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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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Aug 14, 2012 - 02:39am PT
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^^^
Nice Bruce! Thats gold right there i tell ya! Where are those articles from?
"stretchers bouncing down slab alley "
Edit- duh, I see where it's from
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Fish Boy
Trad climber
Vancouver
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Aug 14, 2012 - 11:03am PT
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A mate and I were itching to do an aid route, something to do with not being very fit and wanting to go chill on the wall for a while. Our busy work schedules matched up last week, and off we went to Cowboys and Indians.
Chris thought he'd be rusty having not having aided for a long time, his two El Cap ascents didn't involve much...I normally go solo, and was looking forward to sharing the work.
The route was great, and was more involved than I thought it was going to be. It seems that putting a route up solo as Perry did on this can lead to some extraordinary long pitches with plenty of rope drag for people not soloing. The roof pitch was sick in terms of length, exposure and bloody rope drag!
It went mostly clean, probably a dozen placements were hammered, and down low there was lot's of heads. Many were skippable or placed within 30cms of each other which was disappointing. Heads are ugly. These were bomber, and made the crux pitch go very fast.
We finished the route at 2am on our second day after getting the bag stuck and having to rap back down after topping out. We drank about a liter of water each on the 2nd day, and had nothing left...only ate a cliff bar each too. We were drilled by the time we were done, and after a spliff we were out.
Totally cool route worth doing not just for the line but also for the variety of climbing. Be prepped for super reachy rivets, and take only a small iron rack. We had 3 blades, 3 arrows and 2 angels, plus a handful of beaks and it was perfect. It needed more cams than the new aid guide says, and we had fun being inventive with our anorexic rack!...and backcleaning a lot. Oh, cam hooks are mandatory!
-peace-
The start of the 2nd pitch
The fun begins
Chris on the scary A1+ hollow traverse. It was very generous of him to back clean too much....
The cool flake at the start of the 4th pitch. Not as straight forward as I was thinking, I fell past the belay when some gear ripped.
Punching out the roof.
A photo my mrs took from the river. She watched for hours...
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Paul Brennan
Trad climber
Ireland
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Aug 14, 2012 - 12:01pm PT
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Nice one guys! C & I is great isn't it? Those bolt and rivet ladders are a pain for shortarses though, definitely the crux for me. Did ye by any chance get down the ropes some idiot (....ahem) left on the rap route?
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Fish Boy
Trad climber
Vancouver
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Aug 14, 2012 - 12:34pm PT
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Hey Paul, no, we didn't get your ropes. We did the route without a topo so had no idea how to get off. We just kept walking around the fault way past Angels Crest and rapped on someone else's ropes! The rope you had going to the ground is gone, but the top two are still there. I'm going up there again to get some of my gear and on the way down I'll grab your ropes.
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thekidcormier
Gym climber
squamish, b.c.
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Aug 14, 2012 - 02:17pm PT
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Free ropes on the badge! That's sound sweet, mine we looking a bit ratty.
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Fish Boy
Trad climber
Vancouver
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Aug 14, 2012 - 06:31pm PT
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The ones we rapped on were totally shot at the bottom.
Paul's are good though!
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Oplopanax
Mountain climber
The Deep Woods
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Aug 14, 2012 - 06:46pm PT
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Hmmm I wonder when C&I, or any of the routes actually going through the roofs on the Badge, are gonna get freed. Probably not anytime soon.
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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Aug 14, 2012 - 07:58pm PT
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I feel like a few dudes who post on here ALMOST started talking about the one free route that goes up the badge awhile back. Wonder what happened to those guys......
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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Aug 14, 2012 - 09:07pm PT
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Really, sounds like an interesting periodical. Hopefully they'll be ready for a reminisce once work is outta the way :-)
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Oplopanax
Mountain climber
The Deep Woods
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Aug 15, 2012 - 12:11am PT
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GF couldn't you hire somebody like the Crap Crags scrub and trundle crew to give a retro buffup to Fortress? thus ensuring more future glories?
then again what if they renamed it. that wouldn't fly. it'd be astronomical mad englishmen all over again.
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Paul Brennan
Trad climber
Ireland
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Aug 15, 2012 - 01:45am PT
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Cheers Fish Boy, whoever you may be in real life! Chris has my number. I'll be back in Squamish/Vancouver in September (working in the bush in the Yukon at the moment). Give me a shout and I'll trade you beer for old rope. I got a bit lost on the descent too. Luckily, several teams raced up Angel's Crest and showed me where to go. One kind soul even gave me some smokes, as I had dropped my tobacco on the third day of my crawl up the badge. Things got a bit grim after that.
As it's a photo thread, heres some crappy phone camera shots of the slowest ascent of a 6 pitch route in history..
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4065953900575.155939.1634125566&type=1&l=2ecb4b4d0a
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Aug 15, 2012 - 03:44am PT
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BK: As for blowing up the Escape Route, like Manuel "I knows nuttink". If there is any truth to the story, it was the work of the next generation, the infamous Squamish Hardcore. I fully endorse the plan, but have always wondered if it was another Squish legend...... esp since it is related by Big Jim. Apocryphal or not, it's a great tale and a great idea.
There's still time!
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Chief
climber
The NW edge of The Hudson Bay
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Aug 15, 2012 - 04:09am PT
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Glad to hear you guys enjoyed Cowboys and Indians.
