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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 11, 2010 - 10:56am PT
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No problem for a gamer like you, Riley! A whole different sort of animal with a rack of nuggets and no cams!
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Riley, do it without cams!!!
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Nov 11, 2010 - 12:00am PT
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interestingly, I saw this letter in Mountain 36 (looking for something else):
That Sorenson Photo
from Eric Limbach
Dear Mountain Magazine,
It was with sorry eyes that I beheld page 10 of Mountain 32, with the picture of Tobin Sorenson grimacing on lnsomnia, Suicide Rocks, Calif. We U.S. readers had been subjected to seven pages (twelve photos) of Sorenson's moves, in the winter issue of Climbing.
One might suspect that a bit of glory-seeking was behind this proliferation of photos of one person on one crack.
At the end of the essay in question, 'Poster Prints' of Sorenson on lnsomnia were offered for sale.
Glory-Seeking and Damnable Capitalism!
As for Sorenson's imbecilic body twist on Superfly - Yecch !
These types of manoeuvres, I hope, are taken by climbers for what they are: egotistical self-glorification.
Though I be a climber of moderate ability, I can still discriminate between purism and crass materialism.
lncidentally, it should be noted that Sorenson did not free lnsomnia first; it had been done free at least twice before. Mountain is by far the finest climbing magazine available in the States. Your photo reproduction is excellent, as is your coverage of international climbing developments. Perhaps, though, your editors could be a little more discerning with the scissors.
Respectfully,
Eric Limbach (Laramie)
Mountain 36
June 1974
So I had to go look for the Sorenson photo...
UNITED STATES
CALIFORNIA
Tahquitz and Suicide Rocks
On Tahquitz, Rick Accomozzo and Tobin Sorenson have free-climbed both The Passover and Lower Royal Arch, two climbs that previously relied on aid. Accomozzo also lent invaluable assistance to John Long in a brilliant ascent of The Green Arch (5.11). This route, originally 5.8 and A2, is one of the most serious yet attempted here, as protection is hard to arrange without resorting to aid. Over on Suicide, Bud Couch and Mike Dent climbed an excellent crack system called Miscalculation (5.10). Aqualung received its first free ascent from Richard Harrison, Rob Muir, Tobin Sorenson and Sibylle Hechtel, and is now considered a hard 5.10. Superfly, a rather absurd problem that involves a 15ft. jump off the top of Piasano Pinnacle over an awesome drop to land on a 5.6 friction slab, received a new twist (literally) this summer. Tobin Sorenson soloed the problem (this has been done several times before), but added a full body twist to the manoeuvre.
This year has seen outstanding progress made on Suicide and Tahquitz, with the cleaning up of old aid routes and the discovery of a number of new free climbs. The tally of hard climbs in the two areas now stands at thirty-six 5.9's, thirty-four 5.10's and nine 5.11's.
NORTH EAST
North East Winter Climbing
Hard ice climbing is growing in popularity here, and the 1972/3 season saw a number of outstanding ascents that are so far unrecorded. On Cannon Mountain John Bouchard, Henry Barber and Rick Wilcox ascended The Ghost, the first of the area's 'big walls' to be done in winter. Black Dike also had three ascents and all the climbers involved commented on the seriousness of the route.
A number of hard ice climbs were established in the Conway region by John Bragg, with various partners. The most notable was his ascent (with Wilcox) of Repentance (5.9) on Cathedral, an extremely difficult undertaking which was rendered easier by the higher temperatures of a mild winter, which meant that the ice was less brittle than normal. Several other routes on Cathedral and many
of the standard slab climbs on Whitehorse were also done.
The various problems frustrating climbing on Maine's Mt. Katadhin continue to be overcome by visiting climbers. Barber and Dave Cilley climbed a 2,000ft. gully left of Armadillo Buttress to produce the best of several discoveries thereabouts. Pokomoonshine saw the establishment of the first winter climb, with Dean Rau and Claude Suhl's ascent of Neurosis, and in North East Vermont a new ice climbing area was discovered near Lake Willoughby by Barber and Al Rubin. They climbed a slabby route on Mt. Hor and, with Mike Hartrich, returned the following day to pick one of the many steep ice flows on Mt. Pisgah to produce a climb called 2O Below Zero Gully. Another route on this mountain was pioneered later in the season by John Shelton and Ernie Richards. Both cliffs are above a road used all year round, which should make them targets for the present season.
