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Trad climber
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Feb 12, 2012 - 11:25am PT
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I'm shitting my pants thinking that I used to solo that three days a week. I dont think I could aid that now.
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TradEddie
Trad climber
Philadelphia, PA
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Feb 12, 2012 - 11:33am PT
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It's fascinating to me how granite climbers find that move so hard. As a mediocre gunks regular, my thoughts on reaching the mantle on Nutcracker was 'Thank Goodness, a handhold!'. Being inexperienced in face and crack climbing, that move was the first time I'd been comfortable in 4 pitches.
Of course it works the other way around too, west coast climbers come to the gunks and get freaked out by a 5.5 roof, but cruise the 5.9 cracks.
TE
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Roxy
Trad climber
CA Central Coast
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Feb 12, 2012 - 11:43am PT
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sweet pictures Ed!
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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Feb 12, 2012 - 12:15pm PT
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Never understood why everyone made such a big deal out of that move. I'm hands-down the worst mantler (manteler?) in the history of climbing and I thought it was pretty trivial. And I recall placing a cam at the bottom of that corner below. Sure, you don't want to fall, but if that's a prerequisite, then we might as well get rid of gear climbing all together. Heck, look at Ed's sequence in the OP... the leader pulls out a high step instead of a mantle at the top.
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
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Feb 12, 2012 - 12:29pm PT
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Werner, Thanks for the answer. I was trolling for what you would say. ;-)
Mantel - A ledge like above a fireplace.
Mantle - A covering like cloak or the mushy part of the earth that surrounds the core.
Yeah, Ed's leader just high-steps the thing. No mantling involved. That's bold.
I placed a tri-cam about 8ft before the corner to avoid rope drag. It offered no protection for dropping to the slab if the mantel move failed. Spicy!
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Feb 12, 2012 - 12:32pm PT
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I always found the little shoulder high roof on the fourth pitch to be more of a challenge - but then its got pro at waist high so I guess it gets a discount for that.
Then there is that slippery spot turning the corner on the top of the first pitch, I've had my foot slip out there more then once giving my heart a start - though I've never fallen. All in all four great pitches!
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Feb 12, 2012 - 12:35pm PT
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If you panic it's way harder than 5.8. If you realize it's only 5.8 and look around, it's pretty easy. SHHHHH......don't give away the secret!
It will lose it's mystique and us Gumbies will no longer have anything to brag about!
Ed, please take down your video. (see my point above) (just kidding)
Seriously: it is a serious move and I've seen a broken ankle fall on it (from the ground). I led it on my first try when I was just becoming a more or less competent 5.8 climber. Scared the schuss outta me until my experienced partner gave me Spider's advice. I still remember being VERY relieved when I finally got my C.O.G. over the bulge.
EDIT: placing a cam at the bottom of that corner below. Yeah, I think we all do that. Probably the most useless placement in all of climbing. (again, just kidding).
Noobs: don't take any of my post as legitimate beta.
The team I saw break an ankle refused our offers of help and did a competent job of self rescue.
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Phantom X
Trad climber
Honeycomb Hideout
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Feb 12, 2012 - 12:54pm PT
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Ed, I have a question and would like a straight answer. Was this footage shot with a beardcam?
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Feb 12, 2012 - 01:11pm PT
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Soloed nutcracker a bunch of times. Just tricky enough that sometimes it became a sort of insecure head game.
I got kinda shakey mid-way through the mantle once and saw a bunch of people at the base watching me like a nascar race.
One time was doing the 5.9 finger start and there was a move 40 feet up that seemed too insecure and committing (one of the last tiny finger moves that you can also lieback) I didn't feel safe so I started trying to downclimb but that felt just as bad, so I went back up and sent it.
I think I'm done soloing that climb. Middle Age might have finally got me
Peace
Karl
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raymond phule
climber
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Feb 12, 2012 - 01:11pm PT
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I don't really understand the problem with that section. I remember a dihedral with maybe one or two well protected moves that might not be completely straightforward followed by a huge hand hold that made it very easy to make the move onto the ledge. I wouldn't even call it a mantle.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 12, 2012 - 01:16pm PT
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Ed, I have a question and would like a straight answer. Was this footage shot with a beardcam?
>>>---------------------------------------------------------------------------> No
[straight as an arrow]
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Feb 12, 2012 - 01:27pm PT
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Molly Higgins on the infamous mantel, 1974:
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Feb 12, 2012 - 01:29pm PT
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I led that mantle pitch my first time up the route, with Watusi and Off White, in July 1976. No recollection of it being anything out-of-the-ordinary; I think our guide said it was 5.7 and the pro (1st generation Chouinard stoppers) seemed fine.
Of course, we'd been weaned on a steady diet of slippery, brutal, very physical Pink Boulder mantles at Mission Gorge, so that may have had something to do with it. Great route!
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Feb 12, 2012 - 01:40pm PT
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it's all in the footwork
As is true for so much of climbing.
Peter
great Molly shot but the angle seriously mis-represents the steepness. (just in case anyone is looking for beta from this thread)
For reference check out the #8 hex dangling from her rack.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 12, 2012 - 01:43pm PT
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in 1976, bvb, you were also trained in the art of leading with much less pro than the current generation of climbers believes necessary, so running it out into the "don't fall" territory was nothing new to you...
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WBraun
climber
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Feb 12, 2012 - 01:49pm PT
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We haven't had any rescues due to that mantel in years now.
The last rescue on the Nutcracker as I recall was the fatality from the accidental unclipping at the belay a few years ago.
There's high traffic on the Nutcracker so there seems to be no big problem with that mantel.
Or is there ..... ?
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the goat
climber
north central WA
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Feb 12, 2012 - 02:01pm PT
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Is it mantle or mantleshelf? Perhaps a difficult "table-ing" move is more apropos. No matter. My wife's first climb ever in the Fall of 87 and she made it look fairly easy after mastering putting on a harness and learning how to belay 15 minutes prior.
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Bruce Morris
Social climber
Belmont, California
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Feb 12, 2012 - 02:04pm PT
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"Is it mantle or mantleshelf?"
Neither: mantel/mantel shelf
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wstmrnclmr
Trad climber
Bolinas, CA
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Feb 12, 2012 - 03:23pm PT
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Let me be the first to NOT tell you how great I climbed the nutcracker....And I know first hand that Mikey D never flails...
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Truthdweller
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Feb 12, 2012 - 04:08pm PT
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For me, it was September 1982 (I was twenty) when I did The Nut Cracker. Jeff (salad), I too experienced a soloist when I was below the bulge with the hand-crack in it. I had never met John Bachar but my first thought was that it was him, in yellow shorts (no shirt), chalk bag, and Fires. I heard something moving behind me and turned to see this guy asking, "do you mind if I pass?" I watched him turn the mantle as well...impressive. A #7 Chouinard stopper sticks out in my memory below the mantle, and having to back off after one attempt, then succeeding on my second try by high stepping to the right as well. What a cool memory
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