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Hawkeye
climber
State of Mine
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Aug 25, 2010 - 11:22pm PT
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kris,
good job.
maybe that lycra was the deciding factor!
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
the crowd MUST BE MOCKED...Mocked I tell you.
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dig this thread. some nice pics.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Slab routes get put up by low life degenerates who have little regard for themselves or others. That said.....my hat's off to them, it's something you won't catch me doing!
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ec
climber
ca
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how do slab routes get put up?
You say that you have climbed some. That's a start. However, you must climb with the mindset of the FAist; don't just clip & go.
Otherwise, if you have to ask, you may never know.
If you see a line you want to climb, you'll figure it out.
It's not rocket science.
 ec, lowlife degenerate
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Another lowlife degenerate checking in…
Hey Donini, when are you going to come up to Tuolumne to climb some moderate slabs with us? You can talk politics with a conservative atheist gun-nut and we can drink malt liquor out of a can! I’ll teach you how to place bolts quickly and you can teach me how to place a #3 Camalot! Whaddaya say? : )
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
the crowd MUST BE MOCKED...Mocked I tell you.
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hahaha, nice!
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Michelle
Trad climber
the f*#king peninsula.
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Tami comes up with the awesomest shit!
I followed a friend on a project of his, first part was slab. I wasnt leading and was afraid.
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ec
climber
ca
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Bleach works for the NHRA...
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KabalaArch
Trad climber
Starlite, California
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Mr. Breedlove-
Then you look for features and bolt stances. Stay away...
I may speak for a silent majority when I testify that Freewheeling is likely one of the most stellar 'slabs' I've been lucky enough to experience. I used my rest days to walk up there, just to look at it and dream. Urmas made the dream real for me, with his lead...I never harbored any illusions about my ability to on-sight it.
Anyhow, before too much more poetry comes our question - if you should happen to read this humble post: Wherefore Art Thou "Freewheeling?" Meaning - how did you and your able partners agree upon such the route name?
Urmas and I've speculated. Please help us lay the question to rest. And, thank you for your laconic and lean tale of your team's choice of the line in the 1st place. To think that for all of these years I've naturally assumed Quicksilver was the 1st down (up, I mean).
You may be assured that in all the years I've climbed (at my very best) on MCA, since your FA, I have never seen anyone one it. Not from El Cap Meadow, either when taking a tourist breather.
I'd like to post back to the OP...but that's a separate dialogue. Here, I'm specifically interested to learn about the origins of the name chosen to christen the experience of diorite, glassy quartz crystals, orange monzonite?
You know, within the context of the original and historic Big Wall - style FA (and probably last :=) of the North Face of Middle Cathedral, it might be argued that your team's line of strength, which leads up to what I think was the FA line of the upper half of MC's N.Face, could justly be regarded as the <Direct North Face of Middle Cathedral Rock>
Just sayin'
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wilbeer
Mountain climber
honeoye falls,ny,sawdust does not work like chalk
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here in the adirondacks,there are lots of slabs,big slide,adk
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KabalaArch
Trad climber
Starlite, California
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None of the routes we put up there were rap bolted.
I'll repeat a prior post which goes to the OP. And with no disrepect to Mr. Blitzo...I guess I'm showing my age when I remember the hero of this tall tale was rightly proud of his hand drill bit holder, so much deployed that its crown was mushroomed from a thousand thousand hammer blows that the sides of its shaft resembled a partially peeled banana; its length about 3/4's of its new and original state.
In fact, Sport glacier polished slabs have been also developed in the Mammoth/Red's Meadow drainage of the San Joaquin, clearly top down Bosch, but such rightous fun to play on a miniature analogue of, say, the South Flank of Daff. "Black Gold" was the expression used to describe the alternating black streaks delineating otherwise flawless sheets of gold polish, flashing in the October afternoon sun at Trenchtown. A 2 mile, trailess xc climb of, maybe, less than a thousand foot vertical, puts these baker's dozen of + into, I think, technically, designated Wilderness area. Unless times have changed recently, you may be assured of having the entire dome to yourselves.
Of course, there is a little trick needed to avoid having to ride the otherwise mandatory Red's Meadow shuttle bus, so as to be able to take your own ride down canyon. Very important, since chances are good that you won't be back at the trailhead until twilight, after the shuttle service ends for the day.
But, I digress, usual. Was going to reiterate the legend of Scottie Burk, casting off on his FA of The Token on GPA, and stopping in the middle of 5.11- sequences to hand drill for 30 -45 minutes. About the flush-set violet, 1" wide, quartz crystal dike which gives a general idea of the line, but offers few if any practicable, usable, climbing features as it drops in a plumb line from the shared stances of Ephemeral Clog Dance, stage right, and Chiropodist's Shop, to your left.
We'd done the Clog Dance a bit earlier in the season; the Shop just after sundown on a humid and sweltering July - had a look at the top of the dike; and, as we were to be informed later, were certainly not the 1st to boulder around at the dike's base at grade. Scott was to sink the 1st of 4 bolts that same afternoon of the Shop.
