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Owlman
Social climber
Bozeman
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Jul 16, 2011 - 01:15pm PT
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JakeW's tale is pretty funny.
I was with Bam Bam and Jeff the Midge ahead of them on their push up Tis-sa-ack. If you knew The Midge (RIP bro,we miss you!),then you certainly have a vision of how his daily circadian cycle rolled. Thus some Cobras were sailing, and yes, I think a certain pitch low down, involving some awesome free climbing by the Midge, resulted in some panty soiling (sorry bout that Jake, but if you started a push behind the Midge, you got what you deserved).
Jake, your memory seems a little bent.
You didn't wait for hours behind us.
And we were not boozed up, uh, yet.
You waited an hour while Bam Bam led that awesome pitch that overhangs a bunch and leads to the bolt ladders. Then we kindly let you jug our line, so you didn't lead what may have been the best pitch on the route.
You never know who's lurking here on the Taco, eh compadre?
Some guys were nearby us on Zenith.
About day 3, with us above the Zebra and the Zenith crew a little higher, we had a big thunderstorm (no big deal for our section of the wall since it's so steep). That night, as we settled in to our bivi, we heard screaming from the NW face, about at our level or a bit higher, and it kind of freaked us out. It kept going on, for several hours, and finally we could tell it was some kind of distress call in a western pacific island language. A ranger showed up near mirror lake with the blow horn and proceeded to ask us all to turn our lights out and then turn them on if we needed a rescue. We complied, but of course the Koreans (we found out later their identity) couldn't understand a thing being said by the ranger, so they just yelled and howled out for help! It was very surreal. Suddenly it stopped. We were helpless to give them aid, and frustrated the ranger couldn't figure out the language issue. Then the Midge, in his typical dark humour, yelled: "Ahhhhh Phucky phucky!" The Zenith crew exploded in laughter, and Bam Bam and I tried hard not to laugh, you know, it's kind of bad Karma, it could be us yelling for help some day. The ranger became very upset and actually yelled into the blowhorn, "fine, I'm leaving!".
The wall got very quiet.
Then laughter again exploded from the Zenith crew and we all burst out.
No more sounds came from the NW face. The next day, about noon, in rolls the chopper, and two guys were plucked fron the top of the Chimney pitch on NW face. Apparently the storm created a huge flash flood in the chimneys, ripping them up pretty bad, including broken bones. I felt ashamed of the dark humour, and thought someday that sort of thing might catch up with us.
I've posted before about my struggles to get thru the visor toward the end of our trip. I think the thread was called: "ever throw a big wall hissy fit"! All in all, in retrospect, it was an amazing voyage, and the Midge was an awesome wall partner. He never stopped making us laugh with his antics.
Abrazos, amigo.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jul 16, 2011 - 06:01pm PT
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I think that Charlie Porter soloed the second ascent.
(Edit: Sorry about the omission Jack, you mentioned that detail upthread!)
Werner should be able to confirm that detail.
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WBraun
climber
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Jul 16, 2011 - 06:22pm PT
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He did the second ascent with Jack Roberts.
He almost died at the top.
Me and Bruce Pollack were hauling his bags up the summit slab when a huge slab cut loose from somewhere under where Jack was sitting eating.
The slab ran under the ropes and at the last second veered left an missed Charlie.
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Bldrjac
Ice climber
Boulder
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Jul 16, 2011 - 07:57pm PT
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Werner's recall is excellent! It was a great climb with Charlie and it was wonderful to be met on top.
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m_jones
Trad climber
Carson City, NV
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Jul 17, 2011 - 01:40am PT
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Did Tis sa ack in Sept 77. Barely 20 years old and was the oldest on our team. Amazing to look at this thread and now realize that was just 8 years after the FA and way way to long ago. Pretty sure Bill Price talked me into it and a young kid Randy Leavit came along. I think it was Randy's first big wall and Bill was an off width master. Hexes were the bomb and I was glad not to have to nail too much of the sketchy expanding stuff. Even the hexes expanded some of that stuff. I remember reading the account of the FA thinking what a cool part of Half Dome just to be. I hoped though to have a bit more fun.
On the first zig zag, Randy was to jug the free line and help haul while I cleaned . I conveniently left him hanging on one piece and started cleaning away (he was tied in to the free line). When he asked how to get the last piece out, I just told him to fist jam, take the piece out and he would just swing out a little. Kind of under estimated how much the zig zags lean. He went for quite a ride. Maybe 70 - 100 feet or so. Did not scream like a little girl though. I guess a hint of things to come. Higher up we figured out how not to take the big swings but Randy kept taking them when it was his turn to jug. We had a blast.
Now that I think about it, that route kind of defined why I climbed so much. Just wanted to be good enough to walk up to any cliff, anywhere, see a cool looking line and be able to do it just to see what it felt like to be up there.
And that Jim Oury guy!. I remember him driving his vw bus minus a front window with his bomber hat and goggles. Classic. Great guy!
