Lambone
Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
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::::BEWARE! ACTIVE ROCKFALL:::::
Two days ago we met Hayden and Connor hobbling down from the Trip. A large block pulled out on Conner leading P2, in the corner past the hook move traverse. It glanced his head and smashed his ankle.
Yesterday from ZM I witnessed a 20-30ft tall chunk depart from the wall under the big roof just left of the Trip start and explode into the woods at the base.
Today we talked to Hayden who had just retrieved his gear and he reported a massive chunk of rock on the route groaning like it was ready to go.
Beware around the base and it would be wise to take the LIA/Virginia start.
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Rocky IV
Social climber
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the wetness on the first 4 can easily be avoided by climbing Virginia. Those 4 pitches are better than any of the other pitches higher, besides P5. The last 5.6 pitch could be super heinous in a storm. When it's dry it's extremely casual. I just dragged a rope up. The last 3 pitches (including that 5.6) are the ones that would be tough in winter. There's a section of free climbing on the second to last pitch that would be tricky if it was covered in ice or running with water.
Still, go get on it. If you get above P5 you'll send or die. I'm guessing you'll send. All the belays are sheltered in storms, I would know, cause I soloed it in a storm.
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Captain...or Skully
climber
Boise, ID
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The top is pretty desperate if wet or icy. Think full conditions.
Center of the route is dry as a bone. There are several drip points, look at the streaks....they're pretty obvious.
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whitemeat
Trad climber
San Luis Obispo, CA
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how is this route in the winter? is it wet or dry? I know the first 4 and last 2 are most likely going to be wet but what else? for the last 2: how hard would you say when wet? is the second to last pitch easy to stick clip through if waterfall? any thing would help!!!
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Moof
Big Wall climber
Orygun
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Few things that we noticed last week:
Rack:
-Go light on the iron, we used none of ours, just a few pins for missing fixed gear needed.
-a couple beaks might be smart to bring along, but we never busted ours out
-offset brass, normal brass, and a single set of alloy offsets is plenty of nuts. Normal stoppers above #6 were not needed.
-We didn't see a real need for pointed hooks, optional?
-only needed a talon once on P8 (I think?), never needed doubles on anything but cam hooks
-2 sets offset aliens were very handy
-#2 ballnut got used a couple times
-#5 C4 was handy, but not mandatory, #4 C4/friends were very handy if avoiding free moves.
-Take lots of Moses keyhole rivet hangers, they were great on the hangerless bolts, 10x keyholes plus just a few wire hangers would have been perfect.
P5 fixed gear was in OK shape, I gave a couple pins a couple love taps as they'd clearly seen a few freeze thaw cycles.
P7 "loose" is not really very loose, basically just some awkward dihedral aiding till it gets steep enough to properly get high in your aiders. Top "expando" finishes on a narrow ledge that was hard to clip a bolt at, send someone with narrow shoulders who can stand up without teetering over.
P9 is not bad, but using only 2x #1,2,3 forces lots of leapfrogging and back cleaning, more slow than dangerous. Triples to #2 would be much more casual.
P10 also requires lots of back cleaning in #0.75, #1, #2 size, save the #2's till pretty late in the pitch, and a #0.75 till the very end. There is also an awkward slot at the 1/3 point that a #4 is helpful to gain entry to, then there is some C2 cams over the guillotine edge of that slot. Only 2 bolts for the anchor, but a blue alien plus fixed pins can be added into the mix to spread things out.
P11 had a lot of booty on it, and it looked like someone bailed after getting shutdown just shy of the rivet ladder. Maybe a chunk fell off? Our man Stewbeef went the ballnut/brass nut/black alien route in non-pin scarred slots in fresh looking rock to attain the rivets. Nice booty for us. Tricky, but the fall was clean and the last piece was a hangerless bolt. C2+ tricky?
P12 started with a big step to a fixed rurp, then small brass for a while, offset brass very helpful, good place for screamers if you have them... The end finished with a small cam under a block, then a couple hook moves to attain one last lead bolt (use your small hook first). Not too bad, but I still wimpered.
