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mikeyschaefer
climber
Yosemite
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 21, 2011 - 05:08pm PT
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Has anyone gone up there and repeated this thing?
I went up there with my girlfriend Kate yesterday and played around on it. We found the first couple pitches to be of very high quality on incredible rock. We had heard that a key hold on the 12a thrid pitch pitch had broken and the pitch was now deemed "impossible." That made me want to go check it out even more...
After at least 30+ tries on the crux move I figured out a sequence that would work but my tips were nearly bleeding and my toes were done for. Kate was hesitant to try it but I got her to go and she was able to toprope it after just a few tries. We figured it was probably some where around 12c or harder but definitely not impossible.
So has anyone ever put in the work and done a proper 2nd free ascent?
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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May 21, 2011 - 05:34pm PT
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Mikey, no, no one has as far as I have heard. Plus as stated before in older threads of the last five years, the first ascent was not technically a fully free ascent, according to Tom Davis of the FA party in statements he has made to me in the last 15 years. So, yeah. Good opportunity and the climbing is apparently stellar. It is not "on" Slab Happy you know. To the right of it. There are other opportunities for FA's up there too plus all the routes up there are world class. The left side is incredible and perhaps the most surprising of the lines though not as pretty as the center and dihardral/rt side and the stuff Woodward has there.
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mikeyschaefer
climber
Yosemite
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Topic Author's Reply - May 21, 2011 - 05:58pm PT
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Ya I guess I know its not technically on Slab Happy Pinnacle... Slab Happy Pinnacle Wall???
I tried to search the forum for other tidbits of info but got no where. Interesting to hear that its maybe never had a fully free ascent.
That whole area up there is super inspiring. I'm sure I'll go back to check out the other routes.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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May 21, 2011 - 06:10pm PT
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Mikey,
Did you see any bolts out to the *left* of the 3rd pitch?
I believe it has gone free out there, but considerably harder than 5.12c.
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mikeyschaefer
climber
Yosemite
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Topic Author's Reply - May 21, 2011 - 06:13pm PT
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I did see the bolts out there to the left. I wondered what was up with them. It looked good and steep over there.
Is it accessed from making a traverse from the top of the 2nd pitch of GY?
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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May 21, 2011 - 06:19pm PT
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Yes, traverse left from the p2 belay to reach those bolts.
(I also sent you an email)
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bringmedeath
climber
la la land
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May 21, 2011 - 07:39pm PT
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This is to the right of el cap? Ivo worked on this for a while... he thought something was missing... I think!
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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May 21, 2011 - 07:58pm PT
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Yes (something missing), see Kelly's post on this thread:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/91586/What-Largo-said
"The route to the right of all this, Golden Years, is beautiful, but has some hard stuff too. Ivo says he broke the foothold on the crux pitch, so you either pull through on one bolt or send at .13 somethin'. Still, it's amazing rock."
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bob
climber
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May 21, 2011 - 10:19pm PT
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Mikey, I went up there with Sean Kriletich a while back before the "hold" broke. I'm sure I remember which hold it would have been. Glad you figured it out. I did it with the hold and it took me about 7 tries. We bailed after that pitch. If Kate bails as a climbing partner give me a shout. I really enjoyed the climbing to that point. GOOOD SH#T! Living pretty close these days to the Valley.
Bob Jensen
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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May 21, 2011 - 10:30pm PT
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Some history and trivia: Tom Davis told me that they named the route "Golden Years" based on their reflection that it took place for them during their best, or golden, years, their prime years. So of course I had to tease him that it was awfully close to "Golden Girls", as in Betty White, Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty's TV sitcom of the eighties/early nineties. Tom of course wasn't aware of such crap but I got a laugh out of him. And anyway we had a tradition of TV show names behind camp four, also inadvertently. The first being, "Edge of Night" which Fredericks---who probably to this date may never have seen a TV show--- named in sincerity and horror as the first ascensionist finished in the twilight apparently. But only to be told by me that Edge of Night was a popular soap opera on Sixties TV. Chris thought this was both funny and kind of deflating at the same time. So then I did Secret Storm which was also a soap.
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tom woods
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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May 21, 2011 - 11:40pm PT
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Close to the valley Bob? Where are you at? I might actually be able to do something fun this summer.
I thought golden years was up by the east ledges, I guess I'm wrong.
What's the stuff up by east ledges, with the big white stripes?
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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May 22, 2011 - 12:08am PT
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Peter, "Golden Years" is also the name of a song by David Bowie. So maybe closer to that than Golden Girls. :-)
It's to the right of the East Buttress of El Cap, and left of the East Ledges rappel routes.
So I'd say it's on El Cap, just not on the "main" SE face of El Cap.
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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May 22, 2011 - 02:47am PT
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"... the first ascent was not technically a fully free ascent."
Peter, not too sure what Tom told you, but all the pitches were lead clean. The high standards that Tom, David, and I employed in those old, golden days, were that we didn't consider it a complete "free" ascent because nobody had lead all the pitches clean, ground-up without falling. I know for certain, however, that all the pitches were lead clean, and IIRC, TD lead them all one day. However, a complete ground-up no falls ascent still awaits, AFAIK.
