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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Mar 31, 2016 - 10:29pm PT
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I belayed with a Munter hitch starting in the mid-1970s.
It works fine with many types of locking biners.
I used it on ice climbs, walls, and when I thought there was a well above average chance my partner would fall.
Yep, managing the twists was a hassle.
Eventually in the 1990s one of my partners got tired of me shortroping him and bought me an ATC. :-)
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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^Ditto.
By 1987, I was still loath to climb with leg loops, but totally over using a Munter.
That same year, my clients for The Nose were these thoroughbred Italian Alpine guides from Cervinia. I was using a DMM brake plate and they used the Munter. They did a lot of belaying. I never saw any twists! Those guys were like magicians with the ropes!
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cintune
climber
Colorado School of Mimes
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Add a second bight to the munter and it takes out the twists as it goes:
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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^^^^^^ No WAY! ;) That looks cool.....
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Cintune, no way ! ! I to say ditto!- that looks 'twisted', er un- twisted. . . .
Now to find someone to try it on. . That's what wives are for right?
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limpingcrab
Trad climber
the middle of CA
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All forgetful people, like me, should know the munter. It helps when you forget you belay device in the car, backpack, or at the belay.
That super munter looks cool but seems like it would be hard to feed rope
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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That super Super Munter may well be the knott that Giuliano used on The Nose.
I'm vague on it, but I'm remembering that he threw an extra twist into it.
It looked too complicated for me to remember!
 And, yes Walter, their room and catering tab at the Ahwahnee was $60,000!
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slabbo
Trad climber
colo south
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I switched to a harness only when the FiSH Skin belt came out..even stylin' I failed on BY
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cintune
climber
Colorado School of Mimes
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That super munter looks cool but seems like it would be hard to feed rope
It does add a little more friction, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. That pic also shows the brake strand coming out the gate side, which is obviously not a best practice.
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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their room and catering tab at the Ahwahnee was $60,000!
nothing but munter on that account alone! but yes i muntered eddie b. during his flawless, no fanfare ascent in '85?
must have been cuz i had retired the only device i ever used, the springy stitch well before that. there, i sprayed
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Freddie Munter says: always spring for a nutritious breakfast before a big adventure!
[Edit] oh, THAT catering ... You mean, Walter, the summit festivities provided by Messick and Carter!
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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yes, i'll write it up in this space later today.
~~~~
ok. here you go:
for context purposes, ed and i were steady partners for three seasons in the late seventies marching through the elevens, swinging leads, style by the book but for the one time i down climbed back to a nut and in a panic grabbed it. didn't lower off and pull the rope, i carried on. the shame came.
ed and chappy returned from montana with a pretty vivid tale of their ice climb there and it broke our streak, i went to montana. i kicked a few steps, stepped into a few turns, hauled a few sacks up alpine walls and stayed strong by latching wyoming pipe in the derrick, and delivering furniture for an interior designer in alaska.
seven years later i came over tioga pass on a trip from east to west and looked up ed at the mountaineering school looking to park overnight.
ed was looking good. he talked of fast twitch muscles, power vs. strength. all new to me. hanging from a door casing, alternating one-arms, in perfect control he spoke these words: "glad you're here, tomorrow off, route i want to do, perfect partner for this, just belay ..." (meaning no peer dynamic, you'll be gone next day ...) after ten perfect reps he dropped off, and i was signed on, though i had found that each one arm was successively more deflating to watch. in my day i've pulled just one. it required about six frog kicks and my arm hurt for a week. clearly, training changed things.
one of us musta had shoes for me. on the approach the route name was mentioned. i thought cool, those guys were friends ... AND THAT'S ALL I KNEW
he could have diverted to something else and i would have followed along none the wiser, i literally associated nothing with bachar-yerian except the image of those two guys, and that (years later to be let in on the irony) is the only thing that makes this a story.
if there was drama, or back story or any of that it was entirely in ed's at the time inscrutable head. at the base, i stacked the rope, payed it out as he went up. same as the old days!
belaying on pitch two i began to get the picture that this was more than just doing a friend a favor and hitching a ride. but everything was going fine so what would be the point of breaking the beautiful silence. behind his poker face there was nothing to hide, the situation was entirely in hand.
once i started following pitch two, some clarity came to me that i was engaged in some tenuous sh#t. i had spent a career looking askance at chalk, reserving the right to dabble, so saying little about it. now every little nuance of it left behind on nubbins took on great meaning.
i got off each hold in the nick of time. nothing required incredible strength but i'd never experienced such a sustained case of urgency. without little white clues the time spent solving the sequences would have taken me down.
i've followed pitches and arrived at the belay with eyebrows raised before. at the top of the b-y, though i never weighted the rope i exhibited the composure of a wet hen. it took away my feeling of belonging to the group, that in seven years of doing other stuff i had been left behind.
ed was smiley content, i remained rattled. i still had no context, no route rep, no solace. i drove away feeling i'd lost my sport. i had engaged in other things but if stuff like the b-y was what it would have taken to keep up, i wouldn't have made it.
only here on the forum did i put it together that the b-y was kind of badass. totally didn't know about ed's other ascent. proud of him, stoked really, that he sent after that whipper. can only guess that our (his) ascent was a clean-up chore, and it totally fits that he didn't go around saying "a guy came thru and i cleaned that up." more likely he relished the chance to lead it straight through journeyman style with no hullabaloo, which he certainly did.
update your early ascent list clint, it happened. him with me, private like we liked it. rick hooven
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WBraun
climber
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Tom Higgins using a jumar for self belay on a solo attempt.
Holy sh!t ... LOL.
You take a fall on one of those weak jumars and/or it will cut the rope or break the jumar itself.
Ballsy ......
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Jon Clark
climber
philadelphia
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I may be misinterpreting it, but it's interesting to hear up thread that Bachar took his fall without the leg loops. I'd be curious to hear more about that. In his Alpinist article on the BY he talks about using the leg loops to facilitate the hook drilling. As far as I know he drilled the second bolt on the first pitch and the three lead bolts on the second pitch while hanging from a hook. It'd be likely that he'd have been wearing leg loops for those pitches. He took his fall on the second pitch before the third lead bolt was drilled.
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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Rick, that was superb!
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Great story, Rick - thanks for sharing!
Steady climbing partners for 3 years is pretty awesome.
Even better that you could get back together after having gone
different paths, and get right onto a next-level climb.
(I updated the list, too).
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Jon Clark
climber
philadelphia
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Awesome story Rick, thanks for posting that.
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