dave
climber
Earth
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 11, 2013 - 10:14pm PT
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Ha ha, not that one! The other one!
I got called up from 2nd. string, by E, to go do this thing in Vegas. I'm glad the coach put me in cause I wanted to play!
My wife, the best wife in the world, gave the big O.K. you can go. So it was on!
The plan was to meet E down there, he would drive up from L.A. to start his month long ice trip and I would drive down from Bishop, rack, bivy and then get on that thing first thing..well kind of first thing, in the morning.
I retired to my bivy
and grabbed e in the morning
at his bivy
Just kidding, he didn't bivy there, he bivied here:
So off we went. Here is the first view you get, its really just a teaser.
I don't think the approach would take that long, maybe 45 mins., but we stopped to take pictures, discuss safety protocol and look at bear tracks
O.K. so they were raccoon tracks, same thing...
Any ways. So we're getting closer. She's showing us a little more. Man she's tall, slender and a littler out of my league, even for a Hose monster, she wouldn't be easy!
O.K. so we wander up there to get working on her, taking are time. Looking at some funny stuff that well...was interesting
Our slow approach paid off because she was dripping wet when we got on her! I started pounding away as soon as I could.
Notice the rain coat? Safety first! Being the rock climber that I am, you missed the part on this first pitch where I placed my last screw from a jam entre the icicle and the limestone, then gastoned off the rock to get a higher pick placement. E was sure to remind me that normally people place they're tool while hanging from the other one. I thought I was mixed climbing. Can you say flash pump? This was my 5th. day on ice in like 5 or 6 years, and by far the steepest 60 feet of ice I had ever led, good thing I didn't try to link it with the next pillar or sh#t could have got real interesting, and I wasn't ready for that. It was Vegas, I wanted to roll the dice a bit more before I totally crapped out!
Not a bad view from the end of that first pitch.
So E came on up.
He couldn't wait to go at her first this time. So off he went.
He really gave it, and I scrambled on up as fast as I could. Which was probably really slow, man this sh#t was steep! First time on this pillar stuff for me, Lee Vining will feel slabby after this, I HOPE!
So I run up this little snow field thing with about 15' of ice to the ledge that marks the start of the crux pitch, "build" an anchor!
and E comes on up.
So here we are at the start of the crux pitch. And you may have noticed that the ole' Hoser was looking a little beat up at this point. What is that you may be asking yourself? I sure was, E sure was! WTF?
 Missing photo ID#283682
But that didn't stop E. He said he'd just 'take a look' and next thing you know he was 20 feet up, delicately hooking and picking his way up before violating her, then she was finally screwed.
So, ya, I had to follow this. This was by far the hardest pitch of ice I had ever climbed. It was about a solid 150' of business, about 90' of it was grade 5+, and then it let up to something in the 4 zone. Maybe it wasn't 150', but it was close and it felt like a mile, so what ev's! E styled that pitch. I climbed her like I played with that first girl in the vacant lot at 14. Not very good, plenty of enthusiasm but not really getting what I wanted! I flopped and choked and flew and left a tool 15' up and luckily the other one still in my hand. But I'll tell you, climbing back up to that tool, yelling TAAAKKKKEEE, took everything I had. When I finished that pitch I felt as beat up as I imagined that whore in Oceanside would have beat me if I hadn't ran away...oh thats a different story. I was pump phukd! We dubbed that pitch the 'rock candy' pitch, for obvious reasons. And if they're not so obvious, ask someone about dipping a string in some stuff we used to do and watch the crystallization that eventually forms on that string, thats what that pitch was. Get it?
But first an intermission
So I got the last pitch and lets just say i called it the 'rain man mia' pitch. Missing in action, or mixed ice aid, the rain man was and wasn't there! But I still had my rain coat on, so at least I continued to practice safe..um..hosing, I think I was the hoser at this point cause I was fuct!
I eventually made it screw by screw, pumped silly. She ran me like I've never been ran!
She was for sure one
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
the crowd MUST BE MOCKED...Mocked I tell you.