Rubine spied the route--he scoped the featured face high on the route and plotted a way to get there. I joined the effort part-way through the 2nd pitch. We got to the second belay and the obvious line went left, out a hand-rail. Rubine lead out that, then up to a spot where he was stumped. Tom looked right and stated that he thought it would go. I looked at it, and promptly stated rapping. Tom almost onsighted the pitch first go, but blew at the top of the arch. It was one of the most amazing leads I'd had the pleasure of watching. He threw in a bolt and finished the pitch.
Later, I went back and removed the hangers from Rubine's attempt out left (of course leaving the topmost one ;-).
Ivo went up and worked on the route. TD knew the key foothold on the traverse was likely to blow, and Ivo indeed blew it out. Ivo was describing the whole deal to me when I remembered the attempt out left, and I told him the bolts were still there, just no hangers. He went back up and got to where David was stumped. I guess he figured out a way to do the move, but I don't believe he ever freed the pitch.
Interesting that the original way might go at less than 5.13. The thing looked impossible to me, even with the foothold intact.
Below is the topo out of my book, complete with Ivo's added notes. We originally had cute little names for all the pitches, but those were lost with the topo we sent in to Climbing. The Black Pitch, lol.
Golden Years, I was a young-un back then and I told David I thought it was a corny name for such a stellar route. He told me it was from a book he was reading; who knows.
I'd like to add that the route went up with only 4 or 5 points of aid (where we fell and hung). I remember well the 3 points that I added. The rest was drilled in stance, without hangs.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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May 22, 2011 - 09:09am PT
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Thanks K!! You guys did great! And what a wall to be on; really a creative effort also!
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Mittens
climber
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May 22, 2011 - 04:08pm PT
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Ivo sent me this in an email a while back:
"the variations was bolted from tom and Kelly,i addet one bolt on the end of the pich you may need 00 tcu and some bolt hangers,the bolts are on place.I think is around v9 section and the beginning of the pitch is may be 5.11 +.
Good climb have fun."
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mikeyschaefer
climber
Yosemite
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Topic Author's Reply - May 24, 2011 - 02:56pm PT
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Thanks for the all the info K-Man.
Pretty impressive that the 12a pitch almost got onsighted for its FA. I'm curious as to how he drilled the second and third bolt without hanging on the rope or hooks. Its hard enough just to climb and clip the bolt.
Great job on the route. Really a masterpiece up there. Hopefully I'll make time to get back up there soon.
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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May 24, 2011 - 03:11pm PT
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There was a short time when folks didn't realize that motorized drills weren't legal according to the Wilderness Act. Climbing with a Bosch, you could place a bolt with one hand without weighting the pro. Tom was a master at pushing for clean FAs. On that pitch, it was a shame that he pumped out, placing a bolt while palming the blunt undercling.
And thanks for the complement on the route. If you like that stuff, check out Burden of Dreams, another wonderful climb put up in excellent style.
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bob
climber
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May 24, 2011 - 04:25pm PT
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Jeez Kelly another route that you were on the FA and I did only two pitches of it. Burden of Dreams
Great name. The second pitch was quite memorable because of how close I came to on-sighting it. Poor Lucho just froze his ass off while I worked it out slowly, but surely. I got stopped just near the top at the last and hardest crux in my opinion. I actually did the crux without falling and then started celebrating just a bit tooooooooooo early. Easy 10 to the anchor and I simply came right off. It was borderline tragic for me, but a great lesson in staying composed regardless what emotions I'm dealing with at whatever time. Another one to go back to. The next pitch looks stellar. It was colder than a well digger's ass in the shade so we went to the crags.
Nice work.
Bob J.
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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May 24, 2011 - 04:38pm PT
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Bob, Great story. But nope, not my line ;-) That one is purely a Davis/Rubine masterpiece. Tom took Shipoopoi and Englekirk up there. I heard it was a hoot.
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bob
climber
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May 24, 2011 - 04:52pm PT
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Oops. Seems maybe we like those types of routes. Do you have any more routes in your memory that are similar and you'd recommend?
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mikeyschaefer
climber
Yosemite
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Topic Author's Reply - May 26, 2011 - 01:48pm PT
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Oh man drilling on lead with a power drill. That sounds awesome but something I can only imagine. Sometimes I wish you could still do that here in the valley with a special permit. Its pretty hard to hand drill anything harder than 5.11 while still climbing totally free.
I checked out Burden of Dreams awhile back. I think I also fell off the end of the hard pitch.
Bob I'm working on another route that is going to be right up your alley...
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Here is a view of the general area of Slab Happy, showing all the other lines as well. On the left is the East Buttress of El Cap and some of the SE face. Note that on the extreme right is the East Ledges descent route.
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Nice photo Peter!
