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lambone
Oct 18, 2003, 8:28 PM
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Heard from someone that it went down a couple of days ago...can anyone confirm this?
Freakin burly, I couldn't comprehend freeing the Nipple Pitch...underclinging small pin scars under a roof with no feet for 60ft....nuts. Not to mention all the other crazy pitches. I saw lots of chalk on faces in the middle of nowhere with no pro. those guys define bold.
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vegastradguy
Oct 18, 2003, 8:36 PM
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yeah, it went. see 8a.nu for info. rumor has it that it goes free at 5.14a, but i believe that the Nipple Pitch is the only pitch at that level.
spectacular....
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lambone
Oct 20, 2003, 12:49 AM
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wow...those guys are intense!
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ricardol
Oct 21, 2003, 10:58 PM
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there was another thread in the sport climbing forum -- (why i dont know -- its true that there are alot of bolts on the route, and fixed gear -- but c'mon! :-) )
Click here.
-- ricardo
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passthepitonspete
Oct 24, 2003, 10:37 PM
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We met Tom Morrow as we were descending the East Ledges today - he said they sent it! Woo-hoo!
They're doing another slide show tonight - evidently they've got their movie stuff working. They had a problem last time adapting their Euro video to the Merrican stuff.
If Timmy O'Neill makes it down off The Trip, he'll be presenting his own hilarious view of speed climbing and his world class expeditions.
Mountain Shop 8 pm tonight - be there, or be square.
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iamthewallress
Oct 24, 2003, 10:55 PM
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In reply to: Mountain Shop 8 pm tonight - be there, or be square.
Timmy is supposed to be doing his show tomorrow night too.
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moabbeth
Oct 24, 2003, 11:16 PM
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In reply to: We met Tom Morrow as we were descending the East Ledges today - he said they sent it! Woo-hoo! If Timmy O'Neill makes it down off The Trip, he'll be presenting his own hilarious view of speed climbing and his world class expeditions.
Say hi to Tom for me...he's still in the valley? Tell him to give Tinkerbell a great big hug for me.
I heard Timmy's slide shows are hilarious.
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copperhead
Oct 25, 2003, 12:49 AM
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Hats off to the Hubers on a most impressive and amazing ascent! Those guys have got it. And they didn’t need to add bolts (to the Zodiac itself) to free the route. Nice job guys. Good style. Way to push the future. I used to tell people that the Zodiac would never go free and that it was the realm of the aid climber… Sick!
In reply to: ...as we were descending the East Ledges today...
Hey Pete, I saw you up on Aquarian last Sunday. You were only a few pitches from the top. If you came down today, what were you doing all week? Did you top out with enough beer to hang around for four days?
So check it out: I gave a talk in El Cap Meadow (in the charred grass, soot, and ash, thanks to the oxymorons of NPS fire and government mismanagement) to a tour bus load of UNR students about the geology and climbing of El Cap. I didn’t have my binos and we were looking for climbers. Someone said that they saw a portaledge with a Canadian fag (I mean flag) on it. I looked up. “No way! That’s Pass The Pitons Pete! He’s the guy that I argue with on the internet!” I continued to tell them that you bring the kitchen sink and use a 2:1 hauling system while the rest of us prefer a 1:1. They were amused and, of course, the subject of “how do you go…” was again a hit (shit-bag pun intended). The base jumper craterage might have been a bit morbid (especially when I told them how loud it was) but I was able to get them to laugh in the end.
Pete, what did you think of all of the fatty bolts up there? See any aluminum dowels? Is the route drastically different from what it used to be? Would Bridwell be pissed? Are you now jaded, such that you can never again stand on a quarter-incher or a rivet?
Anyways, congrats on adding another tic to your resume! ;)
-Copper
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passthepitonspete
Oct 26, 2003, 7:25 PM
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Alex and Thomas told me a couple nights ago over beers that the Nipple pitch finally went at 13d. Both of them free climbed it. Is that *sick* or what, eh? Sheesh. My fingers hurt at the thought of it.
Actually, after darn near two weeks on the wall, my fingers hurt at the thought of anything....
We were actually on Never Never Land, Bryan. And although we finished our last beers on Thanksgiving Ledge, we still had a couple bottles of wine and half a bottle of Kessler for the summit. Unfortunately, we were pretty much out of water, and couldn't drink it for fear of becoming more dehydrated! Fortunately, we remedied that condition as soon as we recovered my stash left over after my solo of Eagle's Way a few weeks ago, and scarfed the extra water left behind by Matt after his solo of Mescalito.
J.P. and Shawn and I will write up a trip report in a bit, along with lots of photos. Never Never Land was great fun, and although the climbing was pretty moderate, the hauling was brutal due to the low angle of the rock. Kinda explains why the route doesn't get done much, eh?
