Slab Climbing

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Ksolem

Trad climber

Monrovia, California

Nov 23, 2011 - 02:05pm PT

If you look at the well known photo of Henny on his famous route "Someone You're Not" at Suicide Rock, you'll see exactly what I meant in my post above about power and range of motion being used by a master on a slab.

Actually that is a pretty steep slab.

Monkey-sa

Trad climber

Bishop, CA

Nov 23, 2011 - 02:18pm PT

Heels down, butt up.

henny

Social climber

The Past

Nov 23, 2011 - 02:20pm PT

Steep slab rules! Far better than that Apron paddling (hehe).

I agree that the Arches Apron is good, but you kinda need to feel comfortable doing runouts to do the better routes over there. The Middle apron is also superb, but probably quite cold now.

HighTraverse nailed it, practice, practice, practice. Till it becomes second nature, and you just know you can do it. Then the runouts become managable, as long as focus is maintained.

No dynos? In general, agreed. The problem with a dyno is that it can't be recovered from if it goes bad. But then there are those cases where a power hop to a hold may be the best answer. I guess that qualifies as a semi-dyno though. Useful technique when you just can't quite reach that good hold.

We did an FA this summer that had a reasonably long full on sideways dyno that was launched from the middle of a very thin sequence. Really wild, and really good. Pretty unusual though.

Ed Hartouni

Trad climber

Livermore, CA

Nov 23, 2011 - 02:22pm PT

no slab simulators, and nothing like them in the gyms around here either....

but it would be relatively straight forward to build a "slab simulator"
one might look around to various built structures in the Bay Area and check out the appropriateness of using them for slab training...

Mikereddig

Trad climber

Camas, WA

Nov 23, 2011 - 02:54pm PT

I like Joshua Tree slab, but the rock is very different from Tuolomne, so not in and of itself good practice for the shiny granite.

The difference in angle between a JT 5.10 slab and a Tuolomne 5.10 slab is impressive though.

Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber

San Francisco

Topic Author's Reply - Nov 23, 2011 - 03:05pm PT

Really good advice in this thread. One of the reasons I want to improve it is my friend and I backed off from 2nd pitch of Aqua Knobby this summer (we didn't climb in toulumne much before. Reg. route of Fairview dome, W/N ridges of Conness, 3rd Pillar of Dana, Cathedral, Echo peaks etc, Mathis are NOT your typical toulumne climbs!).

Practicing on buildings could be fun. Russian Cathedrals and Synagogues have a lot of potential..

bvb

Social climber

flagstaff arizona

Nov 23, 2011 - 03:10pm PT

Dittos on everything Henny said. If you have an honest interest in this art, you should have everything Henny and Dimes have ever written on the topic tattooed on your forehead.

My two cents:

First, you gotta love it for what it is. A passion for the whole mind/body continuum that is hard slab is essential. Not your bag? Don't go there. Follow your bliss, whatever it may be.

Second: Devote a whole climbing season to slab. Blow off everything else. My first summer in the Valley I was essentially a crack climber. But the Spring before that first summer Watusi and I hosted Powell at Santee and he blew our minds. Good thing Henny was not there as well; we would have quit climbing on the spot and taken up bowling or fly fishing. Pretty much spent the next year training for and learning how for hard slab. I remember summer of '76 George Manson would eyeball us as we were rackin up and remark "back to the Apron, eh?" He meant it as a compliment.

Third: Sh#t, I don't have a third. Hard slab is an indefinable art. Jedi Mind Tricks. Metaphysics. Whatever. If you got the itch, just go do it. Have fun. Take some big falls and learn to love 'em, like rolling a kayak again and again. First time I did "Mad Dog" at Big Rock I took five or six 30' sliders in a row. It was fun! Learn to read a slab. Develop a sixth sense. Understand the analysis of conditions; just don't get on some routes on some days. Bide your time. Set your goals. Get "Greasy But Groovy." A far more proud send, IMHO, than any other route in the Valley.

Ksolem

Trad climber

Monrovia, California

Nov 23, 2011 - 03:16pm PT

Heels down, butt up.

The "butt up" biz does knott work on the hard stuff.

Herb Laeger did a route on Dome Rock called Just Barely which features a full on slab dyno. Thank goodness that move is reasonably well protected. Actually it's perfect, if you miss it you won't get creamed but you will take an honest fall.

edit:

just don't get on some routes on some days

Now that there is some sound advice...

YoungGun

climber

North

Nov 23, 2011 - 03:25pm PT

Here's Beth Rodden on the Kauk Slab (V7/8):

http://vimeo.com/32117058

I saw Dave Graham doing V11 slab in a film. Anybody remember this?

klk

Trad climber

cali

Nov 23, 2011 - 03:35pm PT

yeah, the vid is of dg repeating one of the many hard slabs at fontainebleau.

vitaly, honestly, climbing roped slab routes is far and away the slowest, least time-efficient way to improve slab skills unless yr major problem is lead head.

mileage is as always the answer: boulders for the hard climbing. santee, woodson, jt, rubidoux, juniper flats, county park, black mountain-- socal has miles of it. norcal its mostly at high els, although valley bouldering has tons esp. if including the middle cathedral traverse which is brilliant if it isnt snowed in. and cold is fine, since you have several hundred feet to traverse and wont be stopping to pro or belay. there's also a bit of slab bouldering at both csrp and i-rock, although limited and not as varied as what you can find in socal.

then the summer mileage-- unless you deliberately work to avoid it, much of the high country from yosemite north should involves miles of 3rd, 4th and easy 5th class slab in yr approach shoes and pack. but it sounds you've already been doing that and are more worried about the technically difficult stuff?

