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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 17, 2006 - 12:53am PT
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ablegable loves to point out interesting features which might be nice to climb to. We had been up above Loggerhead Buttress on a number of climbs last winter and Eric had pointed out a big flat section. "That's Loggerhead Ledge" he observed (no, I don't know how he manages to talk in italics). So anyway, the weather was uncertain enough last weekend to make us decide on the Valley, Gary and I proceeded to do something fun and easy for our first climb back since the Chockstone Chimney adventure in early July. We missed the approach and came up under Moratorium... but figured it out and wandered around to our buttress... once there it is easy to find the route:
a prominent, steep, right facing corner. The route is 5.7 with an unknown first ascent. 3 pitches, the first is short, the second long, and the third is also short...
You can also see two other routes in the picture... Simian Sex 5.10d** goes up the corner/roof system on the right side of the picture angling over towards the corner, and Log Jam 5.11b follows the thin crack between the two routes.
Gary went first thinking about stretching it out on his wonderful 70m cord, he starts up with knee pads newly taped
but stops at the first belay at the tree unable to get a good read on the length of the pitch. I get that second pitch... the whole route is dirty, and not done often, but I spotted a black sling on the tree by this first belay, a sign I take of Eric's passage... I haven't asked him if he'd been up this route since we talked about it a year ago.
I get to a great belay spot up high after negotiating a number of chimney passages, the last one really wild up and across around a set of chock stones which cap the top... nothing really hard, just good old-school 5.7... I'm glad I wore my kneepads. Gary coming up around a cool hollow flake
my Acopa Aztecs are really nice for all day trad climbing!
Gary gets to finish off the last short pitch of classic 5.4 chimney to get to the promised land above!
Here's Gary above the chimney with me running around on top of the cool block.
Great view of Manure Pile Buttress and the east Valley area from the top of the route.
If you look carefully there are two climbers (black dots) on top of After 6.
This is a fun climb in chimneys which would clean up nicely if it saw some traffic. I'm not sure it is done often, but probably not totally obscure. All of Loggerhead Buttress looks nice for short cragging, it's close, and mostly unclimbed... we started to do Orange Juice Avenue 5.10a OW but backed off because of heavy wasp activity near the start (evidence that they had a nest there, and were still hanging out)... since I have a sensitivity to their stings (a legacy of my 'Gunks climbing in the 80's) I decided to wait for a cooler time in winter. This climb looks stellar!
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 17, 2006 - 01:04am PT
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Oh, and on another note, we found someone's dark blue baseball cap, probably on the Moratorium approach... with the word Leiße embroidered on the front (the dot of the "i" is red).
If it's yours just email me your address and I'll send it to you...
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ablegabel
Trad climber
Livermore,Ca.
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Oct 17, 2006 - 02:01am PT
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Hey Ed, long time no see. Glad to here your still on the path. Yes that was my sling. We were up there a few weeks back, looking for a good place to drink a beer. What the hell is Gary doing with the El Cap rack? My partner placed a few cams on the first pitch. I only needed nuts on the rest. Seems like the first move was the hardest. Good job you guys! Give me a call if you have time to climb next week- Eric
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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Oct 17, 2006 - 02:27am PT
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Ed,
It might be a McDevitt route, if not he might know. There are rapell bolts to the climber's left as he is topping out on the the ledge from where the picture was taken (2nd from last photo).
Wondering if you noticed any ants on the route, in particular the first two belays.
Ken
p.s. probably too cold for the ants.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 17, 2006 - 02:38am PT
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Eric, I'll call you this week, I keep meaning to do it, need to get resynched for the winter escapades!
Ken, the majority of routes on Loggerhead Buttress were put up by Tucker Tech & Ray Olsen in 1989 - 1990....
Orange Juice Avenue was a Chris Falkenstein & Donny Reid FA in 1975
Bruce Morris was a part of 2 FA's with Urmas Franosch on one and Dave Yerian on the other in the early 80's
Le Nocturne FA in '85 by Brian Bennett and Michael Forkash
Mr. Happy and Loggerhead Ledge are both "unknown" at least according to Reid's most recent guide.
None of this is in Roper... except a climb refered to as "Loggerhead Buttress" which runs up the easier parts from the left of the toe to the area around Slab Happy Pinnacle.
Ants were in attendence at the second pitch belay tree... but they were subdued in the cool...
The exposure in the high light areas in the photo of Gary coming up the flake doesn't let you see the anchors there, with a sling (or slings)... at the top of Simian Sex and Log Jam... probably these get done more often (at least Simian Sex). We didn't go up there this week...
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Jennie
Trad climber
Salt Lake
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Oct 17, 2006 - 03:48am PT
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Great pictures and write-up. Anyone having discovered Acopa Aztecs is blessed and discretly enlightened.
