Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
| Messages 1 - 48 of total 48 in this topic |
Tork
climber
Yosemite
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 30, 2011 - 03:17pm PT
|
I finally got on a Gabel route. Been looking at the pitch above Lunatics Fringe for a long time. Then Eric continued the route to the top and I became more enticed.
Last weekend we decided to check it out. We got a late start so only did 3 pitches above the Fringe. We loved every pitch we climbed. The pitch above the Fringe was stout for me. No hangs but it was close. At the crux you make a big move to a nice incut flake that flexes, yikes. Higher you can go right or left. The left way follows a few incut knobs to a stellar, though dirty, finger to hand crack that brings you to the anchor with a nice comfy seat and a stellar position.
From the anchor on pitch two, you move left ten feet or so, step down and around the corner to a nice hand crack in a corner. Follow the corner a ways past a hummock section, more hands, then to a ledge that leads to yet more hands in another corner and ending at a bolted belay - again with a great position.
From here, the character of the route changes. Instead of beautiful cracks you are now following large, although spaced, knobs. The moves between these large knobs tended to involve thin friction and big reaches to nice incut holds. Unfortunately due to the lack of traffic on the route every single hold was covered with an inch or more of dirt. I enjoyed this pitch the most, particularly the section Eric has rated 10c on his topo, thin moves with the reward of ultra positive jugorama.
Thanks Eric and friends. Looking forward to doing the rest of the pitches. This route comes with high recommendation.
Jeff
|
|
donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
|
|
|
Jan 30, 2011 - 06:06pm PT
|
Anybody who adds footage to such a fine climb deserves cheers!
|
|
Tork
climber
Yosemite
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 30, 2011 - 06:08pm PT
|
Hey Clint,
Great to see you guys out getting after it yesterday.
Would love to hear about what all you got done.
We made it up the corner but stopped at the headwall. Corner was harder than it looked. Got thoroughly worked.
Jeff
|
|
Pass the Chongo, Chongo
Social climber
in cave
|
|
|
Jan 30, 2011 - 06:43pm PT
|
HEY THERE SAY... GOOD TOPO CLINT! THANK YOU!
LOVE
cHoNgO$$
|
|
donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
|
|
|
Jan 30, 2011 - 06:53pm PT
|
Just checked out the topo. Definetly on my to do list next trip to the Valley.
|
|
caughtinside
Social climber
Davis, CA
|
|
|
Jan 30, 2011 - 07:08pm PT
|
Haven't done a Gabel valley route, but I did A Boy And His Arete at the Leap last summer. Funky yet quality, very fun!
|
|
ec
climber
ca
|
|
|
Jan 30, 2011 - 07:08pm PT
|
Grasshopper has come a long way...
I remember the first day he tried climbing at one of our rock courses; yarding with his arms, feet flailing. He eventually settled down and started using his feet.
Not many I known have the pure love of just climbing and having an adventure like Eric.
He really put in a full effort when we started the FA of Crossbones at The Needles, but wrenched his ankle in the process higher up on the route. We had to bail. Lower down, the arete pitch was his; not really that difficult, but wickedly run out, so run out, we placed an extra bolt lower on it after the fact so others may not hit the ledge some 60 feet below, only from 30 now...
Great guy with tons of stone logged in now.
 ec
|
|
Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
|
|
|
Jan 30, 2011 - 07:27pm PT
|
adventuresome
bold
generous
fun
very glad to call him friend
looking forward to many more years of adventure with him and because of him
cheers!
|
|
Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
|
|
|
Jan 30, 2011 - 07:36pm PT
|
Jeff,
> Would love to hear about what all you got done.
Mostly a lot of scrambling and PO dodging (by daylight and by headlamp),
then Bob placed 3 bolts (on lead of course) to start a new route on the slab.
The 5.7 crack he had climbed last time was running with water - hmmm, no wonder it was so "water polished"? :-)
> We made it up the corner but stopped at the headwall. Corner was harder than it looked. Got thoroughly worked.
It looked hard to me! Did you wish you had brought kneepads? :-)
More ablegabel links:
ablegabel in Rock&Ice:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=848815
happy birthday abelgabel:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=491624
|
|
bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
|
|
|
Jan 30, 2011 - 07:37pm PT
|
Eric is a awesome. E.C., not everyone is as badass as you}}
Just don't flaunt it, it's bad form, dude.
|
|
Tork
climber
Yosemite
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 30, 2011 - 08:03pm PT
|
Clint,
It looked hard to me! Did you wish you had brought kneepads?
Knees are not too bad but the arms are a bit sore from all the chickenwinging on lichen as are the palms of my hands from palming.
