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gblauer
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Jan 3, 2012, 10:32 PM
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Gmburns2000 wrote: Damn near hand-jammed into a wasp nest, though..
Yikes...I did that at the gunks with a bees nest. 27 stings later, I resumed climbing. Not fun!
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Gmburns2000
Jan 4, 2012, 12:21 AM
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gblauer wrote: Gmburns2000 wrote: Damn near hand-jammed into a wasp nest, though.. Yikes...I did that at the gunks with a bees nest. 27 stings later, I resumed climbing. Not fun!
Yeah, I was able to back off before I got through it. It was a "what the fuck?" moment for sure.
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surfstar
Jan 4, 2012, 4:08 PM
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Cliff notes:
A nice selection of slings, cord, a nut and biners were bailed from ~30m up pitch 4. Also if you 2nd class 15' to the right on the chimney belay ledge, there's another cord + sling that someone should grab before winter finally hits (it'd be a shame to waste any of this gear that has tons of life left!)
Also of note: you can bail off from that chimney belay ledge with two 60m ropes and get safely down without stuck ropes.
A TR bail? ...
I had headed to the Valley to take advantage of this weird winter weather for the long New Years weekend. Myself and A are fledgling trad leaders and we also had a couple of followers to belay us up whatever we attempted. This was my first time in the Valley since I took up climbing (Meadows 7/2010) and this would be A's first time leading in the Valley.
Our first afternoon we spent at Swan Slab, each of us getting in a 5.6 lead and setting up a top-rope on the 5.9 finger and adjacent 10a climbs. The next day we set off for Munginella and had it all to ourselves and our 2 parties of 2. We did it in two pitches and it went well and was a quite enjoyable climb. This was our followers first multi-pitch outings. After a quick lunch we decided to check out Jamcrack and also with no one around, had it to ourselves. A led the first pitch, I followed and brought a 2nd rope so that we could setup a top-rope for our friends on the first pitch while I psyched myself up to try the 2nd pitch. My lead went well and I ended up sitting briefly on one piece near the top (sized the wrong cam and that extra bit of time made me want a take).
With the pass open, I insisted that we had to do a day of climbing in the Meadows; options of West Country or something similar or Cathedral Peak! The novelty of getting Cathedral done on January 1st won us over, so on New Years eve ours was the only campsite in Camp 4 in bed by 10pm. We hit the road by 5:40am on a brisk New Years day – the temperature at the Cathedral trailhead was 16* when we started hiking just after 7am. Luckily, as I suspected, there would be previous footprints in the snow to mark our climbers trail. Bits of snow and ice still slowed us down a bit and the approach was ~2hrs and I was hoping for 1.5 tops. I was still able to start the first pitch around 9:30, so I thought we'd be good. A faster party had started a bit before us and we relinquished the possibility of being the first to summit in 2012, but we would set a different first... I was leading first, bringing up my second and usually waiting for A to arrive at the belay on lead before I took off on the next pitch. At the third pitch belay we paused and let a couple soloists pass before starting up the pitch. Again at the chimney belay another soloist passed along with a simul-climbing party. While obviously behind what we hoped to be our schedule, we thought we'd still have time to summit and continued on. Wandering around mid-pitch 4, I had the feeling that it wasn't going to happen, though. I built an anchor and started to bring up my second so that A could start up the pitch and then we would discuss options when they arrived. As it started to get a bit colder and the sun was working its way lower in the sky, we decided to go ahead and bail, as we would have to still do 2 more pitches to get to the top and didn't want to finish anytime near dark (I had hiked Cathedral before, and knew how to get over to the descent trail, but we were unsure of what, if any, snow/ice sections lay between the summit and the trail). So we built up our anchor to bail from, after we had downclimbed to a spot that offered blocks to sling and a nut placement vs our current belay spot. Despite taking longer than I had hoped to get the bail process started, we were able to lower our followers down safely to the ground and rap ourselves off just before dark. With 4 people and the possibility of cold and darkness, the anchors were solid. As I rapped off, I paused and questioned whether biners should have been replaced with girth hitches or rope directly on sling rapping; this was dismissed as the few dollars didn't matter with 4 of us in the mix and any possibility of mental lapses from a long day that was getting longer and colder. We made it back safely and even had enough energy left to stop at Tenaya and get our ice walking/sliding on – so cool to be able to drive through this time of year!
