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spicytuna
May 5, 2009, 8:56 PM
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Hi,
I'm relatively new to leading trad and I'm slowly accumulating a leaders rack so I can lead up some of the easier routes on Yam. Easy Street, Unknown, Windy Slabs, Grillmairs, etc.
Any Yam veterans here? If so, please tell me/us what your favorite piece (type/size) of gear is. And is there any particular size of gear I should double up on?
Thanks! :)
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dynobelay
May 6, 2009, 4:53 AM
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Wow, Yam seems like a fairly stiff cliff for learning trad. I've only lead 1 route there: Forbidden Corner 5.8 ,but found it very serious for the grade! Long runouts, difficult protection, and questionable rock. Even though I'd climbed trad for years at 5.10 grades. An impressive cliff, but serious.
Thin cracks seemed to be most common, often protected with fixed knifeblades. But I'd definitely take small stoppers and Lowe Balls (not to mention the other balls required).
But I'm certainly not a Yam veteran. Good luck.
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granite_grrl
May 6, 2009, 5:00 AM
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I've only climbed on Yam once, but found it to be similar to the limestone trad climbing around here.
That being said, bring up a rack that's heavy on the passive gear (hexes, tri-cam and nuts), light on the caming devices.
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irregularpanda
May 6, 2009, 6:00 AM
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spicytuna wrote: Hi, I'm relatively new to leading trad
YOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRR GGGGGGGOOOOOOOONNNNNAAAAAA DIE!
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tipsonly
May 7, 2009, 6:36 AM
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It depends on the route really. Easy street for example, almost entirely bolted belays and often short pitches, i would go with Camalot C3 red and yellow and C4 .4-3, set of nuts (or a half set) (and a pink and red tricam if you wanted to supplement). Generally speaking I find myself reaching for the .5 and .75 the most often however that is pretty route dependent. Long slings are good on most routes.
Anywhere that bolted belays do not exist I find myself hauling more gear up especially in the middle sizes. Happiness is a solid belay.
Grillmiars is pretty polished, bring lots of draws for the top pitch
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robpatterson5
May 7, 2009, 7:27 AM
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The Yam guidebook has a good discussion of gear for the cliff.
That said, (and I may be repeating the guidebook here) but: a set of nuts (DMM/WC are nice), C3s from green or purple to yellow and .4-3 C4s, and maybe the largest WC hex would be a good rack.
That said, gear is highly dependent on the route and you might need anything from tiny gear to #6s.
Still a set of singles would be fine for the west end.
I would recommend Grey Goose as a fun route if you have some mileage - but watch the second pitch.
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lovesclimbing
May 14, 2009, 7:14 PM
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Not to repeat what has been said befor but it is very route dependent and if your first learning thats great and Yam is a great crag but to keep in mind that you will not find sport grades there as well as the last guide book published even though good is by a man who has taken a couple of bad falls and the routes that he has been putting in the last 7-8 years are not of the super high Yam quailty.
Most belays these days especialy on the west end are bolted or if you walk 10ft you will find a set. Most west end routes will go with a light rack of .4-#2 sometimes a 3 and a set of nuts.
The west side is great for getting in lots of miles fairly easily and safely but dont forget about the east ether, for the most part that can be a completly diffrent ball of wax and just a suggestion, once you have a couple of miles and climbing a bit more the old routes on Kidd Goat are quite good for trad skills and pin craft but keep in mind that it hasnt been brought down a level like Yam has.
Hope that you have a good time
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spicytuna
May 25, 2009, 3:24 PM
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Hi,
Just wanted to thank everyone for their input.
I finally did my first Yam lead yesterday - Easy Street. I brought along a rack which was heavy on smaller pro and found it great in supplementing the many bolts/pitons on the route.
The trickiest part for me was the routefinding. I guess the best way to learn is to continue to climb on a regular basis. Perhaps I'll try Kings Chimney next since it'll be hard to go offroute while inside. 
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the_climber
May 25, 2009, 7:26 PM
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If you end up running up Kings you will LOVE the traverse onto BBQ ledge.
Should my alpine and aid climber's memory serve me correctly, a couple of the pins on the traverse to BBQ ledge are overdriven. A biner would be loaded over an edge if clipped directly, save a few shoulder length slings to tie off the pins through the eye. The topo tells you everything you need to know about the route finding.
There are more than a few bolts that have sprung up in un-needed locations on that route, but that's another story.
Windy slabs, or Grey Goose would be a good next step after that. Or, if you want a route that fells a little more sporting (not to be confused with "sport climbing" like) Unnamed is a great route. Grillmair's is another great route for a new Yam climber too, it's longer so make sure you give yourself enough time.
