WOEML and the Compressor route

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Peter Haan

Trad climber

San Francisco, CA

Jan 27, 2011 - 04:22pm PT

Some thoughts

(1) We were all aware of the Maestri castrophe. It was hardly a remote controversy. We just weren’t down there climbing yet en masse. But Maestri was down there; he was there as early as 1959 for his “first ascent” (maybe earlier) and then there was a bunch of attempts by others from then on and even prior. This calamitous tale actually continued until 1970, so it was very well known. And our problem back in the Valley was taking aid climbing to not only blanker walls but to much higher levels of difficulty--- we needed some changes to the game plan and we needed even more trick equipment. Unbeknownst to us, all of that was soon to come.

(2) I think we are overlooking how poorly Warren was fairing medically on the WOEML. We will hear a bunch more on this from Park Rat who is now getting together with Beryl Knauth to carry PR’s book project forward. Revealed in this work will be much more detail, she tells me, about Warren’s health. His severe alcoholism, his accidents---all made for a pretty tough time. I have to wonder if he was also a Type II diabetic by this point and maybe had hypertension too; we shall see. Apparently he was experiencing a lot of pain with massive hand and leg swelling after the WOEML, according to Beryl and Park Rat.

(3) I think we are also forgetting how hideous the weather was off and on for them and how late in the year it was. It was often icing up on top and snowing off and on, but worse also raining plenty. They were in those lame-ass bat tents. That we semi-launched a rescue indicates what the rest of us thought about the conditions the party was experiencing.

(4) As Donini states, Warren never lied about factual aspects of his accomlishments though obviously Maestri has over and over since Jesus lost his sandal straps.

(5) Roger Breedlove really cogently points out that after the WOEML, Warren began a kind of kooky self-destructive angry pattern for the remaining few Big Uglies he did.

(6) They did have alcohol on the climb; Warren brings it up several times in the messages. Whoever questioned that upthread has got to be on crack.

(7) At this point in big wall climbing, there had been quite a few big wall ascents abroad and even in the near-arctic. This is well-documented. The call of YC to take to the high mountains with our newly developed skills was taken seriously and not just by Royal.

There was a huge question though how these ascents would play out vis a vis the game plan that was then in force and the hardware techniques we had. It seemed extraordinarily marginal--- beyond us actually. But incrementally, all those far-off beauties have seen climbers now because such changes took place as to make ascents sort of reasonable. As we looked into the future without too much of a clue (since so much was yet to come that was not even hinted at in 1970) we were worried that oceans of bolts would be how the existing climbing conjecture would be carried out. One hundred foot long hookfests weren’t done then. Beaks hadn't happened. All the offset-designed nuts were decades ahead. A5 leads right above blocky obstructions weren’t even conceptualized. Super delicate flakes weren’t nailable since we didn’t have cam hooks, cams and similar. Portaledges did not exist nor realistic flies for them. Climbs like Trango, Uli Biaho just were not in fact feasible yet unless---we thought--- people just started drilling and even then we couldn’t survive the elements. So when the WOEML happened, there was plenty of us already worrying tremendously about our big wall future and hoping to protect what we thought were essential meanings and virtues to that coming wave of even more extreme climbing. It turned out that Warren was not a threat. At worst he was sort of ham-handed but a true character and frankly in worsening condition physically, right before our eyes until we did in fact lose him.

What similarities exist between the Compressor Route and Warren’s WOEML are that these two men failed to represent their own best interests and feelings, using approaches that were in a sense self-defeating and embarassing for them should someone hold their feet to the fire---as many did and will again. Both of them could have done quite a bit better while in the Wild and they both knew it. It brings to mind the old tale of the "Emperor has no clothes".

elcap-pics

Big Wall climber

Crestline CA

Jan 27, 2011 - 04:44pm PT

Not having done the routes mentioned but having seen them done a lot of times .... I think the best way to have done the WOEML would have been via Lay Lady Ledge then the three pitches of Reticent to reach the dihedral leading to Wino tower etc. Like Clint said the traverse from Mescalito was a big stretch but I feel the climbing from ECT over to the dihedral is no beauty itself. As for some rivets next to useable cracks.... this has to be viewed in the light of 27days on the wall with 12 days provisions and many days in storms. And RR did add a bolt to the Boot Flake pitch on the second ascent of the Nose where Harding found one unnecessary! So what does all this mean? Good question! Maybe just that people are different and willing to do different things than others would do. My opinion here is probably less than 2 cents worth.

Edit.. PH your above post came as I was posting this... good thoughts and analysis.

