there is no f*#king water and I not leaving this ledge. She starts to cry and I give in. Wrong again...we make it one more rap to the upper part of the upper ramp and a fixed piece and a small (8 inch) ledge. I say this is it for me and hand Kelly the rope. She look at me and then say ok. We made a bivy and start to talk. The night is beautiful, millions of stars and the sound of the river pounding in our ears. I'm happy to be here in this special canyon at this time. No jacket, no water and no light...it's start to get cold...I wake up a hundred times...the beauty of the place overwhelm me...no water for 12 hours, shaking from the cold and I start to hear music...Native Americans chants. It sounds real. I almost want to cry...it sounds so beautiful...morning comes. We rap, I run to the river and drink two quarts of water, look for my dropped friend and then almost feel sad to leave this place.
We make the walk of shame and reach the rim. Looking up the wall and see no climbers...lucky us. I have laugh a few times at climbers doing the walk and realize that we just might make it to the rim and slither away unnoticed.
Fifteen routes in the Black and my record is broken (no forced bivies).
The chalk on the route was Steve Levin and Alex Shanman...misery loves company..they got off route too.
The Black...special, beautiful and haunting.
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philo
Trad climber
boulder, co.
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That's a good one Bob. It gets real cold, dark and loud down there.
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philo
Trad climber
boulder, co.
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OK here is another story.
John Pearson and I did one of the earliest (2nd or 3rd) all free one day ascents of the S. Arete on the Painted wall in 1976. Though I had the benefit of a seasoned and gnarly Black Canyon veteran as a leader I was but a mere whelp of limited "real" experience about to embark on my first adventure over five pitches long. I remember being battered,thrashed and terrified and that was just from the approach. We third classed most of the middle of the route up to 5.8. and simul-climbed a good deal as well. But there are still three distinctly more difficult sections on that route that require serious concentration. I was so nervous about the climb I adamantly refused to allow JP to "light up" before or during the climb. When we finally topped out JP, and I, could take the deprevation no longer. Faster than lightening he produced a small wall pipe and film canister and proceeded to try and "take care of business'. Unfortunately for us it had gotten quite blustery on top and we couldn't keep the lighter going long enough to torch up. In desperation JP whips off his stanky EB and stuffs face pipe and lighter in for a wind block. Sure enough it works but I still get a funny taste in my mouth thinking about it. I was so thirsty on the hike back that my tongue swole up and threatened to choke me. Fortunately JP had parked his infamous 4x4 way down the access road that leads out towards the Painted Wall. Back then the N. Rim wasn't crowded so the Feds ignored our little rule bendings. Dragging our trashed butts back to his rig we each downed nearly a gallon of luke warm water, several beers, and more bud. After all the real slogan back then was "a rack and a rope and a little bit of dope". I have never been more dehydrated!
The second time I did this route was more than a decade later when as the gnarled experienced veteren I was initiating the latest whelp d'jour. I was confident that having done the route before and having filled out my resume of comparitive experiences that this was going to be a romp. I even had temerity to schedule a date with my ever so high maintainence girl friend back in Gunnison that same evening.
Well the "Black" is never casual and up high I got way off route and way spiced out right before dusk. My partner Dave Henritze had to follow, in the dark, with a pack, a full pitch of virtually un protected pegma-loose including an "if you fall we both go" 40' sideways traverse to get to my belay. What a way to bust a whelp. He was awesome! Particularily when I foolishly shone my headlamp (our only lamp) right into his night vision adjusted eyes moments after he had un clipped the last piece of pro and was about to start traversing the unprotected pegma-loose. Fearing that we were stuck there for the night I built an anchor with any and all the gear I could trick in. Thirteen pieces of marginal bivy pro. This is the inspiration for the "Fine Mess" cartoon in Robbie William's Black Canyon guide book. We spent a surprisingly uncomfortable bivy way off the deck on a doormat sized jumble of broken rock in the middle of one of the epic pegmatite bands that eventually flow into the dragons. With less than a sniff of water and a dwindling bag of mini snickers for sustenance between us, we huddled together in a single bivy sac sleeplessly starring at the river foaming 2000 feet below. To this day more than fifteen years later I can't get the river song out of my head. And I can't look a snickers in the nuts without gagging.