Good timing with the weather, have a day or two to heal.
|
|
ec
climber
ca
|
|
|
Jan 30, 2011 - 08:40pm PT
|
bluering,
I really don't understand what you are saying, man. I was talking about Eric and his rise to excellence. At least I know his history and it is a good one.
ec
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
|
|
|
Jan 30, 2011 - 08:42pm PT
|
It's the Grinch™ hat that does it....
|
|
ablegabel
Trad climber
Dublin,Ca.
|
|
|
Jan 31, 2011 - 01:28pm PT
|
WOW!!! Thanks for the internet love. Glad you enjoyed the route Jeff. Looking forward to getting on one of yours soon.- ec, it's been way too long since I've seen you. Thanks for setting me on the right path all those years ago.- Ed, always happy to be sharing a rope with you.-Clint, thanks for you and Dan breaking through on Beyond The Fringe, I might not have gone higher if you hadn't figured out that section. Looking forward to working with you on upcoming projects. -Bluering, Eddie Joe was my original climbing mentor, but thanks for getting my back.- Caughtinside, that kicks ass that you did A Boy And His Arete. I love that climb. - Donini, hope you get on Beyond Lunacy, it's fun and well protected. Special thanks to Linda and Keven who tirelessly helped to put up that route. Couldn't have done it with out them. By the way, I don't know of any body who has done the last pitch yet. Every body has ran out of time thus far - Eric Gabel
|
|
bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
|
|
|
Jan 31, 2011 - 01:51pm PT
|
e.c., sorry. I misinterpreted something. Sorry!
|
|
Jobee
Social climber
El Portal Ca.
|
|
|
Jan 31, 2011 - 01:55pm PT
|
Eric,
I have something for you, it was meant for one of your birthdays a few years ago!
Always love to see you, you are one of my hero's, and you have the heart of a lion.
Tipping my mug of tea your way right now!
xxxooojobee
|
|
Captain...or Skully
climber
leading the away team, but not in a red shirt!
|
|
|
Jan 31, 2011 - 02:01pm PT
|
Big props to the AbleGabel.
Yes, I am a fan.
|
|
J. Werlin
Social climber
Cedaredge, CO
|
|
|
Jan 31, 2011 - 04:46pm PT
|
Cheers for pushing into uncharted waters.
|
|
kev
climber
A pile of dirt.
|
|
|
Jan 31, 2011 - 05:06pm PT
|
Eric,
I remember that last pitch well.
Props to Eric - he puts in many many hours into putting up great routes with incredible vision. He's also fun to climb with and have the occasional beer with - snicker....
kev
|
|
zeta
Trad climber
Berkeley
|
|
|
Jan 31, 2011 - 05:28pm PT
|
adventuresome
bold
generous
fun
and don't forget 'nice'
after seeing eric many times at the reed's pullout, i was wanting to climb ejesta but didn't have a big cam. Eric--who barely knew me--loaned me his #4 and gave me beta on the route...I'll have to check, but I think eric's routes are all too hard for me--5.7s that are masquerading as 5.10s or something?
|
|
mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
|
|
|
Jan 31, 2011 - 10:24pm PT
|
Looking Up at the Money Pitch of "Angry Natives".
What if feels like to get the 2nd ascent(A0 :) of a Gable Route.
Cheers with Beers to the Man!!!
Mucci
|
|
dave goodwin
climber
carson city, nv
|
|
|
Jan 31, 2011 - 10:41pm PT
|
one of my great friends and mentor Walt Hawkins always had the best things to say about Eric. Whether it be his ethics, sense of adventure, or just being a good all around guy. Somehow I never ran into Eric while I was climbing with Walt.
I can remember the first time Walt and I "completed" the Rostrum, (we shamefully bailed after the third pitch esacpe on our first attempt) and Walt was leading the 10a off width, he wanted to clip the bolt, but he heard Eric's voice in his head, and he had to skip it.
take care
dave
|
|
Tork
climber
Yosemite
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 31, 2011 - 10:44pm PT
|
Way to go Mucci! How was Angry Natives?
|
|
mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
|
|
|
Jan 31, 2011 - 11:08pm PT
|
Starts out a bit Wyde...
Then an "Adventure section" where you meet the Natives...
Then the goods.
Very fun route, the upper corner is .10b, very clean now I bet, mostly fingers at the top. The route climbed true to the grade.
