Jeremy
Social climber
Hanging with your mom...
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Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 26, 2007 - 11:01am PT
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This is my first TR so be gentle with me…
This past Thanksgiving week, my buddy Joe Forrester and I did the 4th ascent of Beaking in Tongues, 5.9 A4, on The Oracle in the Fishers. It was COLD my friends…frigid in fact. We had done all of the other “trade routes” on all the other main towers and the Oracle was our last one to climb. As we are weak and lame, we wanted to avoid ANY and ALL free climbing. This lameness led us to avoid Fantasia and its’ mandatory 5.10 X free climbing in favor of A3-A4 beaking on the cold side via Crushers, Beaking in Tongues.
Remember when I told you we are weak and lame??? Well…because of this, we ALWAYS fix and siege these towers. This means 6 ropes and a HUGE amount of gear must be schlepped to the base, ropes must be fixed and you must hike from the campground to the tower and back each day. We did the 45 minute - 1 hour hike 14 times over the 5 days it took us to get to the top of this puppy. The good thing about our Russian climbing style is that we ALWAYS have beer, and we ALWAYS get to hang by the fire at night and drink MORE beer.
But I am jumping ahead…back to the drive from Albuquerque.
Here I am at 3:30 a.m. leaving Albuquerque. 3 hours sleep, semi-hungover and fully glazed over, I set off.
Luckily I had my copilot to help me out. Cruising past Shiprock, NM on the way to Cortez, CO.
Eventually I get to the Promised Land around noon! This pic was taken in the evening, but you get the picture.
As Joe is still driving down from Denver, I decide to hike in a load (ropes, beer, beaks, ledge), cairn the trail, and binoc the route. The approach was pretty casual…follow the trail past the ladder, cruise around Cottontail until you hit a yellowish dirt ridge that leads up to the base. Hike up.
Here you can see the route as well as the yellow ridge I’m talking about. Brer Rabbit starts on the far left of this photo in the foreground.
The AWESOME sunny side of Echo!!!! WAY BITCHIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ummm...Dude? Why aren't we in the sun?
Fast forward to the next morning! Let the fun begin!
Joe “wins” the toss and gets the first pitch. This leaves me with the crux A4 pitch up high. WOOPEE!! The pitch starts out just as one would expect…funky free climbing with no gear, stand up on a sloping ledge,brush off the dirt with an ice axe, stem out wide, and hammer in a #1 beak. A bad roll down the hill landing awaits Joe if this shiz pulls. I heckle him and drink beer as he dices on up.
Here is Joe a couple pieces up.
The pitch ends without any issues, we haul up the (FISH!) ledge and Joe proceeds to lounge while I take off on the second pitch of mostly C2 camming with a beak or two thrown in for fun.
Here is a pic of me on the ledge before I take off. See how nice the ledge looks…so clean and pretty…RUSS, I'll be calling you!!!!
We slowly make progress up the wall over the next couple of days…
Most of the gear looks like this.
And this…
Things are going well so we decide to leave the ledge hanging a couple pitches up as the route starts to traverse to the left. Here is a sweet shot of our FISH Snake Charmer at one of the traversing belays. GET ONE!!!!! Works great!!!
I start traversing left on pitch #? (we have now lost count) for a bit and see a baby angle hole that needs a bit of cleaning. I take my trusty nut tool and jab that puppy in the hole to clean out the munge. SCREEEEEETCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF is that noise????????? I pull the nut tool out of the hole and see a horrific site! I have skewered a tiny little bat that was all curled up in the hole!!! YIPES, Bat-kabob!!! As I am mildly freaked out by this bad juju, I whip the bat off of my tool and it starts to float down, spiraling like an oak leaf. The bat then lands on Joe who freaks out as he brushes the bat outa his lap for his eternal dirt nap! Beer time!
I continue on and start to test a piece that is wedged in some muddy blocks…bounce…bounce…PING!!! The piece pulls as does the toaster sized block that was holding it!!!!!! ROCK JOE!!!!!! My boy ducks and we both follow the block down waiting for the explosion. (Jeopardy theme here.) The noise we soon here is not a rock on rock noise…It is more of a whoomp…WTF was that??? HOLY SHIZ!!! My ledge is TOTALED!!!!!! Side poles bent to shiz as well as a toaster sized hole in the bed…bad juju equalized! If someone was in it they would’ve been JACKED!!!!!!!!!!!
