Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
Oplopanax
Mountain climber
The Deep Woods
|
|
|
Jan 14, 2010 - 02:11pm PT
|
50 15 26 N 123 52 11 W
|
|
Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
|
|
|
Jan 14, 2010 - 02:22pm PT
|
Thor is not 4100 feet, this is a fact. People saying it's that tall don't know or like to exaggerate. I'm thinking it is more like 3300-3700 vertical relief.
A fact? You measured it? It was only 3500 ft? Plus or minus a couple hundred for where your tape measure didn't quite reach?
Well, I wouldn't want to contradict someone who actually posts on the internet, so I guess all I can say is that it must have shrunk some since I was last there. Back then, the summit elevation was 5,495 ft, and the valley floor was about 500 ft. so total relief is just under 5,000. Take out the lower-angle stuff at the base, and there was still something like 4,000, or a bit more, that qualified as Big Wall.
|
|
Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
|
|
|
Jan 14, 2010 - 02:25pm PT
|
Polar Sun Spire looks like the biggest truly vertical Face to me...but what do I know.
|
|
mojede
Trad climber
Butte, America
|
|
|
Jan 14, 2010 - 03:16pm PT
|
Oplopanax's wall based on his Lat/Long. co-ords:
|
|
pitonslammer
Big Wall climber
Piton Land
|
|
|
Jan 14, 2010 - 03:32pm PT
|
Some dudes rappelled it and said it was almost 3300 foot drop. Still more rappers said about the same. Another dude said it was about that too and he climbed it. He also said that they did it in 20 pitches with 60m ropes and had some decent traverses. I've never climbed it just passing info along. I have the Baffin Guide somewhere, I'll look for it and see what it has to say.
|
|
ec
climber
ca
|
|
|
Jan 14, 2010 - 04:12pm PT
|
Tom,
I looked at my notes and In the Niche of Time on Tehipite (sans traverses) is about 3,630 feet from rope-up to the summit. Since, there had been a route established by Nettle/Thau, et al that is most likely 4,100 feet, rope-up to summit (it starts near the very bottom of the south face).
 ec
|
|
tom woods
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
|
|
|
Jan 14, 2010 - 04:24pm PT
|
A new route on that thing? Is there a trip report somewhere. I read your on the niche of time, sounded epic.
Someday I plan to get down there, maybe not for tehipite but to search for more. There sure seems to be a lot of rock in that valley.
Heck, if I ended up just fishing, swimming and wandering around, I'd probably be happy.
Good to see Tehipite in the running on this thread though.
|
|
ec
climber
ca
|
|
|
Jan 14, 2010 - 04:39pm PT
|
Tom,
I could never get any specific info (like a topo), as Dave N. is pretty guarded about it. Leversee started the route in about '98. 'Almost got the axe from a loose block. I think it got finished in around '01 or so by the aforementioned party and it is entirely free. There are plenty of good cracks, but for a huge mutha like that, most don't link-up well for other big routes. I do stand by that ItNoT is the steepest big wall in the backcountry to date and has not been repeated and will never be freed as it has a pitch or two like The Shield.
ec
|
|
tom woods
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
|
|
|
Jan 14, 2010 - 05:59pm PT
|
I talked to a friend who had done the becky route on tehipite. He said the route wasn't very good. Becky was a master of finding grainy rock as far as I can tell.
4100 for their route keeps tehipite in the running. As for niche, it may well be the steepest big wall in the backcountry. What else is there? Something on Angel Wings? Bubbs creek isn't overhanging? Those are the real big ones that I know about, though some one on the Taco had shown some big route on Balloon Dome.
That Baffin stuff looks incredible, and incredibly blank for the most part.
I hold out hope that there is another enourmous hunk of granite out their in the world somewhere that tops the known stuff. I don't know why.
Wait a minute, how about limestone?
Any of you canadian rocky types know of some big walls? How big is that north twin in the other thread? It looked steep enough to be a big wall?
|
|
Klimmer
Mountain climber
San Diego
|
|
|
Jan 14, 2010 - 06:21pm PT
|
Here is a great reference to answer this question:
By continent, the tallest cliffs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff
In South America you have Patagonia, like Cerro Torre, and in Venezuela you have 100s if not 1000s of Tapui or Tapuies(sp?). The Land of the Lost.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tepui
There is soooo much to do that hasn't been done yet it boggles the mind.
