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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA
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Dec 26, 2006 - 01:31pm PT
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About the name Hosier's Highway.....
More recent Yosemite guidebooks call it Hoosier's Highway, but when it was first reported in Climbing Magazine it was called Hosier's Highway. Also, the yellow Meyers guidebook calls it Hosier's Highway. Anybody got any info on why the name was changed (if it is a typo it appears several times in different places incorrectly (Hoosiers))?
Bruce
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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA
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Dec 26, 2006 - 01:31pm PT
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Edit - Kevin, yeah I seem to remember the name "Hoser's" as well. Interesting that the 1st Meyers guide had "Hosier's" and it has morphed into "Hoosier's". Some of those Valley mysteries run deep:-)
Bruce
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Space Babble bolt replacement is finished! Thanks to Kevin Willoh for help Monday-Tuesday, and to Greg Barnes (of ASCA) for sending me a box of hangers on short notice! All bolts are now 3/8"; all belays have two 3/8" bolts with Fixe/ASCA double ring hangers. There were two existing 3/8" bolts at belays which were left in place but the hangers were replaced.
I checked/tested all the original fixed piton locations using Randy Vogel's excellent topo. Except for on the first pitch, almost all of the pitons are still in place and are still good.
Here are details on the 3 pitches with missing fixed pitons:
 p1: Aliens/TCUs work well here, except for possibly the last placement before going over the roof. I placed a Lost Arrow there up on the far right. I was unsure about the moves over the roof, so the newly placed fixed piton may not be on the easiest path (bring your 5.11/5.11+ skills for this pitch!).
p4: the second fixed pin is gone, but it protects with a 2" cam and nut. The first fixed pin is in place, but somewhat weak, since it is under an expanding flake and moves too easily under testing with a hammer.
p7: the fixed pin at the stance on the traverse is gone - it looks like a little rock broke there under pressure. I was unable to get even the tip of a knifeblade piton to stick there. So it probably needs a bolt if Kevin and Ron agree; there is a good stance there, so it would not be hard to place on lead. Without the bolt, there is no pro on the pitch so it would be a long ride if you fall. An alternative is to just rap from the end of p6.
So my conclusion on the fixed pitons is that Steve's proposed "pinbolts" are not needed for this route.
Here is a revised/updated version of Randy Vogel's topo:
PDF version: http://www.stanford.edu/~clint/yos/spacebabble_rv08.pdf
All fixed pins noted in this topo are in place and tested.
On p1, the "pointed flake" noted on Randy's original topo appears to have broken off, not leaving anything very useful to hold onto. So the move over the roof there doesn't have very positive hand holds.
Note the extra bolt on the upper left of p2. This was not on the original topo, but was the same type of bolt/hanger as the rest of the bolts, so I replaced it. It looks possible to climb out left and use it, but I didn't actually try climbing this way, so I put ? marks on the topo.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Very nice to see this route refurbished and preserved.
(No worries Steve. The pin bolt still has a future! Me 'n Russ will find a need somewhere down the line...)
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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I always thought that Max and I did the third ascent of this route in 78 or 79. I led the first pitch. The topo we had showed the 5.9 pitch and said simply "No pro". Max looked at me and laughed when I started up it.
I have a few photos of the route, I should dig those up and scan them.
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Latitute 33
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Excellent work Clint (and Kevin Willoh). This route is such a classic, perhaps it will now see more ascents from a new generation of climbers. It is impressive to see climbers putting so much care and energy into restoring old fixed gear. Thank you!
Maybe even us old farts can put some time in re-learning our Middle Cathedral face skills and give it a go (TM and AJB -- are you game???).
RV
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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way cool
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kev
climber
CA
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It wasn't too much work but it was rather wet. We got hit by some hail and a small down pour on Tuesday. Amazing how less than perfect weather speeds up the drilling...Now I can give this thing a try and hang away - It looks like a ton of fun!
kev
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Double D
climber
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"the "pointed flake" noted on Randy's original topo appears to have broken off, not leaving anything very useful to hold onto. So the move over the roof there doesn't have very positive hand holds."...
That's funny, I don't remember it EVER having positive hand holds!
Hopefully there's more than a 1 bolt or 1 pin belay at the end of pitch 1 now. That was one of the scariest belays I've ever done. That was a way "heads up" route for it's time for sure!
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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coz + Dave,
You were not alone in feeling sketched at that p1 belay - Randy had noted on his original topo "needs reinforcement". So somebody added a 3/8" bolt there, and also at belay (5), sometime in the past. I improved it further by upgrading the 1/4" bolt to 3/8" and making a new hole at a safer distance. See photos below. Incidentally, the 1/4" bolt was long and pretty good, although there was no way to tell this without pulling it.
p1 belay anchor, 2008
upgraded p1 belay anchor (left hanger later swapped for one with ASCA stamp)
It could be improved further by upgrading the somewhat rusty 3/8" bolt, but I didn't have the tools to do this - maybe later though.
