Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
steveA
Trad climber
bedford,massachusetts
|
|
Hey Jim,
Where is that?
I need a vacation!!!!
|
|
Johnny K.
climber
|
|
It is pretty satisfying when you can hang all your weight from the bones on one hand casually.
Jim,I can only imagine what beautiful splitters are awaiting in Chile!
....please take me in your suitcase hahaa
|
|
Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
|
|
scuffy b, what do you think it is rated (that 'problematic crack')? I will try it again today. Although I do not think I will get much further.
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
|
|
5.11c with a trick was what I thought when I finally got up it.
|
|
scuffy b
climber
dissected alluvial deposits, late Pleistocene
|
|
Vitaliy,
I'm not the greatest at rating things.
I only did that problematic crack of your earlier post one time.
I think it is probably 5.10.
Jaybro may be referring to a different problematic crack, or not.
|
|
Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
|
|
Jim, pictures of those Atacama climbs would be great, post them up if you happen to take any.
|
|
EdBannister
Mountain climber
13,000 feet
|
|
Wow Mr. D,
well thought out, and on topic!
are you sure you have the right website?
one more, well, several more little items:
Two 2" x 12" x 16' with enough thread all nuts and washers to make a great crack machine.
|
|
Robinson
Trad climber
Chattanooga
|
|
Who posted the Scream Wall solo pics of me lol. That's a blast from the past ... I guess I was tryin' to be like JB. Looks like I might have been wearin my first pair of Fires. There is some crack climbing on that mostly face route...
|
|
micronut
Trad climber
|
|
Is "Robinson" Rob Robinson? From the Deep Souf? I poured over articles of that dude during my twelve years in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. He was the King of Roof Cracks and I ad cutouts of him on Southern roof gnarfests when I was in college.
Good to have you here Rob!
Sick Stuff!
|
|
micronut
Trad climber
|
|
Man I miss The T-Wall. I live a stone's throw from Yosemite now, but oooohhhh that southern stone was sooo nice. This route, Passages, was one of my all time favorites. Amazing in September/November.
|
|
PellucidWombat
Mountain climber
Berkeley, CA
|
|
Well put Donini! I shared this with a number of my friends who I am getting hooked on crack.
I want to point out that the comments on footwork and body position are so important, but often overlooked when I see talks on crack technique. As I've progressed in my technique I have found them just as important as learning to jam.
A good recent example for me was when I climbed Super Crack of the Desert at Indian Creek.
The guy who climbed it before me made the awkward technical crux to get onto the pedestal look all right, but he pumped out halfway up the sustained crack and practically aided to the top. It looked like he knew how to jam all right, and he said he climbed 5.11s on face.
A guy who climbed it after me also made short work of the technical crux down low but pumped out near the top and had to french free to finish. I also talked to someone else who led it that day (and the only climber who I didn't see fall or hang on the route) and he talked about fighting the pump all the way up (for some reason he liked to flag one leg instead of walking both feet up the crack).
Now I wasn't nearly as solid on the technical crux, as I barely consider myself able to lead 5.10s, but I actually found the sustained 80' vertical crack section very comfortable. Despite all the talk of fighting the pump, I never felt like I was racing to do that. I got more of a pump clipping the rope as I got higher than by jamming (which I quickly reduced by adjusting my clipping technique by clipping lower). I floated up it, moving fairly continuous but also taking my time to sew it up to keep myself comfortable with the fall potential.
What was the difference? Despite the climb being very steep, it was still just barely under vertical and is a perfect size for bomber foot jams (#2 Camalots for 20', #3 Camalots for 60'), so if you make solid foot jams and pay attention to body position, you can keep most of your weight on your feet. I only had to maintain a light squeeze in the cupped hands for bomber jams, and only tightened them a bit when shifting my weight out slightly to step my feet up. When I was placing gear or pulling up the rope, I made sure to place a hand jam high and lean into the wall to avoid using my biceps or leaning out. Instead of racing the pump, I felt like I could hang out up there forever!
I've found downclimbing cracks a great way to teach yourself footwork and body position. You are more inclined to look at your feet when downclimbing, and it is harder to test a hand jam that you are moving on to, so you are forced to pull minimally on it and in turn learn how little you really need to pull on a hand jam for certain positions and movements.
Now I need to get back to the Creek and really get into those steep and crisp splitters :-D
TFPU!
The steepness of Creek cracks mess with my head. Compare the size of the belayer to the size of the leader near the top of the pitch to get a better sense of how long that beautiful crack is. (The leader in this photo was the climber who liked to flag his right foot for some reason.)
Nowhere to hide from the jams here!
You could practically lob #3 Camalots into this crack.
Very smooth on the hands. No tape needed!
|
|
kristyle
climber
Santa Cruz, CA
|
|
Thanks for the post! I've been working on cracks this fall and slowly but surely they're starting to feel better...I got a long way to go, but its nice to know that just by putting in the time you can get it.
I'm definitely the type you're talking about in the original post. Been climbing for years, but started in a gym and stuck to sport climbing and bouldering because it was more affordable and accessible. This summer though, I finally climbed in Yosemite and Tuolumne and caught the multipitch/trad/crack bug big time. I'm a beginner again, which can be frustrating, but also fun because there is so much to learn and rewarding when you see yourself improve as your body learns the movement. I'm incredibly inspired by the rock in Yosemite and by the idea of becoming a more well rounded all-around climber.
So thanks for extra motivation to keep working at it!
|
|
mjb
Trad climber
Point Pleasant, NJ
|
|
Nice climb at trout creek, would love to see it done with no cams, just hexes, like the really old trad guys would have done.
|
|
chill
climber
between the flat part and the blue wobbly thing
|
|
The close-ups of Supercrack were interesting. I have pictures of my wife coming up that climb that I took in the mid-'80's. The edges of the crack were sharp and brown then. It isn't holding up well to all the traffic.
|
|
PellucidWombat
Mountain climber
Berkeley, CA
|
|
The close-ups of Supercrack were interesting. I have pictures of my wife coming up that climb that I took in the mid-'80's. The edges of the crack were sharp and brown then. It isn't holding up well to all the traffic.
Interesting. Any chance you could share those? I was wondering how much the crack has changed over the years from use. I imagine that the pods in the lower 1/3 of the crack were probably created from hex placements?
|
|
donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Dec 8, 2011 - 03:44pm PT
|
Supercrack hasn't changed much. Incredible Handcrack, on the other hand, has changed a lot. The bulge used to be tight hands and now it's big golds.
I am doing a crack climbing clinic on Saturday for some of the guides in San Pedro de Atacama- psyched!
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!