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ElCapPirate
Big Wall climber
California
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Jan 28, 2012 - 06:34pm PT
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I need to do like Mark. I repeated Zodiac once in the winter with Richie and Nanook, so I have one fewer routes than ascents. If I could do a two-fer like Mark, that would fix my "problem".
IMO, that's not really valid... but, this is all for fun anyway so whatever floats your boat, ha haa
I was also pretty psyched on the FOD ascent of Scorched Earth last year with Skiy Detray and David Allfrey. So, I guess that puts me at 58 routes and 71 ascents.
Cheers!
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Jan 28, 2012 - 07:11pm PT
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Oh yeah, I totally agree with you, Ammon. It's just one of those wrinkles in the whole counting routes and ascents thing that should remind us of, ultimately, how ridiculous and useless, except for personal satisfaction, climbing El Cap (or climbing anything for that matter) really is.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Jan 28, 2012 - 07:33pm PT
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Yup, all in good fun. We are indeed Conquistadors of the Useless.
58 routes, eh? That's where Steve Gerberding has been sitting a while, so you're at least tied with him for the most.
http://www.speedclimb.com/yosemite/compare.htm
I don't know if Steve got up West Buttress this fall with Cal, a route he told me he hadn't yet done, but was hoping to do. He would have run up there while I was on the wall elsewhere.
Anyone know if he did it? Hans - are you out there?
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Darnell
Big Wall climber
Sequoia Ntl. Pk.
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Jan 30, 2012 - 03:04pm PT
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19 ascents, 13 routes, 5 winter ascents
some notable ones I remember
Kaos- winter
Shortest straw- winter
Whole world, 2nd ascent (AKA Burl world)
A push on N.A. with a team of five!
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mctwisted
Trad climber
e.p.
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Feb 29, 2012 - 07:41pm PT
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off topic but heres a few shots of steve gerberding and dave bengsten on f.a. of kaos, taken from zm
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Dec 31, 2012 - 04:06pm PT
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Wow, I can't believe that it is not only the end of the year, but that this post has gone an entire two wall seasons without being bumped.
It's been a great year up on the Big Stone and we'd love to hear what everyone has been up to.
I climbed Grape Race this spring with Minnesota Mark Winey, always a solid partner. I wouldn't say Grape Race is a great route, but it is indeed a route and goes up a part of the wall I had never before climbed. The bivi ledge at 7 is pretty decent, but not stellar.
Mark gettin' 'er done on Grape Race
We had hoped to climb an obscure connection near the top of Grape Race to connect up and left with Triple Direct and finish on Muir Wall, but this was the moment when we got thumped pretty hard by a storm. Because of the location on the wall - right in the notch across the front of the Nose - the wind was horrific! For about an hour, Mark and I hung on for our lives, verily believing my portaledge fly would shred into pieces. Fortunately it stood the test. It was a scary moment, for sure, the strongest winds I've ever experienced on the wall.
The connection up and left looks totally desperate. Marked as mere A4 on the topo, it appears to be the Real Deal. There is serious ledge fall potential, and the topo calls for 10 beaks. When I was racking up on the ground days earlier, I didn't really think this through. You see, back in the day whenever this was climbed [Coiler can tell us more] they didn't have medium or big beaks, so the topo really calls for ten small beaks, and I only had two or three with me. So the storm gave us the "excuse" to "bail for the summit". So we swung over onto the Nose, which is the regular finish to Grape Race.
As I was hauling up to Eagle Ledge late that night [some BIG cams would have been very handy for the pitch below, which was hard for me without] Alex Honnold came across the King Swing, in complete static mode adhered to the smooth granite with gecko-like fingertips. Alex told me how he had just climbed Mt. Watkins in 2 hrs 20 min, and we shared a bar. "I think I'll give the Regular Route a shot in the morning," he said.
"Oh, that would be the Regular NorthWest Face of Half Dome?"
Alex coiled up his "rope" - which appeared little thicker than a shoelace - clipped it to the back of his harness, and then "scrambled" up to the base of the Great Roof in the dark. I couldn't watch.
The next morning, the speed climbing girls Quin and Jess from Colorado cruised by Eagle Ledge, and of course I made them coffee. From here, Mark and I cruised the Nose to the summit, allowing every party the opportunity to pass, whilst simultaneously offering coffee or beer, depending on whether it happened to be before or after Changeover Time. Almost everyone accepted. Since we had portaledges, we made sure to leave bivi ledges available to anyone who wanted to sleep there.