I will get some more rebolting photos up later.
Roy,
The pinbolt might still work on p7, but there is really nothing for the blade part of the pin to go into now, so it would be working really as a bolt and I figure a plain bolt would be a way of expressing that. I think the pinbolt could still be a good solution on other climbs. On p1 of Space Babble, if the cracks were not large enough to take Aliens/TCUs, the pinbolts would have been the ticket there.
Dave,
Yeah, not much for positive holds above the roof! I'm glad to hear the missing "pointed flake" is not a problem.
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caughtinside
Social climber
Davis, CA
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Thank you for posting this Clint, and to Clint and Kev for doing the work!
How did you access the route? An adjacent climb?
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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caughtinside,
Kevin and I accessed the climb by doing the first 3.2 pitches of the Kor-Beck. Here's an updated topo of that:
Here's an overlay photo of p1 of Space Babble. Note foreshortening high on the pitch - it's a ways between the fixed pin and the first bolt, and between the bolts. Randy's topo is better scaled. Also, I placed the fixed pin on rappel, and it may not be easy to reach if you are not tall.
Ron Fawcett on p1, photo by Pete Livesey from Yosemite Climber
Detailed Caption - from the back of the book (this description got me psyched to hopefully try the route, back in the day):
Ron Fawcett beginning the hard section on Space Babble (5.11) on the North-East Face of Middle Cathedral Rock. This hard climb takes a line between the Kor/Beck and Bircheff/Williams routes. It involves five sustained pitches of steep face climbing which gradually get easier, but less well protected. This first (crux) pitch takes a line up under the overlap to the right until it is possible to break through on to the upper face by a move to the left. A protection bolt here is followed by 15ft. of hard climbing to another bolt. Thereafter the climb continues up the wall above for four more pitches (5.10, 5,10, 5.9, 5.9). Kevin Worrall and Ron Kauk made the first ascent of this fine route in 1977. Photo by Pete Livesey
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Double D
climber
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I remember belaying from the top of pitch one begging (no names) my partner not to fall coming onto the belay...but he did and I was way too scared to let any tension go onto the anchors catching the fall on a hip-belay sitting on a very small stance.
My palms are sweating just thinking of it.
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Dirk
Trad climber
The Middle of the Pacific Ocean
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Really nice job there, guys. I tend to hate re-bolts/re-tools but your craftsmanship and communication with the FA party is commendable. Transparency: the pics of the old and the new belays. This is a good precedent. Some days it seems like I'm never going to get back to Cali, but the route is on my list now.
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Double D
climber
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Keven...great story on the FA of that. I can't even imagine drilling for 30 mins there...probably would have just duck taped a hook and called it good!
Anyway...great route!
PS...remember the "squeeky" sound generated by EB's on Middle? As I recall it's more prevalent on the golden colored stuff but then again, memory does go quickly these days for me.
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nutjob
Trad climber
Berkeley, CA
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Dec 14, 2009 - 10:24pm PT
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Bumpitty-bump for an interesting discussion, more route dreams, and a great roadmap for "how to grow the skills and sack for Middle Cathedral."
Biggest gem for me was the suggestion to try traversing along the base of the north apron area. It just looks so damn appealing to climb around there, and much scarier on it than it seems when looking at it in pictures or from below.
Thanks for the community service Clint, and thanks for Warbler and the generation of studs that had the skills, courage, and audacity to do this stuff in the first place.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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I forget, I wonder if pins were used as pro but not fixed during the FA.
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Chief
climber
The NW edge of The Hudson Bay
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Jun 10, 2013 - 02:17am PT
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Warbler,
Tried Space Babble a couple times but never had the skills or cajones for the first pitch.
Less and less likely it'll happen in this lifetime.
Coz' reference to the great Whazoo is actually the Grand Wazoo, a very cool line that climbs five bolt protected pitches straight up from the top of the second pitch of the Bircheff Williams to a ledge about a hundred feet below the U Shaped Bowl.
I saw the line when I put in the alternate rap route off the top of the fifth of CPOF in the fall of 95.
Cozzy solved the crux on the first pitch then bailed due to girlfriend drama and Sutton and I finished it off, hand drilling all 3/8 stainless bolts off hooks on lead.
There's another thread here somewhere with more detail including a topo by Clint (I think).
Although the lower pitches have had some traffic, I don't know that the entire route has ever been repeated.
PB
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=888671&tn=20#msg2157114
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