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Paul
Trad climber
Muir Beach, CA
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Apr 20, 2006 - 04:01pm PT
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I suggest Dihedral Wall. I soloed it in Sept.2000. What a great climb! Plus, it gets little or no traffic. Forget Lurking Fear (It was my first el cap climb in '94) as a solo. LF has too much low angle crap after the traverse. The Prow is also a great route to solo.
Here is the report on Dihedral:
http://www.terragalleria.com/mountain/info/yosemite/dihedral-brunner.html
Paul
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Paul
Trad climber
Muir Beach, CA
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Apr 20, 2006 - 04:10pm PT
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Pete,
Great to hear that you will be doing Dihedral in May. We'll be watching you. I think the cave may be a bit wet, and make sure you don't eat the stashed food in the cave, since those tins are from the early 80's! I am interested to hear how the exit pitches will go (the true Dihedral finish). Bridwell told me it totally sucked. I dragged my stuff across Thanksgiving and up the W.Butt finish. I look forward to da scoop after you get off! We'll raise a micro brew toast to you as we float in the Merced.
Paul
Muir Beach, CA
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Apr 20, 2006 - 04:31pm PT
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I just read your post two posts above and thought, Oh! THAT Paul...
Cave? Forget that, mate. I'm going caving in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky this weekend, so I'll get plenty of wet caving. When we're on El Cap, we'll be roasting weenies over the manzanita campfire and enjoying watching the sunset.
As for the legit finish, it might otherwise be grim, except that Randy and I have Valley Giant 9" and 12" cams. Even if I weren't retired from free climbing, you wouldn't catch me trying to squeeze up some offwidth monstrosity. You can stuff that for a lark, mate.
Look for the Crab-O-Ledge, and give us a ring on Channel 2, sub 10. [Half of 4-20]
Cheers, bud. We'll do the whole photo essay thing again like I did for Tribal Rite. Randy's a real keener with the photos!
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Texplorer
Trad climber
Las Vegas
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Apr 20, 2006 - 04:57pm PT
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I soloed Zodiac late last summer. It was one of the coolest routes I've done on the big stone. I haven't done the Leaning Tower but I am sure that the Zod would be a big step up. I don't know what had been fixed this fall but as of last summer there still wasn't much fixed stuff.
I had just come off of a more difficult wall and thought the Zodiac would be a cruise. While its still only A2 there are some spicy sections. I placed 3-4 heads and a dozen pins or so. It went pretty fast for me but be ready for that sort of stuff.
Additional thoughts, it is a long way up to the base of zod. If you took 2 days for haul your stuff up to the base of the LT then you can imagine how bad the Zodiac humps will be.
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elcap-pics
climber
Crestline CA
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Apr 20, 2006 - 05:13pm PT
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yo... you should do the regular finish for the Dihedral and not the west buttress "walk off". It is not difficult and you can aid it down to 5.7 or so if you want. I did it in 92 and it is the way to go... plus if you don't then you don't get "credit" for doing the route!!! Whatever that means. The route now has bomber bolts and it is a nice line but the angle eases off after pitch 17 and you lose that big wall exposure. Also I have notice through the scope that there is a nice corner right above where you come onto T-giving ledge that goes straight up and may connect with the last pitch.... someone should give that a go as I don't think it has been done and it looks pretty cool and you could possibly gain El Cap immortality!!!...
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Apr 20, 2006 - 05:16pm PT
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I think I did something like 5 carrys of my solo kit to the Zod. I'd rather do more light ones then kill my back. I think I did 3 in one day...man I was beat!
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Mike Libecki
climber
the moment of now
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Apr 20, 2006 - 05:32pm PT
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I suggest just looking at the stone and letting the natural feeling of inspiraion, psyche, and enthusiasm decide. Then the experience will be nothing but positive. Maybe something easier will call, maybe something more intense. Regardless of shuttling, that is the easy part.
Universal power rules all.
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Paul
Trad climber
Muir Beach, CA
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Apr 21, 2006 - 08:17am PT
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Soloing a big wall is such an intense experience. So, Mike shares good advice, take a look at the variety out there (not just the obvious) and see what inspires you. It may be something other than El Cap. Just as long as it inspires you.
I recommend avoiding the more popular routes due to the circus atmosphere. In the end, no one cares about you soloing a big wall. Not your dog or your pet rat. Well, okay, we think it's great, but we're a bunch of manky skalleywags full of shenanigans. Dig deep and enjoy the whole experience.
