|
apollodorus
Jan 24, 2003, 7:20 AM
Post #51 of 60
(7660 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Feb 18, 2002
Posts: 2157
|
"If you keep your shame public, there's nowhere for the Various Times to go with it."
- Dr. Johnson
|
|
|
|
|
camhead
Jan 24, 2003, 4:21 PM
Post #52 of 60
(7660 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Sep 10, 2001
Posts: 20939
|
well, if this is the "Big Announcement" thread... here I go...
Moonlight Buttress in March. I've no intention of backing out. It will be my first wall, and I'm not even that much of an aid climber. It may be a pipe dream, but I'm planning on freeing as much of it as I can. Failing that, my crazy aider partner will bail my sorry ass out. hehe.
there. I said it.
|
|
|
|
|
passthepitonspete
Jan 24, 2003, 4:32 PM
Post #53 of 60
(7660 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Oct 10, 2001
Posts: 2183
|
Shortly after Chad burst on the scene here with a barrage of enthusiasm the likes of which is seldom seen, I went out on a limb and predicted that he would solo his first big wall this year.
I based this prediction on two things: his burning passion, and the fact that he "gets it." [For these are the two most important elements you need to succeed on a big wall] I wish I could find the post where I wrote that, but I can't. It's around here somewhere. Maybe someone else can find my quote.
At any rate, he seems bound and determined to accomplish this impressive task within the first month of the year, thus jumping the gun twelvefold.
So while the rest of us are leading plain vanilla lives, Chad is out there having the time of his! He is climbing something longer and harder than he has ever climbed before, and he is upping the ante by doing it solo.
Good on ya, mate.
YOUR WALL DOCTOR IS PROUD.
Note:
Chad has his Wall Doctor's phone numbers, just in case he needs an emergency long-distance mini big wall tutorial.
[And]bastard had better not call collect! I won't accept the charges even if he's standing on his tenth hook in a row! A wall doctor's phoneside manner extends only so far, you know...]
|
|
|
|
|
passthepitonspete
Jan 25, 2003, 6:24 PM
Post #54 of 60
(7660 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Oct 10, 2001
Posts: 2183
|
Here is your update on Chad:
As of Friday night, he had all of his gear up to the base, ready to fire on Saturday morning.
He is pumped and psyched!
His plan is to reach a bivi ledge at the top of 3 today, and hopefully fix above to 5, then complete the route on Sunday. I believe it's nine pitches.
He tells me the final pitch is a choss-haul - but he also tells me he has fixed the problem ahead of time. His Far End Hauler is all set up on top of his pig.
The bail rate on first attempts to solo big walls is high. I was either very lucky, very stupid, or very determined because I managed it my first try, though I spent 16 days doing it!
But I sure hope he makes it. My guess is he won't be able to climb fast enough to do it in two days, but retreat is pretty nasty as it overhangs and traverses.
So it should be a great adventure for him, but hopefully not an epic!
I'll let you know if I find out anything else.
|
|
|
|
|
mojorisin
Jan 26, 2003, 9:26 PM
Post #55 of 60
(7660 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Sep 14, 2002
Posts: 994
|
Its great to see all this good spirit for those of you takeing it a step further. One of my goals is to get to El Cap and do a line. I still have a way to go but I remember how I felt on the Prow here at Cathedral ledge and its a feeling I want to keep getting. And thats only a one day climb. Cant wait to hear how you guys make out this year,,good luck to everyone.
|
|
|
|
|
klimer
Jan 26, 2003, 10:03 PM
Post #56 of 60
(7660 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jan 20, 2003
Posts: 27
|
Good luck. I hope that you make it to the top. That will be quite an accomplishment. Oh, and don't forget to have fun.
|
|
|
|
|
passthepitonspete
Jan 27, 2003, 2:46 AM
Post #57 of 60
(7660 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Oct 10, 2001
Posts: 2183
|
Mwah-ah-ah.
It's Sunday night, and no word from Chad.
Is he having fun, or is he having an epic?
Think about such things from the warmth and comfort of your computer screen.
|
|
|
|
|
base104
Jan 28, 2003, 2:10 PM
Post #58 of 60
(7660 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jan 27, 2003
Posts: 34
|
I am living proof that anyone who can operate a carabiner can climb the Nose.
Our old wall saying was "Don't give up, and you'll make it."