P15 is a nice rivet ladder to an arching roof seam on slab. Take all your small cams, 1x #1, 1x #2, and 1x #4 C4/friend, mostly C1+ once you get the #4 in. The end is a high step from a fixed pin to a couple hook moves to a couple aliens in crappy vertical craters/scars, C2+ possible ankle breaker for sure, then a fixed angle and 2 bolts to attain the anchor.
Good route, not great.
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jsb
Trad climber
Portland
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Here's a solo TR with photos and a bit of beta.
http://www.supertopo.com/tr/Tangerine-Trip-June-2010/t10756n.html
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Lambone
Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
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The alternate Lost in America-Virginia start is a nice way to begin the Trip. It is definately faster, direct, and a good way to pass slower parties on the original Trip start.
A couple of notes:
-Pitch one on LIA is heads up! I managed to blow the heads in the A3 Head section while top stepping to clip the first bolt on the pitch and almost decked. Don't underestimate this pitch. Bounce the heads good and use screamers. I was able to pass the section before the first bolt using a beak and a hook after the heads blew.
-p1+2 barely link with a 60meter rope. Instead we linked p2+3 easily.
-p3 was done with one beak placement, p4 (short pitch) was done clean...pretty easily, with some in-situ fixed gear.
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ricardo
Gym climber
San Francisco, CA
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The link to the discussion on the alternate start of the trip is not good with the new forum pages ..
here is the link that works
Start of TT through Lost In America/Virginia
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=41312&tn=0
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Two Pack Jack
climber
The hills
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Let me first say a big THANK YOU to the ASCA. Tons of man hours were put into replaceing rivets and bolts. You guys/ladies deserve a huge... sloppy kiss? well something. THANKS!
Climbed this 5/22-5/24/09. We decided on the C3 version.
If you don't want beta, then don't read this.
Rack:
3 ea. .3"- 2"
1 BD #3
1 BD #4 Glad I had the number 4.
2 Cam hooks (medium)
1 Bat hook (Real bathook not the one on a talon)
1 Grappling Hook (Large hook much more necessary than cliffhanger)
1 Cliffhanger (medium hook)
1.5 Sets of nuts, micro offsets useful.
10 Rivet hangers. There are bolts to clip through rivet sections, don't have to leave many except for directionals.
Heads: 2 sm., 2 med., 2 lg. I could hook around 2-3 blown heads, needed to place one on the ascent.
A2 version: bring a 3/4" and a 1" saw off.
A few other KBs and LAs might be nice if fixed gear is blown, 1 RURP.
*Pitches 1-4 were WET, and real slimy. Running back and forth to get the penjis on 4 was exciting, slipping across slime, diving for the fixed pro. Linked 3-4 w/ 60m.
*If you fix to 4 on day one, the wall is not so steep at this point that you can't swing down to the anchors of virginia. Prolly don't have to do much downaiding if any.
*Pitch 5 was a breeze, lots of fixed gear. I'd give it a C3-.
*Bivyed at the top of 6, nice bivy but the top of 7 is nicer.
*Pitch 8 was the real crux at C3. Grateful I wore my free shoes. A2 version takes those sawed angles.
*Bivyed at top of 12. Ledge has an unsupported corner, puts stress on ledge tubing. Swallows at 13 will sh#t on you, but it is much more protected from elements in storm than 12 or 14. Make it to 14 if you can.
*Note: A bit of traversing and wandering on this route. Leave plenty of pro for your second so they can clean pitches quickly.
FYI: Despite previous posts, I don't think there is any way you can do this without a ledge unless you are doing it in a day, or sleeping in slings/belay seat. Edge on top of pitch 7 is 3/4' X 7'. Top of 9 was 1' by 10'? No way to lay, you'd have to at least partially hang.
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Chris McNamara
SuperTopo staff member
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here is a bunch of beta just posted on the forum
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=855380
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Shimanilami
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
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Climbed the Trip from Sept 8-11 and really enjoyed it. We thought the climbing was considerably easier than on the Zodiak (which we climbed two weeks after the clean-up), although the many traverses and lower-outs do slow things down. It easily went clean because there's so much fixed gear. We brought two sets of Aliens (black to orange) and two sets of hybrids and thought this was on the generous side for cams. We brought two of every hook, but thought we would have been fine with one big flat hook, one small pointed hook, two medium pointed hooks, and one narrow cam hook. We placed no pins, beaks, heads, etc.
