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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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Jun 22, 2012 - 02:30pm PT
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We had about a week of quality south swell a week back that I mentioned up thread. The last day of that run was just amazing in that I got three hours of near glass,uncrowded, shoulder to head high surf on the west side.
Then I drove back home to the north shore and wave sailed some (out of season) logo to near mast high NW with a bit of east wind swell mixed in with a few of my regular gang till nearly dark.
I had to go back to work for nine days but scored several nice wave sailing sessions here at Kuau after work.
We have a new south swell that has been going off for the past couple of days and is forecast to drop some in size and that might be good since my favorite west side break starts to close out when it gets much over solid head. The swell is predicted to hold for a while longer and I have some days off so I'm hitting the road as soon as I get a couple of domestic issues out of the way.
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stokedsean
Trad climber
Canada eh, now Qld, Aust
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Jun 24, 2012 - 07:10am PT
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Some more stoke.....
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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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Jun 24, 2012 - 05:11pm PT
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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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Jun 24, 2012 - 07:34pm PT
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Since this is both a surfing and Climbing thread I thought I would share a climbing story and then go get some more of those delightful waves over on the west side. The past two days the surfing over there has been brilliant!
Maurice Reed and I were on the summit of Cynical Pinnacle back in the spring of 84 when he pointed out a steep face on a rock formation over toward Sunshine Wall. The face had three crack systems on it and one of them went right up the middle.
Maurice said to me, (in his thick southern drawl) “Ma’an, we gotta climb that thang!”
Several people that we contacted said they had been looking at it and thought it looked really cool, but, nobody that we could find, had actually tried it.
We went on a reconnaissance hike and scouted a route through the massive boulders at the base of the formation. We also scoped the face with binoculars. Along with a healthy bush that was growing out of the crack I noticed an old tattered rap sling about 1/3 way up the second pitch. Maurice said,”Ma’an, I sure hope that sling was left by some ole aid climber when he bailed off the thing?”
A few days later we returned with leather gloves, tree loppers, a saw, and a crow bar. With this equipment we chopped, cut, stomped and trundled our way to the base of the climb. We had to negotiate dense anti-personal bushes, downed trees, and several large and very loose boulders. With all the obstacles we encountered, it was obvious that no one had been in this gully in many years or, maybe ever.
Maurice and I drove back down to Foxton a week later. We parked in our usual spot. I stashed some beer in the river while Maurice sorted the climbing gear. We then shouldered our packs and walked down the road a ways before we crossed over the old barbed wire fence. We marched past the symmetrically cut Rose Granite slabs, steel cables and other equipment that was abandoned when the rock quarry operation shut down decades earlier. We then headed up the, steep, gravel hillside through stands of aspen, needle sharp yucca plants, blooming cactus and patches of kininnikinnick. When we took the occasional rest break we could hear the Platte River as it blended harmoniously with the wind rushing through the Ponderosa Pines and spreading their thick scent of butterscotch. In those days there were only game trails in the Cathedral Spires and we usually took a different route each time.
Once we were at the base of the climb, Maurice led the first pitch up to a large belay ledge. He made it look easy although it involved some of the hardest moves on the entire climb.
The belay ledge was littered with loose rocks. We trundled most of them before attempting the next pitch. (Ah, the sight, sounds, and smells of granite boulders gaining momentum on their way to the valley below!) My dog “Beau” was at the base and he just wouldn’t “STAY or SIT!” like I told him to. Beau was running excitedly all over the place. He thought we were playing some sort of game. Maurice said” Ma'an, he’ll get out of the way, believe me, he’ll get out of the way!” It’s luckily for Beau that he didn’t get clobbered by one of those non- guided projectiles!
Pitch two was my lead. It started off as a continuously difficult but well protected finger crack that lead up to a steep, poorly protected, lay back section. I had trouble committing to those moves with the marginal gear that I had in. I could see the sequence that I needed to make but my strength was draining fast.
I was really getting pumped and there was no natural rest to be found. After several tries I was completely exhausted so I down climbed to my last good gear placement. Maurice then lowered me back to the belay ledge.
Maurice was now chomping at the bit to give this pitch a go. We quickly switched the belay over and I handed him the rack. He charged up to my high point and got really pumped trying to commit to those poorly protected moves.
I could tell Maurice was frustrated as he down climbed to the last piece of gear. Reluctantly, he clipped in and tied off and yelled,”Ma’an , send me the pins and a hammer”. Although he was tied off he refused to hang on the protection any more than he had to while we negotiated the gear transfer. Maurice climbed back up to our high point and put in two solid pitons without hanging. Getting those pins in proved to be very tiring. It would have compromised his ethics to hang on the gear while he regenerated, so, he had me lower him all the way down to the belay ledge
With the rest I got while belaying, and the security of the pitons Maurice placed, I gained the strength and confidence I needed to pull through those steep, committing layback moves. This put me at the start of the elegant and slightly overhanging hand sized crack in the head wall.
