First Free Ascent of Sentinel West Face

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splitclimber

climber
Sonoma County
Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 23, 2016 - 11:33am PT
This may have been overlooked and overshadowed with Ondra's Dawn Wall ascent.

Kevin Jorgeson and Ben Rueck - First Free Ascent of Sentinel West Face

http://gripped.com/news/kevin-jorgeson-and-ben-rueck-free-1960-yosemite-aid-line/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BK86sMMjX6_/?taken-by=kjorgeson&hl=en

https://www.instagram.com/p/BLejuHoDfsE/?taken-by=kjorgeson&hl=en
couchmaster

climber
Nov 23, 2016 - 12:18pm PT

That's some worthy climbing news, thanks for putting it up. Will pay extra for sunny granite climbing shotz:-) Need more pictures and I'm only saying that as a selfish DH sitting in an office watching it rain outside.

I thought this was interesting, I clicked on KJ's Tweet photo that you linked and a bunch of big climbing sponsor labels popped up.

BAMMMM
ryankelly

Trad climber
Bhumi
Nov 23, 2016 - 02:13pm PT
mega write up

you gotta topo? or you throwing it back to the Roper days?
splitclimber

climber
Sonoma County
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 23, 2016 - 02:40pm PT
Ho Man. Largo - thanks for posting that.
couchmaster

climber
Nov 23, 2016 - 02:58pm PT


Largo, the world misses it when you don't write man, that stuff is so damned good. Thanks for putting that in this thread. Great writing!
Roger Breedlove

climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Nov 23, 2016 - 03:26pm PT
Thanks, John. Great accomplishment, nicely told.
F10

Trad climber
Bishop
Nov 23, 2016 - 06:05pm PT
Cool read, Largo

I remember watching the West Face film back in the early 70's
Another outstanding piece on the Valley

Hats off to the FFA team
hobo_dan

Social climber
Minnesota
Nov 23, 2016 - 06:36pm PT
Thanks John--way to get the spirit flowing
greyghost

Trad climber
Las Vegas, NV
Nov 23, 2016 - 07:42pm PT
We were hanging out a bit when you were trying to free that BITD's; nice write up. Awesome job for first ascent team.
ryankelly

Trad climber
Bhumi
Nov 23, 2016 - 07:55pm PT
his story is better than most climbing writing, but that ain't saying much

so many proclamations and predictions of the future glory of this climb

how many repeats?
Matt's

climber
Nov 23, 2016 - 07:56pm PT
good writing largo...

...but that's a whole lot of spray for adding one pitch of 5.12 free climbing to a 30 year old route... and not even doing it in the ground-up style. Come on, its 2015... I guess when a multinational sporting goods company is footing the bill style matters less than creating marketing material?
Largo

Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
Nov 23, 2016 - 10:47pm PT
Never written a word that was marketing material, but once that started getting spewed around I nixed the story immediately. Wrong guy. Wrong read.

matty

Trad climber
under the sea
Nov 24, 2016 - 02:32pm PT
Tell you what Matty, you go up there

Matt's ≠ matty!!!!

but no worries we know you you were referring too ;)
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Nov 24, 2016 - 02:58pm PT
The thread from October:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/2888490/West-Face-of-Sentinel-and-The-Misty-Wall-all-free
Matt's

climber
Nov 24, 2016 - 03:28pm PT
Tell you what Matty, you go up there and see what the West Face is all about and you give us a report.

Then we'll compare notes about what you think about it.

The difference is that I'm not paid to climb. The story about freeing this route has not received much media attention is because, frankly, it's not cutting edge-- in 2015, a single new pitch of 5.12 trad climbing is not really news-worthy.

It's cool that Largo brought in a younger generation of climbers to finish up a route he had worked on long ago-- I just find it sad that there didn't appear to be any attempt to hold that younger generation (fully capable of onsighting 5.12) to a similar climbing ethic. Style doesn't seem to matter when the #1 goal is to create marketing material for adidas...
Spiny Norman

Social climber
Boring, Oregon
Nov 24, 2016 - 03:45pm PT
Heckuva job, Matt. You got Largo to take down one of the more interesting pieces of writing posted here in some time. Can't wait to see how else you serve the community.
Brandon-

climber
The Granite State.
Nov 25, 2016 - 07:56am PT
Come on, its 2015...

I guess I'm just ahead of time.
Largo

Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
Nov 25, 2016 - 09:17am PT
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. First, a couple corrections. The West Face of Sentinel is not 5.12. KJ and Ben have been doing 5.14 routes for some years now - and so had Scott C. when he first tried to free the route in the later 1980s. The jumbo dynamic move took many tries for either climber to dick - and that was on a top rope during the "project" phase. On the lead, they both failed on their first attempt at the lead, and barely made it on the send.

It's also the kind of pitch that you can't really isolate out the crux. It's all a running crux, and when you stick the mambo dynamic in the middle of it, a flash lead is exponentially harder. But as mentioned, the West Face was not served up an another Dawn Wall, but a quintessential example of a Yosemite classic, involving all the techniques, on a historical route, staged on a sensational formation. So far as being cutting edge - we'll let others weigh in after a few more ascents are logged. My sense of it is that someone going up there thinking they are in for a standard 5.12 Valley climb will quickly find out otherwise. We'll see.

So far as yanking my little write up. I have never done any kind of writing that has wandered far away from experiential narratives. The moment any of my work is seen or posited as commercial fluff or advertisement, or that I'm some corporate shill, is the time to strike that story down. The fact that corporate sponsorship is now part of the fandango is a simple fact of life. It was certainly not the tact that we took back in the day, but life is MUCH more expensive these days, and anyone with big ambitions simply can't realize same on the shoestring we once held onto. Adidas Outdoor has been great in that regard because they only offer support, not directives about what folks should climb or how I should write. They are merely facilitators of what WE want to do. Holding this model up to some arcane model of purity, or an old amateur ethic, is IMO someone totally out of step with reality.

Anyone who doubts the core values of those involved is invited to stay a few days in the with the group the next time we gather in Yosemite. The game has changed, but the thrill is not gone - at least for some of us.
drljefe

climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
Nov 25, 2016 - 09:43am PT
Lastly, by your trolling you also disrespect the early history of the route (that John was trying to honor) which is one of the most bad ass FA's in human history and the efforts of all of the early parties before cams. It is a history well worth sharing and now it is gone thanks to you.

Yo tut- chill bro
Matt's

climber
Nov 25, 2016 - 10:27am PT
just to be clear-- my original point was not a troll-- I meant it more as good-natured ribbing, but I seem to have accidentally hit Largo in a very sensitive spot (writing as an artistic vs. corporate endeavor).

Largo-- thanks for clarifying the difficulty level of the route- if it's not 5.12, what grade does it go at? I'm still confused...

Kingtut-- with respect to your question about "how I contribute to the community"-- I'm a cancer biologist who researches the aging process-- I think that serves the community of old farts on this website quite well!

happy thanksgiving,
matt
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