The last day we were all pretty unmotivated to climb, so our followers went off to take in some sights before leaving. So A and I settled on something short; Bishops Terrace, and I figured if I followed the first pitch, I should be warmed up and hopefully motivated to lead the second. Arriving at the belay, I was neither, but had agreed to it beforehand so off I went. I was unhappy with having only two cams large enough for the wide section, especially as one didn't seem quite big enough and so I hemmed and hawed my way up it with some sitting on gear and bumping up my lower piece until I was high enough to make a couple moves and clip a fixed pin and head up the double crack section. After a couple pumpy-liebacking placed cams, I hit the hands section and pushed on through happily with solid hands and feet and was stoked to have led it after all. Then we rap down, pull our ropes and they only move 4 feet. Tug. Tug. Harder tugs. Rope in the belay device body tugs. Nothing. Stuck solid. At least we have both rope ends. I am sure that on any other given day of great climbing weather, an untold number of waiting groups wold happily unstick the ropes. Curse these empty classic routes! I had always meant to practice ascending a rope one day in Santa Barbara when I didn't have a partner, but had never gotten around to it. Either way I knew the setup I had imagined would work and put it to the test. ATC in guide mode on my belay loop with a sling prussic above and a couple girth hitched slings down to a foot loop. It worked, I was safe during my ascent, but damn was it hard to pull all that rope through. After what was easily the most work I did climbing the entire trip, I found one tail of the rope had caught in the crack at the top. I had just started using the EDK for its ease and speed of tying and that the knot should get caught less – in this instance I think it worked against us b/c of the long tail strand. Lesson learned: pay more attention to where the rope may run when pulled, have your partner test pull before you rap, and orient the knot on whichever side makes more sense when tying.
As I type this, my arms are quite sore from the rope ascent more than anything else, but I know we learned a lot on this trip and along with our first Valley leads, our first Cathedral attempt and the distinction of the first party to bail off Cathedral in 2012! And possibly the only party to bail on a New Years day!? Along with being more comfortable leading trad, we missed having a couple epics and are one more step along in our climbing journey. A great few days and back in time to catch the new swell today! A pretty decent start to 2012...
View from base of Munginella
Looking down from the top of Munginella - the final steep section was a pleasant surprise.
Looking down 3rd pitch of Cathedral
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Gmburns2000
Jan 4, 2012, 4:46 PM
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Sounds like a nice time. Glad you guys made the right decision on bailing. Cold, lack of experience, darkness = bad things.
I remember Munginella from when I was there. I passed on leading P2 (actually, I freaked out). Crack has never been my strong suit.
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losbill
Jan 4, 2012, 5:24 PM
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Sounds like a great outing. Thanks for sharing. IMHO you demonstrated smack on judgment on the bail. The pic with the knobs brought back good memories from my trip to the Meadows in August.
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Gmburns2000
Jan 4, 2012, 6:24 PM
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Gmburns2000 wrote: Sounds like a nice time. Glad you guys made the right decision on bailing. Cold, lack of experience, darkness = bad things. I remember Munginella from when I was there. I passed on leading P2 (actually, I freaked out). Crack has never been my strong suit.
edit: I meant that I passed on leading Bishops Terrace P2. Munginella went just fine.
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gblauer
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Jan 8, 2012, 12:46 AM
Post #857 of 1159
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Nice trip report Surstar, I liked the photos too.
Today it was 55 degrees at the gunks. The lot was 3/4's full, but mostly hikers. The uberfall was very busy and we contributed to the busy-ness. I didn't feel like walking in, as the days are too short for long hikes. My philosophy: find an open climb and jump on it. I feel like I am just continuing my fall season and am feeling very confident on the rock. I stood at the base of my goal climb for 2012 and thought I might get on it today...alas, I wimped out. Don't worry, when I attack Retribution you will all know about it!
We enjoyed climbing Bunny, Fancy Idiot, Pas de Deux, Son of Easy O and Easy O today. It's supposed to be 39 tomorrow; I hope the forecasters are wrong and we ease into the 40's. I am going to yoga in the AM and hopefully to the cliff after noon.
(This post was edited by gblauer on Jan 8, 2012, 12:56 AM)
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rangerrob
Jan 8, 2012, 2:57 AM
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I was out there today too Gail...first time back on the rock since breaking my ankle in the beginning of November. I led Jackie, and you could tell by the number of pieces I placed that I was not trusting myself. I usually do that pitch with 4 pieces. I placed 9 today. Did Nice Crack Climb as well. Still...t-shirts and sweat in January..it's not right. It should 15 degrees and snowy, and the ice should reigning supreme!
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gblauer
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Jan 8, 2012, 4:36 AM
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Rob...so glad to hear that you are back!!! We saw someoneon Jackie...wanted to climb it but it was taken. Glad to hear it was you.
What about tomorrow? You going to climb in 39 degrees?
