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Eric Beck
Sport climber
Bishop, California
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Jan 30, 2007 - 07:30pm PT
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Several years ago in Joshua Tree, Bridwell mentioned that "Mercifully, offwidths have gone out of vogue."
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KP Ariza
climber
SCC
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Jan 30, 2007 - 10:44pm PT
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Grug, liebacking Death Crack may not save face but it'll save ya some skin-
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Jan 30, 2007 - 11:02pm PT
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So you can lieback Death Crack? Overhanging fist to just a bit bigger than fist is what I vaguely recall from my one attempt, probably in 1977. I wonder if it gets done much anymore?
-grug
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Jan 30, 2007 - 11:08pm PT
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I last climbed (death Crack) Summer '99. My three partners all liebacked it. I gave them much sh#t, in a nice way.
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Mimi
climber
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Jan 30, 2007 - 11:24pm PT
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"Me and Dale bard did the FA of burner, not to many people do it any more Grug, I wonder why, actually I don't blame them."
Werner, you are so darned cute.
Something about offwidths and the men that climb them. Ooooaaahhh! Where's the calendar?
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Jan 30, 2007 - 11:31pm PT
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Now there is a project for a publisher that needs to lose money!
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Jan 30, 2007 - 11:33pm PT
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Yeah Mimi. I too very much liked that line from Werner
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Mimi
climber
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Jan 31, 2007 - 12:26am PT
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I bet more than just the ladies would buy an offwidth climbing calendar.
What are the top thirteen NA wide cracks? Break it down by grade if you like.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Jan 31, 2007 - 08:03am PT
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I'll bite on this one and suggest one obvious standout, (haven't done it) Excaliber. Two others come to mind; Basket Case in Yosemite and Air Voyage in the Black Canyon.
The above routes are all multipitch affairs. For a single pitch of offwidth, how about Lucille, first done by Jaybro.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Jan 31, 2007 - 06:10pm PT
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Likely someone, but not me, I failed on my attempt. I'm pretty sure Leroy told me Rick Piggot did it, though maybe that was just an account of an attempt. I talked to Rick later about the Owl (he did it) and forgot to ask about EE. There was a thread here that addressed this a while back.
Leroy?
Rick? - does he use a computer?
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WBraun
climber
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Jan 31, 2007 - 08:36pm PT
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Ivo said Potter has done the Elephants Eliminate.
I failed also. I made it to the lip twice and failed there.
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Mimi
climber
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Jan 31, 2007 - 10:52pm PT
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That is such a neat formation. Thanks Walleye.
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Leroy
climber
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EE. is a handcrack.I,m pretty sure Rick told me he didnt do it.Its basically along reach for a figer jam at the lip.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Dang!I wish you'd showed me that move when we were there!
Glad you haven't lost your sense of humor, Dick.
Thanks for the update on the rick thing I've been misquoting for years, though.
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Cuckawalla
Trad climber
Grand Junction, CO
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Great topic. Coming from Grand Junction, CO I have been trying to get all the sand stone offwidth I can handle. When it gets cold around here offwidths become the style for us. Here is a picture or two of Tuesday's escapades up Oliver Perry Smith Buttress. Awesome climb. Apparently Charlie Fowler had the second ascent of this climb. For Carrying Gear, I sometimes girth hitch a sling to my harness and then clip it to a point on my gear sling so that when I get to squeezes or chimneys I can throw off the sling and let it dangle between my legs. Then hoist it up when I need to place.
cheers,
Jesse
And my Buddy Matt trying to get his way up a climb in Escalante Canyon.
