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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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May 17, 2008 - 02:34pm PT
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Here's a goldline rope story. One December afternoon, John and Jeff and I decided to climb
a flatiron. We'd never done one, but had an idea that there was a lower-5th route up the
E face of the 1st. Thing is, for the three of us we had only one rope, a 120' x 3/8" (about 9mm)
goldline. Somebody had a 30-foot length of white 7mm line too, so our rope system was to lead on
the goldline, then the other two guys simul-followed (all this with hip belays), one of them
trailing the other on that 30-foot 7mm cord.
Anyway, the climb went smoothly enough (below, John traverses between ice streaks). Until we
reached the summit in pitch darkness, and realized that with just one 120' rope and no knowledge
of the route, we couldn't just rap off. So downclimbed instead, in the dark without
headlamps, and were happy much later to get back safe on the ground.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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May 17, 2008 - 03:33pm PT
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JEleazarian's Royal Arches rope trick sounds rather cool. I have this mental picture of the rope slowly ascending and threading itself through the piton, sort of a snake charmer thing like a Sheridan Anderson drawing. Goldline is undoubtedly a stiff rope, and twisty.
As to the difference (if any) between a knot and a hitch - it may be a semi-religious question, at least to this outsider. Though I have a vague hunch that a knot is fixed, while a hitch moving. (?)
Perhaps I should be mightily pedantic hiker, instead of simply MH?
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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May 17, 2008 - 03:35pm PT
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Perhaps I should be mightily pedantic hiker
No, no, I thought you did that well. Futilely perhaps, but anyway there's an art.
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Jay Wood
Trad climber
Fairfax, CA
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May 17, 2008 - 03:53pm PT
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I still have the 120' goldline. I'd climb on it, too, even tho it is quite worn.
Pivetta Spiders, bowline on a coil, hand tied aiders, steel 'biners even.
There's the stretch, and also the twist- free hanging on a rope means endlessly twirling as the rope untwists.
I always liked the lariat-like stiffness. Didn't get the washing/shrinking thing.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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May 17, 2008 - 03:55pm PT
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Actually my first rope was hemp....and soon goldline. 1963. I guess it was not until about 1965 or so I bought my first Edelrid perlon rope. Costly, maybe $80? Can't be sure. From the Ski Hut, from Al Steck. But for a few years, most of us climbed with a 3/8 goldline and 7/16" goldline. 150-footers too, the new, daring extra-long, controversial length! Now I use 70 meters....
For a few years after I started climbing, you would actually still see hemp; some of the real oldtimers in kookie Bergheil style hats would come out every now and then to Cragmont or Indian Rock with hemp and do the same obscure stuff they always did and kind of have their own party with it.
We all hated goldline, the pigtails it formed especially when it was new and during rappelling were just amazing. Pigtails formed of pigtails formed of pigtails even. Such a flamboyant dysfunction for a piece of climbing equipment, really!
Some people actually argued for hemp as it was so static; this had its uses for prussiking and TR'g. The fact it was weak as hell and could rot from the inside out without your knowing it was irrelevant apparently. Its static nature was becoming clearly prohibitive for leading. And that the load bearing qualities of the rope were being abraided away immediately; same with goldline, ugh. The frayed outer surface was actually part of what made the rope competent, you know. Realize about this time we were all still crazy-dumb doing body rappels with leather patches and stuff and belaying with only a waist belay, as mentioned upthread. Sometimes even a shoulder belay although that was though to be a method one notch down in quality to a waist belay.... I think I started using carabiner brake rappel methods by 1965, and belay devices in the 1980's. I still will use a waist belay in some circumstances when it is appropriate.
And lastly, the first big rescues on El Cap (1970-1972) were equiped with 600 ft spools of a goldline-like rope that actually was white. I think it was technical 1/2". These mothers were superheavy too, loads and loads of friction also. As I described in one of my stories about the West Buttress EC rescue, it took ten climbers just to pull up slack on one of the lines as it was belaying Caldwell and his partner individually as they jumared up a second such line many 100's of feet below us. And in lowering off or hauling up, the unraveling of the twisted-lay design created violent spinners for the climber on the end. Really awful.
Today I find Edelweiss and similar top ropes frankly drop-dead gorgeous, almost erotic. They handle so well and the colors and weaves are spectacular. Technically they are amazing, 8-11 falls, some over sharp edges, drycoated, etc etc. I especially like the duodess (half and half) ones.
best PH
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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May 17, 2008 - 04:11pm PT
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It was cool doing the free rappel off the Maiden, near Boulder, on goldline. You descend in a series of
360-degree corkscrew rotations. The spire is so narrow and far away on that rap that it fills less
than 10% of your panorama, going by once on each spin around.
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Watusi
Social climber
Newport, OR
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May 17, 2008 - 05:59pm PT
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First rope for me also...Mission Gorge, age 11.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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May 17, 2008 - 06:33pm PT
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This, and the bong thread, also give me this irresistible mental image of incorrigibles tied together with Goldline in a chain gang, bongs around their necks, marching through Camp 4, clanking and crying out "Unclean! Unclean!"
Incorrigibles meaning whichever group or individual is unpopular at the moment. Rapbolters. Cranky trads. Trolls. Starters of non-climbing threads. Whoever. :-)
I may have to pass this idea on to Tami.