With the layback section out of the way all seemed straight forward. That is, until I encountered a completely detached spike that can only be described as the tip of a miniature pinnacle. There was no way around this gnarly feature. The spike actually moved when I touched it. I didn’t dare put any outward force on it!
I had some decent gear right below my feet but nothing any higher. I had a solid foot jam for a stance. I yelled down to Maurice,” Dude, move the belay as far over to the right as possible and, Watch Out! OK?”
His response was “ Ma’an, I am as far over as I can get! And YOU better watch out your own self!”
With no other holds to use I mantled, and stood up ever so carefully on the tip of that detached spike! I was trembling after I completed those delicate moves! Fortunately, there was a great nut placement just as I stood up and put all my weight on the point of the spike. I moved up quickly and got some good hand and foot jams. I then leaned out from the rock and looked down at Maurice and said “Dude that was Dicey!” I can’t imagine what it would have been like if that teetering block had come off while I was attempting that sketchy mantle move!
Next was what turned out to be some of my all time favorite moves in the Platte. The elegant and overhanging headwall proved to be well protected, strenuous, thin hand jamming all the way up to a semi-hanging belay stance!
While seconding the pitch Maurice jettisoned that dangerous block. This created a great rest stance before the steep and continuous crack climbing at the end of the pitch.
As we set up the rappel anchors, I said to Maurice,” Dude, what do you want to name it?” He thought for a second and said “Well, Ma’an, we’re both from Mississippi so let’s call it Mississippi Half Step!”
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From the top of the Half Step we noticed a steep rippling face on the formation across the gully toward Cynical Pinnacle. Maurice said,” Ma’an we gotta climb that!”
Maurice and I had been putting up some steep friction climbs over on Snake buttress in traditional, ground up, style.
This face was long, blank, and real steep. It had a number of sloping features that looked as though they might be stances that we could drill bolts from.
Once again the approach was blocked by large loose boulders and the ever present thorn bushes(A.P.B.s) so again we had our work cut out for us, just getting to the base of the climb.
For this climb we were armed with only a hammer, a hand drill, and 1.5”x1/4” expansion bolts.
It was our usual style on these type climbs to swap the lead after each bolt placement.
The climb was going just as we thought it would .We would delicately climb away from the safety of our last bolt placement making steep friction moves that were close to the point of repose. Each section ended with a thin and technical, mantle move. Once we made the mantle and gained our vertical balance, (using only the friction of the rubber of our (EB) climbing shoes against the granite), on one of those less steep bumps. We would then pull out the hand drill and hammer and start the long tedious process of drilling a hole in the granite face. We would then pound in the expansion bolt from the sloping stance.
After the third bolt, I climbed up a steep section of micro- flakes that ended in a mantle move at a difficulty of about 5.11. I drilled and hammered in bolt from the steep stance and then had Maurice lower me back to the base.
On Maurice’s try, a critical flake disintegrated while he was pulling through on it. We were so bummed because without that flake, our climb became a whole lot harder! We pulled the rope through our top bolt and tried to lead the section again and again. We each took several substantial pendulum falls and our finger tips were starting to bleed so we gave up it up and called it a day.
We swiftly skied the loose gravel mountain side down to the valley where we had some of our favorite beverage stashed in the icy river. We sat on the tail gate and enjoyed some much needed refreshment, and reflected on the day’s efforts. We absorbed the view of the Cathedral Spires as last rays of sun hit Cynical Pinnacle along with the sounds of the raging Platte River and the comradely of two best friends! We were well into our beverages and completely blissed out when were approached by a climber that appeared out of nowhere. He seemed friendly enough and looked thirsty. Maurice said Ma’an, you want a beer?” He accepted the offer so we shared the tail gate and our cold beer with him as we name dropped and swapped climbing stories. The conversation eventually turned to bolting. The guy said that he had been up at The Dome and he had been chopping the bolts on a route that had been placed on rappel. He stated that he intended to chop all the bolts in the Platte that had been placed on rappel! When Maurice heard this fellows bold statement he looked the guy in the eye and said, “Ma’an, I don’t Rap bolt, BUT, if I did, and you were to chop ANY of MY bolts, and I found out about it, I’d find out where you lived and slash your tires!” And, I personally believe, he meant it!
Maurice moved away soon after that first attempt and our climb was unfinished business. I vowed to wait until Maurice returned but I became impatient.
I enlisted the help of Noel Childs to work on the route with me. I was able to climb that section on my next try.
With the crux section climbed Noel was stoked to finish the pitch. He was bummed when I stated that I wanted to wait a couple of months until Maurice returned to Colorado to finish the pitch that we started. Noel was not pleased but he agreed reluctantly.
