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Paul Martzen
Trad climber
Fresno
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 19, 2009 - 12:28pm PT
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The Snake, Tollhouse dome
I was in the mood to go climbing at Tollhouse. I had been in the mood last weekend as well, when my oldest son was at home, but he preferred to sleep and I squandered the time on household chores and surfing the internet. So this weekend I was in a frustrated, have not gone climbing in a long time, have a project in mind, still have not called any partners, want to go climbing kind of mood.
A few days before the weekend, the Southern Sierra Climbers Association email list had a flurry of messages of people planning to climb at Tollhouse on Saturday. I got excited, but I had a class on Saturday. I sent a message, “Anybody want to climb on Sunday?” No response. I was the nerd who finally got the nerve to chime in at a rousing campfire discussion at the exact moment when everybody wandered off to bed.
The real problem of course was just procrastination and “last minuteness”. I did make a feeble attempt to call partners. Borelli got back to me, but he is experiencing a nerve problem in his arm and numbness in his hand. It is even affecting his bass playing. Climbing was out. He is seeing doctors this week. I hope he figures it out and gets better.
Schiller was out, probably at a basketball game. I didn't call anybody else, thinking they probably have lives. But there was more to it than that. I wanted to go climbing, but I did not want to spend the evening cajoling. I wanted to do a project and I did not want to compensate for some one else's ability or desires. I wanted a belay slave, but I did not want to put in the mental effort to find one. Yet, I felt guilty about driving up there by myself and not finding somebody who would love to go climbing. Arrrghhh!
I did have a project in mind. It had been waiting for a year and a half, since the 2007 Tollhouse Faceoff. My son Patrick and I had gone up to socialize and do some easy routes. I planned on the Fart, an easy but awkward chimney, to the Snake, which was a very easy wide crack up to some easy but picturesque dihedrals and roof traverses. We struggled up the Fart, which is on the left side of a pillar of rock called the Turret. The Snake is a wide crack that starts immediately off the top of the turret and is rated 5.6 in difficulty. That may be very easy, but it is such a clean and beautiful crack in such a beautiful location, that I was really looking forward to taking my son up it. I had not been up it in probably 20 years.
When Patrick and I got to the top of the Turret that October day in 2007, I was eager to show him this beautiful easy route, but something was wrong. I couldn't find it. All that was facing us, were two left facing open books with seams and munge in the corners. I had not brought any small gear and no cleaning tool, so the corners were pretty much unprotectable for us. I was really confused. Was the Snake above, or to the left or right? Where was it? We found an escape off to the right to an easy gully which bypassed the open books but got us to the base of dihedrals and overhangs above. The climbing around the roofs is disappointingly easy, being low angle with huge footholds, but it was still very pretty.
We got back to the crowd at the top of the dome and I asked around. “Have you climbed the Snake?” “No”, “No”, “Where is it?”, “No”. I was mystified. Had I just imagined this route, or confused it with one at another cliff. One other fellow had done the Fart and had not known where to go from the top either.
Back at home I studied an old guidebook. Sure enough, it was in there where I remembered. There was even a drawing of the Snake curving up from the top of the Turret. Finally a realization came to me. I also remembered a few small white spots on the face that looked like rockfall impacts.
Some scumbag had chipped a critical hold to make the climb harder, just like they complain about in the climber forums!!
Well, maybe it was not a scumbag since the hold was about 50 feet by 10 feet by 2 feet thick. Still the climb was definitely altered. Now it was different, and it looked harder.
The left most open book had the same contour as the drawing of the Snake in the guidebook. So I realized that the slab forming the left side of the Snake crack was simply gone, leaving only half a snake.
I had to climb the new route. Patrick and I had been turned back. I wanted that route. If I could relink this classic line on this classic cliff, it would be part of history and maybe I would be somebody. Or, at least it was a good excuse to get off my butt and go climbing again. But I didn't. The idea festered in the back of my brain, gnawing at my self worth, waving at the camera in the picture of my daily life. See, over there in the back corner of the picture, behind that other thing. You can kind of see a hand if you look real close and know what to look for. Pretty sure thats it.
This project was calling to me. I wanted it so bad I could feel the rock dust in my teeth! So I was heading up there without a partner. I would solo the thing. No belayer, just mano y rocko! First, though since I did not have anybody else to meet and keep me on a timetable, I washed the dishes, did some other clean up, then remembered the problem with my wife's car seat adjustment.
