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bringmedeath
climber
la la land
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Jan 29, 2010 - 01:27pm PT
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Doorish must have had mad energy! I tried to get to the tower and wanted to do his aid route. Umm... never have made it to the base. It says follow a goat trail at one point! I carried a pack of gear the 2nd time I went to find the goat trail to base... lost motivation and ended up trundling a big boulder that was just barely perched above a small cliff. One of the small cliffs I climbed had the foot holds popping off and leaving my feet skating and hoping my hand holds were more solid than my foot ones... Anyone get to base of tower from the creek? The ways I tried made halfdome slabs seem so chill.
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Darryl Cramer
Social climber
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Jan 29, 2010 - 02:58pm PT
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Here's photo linked from the WTA site. (Is that kosher?) There are routes up the main face but as far I know most of the new routes and Pete's solo route are up the smaller butress on the right. This photo really shows how messed up the approach is. The top of the peak is ~3,700' above the lake where ths picture was taken. The peak has a been a BASE jumping location in recent years.
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Darryl Cramer
Social climber
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Jan 29, 2010 - 03:09pm PT
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Back to Index.....funds are still being raise to purchase the Lower Wall and preseverve it for climbers. Check out this fund raising page for more details! http://www.washingtonclimbers.org/IndexFund/
All funds I receive from the sale of the current guide go directly to the Index Fund. If you're out of the area and think you might want to visit this fine cliff, I’d be happy to send you a copy in exchange for a check made out to the Index Fund. (Retail price $18.50 - no tax, free shipping in the US)
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ryanb
climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 29, 2010 - 07:51pm PT
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Friends who have made recent attempts on bering/dolomite tower attempted to rap in, though on the first attempt they were unable to find the correct rap route due to some possible basejumper rigging.
Rapping in and not leaving fixed ropes would be pretty committing...
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mastadon
Trad climber
quaking has-been
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Jan 30, 2010 - 12:15am PT
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Here’s a shot of the Norwegian Buttress taken in 1970 or so. I still wish I knew where Pete’s route went.
Here's as far as we made it on our ill-fated attempt in 1974. We had an ugly hammock-fest at the circled area.
Did the Town Crier in 1971 with Dick Emerson. Dick was an amazing person. He'd been on the 1963 Everest expedition and was on the first ascent of the north face of the Grand Teton. We met Al Givler and Dave Dailey on top in the dark and had a mini-epic getting down. We stopped at the ever-present Zekes on our way back to Seattle.
This is the first pitch of the Green Drag-on in 1972 on an early attempt. There wasn't a soul anywhere-upper or lower wall. I don't think we ever saw anyone else during any of our journeys up there.
This is the second or third pitch (I can’t remember which) of the Green Drag-on in 1972:
The second pitch of the Town Crier used to have a beautiful 30 foot 2” crack behind a pillar. We showed up one spring to find total destruction at the base. The pillar we’d been pounding pitons behind had come off. This gave all of us reason to pause.
This is looking over at “Howdy Ledge” at the top of the second pitch of the Town Crier Route. You can see the scar where the pillar had come away……
Here’s Donn Heller on the last pitch of the Green Drag-on on the first ascent:
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Jan 30, 2010 - 01:34am PT
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There wasn't a soul anywhere-upper or lower wall. I don't think we ever saw anyone else during any of our journeys up there.
What's really weird about Index is that although the Lower Wall and the Davis-Holland area of the Upper Wall are now almost always so crowded that virtually every route has a line-up, most of the Upper Wall areas, and often many of the little sub-crags, are still empty.
Example: Darryl climbed a three-pitch gem on the Upper Wall five or six years ago. Beautiful climbing, with one of the longest pitches at Index, good pro, a summit top-out, and... Drum Roll... NOT HARD!!!!