Of course this doesn't mean you can't come down if you have a REALLY good reason. Most who bail, don't, however.
|
|
|
|
|
spike
Jul 4, 2003, 5:13 AM
Post #59 of 60
(7660 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Dec 3, 2001
Posts: 127
|
West Face Leaning Tower
Its Thursday 07/03/03 and I got back from Yosemite Valley last night. Ben and I wanted to do a warm-up wall in YV. Last year I solo'd the West Face and Ben hadn't done it yet, so we agreed to tick it off his list. We also wanted to take a look at Wet Denim Daydream. We left Los Angeles 7:30am Sunday morning 06/29/03 and arrived in YV around 12:30pm. We drove to Camp Curry and put some stuff, the in a bear box. Drove to the Bridalveil Falls parking area, organized our gear and started our hike up to the base of the climb at 2:00pm. I told Ben it was about a 45 minute hike. Two hours later we had our 2 pig up to the start of the catwalk. It was HOT on Sunday and we hiked up during the hottest part of the day. We didn't take a portaledge, but we did take 16 2-liter bottles of water!!! For July we wanted 1.5 gallons of water per person per climbing day, plus water for the hike up and the rappel/hike back down. When we got to the base of the wall we saw 2 different teams of climbers on the route. As we reached the bivy spot at the start of the Class-3 section we ran into 2 climbers who did the route in a single push starting the night before. They told us we had a party of 2 and an International party of 3 above us. The party of 2 had spent last night on Ahwahnee Ledge and the party of 3 were just getting up to Ahwahnee ledge. We could tell that the party of 2 were just getting up to the top of P7 and it was 3:00pm. This kind of concerned us ... we hoped they were trying to get to P9 or P10 before night fall. It took us an hour to shuttle all our gear over the exposed 4th-class section. A newer/better fixed rope has replace the worn one that was there last year. It was 4:00pm by the time we reached the dead tree and were standing at the start of P1. With a party of 3 on Ahwahnee Ledge we decided to just fix P1 & P2 and bivy on the catwalk. The west facing wall was hot to the touch ... so we decided not to start climbing until 6:00pm. We moved over to the 3rd-class section under the shade of a tree and drank a lot of water and rested. At 6:00pm Ben started up P1 and was going to link P1 & P2 together as one. As Ben started to climb we could see ropes hanging in space above us, but because of the over hanging nature of the route, we couldn't see what was going on. When Ben got up to the top of P1 he could see that the party of 2 were bailing off the wall!!! I heard rope... rope.... rope and the next thing I heard was the end of a lead rope whip-snapping 40' out from the wall. As Ben got near the top of P2 at around 7:30pm the party of 2 were hanging at the belay. To get the party of 2 off the belay so Ben could fix our lead and haul line we clipped their haul line to a carabiner and let it slide down our haul line, to me, so I could fix it to the wall for them. This saved them a lot of time, they didn't have to down aid pitches 1 & 2, which are very overhanging. But Ben had to wait about 30 minutes for the team of 2 to rap off with their pig and pull their lines. I spoke with the first climber down and asked him why they were bailing. 2 reasons: not enough water and moving to slow/ran out of time need to be back to work on Monday morning. They started climbing on Friday and only brought 8 2-liter bottles of water. They had less than 1 quart of water between them when they reached me. I asked them about the team of 3 above us. He said that they were on Ahwahnee Ledge and that he fixed a static line for them to the top of P6 for helping him to get back to Ahwahnee Ledge from the top of P6. Ben fixed our lines at the top of P2 and rapped down the haul line. We moved back to the 3rd-class section and bivied under a tree were the fixed line for the 4th-class section starts. Our objective for Monday was to fix to the top of P7. Now our concern was the team of 3 above us ... Our goal was to get up before 5:30am and be climbing by 6:30am. We wanted to get most of the climbing done before the route goes into the sun around 1:45pm. Monday morning at 6:30am Ben lowered me out on the haul line with the pigs hanging below me. The exposure first thing in the morning gets the pulse racing ... Ben started cleaning P1 & P2 as I used the FROG System to jug up the haul line. I hauled the pigs as Ben finished cleaning P2. As I climbed P3 I could see the team of 3 jugging the fixed line up to P6. Great for us ... they didn't actually climb P5 & P6 ... they should be out of our way. The fixed gear on P3 is pretty good, but sooner or later, the webbing on a couple of fixed tri-cams will blow. I had to use a small Leeper cam hook to make the last move onto the belay at P3. P4 went pretty fast because the last part is a bolt ladder. I knew I was getting close because I could smell the urine. I did 1 hook moved on P3 & P4 using a BD