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Jingy
Social climber
Flatland, Ca
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Jun 16, 2007 - 03:31am PT
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bobmarley - Wow!! Awesome photos. The pics gave me the sense that I might be able to do the climb.
Then I read the description... I couldn't bring it!
Good stuff. Have fun on the next climb, and be sure to post up that trip report!
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Jun 16, 2007 - 12:31pm PT
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No way it's out of your league, Melissa. The Colonel and I did it back when dinosaurs rulled the earth and, between us, we didn't have half your moves. Go do it!
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426
Sport climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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Jun 16, 2007 - 12:37pm PT
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I agree with Jaybro, it's an "every(wo)man" kind of route. Goes at 5.9 A1-ish if you want it to...
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Jun 16, 2007 - 01:02pm PT
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Young Charlie Jackson from Connecticut and I did this route late July or early August, 1971 in one and a half days. I relate the story in an earlier thread.
These are great photos, btw! You don’t see photos of this route usually. Long and I are still kicking ourselves about missing this great FFA...it just doesn’t make sense, looking back now, that we overlooked it.
But whatever; it is a really really interesting climb, happy actually, and so unique. It is even a bit of a fantasy, really. Slabby routes usually seem like holidays! It was A4 at the time too, so given those few tough placements and all the other ordinary aided parts, no one had thought to look at it as a free climb. No large El Cap route had gone free at this point, or even received serious attention in that respect. I hooked past the only bolt on the whole route, to make it the only bigger El Cap route without bolts at the time.
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big wall paul
Trad climber
tahoe, CA
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Jun 16, 2007 - 02:35pm PT
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I climbed it with my brother in 97. We did it in two days bigwall style, freeing up to 5.9 or so. We didn't do the first and second pitches, because I had fixed lines after bailing off Realm Of Flying Monkeys (that's the only route that I bailed off due to being too wigged out! [on the big arch to the right]). Anyway, my brother and I had an a bit of an epic because we never discussed what food to bring. It turned out we only had a two liter of water, one can of chili, and a handful of hard candy. Just that in the middle of summer. Well, the second day we did find a bottle of water behind a flake about 5 pitches from the top, and at the top, we encountered some hikers with extra food.
Drywall Paul.
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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Jun 16, 2007 - 03:19pm PT
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I wouldn't say 9 A1 is representative of the first 2 pitches, or even much of the rest of the route for that matter.
JLP
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Jun 17, 2007 - 02:16pm PT
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Warb:
Here he is bouldering with Schoen and George Meyers (in red pullover).
Mark:
No the one bolt that RR and TM put on the West Face route was for that spot near the top of the second pitch. That ledge about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way up that had no bolt but got a bolt pretty quickly later.
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Hummerchine
Trad climber
East Wenatchee, WA
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Jun 17, 2007 - 02:23pm PT
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I did the route about 18 years ago with Brian Povolny, we both loved it. Those crystals are amazing, I remember in one place you can literally see through the rock like a window. Really cool. I was in the Valley for two weeks, Povolny shows up after a trip to Europe in excellent shape. First day we climbed with Terry Lien and Steve Strong, went to the Cookie and did Crack a Go Go, Haard, Red Zinger, probably other stuff I don't remember. Next day did Snake Dike on Half Dome. Next day hiked up and fixed the first two pitchs of West Face, it's a good idea to scope out the approach. I feel certain we would never have found our way in the dark without having been up there already. The second pitch we did aid, it seemed too dicey right off the belay. Poor gear and slippery rock. I remember thinking the thing to do would be to aid up a bit, get in good gear, then lower down and free the rest of the pitch. Next day up super early, hiked up in dark, got to top about 6:00PM. Next day Povolny goes home, nice little trip to Yosemite! I hope to do the route again someday, it is incredible.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jun 17, 2007 - 02:25pm PT
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Outstanding thread folks! Kevin- what a sick feeling watching that chopper go in. We all know how marginal choppers are even with aces piloting them. Pete Barton fell because he trusted a manzanita while scrambling so think twice before yarding up on the vegetation, shallow roots and all. Another warning with so many people on the Captain these days. If a chopper is ANYWHERE in your drop zone below, stop all climbing. ANY piece that happens to fall has the potential to take out a working airship, so be patient and wait.
I walked up to do the West Face with a haulbag back in the early eighties and decided not to do the route in that way once at the base. "When you are on the Big Stone, you ain't got time for sack hauling." Bob Big Stone
Largo- so you are the source of the dotted line bypass on pitch 7. Good thing the stone is so clean. Says 10c in the 82 Meyers guide.
Great srories all.
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Jun 17, 2007 - 09:26pm PT
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steve -- i still remember you telling me to stay "heads up" on the approach to the west face.
as i was basically a short/hard/free guy on my way to do the longest rock route i ever did, it was sound advice.
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WBraun
climber
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Jun 17, 2007 - 10:52pm PT
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Yeah this is the Barton recovery crash. Peter had just gotten married a week or so earlier. Remember?
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WBraun
climber
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Jun 17, 2007 - 11:11pm PT
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Kevin
This photo is from the nps archives and Dill says it's the real McCoy.
Me, ..... I don't sh'it ......