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rangerrob
Jan 9, 2012, 3:10 AM
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Nope...I was domestic today
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gblauer
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Jan 9, 2012, 3:17 AM
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Me too. Yoga at Jai Ma. It was a bit too breezy for me to brave the low 40's.
On another note, do you know who put the solar christmas lights on the tree above the Andrew boulder?
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sethg
Jan 9, 2012, 5:10 AM
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Nice!!!!! Glad you got out Rob!
I went climbing Saturday, we were top rope tough guys at Lost City. Back when I climbed trad I was good for the odd 5.8 but since I got introduced to toproping I can top-dog 5.11, no problem!
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Gmburns2000
Jan 9, 2012, 12:16 PM
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gblauer wrote: On another note, do you know who put the solar christmas lights on the tree above the Andrew boulder?
The more I think about it, the more I think that's kind of cool.
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losbill
Jan 9, 2012, 2:23 PM
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Saturday was great! Went out to Crow to boulder. Surprised to find 4 parties and one other boulderer there. Usually it's just Kevin and me.
Seth if you haven't already seen it you may find this useful as you begin to work up the top rope ladder:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsAiOYXC-k0
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Gmburns2000
Jan 9, 2012, 2:48 PM
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losbill wrote: Saturday was great! Went out to Crow to boulder. Surprised to find 4 parties and one other boulderer there. Usually it's just Kevin and me. Seth if you haven't already seen it you may find this useful as you begin to work up the top rope ladder: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsAiOYXC-k0
I think I know someone who's related to someone who did that film.
Seriously!
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sethg
Jan 9, 2012, 7:55 PM
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Yes!! That movie is genius, I was quoting from it.
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gblauer
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Jan 9, 2012, 10:23 PM
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Seth, I would have joined you had I known! Although we did have fun in the Trapps.
Regrettably it's back to a grueling schedule for me. I will be in NJ, DC, MA and NJ this week, followed by MA for 4 days next week. Hopefully the weekend of the 20th will be nice and mild.
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TarHeelEMT
Jan 9, 2012, 10:26 PM
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I finally got out and did The Pulpit at Stone Mountain this weekend. My friend flew in from Alaska to interview for med school, so I had to take him out for some nice south facing North Carolina rock climbing to rub in the fact that our high temperature was a full eighty five degrees warmer than his.
It was an awesome route, but a water streak was running pretty wide across the traverse to the Oasis, so we improvised by climbing up 100 feet to a high point and rapping down to the Oasis before continuing on.
There was some crazy gumby shit going on at Stone yesterday, though. I don't even know where to begin... There were probably five or six other parties there, all of whom might be the loudest people I've ever seen at a crag not in the New River Gorge.
We had everything from completely botched and crossed-up double rope technique with some pieces clipped with one rope and others by both being employed on a vertical crack (using 10mm+ single ropes, no less) to a woman who claimed to have been climbing for 15+ years, but screamed in panic every time her top rope had a slack loop to her knees (on a 5.4, no less). GoPro helmet cams documented epic 5.5 pitches. Someone was bragging to everyone who would listen about having been rescued by military helicopter from Shortoff. Plus, there was the ever classic guy talking loudly about being a 5.10 leader who dragged his non-climber girlfriend to the crag and shouted endlessly useless encouragement at her as she dangled helplessly near the bottom of the aforementioned 5.4 entrance crack for over an hour.
Then, one of the most bizarre things that has ever happened to me while climbing occurred as my partner was leading the pitch off the Oasis (P4).
Guy at bottom: Hey you up there!
Guy at bottom: Hey you on the Pulpit!
Me: Yeah?
Guy at bottom: What's it like on the Pulpit right now?
Me: A little wet. Mostly ok.
Guy at bottom: Is the rubber sticking good?
Me: Uh... yeah.
Guy at bottom: Thanks. I was thinking about doing my first free solo.
*long pause*
Guy at bottom: Unless one of ya'll wants to climb it again with me and follow. I wouldn't mind a belay.
*silence*
Mind you, it's now 3 PM, very overcast, starting to drizzle, and the water streak next to the Oasis is clearly running strong. What the hell?