The car seat adjustment turned into a chore. It was sticky and would not lock back in place immediately after changing the position. Should have been an easy cleaning, but figuring out how to get at the catch to clean it was a time consuming problem. Eventually, I pulled the whole seat out to do the 3 minute cleaning.
Its noon. I have used half the day. Is it worth it? Should I call around again? If I don't go now I know I will be crazy for the rest of the day. The pack is already in the car fortunately. The bolt drill is still in the garage so it will be an attempt with natural pro in the open book. I have all of my tiniest stoppers and a selection of cams. I also have my very thin cleaning tool.
I drive. It is a beautiful day. The foothills are greening up from the light winter rains. I get behind a long line of slow cars so I relax and enjoy the scenery. By the little town of Tollhouse all the other cars have turned off and my car is alone. I don't hurry though. I have not climbed in months. I don't know what I am getting into or what I am capable of. I am middle aged. Its a beautiful day.
At the turnout directly below the dome, I pull over, step out, feel again all the joys of standing here over the years. The dome is magnificent. It looks empty. Perhaps I will be completely alone. Then a reddish spot moves and I see a white spot below. Two climbers are on Desperado, or United Express. In some past years I would have seen a dozen or more climbers on a warm winter day like this. But two, thats okay.
Driving on around behind the dome seems longer than it should. Where is that rock next to the road where I sawed off a branch of a poison oak tree. Have I passed it already? Finally go past it and thankfully my skin does not itch.
At the parking area there are a bunch of cars and two off roaders relaxing. We chat and they tell me they followed the ridge all the way over and down to Burrough Valley road. I am impressed as it is a long ways. I head up the steep 4 wheel drive fire road with my heavy pack at a moderate but steady pace. I am pleased I don't poop out halfway or anything, but make the climb without too much difficulty. The walk along the ridge is always beautiful to me. The coast range is visible far to the west, then the foggy San Joaquin Valley, then the blue green foothills immediately below. To the south are visible snowy high peaks of the Kings and Kaweah divide. No television in front of a gym treadmill can quite compare.
I see a pickup parked near the cap rocks and it looks vaguely familiar. At the cap rocks I peer over the edge and recognize my friend Gary Hall in a reddish shirt, just getting to the belay on United Express. I call down to him to look for me here at the top when we are both finished.
The route from the top down to the base of the cliff is always fun to me. It goes through a small boulder cave, across exposed ledges and finally down stair steps of small ledges in a gully. I only have to traverse a very short ways along the base of the cliff to the start of my route. I sit down to organize gear, put on my harness and lace up my old climbing shoes. While I am contentedly involved in this ritual, another solo climber ambles along. It is my friend Kevin Ludwig out for his weekly Sunday afternoon solo of Tollhouse Traverse. I ask him if he would belay me up my project, but he is on a timetable and wishes me well. Even after 20 years, I have to go climbing to see my friends.
I have 3 choices to get up to the start of my project at the top of the Turret. The left side is the 5.6 squeeze chimney that Patrick and I did. Since it had only been a year and half since my last ascent, it seemed silly to repeat it, especially solo and with a pack. I was thinking the face route up the center was pretty easy, but it is long and a face, so it did not appeal to me either. The right side is only rated 5.5, starts the highest and is mostly just scrambling till the last 30 feet. So, I was putting my shoes on at the base of the right side and that is the side I went. The scrambling was easy but fun and fairly steep. Lots of stemming on lots of blocks that looked to be glued in with moss. There were only one or two bushes to get around. At about 60 feet up, blocks disappear and there is only a layback crack in the corner to climb. It did not look hard, but it bulged a bit and I could not see what was above the bulge cause of the little ferns growing in the crack. There were moss and ferns growing in much of the crack, but I thought I could reach past the vegetated sections.
I set some anchors for the rope, arraigned my self belay system and tied a back up knot in the rope. Then I set off, laybacking and stemming, sewing up the crack with a lot of running anchors. The climbing was easy, but with setting a lot of protection points, pulling the rope through my self belay, plus tying and untying knots, I got a pretty good workout and maybe increased the difficulty grade a level or two. Then of course I got to rappel back to my anchors and re climb the last bit to clean out my placements. Good fun.