JLP

Social climber

The internet

Jan 27, 2011 - 05:31pm PT

3000 ft of granite is a long, loooong ways. General comments about what may or may not have happened up there just don't paint any sort of detailed picture for me. I would have to see this thing first hand. I have trust in both Werner's and Royal's comments - however I'm still drawing a blank on what I would expect to see, much less if I should be appalled by it.

WBraun

climber

Jan 27, 2011 - 07:25pm PT

JLP

You wouldn't be appalled by anything up there, I wasn't. People on the internet love drama and controversy.

It's just a fuking rock climb.

Everyone wants to save the world, but can't even save themselves first.

Kind-of stupid.

How can one save the world when one can't even save themselves.

Too much nihilistic consciousness in the modern world ....

tonesfrommars

Trad climber

California

Jan 27, 2011 - 07:41pm PT

great discussion. hooraay for the taco.
carry on

Roger Breedlove

climber

Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Jan 27, 2011 - 08:14pm PT

I have been mulling over why we, collectively, find Warren's life so fascinating. Personally, I have gone back through the climbs from 1950 through the 70s looking for the patterns of Warren's climbs as compared to the pattern of the rest of the Valley community, searching for the divergences that led to his downfall.

Harding's climbs compared: what when wrong?

He did it to himself, but somehow the combination of the desire to get up good lines and the normal competition to be first drifter into willfully acting against the Valley community. I am always interested in a new set of facts that shed light on Warren. You would think I would get tired of it. I think it is for the same reason that great tragedies are so fascinating. We still read Homer’s The Iliad and the later Greek plays.

I saw the great 19th century Opera, Verdi’s La Traviata (Fallen Women) last weekend in a modern production (Decker's) at the Met in NY. There were funny bits and sexy bits and great singing, and a stunning telling of the story, but ultimately, if you believe the characters (I did), it is the tragedy of the girl, boy and his father that make the story.

You could tell the actual truth of Warren's life, everything in it, and it makes for a tragedy for the ages. No moralizing. No explanations. Just pure story. It would be a hit. Might be tough to stage, but NY multimedia productions don't seem to have any practical limits. I saw Lombardi and when they needed some real football action, they just showed film clips with one of the actors narrating. I am not a big football fan, but it was a great show. Batso might be a good title.

Park Rat

Social climber

CA, UT,CT,FL

Jan 27, 2011 - 09:14pm PT

Okay Roger I will have to answer this, as the unofficial voice of Harding.

My first thought is that never did a little man accomplish so much with so little.

What he may have lacked in talent, he made up with tenacity, incredible energy, and a will of iron.

I believe Warren's story is compelling on several levels. He was a loner by choice. He was a rebel, he followed his own path and refused to conform. He didn't mean to offend anyone,
he wanted to do his own thing, in his own way.

Warren did not have a safe mode, his whole life was lived at full speed. He won big, and sometimes lost big.

He lived hard, drank hard and loved a lot. No apologies, no regrets.

If that's not stuff of legend, I don't know what qualifies.

WBraun

climber

Jan 27, 2011 - 09:18pm PT

Warren was pioneer also.

and Park Rat's post does him full justice ....

Park Rat

Social climber

CA, UT,CT,FL

Jan 27, 2011 - 09:27pm PT

Thank you Warner,

A compliment from you makes my day.

I believe all of the early climbers were pioneers or as I have said before,
they were the barnstormers of their day.

Toker Villain

Big Wall climber

Toquerville, Utah

Jan 27, 2011 - 09:36pm PT

It wasn't about the holes it was about the days.

Before WOEML the longest anyone had been on a wall was 12 days and guess who THAT was.

As LTF said, it was about the experiential content of life on a wall.

It was the template to be applied to the greater ranges.

Roger Breedlove

climber

Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Jan 27, 2011 - 09:40pm PT

Susie, I think you are hampered by not knowing Warren's peers from the 50s and early 60s. You could take most of your post and tell a similar story for many of them: Salathe, Steck, Powell, Harding, Reed, Robbins, Chouinard, Pratt, Frost, Kamps, Roper, Kor, Herbert, Sacherer, Bridwell, Rowell...were all bigger than life. They all had different personalities, and some were more self-destructive than others (some not at all), but they had more in common than they had differences. Peas of a pod. They also all had different post-climbing lives.

If Warren had stopped climbing in the mid-1960s, after Watkins, and stayed more or less sober the rest of his life, his story would not be so different from that of his peers. This does not diminish Warren or his climbing one iota: his peers were stellar company.

What stands out about Warren is that he burned down his own house, so to speak.

'Pass the Pitons' Pete

Big Wall climber

like Ontario, Canada, eh?

Jan 27, 2011 - 09:58pm PT

Fabulous reading. Thanks so much you guys for sharing your firsthand historical knowledge.