The tallest in the Solar System would more than likely be on Mars. I wonder how tall that escarpement at the base of Olympus Mons is?
Edit:
Oops! Just found the correct answer . . . from the wiki resource above:
The highest cliff in the solar system may be Verona Rupes, an approximately 20 km (12 mile) high fault scarp on Miranda, a moon of Uranus.
Wow! 12 miles high! A moon of Uranus called Miranda. Cool.
|
|
tom woods
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
|
|
|
Jan 14, 2010 - 07:39pm PT
|
No wikipedia love for tehipite either, though plenty of smaller cliffs make their list.
|
|
David Wilson
climber
CA
|
|
|
Jan 14, 2010 - 08:55pm PT
|
ec, tom,
any pictures of that big face on tehipite or your route ec? angel wings is only about 2k and bubbs creek about 1k - right? they aren't contenders, but nice to see that tehipite is considered
|
|
ec
climber
ca
|
|
|
Jan 14, 2010 - 09:03pm PT
|
Tom,
Angel Wings, 'Just a Rock in the Park,' which is on about the tallest part of the cliff chimes in around 2K; steep, but not overhanging.
Bubbs, Crystal Bonsai is around 2,400; steep, but not overhanging.
The stats people probably see the moniker 'dome' and look the other way on Tehipite.
edit: Tehipite Dome
ec
|
|
David Wilson
climber
CA
|
|
|
Jan 14, 2010 - 09:26pm PT
|
nice write up ec
where do you think nettle's route goes? did he write it up for the AAJ?
|
|
tom woods
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
|
|
|
Jan 14, 2010 - 10:27pm PT
|
I didn't realize Bubbs was so big. That's about half dome size.
Mojede- where is that google pic- where did those coordinates lead?
So after all this do we have a winner for tallest big wall?
Mt. Thor? Some unknown on Baffin? Tehipite?
|
|
David Wilson
climber
CA
|
|
|
Jan 14, 2010 - 10:38pm PT
|
tom, i don't think bubb's is that big. we tried that crystal route, or one just to the right and very close, before leversee in 80'. we weren't looking up at 2,400'. correct me if i'm wrong, but i say 1500 max of actual climbing
|
|
mojede
Trad climber
Butte, America
|
|
|
Jan 14, 2010 - 10:42pm PT
|
Tom, I just messed around in Google Earth until the given Lat/Long was pretty close--zoomed in to see what was around and guessed that that formation was what was meant.
A farther back screen capture:
|
|
Porkchop_express
Trad climber
Currently in San Diego
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 14, 2010 - 11:07pm PT
|
Interesting to see Tehipite turn up on here. I always found it pretty enchanting. I would be down to go wander around there and climb some stuff.
|
|
tom woods
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
|
|
|
Jan 14, 2010 - 11:26pm PT
|
Some day I will get to Tehipite Valley. It's been burning its way to the top of my mind for a few years now. It will happen.
I've never seen bubbs, I climbed up a ridge on Mt. Bago when I got snowed off of Charlotte Dome to get a look.
There is supposedly a really long 5.7 on Mt. Bago or Bubbs. Anyone ever do it?
By the way I am obsessed with these hidden gems of the sierra. If I was a sponsored climber or had time and money, I wouldn't go freeze my balls off over seas, I'd get some mules or llamas to pack in a months worth of supplies into the Sierra. Tehipite would be numero uno, but that's only because a bunch of other folks beat me to my primary objective off of Tower Peak.
|
|
bubble boy
Big Wall climber
T100
|
|
|
Jan 14, 2010 - 11:35pm PT
|
Seems like for it to be "a wall" we assume aid (or very hard free) climbing and relativel easy hauling....? I think "has the wall been base jumped? is a good question. It says something about the steepness. I know El Cap is played out, but it's easy to overlook that which we have in our own back yard. People don't go to those wild places for more vertical gain, they go because they're wild places......
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!