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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Jun 17, 2009 - 04:59pm PT
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From summit post...
Good lard...!
-Brian in SLC
Senile musings of an ascent of the Harding Route on Mt. Conness
I think I’m having a heart attack.
It feels like an elephant is sitting on my chest. I can’t catch my breath. There’s a shooting pain in my left arm and shoulder. The gloomy talus field around me darkens at the edges, until I’m peering down a long dark mist-filled tunnel, the opening of which swims and wavers in my vision.
Pat disappeared into the growing whiteout (Darkout is what it seems to me in my fading consciousness) about a half an hour of an eternity ago. I turn and swim toward the light at the end of the tunnel, and as I do, the daylight solidifies back into a more substantial reality.
Somewhere a huge bellows huffs and chugs like a medieval forge, but rather than the “Ting!” of the blacksmith’s hammer on the anvil, I instead hear a thudding sound, like huge flour sacks quickly being tossed out the back of a truck by a team of overcaffeinated trolls, hitting the ground hard enough to shake my teeth. I puzzle over these sounds, muddle-headed.
As I finally emerge from my tunnel into full daylight, the world swims into focus. I’m laying face-down on a boulder, pack still on my back. The bellows is my own breathing, and the flour sack thuds of my heartbeat a frantic earthquake thumping the world.
I stagger upright, and plod onward into the growing twilight.
Darkness. Pat and I burrow into bivy bags on the flat shoulder of the mountain as the gusting winds shred the clouds against the sharp teeth of a nearby ridge. I pull out some beer from a well-stocked but horribly heavy pack as the clouds battle the stars for the possession of the night sky.
Where are we? Harding, the author of this huge climb on Mt. Conness, had a remarkable resemblance to Satan. "They shall be cast into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth." The rime ice on the nearby boulders is a ghostly phosphorescence seen only at vision’s periphery, hiding when I look straight at it, its eerie magic a dim premonition that we are camped at the gates of a freezing hell.
Dawn after a night of dark dreams.
Base of the wall.
My first pitch is a waterfall. Retching, I teeter up 5.10 verglassed slime. Water sears a scar of ice into my wrists, down my upraised arms, into my armpits. I want to scream.
Pitches fly by in a blur after that first rude wake-up call. I don’t experience the climb as a flow of time but rather as a series of terrifying instants. Pat solves the riddle of the crux pitch with a bold mantle/traverse, then cracks the obstacle of the dirty 5.10c overhang, his jams grinding into the filth of the crack at the desperate edge of flight. People have died here. My blown-out shoes pop off at the start of a 5.8 pitch… totally unexpected, we are both surprised by the ensuing 15-foot fall.
Pushing, we dance on the edge of sanity, beyond the vertical. The steps we follow were choreographed by a lunatic named Harding.
A couple 165+ foot pitches puts us at the next hard section (although I recall a desperate thrutch in an overhanging offwidth in the interim).
I’m standing on the first big ledge for a thousand feet. Above, the crack system we have been following shoots up through distant dripping overhangs. Instead of following this insane line, Pat scuttles to the right, and stops when he reaches a blank vertical section that blocks our exit. The face, covered with a half inch of ice, is marked by a bolt, confirming that this is the path of preference.
Clouds, un-noticed until now, eat the daylight, backing up against the top of the face which, far above, vanishes into the mist.
Stymied. Gotta move. Our bodies clench in on themselves with barely-controlled angst, able only to deal with the developing situation by climbing the next few feet before our faces as quickly as possible. repeat ad infinitum.
Pat grabs the bolt, tensions across the ice-clad 5.10 move, and runs the rope out up 5.10 finger crack and 5.8 chimney plugging few cams as I move across the ledge to the base of the ice-locked crux simul climbing things are starting to fall apart no belay ledge in sight yet as Pat’s distant shouts are garbled by the rising wind but suddenly the rope stops and a faint “off belay” between gusts brings a respite.
Not.
I follow this wild pitch shamelessly leapfrogging cams up slick crack after my vein-bursting fist jams slide easily out of crack, pigs on greased playground slide wetness and ice soaking and numbing my nerveless clubs to the elbows scraped knuckles too cold to bleed I pull onto the belay shivering almost as soon as I stop, breathing in short panic-gasps Pat wide-eyed hands over what is left of the rack and I race up my lead as it begins to snow.
