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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Jul 31, 2011 - 03:03pm PT
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If I had been climbing I would have called it the scared shxxless era.
I was
and I was.
Managed never to fill my pants, though I did blast a tooth out once.
The worst part was the dreaded zipper when (usually right at the crux)you heard a disconcerting sound as your belayer collected all but maybe your last nut.
It didn't take long to understand the importance of an omnidirectional first piece and proper slung usage.
Joshua Tree was a pretty unforgiving place to learn nutcraft.
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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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Jul 31, 2011 - 03:07pm PT
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So there was no fixed gear or anchors at all; you'd start up each lead into unknown territory with a rack of hexentrics and stoppers, hoping you'd find cracks where you needed them, and said cracks would not be hopelessly flared, loose or choked with grass. It was a whole different feeling from going up on routes that had previously been aided.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jul 31, 2011 - 03:15pm PT
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For context, most climbers then did some aid climbing, and some did a lot. That meant we quickly got a lot of practice placing and using hexcentrics and stoppers, and figuring out their foibles. The new gear had a major advantage, in that it could be placed with one hand and in balance, something not always possible with pitons. In many areas, nuts plus rising standards and better shoes first led as much to the freeing of existing routes with some aid, as creation of entirely new routes. Somewhat known territory. Again, part of the learning curve.
A lot of pre-existing routes had at least some fixed pins, which often helped, and climbers generally weren't unwilling to place pins if needed, particularly if they were left fixed, and were at otherwise poorly protected spots.
Hexcentrics should be considered passive cams, at least if used in parallel sided cracks.
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jstan
climber
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Jul 31, 2011 - 04:25pm PT
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Kevin:
I was playing on the tendency mindlessly to label. Europeans are all socialists.
America is all about ways to marginalize others using methods that will sell to the demographic who will buy anything.
Today's ad hominem post really set me off.
Sorry for the drift.
Not having used cams a lot I am no expert. But I found you had to place them with the same care needed with other nuts. You had to be careful they can be removed. Over plugging was courting disaster. Forty dollars worth of disaster. In this regard those curved stoppers were godawful. Carry only one or two for some special placement problem. Get one stuck and it will take a half day to get it out.
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mark miller
Social climber
Reno
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Jul 31, 2011 - 04:39pm PT
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When we started climbing , A set of Hexes and Nuts was everything, when cams first came out in this area we thought they where "cheating", it made it to easy. But after we booty about three we never went back back. The Friends and Fires jumped the climbing level for most folks about 2 grades.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Jul 31, 2011 - 04:40pm PT
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Hexes, stoppers, early tied quickdraws. Fissure Ramins, Skytop, Gunks.
Hexes and stoppers on the Yellow Wall, Trapps, Gunks. (Full disclosure: protection at the lip was, at the time, via a fixed bong...)
Hexes and stoppers at Seneca Rocks (can't recall the route...)
Hexes and stoppers on Rob Nob's Spire, Needles, South Dakota.
A tainted rack during the transition period on Haystack, Wind Rivers. At first, we carried a hammer, two horizontals and two angles in the back country...and sometimes we placed 'em. Here I am caught in the act.
Two shots of the dawn of the chromemolly age, Devil's Lake, Wisconsin
The iron age on the South Buttress Right, Mt. Moran, Tetons, Wyoming. We didn't need no stinkin' quickdraws.
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Jul 31, 2011 - 05:04pm PT
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rgold, is that John Bragg on Robknob in the Needles?
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Jul 31, 2011 - 05:07pm PT
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Yes.
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jstan
climber
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Jul 31, 2011 - 05:10pm PT
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Looking at that Yellow Wall picture, forces me to say something I knew already by 1967. Goldstone was able to do all of those routes many years before anyone else. Many years. You see he was interested only in bouldering. That's what climbing with Gill does to a person. Drove me nuts. The missed potential! Finally McCarthy must have figured out the key. McCarthy is much too smart to be a lawyer. He must have told Goldstone Coexistence was a boulder problem. And that was that. It was all over. Done. Finished.
Edit:
A reply to Rich's post below.
It is not a kindness to tell a truth. It is simply being honest.
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Jul 31, 2011 - 05:14pm PT
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Brought to you by the Department of Amazing Coincidences:
On that summer day in 1974 when RGold took the photo of John Bragg on Robknob Spire in the Needles, Leslie and I were just across the way climbing the Conn Diagonal on Outer Outlet. I happened to shoot this photo looking down.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Jul 31, 2011 - 05:28pm PT
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Holy sh#t Larry, that is really amazing!
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Jul 31, 2011 - 05:49pm PT
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I didn't know Rich at the time, but did know who John Bragg was (which is why I had that info on my slide). In 1972 John had climbed the Salathe Wall with my roommate Ron Cox, shortly after I climbed it with Joe Herbst. Small world, eh?
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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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Jul 31, 2011 - 05:51pm PT
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So cool.
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Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
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Jul 31, 2011 - 07:22pm PT
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Rgold, great photo's......we all remember the day & climb we left our hammer's and pins in the pack at the base!
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Jul 31, 2011 - 11:27pm PT
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Looking at that Yellow Wall picture, forces me to say something I knew already by 1967. Goldstone was able to do all of those routes many years before anyone else.
John, you are very kind. History is a demanding master, however, and sensibly refuses to record what might have been. You (and Barber, Bragg, and Wunsch) had the vision, skills, and motivation to get the job done, and so the honor is properly all yours.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Jul 31, 2011 - 11:46pm PT
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It's easier to place a good nut than a good cam...ha,ha,hee,hee,ho,ho,ho...I can think of a couple Valley FA's that I did in the pre cam days that I'd like to see some folks here do sans cams.
There are certainly times when a nut will work better than a cam but there is a reason trad climbing difficulty surged from 1978 on.
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tom Carter
Social climber
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Jul 31, 2011 - 11:49pm PT
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Kevin -
Well put.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Jul 31, 2011 - 11:57pm PT
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You might br right Ron. We had the advantage of having climbed for years with nuts when cams came on the scene. I can't put myself in a beginners shoes but I see what you're talking about.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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I posted on elsewhere, but here's a comparison shot:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=417084&msg=417451#msg417451
Mike Church leads Drunkard's Delight in the 'Gunks, July 1984, got my first set of Friends in 1985
compare the rack with a modern picture from rockclimbing.com:
I think I climb better with less gear rather than more gear... two sets of cams from tiny to large is an awful lot... but that seems the "standard" recommended rack in the Valley these days.
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SuperTopo on the Web
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a handful of hex nuts on slings, plus stoppers on wires
Let us know!