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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jun 26, 2008 - 07:56pm PT
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I just got a scanner so I'm dedicating myself to scanning the four thousand climbing slides I have.
In September of 1979 Max Jones and I climbed the Nose on El Cap. We had it figured that if we were to haul very small bags (we hauled two packs, each smaller than the pack you probably hike your gear around to the local crags), we would be able to belay a second and haul at the same time, since we both wanted to climb every pitch, even the aid.
We had seven quarts of water, a down jacket and half bag each, two and a half ropes and all the gear you see here.
3 full sets of Friends (yup, a 1 a 2 and a 3!) and one #4. 10 Friends in all.
13 nuts,
6 quick draws and three or four 2 foot slings.
16 extra carabiners
Five pitons, one hammer,
two-3-step aid slings
and one set of Gibbs ascenders.
Waist bands, no leg loops.
We started up the route at about 5:30am with no pitches fixed and climbed casually to El Cap Tower using no more aid than the pendulums into Dolt corner and the Stove Legs.
We spent a night on ELC and the next day free climbed all but the bolt ladder to Boot Flake, the King Swing, about half of the Great Roof and the Super Crack above Camp 5.
After the Great Roof I clipped the aid slings onto the haul line and dropped them down to Max. If we had to use a pin, we would haul that and the hammer up from the anchor and then drop it down the haul line at the end of the pitch.
On some pitches, the second would simply solo the pitch while the leader hauled, often, when the second did get a belay, it was a very impersonal and loose belay.
We climbed to Camp 6 that day.
The next day we climbed to the top, using a bit of aid on the Changing Corners pitch and then only the bolts on the last pitch.
All in all we did the route in 2.5 days, both climbers climbed the whole route and we climbed as much of it free as had ever been climbed at that time
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yo
climber
I drink your milkshake!
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Jun 26, 2008 - 08:00pm PT
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Pretty light duty throwing in that #4, hehe.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jun 26, 2008 - 08:01pm PT
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wow... that's the way to do it!
I wonder if Gary Carpenter will read this, I can put that exact rack together out of my gear box... including the vintage Friends...
..now if we were only as good as you guys were!
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yo
climber
I drink your milkshake!
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Jun 26, 2008 - 08:04pm PT
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I'm still studying this. Seven quarts of water!
What's funny is, if more people tried to gear up this way now, they'd all top out instead of bailing off Sickle with their 300 pounds of shyte. There's progress for ya.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Jun 26, 2008 - 08:06pm PT
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Mark,
Cool!
How did you belay the second so that you could switch your hands between that and hauling? Did you belay the second on a Sticht plate or a Munter hitch?
2 1/2 ropes - what was the half rope for?
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Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
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Jun 26, 2008 - 08:06pm PT
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if you miss anything I'll loan it to you Ed, though you'd have to settle for a Forest™ hammer. how hard could they have been? it was '79?
They were The Man!
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 26, 2008 - 08:10pm PT
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We belayed with a Stich plate on the anchor.
The half rope was to lower out the bag.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Jun 26, 2008 - 08:13pm PT
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> We belayed with a Stich plate on the anchor.
Cool - I think the current version would be a GriGri. Then maybe leg hauling with a miniTraxion would cover the hauling without having to lug a second set of ascenders.
Here is what I worked out a few years ago, to try to emulate your method:
http://www.stanford.edu/~clint/yos/haul1h1f/
I've only tried this once - on Astroman, and I couldn't keep up with my partner following, so I ended up arm hauling and the usual forearm cramps resulted later.
Did you leg haul, or use your arms?
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 26, 2008 - 08:16pm PT
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leg haul. the whole deal pivoted on the bags being that light.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Jun 26, 2008 - 08:16pm PT
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Inspirational and Bad Ass!!!
I like that.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Jun 26, 2008 - 08:23pm PT
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So the Gibbs ascender must have been on your foot for the leg haul - yeah - that would make it a 1:1 haul and thus faster! (Mine is a messy/slow 2:1). So I need a second miniTraxion (for my foot) for a better modern version!
See the separate thread, hauling on free climbs:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=627024
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GhoulweJ
Trad climber
Sacramento, CA
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Jun 26, 2008 - 08:35pm PT
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Oh yeah, I just read Chongos Big Wall book and you did it all wrong.... Light weight ROOKIE!
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 26, 2008 - 08:40pm PT
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I think we did mostly the foot thing since we had only waistbands. We would clip a sling to one of the Gibbs and pump it off with a leg, you know, the classic setup.
We'd be climbing along, the belayer wouldn't be paying much attention and there would be a fifty foot loop of rope hanging down from our waists. We'd yell "Hey, belay!" The belayer would haul up the rope, pay attention for a while but then you'd start getting a big ol loop again. On the harder pitches we'd pay attention of course.
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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Jun 26, 2008 - 09:22pm PT
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cool stuff Mark.
looking forward to more!
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nick d
Trad climber
nm
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Jun 26, 2008 - 09:36pm PT
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Wow! What a couple of studs!
As for the comment about how carrying more gear makes everyone back off now, well I'm guessing they would only be backing off SOONER with a rack like you guys used!
Thanks for sharing, now I must be off to my "hopelessly inadequate" therapy session. LOL!
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hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
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Jun 26, 2008 - 09:41pm PT
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Stout!
You guys were flying
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Jun 26, 2008 - 11:33pm PT
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Awesome thread!
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Landgolier
climber
the flatness
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Jun 26, 2008 - 11:54pm PT
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Bad A$$$$$$!
Light is right, but man, 7 quarts? That would get me to about noon on the second day. I guess we've all conditioned ourselves to drink and pee more nowadays, but still, I often carry 3 quarts to the crag and kill another 2 when I get back to the car.
You guys remember what you carried for food?
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 27, 2008 - 12:00am PT
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I think we had peanut butter sandwiches. We certainly didn't haul any canned food up there. Probably some granola bars.
It was hot too! We hung out on Dolt Tower waiting for the sun to go around the corner. We climbed up to ELC only to find a guy and a chick on their fourth day on the climb with six gallons of water! We asked if we might refresh a couple of our water bottles and they said, no, that they might take a few more days to get to the top. We had to respect that.
The next day we climbed to Camp 6 and sat there in the sun, eyeing the quart of water each of us had left.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Jun 27, 2008 - 12:00am PT
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Wow! That's a small rack!
Baby pigs. Any hammock?
Sheesh! Awesome!
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