Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
snowhazed
Trad climber
Oaksterdam, CA
|
|
the pic after anunaki on ct's post is Broken Tooth 12-
getting psyched for springtime in splitterville!
|
|
lemon_boy
climber
|
|
anybody know what that sweet splitter in mrE's post (2nd photo i think)? looks soooo nice.
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
|
|
You don't have to go by a book's opinion on ratings, when you know better.
Example #1) Quarter of a man is harder than tales of Power
|
|
Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
|
|
You do when the book says they are harder than you know. ;-)
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
|
|
yeah, ya know?
|
|
ct
climber
CO
|
|
Yep, Comic Relief in the top photo and Broken Tooth in the bottom. Broken Tooth is top 3 in my book.
I thought polygrip was stout at 11+, and Egg Drop Soup on the Bridgers feels hard to me, whatever it's rated. Meathooks is hard for me at 11- and Sacred Cow beat me up pretty good last time too. Thought the Pastafarian was also spicy and hard at the grade.
More creek-ness.
Anybody been on this beauty?
|
|
10b4me
Ice climber
Happy Boulders
|
|
Chambered Round on the Pistol Whipped Wall is pretty fun
|
|
caughtinside
Social climber
Davis, CA
|
|
Sorry to be the grinch here melissa! I shouldn't have mentioned grades since they're all good climbs and it's a fun thread. Anyway, as everybody who has climbed there knows it is all hand/finger size dependent anyway.
|
|
Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
|
|
That doesn't make it any less fun to send an inflated #. :-p
|
|
P.Kingsbury
Trad climber
the jeep
|
|
Hey CT, if your less than 150 lbs Liquid Sky really isn't that bad. Not even going to speculate on the grade.
What would this thread be with out a shot of Alf?
wondering what bolt will suffice for an anchor.....
ruby's
full pbr
empty pbr
cheers,
Patrick
|
|
Marshall
climber
bay area
|
|
nice photos everybody! here's a couple more:
something at pistol whipped?
rock lobster
slice n dice
johnny cat
swedin ringle
evening glory shot
|
|
cultureshock
Trad climber
Mountain View
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 7, 2011 - 03:40pm PT
|
Awesome photos. The one at Pistol Whipped looks like Coyote Essence. PBR sounds pretty wicked. Nice angle of Ruby's.
Another one of Swedin-Ringle!
 Luke
|
|
anees
climber
temporary exile from the land of enchantment
|
|
If Puma hasn't been downgraded from 12- yet, it should be. It's the only "12" I've ever had any success with at the Creek. I thought it was easier than Johnny Cat, and I've got big fingers so Johnny Cat is better for me than most people.
|
|
Tork
climber
Yosemite
|
|
|
|
cultureshock
Trad climber
Mountain View
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 9, 2011 - 02:03pm PT
|
10 days and counting!
Couple more shots:
If anyone is in the Creek week after next say HI. I'll be in the bright blue tacoma.
Luke
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
|
|
If Puma hasn't been downgraded from 12- yet, it should be. It's the only "12" I've ever had any success with at the Creek.
Wrong criteria, that's what makes this "insecure"* rating happen in the first place. It's Okay, you Are worthy...
Speaking of inflation Meathooks is .11 now?
* "Climbing ratings the innocent the Ignorant and the Insecure" Jim Bridwell, circa '73
|
|
jsj
climber
Boulder
|
|
This time last year I climbed my second 5.13 at Indian Creek. The first was everyone's first, Ruby's Cafe.
I started working Ruby's Cafe in 2005 in an effort to play nicely with the climbers I was with at the time. I usually find I have the most fun climbing with partners who are psyched, regardless of ability, but I learn the most climbing with those that are better. On that particular day I was climbing with a 5.14 climber and his 5.13 climbing girlfriend as they worked on Ruby's. I gave it two TR burns. On my first burn I was able to get a fully no-hands rest in the roof - you've seen the knee bar, but I could drop both hands from the knee bar. Geometry is a strange thing and nowhere are its affects more apparent than in the desert's perfect angles. On my second burn I one-hanged it at the changing corners crux. Both of these burns filled me with excitement (and perhaps overconfidence) for the route, and the grade: I had never climbed a 5.13, and I began to dream my very first would be at my very favorite place in the world - Indian Creek.
A quick send was not in the cards. A few months later I had a bad ground fall and broke both my ankles. For several months (and through several surgeries) I contemplated Ruby's Cafe from a wheelchair. I decided that if I could return to climbing, I would climb that route, but if I couldn't return to climbing at that level, I would find a new sport. As it happened I returned to climbing, and it wasn't long before I had done a few 5.13 sport climbs. Ruby's took much longer. A year or two longer... Mainly, the issue was endless one-hanging the changing corners. And ripped skin. I had two burns on a given day before I'd open up little tiny gobies on the sides of my middle and ring fingers. They weren't bloody gobies, just little weepy spots on the sides of the knuckles. You've been on Ruby's - you know what I'm talking about. So, on about 4 consecutive trips to Indian Creek I'd end up climbing exactly two routes: some 5.11 warmup and then two burns on Ruby's. The Battle of the Bulge is popular, but no one wants to go there every day so this got old very fast. Then there was the process of borrowing 0.4 Camalots. I had 3, and I also had a few Yellow Aliens which I didn't trust, so I had to go through this routine of borrowing about 5 more each morning. That got old. Then there was temperature. That route bakes by late morning and no one gets up early at the Creek. The problem I have with heat is I have good circulation and moist skin and the heat makes my skin very soft. The little Ruby's gobies on the sides of your fingers were much easier to control if you get on it early.
