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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
North of the Owyhees
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Jan 21, 2009 - 09:04pm PT
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No, I don't think those monkeys are typin' away on the Taco.
Just can't see it.They have real things to do.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Jan 21, 2009 - 09:29pm PT
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Skully, I like your psyche! I'm of the same mind set. Just need to get some endurance going. Finding partners is tricky too. oooh, I got a thread subject, brb...
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
North of the Owyhees
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Jan 21, 2009 - 10:01pm PT
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Woohoo....Mungey thread comin' up.....yow za!
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Johno
Big Wall climber
Cape Town / Japan
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Jan 22, 2009 - 01:38am PT
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10 walls via 10 routes.
The 1st was the Nose in '84 in EB's on 9mm ropes with no sleeping bag. A total adventure.
The last was Dihedral Wall in '05, 21 years later.
What a place, I can never get enough of the Valley.
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apogee
climber
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Jan 22, 2009 - 01:44am PT
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3 attempts: Nose, Zodiac, Shield
2 successes: Zodiac, Shield
1 faux EC route: East Buttress
Nowhere near the glory of some of the ST wall rats, but my time on the Captain (especially the Shield Headwall and the White Circle) are in my top ten climbing experiences.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 23, 2009 - 12:30pm PT
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Only ten for me.
Tangerine Trip with Mason Frichette- 77
Shield with Gary Hervert- 78
Jolly Roger with Charles Cole- FA 82
Turning Point- FA solo 84
The Competitive Edge(aka Real Nose)- FA with Charles Cole 84
Horsechute via Horseplay variation- FA with Sue Harrington 84
Salathe Wall with Jay Ladin- 85
Central Scrutinizer with Jay Ladin- FA 89?
Muir Wall with Jay Ladin- First hammerless ascent 90
Nose route- 94?
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Jan 23, 2009 - 12:37pm PT
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So how hard is the free climbing [and aid climbing] on The Real Nose? [I think I might need a rope gun....]
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 23, 2009 - 12:45pm PT
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Pete- you would crap yourself inside out--- but then there is always your trusty drill....
Bugger somebody else's efforts please...
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Jan 23, 2009 - 01:26pm PT
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Uh dude,
Except to replace anchor bolts on a bunch of routes, and to replace rivets on Bermuda Dunes and the Ranch, I haven't drilled anything on lead, with the exception of one new rivet on Native Son when the flake I was hooking blew, and there was no other way to make the move. [However I would probably crap myself on your route, for sure! I get pretty scared at times, and Jolly Roger was one of those times...]
Cheers,
Pete
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Jan 23, 2009 - 01:39pm PT
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Didn't you guys place (replace) some bolts on sheep ranch?
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 23, 2009 - 02:28pm PT
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Drill never touched stone on the Jolly Roger----Bullshit!
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Jan 23, 2009 - 06:58pm PT
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On the Ranch, I replaced four rivets and two anchor bolts. I meant to replace a whole bunch more anchor bolts, but didn't due to an oversight on my part. I was handed a bunch of bolting stuff at the last moment just before we blasted, and I didn't go through it to make sure there were 3/8" bolts in it! I had drills, rivets, tuning forks, everything you needed, except new bolts. My bad. There are some pretty scary rusty old quarter-inchers on the Ranch, one of which failed with only my weight on it! We did a lot of equalizing to build our anchors on that route.
Drill didn't touch stone on lead on Jolly Roger, that's for sure. I did, however, add one convenience rivet to hang my portaledge from on the belay on the right side of the Heart. At the time [1999], I thought it was OK beef up a belay, but I have since learned this is not legit and no longer do it. I regret adding that rivet, and do apologize for it.
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
North of the Owyhees
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Jan 23, 2009 - 10:43pm PT
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It's ok, we're chopping everything, EVERYTHING! That oughta make it right.
And we'll use better methods than Silly boy Robbins(caveman technique).
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Sir loin of leisure...
Trad climber
X
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Jan 23, 2009 - 10:47pm PT
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i drilled bivy rivets and apoligize to no one...I like my bivy just so...don,t mess with my bivy..
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
North of the Owyhees
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Jan 24, 2009 - 10:39pm PT
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Or me Lucky Charms......
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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Jan 24, 2009 - 11:33pm PT
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Repent Pete!
Say 12 "O hail Royals", and you'll be forgiven.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Jun 16, 2009 - 01:15pm PT
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Virginia was El Cap route #37, with 381 nites on the side of the Big Stone. I chose this route as the weather was appalling, and this route was the only one in this steep/dry section of El Cap that I had not yet climbed. It rained most of the days we were up there, yet we never felt a drop, and only used our flies when we bivi'd beneath a wet roof. The only water that hit us was seepage, and we frequently observed the rain pouring down in sheets forty or fifty feet out from us, the route is that overhanging.
Leo and I spent a couple days schlepping and fixing, while bivi'd on the ledge ten metres above the ground at the start of the Trip, but I didn't count those two nights.
Virginia is actually a pretty good route, and would probably get done more often if it appeared in the McTopo guide. The first pitch is wicked steep and a legit A3 with a bit of expando nailing to keep you entertained. There is a superb bivi ledge at the top of 2, a great place to hang out and make coffee and listen to tunes. I put in a new 3/8" bolt at the top of 3, replacing the first crappy machine bolt rivet in the ladder, which was itself probably a replacement.
We bivi'd again at the top of 4, under the drips of the Tangerine Trip roof. A good sized lake accumulated on the top of Leo's ledge fly, and I should have loaned him Herbie the Big Wall Sponge.
