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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 8, 2011 - 03:24am PT
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The RORP Trip Report 5/7/2011
Gary Carpenter
Ed Hartouni
Last Sunday Linda had said that she ran into Gary and Bob, and that Gary had remembered it was 10 years ago that we had done The RORP which was the first climb for me after my knee surgery and Gary's first climb in the Valley.
We didn't make it all the way to the top that day, and we had a fine epic getting stuck ropes unstuck... after 10 years Gary was ready for round 2.
Also, oddly perhaps, I ran into Amy at the Reed's pullout the same Sunday that I talked to Linda and she was going to go up The RORP too... odd that so much attention recently on this route that doesn't seem to get a lot.
The route is described in Roper's guide:
The Rorp
III, 5.7 Wally Reed and Frank Sacherer, July 1963. Several hundred feet to the right of Reed Pinnacle are two prominent chimneys on the wall. The Rorp (acronym for Right Of Reed Pinnacle) is the left hand chimney. The large, tree-covered ledge from which the chimneys begin can be reached in various ways, all of which seem to involve vertical brush and 5.6 cracks. From the base of the right-hand chimney work left around an obvious corner and enter cracks which lead to the Rorp. Follow the chimney system for several pitches. When the chimney end, work up and left, then back right on class 3 ledges. Follow a long left-facing corner for a pitch until possible to friction left into a forest which can be followed down to the road. Two additional pitches of climbing can be gained by ascending the upper section of Flatus. Iron: 10 pitons up to 2".
except that is not how we do it anymore... a pity that the upper pitches are forgotten, but for both The RORP and Flatus it is possible to go to the top of the cliffs. Reid's guide doesn't exactly show this... and as a consequence the cracks are full of vegetable life once again.
The route follows the faint yellow dots, 6 pitches.
if you continue up the corner from the top of Pitch 6 to the mungy ledge you can (presumably) work left to a large ledge that can be walked, with care, to the west and thence to the road
Here is Gary looking at the mayhem that a 2'x2'x1' rock can cause on the trees and shrubs.
he took this pitch up to the big loose ledge. Some point the remains of a tree fell and launched itself to the ground down the route... hitting right where Gary was standing in that picture (which is where I was standing before beating a retreat). These pitches are up the "5.6 cracks" that Roper refers to in his guide, they are not very inspiring and tend to be filled with dirt. Most of the vegetation has been scraped clean.
I took pitch 2, which was just the traverse, careful not to knock any of the rocks.
Gary had pitch 3, here he is entering the cracks, with Cascade Falls in the background
Gary at the pitch 3 belay.
This is as far as we got 10 years ago, we had "Cowboy Steve" along too, and this seemed good enough at the time.
My pitch 4 was harder than I imagined 5.7 could be... bulgy left facing corner with a crack. Finding the old Bugaboo piton was fun, but the cams were a lot more secure so I just appreciated the history and left it in place without disturbing it...
Glad to get to bolts on this station, I brought Gary up... he got the "5.7 OW" pitch 5, the true chimney....
checking it out
in it
surmounting the awkward flake stuck in the top
where technique is your protection...
At the top he walked the class 3 ledges to the left-facing corner which is really a continuation of the Flatus line... my lead... which was pretty consistent at 5.6-5.7. I was expecting to find two bolts as indicated on the Reid's topo, but there were none, just a thin flake with about 10 old slings, tat, where others had obviously found no bolts either.
Above this was steep hummocks and moss, presumably I could climb this up another pitch and find the traverse left into the forest... but with no pro to surmount the obstacle, and the obvious end of the route as others had decided... after consulting with Gary I lowered off of a newly placed sling and 'biner, back down to the belay station.
We reversed the class 3 traverse (with a rope) to the last tree, which is next to a belay/rap station on Eric Gabel's Beyond Lunacy...as I waited for Gary to get there I shot some pictures of Jessica following Alan on that route.
they were very psyched about that climb, but the spring runoff blocked their progress... we ended up sharing rappels with them.
It was a wonderful day in the Valley... great old route, great old friends, and getting the joy of the mountains...
...wouldn't it be wonderful to do that route again in 10 years with Gary!
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Mark Rodell
Trad climber
Bangkok
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Ed, I love your trip reports. I and guy I met in camp did the climb in early 72. Memories unleashed.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Thank you for your consistently excellent trip reports -- and selection of routes. I've never done the RORP -- only Flatus. Your pictures make the climb look like a worthy project and, for this soon-to-be sixty-year-old, a challenge.