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spicytuna
May 25, 2009, 9:35 PM
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Thanks for the info! I'm thinking of tackling "Joy" on Indefatigable in 2 weeks followed by either Windy Slab or Kings. I'll decide at the trailhead and climb Kings if nobody's on Grey Goose or Western Union. I've heard lots of great stuff about the final traverse. :)
I actually managed to second Unnamed and Grillmairs since posting my first message. Unnamed was very fun but I'm not sure if I would've been able to lead that second pitch (or 1st pitch in BVR). That 5.7 chimney was so smooth that it made me wonder if I was climbing on marble. Same thing goes for the last pitch on Grillmairs. It wasn't as polished but the view up from the belay station was enough to make my palms sweaty...
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the_climber
May 25, 2009, 9:45 PM
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Re: The 'polished' pitch on unnamed (pitch 2 in Andy's guide)
You can avoide the polished rock be staying on the outer edge of the chimney feature.
As for joy, great route. Don't underestimate the length, the route is LONG and the walkoff is even longer. Belays are easy to get, and you can just cruise. A must do route.
A couple things to keep in mind with Joy:
1 - start early
2 - NEVER EVER get on that rig on a windy day. Seriously!
3 - Half ropes are more hassle than they are worth on that one IMO. YMMV.
If enough snow in the melts and enough of the rock drys up I may be in the area the same weekend.
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markcarlson
May 25, 2009, 10:18 PM
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irregularpanda wrote: YOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRR GGGGGGGOOOOOOOONNNNNAAAAAA DIE!
Speaking of which, if anyone is on bottleneck and find some gear (cams / draws / ???) above the chockstone/pinnacle belay station, there's free beer available if I get it back! My buddy broke his ankle on the route on Saturday (May 23), and some of the gear didn't get retrieved during the rescue (to be expected, of course.)
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spicytuna
May 25, 2009, 11:01 PM
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Sorry to hear about your incident.
Strangely enough, my partner was also heli slung off of Yam the previous day - May 22. He was on the lower pitches of Necromancer when he had his foot crushed by some falling rock.
I wish I could retrieve the gear for you but it's beyond my ability to lead. My partner could but of course he's out of commission. 
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markcarlson
May 25, 2009, 11:44 PM
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Ouch! Yes, lots of loose rock out there. I was hit with small rocks on 4 occasions that day, with much more landing close by. Luckily nothing big enough to do any damage.
My buddy's "break" isn't as bad as we first thought. He's still in the hospital and is going in for surgery tomorrow to remove some bone fragments, then 4-6 weeks before he'll be walking again.
Hopefully your partner's crushed foot isn't as gruesome as it sounds (ack!) and he'll have a good recovery!
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dead_milkman
May 26, 2009, 7:54 PM
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spicytuna wrote: Thanks for the info! I'm thinking of tackling "Joy" on Indefatigable
in addition to a standard rack, i would consider taking a few knifeblades and a spare set of calves on Joy.
Redshirt would be an excellent introduction to real route-finding on a longer Yam route to add to the end of that list.
On a related note:
i was wondering what all the commotion was about on friday and saturday. nice to find out nobody's been traumatized too badly.
Could I ask that you and your partners who were involved in the rescues post information about the causes of the accidents? it would be helpful to know the causes of recent accidents, as as far as i know parks is no longer publishing analysis (?).
cheers.
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the_climber
May 26, 2009, 8:09 PM
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dead_milkman wrote: in addition to a standard rack, i would consider taking a few knifeblades and a spare set of calves on Joy.
Ya, that first ledge big enough to sit on is damn near at the top isn't it.
I don't think the KB's are really needed on Joy at this point if you have a few tricams for those shallow cracks. There are a few pins in place on the route if you look for them, not to mention a fixed cam or two. That said, a rockies fist of iron is a standard portion of my rack for most routes.
Joy is a great route to find booty gear on BTW... if it gets claimed and you get beer, or if it doesn't get claimed and you get gear. You win either way,.
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spicytuna
May 27, 2009, 3:20 PM
Post #17 of 18
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Thanks for all the info on Joy.
I'm thinking of checking it out in 2 weeks. I'm hoping the beautiful views will help me forget the pain in my calves. 
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lovesclimbing
Jun 19, 2009, 4:51 PM
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Westren Union is a good route but if you found unamed greasy and diffcult you will skate out of Red Shit, dont be afraid to check out he east side for some older easier routes as well.
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