The new rivets are fat and closely spaced. There is really no need for the 1/4" nuts or keyhole hangers unless you're freaked out by 15' run-outs. That's the farthest you'd ever go between hangers.
There was a lot more getting out of aiders than I've done before. Switching between aid and free climbing was a lot of fun and I'd like to to more walls with more of that type of climbing.
Next trip is either NAW or Mescalito. Any suggestions?
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Offset
climber
seattle
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enjoyed the route, but it was my first top-out on el cap. found the climbing to be varied and interesting.
i tried to penji the roof on P4 but just couldn't pull it so i jugged back up and down aided it. aiding it went quick and easy, whish i would have just done it right away. the fixed gear on first half of p4 is thin but solid.
partner led P5 and thought it was much easier than the rating - easily went clean.
Up higher, i thought p10 was a little scary over a sharp flake...but it went.
the free climbing was easier than expected..whehw!!
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Todd Bauck
Trad climber
Denver, co
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My gear list:
Cams: (I like different sets because they give you more options)
2 Sets of Alien Hybrids
1 full Set of Aliens (black through white)
1 partial Set of Aliens (red through purple)
1 almost full Set of Zero Cams (#2 - #6)
1 Set of Metolious 3 cams
1 each of the 2 smallest Splitter Gear 2 Cams
1 #1 Camalot
2 each #2 & #3 Camalot
1 #3.5 and #4 Camalot (pre-C4)
Nuts:
1 full set of offset nuts (#1 - #11)
1 full set of regular nuts
Other:
1 set of hooks - make sure you have two 3" hooks. Either zip these back to your partner or bring a second set.
2 Leeper Cam Hooks
6 rivet hangers - on rivet ladders, bolts with hangers were common enough that you rarely leave a rivet hanger behind as pro
Ball Nuts may be usefull, I did not bring any because I perfer Cam Hooks
I roped soloed this route, so my list of biners and slings will be different than a 2 person team. Bring a lot of biners since you cannot back clean traversing pitches like pitch 5. I had 65 and I wished I had more.
With the above gear list, this climb goes clean easily. There are a few C3 sections, but they have safe falls. Most of the fixed gear I used could be replaced by clean gear (offset nuts, cam hooks, offset cams).
The hardest mandatory free climbing is 5.7 (actually felt more like 5.6).
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Erik Sloan
Big Wall climber
Yosemite Big Wall
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Just climbed the Trip with the linking beta Chris provided below. Good stuff. We had three people and this way avoids the third having to jug sideways(we were just using two ropes) on the fifth pitch. However, linking the second half of the fifth pitch with the sixth requires some back cleaning, long runners and a lot of quickdraws. An added bonus with this sequence is the spring runoff that hits the pitch 4 anchor and runs out of the crack on the fifth pitch is bypassed quickly as you never haul to the fourth anchor and the third anchor on Virginia is totally dry.
Chris' suggestion that you only need one #3 camelot to do this climb assumes that you're willing to free climb some 5.9. and always backclean this piece. Most people will need at least one #3 and one #4.5(for the start of the pitches 10 & 14)
Only the first bolt ladder, pitch 11, is set up well for folks shorter than 5.7.
Awesome route!
If you've already climbed T Trip Virginia is a fun variation with a pitch of classic A1 blades.
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mark miller
Social climber
Reno
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Hi Chris, is that really doing the Trip? It sounds like better quality climbing but like on the Royal Arches where people avoid the first pitch 5.6 chimney in favor of the 5.7 around the corner and rap near the top without doing the traverse into the jungle and the groveling afterwards, is it really the royal arches route?
Isn't Juan gonna put back an artificial tree to really make it the arches route.
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Chris McNamara
SuperTopo staff member
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did this over the last few days. here is my favorite way to start the Tangerine Trip that i would recommend to future parties who are comfortable with A3:
Pitch 1 - climb first pitch of lost in america (with fixed heads it currently goes clean.)
