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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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The Conns were up to American standards for a while (although California climbers soon passed them), but European standards were always ahead. And although quite a lot of Conns' climbing was, by necessity, very runout, making them in some sense "brave," somehow that term doesn't seem to fit them very well. There is something stern and tough about bravery which doesn't align with the playfulness and almost childlike joy the Conns brought to their climbing. If Alex Lowe's comment about the best climber being the one who is having the most fun is true, then the Conns were among the worlds best ciimbers ever.
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 4, 2018 - 02:14pm PT
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I will buy that. So has anyone done Spilt Pinnacle?
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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In spite of spending a lot of time in the Needles over the years, the only thing I've done in the Picket Fence is the Wicked Picket and the pinnacle to the right of it in your picture---can't remember the name at the moment.
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 4, 2018 - 02:52pm PT
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which one is wicket?? we only got in here on our last day. We did The sickle. 2nd from left.
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 4, 2018 - 04:56pm PT
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Crazy stuff Mike!
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Actually, what I've done is Wicked Picket and Grandaddy.
All Piana has to say about the Split Picket is that a chimney on the North side leads to the top (5.2). FA H & J Conn, July 14, 1949.
The North "side" would be somwhere on the back of the pinnacle as viewed from your picture and the diagram above.
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Soloed the Wicked Picket in 1960. A few years later did the FA of El Mokanna with Pete Cleveland (name came from a Sax Rohmer novel)- 5.9/10; a bit later Mark Powell found an easier route on the other side.
I don't know if tidbits like this are relevant on this thread.
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 5, 2018 - 05:18am PT
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Totally interesting John. Lindsys book has split pinnacle at 5.6 I could not find a short chimney? About all I could recon was that you stem between the two pinnacles until it becomes necessary to commit to the face of split pinnacle. Looks pretty darn brave....
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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When I did the South Tower in 1958 or 1959 I seem to recall climbing something on the other side of the chimney where you take the big step across to access the ST. What might that have been?
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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When I did the South Tower in 1958 or 1959 I seem to recall climbing something on the other side of the chimney where you take the big step across to access the ST. What might that have been?
The Gruesome Twosome form the opposite boundary wall of the South Tower route. That's why you can do the excellent Conn route on the East Gruesome, rappel into the notch, and then do the South Tower of Spire 4. The rappel off the East Gruesome is quite overhanging, so there was no route up that way when I was active. We left that for future generations. The West Gruesome is another story. In 1953, the Conns did a 5.3 route out of the West Gruesome-South Tower notch that contoured around to the South Face; you might easily have soloed that John.
Four years later, some guy by the name of John Gill, partnered by Doug Jesserson, started in the same place but contoured around to the north face; that route is 5.5 and is presumably the one you remember.
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Fan
climber
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If Alex Lowe's comment about the best climber being the one who is having the most fun is true, then the Conns were among the worlds best ciimbers ever.
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Thanks, Rich. Yes, Doug Jefferson, a seasonal ranger working on a graduate degree in history in the New York area. I wonder what became of Doug?
I think my companion on the South Tower was Fred Wright, and it may have been in 1957. I wore Cortina klettershue, I recall. Not great footwear!
I think it was 1958 when an slightly older friend from the U. of Georgia - a Korean War vet - and I stopped off in the Needles on the way to the Tetons. I started up the Conn route on Rubaiyat Spire, leading up a crack, only to look down and see that the rope had separated from a single piton far below me. A chilling moment that undid my friend on belay,insisting we go down and get off that thing! I don't think I ever went back, but I soled Khayyam Spire several times on trips down from Glasgow AFB around 1960.
Beckey did a nail-up route on Khayyam before it was free climbed by the Conns I think. He was in a hurry I guess.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Khayyam was not one of Beckey's finer moments---he used two bolts for aid on a 5.6 face in 1952. Wiessner had been in roughly the same place in 1937, moved over to a 5.7 crack, and climbed the whole thing free without leaving any fixed gear.
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 5, 2018 - 03:07pm PT
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Khayyam looks intimidating as heck!
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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I was looking at the historic photos of the FA (1936) of the Totem Pole (Traffic cop rock) to see what Dave Rearick told me about Wiessner using a shoulder stand at one point. Poor definition defeats me.
https://www.mountainproject.com/photo/106409738
If so, Dave made the actual FFA in the late 1950s or early 1960s, calling it about 5.8.
Shoulder stands were common and interpreted as "free" climbing in the European tradition of those times.
Rearick had a stroke several years ago and lives in a retirement home in Boulder.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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John, from what I recall from having done the route and having talked to Fritz about it, the shoulder stand would have happened a moment before photo #4 was snapped. It wasn't so much a classic shoulder stand as a momentary stress-reliever for the leader, i.e. he stepped down for a moment onto a shoulder.
We used to argue about shoulder stands with Fritz, who insisted on the Dresden definition that the climbing team is "one attacking unit" and so using each other for help is not any kind of artificial aid.
The FFA of the Needles Highway Totem Pole was made by Harvey T Carter in 1954, two years before Dave, but Carter placed a bolt at the hard part where Fritz took a shoulder. I suppose one could argue about which ascent was more demanding.
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wbw
Trad climber
'cross the great divide
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Just out of curiosity John, do you have any other info re: Dave Rearick?
I worked for him in the Math Module Program at CU around '89 when I was majoring in math and getting my teaching license. We became friends, and he actually invited me to his house to see original shots of the the f.a. of the Totem Pole (the one in Monument Valley). I had climbed it in "87 and it was something that we sort of bonded over. Seeing those pix from a true pioneer such as Dave felt like such an honor, and I still remember the stark simplicity of his house in N. Boulder.
Knowing that Dave had freed that 4th (or was it the 3rd??) pitch of Athlete's Feat gave me the impetus to actually fire it the first time. I was so proud and Dave was very psyched about my success when I told him about it. My friendship with Dave also inspired me to go up and attempt D1 on the Diamond, but we ended up bailing after p3, finding out how crappy the rock actually is on the route.
I haven't heard a thing about Dave in years, if not decades. I ran into him on an RTD bus maybe 25 years ago or so, and he didn't look like he was doing so well at the time, which made me feel bad. I have always wondered if he was still around and if so, how he was doing. If you know anything more currently it would be appreciated.
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