The summit of the Turret, is a steep grassy slope with several rather large blocks forming ledges and lots of small loose rocks. Well....lots of loose rocks of all sizes. There was a rappel anchor of quick links on slings wrapped around blocks. Others had been stymied also. I think if the Snake was still there few, would rappel from the Turret. I used the same blocks to set up my belay anchor.
The crack in the corner looked about as I remembered. It was thin, but not a seam. There were frequent sections of moss in the crack that I might have to dig out to see if there were holds. Higher up there were sections where the crack widened and would take cams. But there were thin sections in between. The dihedral leaned to the left, bulged out and back then leaned further to the left and arched to horizontal at the end. I did not see any edges on the face. It would be pure friction for the feet. A leafless bush guarded the start. I climbed through the bush. I wanted to sew up the route with pro so I would not slide far if I fell. My first piece was a pocket on top of the dihedral that somehow held my smallest technical friend. Holding on the pocket I could clean out the knifeblade crack to insert a tiny stopper. My right hand found another edge on top and I moved up a few feet to place another tiny but solid stopper. Three pieces in a close row. I was feeling pretty good about that. The top edge of the dihedral offered a pinch of sorts, enough to move up and find a spot in the crack for two finder tips. That was enough to allow a reach around a bulge to a big pocket in the crack for fingers and a medium stopper. It was a long reach past blank to a solid undercling that I was doubtful of making. Then on the dihedral wall at eyebrow level, a good edge finally caught my attention. That allowed me to reach the next good hold in the crack. Towards the top of the section, more ledges and knobs appeared on the top of the dihedral. I was able to hang on to the knobs to move up and reach more good undercling holds and then place anchors. Then I was near the end of the dihedral where the original route followed knobs back to the right to a ledge and the beginning of the large but easy overhangs.
Back on the original route, I threw in anchors, rappelled, then re climbed and cleaned the new section. It still felt pretty good even on the top rope. I give it a rating of 5.7, but you can make it harder by tying and untying knots in your rope just like me. In fact when I got back up to the anchor after re climbing and cleaning, I was tired out. Instead of finishing up the standard route, I just traversed off to the right onto easier ground and scrambled to the top of the dome.
I was in time to meet Gary and his partner James Bischeff at the top after they scarred their hands on Strawberry Jam. We watched a glorious sunset together connected by the wonderful mellow and bumbling tradition of climbing at Tollhouse Rock.
Half a Snake: 5.7 January 11, 2008
Paul Martzen
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Jan 19, 2009 - 01:36pm PT
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Very fun read - glad you got out! What's next?
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Rudder
Trad climber
Santa Rosa, CA
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Jan 19, 2009 - 01:53pm PT
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Great story, writing, and TR! Congrats on the FA!
We used to go out to TH almost 30 years ago. Brings back some memories... one was leading out the 2nd pitch of "Falling Star", I think? And, being so far out of the belay without pro that one of my two climbing partners untied from the belay just in case I popped. Sensible maybe, but I never climbed with him again. ;-) Also taking a shortcut from the top to the truck through a deer run which resulted in being covered with ticks. :o
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Jan 19, 2009 - 03:22pm PT
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Great TR, Paul. Tim told me about it last week (incidentally, you were right -- he was at a basketball game on Saturday). Now I'll have to take my daughter up it.
Thanks for the writing -- and the work on the FA.
John
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Nostrodomas
Trad climber
Visalia, Ca.
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Jan 20, 2009 - 03:44pm PT
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Paul, you can always call Larry Z. He is always looking for partnes. Ever since my son was born I have not been able to go with him as much as I have wanted. So just give him a call.
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Paul Martzen
Trad climber
Fresno
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 21, 2009 - 07:02pm PT
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Thanks for the replies. Mark Haymond expressed an interest in the route, or enough curiosity that I persuaded him to go back with me this last Sunday. It was a beautiful day and there seemed to be a lot of people out, judging by the cars. We saw a large group on the beginner slabs and a few other groups hiking in, but nobody was climbing close by.
We went back up the right side of the Turret and dang if that junky 5.5 pitch didn't give me fits. Maybe I was in a hurry and figured I should just waltz up it, but I had trouble finding moves that felt as casual as I wanted them to feel. Then my foot popped and I took a short leader fall, landing half on the rope and half on a knob. Weird! Mark took his time on the follow to make me feel better and commented that he had to think about the moves. While easy they were not obvious. That's my story and I am sticking to it.
