Ribbon Candy - anyone here climbed it?

Search
Go

Discussion Topic

Return to Forum List
This thread has been locked
Messages 1 - 20 of total 36 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber
San Francisco
Topic Author's Original Post - Dec 23, 2013 - 02:14pm PT
Ribbon Falls is a beautiful place and I was wondering if anyone had climbed Ribbon Candy? I heard it is supposed to have a beautiful hand crack. Any photos of where the route goes, opinions on quality, stories or gear beta would be appreciated!

On the other hand, Gates of Delirium is a great climb, 3.5/4 stars for first 9 pitches. It is rated as 5.12c, but very doable as 5.11a/b C1 (the way I climbed it). Really hard cruxes are easy to pull through. Other pitches range from fingers, to nice hand cracks, to two different OWs. Wish I took a photo of the first splitter OW, it is freaking beautiful. The route can be easily rapped with 2 60M ropes from any point, or a single 70M. I thought 2nd OW is significantly harder than 1st even though both are rated as 5.11a on topo and pitch 9 is about 11b vs 10d as per topo we used.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Dec 23, 2013 - 02:53pm PT
My friends Steve and Erik did it a few years ago. Also Greg and Chandlee.
I remember Erik said p7 is a shallow crack (lieback) so you may have to run it out a little between placements. I.e. bring endurance.

It is left of Chockstone Chimney in this overlay photo.
Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber
San Francisco
Topic Author's Reply - Dec 23, 2013 - 03:06pm PT
Clint, you are awesome, thank you. Any overlay like that for the wall just left of the waterfall? Seems like there are a bunch of crack systems there too, but those look more loose with roofs etc.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Dec 23, 2013 - 06:40pm PT
Vitaliy,
This thread has some info on routes left of Ribbon Falls:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=34245
but the only overlay I have posted is for Persephone Butterfly on the very top tier.
I have a topo for Sky People, so I could probably make an overlay for it.
It goes up the big shadowed corner above the green trees in Ed's photo:

I could use a better photo - the xRez photo from the base of East Buttress of Middle has too much shade.
Do you have any photos of this corner from Gates of Delirium?

Also, I believe this photo of Ed's looks roughly up Ribbon Candy - you can see Chockstone Chimney in the center:
Johannsolo

climber
Soul Cal
Dec 23, 2013 - 10:00pm PT
We bailed on the pitch after the hand crack. I started up it and there was no gear for a long way (after a couple of small pieces). Kind of a groove if I remember. I was with a guy named Ben "bible Ben" who hung out in the Valley probably 15 years ago. I wonder what happened to him? Really cool location though.
le_bruce

climber
Oakland, CA
Dec 23, 2013 - 11:46pm PT



What a place. Not sure if anything of interest is shown in these pics.

Vitaliy, TR?

Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber
San Francisco
Topic Author's Reply - Dec 24, 2013 - 12:08am PT
I still need to post a TR about Beyond Lunacy. Hope to make a TR about Gates of Delirium if I complete it some day. We did first 9 pitches and did not free 1st and 2nd. Those parts are hard. Will post a few photos once I will upload them to PC. Rest of the climbing was at least doable with a few more hangs here and there :)

Great photo of Gates of Delirium by the way!
Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber
San Francisco
Topic Author's Reply - Dec 24, 2013 - 03:02pm PT
Clint this is the best I have for the wall across. Next time I go, will take a good photo of that arete thing to the left of the waterfall/roofs. I think if you have a topo and post it here, it would be good enough though. Having a topo and general direction is awesome!

Here is Luke starting up pitch 4 of Gates of Delirium. He climbed up into that finger crack on the left, liebacked and dynoed into the hole and tunneled through to the other side of formation. This is the hole for which they called the route.
Seriously though it continues up a good crack to the right, up the dihedral, to a tree (if someone brought a chainsaw to cut it off, would be rad for my coming photoshoot) and links with the next pitch (another great crack). Bueno climb.

BUMP for Persephone Butterfly topo, rarely done routes in Ribbon Falls any more beta on Ribbon Candy and general stoke for sunny climbing in Yosemite! How long is that runout in a pod on Ribbon Candy? Would offset cams help there? Would a few pitons? A chisel? Bigger nuts?
Darwin

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Dec 24, 2013 - 03:46pm PT
Gates of Delirium sounds bizarre and fantastic Vitaly. You tunnel through that little hole?
wrt " Wish I took a photo of the first splitter OW, it is freaking beautiful. "
Anyone have a photo of that? If Vitaly is calling it freaking beautiful, I want to see it.


wrt: "(if someone brought a chainsaw to cut it off, would be rad for my coming photoshoot)"

LOL (right?) I guess humor is only good if you keep us guessing.

It's so beautiful up there. Two of the three best days on rock BITD happened for me
up in that general area. Gold Wall with Bruce Pollack: not free and we even bailed,
but it I felt so good on the rock. Rt Side of Hour Glass with Haan.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Dec 24, 2013 - 07:12pm PT
I believe this is where Ribbon Candy goes.
Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber
San Francisco
Topic Author's Reply - Dec 24, 2013 - 09:35pm PT
Darwin, I was joking about tunneling through that hole. But it is not hard to believe if you did Silent Line on Gold Wall. On SL you really climb up an OW, tunnel inside the formation up a chimney and than crawl out on your back through a perfectly cut window..into a splitter hand crack. Freaking insane.

