The First Ascent ot 'Hoodwink'

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Impaler

Trad climber

Munich

Nov 14, 2008 - 10:47am PT

I thought that Hoodwink is amazing. The crux move felt a bit harder than 10a, but SO FUN!

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Nov 14, 2008 - 10:55am PT

No lack of appreciation or respect for maestro Higgins from where I am sitting! Very few climbers are as publicly articulate in principle as he. I look forward to meeting him in the near future.
I find more humor in the controversy that always seemed to follow Jim around like Pigpen's dustcloud. LOL

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Nov 15, 2008 - 02:30am PT

Nice shots Impaler! Not a bump in sight.

Lynne Leichtfuss

Social climber

valley center, ca

Nov 15, 2008 - 02:41am PT

Enjoyed this Thread alot, like many of the BITD stories and Posts. Mas fun to read, think about and process. Thanks for those of you that take the time (and it does take precious time)to write the memoir's ...Peace and Joy, Lynne

Jim Pettigrew

Social climber

Crowley Lake, CA

Nov 15, 2008 - 11:07am PT

Wow loosen up a little, Try "Quiet Deperation", 5.9, left of hood wink on the eastern side of poly dome. I couldn't make up mind my whether I wanted the route to be fun or a scary runout, replacing the bolts several times!

Bolting was a necessity to allow for the safer aspects of climbing that most could'nt devote full time to!

As I barely recall it became fairly popular as an undercling to face moves that one could experiment without major penalties!

All in the interest of fun as it were!

JP

seamus mcshane

climber

Nov 15, 2008 - 02:31pm PT

No matter the controversy surrounding this route, I have climbed it 3 times and still love it. Cool route, and I've never seen it crowded like Stately Pleasure.

Thanks Roger, I think this was put up July 1969, the year and month of my birth. I was born sandwiched between the moon landing, and Woodstock/Manson murders, what a time to be alive...

climber

Nov 15, 2008 - 02:33pm PT

Austin Archer totally gripped.

Anastasia

climber

Not here

Nov 15, 2008 - 02:39pm PT

Roger,
I am setting up an alter here to worship your greatness, you have such stories to share! :) Thanks and please keep sharing!
I love them!
AF

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Oct 29, 2009 - 10:21pm PT

Bump for a great story!

the kid

Trad climber

fayetteville, wv

Oct 30, 2009 - 02:49pm PT

Roger,
Great story and a super great route!
ks

tuolumne_tradster

Trad climber

Leading Edge of North American Plate

Oct 30, 2009 - 03:54pm PT

Awesome thread. Roger, thanks for sharing. IMHO this is what the Taco Stand is all about. BTW, I always thought Bridwell placed that pin.

Scanned slide taken in the late 1980s of Eric Collins turning the Hoodwink roof. I wonder how many leader falls that pin has held over the years?

Roger Breedlove

climber

Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Topic Author's Reply - Oct 31, 2009 - 09:32am PT

Thanks for the bump, Steve. This thread was originally started in 2005 when there were fewer than 100K posts in ST land. It was one of the first threads that I ever started.

Cool pictures of folks pulling the roof.

When Greg Barnes told me in May of 2003, soon after I started hanging out on ST,
that the baby angle at the roof appears to be the same one I placed on the first ascent, I was surprised. It has been a long time. I think it was 1973 and, by that time, I fixed any pins that I used on climbs. I had a whole bunch of them because I had planned on being a big wall, aid climber. Then I caught the free climbing and 'clean' ascent bug and only climbed a few big walls.

In answer to the question about who placed the pin, Jim only came on the second try to do the route and I had already been over the roof. I don't think I would have committed to manteling over it if I had not placed that pin. I did not want to fall onto that slab below the roof. It was bomber.

When I saw Jim, in about 2003, after many years, we were drinking wine and finishing each other's sentences. I asked him if he remembered the scene and our conversation on traverse on the lower pitch. He grinned and said, in the same tone he had used 30 years before, "But there is nothing to stand on!"

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Oct 31, 2009 - 06:40pm PT

Bumping classic threads is such fun that I can't help myself! Tales like this one are the gift that keeps on giving and make me smile every time that Hoodwink comes to mind. Thanks again for the memories! Never a trickster in my book!

Mighty Hiker

climber

Vancouver, B.C. Small wall climber.

Oct 31, 2009 - 07:39pm PT

Roger has a good point - it's likely that any fixed pin placed on a free climb in Canada or the US up to the mid-1970s has never been replaced. That was a time when free climbers had mostly gone over to nuts, but still carried some pins and a hammer, and occasionally placed one. Anything they placed and left may never since have been tested or replaced, except by chance or falls. People stopped carrying hammers. Which means that most of those pins are getting fairly rusty - those that aren't frost-wedged, that is.

There used to be a fixed stubby (5/8") angle on a climb on the Apron at Squamish called Banana Peel. It was certainly there in 1973 when I first did the route, and AFAIK never checked or replaced. It was at a bit of a crux of the 5.8 route, but wasn't hard to back up with a nut. Anyway, I popped it out in 2000, with little effort. About 30% was corroded away.

The guidebooks warn us to take a hammer to check fixed pins, but just like their warnings to climbers not to lower directly through fixed rings, I wonder how many are paying attention?

donini

Trad climber

Ouray, Colorado

Nov 2, 2009 - 06:54pm PT

You're bringing back memories Alan, and, trust me, I need someone to bring them back.

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Jan 21, 2012 - 12:40pm PT

Right back at ya Jim...

jaaan

Trad climber

Chamonix, France

Jan 21, 2012 - 01:57pm PT

That last photo, and one somewhere before imply that the belay is just below and to the right of the roof. Is that so? Here's a shot from '78 or '79 of Hoodwink. Have I scanned it the wrong way round, or did people used to belay to the left as we did (or appear to have done)?