The Fissure Brown: the most famous off width crack

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Messages 41 - 51 of total 51 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
Sep 3, 2013 - 08:48pm PT
Comparing the Fissure Brown to Supremacy Crack or the Naked Edge is as ludicrous as comparing marriages.....seductive they all may be but far too different for comparison.
rottingjohnny

Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
Sep 4, 2013 - 12:17am PT
I don't think supertopo has matured enough to comparing marriages...?
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
Sep 4, 2013 - 12:27am PT
I've had some experience.....more than most unfortunately.

edit: Put Generator Crack up on an alpine crag in the Alps and see it acquire a "reputation."
Michael Hjorth

Trad climber
Copenhagen, Denmark
Sep 5, 2013 - 04:14am PT
My partner and I did Fissure Brown (which is low on the route)and half of Blaitiere Brown-Whillans in 1986. Well, he did, sort of. Rested one or two time as I remember, whereas I heaved and pulled on gear whenever possible.

But I seem to remember written somewhere by Brown that he have a long peg in one hand which he kind of cammed sideways on certain parts of the crack. And in another text (possibly by Whillans) about the awestruck French aces, who simply couldn't figure out how the two lads had overcome the crack - with no pegs or wedges left in for the next ones....!

Here's the crack with some insitu pro (peg and a few wedges) plus our largest cam, a friend 3½ (not much help):



And my partner Søren in some of the easier corners further up:


Rgds
Michael Hjorth
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Apr 12, 2014 - 12:10am PT
Nice shots Michael!
superimposed

Trad climber
Chamonix
Apr 12, 2014 - 03:09am PT
No problem in using the link of the photos from UKC, climbed this in 2010 with MR Lopez (I'm walts4).
Seem to remember that its wasnt too bad, still wooden chocks in the back off the crack though!

But, getting to the start was possibly the crux, a loose shelf where a slip would have been very serious.

Unable to compare totally, but seem to think that the OW on the rostrum was more difficult, or I found it so!
As blakey say, Eldar crack is easier, right eliminate harder, but then again the fissure Brown is in an alpine setting.
BASE104

Social climber
An Oil Field
Aug 20, 2014 - 08:49am PT
Not as hard as Generator Crack. If you put Generator Crack a thousand feet above a glacier approach with no pro, it would be a horror fest. As it is, the FB is doable by anyone who doesn't mind climbing worm drive style. I didn't even know much about offwidth, so it can't be that hard.

The hardest part by far was climbing around the wooden wedges. They got in the way, but were still the best pro in 1984. I think it is bigger than a #4 friend.

I did it with this Welsh kid who was following me around and pestering me. We got to the base of the route and he pulled out a set of jumars, and he jugged the whole thing. I think he was in high school or something. Duane remembers the story.
JEleazarian

Trad climber
Fresno CA
Aug 20, 2014 - 12:34pm PT
Neat pictrues, Michael.

John
Blakey

Trad climber
Sierra Vista
Aug 20, 2014 - 03:17pm PT
Just had an email from my partner on the Blatiere. He recalls:

I remember the first bit vividly, as we were approaching, the 3 French in front of us in the lift/approach got well in front of us.
As we got near the face, there was a party of 2 bivied above the rimaye( easier than the German word)& they panicked as they saw us all approaching so much so that they dropped a big bandolier of gear into the rimaye.
They were English & a bit distraught. We set off behind the Frogs( no golf type etiquette there) I did the 1st easy pitch & you led the " Fissure Brown" There was at least one big unnecessary threaded wooden wedge for French Free.
I remember a bit of a thrutch of about 5b, then a traverse to the left, where we kept alternating leads.
We wore pas & sackhauled the 1st 2nd and 3rd pitches. I still have my sack with the crampon holes in it.
I remembered the rest as being OK & we put on boots, in my case edging boots & crampons with Chouinard hammers for the descent onto the glacier where the snow turned to rain etc etc.

Les
Blakey

Trad climber
Sierra Vista
Aug 21, 2014 - 12:08am PT
As an explanation to the grade that Les gave it '5b'. That would be standard British 'Extreme' from BITD, which would equate to bottom to middling 5.10.

Regards,

Steve
Rick Sylvester

Trad climber
Squaw Valley, California
Aug 21, 2014 - 01:59am PT
I climbed it, probably in the early Seventies, when I was in full glory as a Valley crack climber. I figured I'd have no problem with it. But it was harder than I expected. My guess is, as others opined, maybe 5.10b ( but definitely easier than Generator Crack as someone else wrote) I think I actually ended up grabbing a wooden wedge at its crux, to my surprise and chagrin. My only rationale is that I was wearing boots not climbing shoes.
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