Three pitches left, all 5.9, vertical cracks disappearing up the misty rock into the storm-swept, snow-filled sky. Us with nothing but garbage bags for rain gear.
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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Jun 17, 2009 - 05:12pm PT
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Some incredibly classic stuff in here. I'd forgotten Brutus had written up that lap we did up the Mace.
Thanks for starting it up Melissa.
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kellie
climber
Seattle
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Jun 17, 2009 - 05:13pm PT
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Rewind two decades or so. A young Bruce, someday to
become the old geezer known as Brutus of Wyde, is
in Joshua Tree, partnerless, honed, and hot to trot.
Yesterday he free soloed the opening moves of "Hands
Down" a 5.11 Bachar free solo route. Gotta climb. Gotta Climb!
Another cuppa Java. Gotta climb.
He walks over to Hands Down, and decides to go for it.
Its a BIG DEAL. gottaclimbgottaclimbgottaclimbgottaclimb.
Opening sequence. Hand dynos over the lip of the roof
from a body-tweaking undercling. So far so good.
Throw the mantle.
YES!
Time to step up. blank sloping face above, roof below.
Hmmmm. Dont wanna do that face. Do. Dont. dodontdodontdo
gottaclimbnonodont downclimb. Hard to reverse. Jump for
the ground better than an uncontrolled fall from the roof
hit the sloping slab below SNAP! roll down the slab
protecting the head MY ANKLE! gottaclimb has
disappeared, the small seashell of desire washed away
in a tidal wave of agony. No more climbing for today.
Lay at the base of the slab in a heap, nausea and agony
competing for his full attention, taste of bile in the back
of tyhe throat. Breathe, get up, try to weight the ankle,
fall back down, then crawl back to camp knees bloodied
ankle swolen to the thickness of my thigh.
No more climbing for the next three months.
Much, much later (several guidebooks later) Bruce learns
that the FA, free solo by the god Bachar, had numerous
toprope rehearsals prior to the FA.
Which car? Which lessons?
Was getting on the climb to begin with a mistake?
I certainly did not have important information about
the circumstances of the FA. But then, We can never
be sure we have crucial information when we step up to
a climb. This is a part of the UNEXPECTED, one of our
biggest enemies in the mountains.
Should I have rehearsed the route?
No.
That was not the accomplishment/experience I was seeking.
Should I have tried to continue?
Yes: up blank 5.10 face risking ever greater groundfall
potential...
No: reversing the (crux) moves resulted in the injuries
I received...
Lunatics and poultry...
On this climb I started out in the Lunatics Limo.
Spent some time in the Chicken cart.
then spent some time in rehab for a severely sprained
talo-fibular ligament in my right ankle.
Assess the hazards with an eye unbiased by desire.
Base your decisions completely on an honest assessment
of yourself and the situation, but get as much information
as you can.
Even so, you may not have important information.
Use a spotter. Use a toprope. There are other options.
The climb will always be there.
The inner chicken is there for a reason. Know when to
listen to it clucking, and you may save yourself from a
whole lot of pain. And know when to tape its beak shut,
lest its clucking drown out the music that is climbing.
Brutus
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poop*ghost
Trad climber
Denver, CO
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Jun 17, 2009 - 06:00pm PT
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The following is a reply I received from Bruce back in 2002 on rec.climbing -
"Every moment of life is precious, be it sparkling or black as night." - Bruce
...
Welcome to the human race.
Scene at Kain Hut in the Bugaboos this last August (2002):
Brutus looks from 100 feet away at a musical instrument case just
unloaded from the helicopter. Speaks to the newly-arrived hut caretaker: "That's a Conn 8D, isn't it?" [French Horn] Caretaker responds: "Yes! My god, how did you know?" [Brutus chuckles] "I played in another life." Caretaker: "Maybe while youre here you'd like to try it out?"
The following day, for some brief sweet moments [until my chops gave out] the strains of long forgotten music, of Mozart's third Horn Concerto, of Horn Call from the Opera "Siegfried", of Beethoven's Sonata for Horn and Piano; these melodies echo from the rime-plastered walls of Snowpatch Spire, and I am young again.
