SA of Chapel Spire from the wayback machine

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mongrel

Trad climber
Truckee, CA
Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 28, 2015 - 12:42pm PT
Well, second ascent known to me. I considered just tacking this on to one of two entertaining threads with similar subjects:

Night Climbers of Cambridge http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=440403&msg=2106509#msg2106509

Buildering: http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=2179909&msg=2180186#msg2180186

but I thought it might be fun in its own thread.

Rumor has it that a tradition existed at a certain New England institution of putting a pumpkin up on a prominent building on Halloween. Tales were told of sketchy liebacking up slippery copper flashing in a freezing cold drizzle.

I thought this idea would work even better in a warmer location, like a certain southeastern insitution with a prominent 210-foot chapel tower, this one to be precise:

My climbing partners there were probably not the first to figure out the route, but instead of putting a pumpkin, they elected to fire bottle rockets off the top. I'm not sure what was in their minds regarding the stealth aspect of this plan - though one can guess - but the Dean thought it was less hilarious than the uni-cops did. It seems inconceivable to me that there was no ascent prior to about 1975, it's too tempting of a goal and only 5.7X or so, but you never know.

Like many of these building routes, the first pitch was the crux, with one or zero pieces of pro in 70 feet of insecure tight shallow chimneying (slightly wider than heel-toe; not a great size, but with one rest midway on some sloper). No flash photos of that pitch.

That pitch ends with an easy scramble up onto the main roof. Pitch 2 starts with chimneying up the big gothic arches of the main tower. We got the camera and flash out there:
He's sliding that long girth-hitched sling up for the only pro of this pitch. It's a bit further up than it looks in this foreshortened photo. The overhang out the top of the arch is not that hard, but very fun. This takes you to the top of the little dance floor on top of the main tower. From there you head up one of the Rin-Tin-Tin's ears to the highest point:
That's a "Rebuffat" model of Lafuma pack, and it even did a few good climbs in the Mt Blanc range. It did not carry well with a large pumpkin inside. Yes, those are Kronhofers. I had better shoes by then but thought they'd be a bit tight for the possible hasty post-rappel dash if need be.

Arriving at the spire summit was no problem, but getting the pumpkin out, cutting a hole, and putting it there was not feasible. As you can see, the four big spires culminate in rounded blobs with a sloping round ledge about 18 inches below, and a lightning rod awkwardly in the way (not strong enough to use). As before, no pro. Falling was unthinkable, because the whole upper structure is full of scissors-like ornaments stabilized by thin threaded roads, perfect for cutting a rope in a fall. For some reason I rejected the idea of looping a sling over the tip and tying in. Maybe we only had two slings to rap down, and this would have needed an extra one:
Discretion (!) carried the day and I ended up putting the pumpkin on a smaller spire in the middle of the tower:
Creating this view with a telephoto:

We knew we had done a good deed when proper families with little kids decked out in Sunday best for the weekly service were pointing up and laughing about it. I might add a photo of the tower with pumpkin in place, if I can find it.
Gnome Ofthe Diabase

climber
Out Of Bed
Jan 29, 2015 - 02:50pm PT
Ha Ha HA, Buildering and it's master provocateur Larry LaforgeAnd his labor of love, Boston Rocks and the buildering supplement Boston Rolls
From 1987
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