Oh and a #5 might just be mandatory...
|
|
kev
climber
A pile of dirt.
|
|
Haha, I remember the natives pitch. Eric was up there saying something about a "f-in nightmare" when he led it. So now I was expecting uber hard climbing, but 5 feet before the natives eric yells down something like "This is going to be a test of your character, climb through this section fast" (or something like that). Uber classic day. We were properly beered when we topped out :)
Thanks for all the fun times Eric!
|
|
Captain...or Skully
climber
leading the away team, but not in a red shirt!
|
|
Climber bump!!!!! Huzzah!
|
|
ablegabel
Trad climber
Dublin,Ca.
|
|
Nice pictures Mucci. Great send. Angry Natives is good, more people should get on that route. Credit goes out to Sean Jones for sending the wide chimney that starts the route, not sure what he named it? -Thanks for the bump Captain.-Jobee, good to hear from you as always, will you be around this weekend? I'll try and stop by. Saturday/Sunday night work? -Dave, Walter is one of my dearest friends, love that guy! I remember him talking about your guys adventures. To funny about the bolt clipping thing. Thats exactly the kind of stuff I would have given him sh#t about.-Jaybro, don't let out the secret of the grinch hat, don't want to loose my power source. Kev, see you up there this weekend for our next adventure.- Zeta, always a pleasure to help out if I can, and I'd be happy to show you some fun, easy, safe, not sand bagged routes if your ever interested. I'm sure your knee deep in ski season now though.-Happy climbing every one - Eric Gabel
|
|
susu
Trad climber
East Bay, CA
|
|
Eric the Lion-hearted for sure! You are the real deal, a great and true climber! Cheers to you from John and Sue
and add to your list of traits warm, prolific, and full of cheer.
|
|
Salamanizer
Trad climber
The land of Fruits & Nuts!
|
|
By the way, I don't know of any body who has done the last pitch yet. Every body has ran out of time thus far - Eric Gabel
I went back and climbed the route including the last pitch with another partner a few weeks after Mike and I climbed it and we met you in the parking lot. I lead every pitch car to car in just over 3 hrs (spray). I remember being quite stoked to finally be one of the (very few I'm sure) climbers to ever top out on Reeds.
That route is really fun, has quite a bit of variety and is one of my favorites in the lower Merced. I'll definitely climb it again sometime.
You got a few more routes in them parts that I'm dieing to get on.
Need partners will travel.
Chad...
|
|
Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
|
|
Eric high on the FA of Beyond The Fringe at Reed's Pinnacle Area, Yosemite Valley, CA
|
|
Daphne
Trad climber
Mill Valley, CA
|
|
Just met Eric, finally, over Christmas. What a wonderful guy!
big hug, Eric, and I hope to be good enough to climb some of your wonderful routes someday...
|
|
Tork
climber
Yosemite
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Feb 4, 2011 - 12:08pm PT
|
Climbed another Gabel route yesterday, Sunrise Special. A little too cold to catch the Sunrise but the giant knobs on the route were special. Not the same quality as Beyond Lunacy but a very fun route with great views and again great knobs. I found the cruxes of this route almost as hard as any of the 5.10 moves on the 4th pitch of Beyond Lunacy.
Sunrise Special starts on the route Mud Shark which I climbed several years ago. I was correct in my a*#umption that Mud shark would be difficult to get to with the water level of Cascade Creek, but was also correct with the assumption there had to be another way. The alternate start, just right of Jug Monkey, turned out to be a very fun pitch, better than Mud Shark and ended up getting us to the ant covered tree shown on the topo. The next pitch started out great, nice hands but soon became awkward, a bit loose, and thuggish, but not too hard. In warmer weather, this dank slot would come as a relief but in the colder temps I was relieved to be back out in the warm sunshine looking up at an abundance of giant knobs. The first moves above the bolted anchor were the crux of the route for me. I could hear my wife's voice in the back of my head, "I keep telling you to do yoga with me." Well, even without yoga I was able to contort my body and stretch to the giant knob, clip a bolt, and mantle onto it. After that, other than a few heady moves between huge holds, the rest of the pitch was trivial but very fun. The next pitch was more of the same, a good thing, giant knob after giant knob. A bit run out to the first bolt but fairly positive getting to it. The second bolt protected a section with just one knob short and the third protected a traverse right to the hummock finish of the pitch at a loose ledge with an oak tree anchor. The character of the route changes on the 4th picth as does the quality. The knobs run out and the pitch is a bit loose and dirty, worth doing none the less. We rapped from the belay tree from here but the topo says the route continues on. Looked like a lot of loose, ledgy wandering so we went down. Light!
Cheers again to Eric, another good adventure.
|
|
Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
|
|
Sunrise Special topo:
http://www.stanford.edu/%7Eclint/yos/cascfall.pdf
> sounds like we need to add the alternate start and update the ratings?
Jeff, thanks for the beta!
I have edited the topo to add your dry start and upped the rating at that
first move to "5.9+".
Check out the updated version at the same link above.
|
|
Tork
climber
Yosemite
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Feb 4, 2011 - 03:06pm PT
|
Clint I would draw it in but don't have a scanner. Also I can't, or don't know how to, open the topo(pdf) in another program such as paint.
