Cheers to Eric Gabel

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kev

climber
A pile of dirt.
Jan 31, 2011 - 05:06pm PT
Eric,

I remember that last pitch well.

Props to Eric - he puts in many many hours into putting up great routes with incredible vision. He's also fun to climb with and have the occasional beer with - snicker....

kev

zeta

Trad climber
Berkeley
Jan 31, 2011 - 05:28pm PT
adventuresome
bold
generous
fun

and don't forget 'nice'

after seeing eric many times at the reed's pullout, i was wanting to climb ejesta but didn't have a big cam. Eric--who barely knew me--loaned me his #4 and gave me beta on the route...I'll have to check, but I think eric's routes are all too hard for me--5.7s that are masquerading as 5.10s or something?
mucci

Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
Jan 31, 2011 - 10:24pm PT
Looking Up at the Money Pitch of "Angry Natives".

What if feels like to get the 2nd ascent(A0 :) of a Gable Route.

Cheers with Beers to the Man!!!

Mucci
dave goodwin

climber
carson city, nv
Jan 31, 2011 - 10:41pm PT
one of my great friends and mentor Walt Hawkins always had the best things to say about Eric. Whether it be his ethics, sense of adventure, or just being a good all around guy. Somehow I never ran into Eric while I was climbing with Walt.

I can remember the first time Walt and I "completed" the Rostrum, (we shamefully bailed after the third pitch esacpe on our first attempt) and Walt was leading the 10a off width, he wanted to clip the bolt, but he heard Eric's voice in his head, and he had to skip it.

take care
dave
Tork

climber
Yosemite
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 31, 2011 - 10:44pm PT
Way to go Mucci! How was Angry Natives?
mucci

Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
Jan 31, 2011 - 11:08pm PT
Starts out a bit Wyde...

Then an "Adventure section" where you meet the Natives...

Then the goods.

Very fun route, the upper corner is .10b, very clean now I bet, mostly fingers at the top. The route climbed true to the grade.

Oh and a #5 might just be mandatory...

kev

climber
A pile of dirt.
Feb 1, 2011 - 02:29pm PT
Haha, I remember the natives pitch. Eric was up there saying something about a "f-in nightmare" when he led it. So now I was expecting uber hard climbing, but 5 feet before the natives eric yells down something like "This is going to be a test of your character, climb through this section fast" (or something like that). Uber classic day. We were properly beered when we topped out :)

Thanks for all the fun times Eric!
Captain...or Skully

climber
leading the away team, but not in a red shirt!
Feb 2, 2011 - 02:32pm PT
Climber bump!!!!! Huzzah!
ablegabel

Trad climber
Dublin,Ca.
Feb 3, 2011 - 01:07am PT
Nice pictures Mucci. Great send. Angry Natives is good, more people should get on that route. Credit goes out to Sean Jones for sending the wide chimney that starts the route, not sure what he named it? -Thanks for the bump Captain.-Jobee, good to hear from you as always, will you be around this weekend? I'll try and stop by. Saturday/Sunday night work? -Dave, Walter is one of my dearest friends, love that guy! I remember him talking about your guys adventures. To funny about the bolt clipping thing. Thats exactly the kind of stuff I would have given him sh#t about.-Jaybro, don't let out the secret of the grinch hat, don't want to loose my power source. Kev, see you up there this weekend for our next adventure.- Zeta, always a pleasure to help out if I can, and I'd be happy to show you some fun, easy, safe, not sand bagged routes if your ever interested. I'm sure your knee deep in ski season now though.-Happy climbing every one - Eric Gabel
susu

Trad climber
East Bay, CA
Feb 3, 2011 - 06:56pm PT
Eric the Lion-hearted for sure! You are the real deal, a great and true climber! Cheers to you from John and Sue
and add to your list of traits warm, prolific, and full of cheer.











Salamanizer

Trad climber
The land of Fruits & Nuts!
Feb 4, 2011 - 01:38am PT
By the way, I don't know of any body who has done the last pitch yet. Every body has ran out of time thus far - Eric Gabel

I went back and climbed the route including the last pitch with another partner a few weeks after Mike and I climbed it and we met you in the parking lot. I lead every pitch car to car in just over 3 hrs (spray). I remember being quite stoked to finally be one of the (very few I'm sure) climbers to ever top out on Reeds.

That route is really fun, has quite a bit of variety and is one of my favorites in the lower Merced. I'll definitely climb it again sometime.

You got a few more routes in them parts that I'm dieing to get on.

Need partners will travel.

