Wings of Steel

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Off White

climber
Tenino, WA
Jul 5, 2011 - 11:41am PT
I don't think showers of adulation are in the forecast either...

I really appreciate the well rounded perspective and comments of folks like Base104 and Ghost, though I must admit that I too am a FOM (friend of mimi) and enjoy the hell out of her company. I think its kind of funny that anyone thinks of her as an anonymous poster.
caughtinside

Social climber
Davis, CA
Jul 5, 2011 - 11:52am PT
It is really important to Mimi that we despise this route and the guys who climbed it as much as she does. This strange 30 year hatred and associated slander and defecation is far more interesting/entertaining than as others have said, a slab route.

Where was I in 1982? hmm, kindergarten perhaps? Not so different...
GDavis

Social climber
SOL CAL
Jul 5, 2011 - 12:05pm PT
Is shacking up with a climber(s) who climbed a big wall really a basis for criticizing other el cap climber's ascents?


If so, my hats back in the circle!

Lets hope Tom Evans didn't keep those photos : *
'Pass the Pitons' Pete

Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
Jul 5, 2011 - 12:11pm PT
^^ If you are cute, and wish to criticize, please contact me. ^^

Chief, I think you need to help me out here, since you and I are apparently the only two writing here who have actually been on the climb.

There is a huge misconception that WoS is a "slab" and that this must somehow make it "easy". A slab is something that you climb using friction, like say on Glacier Point Apron. No climbing moves like that exist on the first two pitches of WoS, with the possible exception of the leftward traverse partway up the first pitch which take a couple free moves, however these free moves are not slab moves but rather face moves. The bulge on the first pitch is either dead vertical or slightly overhanging, and requires the most desperate hooking I have ever encountered.

I am a cave explorer and surveyor, and I own a survey instrument called an inclinometer or clino, which allows you to accurately and within a half-degree measure the inclination of a survey shot. It also lets you measure the angle of ski slopes and rock "slabs".

Mimi - why don't you give us a number? What angle of elevation do you believe the first two pitches of WoS to be? I'll bet you a few beers it's rather steeper than you imagine it to be. I could courier the instrument to someone here in the Valley, and they could go out and make a few shots for us.

The first two pitches of WoS ain't no slab - it's a high angle face which is nearly vertical. It's scary as hell, dangerous as fukk, and if you fall you're flying in the air and scraping against the wall, and it's going to hurt. A lot. Ask Ammon. We may find him returning all covered in scabs from all the falls he is sure to take in order to figure out the desperate hooking sequence.

Think about it: If this route were nothing but a "slab", doncha think it would have been climbed by now?

It is amusing to observe people who have never even SEEN the route let alone BEEN ON IT describing it as a slab. Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!!! Why don't you bring your aiders and hooks and try a few moves? The rock is fairly uniform, and one place is just as nasty as the next.

Dang, wish I could stay in the Valley and watch. Gotta fly! Keep us posted. Someone get out there with a long lens and show us some photos! Go Ammon and Kait!!
caughtinside

Social climber
Davis, CA
Jul 5, 2011 - 12:27pm PT
Nearly vertical = slab.
Mighty Hiker

climber
Vancouver, B.C.
Jul 5, 2011 - 12:27pm PT
FAK: Slab is something between 30 and 70 degrees.
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
Jul 5, 2011 - 01:12pm PT
^^^^^^ posted from iPhone in Concordia, Pakistan
Pass the Chongo, Chongo

Social climber
love, trust, and T*Rs nuts!
Jul 5, 2011 - 01:26pm PT
If my Wife cared about WOS as much as MIMI does, I'd f*#king shoot my self. END OF F*#KING STORY!

PTCC
Mark Hudon

Trad climber
Hood River, OR
Jul 5, 2011 - 01:31pm PT
PTCC, we don't agree on much but I do agree with you on that!
Mighty Hiker

climber
Vancouver, B.C.
Jul 5, 2011 - 01:31pm PT
The angle of a glacis is such that it can be walked up; a slab is steeper; whilst a wall is nearly vertical and may overhang. The slopes are approximately: below 30 degrees, between 30 and 75 degrees, above 75 degrees.

From Fell and Rock Climbing Club guidebooks, beginning a century ago or more. The definitive source as to such matters.

It sounds like bits of WoS may properly fall within the definition of slab, but that most is a wall. But the thing is sui generis.
caughtinside

Social climber
Davis, CA
Jul 5, 2011 - 01:36pm PT
Hey Anders, is that source from when you actually climbed? Dating yourself there brah.
Nightclub Dwight

Social climber
Outside Your Window
Jul 5, 2011 - 01:39pm PT
Aww Mark, you wuz screaming more'n mimi when we danced the cornholio down at Rooster Rock, but yew know you loved it, "open wide for chunky!" C'mon lovechunks, weather turnt nice agin, come meat me at da beach...
Mighty Hiker

climber
Vancouver, B.C.
Jul 5, 2011 - 01:54pm PT
Yes, when I started climbing, p'terodactyls were still nesting on the Chief.

Later they moved to Burnaby and started making fancy packs.

Anyway, the Fell and Rock Climbing Club, and its journals and guidebooks, provide some helpful perspective on important issues like "what is a slab?".
Gilwad

climber
Frozen In Somewhere
Jul 5, 2011 - 02:23pm PT
I just want to contribute to one of the all-time silliest threads ever, just to say I was there. How many posts about a little slab aid route does it take? We've got seventh-day Advent Calendarists Vs. the self-Anointed Valley Locals... From the outside y'all look sillier than those damn mixed climbers scratching around in chossy caves and then arguing about who did it with or without spurs. Actually, they at least aren't on a slab.