From here, the route breaks right of the Trip on a rivet ladder, although the first ascensionists missed a small right-facing corner which would have saved them about five holes. Leo then led a thin beaking corner that was also full-on A3, placing eight beaks in a row with good fall potential, finishing with a barely-balanced beak on top to make the long reach to the first rivet.
I led the sixth pitch, which featured some fun hooking up and left to a nice right-facing corner that looked expando that wasn't, probably around A3-. Then Leo finished up Virginia on the seventh pitch, not too hard but he decided to make it spicy and take a twenty-five footer when a "fixed" head blew.
I warned Leo about the alarming practice of certain @ssholes, some of whom frequent this forum, of placing "booby trap heads", which is where you place a head with the intention that it will hold just long enough for someone else to get on it, but then fail as he climbs it. This takes a fair amount of skill - knowing how hard to hit it to make it stick and appear placed, but actually not so hard as for it to be a good placement. It appears as though Leo fell on one of these.
Sooner or later, someone will get hurt by this. Knowing how to properly bounce-test a fixed head [not too hard, not too softly] might save you.
Once we joined the Trip, the whole character of the climbing and the experience changed. I had soloed the Trip back in 2001 and enjoyed a nice big wall camping excursion [in fact, I climbed the Trip rather faster when soloing than I did with Leo when we climbed Virginia, but that was our diabolical plan] but I have to concur with Leo that the Trip is basically a heap. The quality of climbing was a huge disappointment after Virginia. Even so, we chose to slow down as the weather had been cool, and we had extra food, water and beer to consume before reaching the summit. But the last couple of days we were basically "walled out", and decided to get off quickly.
Leo was a talented, motivated and most especially fun big wall partner, and we were a great match. He's an ex-pat Israeli, a tough little bugger, with a quirky sense of humour that kept us laughing almost all the time, as other parties around us seemed to be fighting for their lives. He learned English from Brits, and was able to do a superb English accent, getting the vowels just right.
Over on Zodiac, we were unaware of who was climbing, and we kept hearing the voice of "The Polite Englishmun" issuing rope commands to his partner Paul. We now wonder if this was my mate Andy Kirkpatrick, who is something of a British version of Dr. Piton. So for a couple of days, Leo and I spoke to each other very politely in Brit-tish accents, and called each other Paul.
I'm sure Leo has a few hilarious anecdotes he can share. He was sleeping on one of those gigantic Metolius double ledges, and it was a real epic setting it up every night. I don't know who was louder, him cursing or me laughing. In fact, I don't remember climbing a wall where I had more fun than climbing Virginia with Leo. Talk about being on the right route at the right time - we saw so many people around us bail because of the weather.
And speaking of climbing steep routes to stay out of the rain, it is amazing and appalling to me just how incredibly lousy you wall climbers are at jugging free-hanging ropes! All around us, people were jugging free-hanging ropes using the traditional Yosemite system, although a few people used the Texas system and sometimes even the Grigri and Yvette Ratchet. Why don't you wankers take a lesson from the cavers [even more pathetic wankers who have nothing better to do with their time than perfect their rope climbing systems] and go get yourself a Croll ascender, a Torse chest harness [the best twenty bucks you will ever spend] and a CMI ankle ascender and learn how to do a Froggy rope walk? I was routinely climbing three to five times as fast as guys half my age. Get with the program, lads. You know where to find the link.
Cheers, eh?
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jenren
Trad climber
Sac, CA
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Jun 16, 2009 - 01:23pm PT
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Yes we saw you start it was "quite aqueous" hehehe cheers! J : )
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Ropeboy
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Jun 16, 2009 - 03:03pm PT
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Two routes and counting.
Nose in 72, when the green guidebook only listed eight lines on El Cap. The Nose was attempted by many and the bail out rate was high because many parties did not have multi day aid experience and could not climb fast enough. Feeling intimidated in El Cap meadow the night before. Days of sunshine, pendulums, Robbins boots, and a topo copied by hand on a picnic table. Progress marked by the ring and thwack of pitons and occasional nut. Very few fixed pins on the route. (No cams, draws, or chalk for us in those days.) Doing the stovelegs mixed free and aid bearing a heavy rack of 40 pitons and dragging a haul line. Reaching the bivy ledges early each day and relaxing with a view. Finally getting to do the great roof after gazing at it for a couple of years. Relief each morning because the haul bag was getting lighter and lighter.
After four and a half days of error free climbing and being comfortable with the exposure, getting spooked on the jumar up the last pitch, hoping nothing bad would happen to me with the end of the adventure so close.
Triple Direct in 75 with a buddy who was doing his first El Cap route. Amazed that we could make Mamouth ledges in one day. Then a been there done that repeat of the uppper part of the Nose.
The first time's a charm.
Two routes and dreaming.
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Leo Gokovski
climber
AZ
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Jun 17, 2009 - 05:37pm PT
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quite aqueous is right....
The bivy on pitch two reminded me of chinese water torture....
"Hey Pete..."
Drip
"yeah, Leo"
Drip
"Are you catching any of those?"
Drip
"Any of what?"
Drip
"Any of those F*cking drips!"
Drip
"Ahhhh, no. maybe every now and then..."
Drip
"hmmmmm"
Aftre two nights on that bivy, Pete thought it would be good to bivy under the trip's roof at pitch four.... Basically, I graduated from the Chinese water torture and bivied in a shower. After 380 some odd nights, Pete knows to pick his bivy spot. note that he is under the roof, where there are no water streaks.... Now look at the poor little bugger on the left, enjoying a jet shower head right at the black water streak....
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