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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Somewhere I have photo of one, extendo, extrudo hex that lives in the Fish shop when it's not out climbing, maybe Russ will post a shot (like that's likely....)
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Thorgon
Big Wall climber
Sedro Woolley, WA
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Thanks again Doug, great background! It is all in the details and I enjoy hearing of the history of gear I have used to keep my rear-end out of harms way! LOL
This is the set I used regularly in the 80's!
Thor
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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Fresh from the source... the legendary Fish hex...looks like a #8
Having a beer...
And a shot of it in action...
Credit: Russ W Photos
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Thorgon
Big Wall climber
Sedro Woolley, WA
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Steel Monkey, You are awesome! That is the Baddest Hex ever!!!
Thor
P.P.S. Someone needs to "pop the top" on that Natural Light!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Very cool long hex! Definitely the modern thin wall extruded stock. Any shots of the heavier symetrical stock that would have predated the Tube Chock? The offset Hexentric and Tube Chock came out in the same year, 1973.
I bet the Fish swam away with a whole length of that stock and has a selection stashed in the armory. 8" sweet!
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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I shoulda know you'd get that image out before I got home and have to mine my harddrive...
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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No sweat JB - I had help. :-)
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richross
Trad climber
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Big pro's the way to go!
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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A little follow up to the big hex pics... Russ says this is the biggest chock in his arsenal and the biggest one he's ever seen. Around 37"
Sorta looks like a pipe, don't it?
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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I dug out a couple of the original tube chocks Leif Patterson and I made for the Pipeline route at Squamish in 1966. There are two variants, one of each shown in the two photos below.
The smaller one (with the oval carabiner) was cut from an old television antenna. This stock is less than 1/8" thick, and the tubes are about 1-1/4" in outside diameter. The first time we used them we found they had a tendency to deform and bend too much for our liking, so we developed the Mark II model. These were made of heavier stock, obtained from MH's father, I think, about 1/8" thick with an outside diameter of about 1-5/8". They were much better, but weight 7-8 oz. each, compared with about 3 oz. for the lightweight model.
We cut the pipe into sundry lengths, from about 6", I believe, to about 9". What's shown are a 7-1'2" and 8" model. We cut the stock on an angle, so we could use them cam-fashion. And we cut a hole right through the pipe fairly close to one end, again to help with the camming action.
In use, we found we wanted to pound on them so they were well and truly in place. You can see the hammer marks particularly well on the big tube. Indeed, we couldn't get some of them out - they stayed there for some years, might still be there for all I know. In an earlier post I showed the tubes in use on the FA of the route.
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bmacd
climber
Relic Hominid
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whats the breaking strength on those silk curtain tassels used to sling them with Tricouni ?
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Tricouni's photo of the FA of Pipeline, in 1966. (Posted upthread.)
Looks kind of wintry - although it's a spot that doesn't get a lot of sun.
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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whats the breaking strength on those silk curtain tassels used to sling them with Tricouni ?
bmacd, I'm not sure. The light grey stuff is braided nylon, 1/4". It's not climbing grade, I probably got it from a marine-supply place, as many of us got similar stuff for prussik slings and such. Breaking strength is probably 1000 lbs. or so. The reddish brown stuff is weird, very stiff, laid synthetic, about 1/8" to 3/16" in diameter. I had 100 feet of this around for years. It might have been bought by my parents at a garden-supply shop. It was too stiff for most climbing use. Breaking strength? At a guess, 600 lbs.
But we used the pipes for aid; we weren't good enough to free the thing; we didn't know how long the pitch was; and we were kind of spooked by the whole thing.
Mighty: it was a bit wintry. More on that later.
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bmacd
climber
Relic Hominid
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we were kind of spooked by the whole thing. No doubt good sir ...
Some classic accounts can be found on the net regarding the Pipeline spook factor.
here is one sample:
http://www3.telus.net/public/7394243/climbing/offwidths/episode5.html
I decided to do some reconnaissance by rappelling down a neighbouring route. I had intended to measure the true width of the crack; unfortunately I dropped my tape measure from the last pitch of another route. I swung over the dramatic edge of the first rappel and, to my utter disbelief, I found somebody on the crux of the route! At the stage that I found him, our brave soul had resorted to aid, and I watched with horror as he weighted a completely tipped out Camelot #5 whilst placing a #3 Big Bro. This lasted until his Camelot no longer fit. Then he swapped his two Big Bros. I decided that his heavy titanium balls were almost certainly offset by his Styrofoam cerebrum, but he made it up, making him more of a man than you, or me, or any of our friends.
Climbing has always been about getting to places where others are not. Pipeline has become the ultimate expression of this desire. In many ways I am fueled by a desire to refute--disprove even--the overwhelming belief that Pipeline is "another man's route". I have spent so long trying to find a person who has done the route specifically because I yearn for some encouragement; I need to believe that I can do it. It is 5 parts horrifying, 5 parts inspiring that I could become that person for others. If I can get my ass up, perhaps I can convince my friends that they could do the same.
Here's to hoping. I'll keep you posted.
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Chief
climber
The NW edge of The Hudson Bay
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bump for this thread, wide cracks, big cams and having big enough nuts for the job.