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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When Pratt and I did both left and right side of Reed's one day, he had me lead both crux cracks, I found those very enjoyable but very different in nature -- left side has left side of body in, and right side has right side of body in, and left side involves the strange heel-toe stuff, while right side is more a flare leading to a cross-pressure move at the top. Ahab I found very easy, for some reason, but Pratt said it was very hard for him, because his feet were small and didn't heel-toe there very well. The last pitch of Twilight Zone is not so difficult as a bit deceptive and possibly dangerous. I recall going up, not thinking it too hard, then making a move that was harder than it looked, yet I hadn't put much or any pro in. It tricks you that way, if I recall from so long ago. If you simply put something in, anticipating a little crux section, then that little move isn't so bad. We always did Generator Crack as one of the first warmups, when arriving in the Valley, to get into the feel of off-widths, and facing both ways (I think facing left was more difficult). When I led the Left Side of Slack, with Higgins, I made a lieback move at the crux and probably eliminated the hard off-width move. One might not think it would be possible to lieback there, but it felt fine. I have led the East Chimney of Rixon's several times and always am amazed Royal did that way back when. I point out in my history of free climbing that it was the first actual 5.10 in the Valley, rated by mistake 5.9 at first. Royal did a scary lieback and, at some point, in the middle of the overhanging section, swung into an offwidth position with his right side in -- a really bold thing back then, no chalk, stiff Spiders for shoes... I think all of these cracks depend, to some degree and after a certain point, on each person's size. Everything fits differently for different people. I did one off-width I thought was 5.11, but my partner, thinner than I squeezed into it and had little trouble. I was doing horrid cross-pressure on the outside, with nothing much to hold onto. Another crack I know of allows one with a long arm to get a key finger hold inside and crank right over the crux. Etc. etc. Sacherer was really skillful, but he was also thin. On something like the Right Side of Hourglass I wonder if wasn't able to somewhat fit into it. I tried that route once and found my chest didn't want to fit at all, and I wasn't in good enough shape, I guess, at the time to risk climbing all the way up that more or less on the outside. I saved it for a rainy day. By the way, I guess I didn't know there was a difficult offwidth on Left Side of Hour Glass. I thought it was a wild undercling, so that's interesting to know. Have you ever heard the story of Barry Bates "free-soloing" the Left Side of the Slack? Well not exactly. He told me he went up on the crux pitch and, at the fixed piton, accidentally clipped in the haul rope instead of the lead rope, and well above all the hard moves realized what he'd done... I loved bouldering with him, a really fine person. By the way, Pratt did Twilight Zone without any of the modern big bongs, big-pros, cams, clappers, whatever, one of the great leads of all time, in my estimation.
Pat Ament
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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I always felt on Crack of Fear, which I did something like 15 times, that my best pro was the shape I was in, and my head -- where it was at. I never did believe in trying to protect runout cracks with tube chocks or big friends, etc., because really they get in the way but also degrade the whole sense of these off-widths. On the other hand, a point of pro now and then is wise and feels very good. No sense in killing oneself, At the same time, though, one should at least somewhat respect any given achievement. I mean, I'm sure many now have gone up to "repeat" Pratt's Twilight Zone and made it well protected with all sorts of big things, but somehow it isn't the same climb. It's another climb, a better-protected climb. As long as someone knows that and doesn't feel they repeated Pratt's route, that's all ok. It's a way of preserving our heritage, to respect those whose shoulders we're standing on to see the horizons of today... The way Higgins always hated bolts, I kind of hated those big protection devices to reduce the difficulties of these incredible psychological masterpieces...
Pat
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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One of the most incredible things I ever witnessed was the day Henry Barber led Twilight Zone. I've never seen an off-width climbed so easily and with such mastery. I had a bad case of the flu that day and was trying to keep from passing out even on the approach, but I held the rope as he led swiftly and gracefully up. He used only a point or possibly two of pro on the crux off-width. He rappelled down to me over the big chimney to the left, and the rope got stuck. He free soloed then the wall to the left (can't think of the name of that route right now) and fixed the rope so it would pull, then rappelled again. Henry was bad, in the true sense of the word great.
Pat
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Elevator Shaft 5.8 is to the left of Twilight Zone....
Jaybro told an interesting Henry Barber story last weekend, also concerning offwidth... (actually didn't check to see if he posted it above).
I agree with Pat that the climbs with modern gear are very different then they were when first done. On the otherhand, the climbs are hard enough (at least for me) that I would be happy, as a duffer, to get up them. It is not a given that I will even if I have all the advantages.
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Rick L
Trad climber
El Dorado Hills, CA
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Chuckawalla-
You post was sure a blast from the past. I did the first ascent in 1972 with my friend and roommate at Berkeley, Tom Kaufman, whose family lived in Grand Junction. I had recently read an article about the Olivery Perry-Smith and his exploits on Dresden sandstone during the early 1900's. For some reason, his amazing accomplishments were virtually unknown in American climbing history. Anyway, we thought it might be nice to name the climb after him as a tip of the hat.
We did the climb in three pitches. A very short first pitch ending in a chimney, I think. The second pitch was the crux. I remember chinmneying out horizontally and up into an off-width. We had only a few bongs but the crack was too wide. Once committed to the OW,I recall being a bit disappointed when the right hand edge grew rounded the highter I got. No bolts were placed on that pitch. Years later, when Eric Bjornstad published "Desert Rock" he reported the second ascent as having occurred 15 years later and the topo showed a number of bolts on the off-width pitch. I don't have any idea who placed them or when. On the last pitch, I placed a star drive-in about mid pitch. Turned out to be worthless as it came part way out when I tugged on the 'biners after clipping in. As I recall, the last bit of rock is like rotten, stacked newspapers. I spent a long moment looking at the final sequence. I was very glad to wrap a hand around the trunk of a little pine at the rim. Colorado National Monument is a great place- I miss the sights, smells and the quiet of the desert.
Do you have any photos that show the entire climb? It's funny, in my mind's eye, I would not have recognized the photos as being the climb we did.
Thanks
Rick
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