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Petch
Gym climber
Lover's Leap
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Nov 20, 2008 - 08:31pm PT
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come now nature! how often can you walk up to a cliff and do a 7 pitch fa, ground up, on-sight, no bolts, and get back before dark.
maybe my memory is lacking!!
fish on
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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Nov 20, 2008 - 09:23pm PT
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Maybe someone said this already, read the thread and did not note. But, I'm thinkin' it would be good to have a a worst first.... cause I don't think it will happen for me in my lifetime. So even if it's bad for you it's good. Thanksgiving... count your worst first ascents as not all that raw. Lynne
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Ezra
Social climber
WA, NC, Idaho Falls
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Nov 20, 2008 - 10:11pm PT
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A route I did with Nathan B in the bottom of linville gorge.
The last scarry FA nathan did was in the bottom of linville gorge. We did one of harrison shull's route for the first mini pitch. Then he busted out out to a little area and did some gardening for a belay. Moss clods flew every where. Nathan built a pretty good belay including a fairly bomber #1 camalot. Then he climbed the next 5.10+ pitch that was moss and lichen covered. My eyes hurt from the grunge. He got his first piece in 50 feet off the belay. The belay was only 35 feet up. I was hoping he would just deck if he blew it rather than pull me off .
Later, after the pitch, nathan looked at my harness and said, you had that screamer AND DIDN'T TELL ME!
My reply was: well you never asked.
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 21, 2008 - 08:52am PT
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Ezra:
Later, after the pitch, nathan looked at my harness and said, you had that screamer AND DIDN'T TELL ME!
Lots of good stories here. I hope we see more.
Lynne:
So even if it's bad for you it's good.
Even from your worst first ascent, the views might be grand.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Nov 21, 2008 - 10:02am PT
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Back in the late 70's and early 80's, we were exploring the crags all over the Niagara Escarpment which runs across the province. We checked out a lot of obscure cliffs, and put up a lot of really horrible new routes. Stuff up loose rock up on the Bruce Peninsula, or just fighting your way through bushes and shrubs all the way up.
And then there was the poison ivy on the approach! One time Steve DeMaio got completed covered with the stuff. Evidently I am one of the 50% or so of the population that does not react - fortunately.
You won't find some of my routes in any guidebook, though you'll still find plenty - but you'll never find a bolt.
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TYeary
Mountain climber
Calif.
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Nov 21, 2008 - 12:18pm PT
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Once , along time ago, Mike Harbison, Tony Yinger and I set out to climb the West Ridge on Conness in the Sierra. A real classic. We did no reserch, didn't have a map, or beta, just the desire of youth and a lot of ants all biting at once. Now Mike and I had been climbing together for a while, but this was Yinger's first outing with us. He looked to us to show him the "alpine ropes" amd we were all over it! We hiked in, located the route and began climbing. It was alot harder than 5.6 and the route just didn't seem right, but on we pressed. At one point we were in a water chute/gully, slicker than snot and way harder than the given rating. Surely we were off route. We were simil-climbing 5.9 with one # 3 wired stopper in a shallow crack. It seemed like a whole pitch, but was prolly shorter. Never the less, death was but a slip away for all of us. At the belay, Yinger suggested that , perhaps we were indeed off route. I said something like," these alpine routes are like this, ya know. Everything is different in the back country" I rattled on,trying to hide my embaressment with bravado. As we topped out, there in front of us, about a mile away, was the un-mistakable S.W.Face of Conness with the obvious West Ridge in profile on the left side. We all looked in dis-belief at each other.Yinger politley suggeested, that maybe we were on the wrong mountain. Duh... We named the route Mistaken Idenity, II 5.9 r/x. It's on the southwest side of peak 12, 240' or something like that. We have all been climbing on and off together for 20 years or more now and shared many adventures together. However, I'm sure this one remains, for us, as an all time classic screw up. I'm farely sure no one will ever repeat this route, unless of course, you go with strangers, who have no beta, map or route discription. Good climbing!