Sky hook. I fixed the lead line to Guano Ledge and moved over to Ahwahnee Ledge to haul. After I hauled to Ahwahnee Ledge I stacked the haul line into its A5 rope bag and moved it and myself back over to Guano Ledge. A nice new black static line is placed between Ahwahnee Ledge and Guano Ledge which you can clip into as you move across the slabby section. I could see 2 climbers hanging at the start of P7 and a climber about 1/3rd of the way up. Ben reached Guano Ledge, we stacked the lead rope, and I started leading P5. Not more than a couple minutes into the climb on P5 I heard something big swish down past me ! ! ! ! ! ! I saw a blur of something and it didn't look like a bird, it sounded like something else.... I didn't hear rock or an alert or alarm from the climbers above me. I looked up and asked if they dropped anything ... They yelled up to the leader and he had dropped their #4 Camalot ! ! ! But he didn't yell rock or anything !!! Maybe he was clipping it back into his rack or unclipped it by accident when removing another piece and didn't know that he dropped it. P7 does call for a 4" cam. I was lucky that I was at the start of P5 which is a little to the left of P7 and that the route is very overhanging. I assume the piece was dropped about 225 ft. above me and had reached terminal velocity when it passed me !!! The start of P5 takes a few small nuts in the C2 section and then you run into a lot of fixed gear in the C1F section. P5 calls for 3" cams but I didn't use any. In the C1 vertical section near the top of P5 I switch over to the smaller crack off to the left. I made a BD Grappling hook move near the top of P5. I reached the top of P5, fixed the lead line and Ben started cleaning. The leader climber on P7 still hadn't reached the top of P7!!!!! I started a conversation with the climbers hanging at the start of P7 and they said they were going down. I said down to Ahwahnee ???? No!!! All the way down ... they were bailing also. Reasons for bailing: Low on water, dropped their only large #4 cam and moving to slow. It was a party of 3 and only 1 of them had any big wall experience. I yelled down to Ben that they were bailing. When Ben reach me at the start of P6 the other leader had finally reached the top of P7. Now we had to wait for the other party to clean P7, rap off P7
and then rap off the top of P6 to Guano Ledge before we could start P7. The first climber that rapped off the top of P6 to Guano Ledge had to use our fixed static line and his jumars to get back to the ledge. If our fixed line wasn't there, it would have been a difficult/timely pendy to get back to the ledge. Instead of lowering off with the pig attached to a climber, they lowered the bag down to the climber on Ahwahnee Ledge which had a line attached to the pig ... clusterf*%k --- Then they lowered the bag they left the line, which had a loop in it, hanging down from the belay. The loop in the rope got caught on the pig in 2 places. It got caught under the rope the climber was going to use to pull the pig over to ahwahnee Ledge and it got caught on a blue sling hanging from the pig that had a carabiner on it. They couldn't lower the bag. The guy with the big wall experience was standing on Guano Ledge at the top of P4, the bag was horizonal to me as I stood at the top of P5, the inexperienced climbers were at the top of P6 with a major problem. Ben had already done the free 5.7 moves at the start of P6 and was waiting on the bolt ladder for the other party to move. I could see the problem clearly ... I told Ben to have one of the climbers rap down, clear the blue sling and the other line that was causing the problem. The 2 climbers at the top of P6 were not that experienced! Both Ben and I watched in trepidation as one of the climbers did rap down and fix the problem. Almost 2 hours later, Ben was able to get to the top of P6. He fixed the lead line and I cleaned P6. As I cleaned P6 I noticed that someone had placed a 3/8" bolt about 3/4 the way up the 5.7 section of the climb and someone had chopped it. Ben did the 5.7 section and he recommends that you bring chalk and climbing shoes when you do this section. When I got to the top of P6 I fixed the static line which is also fixed to Guano Ledge. Ben lead P7 ,which is a long 140', during the hottest part of the day. When Ben reached the top of P7 he fixed the lead line and rapped down the lead line unclipping and clipping back into the gear. When Ben reached me at the top of P6 I rapped down the static line back to Guano Ledge and Ben followed. It was around 6:30pm when we got back to Ahwahnee ledge. We still had 2 hours of sun light to eat dinner, drink water to get re-hydrated and set up our bivy for the night. MORE TOMORROW - Voices in the night and rock fall.
|
|
|
|
|
fishypete
Jul 4, 2003, 6:54 AM
Post #60 of 60
(7660 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Apr 5, 2002
Posts: 200
|
The little key on the right with "Enter" written on it....
Think paragraphs.
Fishy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