[explanation] For those of you not familiar with Index, its biggest drawback (aside from being wet in winter) is the almost complete lack of moderate routes. [end explanation]
So, for there to be a new 3-pitch 10a trad gem about 5 minutes from the popular Davis-Holland area, should have drawn hordes. HORDES.
Not at Index.
Mari & I got on it last summer, five years after the first ascent -- five years -- and as far as I can tell we were maybe the fourth or fifth party to climb it. We recommended it to a friend, and he came back saying "Best moderate route at Index."
WTF? I've only lived in Seattle for eight years, so I don't have a real sense of the climbing history of the area, but I am completely baffled by this. Index is an incredible climbing venue. Oh, sure, it's not Yosemite, or Squamish, but it is the real deal, and a lot of hard climbers have cut their teeth there. So can any of you Index veterans explain to me why hardly anybody who climbs there is willing to do anything but climb the same thirty routes over and over and over again? Squamish has ten times as many established routes, including plenty of moderates, and yet despite the fact that twice as many climbers live within an hour of Index as live within two hours of Squamish, the urge to get out and put up new routes seems far stronger at Squamish.
Or just look a couple of miles to the west. Zeke's Wall looms so obviously above the highway that every climber who has ever driven from Seattle to Index has seen it. Access was not (by local standards) difficult, the rock is as good as any granite in the world, the climbing potential is staggering, and...
And nothing.
Until about four years ago Marty Gunderson had the place to himself. Since then, it's been invaded by a horde of (are you sitting down) six more people.
I really don't understand. The climbers that are lined up and waiting their turn on the routes at Index are not gumbies. Index does not suffer gumbies. The climbs there are trad, hard for their grade, and often committing. The people in the line-ups are good climbers.
So why the f*#k are they standing in line to climb Godzilla or Japanese Garden for the nineteenth time?
D
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MisterE
Social climber
Across Town From Easy Street
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Jan 30, 2010 - 01:44am PT
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The North Norwegian is a frickin' PROUD route! Thanks for the pic!
I hear that Index Peak is all sorts of BW5.
From alpenglow.org:
Difficulty Ratings
These apply to the "free" difficulties (no aid used) and range from BW1 to BW5, where BW stands for "bushwhack." Difficulty ratings apply to those areas of worst brush that can't be avoided.
BW1 Light brush. Travel mostly unimpeded, only occasional use of hands required (e.g. mature open forest).
BW2 Moderate brush. Occasional heavy patches. Pace slowed, frequent use of hands required.
BW3 Heavy brush. Hands needed constantly. Some loss of blood may occur due to scratches and cuts. Travel noticably hindered. Use of four-letter words at times.
BW4 Severe brush. Pace less than one mile per hour. Leather gloves and heavy clothing required to avoid loss of blood. Much profanity and mental anguish. Thick stands of brush requiring circumnavigation are encountered.
BW5 Extreme brush. Multiple hours needed to travel one mile. Full body armor desirable. Wounds to extremities likely, eye protection needed. Footing difficult due to lack of visibility. Loss of temper inevitable.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Jan 30, 2010 - 01:47am PT
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BW6: Slide alder so dense that your feet haven't touched the ground in the last hour (during which you've traveled about 500 meters)
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Jan 30, 2010 - 01:56am PT
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Sir Don,
You're crankin' the Way Back Machine hard!
Forgot Dick Emerson; a down-to-earth guy.
So was Tom Hornbein. No discernible ego despite all
his huge accomplishments. Dude was a midget but what
a power house!
Love the shot of Heller, I'd recognize those feet anywhere, lol.
Miss him.
Doorish? I felt really good once when he told me "Nice lead."
That was genuine effusiveness for him.
Never ever saw a soul there at Upper or Lower.
First trip to Lower was a blazing hot day of 85?
Numb Nuts thinks he's stylin' in his painter pants, sleeveless
T-shirt, and Robbins boots. Might want to have re-considered
doing an early ascent of Aries Chimney. It still had a lot of
lichen on it that somehow got transfered to every square inch of my
bared back. Considered going to the burn unit for a debridement.