Comes the dawn, and it's easily 95 degrees in the blinding glare of the vertical desert.
Scott, in his EBs and 2" webbing "harness"; Scott took a fall. From about 120 feet, and runnout My God for sixty and counting.
nOObs, it's often important to belay from a standing position. ATC's were 15 years off; this was a classic Hip Belay...cum Running Belay as your author took off running down the talus.
Arrested (citizen's)Scott 10 feet above what would have otherwise been his gravesite crater. My wife was present, and witnessed our display of our "safe" Sport.
Soo....
Scottie girded his loins, spit in his palms, and reclimbed to his high point. And proceeded to drill the last of the 4 bolts on this 60 meter slab FA. An instant classic, Reid's Valley Guide has The Token listed right up front, along with other introductory classic climbs for newly arrived visiting climbers.
Anyway...that's one way slab routes are established. I suppose it could have been rap bolted, from the guardrail at the Glacier Point Official Scenic Overlook above like 3,000'.
_The End_
....thank goodness
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Michelle
Trad climber
the f*#king peninsula.
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like this.
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Mr. Kabala,
So, now I know who hung the moniker on our Direttissima per Ora Dove.
Here is the belated FA trip report: http://www.supertopo.com/tr/Freewheeling-La-Direttissima-per-Ora-Dove-in-b-w-Oct-1973/t10938n.html
My initial reaction to the name was that "Quicksilver" is the best name for those routes--maybe Kevin coined that one also, conveying both the sense of the climbing and the scattered silver in the rock. But "Freewheeling" is a good name, even if it conjures in my mind something too slick combined with the acceleration of gravity.
In any case, I am glad you liked the climb. We had a blast.
Best,
Roger
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Wilbeer, what kind of fertilizer did you use? We're having trouble getting things to grow in a rocky part of our garden.
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zBrown
Ice climber
chingadero de chula vista
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I'm not sure, but how about the opposite of the way they get put down.
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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YES, the question has been answered in this thread. It is silly if the poster really has no clue and just flat out stupid if he does. Has he ever done a slab route?
1. Look at a slab and desire to climb it.
2. Look for a line of features, visualize places to stop and place bolts. Walk around the base, throw gear down, spread it out, engage in various pre-climbing rituals. OK, Tie in, rack up (ask your friends about what to bring) etc. Start climbing. Hopefully places to stop and drill actually appear while leading. Stop and drill. Clip and go.
3. Repeat ad nauseum.
4. Get to top and find your way to the base as needed.
5. Drink beer and/or go home.
6. Repeat week after week as needed by your level of obsession.
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Blitzo nailed it even more succinctly than I (sp?).
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Kevin, in 1973, carefree was an informal meaning of Freewheeling—I still have an old dictionary.
Its formal meaning comes from mechanical engineering: freewheeling occurs when the driven shaft rotates faster than the driveshaft. This occurs on bicycles when the rider holds his or her feet still, no longer pushing the pedals, or going downhill in an automobile with a manual transmission without engaging the clutch where the wheels want to drive the engine.
Or, in other words, when you are moving faster than you are thinking.
Jim, it sounds like you might have been up on Moss face? Did you ever read Roper's first ascent write-up? It is pretty funny. I cannot image why Kor would have even wanted to do its second and last ascent.
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KabalaArch
Trad climber
Starlite, California
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Dear Roger and Kevin-
Thank you for your direct and prompt replies.
While I didn't pick up on the Dylan ref, Urmas and I arrived at 2 epistimologies:
Yes, you are moving (up)faster than you are thinking. Which led us to speculate that you FAists, and those to follow, were just so damn hot that everything clicked before you had a chance to think twice about it.
Other theory: there's this pure friction move, right above the crystal band. There's a bolt pretty much at your feet, for a welcome change. Won't speak to the Leader's performance on this particular move, which is really just another crux of endless cruxii.
But when I High Stepped what had the aclivity and texture of a bowling ball, I was so barely anythings that I remember free flailing first one arm, then another, as if on a high wire, to maintain my balance...with just one foot in contact with the stone. Yeah, I didn't part company with the stone, but I was frozen in time for a brief eternity before I could move left.
Only to grease off a 3rd Class mantle lefter and higher.
I was definitely "Freewheeling" with my flippers at that point.
On another personal note, after my laminectomy, I finally chased my dream to the Fisher's; Moab's Windgate Towers (not much interested in Indian Ck)...for nearly a decade after decamping the Valley. Freewheeling was my first reintroduction.
You know, There's No Place like Home. I humbly submit that your climb ascends one of the finest lines, on what is arguably the finest stone, ITW.
Not so humbly, I wouldn't be caught dead on a free climb on the N side of the Valley, with a few exceptions. Most of the stone there is much too open-grained, for face.
Now, if, at my age, I could only sample Black Primo and Jigsaw, I'd die a happy camper.
Respectfully,
_Stephen
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wilbeer
Mountain climber
honeoye falls,ny,sawdust does not work like chalk
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no fertilizer,we are green climbers here,not many bolts,really unlike you guys.
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