After our gibbering stops we continue up!
Here is Joe doing one of the pitches (A3 or something?) that traverses back right to the summit tower.
As you get higher you get KILLER views of Echo and Cottontail! SWEET!!!! You never realize how wafer thin these babies are.
This is our last picture as my (FRIGGING NEW!) camera was jacked with dirt so bad it wouldn’t work anymore…you will have to imagine the rest…
On the hike out that night Joe twists the Hell out of his ankle. That trail has some sort of strange invisible man/cosmic mojo. For some reason, the color of the dirt and the color of the rock are such that everything blends together even with a headlamp. It's freaky...spooky freaky. Luckily, by the morning he is "OK" to hobble to the base and jug. I will do the rest of the leading from here on, just 2 pitches and we will be off this thing!
The A4 traverse goes with 11 beaks (a bunch of #1)and 1 blue/green offset Alien. The beak holes off the belay are pretty blown and just bend the beaks as you try to tap them in. UGH! I finally got something to stick by finding the correct layer of whitish mud that covered the good rock above where the scars were. This crap is about a half inch thick and is semi-consolidated. I actually got 2 #1 beaks in that held a bounce. WAY BOMBER!!! I equalized these pups as they were the first pieces of the belay and set off! This pitch lands you on the notch at the base of the summit tower. WE ARE CLOSE!!!!
The last pitch turns out to be a BITCH! I get off route and lead and down aid a 50 foot flare. DOAH!! As this nonsense took FOREVER, we left our gear fixed, pulled the rope and rapped to the ground knowing we would be screwed if we kept going. We jugged back up way early the next morning to finish it off. I finally tension right 20 feet or so and see a fixed Toucan. I lower off of this mank another 25 feet and pendulum right to the "splitter" (read flared #3 Camalot crack packed with mud) that leads to the top. At full extension I jam a #4 Camalot in mud and IT HOLDS (angels singing)!!!! WHEW!!!! This FLARE OF DOOM lasts FOREVER!!!! I have to backclean 4 times (rope drag and lack of #3 Camalots), and after 6 hours or so (over 2 days) I get to the top with HUGE rope drag (Dude, I really mean HUGE!!!! Joe!!! Give me rope!!!! WTF is going on??? DUDE (Joe laugh inserted here) you HAVE a huge loop of rope! This is SO LAME DUDE!!!!)…this puppy is DONE!!!!
A quick handshake and we are soon rapping in the dark. The ground never felt so nice!
The next morning we woke up to snow. Actually Joe didn't cuz he was in a tent. I decided that it wouldn't be that bad on the ground and ended up with an inch of snow in my boots! It was beautiful! If we would not have made it to the top the day before we would’ve been HOSED!!!!!
Well, that’s it for the TR. Oh, just in case you wanna jump on this thing to get the 2 cams and 2 beaks we left, here is what you need:
Triples in cams from small Aliens (no black or blue) to 4.5 Camalot (maybe 4 #3 Camalots)
We had a 1.5 sets of Offset Aliens as well.
1 #5 Camalot
6 each #1 thru #3 beaks
2 sets of angles, don’t forget multiple big ones!!!!!!
1 set Leeper Zs
1 set sawed offs ( I think Joe placed a couple)
We didn't use any stoppers, tri-cams, blades, arrows, or hexes.
Belay bolts are good.
BTW, this line is AWESOME!!!!! It has to be one of the best lines in the Fishers! It's WAY FRIGGING STEEP! Props to Crusher and Steve for piecing this together!!! WOW!!!!! 4 stars for sure!!!
Jeremy
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marky
climber
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Nov 26, 2007 - 11:04am PT
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superbly presented. the bat thing is pretty damn funny
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paganmonkeyboy
climber
mars...it's near nevada...
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Nov 26, 2007 - 11:24am PT
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Proud send !! Riley and me watched you guys from over on the fisher king - that line was sick, in the shadow on the cold side all day, burly all across the board - Glad to see you two top out on that last day !
