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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 7, 2015 - 09:40pm PT
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I can't, for the life of me, figure out why CMac left this pure, clean, mega-classic out of his book. Okay, that's not true, but I am wondering how many people here have been up inside that thing.
I'd also like to go ahead and let everybody know that A) this will be a rather incomplete account of the route, and that B) I remain a lowly 5.8 aspirant.
A buddy of mine and I were in the Valley for four days over Christmas. They were really short days and really cold nights, but skiing in Tahoe was, um, wanting, so we figured it'd be a heck of a time to enjoy some crowd-free craggin'. It was grand.
First we spent a couple of days at Pat and Jacks, climbing cracks and yarding on those massive knobs (not exactly "clenching nubbins," I suppose, but still).
Christmas itself found the Valley EMPTY, but for two days we found ourselves looking up at that Owl and wondering. Jason got it in his head that he really, really wanted to do that Owl Roof Bypass. I mean, what a cool spot, and it's got a star in the book and everything. So Friday night, we're checking out that book by the fire and seeing what else we might do in the area, and we get the idea that we should do Dromedary as a "warm-up." Couple of short pitches of 5.7 and 5.8. Get the lay of the land. Sounded perfect, right? Plus it was a Sacherer route from '65 so we figured it might have some good character. We just ignored that little "+" in the rating.
Step One - figure out the parking and find the approach. Piece o' cake.
Step Two - hump it up there and find the start of the climb. We went way too high right and spent an ungodly amount of time trying to find the secret passage to the start of that thing. I even got attacked by a dead Doug Fir that somehow put an average of 1.25 needles into each of my fingertips as I walked by. Like some sort of Jumping Cholla-Doug Fir hybrid or something. Honest, I didn't grab it or nuthin'.
Okay, so we finally find the start and the whole thing's looking like a chimney system (not just that little bit we saw labelled "squeeze" on the topo). I'd dragged along both a #5 and a #6 WC as training weight, just in case, so we figured why not. The start looks like this:
It goes up that biggest crack in the lefthand corner before stepping around to the right to some trees. I got my foot-back chimney on, right side in for most of it, and enjoyed it. The step around would be a little balancy without the outermost twigs from the tree, but I decided that the twigs were "on."
My partner isn't really a fan of the wide climbing, so he just went straight in for most of it. Here he is a body length or two below the step right.
Next up was Jason's turn and things were about to get legitimately wide. Did I mention that he's not really a fan? Casting off for P2:
A short while later:
Okay, that's not really fair. In truth these photos were taken seconds apart, and that bottom part was really easy, but I just like seeing these photos of my friends in uncomfortable climbing positions. After about 10 feet you have a choice to make, straight back into the maw of a big ol' chimney (looked like good cracks for pro in the back) or out and around left to a shallower chimney with a fist crack in the back:
Jason chose left, which is probably a mistake in retrospect, and all I can remember was a whole lot of grunting and exasperated cursing, with very little rope movement for long periods of time,
until he popped back into view above the chimney part.
Just above, he found a nice little perch in the sun to have a sit and a rest and contemplate the meaning of his life, and I honestly started to doubt he'd ever get moving again. Here we can see our hero's shoe dangling over the edge while he keeps busy not finishing his pitch.
Eventually I started to get a little cold and impatient and he did finish the pitch (as shown on the Reid topo), traveling through a slanting and very crumbly hand crack. Pretty easy but COARSE.
My turn, and seconding insecure chimneying is always a zillion times easier, but honestly I didn't find it too bad. Maybe it was my dimensions. Maybe it was the knee pads. Definitely it was the top-rope. I did, however, take a nice little rest at the mid-point seat. Most notable was the horrible, decomposing nature of the rock and the lubricating quality of the lichen. Shortly above the intermission butt-rest, I had a sizeable foot hold disappear from under me, and I was beginning to lose confidence in the stability of the cliff as a whole. I know it's been up there a while, but I was starting to wonder if today would be the day the whole thing dissolved. It felt like it might be. Here's Jason at the P2 stance.
He had two nuts in some bullsh#t-looking shallow cracks, the #6 stuffed way in the back above (which I was going to need), and a good #2 camalot down below his feet, which I insisted we keep there as an oh-shit piece. He also had his feet on a shelf and seemed pretty comfy with his back pressed to the wall behind.
HONEST BETA: This belay wasn't the worst I've seen, but after having much of the cliff crumble beneath my feet, hands, knees, etc., I didn't even weight the belay anchor for a second. If and when I go back there, I'd stick to the main chimney and blow past this belay. It was a really short pitch anyway.
Okay, so at this point, I give my camera to Jason since I think I'm going to have to get inside this sucker, if I can fit, and I'm really not sure if I can. I definitely didn't need any extra crap on my harness. No more photos, sadly.
I chuck everything on my left side, pull the #6 out of the anchor system, and start heading up. I walked the #6 for a bit, and then managed to plug in a #4 and a #5 pretty close together below a chockstone. Honestly I forget the exact order of these pieces, but I think one of them was close enough to the chockstone that I pulled it for later. I think it was the #5. The chockstone had a dubious-looking piece of tubular webbing on it, so I went ahead and laced it up with my cordalette and finally felt good about my actuarial outlook. With all the lichen and crumbly rock, and a belay below that I had no faith in, I really wasn't feeling too comfy up until that point. Two big cams and a chockstone, I took a little hang to gather myself.