City Park
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MisterE
Social climber
Across Town From Easy Street
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Jan 30, 2010 - 02:08am PT
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BW6 addendum: loss of dignity, as well as temper.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Jan 30, 2010 - 02:18am PT
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The Beckey Route on N Pk of Index is, in summer, only
suitable for simians. In Uncle Fred's first guidebook
he advises at one point to "imitate a gorilla going through
the brush". That could apply to more than the one section.
There are two nice pitches up there.
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Mike Bolte
Trad climber
Planet Earth
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Jan 30, 2010 - 02:20am PT
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Don - these are some amazing shots. You must have quite a collection from the Valley and Tmds too from back in the day.
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mastadon
Trad climber
quaking has-been
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Jan 30, 2010 - 09:33am PT
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I do indeed have tons of pictures from BITD. Most people didn't bother carrying a camera or taking pictures if they did. Don Brooks and Bruce Albert were two people always taking pictures and I'd love to see what they're holding.... It's very cool to be able to share pictures in a forum like this otherwise all the hundreds of pictures I (we) have will sit on a shelf in a closet unseen forever. It's like a gigantic slide show with a potentially unlimited audience.
This one's for you, Mr Reilly: My good friend Donn Heller-I'll see you on the other side soon enough, brother......next time, keep your fekkin' crampons on...
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Jan 30, 2010 - 11:27am PT
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Awesome photos Mastadon. Keep em coming please!
Ghost, I think part of the problem with Index exploration is that there really hasn't been a guide to the whole area that is done in laymans style. Yes, Clint Cummins guide is great, but its a minamalists guide, with no photos or much descriptions, and the prior guides are dated or not all inclusive. Plus they are all a little dated now. There are tons of crags at Index and surrounding areas, and allot gets done but no one really knows about it. and if the climbs at Index don't get done regularly, generally they go back to the moss and dirt. Couple that with the fact that most of the climbing at Index is quite hard, even the moderates, and you end up with most people just sticking with the known variables. I think a full color, full info. guide to Index, and surrounding crags is what is needed to bring Index into this century, realizing that some climbers would like to keep it all secrective and stuff. For what its worth, I've been climbing at Index since 1977.
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Darryl Cramer
Social climber
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Jan 30, 2010 - 12:26pm PT
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The Index mystery is truly a mystery. People have been sticking to the same few routes for many years. By "many years" I mean at least as long as I have been around. (late 70s)
The route Ghost mentions was posted on CC.com and a couple of other sites (Mounties, UW climbing club) and yet it is infrequently climbed. I am not sure it is a good as Ghost suggests.
Studly suggests a marketing campaign. I am sure a marketing campaign would work but requires something to market and there lies the mystery.
To reuse Ghost's example: Zeke's has been visible for decades over US2 and yet very few climbers ever made the short hike to check it out. The mystery is how can a 500'+ formation close to a major highway be virtually unexplored for so many years? (1 hour drive from Seattle and at most a 90' approach. In recent years it’s been closer to 20’) Don, did you guys ever check it out?
By the way a group is working on a new guide with the intent that all profits will fund ongoing maintenance issues in the area. (ie toilet pumping, anchor replacement…..)
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MisterE
Social climber
Across Town From Easy Street
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Jan 30, 2010 - 01:24pm PT
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Maybe it's the 5th force, Darryl?
You know, the deviations in Newtonian gravity can be a strong deterrent when it comes to granite climbing...
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mastadon
Trad climber
quaking has-been
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Jan 30, 2010 - 01:30pm PT
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Zeke's wall? Never heard of it and can't even picture where it is. We didn't really branch out a lot as the Town Walls had so many peaches to be plucked.
Here’s few more shots of Index in the 70’s….
