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john hansen
climber
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Topic Author's Original Post - Dec 31, 2010 - 07:04pm PT
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Who did the third ascent of the Wall of Early Morning Light after Robbins and Lauria chopped the first few pitches?
Wondering how many bolts they had to replace?
And while we are at it, how many bolts have been added to this route over the years?
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jack herer
climber
Veneta, Oregon
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Dec 31, 2010 - 08:13pm PT
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Cool thread idea, I have no clue though. Wonder how many ascents total? Probably not that many for one of the most talked about El Cap routes.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Dec 31, 2010 - 08:22pm PT
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I agree. Great thread idea. I do not remember. It was a bunch of years later. A valuable story that should be told! Bridwell knows, for one. Schmitz also. The line was so heavily stigmatized after the first and second ascents that it vanished from most climbers' minds.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Dec 31, 2010 - 08:31pm PT
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Wasn't Hockey Night in Canada (1980?) a new start to the route, for the first six or eight pitches? But maybe in the interim someone figured out an alternative. Perry?
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jack herer
climber
Veneta, Oregon
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Dec 31, 2010 - 08:41pm PT
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Yes the Reid guide shows Hockey Night (5/1980) as variation that starts midway up the first pitch then joins back up midway through the fourth pitch. I've always thought it was funny how the Reid guide shows WOEML vs New Dawn. New Dawn gets the complete topo as if it where the original route, then WOEML is shown almost like a variation. Minor but still something to note as thoughts about the route maybe?
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ec
climber
ca
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Dec 31, 2010 - 08:43pm PT
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Didn't Porter do the alternative?
'was told by someone in Camp 4 that Sampson, Leversee and I did the 19th (with Mescalito start) in about '80-81...
 ec
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Dec 31, 2010 - 08:45pm PT
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So the original line hasn't been rebolted?
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BASE104
climber
An Oil Field
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Dec 31, 2010 - 08:56pm PT
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I am pretty sure that Steve Gerberding, or somebody, finally put the bolts back in on the original WOEML.
I did the 3rd of Hockey Night, which is just a short variation to that start. So, since Robbins and Lauria, there had only been two other teams who had gone up to where it joins Mescalito.
Now that is no achievement of note, but what is cool is that there is this evil leaning wide crack up there that is totally full of batsh#t. Now it calls for a 7 inch piece or something.
I had to grovel my whole body inside that thing to get a 4 inch piece in. Underneath a pile of bat dung on a chockstone I see a little webbing poking out. I pull on the webbing and there is a sling with two biners and a 2 inch bong. The biner was a big one and had RR stamped on it in about a half dozen places.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Dec 31, 2010 - 09:32pm PT
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LOL
I wonder how much bat shlt Royal had to excavate to get that deep.
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BASE104
climber
An Oil Field
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Dec 31, 2010 - 09:37pm PT
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Most disgusting pitch I have ever done. The sling was underneath at least a foot of the stuff. Anyone who has done the route knows the spot.
I told Lauria about it a few years ago, and he couldn't believe that either of them had left any gear laying around. That place was like a quicksand of batsh#t, though.
Those weird Harding mushroom rivets were bomber if you could get a wire over them. A lot of them were planted really deep.
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BASE104
climber
An Oil Field
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Dec 31, 2010 - 09:45pm PT
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Here is the pitch. The part where you need a respirator is near the top.
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Chief
climber
The NW edge of The Hudson Bay
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Good question.
I think Sutton and Burton "escaped" across the rivet ladders and up the Dawn during an early attempt on Mescalito.
Hockey Night (May 1980?) had aspirations to continue independently up what later became Space and Tempest. We threw in the towel at the end of a feature called The Blackhawk because we weren't impressed with the hollow and loose nature of the rock. We left an old water bottle rattling around at our high point, backtracked about 60 feet and "escaped" up Mescalito into the Old Dawn Wall as all three of us had already done Mescalito. We were hammered by three days of snow from our bivi in the Blank Dihedrals to the base of the last pitch. Woke up last morning to the big earthquake, what an experience!
I never thought of HNIC as a new El Cap route, but as more of a WOEML rebuild. A number of people climbed the Hockey Dawn or Hockalito before the original start (which wasn't more than twenty or so feet away) was put back together by Gerberding I think.
We were impressed by Harding and Caldwell's commitment to their route and the absence of real belay anchors along the way. They hauled and hung all their stuff off of single 1/4" bolts backed up by a few rivets. Horrendous.
We thought Robbins was way off side.
Good on Gerberding for putting the original start back together.
RIP Batso
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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What was intended to be Royal’s clearest tour de force of leadership ever (erasing the WEOML) turned out to be the single-most despicable action of his career and the most confused and shortsighted as well. And to underscore what a poor move it was, he only erased a third or less of the line thus exhibiting his embarrassing quandries to all from a world-class stage.
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Chief
climber
The NW edge of The Hudson Bay
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Couldn't have said that better Peter.
Reminds me of Chappy's line. "In Yosemite, Robbins is Royal no more".
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DanaB
climber
Philadelphia
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Despicable? One meaning of that word is " . . . so obnoxious and odius that it arouses serious moral indignation."
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Cracko
Trad climber
Quartz Hill, California
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So, is WOEML a viable climb today. I've heard much about other incidents of vandalism on this route. How does it compare to Mescalitio ???
Cracko
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john hansen
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 1, 2011 - 01:50pm PT
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I wonder how those Bat Hook holes have held up?
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Well said, Peter, I thought much the same thing even back when I was a noob.
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Erik Sloan
climber
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Until 2002, WEML was a viable climb. It got climbed once a year or every other year.
In the late 80s/early 90s Steve Gerberding redrilled the original section that Robbins chopped. He told me he used 1/4" buttonheads, drilling right next to the chopped bolts(i've only done New Dawn so haven't seen em).
In 96ish Chris McNamara and Brian Paulson replaced most of the anchor bolts, as long as you link according to the Supertopo.
In 2002 Jim Beyer put up Martyr's Brigade, which crosses or touches WEML, ND, Mescalito,Space. Jim reported in Alpinist that he, "I drilled a lot of bolts, but chopped about an equal number on surrounding routes."
In 2004 Hans Florine and Brian McCray tried for the first one day ascent of WEML and were slowed considerably by several chopped bolts. Hans reported that they free-soloed the first pitch, drilled a couple rivets over the climb, and avoided other blank spots with penjiing onto nearby routes.
Later in 2004, Brian McCray and Ammon McNeely paired up for the first one day ascent. I don't believe they drilled any bolts but resorted to the same circuitous climbing tactics to avoid broken bolts.
I don't believe anyone has climbed the route since 2004. I don't believe the bolts on the first pitch have been replaced.
Ahhh, the rich history of Yosemite's bigwall climbs--so much passion.
cheers
e
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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I think it now seems climbing the original Wall of the Early Morning Light exactly as Warren and Dean executed it (or just with modern gear), would be a creative and interesting project. Maybe an adventure even! The party could have a running account they would eventually bring back to us readers on what they found---all the crisscrossing subsequent routes and artefacts of that area, what they experienced on the original line and how it was established, the decisions that had been made etc. Kind of like Conrad going out to try Everest in the style of Mallory and Irvine while also finding their bodies and what that was like--- a very creative and intriguing adventure, for sure!
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