Welcome 'The Prophet' - El Cap's Newest Free Route

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Messages 1 - 29 of total 29 in this topic
The Alpine

Big Wall climber
Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 1, 2010 - 10:38am PT
Leo and Jason finally sent their longstanding project.

Tom Evans has the full crux spray down here.

More info on the ukclimbing site.

Discuss...

Tom Evans photo:
FrankZappa

Trad climber
80' from the Hankster
Nov 1, 2010 - 10:57am PT
Proud. Bonus points for style. Really good job.
philo

Trad climber
Somewhere halfway over the rainbow
Nov 1, 2010 - 11:04am PT
Beautiful pic. Beautiful stone.
HighDesertDJ

Trad climber
Swimming in LEB tears.
Nov 1, 2010 - 11:12am PT
So rad to see actual free routes going up on that thing. Truly amazing.
Jingy

climber
Somewhere out there
Nov 1, 2010 - 11:22am PT
Ditto HDDJ



Proud moments in climbing




Can't wait for the Tommy/Kevin thing to go..

Or did I miss something?
Chris McNamara

SuperTopo staff member
Nov 1, 2010 - 11:23am PT
Great photo sequence, Tom! Nice work Leo and Jason. way to send .
Impaler

Gym climber
Vancouver
Nov 1, 2010 - 11:30am PT
Awesome! Props to Leo and Jason!
Slakkey

Big Wall climber
From Back to Big Wall Baby
Nov 1, 2010 - 11:35am PT
Having seen this unfold both in person from the Bridge and through Toms report. One word comes to mind commitment. I too would be curious as to the difficulty as I believe it has not yet been determined. Maybe its something as simple as Really Effen hard.
Impaler

Gym climber
Vancouver
Nov 1, 2010 - 11:40am PT
Here's an audio interview with Leo by BBC. He gives it a difficulty rating...



...on a 10 point scale. LOL
k-man

Gym climber
SCruz
Nov 1, 2010 - 12:10pm PT
Way to Go Leo & Jason!
Sweet... One more to add that to the list (of routes I'll never send!).

How hard?

"The Prophet will be the hardest route I've done by miles, the A1 beauty pitch alone is the hardest thing I've tried..."
PhilG

Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
Nov 1, 2010 - 12:34pm PT
Stellar! Inspiring us to push our own limits.
Double D

climber
Nov 1, 2010 - 12:44pm PT
Way impressive!

Nice photos too.
Jaybro

Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
Nov 1, 2010 - 12:49pm PT
Topo?
Elcapinyoazz

Social climber
Joshua Tree
Nov 1, 2010 - 01:38pm PT
Nice one, I thought they'd given up on it a few years ago.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Nov 1, 2010 - 05:44pm PT
It's on the Long, Hard and Free page
http://www.stanford.edu/%7Eclint/yos/longhf.htm#elnino

The Prophet - 5.13? (13p: ? 5.13)
FA/FFA - Leo Houlding, Jason Pickles, 10/10
First 5 pitches of Bad to the Bone, then 3 new pitches, a traverse to The Secret Pasage, does 25' of The Secret Passage (original intended line in 2001), and finishes on the last 4 pitches of Eagle's Way.
During the linkup, spent 2 days in the portaledge in a big rainstorm.
Originally attempted from the ground up with no drill.
Freed the first 5 pitches in 2001: Leo Houlding, Jason Pickles, Kevin Thaw, Cedar Wright
On 3rd attempt in 2001, Jason Pickles was injured in a fall on p1.
On 5th attempt in 2001, Houlding and Thaw made it halfway before retreating from a blank section which needed a bolt to protect free climbing.
10/2004 attempt (Houlding and Pickles) ended in a bad storm.
6/2010: Over 4 days, climbed all pitches from the ground and freed all but the "A1 beauty" pitch.
ukclimbing.com

I wasn't sure what to put for the rating.... :-)
Impaler

Gym climber
Vancouver
Nov 1, 2010 - 07:42pm PT
Apparently it's 5.13d R! See Planetmountain interview.
bubble boy

Big Wall climber
topanga, CA
Nov 1, 2010 - 07:42pm PT
Sounds like this is the only El Cap free route climbed ground up? My knowledge of the history of freeclimbing is poor, but their style seems bold and beautiful.

Much respect.
nature

climber
Tuscon Again! India! India! Hawaii! LA?!?!
Nov 1, 2010 - 07:46pm PT
only 13d?
















sandbaggers ;-)
Jaybro

Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
Nov 1, 2010 - 07:53pm PT
Har!
Rudder

Trad climber
Long Beach, CA
Nov 1, 2010 - 10:52pm PT
clever girl!
JLP

Social climber
The internet
Nov 1, 2010 - 11:31pm PT
Sounds like this is the only El Cap free route climbed ground up? My knowledge of the history of freeclimbing is poor, but their style seems bold and beautiful.
They worked the upper pitches from the top, over a lot of trips, for a long time. That doesn't get talked about, but it's part of the game. The redpoint ascent is doing the whole route ground up. That's part of the game as well, in order to be able to really say you freed the route rather than just doing a few dozen 1 pitch routes over the course of any amount of time.
Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
Nov 2, 2010 - 12:15am PT
congratulations on a hard won long term project.
Outstanding achievement....

Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Nov 2, 2010 - 12:43am PT
> They worked the upper pitches from the top, over a lot of trips, for a long time. That doesn't get talked about, but it's part of the game.

It gets talked about on my page. :-)
twohearts

Trad climber
laguna
Nov 2, 2010 - 11:10pm PT
Very nice...Life further fullfilled in fantastic style!
k-man

Gym climber
SCruz
Nov 4, 2010 - 03:29pm PT
Looks like Climbing picked up on this:


http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/houlding_frees_el_caps_prophet_513d_r/

(Stolen from the other thread...)
Brian

climber
California
Nov 12, 2010 - 11:25pm PT
Video

http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=58828

Darwin

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Nov 12, 2010 - 11:57pm PT


RE: Houlding the Pickle

Tami I wish you hadn't said that: it's like getting Manfred Mann's "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" getting stuck in your head.

I think the route has to be renamed.


Dar
Buju

Big Wall climber
the range of light
Nov 13, 2010 - 02:31am PT
That looks beautiful!
Pierre

Big Wall climber
Sweden
Nov 13, 2010 - 09:53am PT
Don't think it is a ground-up ascent, met Leo on top of El Cap last year - he said he had been working on that line for a few years already.
They rapped in from the top, to work on pitches high up, on that day (may 2009).

Anyway - great effort!
Messages 1 - 29 of total 29 in this topic
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