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WBraun
climber
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Jun 17, 2007 - 11:54pm PT
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How about this one Kevin. Kathy those were some moments. It was traumatic that Barton tragedy.
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Anne-Marie Rizzi
climber
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Jun 18, 2007 - 01:05am PT
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Peter's death was one of the big heartbreaks in my life. I remembered the anniversary for years. June 16th??
He married Kaethe Kuropat. They were radiant around each other.
I was at his wake with Kaethe and Peter's family, held in Curry Village somewhere. Lotsa tears, lotsa beer, lotsa laughter.
Kaethe later moved to Colorado and, the last I heard, was in the Seattle area.
Anne-Marie
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bobmarley
Trad climber
auburn, california
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 18, 2007 - 01:14am PT
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wow thanks for the replies everyone! i did not know about peter barton and the helicopter accident. RIP peter.
i did the route again saturday with my good friend wyatt. i was thinking about that accident and all the stories while doing the approach saturday morning. it's definitely a headsup approach, and with the added history, it had me a little more gripped.
we took a rack up to 3.5, but as someone else pointed out in this thread, you do not need anything larger than a 3, and only one of those. i will stand by that beta.
here is the west face in all it's glory. route starts on top of the huge block above the trees. it goes straight up, but stays left of the huge arch. if you look close you can see the cruxy 2nd pitch. it is the thin flake that traverses left towards the white streak.
wyatt friday night. we bivied up at lurking fear. is was hot friday night and we basically got a miserable night's sleep. i'm not even sure the extra work of the bivy really earned us much actually. car-car is prob the way to go, which is how i did it 1st time.
we led in blocks of 4. i took the 1st 4, then wyatt the next 4 etc. here's wyatt leading the 3rd 11c with the tat anchor at the crux. we had a 70m so he led all the way thru w/out setting up the hanging belay. you can BARELY do both pitches, and avoid the hanging belay, with a 70.
gnarly climber at the huge terrace w/ ribbon falls in the background :)
wyatt hiking the 10d pitch above the terrace. these pitches feel more like tuolumne than yosemite! amazing rock.
at the summit (thirsty) with plenty of light for the descent.
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Jun 18, 2007 - 10:17am PT
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Not to hijack this thread with Pete's tragedy, but...
Anne-Marie I always thought it was Kathy Barton, I didn't realise her name was spelt that way, and Kath, I recall her hair being more strawberry blonde but I could be wrong, it was a while ago. I remember Pete's family coming out from Virginia (I think it was Virginia, if I recall, but I am beginning to worry about my memory).
Dale was, understandably, quite shook up and I was talking with him later and he was bemoaning the fact that he didn’t have any real first aid training and was going to get some proper training, but from what I understand, nothing could have helped Pete, even if he was teletransported to a surgical unit with a surgical team on the ready.
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Jun 18, 2007 - 11:55am PT
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That's an amazing story well told, Kevin. You gotta do some more of those. I can just see Richard up there blubbering around. None of us had much experience with hard aid back then, but Richard was always good at it.
Peter B. was good people and a talented face climber. He was the first to lead either (can't remember) the second or third pitch of Stoner's Highway. We had no idea where the route was going to go and Peter just went for it. Pretty courageous for the time.
From what I understood about his accident on the approach to the West Face, the fall was such that Peter basically had no chance. That's some crazy, tragic bad luck there.
Steve G. said: "Largo- so you are the source of the dotted line bypass on pitch 7. Good thing the stone is so clean. Says 10c in the 82 Meyers guide."
Dale and I didn't want to get stranded up there with no bivy gear and no rations. We had no idea how long the route might take us. We didn't have much of a topo either - might not have had one at all. Can't recall. Anyhow, we were rushing things, not really scouting the line real well. The "dotted line bypass pitch" looked casual from below, and the climbing was only hard in one or two spots (not .10c, more like .10a) but pretty scarce pro. But the rock there is amazingly featured. Huge crystals and flakes and so forth.
I think the West Face had been climbed no more than a dozen times when Dale and I climbed it '76. But the first few pitches had obviolusly been climbed more than that, and were getting beat out and fixed with junk. There was a section toward the end of the second pitch that had a long stretch of real mank - sketchey heads and bashies and other trash. The stuff only held (as aid placements) becuase it was relatively low angled. I remember when I went back and freed those first two pitches I was somewhat amazed. I never got to free that 11c pitch up high. That looks good.
JL
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jun 18, 2007 - 12:21pm PT
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I think it was RR that once described the West Face as the Captain's lunatic cousin, or something to that effect, because the rock character is so different and unique once you round the corner. Nice pics and beta. Gotta do it sometime soon.
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Marshall
climber
bay area
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Jun 18, 2007 - 02:29pm PT
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nice job patO! looks like you guys cruised.
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David Wilson
climber
CA
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Aug 28, 2009 - 12:10am PT
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Galen Rowell and I did the route in 1985 or 86. What a great day. We fixed two pitches and bivied at the base with Eric Brand who was nice enough to shlep our gear back to the meadow the next day. I had the hard pitches and, as I remember, I grabbed that mid way belay anchor shamelessly on the 11c crack, right in the crux. Otherwise, it went without falls and we topped out after seven hours. It's a route that's been on my list to repeat now for three years, just the valley has a way of lengthening your list....
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