Mark Hudon Is A Liar. A South Face of The Column Trip Report

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nature

climber

SoSlo, CO

Jul 16, 2012 - 03:53pm PT

By the way.... I read the trip report with my rubber chicken. The little hussie thinks Mini-Mark is way haught. The little hen is beside herself laying eggs and naming them Mark. All of them. Works for me - I guess I am having french toast for breakfast.

"I" count: 3

briham89

Big Wall climber

los gatos. ca

Jul 16, 2012 - 03:57pm PT

Sweet TR tfpu! Hopefully we'll meet up on the big stone someday.

survival

Big Wall climber

Terrapin Station

Jul 16, 2012 - 05:07pm PT

What? No M&M's?

I had to stash the M&Ms in my a*# so my partner wouldn't eat them all while I was leading every pitch......

BWA HA HA Hhahahaaaaaa!!!

Rhodo-Router

Gym climber

the secret topout on the Chockstone Chimney

Jul 16, 2012 - 05:12pm PT

Amazing read! If you had told me this morning that I would spend 20 minutes utterly absorbed in a TR about 2 gumbys making it 4 pitches up the SFWC, I wouldn't have believed it. Totally engrossed.

The sense of history is palpable...but I'm not sure it's helping you guys. It's perhaps as if listening to all that Instruction and History have taken the place of a more fundamental skill: how to think for oneself.

Dropping stuff is normal. Figuring out how to work around clusters big and small is part of getting up stuff. It's like survival said: "A few pitches higher and you would've made the prussik knots and improvised aiders work just fine, trust me." I have no doubt of that. Maybe the old dads who grew up with prussiks and never met a jetboil were just more used to coming up with solutions, I dunno. I knew some guys who were bad-ass aid climbers, put up all kinds of sick stuff, and never jumarred- they just re-aided stuff on belay. Really f*#n slow climbers, granted, but they weren't thinking about jumaring per se, just about how to ascend the pitch safely and get the gear back. I'm not trying to pick on you here, understand, but maybe open up the door to some different and possibly more successful thinking.

It doesn't seem to have slowed you down any, and your stoke is there, and you learned a ton, and you're gonna get up something big prolly on the next try, so no harm done obviously. Thanks for the great read, I can't wait to hear about the next one.

Elcapinyoazz

Social climber

Joshua Tree

Jul 16, 2012 - 05:19pm PT

So have you figured what you could have done to avoid this mishap in the first place?

'cause there are multiple ways it could have been solved/avoided before you ever left the ground.

I failed on my first two wall attempts (solo, zion) on routes of similar difficulty before I finally got up one...once from underestimating the workload, one from straight up snail eye. If you want it, it will happen.

msiddens

Trad climber

Jul 16, 2012 - 06:40pm PT

Great job guys. PS, it happens....it IS part of the experience though, right?

Captain...or Skully

climber

Jul 16, 2012 - 06:58pm PT

I can dig it. Hella TR, Micro.
Remember to make it a learning experience. Most everyone has failed a few times, so just chalk it up & try again. It's the Way.
Something to consider: When I did Skull Queen, I just back cleaned the Kor Roof. All the gear above is good. Sure sped it up, I'll say that. Just a thought. Rock on, you Fresno Freakazoids!

PSP also PP

Trad climber

Berkeley

Jul 16, 2012 - 07:38pm PT

I made the mistake of doing the South Face as my first wall climb in July a long time ago. Ran out of water two thirds of the way up and then didn't top out till the next morning. Passed out about three times (from severe dehydration) trying to carry the haul bags across the death slabs. We were so delusional that we left all our stuff stroon about on death slabs and brought our chalk bags and shoes so we could boulder when we got down to the valley.A few hundred yards down the trail we saw saw some bees hanging out near some damp gravel and managed to dig up a seep . We soaked our tee shirts in it and squeezed the nasty tee shirt water in to our water bottles. We drank three bottles of tee shirt water before we left. Lesson very well learned was don't climb the column in the summer. Slept with a water bottle for like two years! We paid some SAR guys to get our gear for us up on the death slabs. After that I fully understood what learning the hard way really ment.

ncrockclimber

climber

The Desert Oven

Jul 16, 2012 - 07:45pm PT

This is what I love about the Taco! Great TR. Sincerely, thank you very much for sharing!!!

Brandon-

climber

The Granite State.

Jul 16, 2012 - 07:47pm PT

What a great TR!

Thanks for taking the time to put it together.

Next time...

Ashcroft

Trad climber

SLC, UT

Jul 16, 2012 - 08:05pm PT

If I ever climb a big wall, I will give micronut full credit for providing the inspiration. Well done!

survival

Big Wall climber

Terrapin Station

Jul 16, 2012 - 08:10pm PT

Lesson very well learned was don't climb the column in the summer. Slept with a water bottle for like two years!

That cracked me up! The n00b drank almost all our water on Dinner Ledge. We topped out and settled in for a bivy. The two of us that did all the climbing made Mr. n00b go find water. He came back with three quarts. It seemed like hours later.

I still don't know where he got it......

Ezra Ellis

Trad climber

WA, & NC & Idaho

Jul 16, 2012 - 08:44pm PT

STELLAR TR!

Thanks much micro, way to go bro!

LilaBiene

Trad climber

Jul 16, 2012 - 09:44pm PT

Loooooooooved the Micronut Odyssey! Been hoping to stumble upon it...and there it was after a really long, stressful Monday at work. Thank you!

Thank you for breathing life back into me so that I can get through the week...until my next humiliation.

Saturday brought about my first outdoor climbing lesson ever and I had to smile reading about your excitement and plans and visions...my goals for Saturday were to 1) not scream bloody murder when I fell (I didn't -- I wasn't even scared -- beats the hell out of me why not) and 2) to use my big muscles before my small muscles.

Little did I know that apparently the brain needs to be trained to override the instinct to grip fiendishly with the fingers (okay, maybe it's just my special brain), because even as I stared at my knee, willing it with all my might to straighten out, my reptile brain was apparently overriding my conscious Will, draining the last of my strength right out the ends of my little finger tips until...humiliation.

Having "Plan Bs" lined up like biners on a sling will be my mantra going forward. :D There's no such thing as failure, you know that. I know you do.

Adamame

climber

Santa Cruz

Jul 16, 2012 - 09:56pm PT

Big Walling (The Art of not dropping things)
Better luck next time. It really is crazy how many things you need carry up with you to do a wall and then droppping one of them can end the whole affair. If its got a locker on it than lock it.

Captain...or Skully

climber

Jul 16, 2012 - 10:00pm PT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0wEG0kU_w0&feature=related

S.Leeper

Social climber

somewhere that doesnt have anything over 90'

Jul 17, 2012 - 12:48am PT

What a fantastic tr. It had it all: humor, modesty, and psyche in bucket loads. This type of thing is definitely what makes supertopo worth visiting. More more more! I'm dying(maybe not the best term to use) to read about your next adventures. Sounds like you have a great partner too.
Being 45, it's good to read about someone close to my age still living the dream!!!

you guys rawk!!!!!!!!!!

from one scott to another.