Shawangunks
The new guide, which appeared at the end of last season, stimulated a great deal of activity as climbers became acquainted with the many recent routes which the book revealed. This activity coincided with the virtually total acceptance of the nut/fixed piton ethic, so that the sound of a peg being placed in the Gunks is about as rare as it is in Wales. The hardest routes in the guide have all been repeated. Foops received its second ascent from Henry Barber during a mild spell in January. Though this route had had to wait six years for its second ascent, it was done twice more later in the year. Persistent was climbed for the second time, on sight, by Steve Wunsch. Few new routes of any merit were climbed this year, the main emphasis being placed on the freeing of aid climbs. The new guide listed 38 routes using varying amounts of aid, but a year later only five remain. John Stannard, Steve Wunsch, John Bragg and Henry Barber have been primarily responsible for this campaign. Open Cockpit (Wunsch), To Have and Have Not (Stannard) and Kansas City (Bragg) are probably the most difficult of these climbs; while To Have and Have Not and Yellow Crack (Barber), amongst others, are very serious leads. With many of these routes graded 5.11 and some possibly even harder, this burst of climbing has resulted in a new advance in standards in the region. However, increasing numbers and possibly the new ethics have also led to a rise in the number of accidents. One fatality and a number of other serious incidents are a sobering counterweight to the more progressive developments.
New England
The past year has seen an increasing interest in the exploration of previously neglected cliffs. ln pursuing this activity, climbers have been willing to climb on rock much less solid than that of the cliffs regularly climbed. The intensive development of Humphrey's Ledge by Paul Ross with various partners, and the exploratory routes on Frankenstein Cliff (Ross and Hartrich), Willard (Jell Pheasant, Andy Middleton and Al Rubin) and Devil's Slide (Pheasant, Rubin and Dave Masury), all had to contend with quite rotten rock on cliffs that had only a few routes or had previously been completely ignored. However, not all the exploratory activity was on poor rock. Ross and a friend opened six routes over 200ft. and of moderate difficulty in one day on the Rainbow Slabs off the Kancamagus Highway. Nearby, the Crack of the Woods gave Jim Dunn and Mike Hartrich a magnificent 5.10- pitch. Near Conway, Hartrich and Rubin began development of the short but steep routes on Band M Ledge.
This activity did not mean that the traditional cliffs were neglected. Ross and Barber girdled Cannon (Magical Mystery Tour, Grade 3, 5.9, 6,000ft') in a mere six hours. In the vertical plain, Lima Beam (Grade 2, 5.8) was put up on the slabs near Lakeview by Howard Peterson, John Porter and Dave Tibbets; while Ross and visiting Londoners, Ben and Marion Wintrinham, put up Union Jack (Grade 3, 5.9, A2) left of Vertigo. The short section of aid on this route was bypassed in drier conditions by Rubin and Hartrich. Bragg and Ajax Greene bypassed the aid on Vertigo by starting up North-South-West, and traversing into Vertigo above the aid on the second pitch. This has now become the preferred way to do the route and has been graded 3, 5.9. Several new short climbs were developed along the base of the cliff by Peterson, Roger Martin and others. Last year's hardest climb, Whaleback Crack was repeated, seemingly without too much trouble, by Bouchard and Porter.
The cliff was also the scene of a very serious accident. Mark Lawrence and Dana Jones, both experienced climbers, were killed on the classic roule, Sam's Swan Song. A fall by the second, possibly caused by loose rock, was followed by failure of the leader's belay - a fixed piton. Both climbers fell about 400ft. just missing another party. Their rope caught behind a flake, stopping the fall, but both climbers died instantly.
On Cathedral Ledges, all of last year's hard routes were repeated, while new routes and further aid eliminations continued to proliferate. Of the new routes, Gypsy (5.9, Bragg and Greene), an eliminate line on Recompense, is the longest and most sustained. Asylum (5.10, Bragg and Pheasant) and Taboo (5.9, Bragg and Barber) are the most noteworthy of the shorter routes. As regards this year's aid eliminations, Airation (5.11, Barber, Bragg and Anderson) is the most difficult; while Chockline (5.10, Barber and Bragg) and Grim Reaper (5.10, Bragg and Wunsch) combine difficulty and great seriousness.
Over on Whitehorse, Hartrich finally climbed the much attempted Ninth Wave (5.9), producing the hardest friction pitch in the area. On the steep south face, Beezlebub was climbed entirely free (5.10-, Barber, Bragg, Anderson and Rubin) giving a long, sustained and varied route.