Time to go climbing, not on a drilled slab.
Elcapinyoazz

Social climber
Joshua Tree
Jul 5, 2011 - 02:30pm PT
The definitive source as to such matters

Oooooh, DEFINITIVE! Because, you know, there are rules and sh#t. OFFICIALLY sanctioned bodies and the like. You really think people accept some self-proclaimed authority they've never heard of, in a game with no actual rules, when thrown out by a man in the most hated profession in the world, a class of people best known for obsfucation and lying? Well, I've got news for you Mr. Counselor, Esq.
Ghost

climber
A long way from where I started
Jul 5, 2011 - 02:42pm PT
From the outside y'all look sillier than those damn mixed climbers scratching around in chossy caves and then arguing about who did it with or without spurs.

Oh yeah? Well, I hear you altered the ice to make some of the key placements on one of those M-hard routes. And also that you had a secret little electric motor and propeller on some of those record hang glider flights. And anyway, you Canadians don't even have to pay to climb, but if you think you can bring socialized climbing to the US you better think again.
Mighty Hiker

climber
Vancouver, B.C.
Jul 5, 2011 - 03:10pm PT
Ditto what Gilwad says.

And sorry my sarcasm about "definitive sources" wasn't clearer. I thought it amusing that there was such a definition.
survival

Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
Jul 5, 2011 - 03:24pm PT
I haven't been on that SLAB, but I've climbed routes in locations to both sides, and from the sides and above, it sure looks like a SLAB.

A giant SLAB of glass, tilted at the right angle, say..umm 70 degrees or so will be quite difficult to climb, but that doesn't mean it's not a SLAB.

John Moosie

climber
Beautiful California
Jul 5, 2011 - 05:34pm PT
It looks like the temps are going to cooperate, but we have some monsoon moisture coming our way. What do people think? Could this cause them trouble?


Special Weather Statement

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
806 AM PDT TUE JUL 5 2011

CAZ089>099-052230-
WEST CENTRAL SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-EAST CENTRAL SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-
SOUTHWESTERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-SOUTHEASTERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-
MARIPOSA MADERA AND FRESNO COUNTY FOOTHILLS-
TULARE COUNTY FOOTHILLS-KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS-
SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON-
TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS-INDIAN WELLS VALLEY-
SOUTHEASTERN KERN COUNTY DESERT-
806 AM PDT TUE JUL 5 2011

...CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK...

A DEEP SURGE OF MONSOON MOISTURE HAS MOVED INTO CENTRAL
CALIFORNIA. THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE INCREASING ACROSS THE SOUTHERN
SIERRA NEVADA...THE TEHACHAPI MOUNTAINS...AND THE KERN COUNTY
DESERTS TODAY...AND CONTINUE INTO WEDNESDAY AT LEAST. SOME OF THE
THUNDERSTORMS COULD LINGER OR EVEN DEVELOP DURING THE NIGHTTIME
HOURS.

THE FLOW ALOFT WILL BE SUCH THAT A FEW THUNDERSTORMS COULD DRIFT
INTO PARTS OF THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY...ESPECIALLY IN THE SOUTH
END...AND OVER AND NEAR THE FOOTHILLS ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE
VALLEY ALONG AND WEST OF INTERSTATE 5.

SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS COULD PRODUCE VERY HEAVY RAIN IN A
SHORT PERIOD OF TIME...GUSTY WINDS...AS WELL AS DANGEROUS CLOUD TO
GROUND LIGHTNING. FLASH FLOODING IS POSSIBLE IN THE MOUNTAINS AND
DESERTS.
Gene

climber
Jul 5, 2011 - 05:44pm PT
John,

I'll see your weather report and raise you one.

The National Weather Service in Sacramento has issued a

The National Weather Service in Sacramento has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...
southwestern Alpine County in central California...
this includes the cities of... Lake Alpine... Bear Valley...
northeastern Amador County in central California...
extreme northeastern Calaveras County in central California...
north central Tuolumne County in central California...

* until 300 PM PDT

* at 200 PM PDT... National Weather Service Doppler radar indicated
two severe thunderstorms continuing to grow in size that will be
capable of producing quarter size hail. One storm was located
near Lookout Peak... or 6 miles east of Lake Alpine... and moving
west at 5 mph. The other storm was located near Kennedy Meadow and
moving towards the west at 5 miles per hour.

In addition both of these storms will produce very heavy rainfall and
may cause flooding of low lying areas.

* These severe thunderstorms will be near...
Lake Alpine... Bear Valley and 7 miles east of Tamarack by 230 PM
PDT and over State Route 108 near Dardanelle by 215 PM...

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

In addition to large hail and damaging winds... continuous cloud to
ground lightning is occurring with this storm. Move indoors
immediately! Lightning is one of natures number one killers.
Remember... if you can hear thunder... you are close enough to be
struck by lightning.

If on a lake get out of the water and move indoors or inside a vehicle.
Remember... lightning can strike out to 15 miles from the parent
thunderstorm. If you can hear thunder... you are close enough to be
struck by lightning. Move to safe shelter now. Don't be caught on
the water in a thunderstorm!


Lat... Lon 3812 12004 3855 12029 3861 11987 3854 11979
3825 11965
time... Mot... loc 2106z 082deg 5kt 3846 11991

I sure as heck hope that both systems miss Kait and Ammon. But, I guess, if they complete WoS, we will have nothing to rant about.

g
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