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REIGN 1
Social climber
Carlsbad, Ca
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Jan 21, 2011 - 04:39am PT
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Monkey crack and right practice boulder?
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henny
Social climber
The Past
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 21, 2011 - 04:45am PT
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Doug - Airstream is a sweet one. The left arete is also pretty darn good. Slightly spooky as a highball, but good. Done it?
I know the feeling about time. I'm pysched for some Suicide days (going tomorrow) so that combined with how hard it is for me to get to Woodson limits my time there. Which is unfortunate because I have something going there too, and to make it worse it seems pretty temp dependent. Too much to do, too little time, and when there is time conditions factor in. I hate work.
Nice pictures by the way.
Thin Red line. OK. It's a good one (I think Bedford will vouch for that as well...). Might be more of a story than you bargained for though. (off topic to woodson, but like my OP said - post what you want).
The day before the FA JW and I were in the Comic Book area. JW was doing a steep crack/face FA, and came off at the top. A poor piece after a runout pulled and from about 60 feet he came within 3' of grounding. The fall was so hard it picked me up off the ground. There we were swinging together like clackers 3 or 4 feet up. I think Eppi even has, or had, pictures of the clacker action. (Of course JW de-pumped and went again, finishing it.) What was scary was that he had almost, almost decided against drilling the bolt that caught him as well as maybe drilling it lower. So the next day, he declared himself exempt from leading and decided I should lead the Thin Red line.
Most of it was pretty uneventful. Until I got to the bulge right below the top, where I was starting to feel runout and the rock got grainy. I was thinking there was a good chance of grounding so I started dicking around, gripped by the grainy footholds and the balancy stand up on them. After drilling the second bolt I had assumed I was done, so I lowered off, ate lunch, then pulled the rope so I could red point it (I had fallen before drilling the second and hadn't gone down.) Meaning I didn't take the drill/hammer/bolt when I went. Anyway, now sort of gripped about the next moves I finally decided to drill, so I asked JW to send the drill stuff up.
Except - he flat out refused to do so. More than once. Something about he had gone for it the day before and hadn't grounded. And, "you've done a good job of running it to there, so why ruin it with a bolt before piss easy moves." And finally, "it's flat, you come off and I'll run, you won't ground." He and Eppi eyeballed the distances involved, cleared a path, and then JW conned Eppi into agreement with him that I most likely wouldn't ground. But since it was true, the moves didn't look that hard... and if he ran... and I didn't really want to drill... I went. Pretty easy really. Trivial on a TR but committing on lead.
JW decided it looked so good he'd do a second ascent right then. What made it really good was when he got to the bulge at the top. Faced with the stand up on grainy rock, things somehow changed. But by then it was far too late. No bolt. For about 10 minutes he stood there and I had to listen to him berate himself for not sending the drill up because now he had to do the moves without a bolt. And it had looked so easy from the ground. I told him I would run, he most likely wouldn't ground.
Kind of a funny note: I led it again for Eppi to take pics. Having been there when we did the FA he asked about the moves at the top. My reply was, "yeah, they were easy, when I get there - no problem." Of course, not true. I got there and once again got gripped. So much so that I didn't want to finish. I finally told Eppi to belay and had Bell hike around to drop me a rope (oh yeah). Fortunately while he was going around I managed to get my ducks lined up and do the moves, avoiding the rescue. "No problem" - yeah right.
Those top moves are funny, they're not hard but it gets spooky if they happen to get in your head. I think the rock is less grainy there now, the last time I TR'd it they seemed more solid, which is good.
Wow, sorry for the long post. That brought back some great memories.
Isn't climbing flat out unbelievable sometimes? The intensity of moments within it can be addictive. The people, the places, the routes. I guess that's why I still try to do it the best I can. Like all the rest of us.
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REIGN 1
Social climber
Carlsbad, Ca
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Jan 21, 2011 - 04:52am PT
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Henny, I concur. That is one scary route.
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illusiondweller
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Jan 21, 2011 - 11:59am PT
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Geeze Don you're batting .500. Correct on the practice boulder...
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F10
Trad climber
e350 / Bishop
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Jan 21, 2011 - 12:22pm PT
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Nice tread drift henny, great story, thanks for sharing
Always wondered about that first lead
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eliot carlsen
Social climber
San Diego
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Jan 21, 2011 - 02:10pm PT
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Great story Henny, thanks. That line is so cool.