Chad...
Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
Feb 4, 2011 - 02:32am PT
Eric high on the FA of Beyond The Fringe at Reed's Pinnacle Area, Yosemite Valley, CA
Daphne

Trad climber
Mill Valley, CA
Feb 4, 2011 - 03:52am PT
Just met Eric, finally, over Christmas. What a wonderful guy!
big hug, Eric, and I hope to be good enough to climb some of your wonderful routes someday...
Tork

climber
Yosemite
Topic Author's Reply - Feb 4, 2011 - 12:08pm PT
Climbed another Gabel route yesterday, Sunrise Special. A little too cold to catch the Sunrise but the giant knobs on the route were special. Not the same quality as Beyond Lunacy but a very fun route with great views and again great knobs. I found the cruxes of this route almost as hard as any of the 5.10 moves on the 4th pitch of Beyond Lunacy.

Sunrise Special starts on the route Mud Shark which I climbed several years ago. I was correct in my a*#umption that Mud shark would be difficult to get to with the water level of Cascade Creek, but was also correct with the assumption there had to be another way. The alternate start, just right of Jug Monkey, turned out to be a very fun pitch, better than Mud Shark and ended up getting us to the ant covered tree shown on the topo. The next pitch started out great, nice hands but soon became awkward, a bit loose, and thuggish, but not too hard. In warmer weather, this dank slot would come as a relief but in the colder temps I was relieved to be back out in the warm sunshine looking up at an abundance of giant knobs. The first moves above the bolted anchor were the crux of the route for me. I could hear my wife's voice in the back of my head, "I keep telling you to do yoga with me." Well, even without yoga I was able to contort my body and stretch to the giant knob, clip a bolt, and mantle onto it. After that, other than a few heady moves between huge holds, the rest of the pitch was trivial but very fun. The next pitch was more of the same, a good thing, giant knob after giant knob. A bit run out to the first bolt but fairly positive getting to it. The second bolt protected a section with just one knob short and the third protected a traverse right to the hummock finish of the pitch at a loose ledge with an oak tree anchor. The character of the route changes on the 4th picth as does the quality. The knobs run out and the pitch is a bit loose and dirty, worth doing none the less. We rapped from the belay tree from here but the topo says the route continues on. Looked like a lot of loose, ledgy wandering so we went down. Light!


Cheers again to Eric, another good adventure.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Feb 4, 2011 - 02:12pm PT
Sunrise Special topo:
http://www.stanford.edu/%7Eclint/yos/cascfall.pdf

> sounds like we need to add the alternate start and update the ratings?

Jeff, thanks for the beta!
I have edited the topo to add your dry start and upped the rating at that
first move to "5.9+".
Check out the updated version at the same link above.
Tork

climber
Yosemite
Topic Author's Reply - Feb 4, 2011 - 03:06pm PT
Clint I would draw it in but don't have a scanner. Also I can't, or don't know how to, open the topo(pdf) in another program such as paint.

The way I went starts about where the small tree right above the creek is, just rigth of Jug Monkey, and follows what is drawn as a left facing corner, but more of a seam, to the next , bigger tree. You squeeze( not bad at all w/holds) through a slot on the left and continue up the large right facing corner(5.9) with steep knob pulling to a ledge size knob and traverse right on knobs(the knobs on the topo left of the 1st pitch belay tree) to the 1st pitch tree belay of Mud Shark.


I would say the rating is height dependant but it says Linda did the 1st with Eric???

Jeff
Greg Barnes

climber
Feb 4, 2011 - 03:16pm PT
Problem is that with Linda, her footwork is too good for her to distinguish between 5.8 slab and 5.11 slab...
Linda Jarit

climber
ca
Feb 7, 2011 - 12:57pm PT
Thanks Greg!

Jeff...it was bit a reach for me and I do remember there were a few explicatives being mumbled but I was able to reach the knob with a smear on the face. Its just a bit committing.

That's pretty much the case when climbing with the big guy..he does his thing and I need to find the gentler, Linda version!

Great to hear you are climbing Eric's routes. He puts a lot of thought, time and energy into his routes and is truly gifted in his abilities. Nice to hear others are out there enjoying them!
altieboo

Boulder climber
Livermore, Ca
Feb 8, 2011 - 12:43am PT
This thread is amazing! I want to climb!
ablegabel

Trad climber
Dublin,Ca.
Feb 8, 2011 - 12:53am PT
Good job on that send Chad (3 hours, holy shit!). What did you think of the last pitch? How hard? Pretty cool up there on top eh. -Jeff, the start you did was the original way we started the route, but we took the corner all the way up to what is now the bolted belay of Sunrise Special. We did some 5.10 in the upper part of the corner. It seemed to me that it had been climbed before so we didn't draw it in. The original first pitch on Sunrise Special(off the bolted belay) was about 70m and went up and a little right (instead of the left traverse to the second belay), up to a ledge 100ft higher. We originally did it without any bolts on the first pitch. Did the climb a couple months ago, the first move is probably 5.9. -Was great to meet you too Daphne! -Way to capture the moment Susu - Couldn't have said it better Greg - Linda...soon! -Hey Chad, if you want to get to the true top of Reeds, you should get on "Runaway Emotions" 5.10d on the right side of Reeds (9 or 10 pitches), it needs a repeat - Eric
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