Playing second chair French horn in a symphony, making a power
tumbling run ending with a back layout/full twist on a spring floor, splicing genetic code to make something new, climbing, relationships, family... These have at one time or another been the most important facets of my life. Make your choices, strive to be happy and to be true to both your family and yourself: Both the you of today and the you that you will become, are in the process of becoming.
Do not expect to improve in climbing forever, though you sacrifice things that are dear to you to devote yourself to others dearer. Find joy not just in breaking through new barriers in difficulty but also in dancing a well-worn and easy dance with every movement perfect. And in doing new things so poorly and awkwardly as to make you feel as clumsy as the first steps you ever tried to take, as inarticulate as the first words you ever tried to form.
Every moment of life is precious, be it sparkling or black as night.
Climbing for some is not a hobby but a way of life, a part of the
center, or a way to let go of the center and just be. For some it shows us not only how small and insignificant we are, but also how rare and precious we all are.
For others its just a way to hang with our buds and jawbone or party.
Be well, and choose well.
Brutus
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Jun 17, 2009 - 07:31pm PT
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"How do you distinguish between being off-route and putting up a first ascent ?" — Bruce Bindner
I found it on 14er site signature for Aaron W. thx for having that handy.
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14re3
Boulder climber
Twin Peaks ,CA
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Jun 18, 2009 - 02:45am PT
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sitting here with family laughing & crying
again: thank you all for these gems
jurel (jeff Bindner)
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Jun 18, 2009 - 02:18pm PT
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Brutus took this photo... unqualified one of my favorite images he took...
He inspired Chriz to send this pitch.
Chris Craft 5.9 *** - FA Chriz (with some spectacular falling backwards header action) FTR Munge with some lovely borrowed knee pads and elbow neoprene. FFA Brutus of Wyde with some lovely real crack technique pro to #5 big bro for chim. Pro to #5 camalot for ow. 1 ea. 3.5 camalot
2 ea. #4 and #4.5 camalot
1 ea. #5 camalot or #6 Friend.
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Jun 18, 2009 - 07:59pm PT
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Here's 2 Steck Salathe trip reports with Brutus. The first with Al Steck, the second with the Taco's own Steelmnkey, both with Inez D.
Steck-Salathe 44th Anniv. Trip Report
http://www.terragalleria.com/mountain/info/yosemite/sentinel2.html
FARD HUCKIN' CLIMB!
http://lamountaineers.org/NAC/browserf/climbs/sentinel/go_696.htm
The first time I met Brutus we were top roping the 10b thin hands crack on the Golden Gate wall. This crack is on a freeway in Berkeley. I was playing hooky from work and it was midday on a Thursday. He drove up in an EBMUD truck and came over to join us. We introduced all around and I recognized that he was the hombre in the two trip reports above, which I had been memorizing before my attempt on the route. He asked if he could give the crack a go and we offered harness and shoes for his effort. He declined, quickly tying a bowline around his waist and, borrowing some tape and removing his shoes, put one loop of tape around the instep of each sock. He proceeded to climb the crack cleanly and smoothly in his socks!
He was soon off in his truck leaving us with smiles and wonder.
Zander
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Jun 18, 2009 - 09:57pm PT
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bump before the weekend climbing
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Jun 18, 2009 - 10:16pm PT
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Has anyone climbed the Steck Salathe more times than Brutus?
Werner?
Walt?
I think I'm tied with Zander @ 2.
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kellie
climber
Seattle
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Jun 22, 2009 - 01:30pm PT
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One more...this was one of the earliest Brutus posts I ever read, just when I was first starting to lead, and it turned me into an internet stalker as I tried to read everything he'd ever written.
gamecat wrote:
> Specifically when it comes to leading trad what are peoples thoughts on the acceptability or likelyhood of falling. How do you build it into your lead headology. Or to put it another way how close to your absolute limit do you go when leading trad.
It depends. Protection and difficulty are two separate skills, and both keep you alive. Never challenge yourself in both at the same time.
