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thebleeder
Trad climber
utah
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Aug 30, 2003 - 05:52pm PT
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ammon wrote:
"We all went left instead of going out right (a 5.6 variation). The last part was a slab rated 5.4 that felt like 5.10, in the downpour. My buddy got stuck on a manzanita tree and held on for dear life while hurricane winds whipped over the top of us."
hahahahaha! that guy musta been a total WEINER!!
i'll never forget that day, bro. i was actually pretty calm on that little tree, i took some photos of the sunset and of myself just for kicks. i just knew it was DEATH to try and stick to that wet slab.
ha. good times.
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dave
climber
Oceanside
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Had a friend who just soloed, onsight, car to car: East Face of Whitney, Mithral Dihedral AND Fish Hook arete in a day! Pretty impressive I thought.
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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An interesting and terrifying thing to remember is the year 1972 in Yosemite. As Werner will attest, this was the year everyone decided to change over to nuts, and the nuts back then were crap. This was a year or so before the modern hex (polycentric) was invented. The first ones (true hexcentrics) didn´t work in parallel cracks at all. The effect was that on certain routes you were basically free soling, or at any rate, you could arrange such little pro that it amounted to the same thing.
I recall the Left Side and Center Routes on Absolutely Free had nothing that would have held a fall. Twilight Zone, and the Left Side of the Slack were also pretty much unprotected with the old gear, as were huge sections of both routes on the Hourglass. A lot of the off width stuff you just had to hope you didn´t pop on. I remember doing the Edge of Night and the only pro I got in on the whole pitch was the bolt. It was that way for everyone -- all ten of us.
I can remember doing the center route of the Slack with Werner and Luke and not being able to get a single nut in till the chimney, and the climb was over by then.
1972 was the scariest time in my entire climbing career. Going up on Middle Cathedral with no pitons was basically crazy, but we did it because we were 18 and thought we´d never die. Unfortunately, a few of us did.
JL
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Roger Breedlove
Trad climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Hi John:
We didn't know that we didn't have protection. We just knew not to fall. Pretty much nobody did. You can add Ahab to your list.
Best, Roger
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Hey, Roger--
Great to read your voice. That list would be very long if someone were to rack their brain and jot down all the old hairball climbs (pre camming devices). Ahab was certainly one of them, likewise the Left Side of the Cookie, Vendetta, Doom, Leverage, Final Exam 2nd pitch, Goldrush, Peter Left, Basket Case, Mother´s Lament, and on and on. You simply didn´t get up on those climbs unless you were absolutely sure you wouldn´t fall. I suspect having some experience with this kind of work led some to venture into free soloing, since in a basic and real way there wasn´t much difference. What´s really amazing is that not one of the guys I knew who were living in Camp 4 ever grounded out on any of these climbs. I have no explanation for this at all.
JL
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Roger Breedlove
Trad climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Hi John:
Good to hear from you, too. It has been the full 30 years, but somehow, it still seems pretty fresh.
I agree with you on the high number of climbs that were essentially unprotected--cracks and Middle face climbs--and I don't recall anyone taking a serious fall. But even without good protection, we roped up any way and, I for one, without regard to the run-out or the risk of a ground fall, always insisted on the belay. Wunsch and I were boondoggling around some cliff near the Cascades, and I roped up and started up a face with some knobs mid way up. I could not get any slings to stay on the knobs, but I kept cool and kept moving. Steve took me off belay--what was the point--and I freaked out--just totally lost my mental security. Once he put me back on, I climbed to the top. I pushed runouts but could never feel comfortable free-soloing--too chicken. The weird psychology of leading.
There have been many discussions on ST about the 'old school boldness' and how it relates to replacing bolts and so on. Although I do not have much first hand experience lately, I once tried to add up the number of times that I fell on lead. I don't mean backing off and grabbing protection, but actually popping off. The number was 3 for free climbing. Only one in a crack. I think it was really rare for anyone to pop. In hindsight, that seems very weird given the shoes and the grades. Apparently that has changed somewhat.
What is your perception? You climbed harder stuff and stayed in the Valley longer.
Good to see some old and friendly reads.
