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andy@climbingmoab
Big Wall climber
Denver, CO
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May 20, 2010 - 06:21pm PT
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That is a pretty weird impression Mungeclimber - Rapid is split in half by a good sized hogback ridge with lots of sandstone boulders and even short cliffbands. The bouldering in town is really pretty good.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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May 20, 2010 - 10:38pm PT
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Rgold, I think the pictures are in the correct orientation. That route has a lot of mystique and I had been looking at it for about 10 years before actually just committing to the most logical looking line. I think there are two routes listed in the Piana book, but they give you little detail. There is a discontinuous crack left of the one that we did, but it looked as there was no pro with overhanging rock before it joins back up with what was our 4th pitch.You can see the discontinuous crack above Keith.Also we did two two rope rappels to the ground not into the gulley between the gruesomes and south tower. Is this the same route you have done or could you possibly be thinking of West Gruesome as the rappel on that takes you right to the start of South Tower(which is also a top 10 classic). Do you have any off the old guides by Kamps or the Conns?
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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May 20, 2010 - 10:58pm PT
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That's the route I've done for sure, and it is the Conn's route. Your other pictures show a flake to the left of the crack, and that was what I was thinking of. The first time I did the route was with Don Storjohann in the mid-sixties, and I did it several more times after that. Every time I did it, we rapped off the back and continued up the South Tower route.
Somewhere I have Piana's and Kamps guides. I used to have Conn's but haven't been able to find that for years.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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May 20, 2010 - 11:33pm PT
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Rich, have you done the Laptad Route. Touch the Sky says it is to the left following an obvious crack system at 5.9. There is an obvious crack but that thing looks heinous and looks like it peters out at the top before the belay of the 4th pitch. The Piana guide talks about a 5.10 offwidth variation done by Paul Muehl in 1979. Do you have any beta on those routes? Would the Laptad route be the crack above Keith's head in the pitch one photo? I bought the Piana guide after accidentally doing Kayam Spire in the Cathedral Spires because it looked like the tallest one when you are hiking into the CS. That first route I did in there is still one of my best memories as Spire 4(the tallest in the CS) is a two pitch 5.4 we did a 4 pitch 5.7ish which is no give away in the Needles.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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May 21, 2010 - 04:29pm PT
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Well you know what they say. A picture is worth a thousand words so I guess a thousand pictures is worth a million words.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Out in the Needles yesterday and did two classic routes on two of the biggest spires. Rubaiyat and Khayyam
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Alex Baker
climber
Portland
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mike m. These pics rock. I love SD, thank you.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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gotta echo the thx here. I'm thinking road trip next year.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Thanks guys. I was hoping for a 1000ft day but the rain started and we had to settle for 600.
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 8, 2010 - 12:01am PT
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You are tearing it up out there! Love the photos. They are views I've not seen before. Can't wait to get back there...
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the museum
Trad climber
Rapid City
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Too much rain. Too much rain. Too much rain.
the museum
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Jun 10, 2010 - 12:31pm PT
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Jun 18, 2010 - 02:14am PT
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I did the Goldstone/Kamps route on Spire 4. It was not warm. There were 50 plus mile per hour winds, but it was still fun.We then did the International Chimney on Spire 3.Then we did the Gill Net at 5.7 and right on the road. Garunteed to get an audience.One last pitch on the Gnomen with the Doody Direct.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Jun 18, 2010 - 12:21pm PT
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Jun 30, 2010 - 02:05am PT
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I took my son up his first spire yesterday. I was very proud of him and look forward to climbing many more with him in the future.
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Captain...or Skully
Big Wall climber
Transporter Room 2
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Jun 30, 2010 - 02:09am PT
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Now, THAT'S Cool.......
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Jun 30, 2010 - 03:15am PT
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radness
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johnboy
Trad climber
Can't get here from there
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Jun 30, 2010 - 03:28am PT
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They sure did do a lot of thinning up there on the trail in and in between the spires and picket. I was up there last fall/winter when they were going at it. I know they need to get the pine beetle trees out, but man, don't seem like much left after it all.
Got to wonder what Harney's gonna look like in another year,
Old Baldy?
Sad, but needed.
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Bill Mc Kirgan
Trad climber
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
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Jun 30, 2010 - 07:26am PT
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What a beautiful place...'cept for the trees getting 'chunked' due to beetle infestation.
I was there last Memorial Day weekend tagging along with some members of the Chicago Mountaineering Club.
Had fun climbing a few of the smaller spires...one which looked almost too delicate to climb.
The parking lot area was a blast. We did the easy climb to setup the harder 'Dog and Pony Show' top rope and did a few laps. What fun, and yes, sharp.
There were many curious onlookers.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Jun 30, 2010 - 04:19pm PT
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Johnboy, I have been very disappointed that they are leaving all the tree debry just lay there. they cut down all of the largest trees some up to around 3 ft in diameter in two foot pieces and left them laying there on very steep hillsides all over in the spires. These will stay there for 50 plus years I would imagine if they are not burnt or removed. I saw some talk earlier about helicoptering them out but they have not been doing it in that area and IMHO that is the most beautiful area in the Black Hills. I would have rather had tipped over whole trees than the mess that is out there right now.
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