I believe we were passed by Quin and Jess three times, by Alex twice, and Hans probably passed us at least twice. Grape Race was my 46th El Cap route and 499th night on the side of the wall.
Enjoying a beer on the bridge with Jess and Quin - the Nose Speed Record Girls from Colorado
I think the highlight of my spring climbing season, besides a fantastic road trip across to the East Side, and then up into Southern Oregon and down through Sonoma, was the night we spent with Conrad [W]Anker at his family's restaurant at the top of the Old Priest Grade. Conrad poured us beers til the wee hours and regaled us with tales from Everest.
One Big Wall Parvenu and One Wanker
It was fun hanging out with the always-smiling Paul Souza, who took these great photos.
All the gang at Conrad's place
The next day, we finished up our outing with a visit to Rainbow Pool for some high diving and deep water soloing. This is a swimming hole along the highway a few minutes east of Groveland - I must have passed it scores of times, and never realized it was there. If you like cliff diving, this is the place. I eventually worked up the nerve to do full gainers and one-and-a-halfs from the highest point, which I was told is around 24 feet. Plenty scary!
This fall season, I finally got a chance to team up again with Jon Fox, who was my partner for Jolly Roger way back in 1999. I had been trying to recruit my "free climbing rope gun" for a while, and once I did, I had to sicc him on an appropriate route. We chose Genesis, a seldom-climbed Doug Englekirk route that goes up and right of Tribal Rite.
We chose to climb the New Dawn start, and enjoy a gentlemanly Big Wall Camping excursion.
Coffee is always the morning's first priority. With any luck, we can extend "morning" well past noon!
And for what it's worth, I thought the fourth pitch of New Dawn to be harder than anything on Grape Race.
Jon enjoying Lay Lady Ledge
We had a great time bivying on Lay Lady Ledge, roasting up some sausages on the campfire and enjoying a fine bottle of Cabernet. [Cab Sauv, not Franc] As per a couple of the comments below, the campfire was built in a pre-existing fireplace, and we burned only what we could find on the ledge, consisting mostly of dry grass, along with a few twigs, sticks and pine cones that had landed there.
OK, OK - so it's knott a bottle! However Dr. Piton emphatically recommends the Platypus Wine Container to all serious Big Wall Wine Snobs
Genesis starts out with scary-looking nailing out left under a roof, which fortunately wasn't as hard as it appeared.
Jon loved my triple-equalized peckers. "You should use that as your Facebook profile photo, dude!"
There is some full-on A4 expando nailing on the third pitch, which I managed to outwit using mostly clean placements. I thought the fifth pitch to be very hard towards the top, but perhaps it was because I was climbing at night and might have missed some key placements. I was happy to turn over the sharp end to Jon for the sixth pitch, which features some runout Doug Englekirk 5.11 free climbing, which Jon managed to summarily dispatch.
Jon the free climber: "Now how the heck do these hook thingies work again?!" Note the edge-on view of the diorite of the North America Wall behind him
On the seventh pitch, the first ascensionists made a mistake, completely bypassing a fabulous bivi ledge merely because it didn't line up with their [short] ropelengths. Steve Schneider had told us about it and suggested the idea, so we named it Schneiderado Ledge, that mythical ledge somewhere to north where the gold was rumoured to be found. We added two 5/16" buttonheads for hauling and two 1/4" buttonheads for two ledges. Voila!
Headlights from El Cap - can you spot the Meadows and the Bridge?
Above Schneiderado, Jon led through some sustained and runout free climbing.
Aw, shucks - it was only 5.11
After the free climbing, I took over for the "thin A4" which didn't seem as hard to me as the two pitches below. Or maybe I was warmed up by this point? My only fall on the route took place on this pitch when the swage on one of Silver's home-made rivet hangers failed, sending me harmlessly but terrifyingly into space, only one move from the anchor bolts! Silver owes me some beers for this one.
Moonrise behind Half Dome - note alpenglow still on the NW Face
The Golden Corner provided more sustained nailing, with some tricky moves past a rather suspect looking block apparently held to the wall by little more than contact cement. There's some good clean fall potential on this pitch if you blow it.