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Holdplease2
Big Wall climber
Yosemite area
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Apr 21, 2006 - 08:31am PT
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The easiest route is probably the one you think is special and actually want to summit.
The hardest route is probably the one you get on because you think it will be easy.
-Kate.
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fareastclimber
Trad climber
Hong Kong & Wales
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Apr 21, 2006 - 08:52am PT
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Hat's off to one of Supertopo's most honest and inspirational threads.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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[buuuuurp]
Copied from the thread asking about this thread:
Hey Capt. Kirk,
Lunar Eclipse is a pretty good route, a bit easier than Zed-Em. It's a bit of bother hauling the stuff up the ledge at the top of 4 - variously known as Lady Bug Ledge and Cats and Frogs Ledge - so be sure to have your Far End Hauler set up. I recall it having pretty good rock for the most part. At one point on BUBS I was jugging or rapping or something, and found myself over a memorable section, in the area I waited out a two-day storm. Definitely the easier way out the Devil's Brow, and you hit a kick-ass ledge just before you're on Zodiac. It probably hasn't been soloed that much, either.
Zed-Em is pretty classic, and there are some places where you can take a pretty big whipper if you blow it. I've seen some sixty-footers off the pitch leading up to the Nine O'Clock Roof. Still some loose rock in places, though.
The best route in that part of the wall I think is The Shortest Straw - which I found an easier solo than Zed-Em. But then, I went up Zenyatta off the couch, whereas when I climbed the Straw, it was after having just climbing another wall so I was warmed up and in form.
If you've never soloed El Cap, though, you might wanna start on something a little more tame, like say the Trip. Just remember to clip all those fixed heads, and don't leave any blood on the rock, eh?
Are you coming this fall?
Cheers,
Pete
P.S. If you are planning to solo El Cap, it can be a good idea to tell the world here of your intention to do so, as it could make you less likely to chicken out. It could also be a bad idea, too.
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Captain...or Skully
Big Wall climber
up Yonder (someplace else)
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Could go either way...'preciate the heads up, Pete...we'll see how it goes, how the wind blows, who knows?
I'll be in touch. May! Locked in till then(sux)...
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Captain...or Skully
Big Wall climber
up Yonder (someplace else)
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Hey, Pete!........Yo, Crabbie, get yo masta'........
Pete. Hi.
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Pine Line
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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Apr 17, 2013 - 02:07pm PT
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What are some thoughts on a New Dawn solo? Does it get done as a solo much?
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Apr 17, 2013 - 04:39pm PT
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Libecki Bump!
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 17, 2013 - 11:28pm PT
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wow - bump from the past. Well, I never did do the solo. Maybe its time to reconsider - though now I'm 58 1/2 years, I'm thinking maybe I ought to wait until I reach 60 do to my first EC route. :) that might be a record.
Actually, I've been mostly out of the climbing thing the last few years. I spent last year riding my bicycle from San Fran to Guatemala and Cancun. Was planning on continuing further south to Patagonia this year but a chronically inflamed prostrate has forced me off my bike. damn. So I'm looking for another adventure. Perhaps its an EC year. :) But in the meantime I sold my ledge and gave half my rack to my daughter so I'd be a bit shy on gear. We'll see. Thanks all for all the advice. Learned a lot even re-reading it. I think if I solo, it will be LF. Just sounds right to me. I'm definitely not a hard man and don't enjoy too much stress. By the way, I'm not really a total newby. First went rock climbing with my dad in 1964. First came to the valley in '77. Did SF Washington column, NWF Half Dome, and the Prow (nail up in those days) all in the late '70s. Then got out of the game for nearly 20 years. Started up again in early 2000s with a solo of SF Washington, solo of liberty crack up in the north cascades, and a solo of Leaning Tower. Since then I've done WFLT again with a partner, Moonlight Buttress and half of Half dome. But I have always been slow and cautious. That's just me. I've even racked up and fixed lines on El Cap maybe 3 or 4 times now over the last 35 years, but something always stops me. Sprained ankle, storm, and partner bails. ha I'll get it one day. thanks all
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WBraun
climber
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Apr 17, 2013 - 11:32pm PT
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El Cap is not that important anyways.
So many of us have done it.
And look where it got us.
We're all still on the ground ......
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