Tales of Power

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Jingy

Social climber

Flatland, Ca

Feb 23, 2009 - 10:19pm PT

Awesome photos!!!!!

Thanks for bringing this tales thing up!!!

Ghoulwe

Trad climber

Spokane, WA

Feb 23, 2009 - 10:32pm PT

Nice photos Mark. Dual Strawberry Mtn chalk bags - cool!

Peter Haan

Trad climber

San Francisco, CA

Feb 23, 2009 - 11:08pm PT

thanks Chris F and Mark H. Great!

klk

Trad climber

cali

Feb 23, 2009 - 11:16pm PT

Thanks for the pix-- I've not seen very many.

Man, I'd love to do this thing. Maybe this year.

Gobi

Trad climber

Orange CA

Feb 23, 2009 - 11:21pm PT

Its hard to say Short Circuit is short with one or two powerful moves where as tales is longer and more sustained. IMO tales feels quite a bit harder then SC, al least 3 grades harder

martygarrison

Trad climber

The Great North these days......

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2009 - 11:28pm PT

Thanks.....it actually just was more intimidating to me rather than hard. I guess I was old school, if I couldnt lead something on first try I never went back until I felt ready. This is one I never felt I could lead without a hang. It was why I never got on phoenix....which I bet I could never have led.

Mark Hudon

Trad climber

Hood River, OR

Feb 23, 2009 - 11:46pm PT

I don't know what the Phoenix would be like with cams but we called Tales .12b in the fall of 1977 and called Phoenix .12d/.13a (w/hexes) in the spring of 1978. They are a world apart.

I think I have my Phoenix slides scanned in already....

jiff

Mountain climber

autin, texas

Feb 24, 2009 - 12:00am PT

Any solos of this bad-boy?

neebee

Social climber

calif/texas

Feb 24, 2009 - 02:22am PT

hey there mark hudson... say, great photos... (not sure if i saw who took thoses?)

say, it looks like you belonged there, as you got the same colors on, as the rock... perfect match, to help say: i belong here!

well, as i am not a climber, but an artist, (that does no art these days) i just had to make note of that...

also, that little flowered clip on sue (think her name was) along with all the colors of her working-gear, sure made a an interesting picture... like a mountain flower, growing out of the crack of the rock...

great pics, though, for climing, thanks for the share...
seems i just learned some more old history from you all again...
so very glad...

martygarrison

Trad climber

The Great North these days......

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 24, 2009 - 09:18am PT

Mark, lets see the phoenix pics!

tom woods

Gym climber

Bishop, CA

Feb 24, 2009 - 10:14am PT

Dual bags- way cool

When did chalk bags get small? I remember some in the 90's where you supposed to just stick your fingers in. Now you can get your hand in, but it's not the best

I'm going to go buy that one Russ sells that fits five blocks.

Gobi

Trad climber

Orange CA

Feb 24, 2009 - 03:33pm PT

I tried the phoenix once and wasnt able to get it clean but I thought it went easier then the first time I tried Tales. The phoenix for me goes from good fingers to ok hands. None of that wierd inbetween stuff Tales has. Both lines however are some of the best granite cracks I'v ever climbed. Thinking about Yos is makeing me stressed I'm in school :(.

Jim Wilcox

Boulder climber

Santa Barbara

Feb 24, 2009 - 03:55pm PT

Double D,

Is the photo of Bill when he was still in high school? Lud mentioned that he got student athelete of the week (month?) for a climb he did in Yosemite. Pretty sure he said it was Tales. I was amazed that a public school would even acknowledge climbing, especially WAAAYYY back then.
He told a pretty wild story of Bill on Phoenix, too, as I recall. And Lud is that master of understatement.

Cheers,
Jim

Double D

climber

Feb 24, 2009 - 06:11pm PT

"Is the photo of Bill when he was still in high school?"

Na, that was taken when he SHOULD HAVE STILL BEEN in high school. Bill dropped out and got his GED so that he could climb. He was 17 I think when the picture was taken.

It's interesting hearing various takes on the hand size. I remember KB went up and had bomer jams (she didn't complete it though). To me it was very similar to short circut but way longer.

Phoenix, when Bill and I first worked on it, was a funky size for me on the mid section of the upper crack, sort of had to use thumb cams because of the leaning nature of it. But I could only do about 10' sections before I was gassed.

Edit: We did get PE credit for climbing where we went to high school. We had a bolt ladder for practicing aid but the crux was getting pelted by rocks and bottles from the local hoodlums. We also had a 2.75" crack on the underside of our bleachers that we used to put the porta-pit under for practice.

Gene

climber

Feb 23, 2011 - 12:22pm PT

This one deserves a BUMP.

Mike Bolte

Trad climber

Planet Earth

Feb 23, 2011 - 12:51pm PT

great thread.

anyone have any stories from RK and the first ascent? Werner, bet you were there.

marty(r)

climber

beneath the valley of ultravegans

Feb 25, 2011 - 01:11pm PT

Castaneda bump!

drewsky

climber

Seattle

Feb 25, 2011 - 02:04pm PT

On the drive up to climb both of these pitches (Tales and Separate) for the first time, there was a huge commotion near the parking area: there had been a motorcycle accident. Two people were writhing and bleeding on the ground surrounded by perhaps three dozen assorted gawkers and, fortunately, a competent medic or two. As we could offer little help, we continued up the road. I think it was at least a half hour before we heard sirens approaching from behind us on the road: don't expect a lightning-fast response even in a virtual small town like Yosemite.

Despite this inauspicious beginning, the climbs were great. Climbing Tales of Power followed by Separate Reality is an enjoyable combo. I found myself much more impressed by Tales of Power, although they are completely different styles of climbs. Aesthetically, however, it certainly takes the cake in my book.