Also bump for Greg's on sight first free ascent of Pipeloads, sans cord back in 82?
I'll never forget his rationale, "I could see the crack was big enough to get my knee in so I knew I'd be fine".
Talk about having sufficient "natural wide gear" that day!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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"Let's go throw a little meat at the crack," as Scott Baxter used to say.
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Here's the rest of the Pipeline FA story.... if anyone cares...
Leif Patterson and I left Vancouver one late winter morning with an eye to doing the big, obvious, slibhtly overhanging crack on the Squaw at Squamish. It was a truly beautiful morning: blue sky, crisp and cool. By the time we got to Squamish it was still clear and blue, but it was obvious that it had snowed overnight and a couple of inches of fresh, wet snow covered the ledges and much of the Apron. I wasn't totally enthusiastic about the conditions, but Leif said, "well, let's just walk up to the base and have a look."
So we put on boots, rain pants and anoraks (the bush was soaking). We got to the base of what looked like a reasonable line and saw that the snow was melting from the big slab a few pitches below the offwidth. So we peeled off the raingear, roped up, and swapped leads up the bottom two or three pitches. Climbing was pretty easy -- it had to be, with everything covered with wet snow or else soaking wet. We were getting close to the serious stuff, and it looked as if the sun was going to hit the slabs soon and warm us up. Keep going! From a good tree platform, we scrambled right to a bombproof, and dry, tree belay. The corner above was really wet and dripping, so I put the yellow rainpants and anorak back on for this lead (see photo).
I did this about 50% aid, 50% free (yes, I know, I know: it's all free, but you do it with full rainsuit and mountain boots!). In the photo, I'm standing on a snag in the crack. The white stuff on the "horn" of the snag is snow, and you can see more snow shining in the sun just poking over the top of the wall. So yes, Anders, it was wintry.
Anyways, I thrashed up the corner and over the lip onto a narrow, sloping ramp that gradually curled up into the offwidth. I'd been wearing army surplus wool gloves, but even so my fingers were really, really cold. I realized we weren't going any farther that day, but Leif wanted to see. So up he came and we both sort of huddled in the basal part of the offwith and looked up. That's where the pipe idea came from: it was way too wide for any wooden wedges or bongs. We couldn't get any trustworthy pro in. So we pounded in a bolt and rapped off.
After a few weeks we had the first batch of pipes/tubes made - the thin ones. We sucked Barry Hagen into the project, and on a warm, sunny spring day up we went. Unfortunately, we soon realized that we'd underestimated the width of the crack. Most of the pipes were too short and probably too weak to do the job. So off we went, leaving a fixed rope. Over the next few weeks, Leif and I made the Mark II pipes from tube scrounged from Anders' father.
The day of the final ascent was sunny. Up the fixed rope the three of us went (see photo). We all had a go at leading the crack, placing the pipes and worrying about the top one pulling and all of them zippering out - most of them weren't that stable. That's why we placed a protection bolt about half way up; I don't know if it's still there or not. Leif led the upper half, from the bolt to the top. Our 150-foot rope was a bit too short, so the second person had to start simul-climbing while Leif was finishing off the last 10 feet or so.
Then we packed up the gear and walked down to the car.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Thanks for sharing the sporting tale, Triconi!
Sometimes too thin just won't cut it!
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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It was graded 5.5, A2 in Glenn's 1967 guide to climbing at Squamish. The description:
Start about 100 feet left of a huge, left-facing corner about 100 yards south of Kiddie Corner. Climb an obvious and crack line for 2 leads to a good tree platform (free, only a few moves are 5.5). Traverse right on a slabby ramp, then climb 50 feet of more broken rock to a very solid, gnarled tree. Nail a 40 foot overhanging corner past a roof and climb (5.5) the jam crack beyond to 2 belay bolts.
The last lead is 170 feet long and requires hardware to fit the 6 1/2 inch to 8 inch crack. The first ascent party used 1 1/4 inch diameter aluminum pipe sawed into assorted lengths; about 30 pipes are needed. There is one bolt in place just beneath the overhang and good belay trees at the end of the route.
In addition to the pipes. take a selection of 15 angles up to 2 inches, a few horizontals, a couple of large bongs, and a 200 foot rope. The route will take one day. From the 2 belay bolts it is possible to rappel directly down, using 2 ropes.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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In Gordie Smaill's (edit) 1975 guide, Pipeline was graded 5.5 A2 or 5.10 incomplete.
Start 100 feet left of a huge left facing corner about 100 yards south of Kiddie Corner. Free obvious bush and cracks for two leads to a tree ledge. Traverse right on a ramp then up 50 feet past broken rock to a twisted tree. Free an overhanging corner and jam to belay bolts. The original ascent used pipes to aid this next long lead to top. A cloud of 5.10 or 5.11 surrounds this last bit. 25 inch arms appear to be mandatory here. Protection in this offsize crack is good since some pipes have been left in along with a bolt. This strongly suggests that someone had either made a second ascent, using less aid, or had tried to do it free, and got at least to the base of the big crack. There were several good offwidths climbers around then, including Gordie himself, Al Givler, Steve Sutton, and Hugh Burton.
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