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What a bitchin' little bivi ledge! Just big enough to get out and walk around on, which is something I really enjoyed after five or six days on the Pacific Ocean Wall. You can click here for a cool view of the Island in the Sky looking down from above.
The P.O. is a classic Bridwell route, and if you click the link above, you can read how I met Jim for the first time on the summit! |
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Here you see the Better Way to join two fixed ropes together, ropes on which you will either be jugging or rapping. Use this knot only when you cannot rebelay your rope and change ropes at a belay station.
In case you can't see what I've done, you join your two ropes together with a regular figure of 8 knot. [Not tied exactly perfectly with nice meshing loops, but you get the idea]
Back off the ends with half a double fisherman's knot as shown.
Then, take the whole kit n' kaboodle, and tie it into the middle of an Alpine Butterfly Knot.
The Butterfly Knot is incredibly easy to untie, and you will no longer have to fight your figure of 8 when you untie.
Do NOT use this knot for joing two ropes for a double-rope rappel.
You should use a Euro Death Knot for that.
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KEWL photo, eh?
This is Neal Weiss on our last morning of our ascent of Zodiac. In case it's not obvious to you, you are looking down on Peanut Ledge.
I like the photo because of the blackness yawning beneath.
I was hanging from the fixed ropes dropped by Darrin Carter - slack line walker extraordinaire - who bailed us out after we were out of food and water.
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If you set out to sink the Bismark, you had best be armed with a big gun.
Here we see Neal Weiss armed with my #4 Big Bro, a twelve-inch tube chock he used to climb the nasty offwidth of the Bismark o
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Uh, yep - that's me all right - a Big Wall Theorist if ever you saw one.
Only a BWT would drag across two haul lines and the second lead line instead of using a
Submitted by: passthepitonspete on 2002-03-29 Views: 751 | Votes: 17 | Comments: 2
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Without doubt, "Big Wall Eric" was the Quintessential Big Wall Theorist!
He had it all - a head swager in the back of his truck, whose license plate read,
"ELCAP5"
Hell, he even
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Here we have just another plastic warrior gym climbing bumbly, wasting his time indoors with nothing better to do.
Maybe he should go out and do some REAL climbing like
Submitted by: passthepitonspete on 2002-03-20 Views: 560 | Votes: 2 | Comments: 0
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Yes, ladies and gents, here you see the quintessential Big Wall Theorist - none other than Dr. Piton himself - who subsequently bailed from his attempt to climb the Regular Route on the Northwest Face of Half Dome in 1
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Usually I get a boat ride to the crag, but this time of year you can walk!
Bon Echo's 85 m cliff offers superb, challenging and intimidating trad climbing in eastern Ontario.
That's like me in the orange, standi
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My first ascent of El Cap in 1988!
The "Fires" should be your clue, eh?
Note: If you know that "Fire" is pronounced "Fee-Ray", then you are probably an old fart like me!
The
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El Cap Towers could be the most famous big wall bivi in the world! Unquestionably, it is on the most famous big wall climb - The Nose.
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Top left:
Three used heads from my ascent of Jolly Roger.
Aren't those the sickest damn things you've ever seen? You'd have to be crazy to climb on stuff like that! Especially twenty-five
consecutive moves on stuff like that.
And that's like a "toonie" for scale, eh?
Top right:
My valid Canadian passport showing the photo of me with Wee-Wee the Big Wall Crab on my left shoulder,
and a Merrican dime for scale.
Middle right:
My little pecker! The swaged cable is a custom job.
Bottom right:
Mangled and beaten-up rusty old #3 knifeblade probably bootied off of some wall somewhere, or maybe I actually bought the thing - who knows?
Bottom:
On the right is an A5 Birdbeak an amazing invention by Jim Bridwell, a piton that
works with a hooking and camming action. The rad thing about beaks is that you hammer 'em in, but you can often pull them out with your
fingers by just wiggling them a bit!
Just to the left of the beak is a Black Diamond Grappling Hook that I straightened out on a daisy chain fall during my solo ascent of Native Son. If you want to see what the thing is supposed to
look like before you fall on it, please click here to
see one with the proper curvature.
Here is a not-so-great photo of how to sling a
Grappling hook. The sling is about twice as long as it should be - you lose too much height that way. Also, you'd better crank down on
that knot, eh?!
Bottom right:
Kong-Bonatti Adjustable Fifi Hook rigged for left-handed operation. Even though the hook itself has "7 mm" stamped on it, you
should use the slipperiest 6mm cord that you can find.
I used to need the cord to be arm's length, but since the invention of adjustable daisies you can now get away with the cord being about two feet
long. Be sure to allow for the knot on your harness, and the keeper knot which is shown.
You'll also want to tie a hunk of 3 mm cord through the top to make it easier to remove. You can see that I have tied a couple knots in the
3 mm cord to prevent it from slipping over the hook. That's a little trade secret, eh?
Take a good look at that hook. You can see that it is very well used and hence the reason for its retired status. It is so chewed from
hanging over wires, there is a big gouge out of thing that was making it too difficult to pull out!
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Photo by Tom Randall from Zodiac.
This photo was taken on my 42nd birthday - September 11, 2001.
Do you think I will ever forget that day? I couldn't believe it when Tom shouted over that th
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It's January, 1996 - and I'm enjoying my first Post Divorce Renaissance climbing trip.
The waves come in big on the north shore in the winter, so you'd better not blow it! Check out the sailboat in the background, eh?
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Sketch by Dr. Piton
Here you can see a sketch of the Solo Tag Rack in use. Before you read any further, you should click on this link to s
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Well, it's just business as usual on El Cap in the morning! It looks like I'm doing a few of the usual gear sorting activities, all conducted a couple thousand feet off the deck, of course!
This photo was taken during my
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This photo was taken by Thad Friday, who was nippin' at my heels as he was soloing Native Son behind me.
We met at the base where I taught him a few big wall tips, like
Submitted by: passthepitonspete on 2002-03-09 Views: 609 | Votes: 14 | Comments: 2
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