-Tom
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TKingsbury
Trad climber
MT
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Nov 26, 2007 - 11:29am PT
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Great TR!
Thanks for posting some quality content, it's much appreciated.
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Jeremy
Social climber
Hanging with your mom...
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 26, 2007 - 12:20pm PT
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Tom,
You were the guy I spoke with over in your camp site? beard and dark hair?
Awesome!!! Did you guys get hosed by the snow??? I woke up in the wee AM covered in snow! We still had to hike back and get our last 2 ropes and our empty beer cans.
Dude...my hands were so jacked after that route I can barely type right now!
I hope to see you around the Fishers again!
Jeremy
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caughtinside
Social climber
Davis, CA
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Nov 26, 2007 - 12:25pm PT
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those are some great photos to go with a good story, thanks for posting!
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland: what's not to love?
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Nov 26, 2007 - 12:39pm PT
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Killer! Seems like you may be understating the fear element just a bit - I could never get myself to haul off of that mank. Yikes.
Sucks about the bat; sucks to be a baby bat bludgeoner/assassin. Ha. But that's a title you wear for life now, my man - maybe print up a t-shirt?
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paganmonkeyboy
climber
mars...it's near nevada...
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Nov 26, 2007 - 12:46pm PT
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Yeah Jeremy - that was us. We bailed one pitch from the top after I bonked hard turkeyday, and drove to IC just in time for the snow.
We watched you work that last pitch for two days - f*#king hard core dude...that is an impressive tic...Nice Work Indeed !!
edit : and f*#k yeah we will be back - that place is magical madness magnetic...
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Standing Strong
Trad climber
the only coast
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Nov 26, 2007 - 12:49pm PT
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KICKASS tr!
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yo
climber
The Eye of the Snail
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Nov 26, 2007 - 01:38pm PT
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Moderate A2 max. bwahaha
Nice dude!
(BTW that is a great name for a route.)
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
St. Looney
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Nov 26, 2007 - 01:41pm PT
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Enjoyed the TR and photos. Thanks for not posting a photo of the bat-ka-bob. Poor little guy.
Looking forward to TR #2. What's up next?
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lcoyne
Big Wall climber
Byron Bay, Australia
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Nov 26, 2007 - 01:44pm PT
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Jeremy,
Great story. Very much exemplifies a lot of what climbing is about.
Fixing to the ground in the Fishers makes a lot of sense given the relatively short vertical gain of the climbs, combined with the time consuming nature of many of the pitches, not to mention the dirty nature of the climbs. I doubt many people bivy in the Towers, I never have.
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Nov 26, 2007 - 02:22pm PT
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Nice! Great pics Jeremy. Fourth ascent!
Cameron Tague did the second ascent, with his girlfriend cleaning. I don't know who did the third, some guys from Salt Lake?
First ascent I hiked to the base, with partner Chip, and two huge bags of gear. I played for a while with a birdbeak, then we walked away. Too scary, too intimidating.
Returned a year later with Dave Levine, to climb something else, but found ourselves in the Fisher Towers on a fabulously warm February weekend, so... what the hell, we hiked in and got going. No expectations seemed to result in no worries. The rest of the climb was spread over about six freezing weekends, between endless storms. We belayed in sleeping bags sometimes.
Sorry to hear about your camera. Here's a few pics to fill in the blanks. Pitch 4 was the last pitch going up and left. Starts with mud, then beaks bad enough they were not worth clipping in to the rope.
Here's Dave on pitch 4.
Next pitch was the first of two traversing rightwards. Much homework was required, stomping all over the nearby hillside with binoculars, to work it out. Here, I'm leaving a nice slung horn, about to start the section of horizontal flared cams. I recall several really large, and really flared, Camalots and Friends here, before hitting a vertical seam that ate up beaks and hammered-in tiny stoppers. This pitch was pretty much the location where, after one road-rash pendulum too many, Cameron Tague's girlfriend decided that she would be Cameron's girlfriend no longer.
Pitch 5 was all birdbeaks, except for one horizontal Alien, that looked quite good from a distance. Dave placed twelve beaks here.
