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MisterE
Trad climber
My Inner Nut
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 6, 2008 - 09:00pm PT
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Man, I SO want to go to the Homestead!
It's one of the undones on my Arizona checklist.
Thanks for the pics - the drive in sounds rough...
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Well sh#t Largo, I didn't know you all did that thing Gunsmoke with hexes! So, I gotta ask. Did you pre place em or jangle that sh#t in on the move?
Love that route. Love that rock. Its where I learned to climb.
Cheers AZ
Bob Jensen
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Hi Bob:
No preplacement - how would you do so on that arch, anyhow.
Right after Coatamundi Whiteout, I looked at Jump Back Jack Crack (looked stout) but we went for the new route instead - Gunsmoke.
Lynn (Hill) got up the lyback at the bottom and up to the arch before she ran out of light. We left the gear and returned the next morning. This was just when Friends had first come out and we only had a couple - I think only one big one that would fit in the arch.
Lynn and I kept yo-yoing up to and out that arch and hanging on for dear life and trying to wiggle hexes in and backtracking because we were afraid of lowering off or falling onto the sketchy pro. Must have muscled out and back along that arch like five times before finally going (quite a ways) for it off Hexes I was sorta wondering about.
We had a third guy (Keith C.) who followed and pinged, ripped the last two Hexes and shot into a tremendous sideways whipper -the wall is pretty steep there. The arch wasn't nearly as bad as trying to wiggle in those hexes. That was truly a Gunsmoker.
Wonder how folks do that thing these days with good shoes and a rack full of cams. Maybe it's only 5.11 after all.
Wish I could have stayed longer and bagged some other plumbs, but we only had the weekend. I thought Coat. Whit. was a fine route and the crag was a gem.
I always thought that Arizona had some of the greatest climbing and summits in America. I've always been jealous of the guys who first bagged all those desert spires and also of Todd Gordon who lived out there and climbed all that cool obscure stuff.
JL
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bob
climber
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Largo, I had five #4 Camalots (5 years ago) and a smaller friend. I believe it was a #4. Just went out across and got pumped. Was doing quite well until the last Camalot proved to have a trigger wire that wanted to break right then and there. I managed to stuff a foot and part of a leg up there, got the damn thing in and gunned it, but surely not like you gunned it. My buddy Jake followed and pulled it off frozen stiff. Hilarious. I thought that just once I might have the chance to see him fall on something I led clean. Nope. Not then, not ever. I'm so bad.
Thanks for the story!
Bob J.
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rick d
climber
tucson, az
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largo-
Steve Byrne said that Gunsmoke would be 11+ if you ran out the last 35'- he made the first onsight of the route in the mid 1980's- of course he had his own Wired Bliss #5's to protect it.
as for the coati roof, you beat Jim Waugh by only a few weeks- he was very sad about your visit. Thing is, Reveley and Greene were up at the roof their last day on '76 but got too cold in T-shirts and shorts and bailed off then walked out. They certainly were strong enough to do the roof...
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MisterE
Trad climber
My Inner Nut
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 6, 2008 - 11:45pm PT
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Todd: All those pics remind me of Rob Slater...RIP
Thanks for all the great posts and history.
Look for the NEW NORTHERN ARIZONA GUIDEBOOK coming soon (sadly discluding most of Todd's mostly-illegal-now ascents) to you - hopefully may or June if we can get it all together.
Big party at Vertical Relief in Flagstaff!
There, Greg, you have your rightness. It was, ultimately, a plug for our guide.
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Bow down......
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bob
climber
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HDDJ,
Yup it was Jake Whittaker and I. (Jensen) To add a bit to this adventure, he arrived at the belay frozen, but with mission in mind he set off on Once Upon a Time's 12a corner. He onsighted it through two (yes 2!) mini snow/ice storms, complete with incsane wind. I'm pretty sure he was on lead for at least 1/2 an hour. So, he became too cold to keep heading up the route and I reached the point of not being able to hold on to a belay device because I was literally frozen. I felt so good after Gunsmoke then all the cold set into my sweaty clothes. OH MAN I have never been that cold at Granite Mountain and I've spent a LOT of time up there cold.
Such great memories.
Bob J. on morning coffee.
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originalpmac
Trad climber
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i learned how to climb in AZ. the Dells in Prescott, upper and lower Sully's, Granite Mountain, Paradise Forks, GTroom Creek Boulders. all good places
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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On the Coatamundi Traverse, only 5.10b but at the time there were only tied-off pins to protect the crux bit off the belay. Don't ping . . .
Anyhow, TODD, where are all those shots of climbing those super slender desert needles? Like Cleopatras and others. Man, those spires look like the shizat. And how about climbing those big arches in Arches Nat. Park. Like Rainbow and Landscape (what a trip walking across that one!) and others.
JL
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bob
climber
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Stiff 10b traverse Mr. Long. Is it like in Jtree where the boulder problem start doesn't show in the rating? Those pins got swiped out and now sports two GIANT bolts. RIght there at the start of the traverse. The head aspect of that climb is lost. Still a hell of a climb. My buddy and I did Sorcerer to that traverse and I fell just at the lip. Damn!!!!!! Such good stuff. Memorieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees.
Great picks of that route have popped up here and there.
Bob J.
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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I think that traverse gets 11a in the latest guide.
When I was up there last year climbing Coatimundi-Candyland, these two YSLs (Young Strong Local) were up there. Got to watch their antics from a nice seat below the Great Roof. First guy goes up and leads out to the corner where the crack going up is found. He sets a piece and lowers down to a small ledge directly below where there is a bolt for Once Upon A Time. His partner comes across the traverse, and when he's at the corner, he lowers down as well. Then the first guy goes back up to pull the corner of the roof. Guess they don't like rope drag.
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Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
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Fortunately I had Manny rope gun it for me, I didn't weight the rope but I was glad to have it coming from above; pretty darn exposed and insecure, if you ask me!
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nick d
Trad climber
nm
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Cleopatra's, Venus's and a couple of others nearby are actually in New Mexico. They are just a little North of where I-40 crosses over into Arizona.
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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I can't remember sh#t about that route for some reason so I have the ratings wrong - not trying to sandbag.
Sure didn't know that Cleopatras and all those needles were in New Mex.
JL
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Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
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I got to ropegun Manny on Gunsmoke though, full adventure for each of us!
Hats off doing that on hexes, Largo! we had #4 friends, state of the art back then...
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nick d
Trad climber
nm
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I walked across Landscape Arch when I was in high school in 1973? It was not very hard to get on top, I did it with a non-climber friend. We walked over and back and got back down the same way we came up, on the South side. I wouldn't do it now for fear of the law!
edit: also the law of gravity, since that giant chunk fell off of it a few years ago.
edit squared: That traverse looks unbeleivabley thin! It must be gripping to both lead and follow! Yikes!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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As wide as Gunsmoke looks, how did Lynn do following it? Plenty of excitement on both ends of the rope.
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Largo;...you can't beat this sort of sh#t for novelty, strangeness, fun, and just earth's oddball freaks;.......some of the best adventures on the planet, aren't they....(yeah;...I left out the pics of Cleo and stuff, as they are in New Mex......but Arizona is awesome and the tits on the bull.....) Soloed across this arch "secretly" at about 6 AM on morning all by myself......it was like walking on a granite sidewalk, suspended in space.....300 feet long, 150 high, and 5 feet thick in the middle.....
NOT IN ARIZONA
Landscape Arch, Utah.......
Also not in Arizona
Ring Arch, Arches, Utah
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