(This post was edited by TarHeelEMT on Jan 9, 2012, 10:32 PM)
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gblauer
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Jan 9, 2012, 10:33 PM
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Darwin at work
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Gmburns2000
Jan 9, 2012, 11:48 PM
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TarHeelEMT wrote: I finally got out and did The Pulpit at Stone Mountain this weekend. My friend flew in from Alaska to interview for med school, so I had to take him out for some nice south facing North Carolina rock climbing to rub in the fact that our high temperature was a full eighty five degrees warmer than his. It was an awesome route, but a water streak was running pretty wide across the traverse to the Oasis, so we improvised by climbing up 100 feet to a high point and rapping down to the Oasis before continuing on. There was some crazy gumby shit going on at Stone yesterday, though. I don't even know where to begin... There were probably five or six other parties there, all of whom might be the loudest people I've ever seen at a crag not in the New River Gorge. We had everything from completely botched and crossed-up double rope technique with some pieces clipped with one rope and others by both being employed on a vertical crack (using 10mm+ single ropes, no less) to a woman who claimed to have been climbing for 15+ years, but screamed in panic every time her top rope had a slack loop to her knees (on a 5.4, no less). GoPro helmet cams documented epic 5.5 pitches. Someone was bragging to everyone who would listen about having been rescued by military helicopter from Shortoff. Plus, there was the ever classic guy talking loudly about being a 5.10 leader who dragged his non-climber girlfriend to the crag and shouted endlessly useless encouragement at her as she dangled helplessly near the bottom of the aforementioned 5.4 entrance crack for over an hour. Then, one of the most bizarre things that has ever happened to me while climbing occurred as my partner was leading the pitch off the Oasis (P4). Guy at bottom: Hey you up there! Guy at bottom: Hey you on the Pulpit! Me: Yeah? Guy at bottom: What's it like on the Pulpit right now? Me: A little wet. Mostly ok. Guy at bottom: Is the rubber sticking good? Me: Uh... yeah. Guy at bottom: Thanks. I was thinking about doing my first free solo. *long pause* Guy at bottom: Unless one of ya'll wants to climb it again with me and follow. I wouldn't mind a belay. *silence* Mind you, it's now 3 PM, very overcast, starting to drizzle, and the water streak next to the Oasis is clearly running strong. What the hell?
wow
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sethg
Jan 10, 2012, 4:54 AM
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gblauer wrote: Seth, I would have joined you had I known! Although we did have fun in the Trapps. Regrettably it's back to a grueling schedule for me. I will be in NJ, DC, MA and NJ this week, followed by MA for 4 days next week. Hopefully the weekend of the 20th will be nice and mild.
Gail, that would have been great. I hope we'll get together to climb more in 2012 than in 2011.
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zealotnoob
Jan 10, 2012, 3:16 PM
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A buddy and I made the 9 hour drive from DC and finally cut our teeth on White Sides in NC a few weeks ago.
The large wall and it's reputation for hard, runnout pitches have been in the back of my mind ever since I started climbing. I'd always wonder to myself, "am I ready yet?"
We started the weekend on Arm and Hammer 5.12a 700' on Saturday, and did the Original Route 5.11 on Sunday.
My partner did a write up of Arm and Hammer here: http://bailureblog.blogspot.com/...-north-carolina.html
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timm
Jan 10, 2012, 3:36 PM
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zealotnoob wrote: A buddy and I made the 9 hour drive from DC and finally cut our teeth on White Sides in NC a few weeks ago. The large wall and it's reputation for hard, runnout pitches have been in the back of my mind ever since I started climbing. I'd always wonder to myself, "am I ready yet?" We started the weekend on Arm and Hammer 5.12a 700' on Saturday, and did the Original Route 5.11 on Sunday. My partner did a write up of Arm and Hammer here: http://bailureblog.blogspot.com/...-north-carolina.html
Proud.
Nice blog post.
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IsayAutumn
Jan 10, 2012, 6:46 PM
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zealotnoob wrote: A buddy and I made the 9 hour drive from DC and finally cut our teeth on White Sides in NC a few weeks ago. The large wall and it's reputation for hard, runnout pitches have been in the back of my mind ever since I started climbing. I'd always wonder to myself, "am I ready yet?" We started the weekend on Arm and Hammer 5.12a 700' on Saturday, and did the Original Route 5.11 on Sunday. My partner did a write up of Arm and Hammer here: http://bailureblog.blogspot.com/...-north-carolina.html
Nice post! The whole blog is pretty good stuff, actually.
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Gmburns2000
Jan 11, 2012, 12:16 AM
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zealotnoob wrote: A buddy and I made the 9 hour drive from DC and finally cut our teeth on White Sides in NC a few weeks ago. The large wall and it's reputation for hard, runnout pitches have been in the back of my mind ever since I started climbing. I'd always wonder to myself, "am I ready yet?" We started the weekend on Arm and Hammer 5.12a 700' on Saturday, and did the Original Route 5.11 on Sunday. My partner did a write up of Arm and Hammer here: http://bailureblog.blogspot.com/...-north-carolina.html
Nice post! Interesting video, too.
Well done on getting to the top at the very least.
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