Dave Anderson and I tried to free Japanese Garden in the summer of 1975. We both took a swing at it but neither of us was willing to commit with only hexes for protection in the wide section. Once again, there wasn’t a soul to be seen or heard. These shots are of Dave Anderson-another good friend gone......
Here’s a young Rich Carlstad (with hair) following that overhanging 5.9 hand crack that leads to the slabs on the left side of the lower wall (I can’t remember the name) in 1976.
My young friend Lenny Peoples in 1977. RIP brother….
Breakfast of Champions in 1976. I had to rappel the crack to clean out all the loose rocks when Dave Anderson and I first climbed it in ’73 or ’74. It was one of those plums that we couldn’t believe nobody had climbed. The clock was ticking….
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Hardly Visible
Social climber
Llatikcuf WA
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Jan 30, 2010 - 06:26pm PT
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Mastadon your stuff is great keep it coming; it would be nice to see this thread get hundreds of posts. Index is my closest really good crag and though I’ve been climbing there for close to 15 years I’ve barely scratched the surface and tend to climb the same few climbs repeatedly for a number of reasons. The primary reason up until fall of 08 would in all honesty be laziness coupled with the fact that many of the things in the lower wall area I’d be interested in seemed to have been reclaimed by nature. There does seem to be a recent upswing in scrubbing activity on the lower wall so things are improving. If I lived closer I would do a lot more retro cleaning than I have done and would certainly be unearthing new stuff since the potential appears to be incredible.
Nowadays having busted up my feet a short approach is a necessity so I’ve probably missed my opportunity for any upper town wall stuff unless I hooked up with some youngster willing to carry nearly everything up the trail and down. If the approach to Zeke’s is only 20 minutes as some are saying I’d be willing to help you out on one of your cleaning forays Ghost, so feel free to drop me a line sometime when you are heading out that way.
One thing that I notice in the old photos is how much certain trees have grown since then. For instance that shot of Breakfast of Champions would be unattainable today since that fir tree below the climber now nearly reaches the top of the climb and can even be stemmed off of if you can’t crank the crux on rock alone. The picture of Rich Carlstad on Libra crack would also a lot more tree limbs and bushes in it too.
Though not of historical interest I’ll throw in these photos to keep this moving in the right direction.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Jan 30, 2010 - 06:51pm PT
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It's true the 1993 guide was minimalist.
My goal was really minimal cost, so everybody could get it easily;
copying of the pages was encouraged, and it was in 8.5 x 11 format....
Darryl's subsequent guide definitely had a nicer cover (as well as quality on the pages, too)!
I don't think color on each page would really help.
We already have color websites now, so people can see all about the climbing.
Angele Sjong's great "Index Club" article is online:
http://www.climbing.com/exclusive/features/index_279/
and Darryl's site has all the latest route info (I would link, but last I heard it can only handle low traffic - still true?)
The reason things grow back is the same as always - the weather.
No matter how good the rock is, if it's raining or in midsummer heat, the conditions aren't right.
So it can't be a "destination area", because if you book a flight in advance, there is a good chance it will not be climbable.
It is a great area if you live in the vicinity and can simply go out when the conditions are good.
Don,
Here's a map which shows where Zeke's Wall is:
http://www.stanford.edu/~clint/index/roadmap.gif
(copy and paste the full URL; you can't just click on it, due to a ST glitch with ~ ).
http://www.mountainproject.com/v/washington/zekes_wall/106549022
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Darryl Cramer
Social climber
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Jan 30, 2010 - 10:15pm PT
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It's fine to link Clint. In fact it's been linked here a few times: www.rcnw.net
Squamish has pretty much the same weather and is a "destination" area so I am not so sure that the weather is the reason. I would guess that a trip to Index in August has a better chance of climbable weather than a December trip to J-Tree. Index is just a small little area. Sure the climbing can kick ass but it's a far cry from Meadows.
Here's a pretty green route that was put up in the rain....
The climber is at the top of a lieback and thinking about the short slab leading to the roof above.
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