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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Apr 18, 2010 - 01:31am PT
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At one time, Slab Alley was one of the 2 or 3 most popular climbs at Squamish. Routes come and go and come again in popularity. For non-athletic types like me, it was a pleasant outing and I'm glad it's getting rehabilitated.
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Chief
climber
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Apr 18, 2010 - 12:32pm PT
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There was a time when I had the Left Side pretty dialed.
Linking the Left Side to The Roman Chimneys seemed like good training for the really hard Valley routes. Keep the rack light, move fast etc.
So one set of Friends to #4 should be plenty.
Past the bad green RPs, up under the roof, finesse the rattles, pose on the bomber hands and swing into the cupped hand shuffle. Save the #4 till it just fits the widening crack and try to sneak by. Then I swing into the handstacks, cruise along for a bit then look down in horror to see that the #4 is inverted and useless. I'm probably a solid 40 feet above the #3.5 which would start slowing me down as I hit the slab. I still have another twenty feet of climbing to get past the 10a OW crux. Somehow I kept it together and got into the upper 5.9 crack with zero gear for the next twenty feet to the anchor. Man, was I relieved to clip in!
Don't underestimate the 80 feet of 10a fluff above the thin hands crux.
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Chief
climber
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Apr 18, 2010 - 01:54pm PT
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bk, yes and yes.
Why don't we have a beer over a hockey game?
And how about that flake Luongo?
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Chief
climber
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Apr 18, 2010 - 02:30pm PT
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Gave up a two nothing lead, allowed the OT winner.
Probably the Canuck's greatest liability.
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Apr 18, 2010 - 02:50pm PT
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Okay Nails, you're in the cross-hairs today. Better duck now. A few days ago, Tami mentioned 'Sentry Box'. This climb is listed as 'Artificial Land' FA Baldwin/Cooper 6.4 [that's A2 for the children] in Baldwin's hand-written guide. I just looked at it again. However it is listed as 'Sentry Box' in your green guide, the first one published. So how/who/why/when was the name changed? This has puzzled/bugged me for years. Decades! Anders, perhaps the truth will finally out?
I had no idea that mentioning Kevin's new guide would result in such lengthy thread drift, although it's good to read about some local stuff for a change. Apologies to Anders for hi-jacking the thread, but it's all good material for his new book. Now I know why Kevin omitted the FA names--he didn't want to get embroiled in another mega s**t-storm. Smart man.
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Chief
climber
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Apr 18, 2010 - 02:56pm PT
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gf,
I think I one upped your transgression by putting in a bolt belay in the middle of an upper pitch of GW when I linked TYA to HD.
I was sure at the time I was exercising legitimate prerogative but in retrospect I'm not so sure.
hamie,
I was at the campfire at Psyche Ledge the day Eric freed Sentry Box and remember it like it was yesterday.
John Arts was there and had held Eric on a big whipper that rope burned Eric's arm as I recall.
Eric was pretty stoked and he never referred to the climb as anything but Sentry Box.
Respectfully,
PB
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bmacd
Trad climber
Beautiful, BC
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Apr 18, 2010 - 03:14pm PT
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second the motion for Greg's story of John Clarke on Mt. Bute
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Chief
climber
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Apr 18, 2010 - 03:24pm PT
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as far as bolts go how about that perry's lieback abortion?
I'm not sure where the line is Bruce, but I'd say you definitely crossed it with that one. Fuk you very much!
Perry Beckham
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bmacd
Trad climber
Beautiful, BC
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Apr 18, 2010 - 06:43pm PT
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Grim Reaper was an incomplete line. It went left instead of continuing straight up. It had a fixed copper head as the last piece of pro. Aside from swapping the copper head for a bolt we didn't change Grim Reaper to establish Teetering. Are you are talking about something other than Teetering Bruce ?