Tony
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 22, 2008 - 06:07pm PT
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TYeary, one of the best tales on this thread -- and your topo really makes it.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Nov 23, 2008 - 12:21am PT
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Back at the beginning of this thread I described my worst first as: An un-named POS in one of the canyons above North Vancouver that no one will ever -- EVER -- bother with. On the other hand, I was rehabing from a broken hip, unsure that I'd ever be able to climb again, and it was a major breakthrough for me just to be able to hang on a rope and scrape moss.
I might have left it at that, but a few weeks ago a new voice chimed in at our campfire, and on another thread he reminded me of a time when he and I went "rapping through a tangle of wet saplings to scarify the rock and bombs-away adjust the rope to the height of the outcrop."
Yup. That was the Piece Of Sh#t in the canyon above my place in North Vancouver. To get there, Andy (now posting as MH2)had to drive us ten blocks because I'd broken my hip in a freak bike accident a few month before, an -- walking was tough, and driving was still in the future. But I could hobble. Sort of. With a couple of long ice axes as canes. And my memory convinced me that a short and easy trail would take us to the top of something worth checking out.
So Andy and I headed up the trail to where it came close to the top of a wall between two waterfalls on Mosquito Creek. I'd scoped it out the year before, hiking in from below. This is the first waterfall on the approach
Some kind of construction there in the distant past. Logging? No idea. But just above this first waterfall there is a gorgeous little amphitheatre. A Hidden gem just a few minutes above the city. Rarely visited because getting into it required scrambling around the waterfall on wet rock.
Here's the second waterfall, taken from that amphitheatre.
The wall itself was only about 30 or 40 meters high. And covered in slime and moss. Not exactly El Cap. Not really even worth climbing. This is the most flattering shot I've got of it.
Well, not worth climbing for anyone who could actually climb. But for someone who wasn't sure he'd ever be able to walk properly again it was a chance to pretend to be a climber for a day. Hobble a few hundred meters up the trail and bushwack two meters to the cliff edge. I knew it would feel like a six-day approach in the Coast Range, but once I got there I'd just have to hang in a harness and scrub. Of course hanging in a harness with a broken hip is not really fun, but what the hell, it would be better than lying on my bed...
There was also the question about jugging back up. In theory, one-legged jugging is no big deal, but the pain factor would probably make it interesting. No worries though, cuz Andy was along. Old trad. Vastly experienced. Hikes 5.12. Whatever happened, I knew he'd be there to bail me out.
So we get to the top, set up an anchor, and get ready to rappel. Just as I was about to head down Andy holds up his ascenders and stares at them quizzically. "So how do these things work?" Hmmm.
Anyway, we hung on rappel, scraped away at moss, dropped a big block that severed one of the ropes below us, laughed some, and Andy even pretended that he was out on a real climb with a real climber.
Now that I think about it, it's not really a first ascent because we never did go back and climb it. But for the purposes of this thread, and as a way to welcome Andy to ST, it'll do just fine.
D
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Nov 23, 2008 - 12:35am PT
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We did a route, and the rock was poor and the bolts were bad too......we called it "Don't ".........so you have been warned........(I think the name has kept most people off it....but you never know.......)...I have so many crappy first ascents;.......But FA's are like babies;.......their mothers love them even if they are ugly............
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Nov 23, 2008 - 05:51am PT
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FA's, or any climbing with Larry, is highly entertaining - looking forward to getting out with him again sometime soon. Then again, we more or less think about climbing along the same lines which probably colors my view of him.
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Nov 25, 2008 - 12:02am PT
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"The Agony Arete" 5.10d 3 bolts FA. DE
Directly below the Agony Arch is a small pillar with a three bolt arete.
I guess Socalbolter didn't notice the three bolts when he discovered the Riverside Quarry and claimed the FA, eh Louie?
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MisterE
Trad climber
My Inner Nut
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Nov 25, 2008 - 12:13am PT
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bump, cuz i just reminded The Doctor he hasn't posted his...it's Bad, Babies.