I did not have any trouble with the short Half a Snake pitch, but tired out just as much. Here is a pic:
The final pitch of the Snake, consists of laybacking up dihedrals and easy underclinging around a roof.
Here is picture of Mark belaying me up the final pitch. You can see by the rope that I went up a variation, small dihedrals on the face, but this variation seemed less interesting than laybacking the main dihedrals to the left in this picture
On the Tollhouse summit, I always enjoy this distant view of high peaks in the SF Kings area.
edit: Lets see if the pics work this time.
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cragnshag
Social climber
san joser
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Jan 21, 2009 - 09:35pm PT
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nice pics
gotta love them bluebird days
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Paul Martzen
Trad climber
Fresno
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 21, 2009 - 09:47pm PT
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Nostrodomas: Larry and I go way back, so I owe him a call, but I am skeptical if he remembers what 5.7 is. I think he would just walk up the route and ask where it was. When I climb with Larry I am usually flailing on something a bit harder than I think I can climb.
Rudder: I guess I did not mention the tick I pulled off in the shower after wards. Actually saw it when changing my shirt, but didn't realize what it was till the drive home and it started aching.
JE: Note the sew up job in the pic. That is where the pump came from, hanging out, twiddling with all those placements.
Crimpie: Not sure what is next. Maybe I should retire now, at the pinnacle of my career! Nawww! Really glad I got out.
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micronut
Trad climber
fresno, ca
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Jan 21, 2009 - 10:47pm PT
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Paul,
I'm usually game on weekends if my regular partner and I can't sync our schedules.
Great write up of your adventure. Just when Tollhouse seems climbed out.....mother nature gives up a little gem. That and your willingness to resist the allure of sloth on a bluebird day.
Gimme a call anytime. e-mail me if you wanna exchange contact info.
Scott
Over tilted shot on pitch three of Desperado 5.9 last winter when Fresno was fogged in.
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
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Jan 21, 2009 - 10:50pm PT
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Your descriptions of what it takes to get out of the house remind me of myself- festering around with little projects, dishes, internet and so forth instead of charging out the door and having a good time. Kinda makes me hope there's not a hidden camera somewhere. It drives my dog crazy-fill the water bottle, sit down and check out a magazine, find sunglasses, wash my dish, etc.
Maybe there's a support group for this.
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Paul Martzen
Trad climber
Fresno
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 22, 2009 - 11:48am PT
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Support Group? That could work.
Last year there was talk of Fresno Supertopans getting together for winter bouldering. I sure miss Little Tabletops. That place was great for a few hours of exercise, scenery and socializing. I think several other local bouldering areas are a bust now days also. I find it very fun going out with a group to mess around, but have not done so in quite awhile. Maybe the San Joaquin Gorge will be a good meeting place.
Hey Scott, yeah, lets chat.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Jan 22, 2009 - 12:52pm PT
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I like the support group idea, but I have SO many distractions! I, too, greatly miss Little Table Mountain, but I've taken to Yosemite Fitness for now.
In any case, keep me in the loop, Paul. Thanks.
John
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KlimbIn
climber
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Jan 22, 2009 - 03:02pm PT
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Paul,
Thanks for the TR. It's either too hot in here or the scramble passage made my hands sweat. I hope there's a pill for the frustration you described at the beginning 'cause I get that more and more.
What's your self belay system setup?
Great read.
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
somewhere without avatars.........
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Jan 22, 2009 - 03:19pm PT
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"Yosemite Fitness"
Do you find you need a shower after interacting with Sean? Just curious...
Tollhouse is by no means climbed out. I LOVE the fact that it's empty most times. You basically have the place to yourself. As you do with Squarenail, Dogma, Kerkhoff, etc, etc. Tollhouse has some awesome climbs on the cap rocks. I never see anyone doing the cracks up there, which means I can have them all to myself. Cool.
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rhyang
climber
SJC
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Cool, I was wondering where / what this route was.
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Bump as for a climbing TR as I'm searching for Tollhouse info.
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Send
Trad climber
Central Sierra
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Apr 10, 2019 - 07:09pm PT
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Got on The Fart (5.7) 115’ > Half a Snake (5.9) 100’ this past weekend. Fun route, exciting & varied climbing, kinda hard, of course dirty. Fun crack moves with digging around for holds and pro.
A double rack 0.2”-2”.
single #3, #4.
optional #5.
6-8+ alpine draws and nuts.
Did a 40’ cl. 4 section to top off - walk off.
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