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Prod
Trad climber
A place w/o Avitars apparently
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Jun 25, 2009 - 08:53am PT
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Oh yeah,
Great read in Alpinist 26 John. Thanks.
Prod.
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Jun 25, 2009 - 09:07am PT
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I can't afford them daggum Alpinist magz....
Gotta stand down on the corner with my:
"Need money for Alpinist Magazine"
"God Bless"
sign......
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Jun 25, 2009 - 02:47pm PT
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John wrote
"Jeepers Karl, just go up and climb the thing.... "
What? And ruin the record I have of never falling on the route!?
;-)
Karl
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anointed one
Gym climber
my mamma
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Jun 25, 2009 - 03:07pm PT
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Bachar, I've heard a story about you watching some young punks on that thing through binocs back in the 80's(?). Big fall followed by even bigger balls. Can you confirm or elaborate on the myth?
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Jun 25, 2009 - 03:55pm PT
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You're on Fatty. It wouldn't be more far-fetched than when somebody wanted me to guide Cero Torre for em.
We'll start with the victory summit pictures on top, doing some rappelling, photographing and then photoshop to wind up the day.
;-)
Karl
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midarockjock
climber
USA
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Jun 29, 2009 - 12:49pm PT
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What is the oldest age doing a free ascent of this route?
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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Jun 29, 2009 - 08:51pm PT
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I think the caption read, "the most important clip he'd ever made".
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bachar
Gym climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Jun 29, 2009 - 09:05pm PT
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Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.......
coz - dude, I just found those slides of you the other day.... now I can't remember where I put them (I'll look).
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NYZoo
Trad climber
Gunks
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Jun 30, 2009 - 08:15am PT
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"Howzabout the excellent story about Lynn, Woodward, & ??Clune?? on the B-Y. That was a hoot. "
What is this story?? I have to hear it...
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maxdacat
Trad climber
Sydney, Australia
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Jun 30, 2009 - 10:25am PT
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walleye - i can only guess that it might be one of the Cossie brothers from Oz, perhaps Ben who was tearing it up on the grit crags in the UK prior to heading back home via Yosemite.
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bachar
Gym climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Jun 30, 2009 - 11:05am PT
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Walleye - it's Gullich at the belay and Thiery Renault (sp?) taking some air time. He ends up about five feet below Gullich...
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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Jun 30, 2009 - 12:12pm PT
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Walleye--not quite sure who's the "talent" in that shot. It's in Simon's book, though. If you find that it'll have the climber's name.
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bachar
Gym climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Jun 30, 2009 - 01:31pm PT
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Sorry dude... these threads are so complicated.
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mongrel
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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Jun 30, 2009 - 02:15pm PT
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Bump for this incredibly inspiring landmark in US climbing history. Sure, doing the moves sounds pretty reasonable, but it's quite another to do the Climb. Imagine what would have been lost if the mad bolters had got hold of this magnificent piece of rock first; and how obvious it is that the lame "just don't clip them" is utter BS. The Climb would just not be there if it didn't REQUIRE the commitment and focus. Awesome. Maybe train up and do it someday, but even if I never do, it's fantastic just to walk past and admire it. We need some more of these to expand our climbing minds.
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Euroford
Trad climber
chicago
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Jun 30, 2009 - 03:22pm PT
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if i didn't suck, i'd totally want to do that route! :p
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
In the mountains... somewhere...
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Jun 30, 2009 - 03:28pm PT
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There is a nice route just left of the B&Y for those more timid souls. It's called Shipoopi and was put up by the person of the same name. While similar in difficulty the only risk is that you will run out of draws on the second pitch.
And it isn't quite as steep. Still, it is beautiful rock up there.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Jun 30, 2009 - 08:17pm PT
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Whooppeee! 170 posts and counting- deserves every one of them.
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LongAgo
Trad climber
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Jun 30, 2009 - 08:40pm PT
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Probably, the BY saved my life. For a time, I did a fair amount of rope soloing, sometimes because I didn’t arrange for a partner as I was running to the mountains last minute after a full work week, sometimes just to be alone. Somewhere deep in the bowels of supertopo there’s a little piece on my self belay antics on the Owl Roof in Yosemite. I think eventually I did about a dozen rope solos, including the first ascent of Thy Will Be Done in Tuolumne. The ridiculous and dangerous part is I used a jumar as the self belay device, an item not designed for this purpose. I never fell on it, but came very close on a failed attempt of the BY.
Why I ever thought to try this run out route with my cumbersome and unsafe self belay system is incomprehensible to me now. I guess I thought I was climbing pretty well back then, maybe a year or two after the climb had been done, and that the technical challenge was not beyond me. As John says, there is a short 5.11 part on the first pitch, but between a tied off knob and cams for the layback, I felt OK. But the next pitch became more and more terrifying as I fiddled to move the jumar along, tired on sustained moves (seemed 5.10ish), and looked down periodically at the “system” wavering below. Between the second and third bolt, finally, finally I realized I would probably die twice if I fell, not only from just banging the rock but then rocketing into the woods when the jumar broke. Increasingly sane but rattled, I had to make a choice between down climbing to the last bolt or going for the third and retreating from there, though that bolt seemed about 20 or so feet away. Or was it? I thought I saw it, but couldn’t be sure I was seeing the dark hanger on just a dark spot in the rock. I did the worst thing of all - I continued on thinking going ahead was the safer option, then decided after several more moves I should retreat. Slowly, carefully but not calmly, I moved down, again fussing with rope slack and the jumar (sometimes using my teeth), hyperventilating, over gripping, mad and very scared. As I approached the last bolt and then the belay station, I felt a rush of thanks to the god I didn’t believe in. Blinking at the jumar, it looked more and more paltry, like something I picked up at a hardware store. I turned it a couple of times in my hand and knew my days of solo rope climbing had just ended.
As with many of our foolish antics and adventures, especially failures, we mostly keep them to ourselves. I never told anyone about this particular fiasco, though Vern Clevenger looked at me suspiciously one day and asked, face screwed up quizzically, “Did you do something stupid up there (pointing to Medlicott)?” I’m still not sure if he was referring to this incident or something else, as probably there was other foolishness of mine to remember on that dome. I took the easy way out. “No,” I said, and maybe there was truth in my lie – it wasn’t stupid, it was insane. Yet, thanks to the BY, I never again rope soloed or soloed in any way, and so live on to reflect back on all the good and ridiculous in my climbing days.
Tom Higgins
LongAgo
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S.Leeper
Sport climber
Austin, Texas
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Jun 30, 2009 - 09:37pm PT
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oh my god my palms are sweating.
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