But quit beating around the bush for cryin' out loud - both Don Lauria and Royal are active members here at McTopo. Why don't we ask them to answer the questions themselves? These questions being as to whether they were aware of the Compressor Route at the time of their second ascent of WOEML, and did they really find [m]any bolts next to perfect good A1 cracks, and if so why.

Anyone going to email them this link? Want me to do it?

Also, I think it is patently unfair to liken Harding and Maestri. But all accounts, Maestri was a liar and a buffoon. Harding, on the other hand, was an iconoclast - he did things the way he wanted to, and f*ck you if you didn't like that. "I don't give a rat's ass what Robbins or anyone else thinks...." [or something pretty close to that]

And for those of you who attended the Camp 4 ceremony in September, 1999 - do you remember who got the most applause, by far?!

Park Rat

Social climber

CA, UT,CT,FL

Jan 27, 2011 - 09:59pm PT

Roger I take your point. I did not know most of the climbers.

I did know Bridwell, who was a bigger than life character. In 1970 I might have said that Bridwell was the rebel, as I did not know that much about Harding. The Bird made Harding seem tame.

I'm not sure I agree with you about Harding's later years. In my view the fact he was disaster when it came to alcohol only adds pathos to his story. When you think of what he was able to accomplish with all of his drinking it is actually amazing.

While we would all like to rewrite some history the fact is he was an alcoholic for most of his life and that a major part of who he was.

Roger Breedlove

climber

Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Jan 27, 2011 - 10:14pm PT

Dingus, several of those characters I list could play the part of Cool Hand Luke, some probably better than others.

Susie, I am not sure that Warren's drinking in the 50s and 60s was much different than at least some of the others. Drinking was a big part of the climbing. So while it might be surprising that Warren could climb well while drinking so much, he certainly has never alone in that regard. I think most cut back as they aged. Warren didn't but neither did Chuck. As Warren's drinking progressed, his climbing sank.

I think it is interesting to note that later generations, with better training and less self-destructive behavior have maintained relatively high climbing standards into old age. Climbing seems so respectable nowadays.

I think Warren's climbing up until the mid-60s was a good as it gets. Those are great routes, and he was critical to Yosemite climbing. What he did after the mid-60s is fascinating, but it doesn't have anything to do with his stellar climbing and importance to our community.

Park Rat

Social climber

CA, UT,CT,FL

Jan 27, 2011 - 10:30pm PT

Okay Roger,

Stop already you are in danger of losing your title of nicest guy on super topo award, not to mention a real cutie.

Now try to argue with that. Chuckle

Roger Breedlove

climber

Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Jan 27, 2011 - 10:42pm PT

I grant you that, Dingus, Warren morphed into a true loser starting sometime in the late 60s. But I don't think it is beautiful and I don't have to like it.

Maybe the problem I have with the Beautiful Loser motif is that there are two Warrens, the stellar climber of the 50s and 60s whose climbs defined what I love and the Beautiful Loser who moved in after the mid-60s.

Edit:

So I walked into the Mountain Room Bar last fall with Rik, John, and Anders. We were waiting for a table and for Steve to show up. I was following our little group and notice a Blondie sitting under the fireplace hood waving to me. I kept moving toward the bar, but the Blondie hooked her finger into the air and motioned me over. I could tell there was some connection, and I know my forgetfulness well enough to not automatically assume that I am right.

She put out her hand, "Hello Roger."

I knew I was in trouble, my mind is racing.

"Do you know who I am?" she asked.

"No." was not only correct, but the only thing I could think to say.

"Parkrat, from Supertopo."

We had never met so I was relieved that I had not completely lost my marbles. But, how did she know me?

Even folks in my industry sometimes describe me to someone else as, "You know him, the tall guy with, you know (a wave of the hand), the hair."

Susie and her friend joined us for dinner. We had a good time. Nice to have met you, Susie.

Eric Beck

Sport climber

Bishop, California

Jan 27, 2011 - 10:46pm PT

It is the winter 70-71 and Jim Bridwell, Kim Schmitz and I, among others are wintering in Squaw Valley. Kim and Jim are talking about doing the 2nd ascent of WOEML and erasing it. I am one who strongly encourages this action. A vague memory is that RR got wind of this and decided that he should perform the erasure.

Norton

Social climber

the Wastelands

Jan 27, 2011 - 10:48pm PT

I remember some time back someone saying that physically Harding was really tough.

Something about him doing the entire John Muir trail in 4 1/2 days...

Susie, just great you are working on a book about him.

I am so looking forward to it.

A few years ago I was able to talk Roger Derryberry into giving me two
videos of Warren being interviewed.

Do you have these?

edit: one video was made by Roger called the WOEML and the other was Jane's interview