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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Apr 17, 2006 - 10:55pm PT
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Hey Mike,
Not sure if we've met or not. I've been in Yosemite during every spring and fall wall season since 95, so maybe we have? I'm there this spring, so come by for a beer, eh?
Yes, there are a few unstable personalities here - I might even be one of them! I find wading through the choss and the trolls to be a waste of time, and have begged and pleaded for forum separations. Email Chris Mac and ask him. Your name will carry more weight than many.
Life is indeed sweet! I met Kat a few years ago when I gave her and her friend Randy a Dr. Piton Mini-Big Wall Tutorial in Yosemite. She's a real sweetie, and definitely seems to "get it" when it comes to wall climbing.
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bringmedeath
climber
la la land
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Apr 17, 2006 - 10:55pm PT
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"Do we know each other? "
HAHAHA, that is the question I say to myself to half the people who seem to know me.
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yo
climber
I'm so over it
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Apr 17, 2006 - 10:58pm PT
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Hi bringmedeath,
I met you one time in the meadow, don't know if you remember me. You looked like maybe you were sleeping and you had a little throw up on your shirt. Anyway, I think you're really cool.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Apr 17, 2006 - 11:01pm PT
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Was it Jake's red flower psychadelic shirt, the one he always wears??? Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!
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bringmedeath
climber
la la land
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Apr 17, 2006 - 11:45pm PT
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Yo, did that seriously happen? I have no idea who you are... even tho I think we spend like 4-5 days on the wall.
I need to find that red one! I haven't seen it in a while... hopefully it made it home with me. I killed my green one a few weeks ago. I woke up and it was ripped all the way to my arm pit! I am pissed and still have no idea how the hell I managed that one.
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ricardo
Gym climber
San Francisco, CA
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Apr 18, 2006 - 12:47pm PT
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Mike is a pretty tough guy .. i think he would be ok on the trip..
(After all .. very few people take a factor 2 whip, and the continue to solo to the summit!) .. (ohh .. there goes the cat out of the bag)
.. The trip is a good route to solo because nothing on it is really that hard that would make you bail .. if you just put your nose down to the grindstone and push through, you'll summit .. you dont need any special skills to make it through ..
... ahh .. uh well .. i bailed from the trip before going back and doing it .. its a pretty easy bail from the first 4 pitches.
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Ammon
Big Wall climber
El Cap
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Apr 18, 2006 - 01:59pm PT
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PTPP wrote: "The down-climbing fourth pitch is a particular pain
I discovered that the easiest way to deal with that pitch is a couple of pendi's. I'm not sure why nobody has thought of this before (maybe they have). Two big pendi's and one small one will do the trick quite nicely and way easier than trying to down climb it.
I think the Trip would be easiest on the right side (not the best, though) and Lurking Fear easiest on the left side. Eagle’s Way is a good suggestion as well.
If you want to step it up just a hair try the North America Wall. Soloing that, was one of the best climbing decisions I've ever made. It took me nine days but I learned a LOT up there.
Good luck.
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bringmedeath
climber
la la land
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Apr 18, 2006 - 02:21pm PT
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Wait 9 days... didn't you only have hammock? Sicky dude! Goin old school in style!
Trip may be cool, I didn't lead anything but up to the base of the 5th via other routes. There is lots of bolts up high but in cool location. Zodiac looks way cooler than the trip, but i've never done it.
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Apr 18, 2006 - 03:08pm PT
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I allways thought repeating the first El Cap route ever soloed would be a cool acomplishment. The Muir.
I enjoyed Zodiac. It was before the clean-up...but when I was up there it was pretty darn clean already, I only clipped a handfull of fixed stuff, other then the bolts.
The Trip would be good, but pretty damn intimedating at the bottom. I like walls that are hard to bail from, bailing sucks.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Apr 18, 2006 - 04:36pm PT
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Ammon,
If you penji two or three times on that down-traversing P4 of the Trip, how do you clean it?
Or is there fixed pro left behind?
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J-Dub
Trad climber
Durango, CO
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Apr 18, 2006 - 04:45pm PT
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rockermike -
I soloed Lurking Fear 3 years ago, for only my second El Cap route (Nose was the other), but with 2 easy Zion wall solos under my belt, plus a ton of other trade walls. The reason I picked LF over something like Zodiac was that for my first EC solo, I wanted to make sure I could get up something without freaking out over the steepness.
With respect to the folks with 10 or 20 El Cap routes behind them, I think it may be best to choose something not too big and intimidating; I was glad I did - I had a great time, with a very manageable stress level. Some people may be fine jumping right onto something really big or steep, I'm just not one of them.
With the experience from that route, though (and a few others - soloed Lunar Acstacy a couple weeks ago), I'd like now to solo another, bigger El Cap route - but I sure am glad I started on something attainable - maybe I'm just old school!
As for the route itself, I found the hauling on the upper pitches, and even the slabs, not to be as bad as people make it out to be. I did have to rap to clear the bag a few times, but doing a far-end haul would take care of that. So go for it!
Last thing - thanks again to Chris Mac for loaning me his ledge for that route!!
Good luck,
J-Dub
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Ammon
Big Wall climber
El Cap
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Apr 18, 2006 - 05:03pm PT
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Yep, fixed pro, the cleaner just lowers out. I learned this while Cedar and I were doing a speed ascent. Since I was belaying myself I just lowered down with the Gri, swung over and grabbed the tat of some fixed junk.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Apr 18, 2006 - 05:04pm PT
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Good post J-dub.
