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MisterE
Trad climber
My Inner Nut
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Nov 12, 2008 - 01:23am PT
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Ed - bumpmaster General!
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Nov 12, 2008 - 10:07am PT
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Somehow I missed this story before -- glad Ed brought it back. First rate climbing and reading.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Nov 12, 2008 - 10:47am PT
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Good story, gives me a chance to talk about the first ascent, not that it matters much after all these years. When I got to the Valley that spring, TM told me he had discovered a great new line. He said that he had been looking at it with binoculars and had the gear figured out. I'll never forget the look on his face when we got to the bottom of the route- pitch after pitch of wide cracks loomed above as he fished out the knifeblades and other, mostly small gear, from his pack. Having come that far, we decided to give it a go even though we only had a couple of larger hexes. As the "wide crack guy" I ended up on the sharp end. On the crux pitch I had to constantly down climb to clean gear for the climbing above. I probably climbed the damn thing three times. I finally gave in to exhaustion and used a single aid move at the crux. I'm sure that I could have freed the pitch if I had the right gear. Back in the Valley I ran into Mark Clemens and told him about the climb including beta on gear. The next day he and Bridwell nailed the first free ascent. I still haven't learned to keep my mouth shut- oh well.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 12, 2008 - 10:50am PT
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Hi again everybody. It actually is hard finding photos of Basket Dome, at least showing Basketcase. But I found that http://www.yosemite-17-gigapixels.com allowed me to develop a zoomed side view of the route.
zoomed in a bit more:
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Mtnmun
Trad climber
Top of the Mountain Mun
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Nov 12, 2008 - 11:18am PT
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Hi Peter, great read, I'm sitting here with my morning coffee, procrastinating getting into the day and was stoked to find your well written story on the Taco. Cheers, Jude
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Nov 12, 2008 - 11:25am PT
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Great story, Peter, thanks.
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Nov 12, 2008 - 12:08pm PT
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Nice recollection, Jim.
I have never done "Basketcase" but it is a fine looking line.
This past weekend, Peter and I talked alot about the nature of our collective efforts to get up great routes and how uncertain it was. I remmeber TM telling me about your heroic efforts.
Best, Roger
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Nov 12, 2008 - 12:08pm PT
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Hi Peter,
Thanks. Very deep thanks. What you illuminate in the crux is revealing of sensitive stuff. Like your Hourglass story, one of the very best. My body torques about, so fully engaged and squirming with the discomfort of being up against that smoothness, the polished flare bombay moves. The way I squirm now is a direct denial of the enforced posture of being engaged there, locked on but barely, where any such extraneous movement would either pop you off, or distract critically from the gut-busting clinging and pop you off anyway.
You're so right about all those engineering-style accounts. They seem to use everything else in the tale to turn away from talking about the hard stuff, the scary stuff. Pretty soon as the next account gets written, and then the next, a group mind builds up to feeling it's OK not to address the sticky stuff. Yeah, just leave it out. It's all done quite unconsciously but at the same time with relief.
Then you come along and bust that wide open. Yeah, "wide." Thank you indeed. I know how hard it is to do this well, so it's correspondingly appreciated.
Thanks for the photos too.
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Nov 12, 2008 - 01:43pm PT
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Wonderful story. I think you're the only person I ever heard of who has repeated Basket Case. It sounds horrendous.
JL
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Nate D
climber
San Francisco
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Nov 12, 2008 - 01:53pm PT
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Hey Peter,
In case you hadn't, also look at the direct views of Basket from the Diving Board on the xRez Gigapixel site. Quite good - and should be included in the thread as well.
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Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
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Nov 12, 2008 - 01:57pm PT
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When do the falls dry up?
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Nov 12, 2008 - 01:59pm PT
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I remember about 12 hours, but it depends on the dose... could be as long as 24...
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Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
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Nov 12, 2008 - 03:08pm PT
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Wow!
Thanks Peter, for a cool report and congrats on an historic Ascent!
I wanna do it!
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 12, 2008 - 03:33pm PT
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Jaybro,
actually back in the day, this is what you had to look like:
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 12, 2008 - 03:42pm PT
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Johno, yeah come to think of it, I don't know anybody doing it after me....I don't. I think the approach is tough enough and the climb hard enough that it took fools to do it in the first place. But a truly great climb and very safe. And if you can't do the crux you could aid it for a few feet like TM and Donini did and not have to rappel off and hike back up the Godforsaken approach.
Thanks Nate. Right. here goes:
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Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
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Nov 12, 2008 - 03:43pm PT
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Now really, that Is the kind of line I dream of!
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Nov 12, 2008 - 05:45pm PT
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from what the approach looks like we'll have to short haul Fish into the base... or put in a rap route from the top. Even getting to the top is a bit of a hike.
Team OW is ready to serve, however...
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WBraun
climber
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Feb 23, 2009 - 12:52am PT
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Believe it or not Peter, I was going to onsight free solo Basket case one morning and Walt Shipley talked me out of it.
It was kinda hot day in the summer and Walt suggested we both free solo Steck Salathe instead, which we did.
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