To further complicate this adventure I was deeply troubled by the realization that not only was my girlfriend being stood up but she had also likely by now realized I'd borrowed her car with out asking. When our friends showed up at the rim with headlamps to check on us I fairly begged them to pitch down several lengths of connected rope and jumars. After all I still had hopes of a sex life after climbing. But that idea was a NO GO. We almost took off climbing again when the moon filled the canyon to over flowing but the morning clearly showed how fatally flawed that line of reasoning would have proven. Dicey poorly protected pegmatite traversing into unprotected off widths for breakfast. I have never been so blue balled!
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
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Gosh, Bob, now I understand the 'massive sandbag' comment over on the Movable-Stoned-Voyage page.
I think an excellent definition of 'desperation' might be
'to "escape" onto Air Voyage with only a #4 Friend,
which one has already dropped.'
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Now that's what I'm talking about! Great stories philo and bob. I'm jealous of and hold in high esteem you folks who were climbing in the Black back in the '70s and '80s (philo, lcoyne, oli, among others contributing to this thread).
Good to finally get the long version of that MSV story, Bob. Finding those three camalots of yours on Air Voyage had been one of my better Black booty days.
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bob d'antonio
Trad climber
Taos, NM
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Greg wrote: Good to finally get the long version of that MSV story, Bob. Finding those three camalots of yours on Air Voyage had been one of my better Black booty days.
You are a gentleman...thanks for returning them.
Funny...I let Kelly have her way even through I knew we were off route...thought I teach her a lesson. My ace in the hole was Peter Gallagher telling me about a ledge to escape off from that part of the wall...I thought I could get to it, climb up to the rim, give Kelly one of those told you so looks and have a beer and eat dinner. I was the one who learned a lesson...I got my ass handed to me and the "Black" is no place to f*#k with.
To this day I have never been so thirsty in my whole life as I was on that wall during the night. I know how a cat feels when it spits out a hair ball.
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Another thread that keeps on giving!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Great stories everyone. Dropping gear in the Black just like leaving your keys at the neighborhood bar. I love it!
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woodman
Social climber
CO
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Holly Sh#t, a great post. Lots of good hiztori!!! It is way cool to see everyone keeping the stories alive and creating new ones.
Leonard, I am just wondering how bad Keith kicked your ass for putting those photos of Dragon point on here?
Also, Brent you should drag your ass out of the casinos and get a plane ticket to canada.....if you don't have time you could work for Phil, even Nigro seems to have time to call me on the clock when he is electrifyin""
Just joking good to read the posts from lots of old friends.
Robbie
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philo
Trad climber
boulder, co.
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what's that you say Robbie? The Nigster is phaffin' on the phone when he's supposed to be working for me? Shocking!
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lcoyne
Big Wall climber
Byron Bay, Australia
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Robbie, good to see you are still kicking about. What part of Canada are you in?
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lcoyne
Big Wall climber
Byron Bay, Australia
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A couple of cool photos of my friend Mick Haffner in the Canyon:
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woodman
Social climber
CO
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Hey boys good to hear from you. Leonard, I am still livng in Carbondale enjoying the surroundings. We are heading to Canada for an ice climbng trip in early December. Right now, I am in Kentucky. We are taking down this old cabin to build our house from. If I can figure how to attach a photo I will so everyone can check out the mess I have gotten myseilf into. Drop me line sometime so we can catch up.
Phil we should have a boulder or black canyon get together before it gets too cold. I think nigus is still in the desert but he will be back soon, i am sure he would be in.
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woodman
Social climber
CO
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Sorry, I can figure out how to attach the photo. I am new to the forum scene. Anyone have any beta?
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lcoyne
Big Wall climber
Byron Bay, Australia
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Robbie,
You have to open a www.photobucket.com account, post your photos there and then take the link code pbucket provides & paste that into your post.
Not really as painful as it sounds.....
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philo
Trad climber
boulder, co.
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Hey woodman
You need a photobucket account to post pics on the tacostand. Since I am fairly sure you have some hot shots you should sign up.
A get together is a great idea I started a thread about the idea on mountain project.
I hope the Nigness can show up that way he could pay me back for all the phone calls and internet porn surfing he did while supposedly working for me. Oh wait that internet thing that was me. But there is still those phone calls he phaffed off on.
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