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MAD BOLTER
Trad climber
CARLSBAD,NM
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May 17, 2008 - 09:01pm PT
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It was about 1955 that I started climbing- using 1/2" Manilla rope. Good for about 2000 lbs w/o knots which reduce strength by about up to 50%. I recall the Nose rap of 1969 using 3/8" goldline 300 ft long(4 ropes) spinning-WOW. And the rap down Royal Arches big Eyebrow on left and center of the main arch to the right. Both using goldline. Arches center required 350 ft to reach the rock at end of rappel. I still have the 3/8" Columbia nylon rope given to me by Bill Dolt F. to use on the Nose to set up the rap anchors for a bail-out route. I started on Serenity crack with a manila rope (approx 1965) and my partner would not do it, even for aid climbing. We went to the Mt Shop to buy a new nylon rope. No recall whether goldline or Edelrid.
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Brian
climber
Cali
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May 17, 2008 - 09:15pm PT
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Still got a piece of my first Goldline rope in the garage, and still have some scars from the hip belays...
Brian
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martygarrison
Trad climber
The Great North these days......
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May 17, 2008 - 11:26pm PT
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hum, lots of our early climbs were on goldline. It sucked. One inch swamies were the norm for us until the late 70's I think. I remember all these brits coming over with harnesses and thinking how silly and bulky they looked. Little did I know. I did NA wall in a two inch with no leg loops and almost died. Supid was my middle name I think.
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WBraun
climber
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May 17, 2008 - 11:29pm PT
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I did it. I climbed on that crap, goldline.
So what? Thank God there's better sh'it now.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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May 17, 2008 - 11:41pm PT
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120' 3/8 Goldline, Bowline on a coil. About half a dozen pins.
Got good at tieing things off.
Still can't pass up a good thread.
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Paul Martzen
Trad climber
Fresno
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May 18, 2008 - 12:38am PT
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My partner and I bought a Bluewater caving rope as our first rope, but other friends have goldline, so I remember using the goldline a bit. Within about a year, though, we were down in the bottom of some cave (Church, Soldier's?) and found a coiled nylon yachting rope, howser laid, like goldline but very soft. i think it was 1/2 inch. We did not trust it of course and wondered what we might do with it. We took that rope to the next slide show at the Fresno Robbin's Shop and showed it to Rich Calderwood. He opened up the twists to look inside and declared that the rope looked fine. So it became our lead rope as we learned how to climb. I took a few falls on it but don't remember what they felt like. Probably very springy. I do remember the rope drag was much greater than any other ropes we used. The twisted construction, extra thickness, extra weight and soft surface really dragged a lot. It was nice to climb with kernmantle when we could.
On the UCSB connection, I was there in '78-79, but never knew about any climbing club. There were plenty of climbers so I guess it was not a problem. Can't remember any names other than Jeff Schloss, who now lives in Truckee. Michael Jefferson, were you in the physics department? Love the photos, Chiloe.
Lots of fond memories of the climbing and hiking nearby.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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May 18, 2008 - 01:12am PT
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Yup, I've used goldline. When I started climbing in the mid-1970s kernmantle ropes had become available, but as I mentioned in the other thread, goldline was cheap, so we used it for fixing. God it sucked. Also started with bowline on a coil tie-in, but switched almost immediately to a Whillans sit harness.
I'm tempted to say I might have everybody beat in one rope department (although, with the crazy old men on this forum, you never know). As a kid, I learned to make hemp rope. Boy Scout thing. We built some kind of goofy double crank device out of plywood and eyebolts and used 9 strands of binder twine, which the crank would twist into three separate stands (kind of mini ropes) with the twist in one direction, then twist those three together with the twist in the other direction. Magic, it was. The ropes actually worked. Stayed together, held loads, the whole rope thing.
Oh, and regarding knots and hitches. Without going to the reference books, I believe a hitch has to be tied around something, whereas a knot just needs rope. There's a further distinction, as well, between knots and bends. Knots (I think) are tied in the middle or on a bight, whereas bends join two ropes (or two ends of one rope).
David
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Barbarian
Trad climber
all bivied up on the ledge
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May 18, 2008 - 01:23am PT
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Yep...7/16" Goldline - bowline on a coil. Leader falls were riding a rubber band. Next roper was a Dolt Corelay. Super soft blue 7/16". Got me through those early days at Stoney, Rubidoux, JT, and Little Cottonwood.
Sure do like my new 10mm cord!
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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May 18, 2008 - 01:40am PT
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Yeah, them was the bad ol' days. LOTS of climbing on goldline. Not sure if I ever took a leader fall on it, it was a long time ago. Damn sure tried to avoid it, but I think I did a couple times. Challenging stuff.
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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May 18, 2008 - 08:43am PT
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In response to Woody's comment way upthread, I noted that ladies climbed on goldline too.
Everyone knows that, but this thread's offered no proof until now.
Gibralter Rock 1969: bowline on a coil tie-in, vibram hiking boots, climbing was just as fun.
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homemade salsa
Trad climber
west tetons
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May 18, 2008 - 10:27am PT
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1985 the last time I can recall using it, on a nols course at split rock, wyoming. Rapping off a route on the main face with one lead rope of perlon and a trail rope of goldline. The 2 got wrapped around each other, and pulling the ropes involved tying in very long to the anchor, attaching a prussik to the pull rope, and launching 2 people's body weight onto the rope to take out the stretch, and getting a few inches of actual pull. What a process...
First rock shoes were white and orange PA's bought in 1981 at Sherries Mountain Chalet in Lander Wyoming.
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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May 18, 2008 - 11:20am PT
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