When Maurice did return we finished the first pitch in one push. We named the climb Mr. Mantle since there were so many wild mantle moves on that pitch.
The second pitch was steep but relatively moderate hand and fist crack that the late Catherine Freer and I did on a beautiful spring day not long before her tragic accident.
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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Jun 25, 2012 - 01:24am PT
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Great stories o man!
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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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Jun 25, 2012 - 03:12pm PT
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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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Jun 26, 2012 - 02:44pm PT
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Well the wonderful south swell has dropped of to near nothing and now wave sailing in my back yard is the only show in town.
I enjoyed a delightful solo sesh two days ago.
Yesterday my neighbor Tom and I rode some real gems until near dark.
I came in first and went home and put some beer in a cooler and went back to the beach and enjoyed a spectacular Maui sunset sitting on the log, talking story, and having an Ice clod PBR with Tom.
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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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Jun 27, 2012 - 03:13pm PT
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Check out this clip of one of our local boys towing Teahupoo, Tahiti and doing it justice! Then a week later he went wave sailing at Cloudbreak, Fiji.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Jun 27, 2012 - 10:48pm PT
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O-man this was a couple day'z ago some kinda small stuff.
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Peter Amend
climber
Visalia, CA
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Jun 28, 2012 - 02:43am PT
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warbler,
who says you can't climb in the rain? ;)
truth be told, i love the solitude that paddling out at sunrise brings, and the smell of sticky bumps in the morning. something about dolphins peeking up to say hi, and pelicans dive bombing the nearby school of fish.
also, it's much more acceptable to pee while surfing than climbing. that's surely a quick way to go "off belay".
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adam d
climber
CA
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Jun 28, 2012 - 01:08pm PT
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Looks like fun!
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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Jun 28, 2012 - 08:53pm PT
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BEAT IT SPONGER!!!
'85 marine biology summer internship, La Jolla.
Look at that set up!
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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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Jun 29, 2012 - 03:40pm PT
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Kazuma surfboards Hawaii
Tip#3 Great surfing revolves around a good bottom turn. Plain and simple, if you have a solid bottom turn, surfing becomes easy. A good bottom turn will take you from the bottom of the wave to the top in one continuous arc and when done correctly, you will accelerate from start to finish of the turn. This acceleration creates explosive surfing and will allow you to link together all your moves with speed and flow. Haven’t you ever wondered how these 100 lb groms can be so explosive and powerful? They all most certainly have a good bottom turn. Key points: 1) start your bottom turn early, don’t go too far down into the flat of the wave. Going down into the flat will take you out of the curve of the wave and you won’t be able to make it all the way back to the lip in one continuous arc. 2) Your weight has to be balanced between your feet, if anything a Little front foot weighted. 3) bend your knees and get LOW while putting weight on your toes.(or heel) This will get your board on it’s rail which will give you that nice long arc. 4) Don’t rush, a good bottom turn takes time. Let it flow and you will accelerate through the turn. 5) Don’t push too hard. If you are slowing down, you are probably pushing too hard. Soften up and you will gain speed and power. http://www.criticalbench.com/exercises/dumbbell-squat.htm Dumbbell squats are the best exercise to get your bottom turn stance dialed in. This is the correct position to be in during your bottom turn. I do these every other day to make that position feel natural and it helps keep me properly weighted and balanced over my board. Go out and try this and remember, don’t rush the bottom turn.
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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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Jun 30, 2012 - 04:22pm PT
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My favorite summer west side surf spot "Woody's" is the section of beach that is visible just in front of the bow if the ship.
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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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Once again you can't buy a decent wave on any side of this island.
Yesterday I drove my truck the 4.5 miles down the coast to Kanaha Beach Park and left it there with a cooler with refreshments in it.
I jumped on my cruiser bike and bucked the stiff 19-25 mph head wind back to my place in Kuau.
I then grabbed my 4.4m sail and 78ltr wave board and walked to my local launch and rigged.
I sailed solo down the coast taking my time taking in the dynamic view while dodging sea turtles and spooking flying fish while riding clean open ocean wind swell all the way down to Kanaha.
It was cool to be out on the ocean with just my rig and board shorts and nothing else.
It was fun having a beer and great conversation with my pals that were there before I loaded my kit and headed back home.
Today looks much the same so there's a good chance that i might just do another coast run today.
I'm STOKED by Glen James forecast for the next few days!
"There should be a new southwest swell during the day Monday…followed by a larger south-southwest swell Tuesday, both lasting for several days. This second SSW swell may prompt a high surf advisory into Thursday."
I'm not sure but I think that I am probably not working through this period.
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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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rincon
Trad climber
SoCal
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Lopez!
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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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SuperTopo on the Web
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Let us know!