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Apr 18, 2010 - 07:17pm PT
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Hamie: Okay Nails, you're in the cross-hairs today. Better duck now. A few days ago, Tami mentioned 'Sentry Box'. This climb is listed as 'Artificial Land' FA Baldwin/Cooper 6.4 [that's A2 for the children] in Baldwin's hand-written guide. I just looked at it again. However it is listed as 'Sentry Box' in your green guide, the first one published. So how/who/why/when was the name changed? This has puzzled/bugged me for years. Decades! Anders, perhaps the truth will finally out?
That's a really good question and I don't know the answer for certain. In Baldwin's final, typed guidebook (the one ready for publication), it's called Artificial Land. Cooper's account of the route says "The route we ascended climbs 50 feet to a cut in a large overhang (the sentry box), ....". Baldwin also used the term "sentry box."
I did not rename routes. I named a couple (and badgered people into naming them) but I didn't rename anything that previously had a name. Seeing as I had Baldwin's typescript, I was aware of the Artificial Land name. My guess is that, after Jim's death, Cooper though that "Artificial Land" was stupid or boring and decided that "Sentry Box" would be better (I agree). He might have told Tony Cousins who told me. I don't recall ever talking to Ed about it; I'm going to email him in a couple of minutes.
I went through my pathetically sparse surviving notes from the 1967 green guide. They don't help, but I did find an interesting note I'd written on Slab Alley. (That route keeps coming up, doesn't it?). "The ascent has taken as little as 15 minutes; most parties will require upwards of 2 hours." That seems fast even for today; I wonder who did it in pre-1968 days?
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Apr 19, 2010 - 12:20am PT
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You know there's a biography of JC in the works...
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Apr 19, 2010 - 01:17am PT
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Bob McGowan (sp?) from Oregon was the first to work on what became Teetering on the Brink of Madness, in 1977 or 1978. Somewhere I have a letter from him about it. I don't know how far he got, perhaps above the end of the crack. He was going to call it A Slice of Life.
Sighting today at the Starbucks in Squamish: Don Serl and his daughter Ashley, who'd ridden up from Vancouver on Don's motorcycle. (He's very keen on them.) That coffee shop is a rendezvous for hordes of motorcyclists, but probably not motorcycle gangs. The sociology is fascinating.
Carl was (is?) a darn fine slab and face climber, and lives in North Carolina.
You might be quite surprised who lurks here.
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sac
Trad climber
spuzzum
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Apr 19, 2010 - 02:58pm PT
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one lurker, pipin' in...
JC bump
enjoying this climber talk.
A.
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Apr 19, 2010 - 03:35pm PT
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There is now (as of last week) an official Mount John Clarke. It was formerly and informally named "Sun Peak," and it's near the head of Jervis Inlet. John took many young people into that area; it was an important place to him. I'm very pleased.
Anyways, after much hard work by a number of people over 3 years, we now have a fitting commemorative peak for him. See http://archive.ilmb.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=60861
Harbour Publishing will be doing Lisa's biography of John.
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Apr 20, 2010 - 12:00am PT
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Let's leave the JC appreciation thread for the book launch (might rustle up a few book sales, too). But if anyone on this forum has JC stories, I know that Lisa would like to hear them. Same with photos. She's over in Ireland right now, researching John's roots.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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The legendary outdoorsman known as Mountain Goat or Xwexwselkn to the Squamish First Nation for his tussled white hair and climbing skills has officially been honoured with a mountain in his name on B.C.'s south coast.
Mount John Clarke has been accepted by the province as the name for a 2,306-metre-high peak located southwest of Sims Creek and northeast of Princess Louisa Inlet that had informally been known as Sun Peak.
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Mountain+name+honours+legendary+explorer+Coast+Range/2973810/story.html
So it's finally official.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Discovered this in the 'archives':
'67 Summit
Complete with driving directions from Seattle for the cartographically challenged!
The article is by Keith Gunnar who was an excellent photographer as you shall see. Summit's photo repro was not great; I would like to see the originals.
View of Mt Munday from Mt Jeffrey
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Bonus post of some of that inimitable Summit 'humour' (don't choke Tami!)
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