Thanks again.
John
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
bouldering
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All these old crack lines are unique in that the majority of them were probably put up in one day, free of the modern mores of pre-inspection, bolt placement and over analyzation. A very pure objective and approach.
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Captain...or Skully
climber
or some such
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I've climbed The Rorp! I thought nobody climbed that.
Sure looked like it. Yeesh. I thought it was great fun, with some sweat.
Good stuff. Right on, Ed. Good pics, too.
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martygarrison
Trad climber
Washington DC
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Ed, thanks so much for this report. I had completely forgotten about this route which I did in the very early climbing days. Keep em coming!
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - May 8, 2011 - 12:27pm PT
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I always thought this was a Frank Sacherer climb, but Wally Reed's name appears first... in particular my wonder as to why Sacherer didn't climb the Flatus chimney, which seemed like such a classic line for the early 60's, it waited until '68 for Pratt and Bob Baumann to do... which seems like a very long time for such a line to sit, undone...
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mctwisted
Social climber
superslacker city
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good report once again ed. glad to hear lindas elbow is feeling better. keep up the good work
p.s. i'm still working on topo stuff for you and ken
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Great adventure, guys! And another outstanding TR, Ed! Almost makes me want to do that climb...almost.
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Gary Carpenter
climber
SF Bay Area
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Here are a few shots of Ed to add to his predictably excellent TR. It was fun to get back on this route after 10 years. Last week I climbed Flatus with Seneca and later, suggested a repeat of the Rorp to Ed.
Some observations:
• If you have an interest in avoiding loose rock, dead wood & munge the first three pitches of Flatus (5.9+) would be a good alternate start. Note: I immediately purchased a helmet after our climb 10 years ago. (I guess Ed feels his hair provides sufficient protection).
• When we climbed Flatus we discovered the rap anchors for “Beyond Lunacy” they are new, convenient, and a clean way to descend from the 3rd class ledges shown on the topo. THANK YOU ERIC!! Note: “Beyond Lunacy” got rave reviews from the three parties I encountered the past two Saturday’s.
A fun day at Reeds.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - May 8, 2011 - 05:07pm PT
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hmmm... Gary didn't take me up on the offer for the next decadal recurrence...
here is "Cowboy Steve" going up the opening chimney, back in 2001,
and Gary in the bidness of Pitch 3
and me prussiking up to the rap station to get a better angle for the rope pull
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Gary Carpenter
climber
SF Bay Area
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Hey Ed,
Re next decade...If the body is still able, I'll be there!!
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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supremo!
wide stoke ++
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Daphne
Trad climber
Mill Valley, CA
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Looks like fun-- Seems like forever since I've seen you guys-- with Jay gone (maybe thru September?) I might not see you at Reeds at all this year! I'll put that on my tick list though. Great pictures, too.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - May 8, 2011 - 11:24pm PT
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this is an intertwined report, since I haven't done Beyond Lunacy, but I shot some images on the first ascent... which was in late 2008... here is Eric belaying Linda up to the ledge that is part of the class 3 scramble on The RORP, probably before Eric put in the anchors.
Linda with the orange helmet, Eric in the bush
Eric on the FA lead just below the images I shot of Rebecca above... same pitch
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Great stuff, Ed!
How's the back doing?
Coming to widefest at the Voo this year?
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Tattooed 1
Trad climber
Sebastopol, Ca
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Hey Ed,
Great trip report. Peaked my interest in doing that one. It was nice to meet you in the parking lot last week.
Tim
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Dirka
Trad climber
SF
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Killer ED!
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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All right Ed and Gary! Nice TR
Z
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nutjob
Gym climber
Berkeley, CA
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Nice! RORP seems like a prime climb for my lady and I.
We did the first 3 pitches of Flatus some time last year... spicier than I expected! Gary, did you find a fixed sling way back in the pro-less chimney with microwave sized chockstone at the top?
I remember throwing a biner and sling over some softball-sized chockstones in a part that was too tight for me to reach up, and getting a face-full of ball bearings. From there, it was about 10-15 feet horizontal to the lip of the microwave chockstone, widening up beyond a squeeze, and surmounting chockstone to top out. A fall would be pendulum into permanent body wedge.
I want to go back and finish the whole thing, and surprised that doesn't get more attention too. Prime east bay wide climb.
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