Our biggest logistical error was continuing up the West Buttress finish [the same one Lurking Fear follows]. It was a real horror show. We bivied one night on that! I didn't realize there is a rappel route somewhere there. Anyone know where it is? Lurking Fear or West Butt? So when you added the extra day to haul those horrid slabs, and then carry all the stuff round to the East Ledges for the descent, that explains why we were up there a little longer than expected.
But the climb was FUN FUN FUN! Timbuktu Towers is an AMAZING bivi. We spent four nights there drinking beer and listening to tunes on the ghetto. We had the whole wall to ourselves - just the occasional view of climbers on Salathe. Some of the cracks were a bit grassy in places, which is the nature of the Southwest Face, but the climb ascends a stellar line straight up the centre of the face left of Dihedral Wall and right of West Buttress. I spoke to Tommy and Beth who are working on free climbing WB ["just out cragging," said Tommy] - but I haven't heard that they've finished it. That was a couple weeks ago.
I can tell you, mate, that we would have been quite screwed indeed without our 2:1 hauling ratchet on Never Never Land. On my solo of Eagle's Way, I only used the 2:1 the first two days, after which I had reached the overhanging bit, and could get by quite fine 1:1 hauling using the Kong Block Roll [or is it Roll Block?], which is far and away the best compound pulley you can buy [if you can find one....]
There were plenty of fatty bolts on Never Never Land thanks to the efforts of Erik Sloan [aka] of the ASCA who climbed the route in the spring of 2002 when Tom and I were climbing Excalibur. Erik replaced most of the original dowels with rivets, and there are 3/8" bolts on the [few] ladders every so often. Even though we had three portaledges [I mean, any fool can be uncomfortable, eh?] we didn't add or replace any bolts or rivets on the route.
And thanks for the congrats, mate. That was my 25th El Cap route. ["Tick!"]
I actually hung out with Bridwell a couple weeks ago in the meadows after he and Tracy Dortman [sp?] climbed The Nose with this girl, who proclaimed for all within shouting distance to hear that she had made the First Black Lesbian Ascent of El Cap. [SFW?] I think she about drove those poor dudes crazy. When I told Bridwell we would be hanging out up on Timbuktu Towers for a few days, he said, "Hey! That's my ledge!"
Tom Evans was there in the meadows with his killer 1250mm lens taking pictures - "Oh, you're the guy who never starts climbing before noon!" - and he gave me some swell shots from Eagle's Way which I'll scan when I eventually get home. [It's hard to leave Paradise - the days are crisp and clean, the nights cool and starry, and the coloured leaves are at their peak just now!] Tom also told us he got some photos of us on Never Never Land. Apparently he took photos of us as I was shooting pics of JP and Shawn on this wild-ass flying traverse a thousand feet up. So we can publish the views both looking down and up. Should be fun!
Two nights ago was the Hubers' slide show, much improved from the one a few weeks ago now that they had their movies up and running. Ivo somehow managed to get the European PAL format movies to work on his laptop, so kudos to him.
While the last show featured only Thomas, the show two nights ago featured both Thomas and Alex. I still shake my head in amazement at Thomas' second ascent of The Ogre, made after 25 failed expeditions. For me, the highlight of Thomas' show was the footage of Doug Scott and Chris Bonington, the first ascensionists in 1977. I had met both of them about twenty years ago when they gave slide shows to the Toronto Alpine Club. And while Doug Scott's flowing mane has turned white, his trademark John Lennon glasses remain. [I wonder if he still calls everyone "youth"?] Amazingly, Bonington looked not one day older than he did back in the 80's! [How does he do it?!]
Alex's slide show was equally impressive. Filmed mostly by Heinz Zack [who was also in attendance] it featured Alex's July 2001 first free ascent of his route Bellavista on the Cima Oveste in the Dolomites. The footage of the 60m 5.14b roof pitch was mind blowing. Hard to believe it's the same dude sitting at the picnic table drinking a Rolling Rock with you as is the guy on the video cranking the amazing moves!
But even more impressive to me was Alex's ascent of the Directissima on the Cima Grande in August 2002. The route is 1700' high, and Thomas made the first free solo of the route, after having climbed it only four times previously. This boy is BAD TO THE BONE! There were plenty of pitches of 5.11, and during his solo of the 5.12a crux pitch, it was so gripping, I wanted to reach for my chalk bag my hands were sweating so much! [Uh, if only I owned a chalk bag....]
