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amfibius
Boulder climber
Reno
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I think the reason slabs are a lost form of climbing is because of the way you fall. When you come unglued on a slab you dont just free fall til the rope catches you... you tumble, get scraped up, slide down, wear out your shoes. It's the worst fall...of them all.
Just my 2 centz.
//Sul
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Apr 26, 2010 - 03:21pm PT
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Gary
climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Apr 26, 2010 - 04:34pm PT
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Christmas Tree Pass
In the earlier photos with folks bouldering and some boasting of sending "4 move V5+'s", made me recall a moment last summer when we had put up a 5.8 slab route (ok....it was a bit run out, 3 bolts in 100') in Shuteye. Up walks two visiting "5.12/V5 Pillow People" and hop on the route. The one dood gets 5 feet above the 1st bolt and starts in with the King Shakes. After several false starts, he manages to slowly edge/smear/swear/pout to the 2nd bolt then yells down, "Get me off this thing!"
Priceless.
Mooch, it's happened to me. I was once an apprentice slab master out at the Pass. Leading 5.9, bolts 35' apart with aplomb. (Etymology: French, literally, perpendicularity, from Middle French, from a plomb, literally, according to the plummet)
Real zen at work. You know you've made that kind of smear before, you just have to do it again. That tiny crystal? That things a bomber hold! Sooner or later a bolt will show up, right? It's the greatest feeling in the world to clip that anchor.
Last April I lowered off a 5.6. Just a handful of moves above a bolt and I was frozen. Real cheese grater rock. Two times last year I had a belayer lose control of the rope and have lost all confidence in the system. I only trust my own talents, and they ain't much.
Slab is a mindf*#k, for sure.
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Prezwoodz
climber
Anchorage
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Apr 26, 2010 - 04:49pm PT
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Slab is something to be found here but its only fun in the rain.
So for all you slab climbers what do you call this virgin area?
theres about 2000ft of this...
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Nate D
climber
San Francisco
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Apr 26, 2010 - 04:58pm PT
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I call that awesome.
Rock never ceases to amaze...
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nutjob
Trad climber
Berkeley, CA
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Apr 26, 2010 - 09:58pm PT
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One reason why slabs may not be popular... getting off easy looks like this:
It's a good thing it didn't happen right before this ledge!
And all in all we flailed on this effort at Coonyard Pinnacle, not even making it half way. But we both logged 40+ foot sliders with this catching us:
And reading this thread again has rekindled the urge.... maybe it'll pass if I think about something else like my mother or baseball.
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MisterE
Social climber
Across Town From Easy Street
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slabbage bump:
"Strong" Steve McClure on "The Very Big and The Very Small" - 5.14 slab
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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I find the gradeing of slab climbs to be tricky. Its such a subjective medium. It is also sometimes quite depressing to get up some henious runout by the skin of your teeth, arrive at the belay with your mind a complete melted mess only to have your partner run up the thing on top rope.
So much of the precieved dificulty has to do with the runout. Try the same move with a top rope and its suddenly so much easier. All that makes for more dificulty in gradeing INMOP.
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Yikes! I would Not be happy climbing hard over that stud! it looks like there is barely enough sticking out to catch the cable!
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PhilG
Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
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I have to add this classic shot to this slab lovers thread:
John Gosling on an early (and first English) ascent of the complete apron.
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semicontinuous
Gym climber
Sweden
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Diamondslab in Toyota, Japan. Mr Suzuki (not Hidetaka, a different legend) tried this line on and off but was not able to ascend it until Boreal released the Ninja. According to Mr Suzuki a few crystals he used on the first ascent are now gone. The last two moves to the gain the sloping top out are quite difficult I think.
This was almost as far as I got after a few days of punishing my already bad ankles.
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Matt M
Trad climber
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Recently relocated to South Texas and ventured out to E-Rock the other weekend. I was by my self so I dropped a rope down the backside. Uhhm, yeah, there was some bad ass climbing going on back there. Any E-Rockers (Hankster?) have pics and stories? I was impressed with the ground up difficulty I found. Holds it's own with Cali or Squamish I thought!
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Nov 20, 2010 - 09:44am PT
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Good bump. Nice to see all these great pics and stories again. There's something sort of romantic about long shimmering slab faces. It's a shame it is sort of becoming a lost art. Understandable these days since featured steep stuff is more athletic and fun. Gyms do not train climbers for slab technique at all.
Initially when I first started climbing I loved slab. My first lead climbs were at Devil's Punchbowl. It was more intuitive for me, didn't rely on upper body strength and I could climb much harder grades. I also had some "ignorance is bliss" syndrome. I didn't fully understand the increased injury potential as a beginner so I lacked the fear. These days my instinct for self-preservation overrules any remnant of bravery and foot injuries make it a bit tortuous, but I still like the slab.
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ELM !
climber
Near Boston
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I am loving the pictures here. I was introduced to slab climbing after dislocating my shoulder..."you don't use your hands" was very appealing. I have to say that I still death grip every cranny I can find though. These pics are from Whitehorse in NH..no "hard" routes pictured but hard enough for me.
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wildone
climber
Troy, MT
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I don't feel the need to define the line between thin face and steep slab, but have always wondered about cibola on medlicott. Felt like it really blurred that line well, which on reflection, I realized just now that I might enjoy routes on that cusp more than either pure slab or pure thin face routes! I'll call them "flab" routes for face/slab.
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Relic
Social climber
Vancouver, BC
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Oct 21, 2011 - 01:05am PT
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Bump for my re-awakening slab fetish.
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