Pitch 2 - free climb up to the second anchor of virginia and continue up the 3rd pitch of virginia. this is a 160' pitch
Pitch 3- climb the 4th pitch of virginia, clip the 4th belay anchor on Tangerine trip and continue to climb the first half of Trip pitch 5. belay at the midway belay on trip pitch 5. 160' pitch. steep!
Pitch 4- climb the second half of Trip pitch 5 and continue on Trip pitch 6. This is a 190' pitch so be real mindful of ropedrag
this variation is much more direct than doing the trip start, i think the climbing is better, and it gets you to the top of Trip pitch 6 in 4 pitches.
more trip beta:
here is the updated rack i brought. might be a little light for some climbers. but if you are like me and like to walk down the east ledges with the lightest load possible, you will like it.
1 beak, 2 #2 heads, 1 hammer (just in case)
2 narrow leeper cam hooks
2 each hb offsets (yellow, green and blue sizes)
1 set offset stoppers to medium size
6 wire rivet hanges
2 keyhole rivet hangers
2 grappling hooks
2 black and blue offset aliens
2 blue and green offset aliens
1 green alien
1 green and yellow offset alien
2 yellow aliens
1 yellow and red offset alien
2 red aliens
2 orange aliens
2 red camalots
1 yellow camalot
1 blue camalot
1 60m 9mm haul line
1 60m 10.2 lead line
10 trango superfly quickdraws
40 trango superfly and black diamond neutrino extra biners
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Erik Sloan
Big Wall climber
Yosemite Big Wall
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Ammon's post below is regarding leading the regular 4th pitch of the Trip. You don't have to downaid the entire roof section you can penji a few times during the down climb.
If doing the Virginia start, beware of a fixed something with a long colorful sling and a hangerless bolt that are about 8' off route. Instead of heading straight up to this fixed gear, traverse left on cams to reach three rivets which take you to a pretty major crack/corner system to the left of the off-route anchor. A single bolt(with hanger) is visable about 60' off the deck in the corner. This is the belay for the first pitch of Virginia though when I was up there the other day I watched someone link the first two pitches with no major drag(you do have to so some 4th class-5.5ish at the end).
my two cents:
(The first pitch of Lost in America is cleaner than the Virginia start, and Virginia is a good route for all it's seven pitches so maybe do the Lost in America start when you do the trip and then you can return and do Virginia.)
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ricardo
Gym climber
San Francisco, CA
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it depends ...
if you want to climb "Tangerine Trip" and you are a purist.. then you would probably want to do the first 4 pitches ..
.. if you dont care about those things ...
.. i think going from Lost in America to Virginia to Tangerine Trip is a nice way to star that wall .. much steeper climbing.. and direct ..
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Lambone
Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
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everybody allways complains about the first 4 pitches, but I actually think they are some pretty cool pitches. definately interesting aid climbing, a bit traversy but so what.
there are no closures on El Cap. the Reid guidebook is outdated.
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jjj
Trad climber
squamish
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Is it worthing doing the first 4 pitches of the "trip" or climb virgina instead to bypass??? Is the climb open in late april oris it affected by closures?
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Ammon
Big Wall climber
Capo Beach
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You don't have to downclimb the 4th pitch. Two or three pendi's will do the trick.
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Erik Sloan
Big Wall climber
Yosemite Big Wall
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If retreating from above pitch 5 you can avoid downaiding pitch 6 by rapping straight down from the anchors(some bouncing off the wall to stay close will be required but not that bad) and catching the alien crack on the second half of pitch 5. A few easy alien down aid moves will bring you to the mid-pitch anchor on pitch 5 which is 390' from the ground.
Other ridiculous bailing beta: You can go from the top of 8 to the top of 6(60m)though you will have to clip gear and the second would have to take huge swings to clean/rap(this is only really workable/good if you have a three man team and someone goes in the middle).
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bringmedeath
climber
la la land
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Yes, I've done it! Why would I comment if I hadn't? There is a few cool corners up high but most of it is bolts and boring climbing. I think the position is best part of the route.
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Lambone
Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
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deathmaster,
have you even done the route? the Trip has several awesome pitches and is a very worthy route. Sure it has a couple of bolt ladders, as do many other classicc El Cap routes.
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ricardo
Gym climber
San Francisco, CA
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its on el cap -- kind of hard not to give a route many stars if its on el cap ..