Outcrops
The girdle traverse fever touched both Ragged Mountain (Striebert and Barber) and Crow Hill, which was girdled in both directions (Barber and Striebert, Barber and Hendick). Of the recent hard routes Crow Hill's Jane (5.11) has been climbed a number of times, but both Recidivist and Ragged's Subline await further leads, though both have been top-roped. Ragged Mountain received a new guide in Spring. This was followed by a spate of top-roped lines on the blank faces between the obvious cracks, but only a few new leads. The dilemma here seems to be a choice of leads which are virtually solos or the pre-placing of bolts from rappels. This latter practice has occurred on several routes, but is generally put down by the locals. Perhaps the antidote to this over-development at Ragged is the exploration of nearby cliffs' East Peak has yielded a series of excellent climbs over the years, the best recent discovery being Reflections of Fall (5.9) by Striebert and Anderson. Pinnacle Rock was the scene of several climbing visits, mostly by New Haven climbers, with Great Expectations (5.8, Rocky Keeler and Rubin) being the best of the routes put up.
Finally, the years total of tragedies was increased by a double fatality in Quincy Quarries. Bob Hanson and Carolyn Echardt, both 17, were killed in a rock slide when visiting a little frequented part of the Quarry.
Correspondents: Muir and Rubin
Mountain 32
February 1974
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dogtown
Trad climber
JackAssVille, Wyoming
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Nov 11, 2010 - 12:27am PT
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The best hand crack in SOCAL. I say.
Dog.
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Nov 11, 2010 - 06:46pm PT
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 31, 2010 - 12:44pm PT
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Nice shots!
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Friend
climber
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Jan 12, 2011 - 10:23am PT
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Flipping through some old magazines at breakfast this morning, I came across a blurb in a 1979 issue of Mountain:
"Tahquitz/Suicide – there has been a spate of free soloing this summer... of particular note was John Long’s free solo of Insomnia 5.11"
Largo – care to share any recollections of that day? That musta been a buzz....
How many others have soloed it? Any more recollections of this awesome pitch??
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 12, 2011 - 12:53pm PT
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Never let the truth get in the way of a good story...
Largo sent the thing while John Long watched The Fight Club...LOL
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 7, 2013 - 07:46pm PT
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Alter Ego Bump...
From the Mountain article above.
Superfly, a rather absurd problem that involves a 15ft jump from the top of paisano Pinnacle over an awesome drop to land on a 5.6 friction slab, received a new twist (literally) this summer. Tobin Sorenson soloed the problem (that has been done before), but added a full body twist to the manoeuvre.
Anyone ever repeat the Super Duperfly?
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jabbas
Trad climber
phx AZ
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What a cool line !! Today's 14's and 15's are positively boorish. Looks like 9 and 10 of the past have that cool factor that escapes today's " gym rat overhang, sequence specific pizza puzzle climb on limestone" line that sorta dominates the here and now. My take - no rant !!
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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For me there's a sweet spot on the left. My left hand is palming it, then my left foot is on it. Looks like Dogtown has the same idea above. On a hot day when that spot and the crack get greasy it's a whole 'nutha story...
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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That note in Mountain Magazine was inaccurate in a couple of ways. Tobin became well known as a result of that photo in Mountain Magazine and he loved it. For our circle of ambitious teenagers, to be mentioned in the international chronicle, Mountain Magazine, alongside the names of legendary British heroes was heady stuff.
One error was that the article implied that Tobin made the first free ascent of Insomnia, when in fact it had been freed a a year or so earlier by Jim Erickson and Scott Stewart. And there was another inaccuracy that grated on me at the time.
Accomazzo also lent invaluable assistance to John Long in a brilliant ascent of The Green Arch (5.11).
Seeing this again brought back an old feeling of indignation. The Green Arch was, and is, a proud moment for me because it was my best lead to date, it is a nice line, and I was able to do it in front of my two, more talented friends, Tobin and John.
Invaluable assistance, indeed! Freeing the route was my idea in the first place and I provided a top rope!
Whew. Glad to have gotten this off my chest. :)
I shouldn’t have been surprised. Largo’s outsize personality and climbing prowess were so formidable that he cast a big shadow.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Wonderful climb....mega classic in my book.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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saying little seeing all as if this was last week
slap me it is time to wake up that was no dream
that was my life
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Great bump. Love dat history stuff.
There's a not-so-flattering picture of myself dangling dangling like a fish getting an aid lesson on Insomnia somewhere. I think I'm wearing hat and a parka (cause it was so damn cold that day).
Insomnia? Nope. I think my partner fell asleep since it took me eternity get to the anchors.;)
PS: Great picture of Jeff Chris. He was such a baby in that pic.
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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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Not as nice as Daves photo, but heck, its old.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - May 25, 2015 - 09:08am PT
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Bleary eyed bump
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SuperTopo on the Web
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Let us know!