Looking up the Golden Corner - heading for the New Dawn Roof up and right
Jon took us onto New Dawn with the final diagonal nailing pitch. I would definitely recommend Genesis as having some of the finest nailing on the Captain, and it is certain to keep your attention. But if you are retired from free climbing like me, or are simply lacking in gonads kinda like me sometimes, be sure to bring your Free Climbing Rope Gun! Jon was a great partner and I would enjoy climbing with him again anytime. Genesis was my 47th El Cap route, and we were on the wall for a casual two weeks.
Jon enjoys the alluring bouquet of a fine Petite Sirah, served from only the finest of Dr. Piton Big Wall Stemware. His smile says it all!
I next teamed up with Cory and Steve, hoping to climb The Real Nose aka The Competitive Edge. Steve had already fixed a few pitches and emailed me to join him. Unfotunately Steve and Cory were under some time constraints, and it became apparent that we would not be able to finish this long, tough and fearsome route in the available time. Accordingly, we switched to Lost World, a route Steve knew that I hadn't yet climbed either.
Now Lost World was fun! It was fun not to be scared! It was fun to climb A3 that wasn't really very hard! It was fun to hang out with Steve and Heather and Cory and just enjoy the sights! I even wrote a song. About a mouse that Cory found. Well, a dead mouse, actually. His name is Morty. Morty the Dead Mouse. If you give me a beer, I'll sing my song for you. And if you give me two beers, I'll stop.
Cory down low on Lost World - superb rock over here on the far west side
We fixed and hauled to the top of 6 I believe it was, with various people climbing various pitches depending on who happened to be around.
Cory cleaning high on Lost World
If you recall from last spring, my friend David Blattel and I got stormed off of Lost World after seven continuous days of rain and snow. This year, we got a bit of bad weather too. But how can you complain with views like these?
A brief clearing in the storm clouds reveals El Cap Meadow
Steve and Heather hunkered down in their ledge, as did I.
Steve and Heather peeking out from under their fly
Meanwhile, Cory was completely oblivious to the fact that it was raining! He was ensconced under the Triangle Roof, and despite having no rain fly for his ledge, he was laughin'.
Cory's bivi underneath the Triangle Roof. "Are you kidding me? Did it really rain last night?!"
Steve and Cory fixed a few pitches above our highest camp, including the delightfully named Anus pitch, to put us in good position for the summit. Steve likes to "fix and blast" and this is exactly what we did. Unaccustomed though I am to speed climbing, running halfway up Lurking Fear in a day seemed like a good idea to me!
The next morning, we blasted for the summit, leaving our portaledge camps in place. At the top of pitch 10 there is a fabulous bivi ledge which we didn't actually use.
Steve and Cory on the ledge at the top of pitch 10
As dedicated Aid Man, I led The Grand Traverse, which meant that I had to get up early - ouch. I had always fancied the Grand Traverse to be clipping fixed pins below a roof, but in fact you are climbing along a horizontal series of solution pockets - kind of like at the top of Son of Heart where you work right to join Sunkist - although the pockets on Lost World are much smaller.
Clean aid on the Grand Traverse
Once we joined Lurking Fear, Cory took off on the sharp end, and I don't think I saw anything more than the soles of his feet until we reached Thanksgiving Ledge a few hours later. One very cool thing about this part of the wall is the amazing echo you get when you shout towards the big wall to the left. The echo comes back perfectly clear, but with a time delay of around three seconds.
Above Thanksgiving Ledge, Steve fired off the final pitch, free climbing it quickly.
Steve gunning for the summit!
We climbed the final slabby pitch or two, and considered ourselves having reached the summit where a normal party would unrope. I hope it counts as legit, since we didn't actually struggle up the rest of the 3rd and 4th class choss and manzanita bash.
Lost World Summit Team - Pete, Cory, Steve and Heather
We followed the rap route down Lurking Fear as the sun set. Since I had rapped this route a number of times in the past, I was tasked with setting up the raps and arranging the ropes. We used the technique described in the Petzl catalogue where you join the ropes together, not just with a knot, but also using a butterfly and a locker. This allows you to rappel on a single strand, and then pull down the other side. Steve was amazed at how perfectly all the pulldowns occured. I was merely relieved. Rapping Lurking Fear is not too difficult if you know what you're doing, but there is always potential to blow it. Fortunately, everything worked out well for us.
There is one particularly sporting swing to the right to return to our portaledge camps on Lost World, and Steve managed to lead this perfectly in the dark. As Last Man Down, I didn't have such an easy time following, however!