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Josh Higgins
Trad climber
San Diego
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Jan 21, 2011 - 02:30pm PT
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Henny, great story! I should go look for that climb out of curiosity. I haven't even heard of it. The Thin Red Line...
That picture of The Ogre brings back memories. I had a friend get her knee stuck in The Ogre once. That was exciting. I was hoping it wouldn't turn into a tale like Gary's! Luckily, it didn't. Also, I led it once and then, while lowering, the rope got stuck between the rock and a cam lobe. I ended up stranded on top of the rock for a short while until some shenanigans got me down safely. Good times!
Josh
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illusiondweller
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Jan 21, 2011 - 03:34pm PT
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Come on guys, what is this (hint: it's much longer than Monkey Crack)?
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Josh Higgins
Trad climber
San Diego
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Jan 21, 2011 - 05:27pm PT
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Out of Sight, right? If so, it was a great addition to my solo circuit when I found it. I love that one!
Josh
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gonamok
climber
aging malcontent
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Jan 21, 2011 - 06:50pm PT
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Gary, syncopation is due south from the control tower, sort of on the eastern fringe of the playground area
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gonamok
climber
aging malcontent
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Jan 21, 2011 - 06:52pm PT
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Youve seen the T shirt, heres the Photo. From left to right, Peter Campos, Ron Amick and Rick Allenby enjoying a day at Mt Woodson.
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deepnet
Boulder climber
CA
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Jan 21, 2011 - 07:43pm PT
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Anybody heard from BVB lately?
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illusiondweller
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Jan 21, 2011 - 08:49pm PT
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Good job Josh...yep, what an aesthetic setting that one is in huh? Literally at the top of the north face/east ridge. That start sets the stage for a killer 25 feet of hand jams to the top. What a find that must have been!
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illusiondweller
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Jan 21, 2011 - 09:14pm PT
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Although soloing scares me, I "used to" have a crack solo circuit b.I.t.d.(ok, it wasn't mine) as well. Tried to stay up with Tom Lindner one day and did pretty good, but he left me in the dust up after digitsdelight. If my memory serves me right here's the list in sequence:
1. Thin seam on practice boulder, 5.10d
2. I Hear My Train a Comin, 5.11c (I ran into Tom here as he left his day pack down at the road).
3. Scream Seam, 5.11
4. Razor's Edge, 5.10d
5. Black Finger, 5.10a/b
6. Elephant's Trunk, 5.9
7. Left Long's Crack, 5.10d
8. Robbin's Crack, 5.10
9. Driving South, 5.11d
10. California Night, 5.11b
11. Jaws, 5.10d/11a
12. Baby Robbins, 5.9
13. Monkey Crack, 5.10c
14. Digits Delight, 5.10d
Tom went on to do Crucible and who knows what else! I had never did that much in a day up there at that time nor ever since, and I know why, ugh!
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illusiondweller
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Jan 22, 2011 - 05:09am PT
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I've watched Piggot arrive at problems we were TRing, ie; Go With The Flow and Werners Wish and politely ask us to hold the rope to the side as he soloed the problems then disappear behind the boulder somewhere. I would be saying in my head, "Please don't, please don't!" I hated it when he did that!
Although, Rick did give me beta on IHMT, Driving South, Left Longs and Monkey Crack b.i.t.d. Otherwise, I thought he was intimidating to climb with for he was way out of my league!
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Johannsolo
climber
Soul Cal
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Jan 22, 2011 - 05:26pm PT
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There are some very good Boulder problems at the Masters of the Universe area. Here is a great blank slab, with a problem on the left and right side of the face. Here is Woodward topping out the right side.
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Johannsolo
climber
Soul Cal
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Jan 22, 2011 - 05:34pm PT
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Not sure about the name of this dyno problem in the Playground area. Real good.
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Watusi
Social climber
Newport, OR
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Jan 22, 2011 - 05:42pm PT
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Cool shots!! Miss that place...
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socalbolter
Sport climber
Silverado, CA
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Jan 22, 2011 - 05:51pm PT
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Josh -
Thin Red Line is down and left from The Eye, at ground level.
As the name suggests, there is a faint(and thin)reddish-orange dike running up an otherwise standard Josh grain face.
Guaranteed excitement with little or no approach...worth taking the time to check out.
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p-owed
Social climber
Ramona ca
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Jan 22, 2011 - 08:37pm PT
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What was happening on Woodson to day? Going past on the way to work and the road was packed both sides of the road.
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