The way I went starts about where the small tree right above the creek is, just rigth of Jug Monkey, and follows what is drawn as a left facing corner, but more of a seam, to the next , bigger tree. You squeeze( not bad at all w/holds) through a slot on the left and continue up the large right facing corner(5.9) with steep knob pulling to a ledge size knob and traverse right on knobs(the knobs on the topo left of the 1st pitch belay tree) to the 1st pitch tree belay of Mud Shark.
I would say the rating is height dependant but it says Linda did the 1st with Eric???
Jeff
|
|
Greg Barnes
climber
|
|
Problem is that with Linda, her footwork is too good for her to distinguish between 5.8 slab and 5.11 slab...
|
|
Linda Jarit
climber
ca
|
|
Thanks Greg!
Jeff...it was bit a reach for me and I do remember there were a few explicatives being mumbled but I was able to reach the knob with a smear on the face. Its just a bit committing.
That's pretty much the case when climbing with the big guy..he does his thing and I need to find the gentler, Linda version!
Great to hear you are climbing Eric's routes. He puts a lot of thought, time and energy into his routes and is truly gifted in his abilities. Nice to hear others are out there enjoying them!
|
|
altieboo
Boulder climber
Livermore, Ca
|
|
This thread is amazing! I want to climb!
|
|
ablegabel
Trad climber
Dublin,Ca.
|
|
Good job on that send Chad (3 hours, holy shit!). What did you think of the last pitch? How hard? Pretty cool up there on top eh. -Jeff, the start you did was the original way we started the route, but we took the corner all the way up to what is now the bolted belay of Sunrise Special. We did some 5.10 in the upper part of the corner. It seemed to me that it had been climbed before so we didn't draw it in. The original first pitch on Sunrise Special(off the bolted belay) was about 70m and went up and a little right (instead of the left traverse to the second belay), up to a ledge 100ft higher. We originally did it without any bolts on the first pitch. Did the climb a couple months ago, the first move is probably 5.9. -Was great to meet you too Daphne! -Way to capture the moment Susu - Couldn't have said it better Greg - Linda...soon! -Hey Chad, if you want to get to the true top of Reeds, you should get on "Runaway Emotions" 5.10d on the right side of Reeds (9 or 10 pitches), it needs a repeat - Eric
|
|
Marshall
climber
bay area
|
|
we checked out beyond lunacy on saturday (up to the last pitch, anyway, which was running with water). it was super bitchin! thanks to eric, linda et al for such a nice, well-equipped route. highly recommended. bring some thin stuff for the "beyond the fringe" pitch off the top of lunatic.
|
|
NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
|
|
Just saw a trip report for Goliath on Lost Brother, and Bob pointed me back to this thread.
Major bumpage deserved for Eric. All the places I have looked around the valley and dreamed of "some day" climbing or even just getting up to explore, all those blank stretches of the valley that don't appear to exist in the Meyers/Reid guide, he has already been there and FA'd a bunch of stuff. And tons more places I don't know about. I guess when you head as far into the uncharted sections of the valley as he does, his horizon of what obscurity means rises to a level beyond normal mortal's comprehension.
And he's a super-nice guy with no spray, generous with info, but he leaves just enough unsaid to give plenty of space for like minded souls to get in over their heads and find the adventure they're looking for.
I raise my glass in an internet toast to Mr Gable.
Who plucks out new pitches like this one from Angry Natives, right in front of the rendezvous parking lot used by most climbers in a popular crag, in this day and age? A renaissance man.
If I quit my job and spent a year climbing, I could probably fill it up gleefully by doing only his routes. And there would be plenty I don't have the sack or skills to get up. So many dreams fueled by perusing his topos.
|
|
bob
climber
|
|
Cheers to more outings in life on the rock.
Bob Jensen
|
|
NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
|
|
|
Jul 23, 2018 - 06:50pm PT
|
Bump for da man filling in some of the blank spots in the valley.
|
|
Alexey
climber
San Jose, CA
|
|
|
Jul 23, 2018 - 09:13pm PT
|
blank spots in the valley all blank spots in the Vally already covered in Comprehensive edition. Coming soon!
Yes! .....????
cheers to Eric Gabel
|
|
donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
|
|
|
Jul 24, 2018 - 06:13am PT
|
Soon can mean just about anything. In geologic time the Rocky Mountains are young and still growing and “soon” will be noticeably higher.
|
|
Alexey
climber
San Jose, CA
|
|
|
Jul 24, 2018 - 01:23pm PT
|
in geologic time there are the chances that you Jim and me be able to check this book
|
|
| Messages 1 - 48 of total 48 in this topic |
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!