.. realistically .. i thought the route was pretty straigtforward .. with no surprises. .. whatever that means ..
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bringmedeath
climber
la la land
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This route should not have that many stars. The fifth pitch is the only really good one on the whole route. It is mostly a bolt ladder. The best part about this route is that, if in a team of 3, the 3rd is just hanging in space.
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ChrisW
Trad climber
boulder, co
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Nice Solo Ricardo!!!! I found out i am not much of a big wall soloist and came down a got a partner. Or maybe i am not ready yet.
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ChrisW
Trad climber
boulder, co
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Nice Solo Ricardo!!!! I found out i am not much of a big wall soloist and came down a got a partner. Or maybe i am not ready yet.
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ChrisW
Trad climber
boulder, co
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Sorry, I mean Top of pitch 7 and top of pitch 9? The only two ledges on the route. Also, top of pitch 17 has a great bivy before you do the easy 5.6 slab.
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Chris W
Social climber
Eldo
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We did the climb without a portaledge because like a bonehead i droped it from the top of pitch 6. We slept on top of pitch 6 and on top of pitch 8. Virgina is steep with lots of fixed heads with a few hook moves and a few C3 moves. I still think pitch 5 would be harder because like you said you gotta place lots of gear and nail also, where virgina you are just relying on lots of fixed heads with a few hook moves and a few C3 placements. But i just cleaned pitch 5 and my partner lead that pitch. Also, I agree with you. Do the LIA and Virgina start to the roof and the rest of the climb will seem relatively tame in comparison.
Tangerine Trip has surprisingly few fixed pins with some good and some manky fixed heads. And of course, lots of rivets.
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ricardo
Gym climber
San Francisco, CA
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My $0.02 ..
If you plan to do this route without a ledge -- then you are a much harder man/woman that i'll ever be .. I only remember 2 ledges.
1 ontop of 6 .. which could sleep at least 2. -- but it is not for the faint of heart to sleep on this ledge.. one toss or turn, and you'd be in for a rude awakening .. when i went through this i couldn't even walk on the ledge .. i opted to aid the ledge hanging from hooks. (its harder to free when you're solo)
1 ontop of 8 .. again hardly a ledge .. i found it fine for using as a stance ..
RE: Crux ..
If you do the Lost in America/Virginia start, then the crux will be the 2 pitches that get you up onto Tangerine Trip. Nothing on the trip will be as challenging as those 2 pitches. --
. pitch 5 takes ALOT of gear .. the penji on 8 is fun, and sticking the free moves after the penji is fairly easy (i wore rock shoes for that pitch).. used alot of hooks on pitch 9 because i didn't carry enough gear to finish the pitch .. (the 5.8 section i did on hooks)..
Because i was soloing, though i'd have to pick the mandatory free on the loose pitch, and on pitch 17 to be the cruxes.. (esp, 17 -- i stood on that hook before the free moves for about 10 minutes before committing to the short free moves ..
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Chris W
Social climber
Eldo
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If U are planning on doing the Trip without a portaledge, the ledges on top of pitches 7 and 9 are really "Good".
But really, the Lost in America/Virgina start is the way to go. For the most part, it climbs directly up to the roof to start pitch 5 of the Trip.
I would have to say the classic Pitch 5 is the crux of the route. My partner kicked ass on this pitch. Pitch 8 was kind of hard but way shorter and requires a little penji to a easy hook move. At least that's what i did.
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Oregon Boy
Trad climber
OR
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Some quick thoughts from our trip on the trip...
If you plan on linking pitches 3 and 4 on the Lost in America/Virginia variation, you either need to a) back clean a lot of gear and biners, or b) take much more gear than is advised on the topo. Otherwise you will not have enough gear.
Pitch 5 - Lots of small cams useful. Hybrids especially
Pitch 7 - #4 cam avoids any free climbing
Pitch 8 - Tough pitch. Crux?
Pitch 9 - If planning to aid, back clean all your #2 cam sizes in the first 30-40 feet of the climb. You’ll need them above unless you plan to free climb the 10c.
Pitch 10 - before you get into the C2 section (super cool overhung crack), you’ll need to climb into a weird chimney. This is tricky to aid, but you can place a #2 cam way in the back at the bottom. Be sure to back clean it so you’re follower’s rope doesn’t saw on the sharp flake.