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Jul 17, 2011 - 02:25pm PT
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I found my classic Zebra shot. Rick Lynsky on the sharp end.
I was glad to get by that big loose white flake on the next pitch.
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Jul 18, 2011 - 02:07am PT
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Greeting's from a belay station high on Half dome's sack route.
RM
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bergbryce
Mountain climber
South Lake Tahoe, CA
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Jul 18, 2011 - 05:37pm PT
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This thread rocks.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Jul 19, 2011 - 03:06am PT
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Geez, Ryan - I missed this one first time round. Great photos, and glad to have been of assistance back in the days of "Camp 5" in the middle of the apple orchard parking lot.
You know what happened to Eddie and Steve? I don't think I was aware at the time you guys sent Tis-Sa-Ack. Nice!
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JakeW
Big Wall climber
CA
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Jul 19, 2011 - 11:55am PT
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Nice Owlman!
It was great to meet you guys up there, I'm sad The Midge is gone...though I hope he still lives on in the bottom of certain beer glasses in Arizona(isn't that the story?)
I thought I made it quite clear that my perspective, and therefore memory, was indeed completely bent...that's what happens when I get to far out of my comfort zone. I'm glad you had the stopwatch running on our hang time to keep me honest. Time may have slowed for me while The Midge waved his knife around....
That was one of the greatest adventures of my life, and your crew was an essential comedic element. Plus you did kindly get us through that pitch(which left a little adventure for us the next time)!
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Jul 20, 2011 - 02:15am PT
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pete congrats your A.O. wall send!
Steve Kessmann is a newlywed in Tahoe.
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Jul 20, 2011 - 02:28am PT
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when i got home i told my grandpa about climbing half dome!
Gandpa Tad is proud!
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Owlman
Social climber
Bozeman
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Jul 20, 2011 - 09:28pm PT
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Right on, Jake.
I think I was a bit defensive.
You guys cranked, and it was awesome to watch you catch up to us.
Then pass. Then dissappear up thru the Visor.
Will never forget that day!
And thanks for hauling our rope up that first bolt ladder...one of those was plenty to chew on!
The Midge indeed lives on...little stickers, and posters, like:
"The Midge Has a Posse" seem to make their way all over the planet.
Great to hear from you, bro!
-Willey
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 19, 2012 - 12:20pm PT
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Jack Roberts Bump...
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Jan 19, 2012 - 01:37pm PT
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Awesome thread.
It's funny how life/time/space flows.
From Chiloe's post.
When Roger Briggs and I climbed the Direct in May '72, we believed it was the 5th ascent. I can't recall
who came earlier, though, and I never knew the story behind that A5 rating.
When Keith Royster and I did the Direct in 78, I was 17 yrs old. It didn't seem like an early ascent, and that's not what we were after. As a climber, to see a line like that, going up a face like that, THAT'S what I was after.
I had no idea how close to the "front of the line" I could be compared to looking back on it now.
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Dr Lefttoe
Social climber
Zamora, CA
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Jan 19, 2012 - 04:02pm PT
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HA HA I climbed Tissack in October '79 with Jeff Smith. We were 19 and the autumn was overcast and mild and NOBODY was around because a storm had cleaned out the climbers from the Teneya Cyn area the week before. The whole time there was a wall, more like a curtain, of striped bees hovering out about 5 meters from the wall, buzzing, humming quietly. It was magic and wild. When we got to the bolt ladder, each bolt had a set of 4 tie-offs, the outermost ones white and sunbaked and brittle, the innermost ones were dry and creaking, but they all held. A friend would run out to Mirror Lake every morning and yell up to us. It was so tranquil back there that it was easy to yell back and forth. I built a monument to rope drag on the last pitch and when we got over there, we found the cables down for the season. I'll never forget it!
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Jan 19, 2012 - 04:15pm PT
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Dr Lefttoe, that's a bitchin' story. By the way, I know who you are you slippery bastard!
I remember the maidens lining up to wash you guys jockstraps afterward, but you wouldn't take them off because you might lose the essence.
Damn, you guys reeked.....
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life is a bivouac
Trad climber
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Jan 19, 2012 - 04:43pm PT
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Hey you guys, yes this post is making my ganglia twitch... So, to help out, Jim Bridwell and I did the second ascent of the Direct in Sept. of 1969. Same time that Lauria and Hennek were doing the second on the North America Wall...
About "Tis-Sa-Ack", Bill Denz and I did the 7th ascent, after his amazing recovery, in late Sept. of '78... It was so cold we frozzze our butts; it snowed in the high country and the last pitch was covered over with layers of verglas... most pitches still come clearly to mind.
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Jan 19, 2012 - 04:46pm PT
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Nice post! Ok, who is Life Is A Bivouac?
Dang I loves me some supertopo mystery!
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SuperTopo on the Web
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Let us know!