The Hubers are indeed a class act and great friends - they are warm and approachable. Be sure to say hi to them if you see them in Camp 4 or the Lodge Caf or Curry Village. In what other sport could you hang out with the best in the world in virtual anonymity? The Hubers are up at the top of the Zodiac this morning recovering their stuff [including a bottle of wine and some "long island iced tea" we left for them], and they told me they're heading for the airport on Tuesday. I could tell you what their project will be for Yosemite next spring, but I'm sworn to secrecy.
Timmy's slide show last night was indeed hilarious. What a superb speaker he is! It featured a great show on his big walling in Greenland last summer. They were there for forty days [and forty nights] - and unlike the Biblical epic it only rained half the time - the first ten days, and the last ten days. They lived in a cave much of the time, and battled mosquitoes continuously as they attempted to penetrate every bodily orifice. [And that's supposed to be FUN?! Sheesh. Now you know why I like El Cap so.......] Eventually they knocked off some impressive free ascents up to 5.12.
Timmy had just gotten down yesterday off The Trip after having climbed it with Warren, a double amputee who has lost both legs above his knees in a climbing accident seven years ago where a boulder shifted and crushed both his legs. "I was trapped for two days - I'm lucky to be alive, really...."
Now Warren is an engaging bloke, an ex-Pat from Oz now living in Canmore, Alberta, and there was a great movie of him ice climbing on the Weeping Wall.
"Man, you'd think they could give him some decent tools and a proper pair of crampons," whispered Shawn as we watched the movie. [They looked pretty high tech to me - the only ice tools I own are a 65 cm Forrest Lifetime Axe and a 45 cm Hummingbird Hammer. And my Chouinard crampons have leather straps. I guess that, like, explains why I don't go ice climbing much, eh? And when I do, my dad has to rescue me. So there.]
"So Warren," says I, "did you rig up any kind of mechanical advantage for your pullups?"
"Nah," he said. "Chongo tried to fix me up with a 3:1, but I just made a T-bar and pulled up on that."
"You climbed El Cap making 2800 1:1 pullups?!"
The highlight of Timmy's show was his extraordinarily creative and hilarious video, "Climbers For Peas", filmed in J-Tree last winter, and mostly improvised. From the opening credits a la Road Runner cartoon style along with The Good, The Bad and The Ugly theme music played when the Ranger-Villain first appeared, Timmy's video had us pissing with laughter and rolling on the carpet. If you *ever* have the opportunity to see Climbers For Peas, move heaven and earth to make it happen!
Timmy concluded his show with a touching memorial to Jose Pereyra, friend to many of us in the room last night, and who died while climbing in Mexico in January, 2003.
As for me, I'm hanging around for a few more days. Watch for my Crab-O-Ledge up on the Tower. Channel 2 sub 10, same Bat Time, same Bat Channel! Or catch me on the Pizza Deck in the evening. I'm easy to find - I'm the one wearing the BSEG.
Cheers,
Pete
"Canadian fag" indeed. Sheesh.
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iamthewallress
Oct 27, 2003, 6:25 PM
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In reply to: Our biggest logistical error was continuing up the West Buttress finish [the same one Lurking Fear follows]. It was a real horror show. We bivied one night on that! I didn't realize there is a rappel route somewhere there. Anyone know where it is?
According to Chris M., it starts where the route meets up w/ Thanksgiving ledge....Wouldn't know personally as we spent a fine day hauling the slabs. Betcha wished you'd brought less when you got to reexperience that! :wink:
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passthepitonspete
Oct 27, 2003, 6:58 PM
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No doubt, eh? I think we could have lived with about eighty pounds less of rope!
Can't help but think how easy it would have been ridin' the pig all the way down, instead of dragging those porkers up and over the top. Sheesh.
Do you mean the rap route begins where LF meets TG Ledge, or where WB meets TG Ledge?
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iamthewallress
Oct 27, 2003, 7:22 PM
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In reply to: Do you mean the rap route begins where LF meets TG Ledge, or where WB meets TG Ledge?
This is from the ST beta page...
In reply to: The rap route starts just below the cave on thanksgiving ledge. Lean over the edge in a few spots and you will find it. After 3 or 4 rappels you just rap the route (in a few sections you need to skip belays). All this info is on the SuperTopo.
It probably just gets you past the Grand Traverse. I seem to remember a big traverse on pitch 6. This might be pretty horrendous w/ your big pigs.
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passthepitonspete
Oct 27, 2003, 8:09 PM
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Ain't no pig THIS Wall Doctor can't wrassle, Doc, 'specially when it be goin' downhill.
I am Dr. Piton,
and I am a Championship Pig Wrassler
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copperhead
Oct 28, 2003, 6:44 AM
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Ho hum.
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overlord
Oct 28, 2003, 10:14 AM
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haven they managed to free it like one or two years before????
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