Golden Years starts in the washed out part of the photo in the lower right and heads up
into that alcove type thing where the black water streak comes down. The Black Pitch
climbs out of the alcove up the water streak.
Gotta get up on Slab Happy!
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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God, Kelly. That Black Pitch must be just incredible.
Sorry the photo isn't any better. Next opportunity, I'll get a proper shot and post it.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Here are a couple from xRez:
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Here is an even closer shot from xrez that Clint shows:
http://www.xrez.com/yose_proj/yose_deepzoom/index.html
My screenshot from there is:
It gives you an awesome view of the Golden Years (Kelly, Tom, et al route) and those other possibilities too.
Some people have trouble with this xrez site. Get there and keep zooming in and right away little rectangular images appear next to the camera scope locations indicated on the topo map. Drag the screen image around with your cursor to centralize the desired image and keep zooming. It will fill you screen, but keep zooming as the resolution is just ridiculous. You sometimes can even see bolts, holds etc. not to mention actual climbers.
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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I don't have a guide book with me. What goes up the awesome looking orange rock right of Slab Happy? Really some of the trippiest rock in the Valley. I see a butterfly and ... .
I'm talking about the right side of my cut an paste of Peter's last photo.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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The Big Juan and Golden Years climb the face right of Slab Happy.
Never Say Dog starts on The Dihardral and climbs the face above it.
Slab Happy
1103. The Silent Freeway 5.10c *
1104. Slab Happy Pinnacle - Left 5.11a *, 4p, M
1105. Slab Happy Pinnacle - Center Free var. 5.10b *, 3p, M, L at 2nd bolt
1106. Slab Happy Pinnacle - Center Original 5.9 A4, 3p, Ro, M, R at 2nd bolt
1107. The Happy Ending 5.11a *, 2p
1108. The Dihardral 5.10c *, 4p
1109. Never Say Dog 5.11b **, 6p
1110. The Big Juan 5.12b **, 5p
1111. Golden Years 5.12a A0? **, 8p, hold broke and is no longer free (but see this thread - freed at V8/9 on the old left bolts)
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Here's an attempt at a photo overlay, using Peter's screenshot from xRez.
Maybe Kelly can correct this?
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WBraun
climber
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Sep 17, 2011 - 09:45pm PT
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I've done the Big Juan ....
Killer route.
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cultureshock
Trad climber
Mountain View
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Dec 18, 2013 - 01:30pm PT
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Just wanted to bump this thread. Posts like this are the best part of Supertopo. I would have never known to go check out this route otherwise.
I spent this past weekend working on the route. The rock is incredible and I am amazed that the First Ascentionists found a weakness up such a huge wall. Most of the climbing is pretty reasonable except for about 10-15 feet of hard climbing on each of the first five pitches. I'm still blown away that Mikey and Kate managed to magic their way across the starting traverse of pitch three. It is BLANK!! If you monkey across the first three bolts the rest of the pitch climbs at 12a or so.
Also for reference you can top out the route and descend the east ledges if you want. The final pitch is not shown in the Reid guide. You will need to build a gear belay after the 9th pitch.
All other anchors are equipped with solid hardware setup for rappeling. I've never seen such large smash-links before. Thanks!
I also re-marked the final belays in this photo. Clints photo above nails the first five pitches, but the next few are a little lower than in reality.
I also added beta on MountainProject if anyone is interested.
Enjoy!
 Luke
PS If i didn't get it across this is an unbelievably good route. The only thing that rivals it's quality is the difficult. It is NAILS hard!
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Dec 18, 2013 - 01:49pm PT
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Thanks for the story and updated overlay and topo, Luke!
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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Dec 18, 2013 - 02:15pm PT
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Very cool thread, pics & stories.
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cultureshock
Trad climber
Mountain View
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Photos Bump!
Looking up at the Crux pitch
Rad knobs on Pitch six
Luke
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snowhazed
Trad climber
Oaksterdam, CA
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Oct 11, 2015 - 10:02pm PT
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bump for a new route on my list, a new reason to keep working on getting stronger. Look sssssick!
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
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Oct 11, 2015 - 11:40pm PT
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big Juan looks good indeed
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Oct 12, 2015 - 07:53am PT
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Wow Luke, Great photo. Thanks for that, sure brings back some memories.
I also added some FA notes to the Mountain Project page. Originally, we named each pitch when we sent the topo in for inclusion in the guide, but that sheet promptly got lost. We remembered a couple of pitch names, my favorite being The Black Pitch.
Too fun...
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Bump for knobs and rugosities of all types.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Nice! Thanks for the bump. My nads are not big enough.
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Keithman
climber
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Jun 11, 2016 - 06:14pm PT
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Climbers talk about Golden Years being up for grabs as a first ascent. Golden Years is not a route to be "bagged" The first ascent party worked on the route for over a year red-pointing every pitch. The entire route was not led continuously without falls. But every pitch was. Yes better climbers may nail the entire route with no falls but it would be an ego trip and a sham to claim a "first ascent" of Golden Years. It is a masterpiece by great climbers in the early 90's.
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