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snakefoot
climber
cali
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Oct 17, 2006 - 10:20am PT
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Great area when times are hot since the winds move through there, few know this....Mr. happy sounds like a TT line. NIce TR.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 17, 2006 - 11:10am PT
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the pictures are a result of a collaboration between me, my Ricoh GR-1, Fuji Velvia 100 and my Nikon SuperCoolScan 4000D... and Gary (who is tolerant of having a photographing belayer).
...and the Acopas are sized to each foot, the left being longer than the right, for only a small increment in their costs. Acopa rocks! (and the shoes have been holding steady since early July! nice craftmanship).
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Oct 17, 2006 - 11:25pm PT
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Ed,
Thanks for the TR and pics.
My first route in the valley was Snake Dike. That night we just kept driving down 140 until the no camping signs ran out. We slept in a big turnout with climbers and the parked cars of rafters. We got up early to do Nutcracker. It turns out that in the dark it is not clear which way to go to nutcracker from the parking lot. We ended up at Loggerhead in the predawn gray trying to find something that looked like Nutcracker. I've always wanted to go back....
Zander
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Oct 17, 2006 - 11:30pm PT
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Did you see the little Buddha on top of p1?
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 17, 2006 - 11:54pm PT
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shazbat! we didn't see the little buddha on top of p1... but I already decided that I'd go back sometime with someone interested in a mild chimney romp... I'll have to remember to look.
After we rapped the route we were lounging around at the base eating some lunch and drinking water... some athletic young guy hikes over and asks "is this the way to Nutcracker?" we told him that he was one buttress too far west. He then wondered if he could continue up and over to get there, we mentioned that if he went that way he'd end up on top.
Many other people wandered by touring around... seems like a popular place to hike for people parked at the picnic area. But we saw no other climbers there that day.
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Gary Carpenter
climber
SF Bay Area
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Oct 18, 2006 - 12:15am PT
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Ah A little Buddah. So that's what it was. We belayed at the little "tree" above the ledge and when I looked down I saw what I thought was a small white oddly shaped rock. Guess it was the Buddah. Did you leave it there Melissa?
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rhyang
Ice climber
SJC
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Oct 18, 2006 - 12:18am PT
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Tried to get on Loggerhead Ledge (is that the 5.7 route ? I don't have that guidebook) back in April, but too much water. Slimy. We even saw a small frog in there someplace. The dude who led managed to get himself up to a tree and rap off. Then it started sprinkling and we decided to go find some dinner ... nice to see what it looks like in good weather :)
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Gary Carpenter
climber
SF Bay Area
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Oct 18, 2006 - 12:25am PT
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Yeah I could hear a frog croaking deep in the corner as I followed up P 2. Guess the little fellow grew up.
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Oct 18, 2006 - 10:38am PT
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We didn't put him there...He was a little gift from a previous passer by. We climbed the route sometime after we hear you (Ed) and Eric tossing it about as an idea. I thought it was OOOLLD SKOOL. I had a helluva time gettting around that last chock stone before the 5.4.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 18, 2006 - 11:31am PT
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Melissa, I think Eric and I did After Five that day, and scoped out Loggerhead Ledge from the top of Manure Pile Buttress.
It is an old-skool climb, but apparently put up in the post-old-school era and not claimed. It probably is one of those type of climbs that would have been deemed "unesthetic" in the era of the original Meyer's topo guide... I'll check...
It was a surprisingly mellow climb for me this last weekend, and pleasantly so, I was expecting more of a wrestling match in the upper chimney system... but there was good pro and lots of hold opportunities. Gawd, am I starting to get better at that stuff?!
Next time I see you and Jay I'll share my list of "Roper Obscurities" with you...
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hillhiker
Trad climber
Fremont
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Jan 10, 2010 - 07:08pm PT
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Looking back in time for old school off width of the moderate variety and found this.
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M. Volland
Trad climber
Grand Canyon
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I would highly recommend this route. The moves have a soft yet oldschool feel to it. I can't tell if it tasted great or if it was just less filling, but it sure did feel good when I climbed it with Jason Price on a hot summer day in '08.
You can rap the route with one 70m rope. First, off of the chains on the ledge. And second, from the webbing on the top of Simian Sex. to reach the ground, you will have to down climb easy rock for a body length using this method.
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nutjob
Gym climber
Berkeley, CA
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Nice bump! Those wascals get awound!
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mctwisted
Social climber
superslacker city
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ed, good to hear that route is still getting done. in the 90's i trundled tons of loose rock off the route and fixed up the anchors a bit, and was guiding that great route about twice a week. no crouds, good climbing and a great summit, what more could you ask for?
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