You can't really test the pieces on the traverse. At the end of this pitch, on the saddle, the rock above was grainy and soft, so we had to place the anchor down low. Cameron Tague said he placed about eight beaks, then was able to hook the webbing. He assured us, with a broad grin, that he shortened up the webbing for the benefit of the next party.
After each pitch, we would end up looking like this.
The last pitch was one of the more exhausting I've ever climbed. The wind was violent enough that I was thrown around the whole time, with my aiders whipping me. Dave took a hanging belay down below the comfortable saddle to keep out of the fury of the gusts.
I guessed there might be hooking or free climbing at the top, so wanted to avoid rope drag. I led the traverse on one lead rope, then, after getting established on the vertical crack system, untied from that rope, dropped it, and started clipping the gear into a second lead rope I was tied into, so I could finish with almost no drag. I thinkt I used a hook at the last lip up there, followed by some free moves. That would be scary with much drag.
We could barely rappel. Dave rapped first while I fed out the rope to him. He actually had to place an intermediate anchor, to feed the ropes through, to stop himself swinging way off into midair, with the risk of slamming back twenty feet into the cliff. I ended up rapping diagonally too, past the vertical crack (it made cleaning the tensioning pieces on the traverse easy!), and Dave hauled me back in like an exhausted fish.
As for the recent snow, The same Chip and I were camped out in the middle of nowhere, ready to start a climb out in the Maze/Glen Canyon area, with a perfect weather forecast, after a huge 4WD approach, and woke to a blizzard, and four inches on the ground--we drove out fast as we dared, sliding around, using the snow-brush to clean the steepest bits of the road. Scary and depressing. A 900-mile round trip down the tubes.
Sounds like you had perfect timing with finishing Beaking just before the storm hit. It's really nice to read that someone had better luck!
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Jeremy
Social climber
Hanging with your mom...
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 26, 2007 - 02:46pm PT
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SWEET CRUSHER!!!! Thanks for the extra pics! Again, props to you and Dave!
I remember Joe using that same horn!!!! HAHAHAH!!! It was pretty amazing to see how you guys figured this one out. We both (Joe and I ) learned a bunch about the little calcite? seams, what "rock" could have beaks pounded into, what "rock" would bend them, and what sound "good" mud would make and what sound "bad" mud would make. It was weird, once you realize that the beaks are "pretty bomber" it kinda frees your mind. Funny huh?
That first pitch must've been way out there on the FA.
I got totally jacked on the last pitch (single rope) and didn't traverse far enough right. The rope drag was crippling. I was beat, and just wanted to get off!! MAJOR SUCKNESS! I had to hop on a fully open cam (like an umbrella, pull up 15 feet of slack, MAJOR PITA) unclip all my daises, clip that shiz as pro and sketch to the top. All this to not see ANY anchors!!!!!! CLASSIC! Ended up clipping the Fantasia anchors so Joe could jug up.
Again, thanks for all your hard work and craftsmanship on this one.
Take care.
Jeremy
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Jeremy
Social climber
Hanging with your mom...
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 26, 2007 - 03:37pm PT
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Crimpie,
I would think something on the sunny side of Echo. Shorter approach and sunny. Did I say shorter approach???
Hell, I just might go bouldering!
hehehe...
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426
Sport climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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Nov 26, 2007 - 03:38pm PT
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Dude, not totin' grape up up there? Great TR in any case...yuk
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Nov 26, 2007 - 03:54pm PT
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wicked good
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paganmonkeyboy
climber
mars...it's near nevada...
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Nov 26, 2007 - 04:19pm PT
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bitchin bird beak belay bump...
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handsome B
Gym climber
SL,UT
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Nov 26, 2007 - 04:23pm PT
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Dang, you guys are as tuff as nails.
Great TR!
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radical
Trad climber
not sure but it sucks
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Nov 26, 2007 - 05:59pm PT
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Was great meeting ya Jeremy.
You were the last one to walk out Wednesday night or the first?
Pagen and I really did get some good pics of you guys from King Fisher. And we did watch you for two days. I'll post the pics later.
F*#king Tits bro!!
Never mind what Pagen said about bonking..
He kicked ass with a hurt shoulder and all.
It really was damn cold eh?!!!
Riley
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