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jsj42
Nov 11, 2003, 10:20 AM
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Registered: Dec 24, 2002
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Jules Verne:
November 10, 2003
“The third pitch of Jules Verne will demand 25 feet of continuous intricate face climbing, with a fifty to sixty foot fall possible. Such an undertaking lies in a realm which, seemingly, no man has yet entered and epitomizes well the future of rock climbing.”
- Roger Briggs, Climbing Magazine, 1974.
“The runout is the fearsome part, but keep in mind that it isn’t that tough if you’ve made it this far, and there’s good gear in the rotten band above.”
- Comment on climbingboulder.com.
“Keep in mind, however, that some well-known climbers have taken 30-40 foot falls here.”
- Follow-up comment on cb.com.
“…and hurt themselves.”
- Follow-up comment on cb.com.
And of course, “Chaaaaarrrrlieeeeeeeeeeeee!”
- Annie Whitehouse yelling her belayer’s name while airborne.
These things were pretty well burned into my memory and yet all I could think was “If I jump off at this point I probably won’t get hurt,” and, “Damn you leg! Damn you! Stop shaking!” The holds are really, really small. Shaking is not helpful. I had just stepped up onto the infamous runout face of the third pitch of Jules Verne. My last piece of gear - a bombproof wire - was now below my feet.
***
Jules Verne has been somewhat immortalized by Peter Mortimer’s film Scary Faces, but even before the film it had already gained a reputation among Boulder climbers as one of the great test pieces of Eldorado Canyon. Sadly I wasn’t even born when Steve Wunsch and Jim Erickson did the spectacular ground-up first ascent of the crux third pitch: pre-sticky rubber, pre-chalk, pre-modern gear. In fact, the first time I had even heard of the climb was in 2001. I had done a paltry half-dozen climbs, including my first lead, and couldn’t even conceptualize what a long run out was (heck, I didn’t even know where the West Ridge or Rincon were for that matter). That day we were on our way to climb Calypso and Reggae and my partner had stopped for a moment to point out the line of the Naked Edge. I stared at the upper reaches of Redgarden, completely unable to fathom where the Edge went, despite my partner’s patient explanation. I remember him quietly saying, “…and just next to it is Jules Verne.”
I wasn’t interested. My mind was on Reggae – potentially my first 5.8 in Eldo. But later that year I watched Scary Faces and I became very interested. I knew that one day I would try to climb it.
That day turned out to be this Monday. Not that I had planned it or anything: I had been climbing several days in a row and had hoped to take a rest day or two. I was burning out fast – in fact, just one day before, I attempted to link the first two pitches of Captain Beyond (10a and 9+) and in the process took a lead fall! I was obviously not 100%. But at the same time I was feeling the pressure of the changing weather and sensed that my window of opportunity to climb it this season was shrinking rapidly. When Shane called that morning I opened the shades and saw that the skies were blue. I hung up the phone and rolled out of bed. “Okay. I guess this is it.”
***
I moved up another five feet above the wire and paused. It was tenuous but it was a stance of sorts – two small crimps and legs stemmed below me. I was still entertaining crazy thoughts of just jumping off before getting any further away from that damn wire. At least my leg had stopped shaking.
“I suspect that most falls occur because there is a place to stop and momentum is hard to regain. Good luck!”
- Steve Dieckhoff on climbingboulder.com
Hmmm. This must be the place that I’m not supposed to stop at. It also felt like it was the highest possible point that jumping off (!) might actually be a reasonable option. “Jump now or go all the way,” I thought. I stared for what felt like an eternity at the rotten band above. Then I took a deep breath and rocked up onto my right foot. I was committed.
***
As I thought through what it would take to climb Jules Verne over the past few weeks I spent far more time considering the first pitch than the third. This pitch is a long, physical 11b/c roof sequence – beginning with the T2 roof but breaking left for a ten-foot stretch along the lip. My first experience with it was two years prior: I had joined Bill Wright and a few other guys one morning to do a lap on Touch and Go and then top rope pitch one of T2. That morning I couldn’t even hang from the starting holds.
The following year I got on T2 on two other occasions and still couldn’t reach the hold at the lip of the roof. Earlier this year I TR’d the pitch for a fourth time and was finally able to snag it.
I knew that the day I attempted Jules Verne I needed to lead the first pitch as well as the third, but since I had lost the opportunity to onsight it (at least the opening moves), I decided to rehearse it one last time. Last week, with Ivan Rezucha, I practiced the moves up to the hold at the lip and then practiced clipping the drilled angle (all while on TR). After resting, I tried climbing along the lip of the roof to the crux stand-up move below the second pin. It all felt good.