I've never been one to get stronger. It's always been about learning subtleties and refining each and every movement. For this reason I'm sure that my hardest ascents have been at my absolute limit, and actually climbing those routes involves everything being perfect. This is a very satisfying experience, but I'm sure I could climb better if I would simply train. Perhaps Ruby's would have gone down faster, but instead I would rack every piece on the correct side of my harness, put on my knee pad, think ninja thoughts, and cast off into one-hangdom.
There were three little details that allowed me to finally send Ruby's Cafe. The first came quickly and that was realizing that, while liebacking, the geometry of the climb and my body were such that I could press my lower arm's elbow into the knee of my upper foot, creating a very stable triangle figure that somehow took all the weight off my muscles and put all the weight onto my skeleton. I could place gear very easily on that route and I considered 80% of the route (apart from changing corners and the roof) to be restful. I'd usually place two cams side by side then punch it 10 feet and place another pair. This is my preferred method in the Creek. The second detail was learning how to fully stand on the upper "slab" right under the roof to rest. I spent 15 minutes here on the send. If you trust the rubber and drop your heels, you stick. You can get most of it back. But the real key was learning how to place my foot at the changing corners. There's a little undulation on the "arete" that makes a good foothold and allows you to stand up into the upper corner, marking the end of the crux, but every time I'd try to get my foot onto it, my other foot would pop and I'd go flying. I remembered watching that 5.13 climbing girl have no problems with this but flail on the liebacks. What was her secret? The secret was the rand of my Miuras. The sole would be pasted in that shallow corner, the edge flirting with the thin crack, but where it came together was learning that I could torque my ankle and press the rand of the rubber against the inside face of the corner. This gave some imperceptible but somehow significant amount of friction: as I lifted my other foot up to that mini-arete, I'd feel the fingers of both my hand sliding out of their jams - a sensation I'd grown accustomed to. But this time the lower foot didn't slip, I planted the upper foot and was able to thrutch my fingers back into their jams. The gobies had formed, but the route was mine.
Later I heard someone call Ruby's 5.12+. Asshole.
|
|
jsj
climber
Boulder
|
|
So this past spring I wanted a new 5.13. Everyone talks about the Optimator. But that was "real Indian Creek 5.13"... I needed another one of those wimpy 5.13's. My only rule was that it had to be at a cliff that everyone wants to go to. That meant Pink Flamingo (another "real" 5.13) and Air Swedin. As it turns out, on the first day of the trip I followed my friends to Scarface. Why doesn't anyone talk about the 5.13 there? There's a totally rad picture of it in the first edition of the guidebook no less!
I'll give it a go. My first burn on the route went very well and I knew immediately that it would go much quicker for me than Ruby's. This isn't because the route is easier necessarily, but like everything at the Creek, it's size dependent. For me, I can jam 0.3 Camalots. Yes, it's just the first knuckle of my pinky or index finger that will fit, but they fit. The crux of this route is two campus moves off 0.3 Camalot jams. This comes after underclinging out right, reaching around the corner and blindly placing an old-style 0.3 Camalot. The newer 0.3 C4's are ever-so-slightly larger and you need those ever-so-slightly larger spots for the fingies. Of course Green Aliens would also fit but we don't trust those. So that was my first day on the route. Afterwards I went on to get my knee stuck in Big Guy which was rather terrifying.
Day 2 went something like this: Reach around the corner with the right hand, thumbs down, and jam the first knuckle of the index finger (and first pad of the middle finger of course). Locker! Then just swing my body around the corner, sagging onto that knuckle, paste my feet and campus! Left hand gets a knuckle of the pinky in, and (bonus!) the first pad of the ring finger. Scott was shouting. I think I may have said something like "Oh dear Lord!" Paste the feet higher and campus up into a flared hand jam. A couple rattly finger locks to a huck for the hero jug! Feet cut loose and I'm hanging there one armed like Stevie Haston! I even chalked up in homage to Yabo and the Stonemasters. From here it's 100' of the best 5.10 handcrack in the Creek.
So why doesn't anyone talk about Death of a Cowboy? I suppose because for the larger-fingered... it is really, really hard. Either that, or it's just another 5.12+.
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
|
|
Nice, JSJ!
-Tricks?
-The Belly?
-Something new?
|
|
jsj
climber
Boulder
|
|
You want another story?
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!