> Anywhere from aiming never to fall, even though you know it will happen one day,
Although in the past 30 years I've logged over 500 feet of airtime, I aim never to fall. Falling on Trad invites injury. Most climbing injuries in Trad climbing occur during leader falls, and not surprisingly involve injuries to the feet, ankles and legs. Trad climbs are (for the most part) less than overhanging. Even catching an ankle on a hold enroute to the end of the rope can result in months of rehabilitation. Worse, catching your foot on a hold while falling can turn you on your side or head-first. Many fatalities and most traumatic
injuries in Trad climbing result from a very simple scenario: the leader hits something solid before his/her protection stops them. Some result from the moves simply being too hard, and the protection too sparse. Some result from broken holds. Sometimes protection, even bomber-looking protection, fails. Sometimes the rock surrounding the protection breaks.
In most cases of severe traumatic injury or death during lead falls, the cause is a severe blow to the head, neck or trunk. Laybacks and underclimgs are particularly dangerous. Loss of grip can throw you into a backwards, and headfirst, flight. Traversing falls are just as bad, and are as dangerous for the second as the leader. A 16-foot pendulum fall is the equivalent of being struck by an automobile travelling over 20 miles per hour, and almost consistently exposes vital organs to the bone-breaking impact. You may have placed a good piece just before making that crux step-across, but will your second be forced to clean that piece, then do the crux? No matter how easy the subsequent moves, did you place gear to protect your second as well as yourself?
How to fall (or climb) safely on Trad? It starts with the belay. Check every link in the belay chain from your harness buckle to the rock surrounding the anchor. Go over it with your partner. Is the anchor solid and redundant? Look again. Are those two different crack systems simply different sides of the same, detached block? Is the load shared? What happens to the system if the direction of loading changes? What happens to the system if one (or more) pieces fail?
Sometime in your climbing career, if you climb enough, and live long enough, you will have a belay piece fail. Does your anchoring system take that into account? Will the system be shock loaded when that happens? Is your belayer's tie-in snug and in line with the fall force? Is your belayer experienced with that belay widget, alert and ready for a fall? Do you and your belayer know techniques for belay or descent if there are no belay gadgets available?
OK. The belay looks solid. Will you clip through a bombproof
directional as you start to lead the pitch?
> to the only way to push your limits to the max is to accept that you will fall regularly, but as long as you set good pro in the right places then don't worry about it too much.
There is a skill to falling safely. It won't help you in a 300-foot, air-thrashing bouncing screamer, but in routine situations it can be very important. Bouldering and gymnastics are a good places to start. Landing on your feet may not prevent injury, but in serious falls may make the difference between a broken leg and a severed spine. If you choose to push your limits, find a route that is well-defined and easy
to protect, put in extra gear, and be willing and equipped to back down.
> Ok I ask this because I accept I will fall sometime but still aim never to fall. For me this means that I'm probably mproving my trad leading more slowly, by doing a load of routes that I find challenging but not right at my limit, then throwing in a few that are closer to my limit that give my lead head a real work out. Also because I think this is a good way to build up good solid technique. I've been gradualy increasing difficulty of the routes I climb as I gain more experience, technique and confidence in my pro etc.
It's good to see someone who is not in a hurry. The important thing is to choose when and where you might expose yourself to a possible fall and protect accordingly.
> I'm fairly confident placing pro, judging placements, setting up hanging belays etc., not really worried about long run out when I am confident about what I am climbing, but so far I have never taken a fall onto my own gear. (Come close a few times though)
You have plenty of time left in your career to do so.
Route finding is another survival skill which you haven't mentioned. A mistake in routefinding can quickly put you in a serious situation in difficulty or protection, and frequently if off route you will find yourself over your head in both areas. This can happen even on short climbs. This can happen on one-pitch climbs. Mis-interpretation of the guidebook is an error that happens to beginners and experts alike. And sometime even the guidebook is wrong. Know how to mentally climb a piece of rock before you physically commit to it. Rehearse not only the moves, but the protection opportunities and options. Know how to downclimb if you run into trouble; how to double-up, back-up or even equalize protection when at a good stance, where few pro opportunities and difficult climbing lurk ahead. Learn how to wire moves from that good stance or rest, climbing up and down until you have most of the sequence cold, before committing. Know how to climb up, place protection in the hard section, then downclimb back to a rest. Know how to move a piece up with you when necessary, in consistent and parallel-sided cracks. And know when to make the choice
to keep moving, balancing muscle fatigue against exposure. Be aware of the potential consequences of your choices. Prior to heading up difficult ground, have you looked at the pro? Have
you taken the time, and had the presence of mind, to move those pieces you are most likely to need, to the front of your rack?