We rapped to the ground the next day to complete our ascent, and we had everything humped to the car by 6pm, which was knott bad at all.
At the base the afternoon we "landed", we met up with E. and Batgirl aka Kate who were starting up the wall, along with Steve Gerberding who was there to start his solo of West Buttress, which I think was his 59th route. Lost World was Steve Schneider's 40th El Cap route, and it was my 48th. Not counting base and summit bivis, I've spent 519 nights camping on the side of El Cap. I'm not sure of Kate's route count, but I am certain that she has led more hard pitches on El Cap than any other woman. With E. now at 55 or so El Cap routes, it was a real Who's Who that afternoon of El Cap Wall Rats, stumbling around the base drinking beers, packing pigs, and generally talking sh|t.
The only one not there, who was conspicuous in his absence due to the lack of "Yarrrrr!" shouts echoing off of the wall, was our own El Cap Pirate Ammon McNeely, our fearless leader with something like 61 different El Cap routes climbed, and who had decided to sit out the fall big wall climbing season after making the X-ray of his knee look like a discarded roll of barbed wire pulled off of a World War I battlefield.
With any luck, I'll get my 50th route this spring, and try to catch up with Steve, Ammon and Erik. Good luck, cuz all of those guys are "moving targets"!
Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!!! See yous on the Bridge next spring for beers, eh?
Cheers,
PtP Pete aka the diabolical Dr. Piton
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Pete,
That night you we getting beat up on Grape Race by the wind, I was over on Iron Hawk and it was totally casual! The fly flapped around a bit for about 10 minutes and that was the end of it.
Last fall, while Cheyne and I were spending a casual night under the fly on Native Son, the two Mikes were getting killed on the Shield! It was taking Mike Tupper's ledge out away from the wall and spinning him 180 degrees multiple times!
Wild what being on a different part of the cliff makes.
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Gagner
climber
Boulder
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WOOT!! Nice TR Pete - hope to see you at the bridge this spring...
HNY!!
Paul
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ag.Fox
Trad climber
Reno, NV
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Hey Pete!
Thanks for changing your shorts before the Golden Corner...it made looking up to get that shot most excellent. It had been 10 years since my last trip up the Captain and what a trip it was - full value gentleman's ascent, my 20th. I guess I could put together a full photo essay of the Genesis ascent, since I've got all the pics. Here's to our next El Cap adventure - Cheers!
Fox
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Godfathur
Trad climber
Detroit, MI
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Great stuff, Pete! It's been a real pleasure hanging out with you here and there since we met in the Spring. Keep and rocking, and we'll have to have a trip up El Cap sometime soon.
-Stefano
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aka Larry
Trad climber
Topanga, CA
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Pete, Loved your post. Sounds like you had a great summer! Glad to hear you made it up Lost World. Rain, snow and hail, it was a blast being on the LW with you then. Looking forward to getting back up this summer! DB
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tinker b
climber
the commonwealth
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hey pete great pictures. one question, what are you burning in your campfire on lay lady ledge? and was that necessary? you are shirtless, so obviously it was not for safety. from the picture it looks like it would have been scarring the rock. it just does not seem to follow a leave no trace ethic we all should have on the big stone. alright carry on.
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Norwegian
Trad climber
Placerville, California
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christ, pete!
bag tosser and now moses?
shame on you!
bitchen trip report.
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Leggs
Sport climber
Home away from Home
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bump
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Patrick Spoutz
Trad climber
Livonia, MI
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Wow Pete! What fine reporting.
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Moloch
Trad climber
Ontario
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Excellent TR Pete! Hopefully we can get some aiding done back in Ontario this winter :).
-Flying Dutchman
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shipoopoi
Big Wall climber
oakland
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pete, that´s a great trip report. heather and i had a blast with you on lost world. yeah, we´ll meet you for beers on the bridge this spring. ciao, steve
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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What Dee Ee said, that you're not a "real" climber till you climb El Cap. That was certainly the mindset for us So Cal climbers back in the 1970s. Once you climbed the Big Stone, it was like being "made" in the mob. You were legit. You'd gone "on high" and kept the lid on long enough to top out. Most of your life would fade away but never that first lap up The Captain.
Can I get a wittness . . .
JL
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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The Big Stone was the highlight of my life. Okay, I can die happy.
I can't imagine what it must feel like to have climbed it more than once.
My hat is off to you all.
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