I referred to the horizontal flake on the third pitch as "The Scalping Party" and the cool expanding features at the start of the fourth as "The Flap Jacks". The beautiful upper corners are "Where the Buffalo Roam".
The quality of rock and position it's six pitches offer qualify it as "A Little Big Wall".
I liked it so much I went back and did it a second time with Cozzy in a single 12 hour push.
The name seemed obvious given there's a Sheriff's Badge on a sleeping Chief.
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Relic
Social climber
Vancouver, BC
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Aug 15, 2012 - 09:45am PT
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Good work Fish Boy!
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Paul Brennan
Trad climber
Ireland
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Aug 15, 2012 - 12:35pm PT
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I only used one fixed head at the end of the second pitch. All of the stuff in the middle could be gotten around by A1 beaks, either hand placed or given a couple of love taps. Beaks are magic. (I don't like fixed heads after snapping two and taking a fair lob on Cannabis Wall) The hooking bit at the end is a bit heads up though.
I didn't think the 3rd pitch traverse was too bad in terms of scaryness while on it. Ended up running out of cams while 2/3 the way across at around 10.30pm, lowered down and tried to penji over to the next corner in the dark. It didn't work. So I went back to the ledge then re-aided the traverse the next day and back-cleaned some green camalot size pieces to get across the end. Lots of fun. Thought it was definitely the "logistical crux" of the route. Save a couple of green camalots for the end and you'll save yourself some grief.
I remember looking down at the top of the flake from the belay at the start of the 4th and being able to see clear through behind it. Then it felt a bit scary....
The 4th pitch was magic. The flake at the start was lovely and pulling through that roof was mega.
Had a bit of trouble passing a tree on the 5th, and the 6th went by in a blur as I'd dropped my smokes and kinda wanted off :-)
In terms of rack, I brought a bunch of iron but didn't end up using very many KBs or Angles. Stubby LA's and beaks (I had 8 and used them all) were the business. I didn't end up using camhooks at all, but different strokes for different folks.
Awesome route Chief, thanks. One of the coolest bits of climbing I've done so far. Quick question though, how tall are you? I often found myself cursing the 8ft tall giant with a core of steel who placed those rivets! :-) Excellent effort, I'm mystified as how you managed to get some of those things in!
Cheers
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Fish Boy
Trad climber
Vancouver
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Aug 15, 2012 - 01:25pm PT
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Hey Perry, thanks for the rad route!
I've got a question for you....did you drill those bat hooks to negotiate a small scoop with a little tree coming out of it? They were very close together and their existence seemed out of tune with the rest of the route. It seems that if you drilled a hole, you filled it. Just wondering.
I loved the super sneaky move on the mini roof before the main one, I was about to bail when my partner yelled out to blindy wave a blade around, and sure enough it found a home.
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Chief
climber
The NW edge of The Hudson Bay
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Aug 15, 2012 - 04:19pm PT
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Paul and Fishboy
Re the "Scalping Party" flake, I never thought it was hard, just cool and cam consuming. Would definitely go free.
Re reaches on ladders, I'm 6'2" and used a trick Sutton stole from Robbins for drilling. If you get your daisy length right you can use the tension to top step comfortably for overhead drilling and maximize distance between bolts. Robbins apparently did this on The Prow.
Re bat hook holes.
I'm wondering about the whereabouts of the "small scoop" you're referring to. Top of the second had some cool hooking on a dyke a ways above decent gear. I intentionally avoided bat hooking on this route and used stainless 1/4" Hiltis on the ladders.
One of two possibilities is someone else added them or they're holes left where Matt apparently chopped a few bolts on the second ascent because in his words "I always thought of it as my route". Go figure.
Given how close together they are, it sounds like they were added later. Too bad.
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Fish Boy
Trad climber
Vancouver
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Aug 15, 2012 - 08:36pm PT
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I thought you may have done that with your daisy to drill the bolts. I'm the same height as you and fified a couple of times and hit the 2nd steps to get the reach, but found it too tiring and just linked nuts.
The small scoop is on the 2nd pitch. There were two holes where the route moves left a little before joining up with a flake. At the start of the flake was another 1 or 2 holes (I forget). I used none, they are not needed and after finishing the route they seemed so out of character with the style it seems you put it up in that I doubted they were yours.
You created a cool route dude, and with those pitch length I'd suggest it's better suited to soloing.
Any info on the line you abandoned further right on the badge that ends at the roof?
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Paul Brennan
Trad climber
Ireland
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Aug 15, 2012 - 08:40pm PT
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I remember that wee roof move! I'm a bit of a short arse, so got past it by clipping a biner with a sling through the funking hole in my hammer, then using the hammer as a mini cheat stick. One of the more unique maneuvers I've done on an aid route. Remember wishing I'd had my camera with me at the time, it was a funny sight. Great fun. Don't remember any bat holes on the second. But along with being a bit short, I'm also a bit blind so its not surprising that I may have missed them. Unnecessary in any case. Superb route Mr Beckham.
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 16, 2012 - 12:20am PT
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Nice work indeed Nick! I was up the Badge myself last week and looking over there from the terrace was just as impressive as the first time I was up there.
I missed this the first time around because it got buried by ypls talk, so I thought I would repost it for anyone else who might have missed this little Harry Hot Dog edit. I really appreciate the effort Harry, and thanks for the email :)
[Click to View YouTube Video]
I also really enjoyed Dru's Guy Edwards tales, they were quite humorous indeed!
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