Best, Roger
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Hey--
I don´t want to hijack this thread with old-fart ruminations but, briefly, most all the active Yosemite climbers back then climbed with a whole lot of control, usually several grades below their limit. Coming from Tahquitz and Suicide, you were ridiculed if you so much as slipped on a move. You were supposed to climb perfectly, doing everything first try. I fell more on Middle C. than anywhere else, and almost all of those falls were on new routes and on moves that later proved to be off route. Another factor was the shoes. Stoner´s Highway, for instance, was first climbed in red PAs, and it was hard and very scary in those case-hardened boots. It got easier (mid 5.10) in EBs, and far easier (easy 5.10) in sticky boots.
Looking back I can see this no-fall ethic clearly held us back because we were focusing on stuff that was far easier than what we could have maxed out on. Remember when the River Boulder was first discovered? It´s a 25 foot TR roof crack that was harder (maybe 12A) than any hand crack in the Valley (circa 73 or so) but we could all dick it first try. And how did the West Face of El Cap go so long without being freed? Dale and I on-sighted that route in 5 hours in 1974 and we should of freed it then. Remember how Jardine was thought of as a coward for working things. The Cringe could have been done in 1971 if somebody would have worked on it. Same for Hangdog Flyer and many others. The ethic was that the flash ascent was all that mattered. Everything else was cheating.
It kept us somewhat honest but we could have climbed far harder stuff if we´d allowed ourselves to regularly work routes like they do today. For as wild as some of us were, our climbing was basically very conservative, ethics wise. And I bent the rules sometimes. Guys like Rik R. and John B. were fanatics for never hanging. God knows what they could have done with and anything-goes approach.
JL
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nutjob
Trad climber
Berkeley, CA
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Bump, not for romanticizing free solos, but for the interesting discussion afterward regarding control and level of difficulty attempted vs. one's ability.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Here, here to Largo’s comments just above from 5.5 years ago. And about 1972 being the scariest year ever. The “flash ascent” ethic was a great one, a fantastic one for as far as it could be taken. It still lives on as the goal of course but only infrequently takes place on the top 3-4 grades. Most climbers do try to flash a lead but keep working when they can’t--- they stick around and apply themselves even more fully.
So, I guess I am saying that we have not so much “left” a great and esthetic ethic behind as added on top of it, making a more complex one. Largo’s examples are all right on too, here. By the time I was through climbing really hard in 1977-8, I had only fallen on lead 4 times---clearly holding myself back. So yeah the plan is really different now and I am glad it is. The old belief system was fine for its time but had to be broadened to keep the sport realistic and deep.
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nutjob
Trad climber
Berkeley, CA
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Rokjox, had no idea it was you! I followed a link to it from something on Widefetish (info about Vendetta - congrats Scuffy! shiver to Werner), and let myself be distracted from work just a little longer....
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aldude
climber
Monument Manor
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Pavel Solos Equinox !!!
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Dick Erb
climber
June Lake, CA
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I was intrigued to find that other climbers had found such adventure on the slab variation to the top pitch of Angel's Fright. As a young climber I had one of the most profound experiences of my life up there. After being led up a few climbs I wanted to try leading one and picked the Fingertip Traverse for my first one. The climb, which joined the Angel's Fright at Lunch Ledge, went well. Feeling confident near the top I decided to try this variation I had heard about. Tip toeing on a horizontal crack around to the left, I found a bush at my feet, slung it, clipped my rope in, and looked up at the slab above. I was overwhelmed by the blankness, there was no bolt then. To the scrawny little kid that I was it looked like a long way to the top and I didn't know what to do. Then looking at the rock directly in front of me I could see that the first couple of moves were no more difficult than a boulder I had just climbed that morning, so I started up step by careful step. As I moved along I got into a level of concentration that I had never known and a feeling of euphoria swept through me. I knew I had the climb but had to keep totally focused on every step. It felt almost like electricity dancing in my body. The joy on top made me feel like a new person. I still felt different the next morning when I got off the school bus at Fullerton High School. Looking around at all the kids standing around talking in their little groups I thought, "They don't know."
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guyman
Trad climber
Moorpark, CA.
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Dick.... they still don't know.
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