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Jan 11, 2013 - 10:23pm PT
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i love the fact that people are climbing ice in Yos and the Desert! sik!
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10b4me
Boulder climber
Somewhere on 395
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Jan 11, 2013 - 10:24pm PT
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I've heard stories about that thing.
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WML
climber
Biggest Little City, NV
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Jan 11, 2013 - 10:24pm PT
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WOOHOO!!!!! Been curious about this line for a long time, great photos! I will very likely be moving back to Vegas soon and once I get strong enough, this is one the list...WELL DONE!
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westhegimp
Social climber
granada hills
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Jan 11, 2013 - 10:25pm PT
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Awesome!!!!!! :)
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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Jan 11, 2013 - 10:28pm PT
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Nice Dave!
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mrtropy
Trad climber
Nor Cal
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Jan 12, 2013 - 08:08am PT
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Thanks- very nice report.
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hossjulia
Trad climber
Where the Hoback and the mighty Snake River meet
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Jan 12, 2013 - 08:21am PT
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Made me sweaty and cold all at the same time.
So, is that some ice farming we see going on there?
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BrassNuts
Trad climber
Save your a_s, reach for the brass...
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Jan 12, 2013 - 08:53am PT
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Nice hose job gents! Looks cool!
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Brian
climber
California
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Jan 12, 2013 - 09:02am PT
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I've climbed the Hosemonster twice, and both times there was a crack on the crux pillar, but I've never seen it so thin that you could see the rope and netting helping to farm/form the pillar (I assume that's what we're seeing). Nice job folks! Both of my ascents found the last pitch running with water and crazy thin as well. The crux pillar was steeper, but the final pitch was really the mental crux. How was the top of the top pitch? Thin where it connects to the rock and flows out of the little creek?
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WBraun
climber
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Jan 12, 2013 - 09:05am PT
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But that didn't stop E. He said he'd just 'take a look'
That's how it works with guys like him.
Good job guys, gnarly !!! ......
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Ezra Ellis
Trad climber
WA, & NC & Idaho
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Jan 12, 2013 - 09:11am PT
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Way to go Y'all, looks scarry!!!
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Bruce Kay
Gym climber
BC
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Jan 12, 2013 - 09:28am PT
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what a fantastic looking route! I see somebody farmed the pilars with that coil of fencing . We did the same up here with a freestanding pillar and it worked really well, and might have actually functioned as a sort of "mesh reinforcing " like in a concrete slab. Nice job. Flights from Bellingham to Vegas are 120 $ return right now so I'm kind of tempted to bomb down there and bring the ice gear along with the usual sport clipping stuff!
Very cool - thanks
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Dingus Milktoast
Gym climber
And every fool knows, a dog needs a home, and...
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Jan 12, 2013 - 09:29am PT
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That's how it works with guys like him.
Innit?
How many great defeats have been saved by those little words,
'well I'll just have a look'
Great TR. Looks awesome.
DMT
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Jan 12, 2013 - 09:46am PT
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Awesome! My palms are sweaty now.
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Hoots
climber
Toyota Tacoma
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Jan 12, 2013 - 10:21am PT
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Hell yeah!
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RP3
Big Wall climber
El Portal/Chapel Hill
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Jan 12, 2013 - 10:41am PT
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WOW! That was fantastic!
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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Jan 12, 2013 - 11:00am PT
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Just a look, maybe the tip, see how it feels....
Thanks for sharing the screwfest with the E-man.
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coz
Boulder climber
Belmont
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Jan 12, 2013 - 11:11am PT
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Good Job, I almost died when the crux pillar fell off, with my friend on it.
I had a one screw belay in a smear of bad ice.
Glad u survived, hope old E is doing well!
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T2
climber
Cardiff by the sea
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Jan 12, 2013 - 11:18am PT
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Kick ass!!! Nice report dave, glad you guys were able to bag that bitch.
(edit)
2nd String? What happend? First string guy must have been a wimp.
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