Son Of Heart - T.R.

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Crimpergirl

Social climber

Boulder, Colorado!

Oct 4, 2008 - 09:48pm PT

Really amazing - the photos the story, all of it. Thanks so much for putting it out there.

BTW, Brass Nuts says he has rump pucker syndrome (RPS) just looking at this trip report!

Levy

Big Wall climber

So Cal

Topic Author's Reply - Oct 4, 2008 - 10:27pm PT

Hi Pete!

Nice job on Kaos! I had my mind warped by that route. I did it in '97 and at the time it was the hardest route I had been on. I was almost brought to tears by some of the reaches & such on some of the pitches.

On Son Of Heart, on the pendulum on pitch 10, I tensioned off left & got a skatey hook right on the arete, got on that & hooked down & way out left again, to a 3/8" wide edge that I hooked on & made the transition into the other crack with a minimal loss of elevation. It seemed much better than going way down & battling more shrubbery to get back to the same spot.

Ghost

climber

A long way from where I started

Oct 5, 2008 - 01:32am PT

Missed this fine TR the first time round, so I'm glad someone bumped it. Amazing climbing.

D

'Pass the Pitons' Pete

Big Wall climber

Oct 5, 2008 - 02:27pm PT

Hey Bill,

I'm sitting here laughing in my coffee at your comments on KAOS! Yeah, it's still Pretty Darn Hard up there. Huge reaches, dangerous leads, horrifying runouts, tears and fears ... great stuff. I think. It seems more fun now that I'm off of it.

Sounds like you found the Better Way to beat that twenty feet of vertical jungle bashing after the penji bolt on SOH. I still think the bolt should have been placed farther left!

When I think back on Son Of Heart, maybe it wasn't so bad after all. For there is no such thing as a bad route on El Cap! I just remember being absolutely miserable getting jammed up into those chimneys, trying to move cams and get some sort of upward progress. At one point, Tom shouted at me, "you haven't bloody moved in half an hour!" Because I couldn't - I was so stuck!

Tom later did a masterful job on the Tonsillectomy Traverse, placing all these crazy-ass pin-stacks with Leeper Zeds and sawed-offs and the like.

You write above that "big cams" were the key. What did your big cam arsenal consist of?

Cheers,
Pete

BriGuy

Trad climber

SL,UT

Oct 12, 2008 - 01:03pm PT

Bump for the stunning photos. Nice job guys. I saw you at the ledges raps (partner Erik and I just finished TTrip).

Great TR and thanks for posting!

Watusi

Social climber

Newport, OR

Oct 12, 2008 - 03:11pm PT

Super Duper guys!

bubble boy

Big Wall climber

T100

Oct 12, 2008 - 04:53pm PT

Thanks for the beautiful TR. Lots of psych!!! I want it!!! Salad? You out there? What do you think?

Yum

Rhodo-Router

Gym climber

Otto, NC

Oct 14, 2008 - 01:44pm PT

Fantastic!

Uh, dunno if I really want to have part of my mind exfoliate...

Jim E

climber

Oct 15, 2008 - 11:53am PT

Sports Racer bump of awesomeness.

lilolehs

climber

Oct 18, 2008 - 06:46pm PT

Beautiful photos, William!

Susan

sempervirens

Trad climber

Trinity County

Oct 18, 2008 - 07:44pm PT

Levy, (and everybody)

Great photos, awesome route. Everybody has said so and I agree.

What about the dirt hummock? "... grass and weeds that needed to be cleaned". Should we be doing that? How long did it take for that hummock to get to that size? Hey, what species of grass was that?

What do you all think?

Throwing off a big-ass dirt hummock from the start of pitch #8, A1 hooks(what's that?) off Heartbreak Hotel. There was a ton of grass & weeds that needed to be cleaned to see where the hook edges were.

Levy

Big Wall climber

So Cal

Topic Author's Reply - Oct 18, 2008 - 10:08pm PT

Sempervirens wrote:
What about the dirt hummock? "... grass and weeds that needed to be cleaned". Should we be doing that? How long did it take for that hummock to get to that size? Hey, what species of grass was that?

What do you all think?

In my experience, routes that receive little traffic, often have grassy sections that need to be cleared out to find the placements hidden beneath. Trade routes are cleaned constantly with every ascent. Routes that see few ascents get filled with grass & flowers, especially when there's a source of water dripping nearby.

If you have the cajones to fire a hook into the grass/mud & get on it without seeing what it's hooked on, you are a brave individual indeed. That hummock in the pictures was small compared to the one I hucked off a minute before. I yelled "Rock" a bunch of times just as it was peeling away from the rock to alert any climbers below. It must have been the size of a wheelbarrow & weighed at least 40 lbs.!

Bottom line: if you are gonna climb rock, you are gonna have to clean the placements out from time to time.

I have no idea what kind of grasses are up there but I've seen many flowers.

sempervirens

Trad climber

Trinity County

Oct 18, 2008 - 10:31pm PT

uh-huh, but what if you did find out what species it was. wouldn't that be something.

And yeah, climbing rock might necessitate cleaning rock. Flushing a toilet pollutes water, starting my car puts carbon in the atmosphere, etc. You get the idea.

We still choose to do what we do. So, if you choose to launch a dirt hummock, wouldn't it be wise to consider that action a bit more. Or to define "weed" when you pull one out. Maybe find out what it is. What if it were a very rare plant. Could be an unknown species, not likely but ya never know. Species unknown to western science are found every year in California.

What kind of flowers did you see up there? Monkey flowers, willow herb, maybe. Selaginella, (that's not a flower).

'Pass the Pitons' Pete

Big Wall climber

like Ontario, Canada, eh?

Oct 19, 2008 - 11:39am PT

Guidebook descreption of sections of Son Of Heart:

"Poorly protected California wetlands"

Levy

Big Wall climber

So Cal

Topic Author's Reply - Oct 20, 2008 - 02:15am PT

Hey Pete,

"Poorly protected California wetlands"

How about the A1 rating on the wetlands section? It seemed more difficult than the "A3+" hooks above, eh?

SteveW

Trad climber

The state of confusion

Oct 20, 2008 - 09:10am PT

Awesome report and pix, guys.
WOW WOW WOW!!!!

'Pass the Pitons' Pete

Big Wall climber

like Ontario, Canada, eh?

Oct 20, 2008 - 10:33am PT

It's a little known aid climbing fact, Bill, that on the SW Face of El Cap, if you equalize 37 weeds, they will hold body weight. Start with 37 3mm water bottle neck loops, and get creative with couple hundred metres of 1/2" webbing. Complete the placement with a Scream-Aid for full UIAA certification.