Wayne Merry Appreciation Thread

We knew the wall was assailable. The question was - was it climbable. Several years before, Gary Hemming and I had looked carefully at the route, wondering if we could lower supplies from the top to ledges along the way. We also examined Half Dome, plotting to climb out horizontally from the east side to stash supplies for a frontal assault. Needless to say we never got to it, and the nearest I came to it was loaning Joe Fitschen my Kletterschuhe when he arrived for the first ascent without any climbing shoes. It seemed like expedition tactics were all that would work on those big walls at the time. Summer of ‘57 I remember looking through binoculars at El Cap with Harding and Powell, and insisting that the Salathé wall was a classier route.

Dolt Tower
Called Dolt Tower because Bill “Dolt” Feuerer was prusiking downward from Dolt Tower to reroute some fixed ropes when he got his beard stuck in a prusik knot. Earlier on, bill earned the nickname “Dolt” when he frantically clipped his aider to a piece. He stood and breathed a sigh of relief - which instantly became a scream as he realized the sling he had his foot in was the wrong one, clipped only to his waist.

El Cap Tower
On El Cap Tower a bushy tailed wood rat ate through Warren Harding's sleeping bag in several places as well as a plasticized tarp. We were never free of loose down and feathers from that point on. Thank God they didn’t have an appetite for the fixed nylon ropes.

Camp IV
The closest call on the route came for me on Camp IV. I rested a haulbag on the ledge not clipped in to anything - and carefully stacked the haul line beside it. I underestimated how much the pitch traversed and when I lowered myself out to start prusiking the fixed rope the line started zipping off the ledge. I waited for the line to eventually come tight on the haulbag and jerk it off the ledge. The line came tight and the bag shifted but thankfully stayed put on the ledge. It would have fallen a full rope length and snapped tight on my waist. It was a 50lb haul bag and a coil or two of rope. I was struggling with the knot where the haul bag was tied into my waist, my eyes like targets, knowing there was no way I was going to get it undone in time. I knew I was a dead man. I was very introspective the rest of the day.

Between Camp IV and Camp V
We got pretty fast at prusiking. It eventually only took 10-15 minutes to prusik a 150 feet of rope. However, that was unloaded. It depended on the load being carried. We didn't haul the loads up on ropes, but carried them attached to the waist. They were up to 50 pounds.

Incidentally, the climbing rope was tied to us with a single bowline around the waist. Swamis came later. But we rigged up some pretty elaborate prusiking outfits, which were actually quite comfortable. The rappel technique of the time makes my hair stand on end now, and I still have a white scar on my back I got rappelling from Camp V to Camp IV on a single strand of slick new rope. I'm not sure, but I think we originated the prusik safety for rappelling. At least it seemed like our idea at the time.