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Dr.Knox
Trad climber
Salzburg, Austria
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Norwegian
Trad climber
Pollock Pines, California
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ec
climber
ca
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Reeotch
Trad climber
4 Corners Area
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weezy
climber
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the squozen one, somewhere in AZ
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Byran
climber
Half Dome Village
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Bumping this to comment on the Chimney of Horrors.
Hey so do any of you Valley lunatics know of a chimney low down on one of the Cathedral Spires ( Lower?) called "the chilling chimney of horrors" or something like that? ? ? It was probably a second or third pitch to a route.
I remember doing the hike down from Middle Cathedral & looking up at a ferocious right-leaning monster hanging flake (?100+ feet high? ) which was rumoured to fekkin MOVE when you chimney'd inside of it. Protection looked like prayers.
Perhaps it was all a ghastly rumourbut there were some folks in the Seattle camp ( Julie Brugger & Pat Timson to name two) who ate 5.11 o/w crax for breakfast and had done climbs like The Wild Thing which made me physically ill to even look at. So I thought anything was possible including a 100-ton hanging flake that moved........
Anyone heard of the chilling chimney of horrors?
Cheers, Tami
I did the NW Face last year, of which the CoH is the 3rd pitch. It definitely didn't move at all, its such a huge feature that its hard to imagine how a human could exert any sort of influence on it. Its reputation comes from the pre-cams days when it couldn't be protected, much like the "infamous" Crack of Doom. Nowadays you can French free up the entire thing with mostly a #5, and a #6 near the top. I think it goes free at 5.9 or something moderate, but I just pulled on the cam the whole way up except for a short section where it's wider and has a protection bolt (probably the only pro Robbins had for a 100ft section). The climb is well worth doing. Great position and a good one for the warmer months. Some of the aid pitches in the middle of the route are sort of tricky but with clean falls.
And here's some other Valley chimneys I recommend...
Left Side of the Folly. From the ground you can see the 250ft splitter S-curve wide crack at the top. Its every bit as clean and perfect as it looks. Some of the approach pitches are pretty rad as well.
The West Face of Sentinel. The "Dog Leg" cracks are close to 300ft of shallow chimney and groove climbing (sustained 5.8-5.9). Super classic. The rest of the route is great too.
Peter Pan. At the west base of El Cap. Rope length or so of really clean chimney climbing. "The Slack" also has a couple great routes, the Left (hard) and Center (easy, if you start by climbing Sacherer Cracker).
The Right Side of the Hourglass is another good one that's quite strenuous.
The Cleft. The first first-ascent at the Cookie. The last two pitches are really fun deep cavernous chimneys. Watch out for poison oak on one of the middle pitches.
Elephant Rock. The crag that's most stacked with great chimney climbs. Crack of Doom, Despair, both sides of the Worst Error. Trundling Juan has an amazing wide crack that more of a wide OW (with knobs to stem on) but there's also a good bit of proper squeezing on that pitch.
Sentinel Creek might be the next best crag for chimneys. Mental Block, Yin Yang (p2), Pharaoh's Beard, Tilted Mitten are all great.
Or maybe Camp 4 Wall is the next best with Edge of Night, Doggie Do, Fallout (haven't climbed yet, but it looks good) Tweedle Dee, and some sections of of great chimneying on Henley Quits and Secret Storm. I used to run laps on that bottom 40ft of Doggie Diversions to learn how to move smoothly in squeezes. After 10 laps or so you really start refining your technique to avoid any more abrasion to the knees and elbows.
Edit: and does anyone know what climb that is in the first photo that Norwegian posted (up higher on this page). Something off-the-deck on El Cap I presume? Looks really good.
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