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mooser
Trad climber
seattle
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Jul 16, 2012 - 11:31am PT
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Trip Report: dependably awesome, funny, heartfelt. Thanks so much for the great read, and best wishes for your next attempt!
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Don Paul
Big Wall climber
Colombia, South America
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Jul 16, 2012 - 11:40am PT
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Most of us have dropped important stuff off walls. If it wasn't a critical piece of gear, you wouldn't have brought it in the first place. I was climbing triple direct with a guy who dropped all the cams from about halfway up the route. Lesson learned: don't put all the cams on one sling.
FYI if you still had two aiders and two jumars between you, I would give the leader the aiders and one jumar, hopefully have a separate locking pulley like a wall hauler for hauling. The second has one jumar and uses a prusik knot at the waist, and uses a sling or two for the other. You can use a biner for a handle for the prusik knot but there's less bite that way. This would be a pain but would get you to the top. I guess it depends how many pitches you had to go.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Jul 16, 2012 - 11:46am PT
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Yes, it gets "roasting" (get it?) hot up there. I've been pretty well cooked up there a couple times. Especially when my n00b partner drank almost all the water while the other two of us were fixing 3 pitches above Dinner ledge. He actually SAT on the ledge and consumed far more than his share of water while we suffered away in the heat with one quart above him!
A few pitches higher and you would've made the prusik knots and improvised aiders work just fine, trust me.
I dropped a jug and an aider from the Ear pitch on the Salathe, and rapping off was NOT gonna happen at that point.
Do you have plans to go back for a rematch yet?
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
the crowd MUST BE MOCKED...Mocked I tell you.
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Jul 16, 2012 - 11:57am PT
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good read
late for work
thx and don't worry, all part of it.
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jahil
Social climber
London, Paris, WV & CA
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Jul 16, 2012 - 11:59am PT
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That's no failure - that's an awesome story and great trip report. You guys are great!
steve
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GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
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Jul 16, 2012 - 12:00pm PT
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I've found the best way to have success on walls with a lot of free climbing is to spend less time practicing aid and more working your free climbing ability. It seems that any competant trad climber can walk up C2 sight unseen, not something you need to 'practice' more than a few times to make sure you have logistics right. Of course I've always been a 'logistics guy' and my brain constantly goes over subtle nuances like rope management, leading in blocks, conserving gear, efficient hauling... it DOESN'T focus on how to execute free moves with confidence, so I have to train that :3
It's a funny thing, anything you or I will likely have as short term goals in Yosemite have probably been done before we were born. Though at first humbling, this affords us a GREAT perspective! Robbins did the NWF of half dome in the fifties and he was a teenager, because of his iron-clad determination and willingness to put up with uncomfortable situations. You could do any 10 foot section of El Cap, any of it, probably right now. The trick is learning to live with sleeping in shitty spots and not eating and drinking as much as you like and hauling. All blue collar sh#t.
You wanna climb walls? Spend a summer tossing hay and sleeping under the stars. Learn to love being exposed and be comfortable knowing you are signing yourself up for some hard work. Most wall bails are because of situations that might later on be uncomfortable but probably won't hurt anyone.
Think of Charlie Porter. Dropped a haul bag and summitted still, days later. Yikes.
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pile
Mountain climber
lost in tuttle creek
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Jul 16, 2012 - 12:43pm PT
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Thats a REEALLY great TR, very compelling.....Thanks for sharing your experience!
Its not going anywhere....
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labrat
Trad climber
Nevada City, CA
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Jul 16, 2012 - 01:37pm PT
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Thank you for sharing!
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clairepop
Trad climber
UK, now in Berkeley, CA
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Jul 16, 2012 - 01:40pm PT
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I think that sense of humor is exactly what you need to climb big walls! I really enjoyed reading this!
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kennyt
climber
Woodfords,California
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Jul 16, 2012 - 01:54pm PT
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cool garage floor
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Jul 16, 2012 - 01:55pm PT
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Supertopian connoisseurs have been waiting for weeks for this trip report, Micronut, and you didn't disappoint! Your adventures were right out of the Fresno Big Wall Society's playbook.
It took a couple of failures before I got up. The first (while I was still at Berkeley, so the FBWS never recognized it as an Official Failure) included dropping my glasses on the pitch below Dinner Ledge, among other signs of incompetence. The second involved getting our rope stuck a couple of pitches above the Kor Roof. Both were well worth it when success finally came.
Those of us who follow your TR's were certainly rooting for you, but, in a way, we knew it wouldn't matter. Regardless of what you did, you'd give us an excellent, entertaining, and satisfying trip report.
You've done Fresno proud!
John
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Jul 16, 2012 - 02:02pm PT
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And I have not done sh#t this morning again because of your great TR! Well done!
I have a plan to maybe attempt Lurking Fear this Fall as well. Maybe mini Mark and Cheburashka can have battle of the cocks or something! : )
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Jul 16, 2012 - 02:16pm PT
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If it wasn't a critical piece of gear, you wouldn't have brought it in the first place.
That's kinda what I was thinking when I saw the cookpot/stove/monster burrito set-up.
I've only taken a stove on a wall once. Hard rolls, salami and cheese, is about the most high speed food I've taken up there.
Not that they were defeated by weight or anything, but it's a consideration.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Jul 16, 2012 - 02:20pm PT
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Hard rolls, salami and cheese, is about the most high speed food I've taken up there.
What? No M&M's?
John
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Inner City
Trad climber
East Bay
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Jul 16, 2012 - 02:24pm PT
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What a great TR. 'Failure' has never been described so succesfully!
Thanks!
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aguacaliente
climber
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Jul 16, 2012 - 02:45pm PT
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Good times with the good attitude!
Thanks for bringing us along.
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mac gilbert
Trad climber
logan, Utah
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Jul 16, 2012 - 03:08pm PT
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Nice report. your photos are great. i have some photos of you and adam from the trip. Shoot me an email and i can send them your way.
Mac
mac.gilbert@aggiemail.usu.edu
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Jul 16, 2012 - 03:22pm PT
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Hey, Scott, could you check on that mini-me, I don't know what your kids are doing with it but my fingers and back are killing me!
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micronut
Trad climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 16, 2012 - 03:35pm PT
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Thanks for all the input and comments yall. We had a blast and I'm glad you enjoyed the read.
Survival, we may not go right back to the column. It was a learning experience and a great trip, but for some reason I don't crave that summit like I have others. I think we're headed up something bigger as soon as we can. Stay tuned.
Drl, The TR for sure. At least 40-50 man hrs in this whopper.
Reilly, Ditto.
GDavis, I agree.
John. Thanks man. I can't wait to meet someday. Hey, Kary K. says hello. We work together a lot. And by the way, Mark Haymond presented us with Fresno Big Wall Society coffee mugs to celebrate our failure. How cool is that. I hear, according to legend, that you are kicked out of the Society if you ever actually get up a wall.
Mark,
Bek had Minimark outside today playing with it. One of the dogs had chewed off a finger and Bek had driven a nail in the lower back to hang a "rocket pack" for airborne action. You don't believe in Voodoo do you?
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PAUL SOUZA
Trad climber
Central Valley, CA
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Jul 16, 2012 - 03:50pm PT
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About time! I've been checking the ST every week since that weekend!
Well done gentleman! A fine TR, as usual!
Scott, we should have a BW training session in the gym soon. I'll bring my ledge too.
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