And then I looked up. Hmmmnn... It looked really wide up there. Like, no gear forever wide. And then you gotta get past a slopey knob that pinches out the chimney. And then what happens? Still super wide, probably chimneyable, at least, I hope, but I wasn't even sure I could get inside until I was above that knob, and that thing was looking miles away. My resolve, what little I normally pack with me, was weakening fast.
Nonetheless, I figured I'd give it the old college try. No, not the "get drunk and blow it off" college try, the real one. I knew I could at least walk that #6 up another couple feet, so I kept going up. Sorta. See, that #6 had to be deep to find any purchase. Like, I-could-barely-reach-it-while-climbing deep, and almost immediately one side of the cam got tipped out, and one lobe flipped over. FUGGGGGGGG. I did NOT want to lose that thing so, long story short, I put all the energy and effort I had into retrieving it, which took both hands. I honestly don't even know what the rest of my body was doing to keep me in there, but I think I had one foot reaching way in to step on the chockstone. When I finally yanked that cam out, I slipped right on down, foot promptly got tangled in the cordalette, and I soon found myself flipped upside down and dangling from it with both hands clinging to the #6. Awesome.
Well, at least now the chockstone had been tested and proven its merit. I was cooked from the gear-retrieval shenanigans and Jason proclaimed without hesitation that he wanted "no part in that nonsense." Two raps later and it was time for beer and scrambling around below Washington's Column. Owl Roof Bypass would have to wait for another day.
On Day Four we went back to Pat and Jacks, where it's safe.
Anybody got any stories about that climb? Any tips for that chimney? Namely, is there any gear up above? I'm dying of curiosity, but I think I'd want a second big cam, or preferably head up with somebody that's got a VG9 or BigBros. Because I guess I'm a chickenshit when it comes to crumbly, licheny, decomposing and unprotectable chimenying above sketchy belays.
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 7, 2015 - 10:05pm PT
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Almost forgot the epilogue! Despite a long-sleeved shirt and impeccable form (HA!!!), here are my arms about five days later.
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
extraordinaire
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... crumbly, licheny, decomposing and unprotectable chimenying above sketchy belays.
Hand over heart to our mission statement.
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ablegabel
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Good job getting on that. That pitch is quite slippery for sure. I didn't have anything bigger than a #4 and definatly relied on technique for protection. We started on the Dromedary Direct which is an excellent hand crack up to a 5.10c bulge, then it merges with that gold chimney pitch that you stopped at. I think an 8" tube would protect the chimney ok.
The Owl Bypass is very good too. Bring extra 1/2" to 1". Someone added some anchors in the middle of the pitch that should be skipped as this is not the original belay and chops the pitch up unnecessarily.
 Eric Gabel
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Byran
climber
San Jose, CA
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I recall the crux for me being at a bottleneck where I decided to flip around so I could press off some knobs that were on the face behind me. It was pretty insecure and awkward changing sides, but at least I had a (tipped out) #6 right there for pro. But the whole climb is burly, and the approach is burly too.
There's a lot of adventurous little chimney climbs hidden around the valley. If you haven't already done them, the Cleft (5.9, Chuck Pratt, first route on the Cookie) is a good one but watch out for poison oak on the climb and descent. And the left side of the Worst Error (5.9, Warren Harding, first route on Elephant Rock) is another good one. And of course you have to go back for the Owl Bypass, which is one of the best 5.9 cracks in Yosemite.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Dood, you looked like a nesting Hornbill crawling into yer hole! WTF?
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Elcapinyoazz
Social climber
Joshua Tree
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Never done it, but I have been up there on the roof and done the Bypass.
I HIGHLY recommend the Bypass, it's one of the best 5.9 pitches in the valley, easily. The one star rating is a joke, that thing is super good quality (if you skip the second pitch, a traverse/exit pitch, which has some choss and loose stuff). It's a long pitch, mostly thin hands, quite sharp and crystally in there - I almost never tape, and didn't for this one, but would if I did it again. Take two ropes if you plan to just do p1 and rap, it's pretty long as I recall.
Be careful up there, loose stuff that gets trundled will probably hit your car in the pullout below!
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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good on you guys to have a go at it... on my list, though I've been involved in a variety of climbs in that area...
...but an info-gathering trip recently had me up the Bypass and I agree with ECIYA that it is a great 5.9.
The prominent crack is the route. It traverses up under the roof and then out to the left (west).
The whole formation has rough rock so it is one of the places in the Valley that taping is highly recommended. The approach can be a bit complex, the hill is pretty sandy. Walk up and out to the right (east) from the turnout and find a low angle slab. There is an old trail you might find leading to it. Walk up the slab (the picture above was taken from it) and at it's top right re-enter the forest. Work up and left... you'll find the cliff, work the base around to your left with some scrambling, around the toe of cliff to the start of the climb.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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The climb has been on my tick list since 1971 and, sad to say, I still haven't been to the start. I'm told it's difficult to climb routes you don't start. Good on you for doing it, and better on you for reporting it.
Thanks.
John
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labrat
Trad climber
Auburn, CA
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Great report! My favorite quotes....
"When I finally yanked that cam out, I slipped right on down, foot promptly got tangled in the cordalette, and I soon found myself flipped upside down and dangling from it with both hands clinging to the #6. Awesome."
"On Day Four we went back to Pat and Jacks, where it's safe."
This really needs to be moved over to trip reports!
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Ezra Ellis
Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
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A classic climbing story , thank you!
Maybe it's time for a valley giant cam 9 -12 inch varieties available 😜
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Ezra Ellis
Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
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Quality climbing bump!
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| Messages 1 - 13 of total 13 in this topic |
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