Branscomb

Trad climber

Lander, WY

Nov 23, 2011 - 03:41pm PT

Remember foonting? Like Flaky Foont below The Mouth on Glacier Point? Rather close to floating upwards until you make the mistake of letting consciousness intervene.

JEleazarian

Trad climber

Fresno CA

Nov 23, 2011 - 03:42pm PT

If you're in the Camp 4, the Glass Pyramid face is a great boulder on which to play, but even it faces north so it can be awfully cold on a cold winter day.

The Cookie sheet is warm, but most of the routes are not particularly difficult.

The Royal Arches slabs are great, and range in difficulty from relatively moderate but runout (e.g. Arches Terrace regular route) to quite difficult.

Tollhouse is a great place to play on slabs, as is Joshua Tree. My only issue with the latter is that the rock is so rough that you miss the glass-like feeling of the tougher slab climbs.

Have fun, and remember Guido's advice.

John

Gary

climber

That Long Black Cloud Is Coming Down

Nov 23, 2011 - 03:49pm PT

Runout slab is definitely a mind game. It'll make your brain explode just below an anchor, knowing that there is a 70 foot fall there and you have one more move to the anchor...

some slabby 5.10 cruxes with runouts on high Sierra peaks

Such as?

Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber

San Francisco

Topic Author's Reply - Nov 23, 2011 - 03:51pm PT

should involves miles of 3rd, 4th and easy 5th class slab in yr approach shoes and pack. but it sounds you've already been doing that and are more worried about the technically difficult stuff?

Exactly. I feel like there is a huge difference between slab. When it is 3-5.5 I feel ok to solo most of it. 5.7-5.8 however I can do when it is well protected. I feel it is difficult for me on lead and following. 5.7 on snake dike was easy even on lead on my first ever longish multy pitch. Some random 5.7 in Toulumne I TRd across from Pywiack dome was a real challenge even on TR. It is freaking weird.
Slab is not my passion. Climbing in general is, especially peaks. Which involves cracks, chimneys, face, slab etc etc. I like to climb whatever (even bouldering) and improve all. I would never even consider only climbing slab for a whole season.
I know there is a 5.8 slab route at Sugarloaf. But that 5.8 is way different that some other stuff in toulumne..

No other particular routes for spring/summer in Tahoe? I want to find some sustained 5.9 slab route I can TR 20 times to run my miles and attempt different variations etc..

henny

Social climber

The Past

Nov 23, 2011 - 03:53pm PT

honestly, climbing roped slab routes is far and away the slowest, least time-efficient way to improve slab skills

mileage is as always the answer: boulders for the hard climbing.

Spoken like a true boulderer.

Although true.

Undoubtedly the bouldering helps and yields faster results, but you need to do both. Somehow, things can change when the moves are in the sky and not off the ground. Seek balance (assuming there's an interest in routes.)

Of course, klk wasn't really implying otherwise, I just decided to poke at him. I even truncated one of his quotes slightly to twist it... hehe

JT can have some pretty slick slab climbing, similar to better (did I say that?) granite. Just gotta know where it is.

Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber

San Francisco

Topic Author's Reply - Nov 23, 2011 - 03:55pm PT

Such as?

I really want to do this route some day. Looks nice.

http://www.summitpost.org/white-peregrine-s-5-10c-iii-granite-park-spire-ffa/427267
pitch 5

The incredible sphincter puckering runout Crux pitch. From the Pro belay, traverse left 30’ on 5.10a face/slab moves through a series of vertical shallow unprotectable cracks to a small stance just right of the corner which heads out to the blank east golden face and directly below the only possible protectable 5.10a vertical crack.

Obviously I have a lot of improving to do before I get anywhere close to it.

G_Gnome

Trad climber

In the mountains... somewhere...

Nov 23, 2011 - 04:03pm PT

Three things that get me up harder slab:

1. Stand up straight, straighten your leg and stand up, don't leave your butt stuck up in the air.

2. Place your foot in exactly the right place the first time and then NEVER move it.

3. If the holds are really tiny, some make believe is a good thing, it's a powerful tool to get you past some of those cruxes.

Branscomb

Trad climber

Lander, WY

Nov 23, 2011 - 04:18pm PT

It's been a while, but I liked the following slab climbs at the Leap and other Hy50 places when we lived in Placerville:

Hogsback:
Wave Rider....8 (some people call it 5.6 today, phew!)
Red's Delight....9 (not a lot of 5.9, but good and nicely protected with small wires)
Settle Down........9 (gotta settle down)
Dancing Feet......10d (considered a terror route by many and it seems a bit contrived next to Deception Direct, but some good spacy friction out there. Well, I liked it any way. Save this one for later on.)

Hogwild:
Prociutto.........10c (70', nicely protected with 3/8" bolts. A real nice Petch route.)

Sugarloaf:
Sugar Plum........11a (in Carville's book, short and well bolted)

Cosumnes Gorge:
Grandpappy......9R (I've heard a rumor that the 1/4" buttonheads from 1978 have been replaced, but...? Good route though, if I say so myself).
Gutenburger Wall....8 (well bolted with new bolts)
Straight up the Line.....9 (well bolted with new bolts)
Lichen Us.....9 (well bolted, new bolts)

Echo Lakes:
EBs Wall.......10b (remember this as pretty run out)

Hope this helps.