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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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You're absolutely right. Climbs like the ones on Temple Crag are self limiting by approach and reputation. It's been my experience over a number of decades that a climbs reputation usually exceeds it's actual difficulty/seriousness and, consequently, the climbers who get on said climb are usually very, even over-qualified, for it.
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Dammit Donini I missed you and Mother George (ask him) at the Imperial Gourmet. By the time I got your message you guys were gone. Really disappointed. I don't think I've seen Lowe since 1975 in Pakistan.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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What Donini said, pretty much always worked for me
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Geez Fluoride, I think you just want to take this whole thread personally for reasons that I can't entirely understand since no one has pointed any specific fingers at you.
One, the fact that Williamson has been closed a long time doesn't mean that noobs who climbed there have NEVER gotten over there heads in the Sierras. I for one have personally seen several parties beyond their elements in the mountains. So Cal climbers have been going to the mountains for years, not just the past three or four. That should seem obvious.
Second, just because someone invests the effort to go to the mountains doesn't mean that they're somehow magically invested with the skill and knowledge to climb them safely. EVERYONE has to have a first time. From the few times I've climbed the Captain, I've seen lots of energetic, well equipped parties who took lots of time and effort to get where they're at and then proceed to fail miserably. You're right that the approach does reduce the number of epics, but to argue that it eliminates them completely is just false.
Again, people are talking in the abstract, not selecting specific examples for derision.
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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(edit: The post that prompted this response appears to have been deleted. Sorry if it seems out of context now.)
FWIW, the bail rate for folks schlepping their goodies all the way out yonder was about on par with El Cap during my 4 days hanging out up there.
Given this limited sample set, I conclude that a number of people underestimate their skills with respect to the skills required despite the long approach.
For myself I can say that if I had been with my peer instead of J, I probably would have gotten snail eye and bailed when I saw how immense it was. And if not then, when I had to cross the steep icy snow with rocks for tools. We were way slower than I expected and way slower than we usually would be on a climb of that length and difficulty, partly because taking care with the rock meant moving slower and partly because we didn't nail the routefinding 100%. (And probably the elevation factored in too.)
2 parties summitted on VB (including us)
1 party summitted on MGA (us)
1 party got off route before VB really started and probably summitted via the gulley. Maybe went down We lost sight of them.
1 party got to the base of VB and decided that "they didn't have the right gear". (Presumably snow gear.)
1 party got off route before the end of the 'approach' ledge and the actual arete on SR began.
1 (very experienced) party climbed the first pitch of another route (name slips me) instead of the 1st pitch of Dark Star. Had time concerns after they sorted it out and came down.
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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Melissa - sounds like a typical day for any moderate alpine route. My only beef is that 7/7 of those people showed up here to tell us how awesome they are in the mountains and how incompetent someone must be to get beamed in the head by a microwave. Carry on folks - this thread's entertainment value is high.
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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They did? That's not my read.
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corniss chopper
Mountain climber
san jose, ca
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Got the 'Temple Crag' mindset? (...last will and testament updated and signed..etc)
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Omot
Trad climber
The here and now
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Aug 12, 2009 - 02:16am PT
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Just back from the Palisades with my daughter. The photo below made me think of this thread. With all this talk of looseness, the obvious question is: will Temple Crag even be around for the next generation? Ha!
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Les
Trad climber
Bahston
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Aug 12, 2009 - 10:21am PT
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Climbed Venusian Blind last Tuesday. Found some loose stuff on the second pitch after the long 3rd-4th class section, but thought it all pretty solid after that. Sure, there was some loose stuff on ledges/belays, but hell, what crag doesn't have that? Overall, I found the route very enjoyable. Did Sun Ribbon 4 years ago, and had pretty much the same experience.
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Nov 12, 2014 - 06:18pm PT
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Bump.
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
extraordinaire
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Nov 12, 2014 - 10:21pm PT
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There's a certain skill one develops moving over this kind of stuff.
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Bad Climber
climber
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Nov 13, 2014 - 06:08am PT
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Interesting thread. Thanks for the bumpage.
I climbed Sun Ribbon many years ago. Based on its reputation, my friend and I trained pretty hard for it, including a very long day cragging at Lover's Leap with both the leader and follower wearing packs of the sort we'd likely carry on SRA. We did something like 1,500 ft. of routes at the Leap up to 5.8 or 5.9. We were also doing tons of hill running at the time. We had also succeeded together with another bloke on the S. Face of Clyde Minaret, so by the time we got to SRA, we were nervous but pretty confident of our skills. I also had a few grade V's and at least one VI under my belt. SRA was still a challenging and serious climb. I don't recall any unusually loose rock, however, certainly nothing beyond any typical high Sierra outing, and most of the route is actually quite solid. Great climbing! I've noted that the route has been upgraded to 10a. Is this legit, or are modern climbers wimps? ;)
BAd
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