Pitch 13 - be prepared for some mandatory 5.7 on some very loose, shitty rock. DO NOT bivy at the top of pitch 13! There are bird nests directly above the anchor and they WILL sh#t on you and all your gear. One even flew in and ate my partners last oyster!
Pitch 14 - The C2 awk can be reduced to C1 by using a #4 cam in the flared roof
Pitch 16 - Many hook moves along with some cool free climbing. Don’t pull on any of the holds too hard!
Pitch 17 - If leader chooses not to place any pro, the follower can jug directly to the anchor above and help with the hauling, (Worst hauling on the route!!!). Either way leader be sure to flip haul line OVER the two trees half way up the pitch cause the top tree anchor is on the left.
Overall I thought this route was more than a "bit harder" than the Zodiac. It wanders and there are several sections of bad rock you must travel over. Unlike Zodiac, most of the pitches seem to climb awkward. It is a very fun route though.
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Chris McNamara
SuperTopo staff member
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For a discussion on fixing the first 4 pitches and the Lost in America/Virginia direct start, click here:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?m=43486&f=0&b=0
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Doki
Big Wall climber
S.F. bay area
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One thing I can say about the mandatory free climbing on these route a little bit stout I mean runout but its good free climbing. This is not a zode that straight forward thse route wanders alot. If you're not comfortable from hooks then move 5.7/5.8 runout and lose you gonna have a blast!!!!!!!! Fun climb!!!!!!!!! I'm looking forward for the westside of the captain!!!!!!!!! It's gonna be charly PORTER again w/ maching BACARDI I mean Bocardi!!!!!!!!!!! Im going to bring a hoser next time!!!!!
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ricardo
Gym climber
San Francisco, CA
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can anyone comment on the mandatory free climbing on the trip? -- how much, how hard? -- it really 5.8 ..
.. it was cool that zodiac had very little mandatory free .. so a comparison would be great ..
thanks.
 ricardo
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Chris McNamara
SuperTopo staff member
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here is a way to do the first four pitches of tangerine trip in two pitches. its a little harder than the standard trip start but much more direct. you don't need any extra rack that you wouldn't already have for the trip.
start on pitch 1 of lost in america. at the anchor, free climb up and left on 5.7 to a two bolt anchor. this is a FULL 200 FOOT PITCH.
next, link pitch 3 and 4 of virginia. this pitch is STEEP about 165 feet. lots of bolts and fixed heads with a few sections of tricky aid placements (hooks and maybe a beak or two). wet in spring but climbable. use a 3.5" cam to reach the belay. if you want, you can break this into two pitches (there is a belay 3/4 of the way up).
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Chris McNamara
SuperTopo staff member
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Hey david
The trip is a little harder than the zodiac. Yes, there is a lot of cruiser terrain on bolts. But there are also some awkward cruxy sections like pitch 4 where you have to deal with some weird pin scars and then down aid (which is more cruxy for the follower). and pitch 5 is much more sustained than anything on the zodiac (even though no one part is that bad). Then there is another kinda cruxy pitch in the middle and some rotten rock in one section up high. So overall it’s a little more awkward and devious than zodiac… but not that much harder.
The trip is not mega classic like the zodiac. In fact the only mega classic pitch on the trip is pitch 5… sooo good. But the trip is good (hell, its el cap: there are no bad routes!) If there is a huge crowd on the Zodiac and you feel you would have cruised the Zodiac than you will probably do fine on the Trip.
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David
Trad climber
San Rafael, CA
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Out of curiosity what makes this route "harder than Zodiac"? It sounds like the many rivets have been replaced with fat bolts and on paper this route has only 3 pitches of C3 while Zodiac has 8. Just steeper and more strenuous?
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SPIKE
Big Wall climber
Alta Loma, CA
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Did the Trip with Ben Banks the first week in October 2003.
Pitch 17 was very long, I would say 190', SUPERTOPO indicates 110' The start of P13 is pretty thin, then fixed heads between the first 3 widely spaced bolts. The 5.10c or C1 section on P9 takes quite a few #2 camalots, take at least 3 #2 camalots.