> I just curious to know what how others view the whole falling deal, and accept that I'll get the odd put down here and there.
Hope this helps.
Brutus
Brutus, I climbed something in your memory this weekend -- it wasn't an FA but it was dirty enough it might as well have been. Thanks for all the inspiration.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Jun 23, 2009 - 02:41am PT
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"I've seen 5.11 divided into 11 different grades of increasing
difficulty, as follows:
5.11a 5.10d 5.11- 5.11b 5.11 5.11c 5.9 squeeze 5.11+
5.10 OW 5.12a 5.11d
Brutus"
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Jun 23, 2009 - 04:31pm PT
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Bump for The Man and to link my old trip report (with pictures) of my first climb with him.
http://www.yosemiteclimber.com/EmandBrutus.html
You couldn't help but underestimate Brutus when you met him because it would be unreasonable to expect anyone to be so thoughtful and kind, not to mention skilled and talented.
(and humble, so you just sort of started to realize that this guy is special)
We all have it in us but few take the steps to live large in the heart and in life both. Let's hope his memory inspires us to step up to the plate.
peace
Karl
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Jun 23, 2009 - 05:33pm PT
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That's the stuff!
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Jun 23, 2009 - 05:55pm PT
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Dingus Bro!
Love ya man.
I also love that "What would Brutus do?" thing...so true
I say we aspire to "Brutusize" in his memory, which could mean anything from cleaning up the base of a crag, cooking a great meal for friends and strangers, helping another realize their dreams, and serving others in a million imaginative, funny and outside the box ways. (not to mention climbing some burly stuff)
Peace
Karlee
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Jun 23, 2009 - 07:49pm PT
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did I already post this one?
Btw, I saw Ed's video last night. Great stuff. The laugh is there.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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For Brutus' fam... thought they might like to see this since I'm not sure they've checked all the forums Brutus was a part of...
Anyways, joking around on sph back in May, Brutus replied to me, the moderator,...
"I'm gonna report you to the moderator.
Sadly, working this weekend.
On the bright side, have a 22-mile hike scheduled with the brother this Thursday."
I'm feeling like getting my hike on too now that I mention it.
Get out and climb!
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mooch
Big Wall climber
The Immaculate Conception
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Not to rob thunder from Ammon's 'Rhelm Of The Flying Monkeys' video, this song reminds me of ol' Brutus.....something I find myself humming while on the sharp end:
I want to live where soul meets body,
And let the sun wrap its arms around me,
And bathe my skin in water cool and cleansing,
And feel, feel what it's like to be new,
'Cause in my head there's a Greyhound station,
Where I send my thoughts to far-off destinations.
So they may have a chance of finding a place where,
They're far more suited than here.
BAda-bada ba-bah
bada ba-ba bada ba-bah
bada ba-ba bada-ba
bada bada-bah
I cannot guess what we'll discover,
When we turn the dirt with our palms cupped like shovels,
But I know our filthy hands can wash one another's,
And not one speck will remain.
And I do believe it's true that there are roads left in both of our shoes, But if the silence takes you then I hope it takes me too.
So brown eyes I hold you near, 'cause you're the only song I want to hear
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere.
Where soul meets body.
Where soul meets body.
Where soul meets body.
And I do believe it's true that there are roads left in both of our shoes, But if the silence takes you then I hope it takes me too.
So brown eyes I hold you near, 'cause you're the only song I want to hear
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere.
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere.
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere.
~ 'Soul Meets Body' by Death Cab For Cutie
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14re3
Boulder climber
Twin Peaks ,CA
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Jul 28, 2009 - 10:33pm PT
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Thank you Mooch!
brutus lost some of his journals riding the greyhound!!
way back prior to computers!!!
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