Views of El Cap from the hole

Climber rappelling over that roof. When you climb up you get inside and tunnel out above the roof. Wild

But on Gates of Delirium you just climb up that dihedral. There is some aid route that goes by that hole as I understand. We saw anchors on that wall and there was an aidable thin seam.
Cutting off the tree for the next photo-shoot was a reference to this thread: http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=2249896

R side of hourglass must be interesting. I wanted to check it out for a while now...maybe will make it out there this winter..or Spring


cultureshock

Trad climber
Mountain View
Jan 2, 2014 - 01:39pm PT
v,

Did you and Tom do ribbon candy?

I did silent line again on the 30th. Weather was HOT!

More people should climb that route!

Easier than Gates for sure!

Luke
Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber
San Francisco
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 2, 2014 - 02:28pm PT
We started up a line that wasn't it. Was super vegetated higher, we realized it wasn't it and bailed. Walked around to look at the walls and figure out where other climbs that Clint listed start and than found Ribbon Candy. Climbed first 3 pitches just to see how it is going. Was a bit dirty but good. There was one section where you are literary crawling through several trees. That was total hell. Still want to go back to climb the full route though. The overhanging crux (11c) looked pretty crazy. Crux of third pitch is pretty hard for 10b.

Also, I realized that the corner I pointed to you when we did Gates of Delirium is a line established by Coz and Werner. And is supposedly 11c R at the crux. Back than I was hoping it was unclimbed. First pitch of lieback/crack in the corner looks reallllly good.
NutAgain!

Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
Jan 2, 2014 - 02:30pm PT
Here's another view inside the amphitheater with no water blocking the lines. I remember taking all kinds of pics inside there, but this is all I can track down (pretty similar to le_bruce's shot, but maybe shows more of the bottom of the waterfall area):



Here's a pic standing at the base of something tasty looking just on the left side of the amphitheater:
BooDawg

Social climber
Butterfly Town
Jan 2, 2014 - 02:51pm PT
Has anyone freed or climbed "Rainbows" to the left of Ribbon Falls, first climbed by Russ McLean and me in 1971? It may be in that previous picture since it's on the left side of the amphitheater and that pic looks familiar. I'll check my recently scanned (Thanks Ed!) pix of our route.
bringmedeath

climber
la la land
Jan 2, 2014 - 03:26pm PT
Regarding the photo that has the guy in yellow and mention dyno to the hole, the hole is on "The Ecstasy of Gold" route.
KP Ariza

climber
SCC
Jan 2, 2014 - 04:47pm PT
Looks awesome.....do tell!
Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber
San Francisco
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 2, 2014 - 05:08pm PT
NutAgain! That corner in your photo is the 11c R route I was talking about in the previous post. Crack to the right is supposedly 5.10. Don't have the info about the anchor at the top of it. Would be nice to know, looked good. TOO BAD IT WAS CLIMBED!
bob

climber
Jan 2, 2014 - 05:48pm PT
I climbed both of those cracks in the above photo in 2013. I remember nothing about the anchor on the corner. THough, I think I would if I was gripped about it. I climbed the one to the right and it is a wet one in the spring. Muddy and wet, but damn doesn't it look good? The anchor was sh#t. I don't recall, but I backed it up for TR action. Not a lot of action. The corner is bad ass and I'm sure the Coz/Braun route that continues is scary............. Somewhere on this forum both FAists chimed in on its severity.
I believe it is called Thin Line

Werner? Coz? Any thoughts?

Bob Jensen
mynameismud

climber
backseat
Jan 2, 2014 - 08:02pm PT
I did Ribon Candy with Steve a few years back. The first few pitches are a bit dirty since they are low angle and the route does not get a lot of traffic. There were a fair amount of leaves on the slabs. It get's steeper higher up. The gear description says doubles through #5. We did not listen but it is accurate. For this I think Camalots might be better since the big Friends might be to wide. Do not know for sure since I do nt have any big Friends.

The 11d pitch is good and pumpy. The next pitch the 11a pitch I found to be the crux. There is some bouldery stuff down low then it is a shallow groove just deep enough to get a good chicken wing. A #4 through #5 camalot will kinda sit in it. The inner lobes the crack is almost to small the outer lobes are almost on the outside of the crack. There is one short section to wide for the #5 so I got outside the crack and lay backed for about 10 to 15 feet. Then there is a short face section to a pod for a rest. Just before the pod you can get a good piece a #2 LoweBall. You will climb above this for a bit. I forgot what it is getting out of the pod. then crack to a small pod with a bush, getting past the bush into the fist crack above was tenous. We had a 60 meter rope and I butt belayed on a dirt ramp.

Next pitch is a short OW to the top.

If the raps have not improved they suck. After topping out drop down over the other side off to the right a bit. There is a small Oak tree and you need to get the rope as low as possible in order to reach the two crappy 1/4" bolts. We did not and I had to hang up side down to reach the bolts. Someone told us to bring a bolt kit to replace/put in new anchors. We both wished we had.

I consider the 11a one of my best leads ever. Gear is not the best, you kinda gotta go for it. Maybe it is not as hard as I remember but it seemed burly. Oh, for the longest time there was a one word description in the Yosemite Guide book in the climbing shop. That word.

Burly.

Messages 1 - 20 of total 36 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
Return to Forum List
 
Our Guidebooks
spacerCheck 'em out!
SuperTopo Guidebooks

guidebook icon
Try a free sample topo!

 
SuperTopo on the Web

Recent Route Beta