Although long, the reason I recommended the line I did was that 'easing into steepness' element (and super easy climbing).
On a early attempt I put up 4 of the pitchs of the Dorn solo. I used parts of the Shroom and Muir and while on the latter I was really jazzed to be walking in Robbins' footprints less than 8 years after the first EC solo. Having the whole face to myself for a few days (not uncommon back then) was way cool. Of course the virgin stuff was even cooler, a heady shot for a 21 year old.
Its a fine line between biting off more than you can chew and having the adventure of a lifetime. Be smart and you're far more likely to have a long one to remember it with.
Berg heil
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Apr 18, 2006 - 05:33pm PT
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In general I agree but there are exceptions and the line I described is one.
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ricardo
Gym climber
San Francisco, CA
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Apr 18, 2006 - 07:21pm PT
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rockermike ..
come back and tells us which route you chose, and how it went ..
if you want beta on the trip, let me know ..
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rockermike
Mountain climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 19, 2006 - 01:23am PT
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Wow, Thanks everyone for so much advice. A lot of experience on this site. I'm leaning toward LF at this point. I actually climb better (and higher hopefully) if escape route off is straight forward. Otherwise, (say on TT) I'd feel a kind of kink in my stomach the whole way up. Takes the fun out of it; but that's just me. The question outstanding still is whether to rap the route (and save on hauling the last pitches) or top out?
Oh yea, and Ricardo; I'm not promising anything yet. This is all still in the "thinking it through" stage. Maybe if the sun ever comes out to stay I'll actually get to the "how much more gear do I need" stage. and so on....
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Mike Libecki
climber
the moment of now
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Apr 19, 2006 - 01:41am PT
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I am unsure why am compelled to write something here. Maybe because of my personal relationship and love of soloing.
I recommend going to the valley, checking out the walls, El Cap and others and see what inspires you and invites you to have the honor of spending time alone with the beautiful formation. I think you will feel it. Sure, LF and TT are ok, but super traveled, mapped, etc. One of the best things about soloing is being alone, no other climbers, no one. Something obscure may call to you. To be alone the entire time is the main reason I have come to find myself obsessed. Just a thought. The forum is fun and all, and we all have fun typing away into our computer when we could be doing something more productive, but solo is special, and the talk about it is all relative, the personal relationship with soloing is magic. I think a route will call to you if you hang out and and communicate visually for a bit in the meadow or something. There is something amazing about the relationship between the big stone and a human. Oh yeah, just had a few home brews.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Apr 19, 2006 - 11:39am PT
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Good rant above! The more impassioned approach compared to my rational one.
A few years ago I topped out on Thanksgiving Ledge after a full-on holiday style ascent of Never Never Land. What I'm sayin' is, I had a ton of junk! The finish up the standard "Lurking Fear" [really West Buttress] finish was quite difficult because of all the crap. There is one C1 5.10 crack, and then you get onto endless 5.easy slabs. The slabs are something you can comfortably solo unroped, but the difficulty of getting you and your stuff up is exponentially proportional to the amount of crap you have with you. For us it was pretty epic, and we ended up sleeping partway up the slabs next to a huge Ponderosa.
If you are travelling fairly lightly, then it might not be a bad finish solo. Maybe you could just put your pig on your back and solo up?
As for me, I have promised myself that should I ever arrive on Thanksgiving Ledge again, I will not go over the top. Too much work! Randy and I are starting Dihedral Wall around May 19 [come by and say hi, eh?] and when we get to Thanksgiving, we'll dash to the summit without our pigs [via Dihedral Wall - imagine actually climbing the route!] then return to Thanksgiving Ledge and rappel Lurking Fear to the base.
Riding the pig down is, oh, I dunno - ten times easier than carrying it?
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J-Dub
Trad climber
Durango, CO
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Apr 20, 2006 - 11:25am PT
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OK, a few more thoughts. Mike is right that steeper is generally safer, but let's face it - when you're getting going in the wall game, routes that overhang most of the way are really intimidating, eat at your mind, and exacerbate all those little excuses to bail. Everything is magnified when you solo, yet, as Mike Libecki says, the experience is magic. So I'll put in another plug for doing a route that you can actually get up, according to your own sensibilities and fears.
If steep is gonna be too much of a mind thing, then do something less steep. LF is just one choice, and has the benefit of being pretty easy technically, so falls are unlikely, and long falls are a near impossibility unless you really bodge.
And again, I'm no hulk, and the slabs at the top of LF just weren't that bad to haul. They certainly weren't any fun, but hangups were minimal, and I was hauling from above, not far-end.
I can see that if you're PTPP or PR or someone and this is your 147th El Cap route, how you get spoiled and don't want to grovel so much. But at least for me, I was so psyched to have actually soloed El Cap that I'd have been glad to drag a bag of rocks up those slabs!!
Next time, though - you bet, I'll solo something steeper.
Whatever you do, rockermike, bring beer and a good book, fight the bailing urge (unless there's a real reason), and drink it in, baby, drink it in!!
J-Dub
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ricardo
Gym climber
San Francisco, CA
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Apr 20, 2006 - 11:44am PT
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mike ...
.. whatever you do, dont forget the radio .. tuning in to channel 2-10 every evening was alot of fun.
for me.. that knot feeling in my stomach is 1/2 the fun..
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