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Roughster
Sport climber
Vacaville, CA
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Nov 25, 2008 - 12:16am PT
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de ee: I have the honor of having the 2 bolt FA of the climb to the left of your arete: Every Dog Has It's Day 5.9. What can I say, I got a hand drill and felt obligated to do something with it. I think about it now and just laugh. Imagine hand drilling in that rock. It was a f*#king nightmare from the start.
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Nov 25, 2008 - 12:49am PT
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Roughster, I can imagine that!
Next time I go there I'll check it out.
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socalbolter
Sport climber
Silverado, CA
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Dave -
Looked for your route last time I was out there. Didn't find it. You said a 3-bolt arete on a small pillar below Agony Arch and I didn't find anything like that.
I'd like to put it in the next edition of the guide. Can you tell me more about it?
Is it by chance the short, bolted inside corner just below Agony Arch. Richard Jensen had told me that was called Stem Job and he didn't know who did it first. I have it listed as FA: Unknown in the guide. Is this your route?
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Direct Start, North Ridge Goat Perch!
Summer 1982 I decide a “direct start” for the classic North Ridge Goat Perch route in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains would be an “interesting challenge.” Goat Perch is in the same valley as Elephant’s Perch and looks inviting from near “the Perch.” I had already climbed the North Ridge and thought rock quality would be good.
I went in with a friend that I had climbed with very little: but that mattered not, since this man was in every way my superior. He had the good genes to the max and was: athletic, intelligent, tall, handsome, and fearless. In fact he was just out of the Navy and had been a fighter pilot and then was in the Blue Angels. Oh-----and he was a born-again Christian, but he tolerated my pagan ways.
The first lead was up a steep chimney/gully, with a jam crack at its back. At the end of the first lead, the choice was overhanging off-width, or an inviting ledge that went left to less-steep terrain above. Bruce led left and quickly turned a corner. The rope stopped. Then he called back, “there’s a little loose rock here.”
In the next hour, he must have pulled off 10 tons of rock. The snowfield below was soon a blackened war zone. Slowly, the rope played out, then more crashes and booms would shatter the quiet.
At last I hear “On Belay” and follow the lead. The traverse was just horribly-loose, but then I reached the line that he had climbed up to his belay. Everything was stacked, small loose blocks, at a 70-80 degree angle. There was some “protection” slotted between obviously loose blocks. It was not an easy lead to follow, and when I reached Bruce I was both scared and angry.
“How could you justify leading that?” I barked. “Everything is loose and your protection wouldn’t have stopped a falling squirrel”
Bruce thought for a minute and then calmly replied: “It was pretty iffy, but whenever I got to a tough spot I just asked Jesus where to go.” He then smiled and added, “he takes care of me.”
Never before had someone asserted to me: that Jesus took a personal interest in his climbing. I was truly staggered. I clipped into the belay nuts, noting that they were worthless to stop a leader fall.
Rappeling was out of the question, since we were now above an overhang. Down-climbing did not seem like a good option either. After some water and a little small talk, I decided that based on prior success: Bruce and Jesus could lead the next pitch too.
That pitch was not as bad, but it was worse for me: since I was now in the direct line of rock fall. I hung the pack above me and cowered as stones clattered by. The only rocks that hit me were mercifully small.
Once again, when I followed the lead, the rock was all loose. The protection that Bruce & Jesus had placed would probably not have stopped a leader fall. Another similar, but easier lead for Bruce & Jesus followed.
When I reached Bruce again, I realized we were very close to where the North Ridge route started. We had done a “significant variation.”
I was able to do a traverse over to the ridge on reasonably good rock. Bruce was however, very disappointed in me. I adamantly refused to continue up the standard North Ridge route with him and Jesus.
I did not write the route up, since any future parties might not have the divine protection that we had experienced. I also confess: I did not “see the light” and continue as a pagan.
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
صَخْرَه&
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Good tale, there, RRR.
Some of that rock is REALLY good, but some is REALLY bad.
Yarrr.
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