So, Monday morning we warmed up by climbing Touch and Go, and on rappel I hung a draw from each of these two pins, just as I had done with Ivan. Only this time we pulled the rope. As it hit the ground I looked at Shane and chuckled, “well I guess we have to go up now.”
I put my hands on the starting holds and reviewed the sequence while Shane threw our packs on the top of some of the pointier rocks below the roof – good thinking! Then Shane put his hands up to spot me but smirked as if to say, “Don’t fall because realistically I can’t do a thing for ya.” Fortunately he didn’t have to. The first clip gave me a big boost of confidence and the rest of the pitch – traversing the lip, the second clip, the crux stand-up, underclinging left, and pulling over the buldge – went slowly but steadily. Shane followed (and had the harder job of having to unclip those two pre-hung draws), and then did a fine job of leading the second pitch up to the next belay.
At the belay I checked my knot some 5 stinking times.
Two trucks pulled to a stop on the road below and a few climbers jumped out to watch. Awww shit. This is for real.
Check knot. Deep breaths. Check knot one more time.
Fortunately the 25-foot stretch of 5.10 leading up to the runout was demanding enough to make me momentarily forget exactly what I was getting into. Unfortunately the nice stance at the top of the dihedral, from which I could conveniently survey the rest of the pitch (and I spent a full ten minutes doing so), left me plenty of room to get excited again.
I glanced over my shoulder hoping the climbers down on the road weren’t watching anymore. Shit. They were breaking out the Crazy Creek chairs and popcorn. Shit.
I stepped up onto the face and, leg shaking, I moved upwards a bit to a “stance.” After a minute or two of mental ping-pong, I took a breath and rocked up onto my right foot. I was committed.
***
The next ten or fifteen feet of climbing was mostly a blur. One sequence stands out however: Pulling desperately on an impossibly small knob, my arms suddenly felt like jelly – I wasn’t pumped; it was fear. I wanted to surrender to gravity. I felt so dang heavy. But for some reason I just whispered, “Hang on Josh.” Pull on the knob and lunge for a trace of chalk, hoping that it is good – it’s enough. One or two more moves and I had the jug. My very next breath was an adrenaline-fueled whoop.
Hell yeah.
Hell yeah!
OK... let’s get a piece of gear in.
***Photos forthcoming***
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roughster
Nov 11, 2003, 10:43 AM
Post #2 of 11
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Registered: Apr 3, 2002
Posts: 4003
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Awesome report and grats on the send!
I bet you felt like the banana dancing below ;)
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crazywacky
Nov 11, 2003, 12:53 PM
Post #3 of 11
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Registered: Jan 31, 2002
Posts: 409
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That sounds like fun. Great Job, and great writing.
Congrats.
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climboard
Nov 11, 2003, 2:08 PM
Post #4 of 11
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Registered: Apr 10, 2001
Posts: 503
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Nice TR- makes me want to visit Eldo!
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darkside
Nov 11, 2003, 2:35 PM
Post #5 of 11
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Registered: Sep 15, 2001
Posts: 1687
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Makes me want to stay the hell away from that route :shock:
TOOO scary :twisted:
Greay job, glad you held it together. :D
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coclimber26
Nov 11, 2003, 3:38 PM
Post #6 of 11
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Registered: Sep 8, 2002
Posts: 928
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Flashbacks of Scary Faces, right on good send and awsome write-up.
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floridaputz
Nov 11, 2003, 3:43 PM
Post #7 of 11
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Registered: Dec 30, 2002
Posts: 136
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Great story, This is what I like to read on RC.com, very motivating
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jsj42
Dec 4, 2003, 4:05 AM
Post #8 of 11
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Registered: Dec 24, 2002
Posts: 374
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In reply to: ***Photos forthcoming***
http://www.climbingboulder.com/community/album/3730.html
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timstich
Dec 4, 2003, 5:23 AM
Post #9 of 11
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Registered: Feb 3, 2003
Posts: 6267
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You sure were wise to hit the route last week. I just got off The Yellow Spur with Ivan and the wind hit us pretty hard at the crux pitch. Jesus, I've never been so gripped in my life trying to fight what felt like a huge hand grabbing my back and trying to flip me off. My stomach muscles are sore from trying to stiffen my body and hang on I think. Thanks for the TR. We looked up at that face on Jules Verne just before the sunlight faded. It's a looong one.
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curt
Dec 5, 2003, 3:08 AM
Post #10 of 11
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Registered: Aug 27, 2002
Posts: 18275
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Great TR there. I worked for Steve Wunsch for 5 years and I know that he considers Jules Verne to be one of his more significant climbing accomplishments.
Curt
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lollipopchic
Dec 5, 2003, 8:02 AM
Post #11 of 11
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Registered: Aug 9, 2003
Posts: 183
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Nice TR - made me feel like I was there!! :D
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