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Lambone
Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
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Just got down from the Trip, fun route, beautiful features and awsome exposure...
The mama bear and her cub are fully scavaging the base, so don't bring any food until you blast, they snaked some gatorade out of our bear bag...
The fixed mank section on pitch 4 was the crux for us. Bring a couple of beaks or peckers, or gear for removing deadheads...
Otherwise lots of fat bolts, kinda like sport-walling.
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Erik Sloan
Big Wall climber
Yosemite Big Wall
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A few tips from May '03 ascent of Tangerine Trip:
Pitch 4 and Pitch 11 have rurps with broken cables. Having super skinny rivet hangers or small webbing ready to feed through them is bonus.
Pitch 8 is a little tough for C2 or 5.9. One sawed off #2 baby angle can be good. If determined to climb without the hammer maybe bring the hooks(especially cam hooks).
The Pitch 10 difficult section is before, not after, the rivets.
Pitch 12(really pitch 11 as everyone links 11&12) and pitch 13 hangerless lead bolts are very reachy, as are the bolts on pitch 15--have the taller member of your team lead these. Keyhole hangers are especially helpful for people shorter than 5'7".
Pitch 14 lead bolt is replaced with a hangerless 1/4" buttonhead bolt that is difficult to see. The bolt is a little over halfway through the pitch.
False belay on pitch 17 is gone.
The Trip is fun....but I only give it three stars because it's el cap--the climbing on the zodiac is so much more classy!
p.s.s.s. Getting wet on the first four pitches happens most of the year(especially heavy in the spring). So fixing to pitch 4, while difficult to do in a day, is a good way to blast past the wetness.
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Chris McNamara
SuperTopo staff member
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The Dude wrote:
Has anybody done or seen the Trip the last few days? I'm curius how wet it is(pitch 4). Also, has anybody done the Virginia var. to the 5th pitch? Is this any harder or more gear intensive than the rest of the Trip? Would this be a good alternative if the 4th pitch on the trip is really wet? Thanks for any advice!
I reply:
Some friends tried the trip a week ago. they made it through the first 4 just fine. a little wet but nothing that will stop you (they bailed from up high because of bad weather). Here is the beta for bailing from pitch 6: from the 6th belay, rap all the way to the false belay in the middle of pitch 5. from there you will need to down aid back to pitch 4.
as for the virgina start: yes, it is an ok start and avoids the wandering first four pitches of the trip. but don't do the first pitch of virgina. instead climb the first pitch of Lost in America and then the next two on Virginia. Pitches 2 and 3 of virginia climb mostly bolts and fixed heads... i think. they are not classic pitches but the trip pitches are not that classic either. however, doing the first 4 of the trip IS the route. your own personal ethics dictate whether you have to climb the first four pitches of the trip...
A topo for Virginia is Yosemite Big Wall obscurities http://www.supertopo.com/topos/yosemite/obscurities.html
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Mike
climber
Mill Valley, CA
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There are drips from higher up that could create annoyance in the first four, but most likely nothing worse than that unless it pours. April can be the bomb on EC with everyone waiting for "the season" to begin. As JO says, be prepared for the weather gamut. The Trip is about the best grade 6 you can be on in foul weather, save for the slabby exit pitch. I recall observing a rain shower falling 30' from the wall while soloing it; I didn't even have to stop climbing. It was too long ago to effectively comment on the clean aid possibilities, but even with the manky bolts replaced, some of the "hardest" climbing will still be thin sections with resident mank. It was my first grade 6 solo, and it was a complete blast - be prepared for the stray shower and go big, matey!
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Chris McNamara
SuperTopo staff member
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yep. it is true. all the lead and anchor bolts have been replaced. no more scary dowell leads.
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clustiere
Big Wall climber
Mill Valley, CA
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I was wondering if it was true about all of the dowels being replaced on pitches 5-14? I have not heard any conformation of this.
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Tangerine Trip is route number 25.Photo: Galen Rowell
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*What is "Route Beta"?
It's climber slang for information or tips on a route as in, "what's
the beta on that route?" As a service to fellow climbers we ask SuperTopo
guidebook users to post tips and updates to this website if they have relevant
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