Discussion Topic |
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J. Werlin
climber
Cedaredge
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Topic Author's Original Post - Dec 1, 2006 - 11:55am PT
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Anybody out there have memories of that hollow, spongy beast?
Or the story behind its demise in 1985 or '86(?)?
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Demise was in '84.
I remember climbing up it thinking it was not going to remain in place but being more mortified at the idea of being the guy who caused it to fall.
I'm surprised it lasted another 8 years.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
LA, Ca
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I climbed it in 1984 (edit, maybe it as '83?). It was very sketchy - barely there. My parter was completely gripped and required a serious coaching session to get her to follow (and getting gripped was not her usual style, I should add.)
I recall, after getting down the gully descent it was a little late, and now I was gripped for fear the store would close and there would be no beer. I went ahead fast through the woods, got off route but kept going, and suddenly emerged (draped in ropes and gear) into a private wedding ceremony taking place on a lawn of the Awanee. I was as surprised as they were, and I charged on through the french doors into the hotel, through the dining room and out the lobby. Made the store on time too.
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burp
Trad climber
Salt Lake City
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LOL!!
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Forest
Trad climber
Tucson, AZ
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Well, some of us were only 9 years old in '84. Can anyone explain exactly where the log was? I've gotten the impression that it was after the traverse post-pendulum. That it somehow let you skip the bit of climbing up to and through the oak tree that is basically just held together by its bark now?
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soaring_bird
Trad climber
Cheyenne, WY
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The effect of climbing it was always a lot like climbing a big loose flake or block. Sometimes you just had to make the decision to take the risk and not dwell on it. If you just envisioned yourself levitating while quickly and smoothly scampering like a chipmunk up the log, it would all be over rather quickly. It did make you think twice, however. Perhaps the funniest and scariest part about the legacy of that log was that some parties actually girth hitched it at the mid- point, clipped in the lead rope, and used as a "natural" protection placement! Those were the folks who were truly "taunting Darwin."
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Seems to me I recall a Chouinard equipment catalog that recommended that when people use a rurp for aid they should "think pure thoughts".
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soaring_bird
Trad climber
Cheyenne, WY
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I always thought Charlie Porter was a very devout holy man with giant cajones to survive the FA of the Triple Cracks.
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TKingsbury
Trad climber
MT
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Anyone with pictures of the log??
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PMS
climber
Woodland Park, CO
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I thought JDF was going to manufacture 2 logs, and hang the other one off his new bolt on "Double Cross"........
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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First climbed RA in 1973 and the log looked very dodgy then. I sure didn't like crawling on that thing. Hairy to say the least.
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TKingsbury
Trad climber
MT
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I googled for it and came up with this...yikes!
photo by: Philip Cobbin
from: http://www.cobbin.com/climber.htm
From the site:
Photograph was taken in spring of 81 +/- and we lost the name and address of the climber. If anyone can identify him and give us an address we would like to send the individual a copy of the print. The individual was in a party of two behind us who had planned to do "The Cobra" route after getting traffick'd off Half Dome. The climber in 1980's was from around the Los Angelus area.
some other cool shots on that site BTW....
Cheers,
Tom
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Rick L
Trad climber
El Dorado Hills, CA
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I first climbed the route in @ 1966. The "Rotten Log" spanned the R facing, relatively low angle, open book just after the old "second pendulum". As I recall, it was about 20-30 feet long. The base was anchored somehow on a ledge- perhaps where it originally grew- I forget. The (very thin)tip simply leaned against the top of the vertical L wall of the open book. It looked pretty damned old then and we were mindful that it was called the "Rotten Log" when the route was first climbed in the 1930's. The thing would bounce as you climbed it, was polished and very slick. Relatively easy tree climbing but plenty spooky. If you and/or the log came off, you would be in for a brutal ride. The issue of whether to "protect" the log was a topic of debate. The pros and cons were pretty obvious. If you somehow fell off with no pro, you would drop onto a steep slab and then take off toward the Ahwahnee. If you slung the Log and fell, then the issue was whether you would take the Log with you- not a pretty picture. If you slung the Log and it came off, well...The most amazing "Darwinian" episode I ever saw was a group of Sierra Clubbers placing Salewa "corkscrew" ice screws in the Log, in effect drilling holes in an already suspect piece of wood. I can also remember another "Three Stooges" episode where the leader got mid-span and feaked out. The more he shook, the more the Log vibrated- setting up a rather nasty harmonic wave. He eventually calmed down and decided that it was easier and safer to keep going. We always treated it as tree climbing with no pro.
The Rotten Log was a classic example of the concept that you rarely get hurt on the hard stuff. It's the easy ground- the "class 3" approaches and descents and "easy 5th class" that gets you. The route is now much safer although some of the spice is gone. I never heard of anyone actually falling off the Log but I would imagine someone has.
Rick
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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Nice photo T Kingsbury. Brings back memories. Here is a photo from the other side though not a very good one. It was taken around 1972 or 1973.
Ken
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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From the "route with longest section of tree climbing" thread, posted by thedogfather:
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Great post and stories Rick.
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thedogfather
climber
Midwest
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Found 2 more of the log from May of 1976
It was my first out of town (Kansas City Area) climbing trip (had never been on a climb rated by anyone other than myself). I had swung leads on Snake Dike the day before and as chance would have it, the tree happened to be my lead too!
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RazFrew
Mountain climber
Llanrwst
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Sep 25, 2016 - 09:14am PT
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Jock Pirrie and I climbed Royal Arches the morning after the log fell. We met a stoned solo climber retreating who could only repeat "the logs gone man, its F*** gone. We continued and saw the broken stump and remains below. So we completed the first ascent without the choice of the log, a bit of a tick. I must say at the time i was disappointed that we had missed an opportunity but hey that's life, and to be honest everyone I spoke to who has sat on it said it was a terrifying experience.
cheers
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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Sep 25, 2016 - 09:33am PT
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Rather amusing "I Plan to replace the rotten log with a fiberglass replica!" link re. Juan. Hadn't seen that before :)
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Sep 25, 2016 - 10:32am PT
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Thanks to Robert Landfear, my high school biology teacher, I was fortunate to ascend the log in 1977 . . . I went first, as I weighed less. Great day on my first ever Yosemite climb!
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madbolter1
Big Wall climber
Denver, CO
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Sep 25, 2016 - 10:36am PT
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Yeah, I, too, have seen the guys girth-hitch a sling and clip the rope in, thereby cementing their relationship with the plummeting plank of death.
Last I did it was sometime in '83, and I still clearly remember the sort of harmonic vibration the thing picked up, no matter how carefully I moved.
Plenty of people rapped the route from before the log, not willing to head up the thing. I remember being on the little ledge with a guy and his girlfriend. I tried to talk them into it. I even offered them to follow on our rope after my partner and I were passed it. They didn't even want to follow the thing. After all, it's not like the follow would be much better. If it went with you on it, you'd be plucked off of it only to swing over and slam the face and dihedral it had rested on.
Exciting times.
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Sep 25, 2016 - 10:50am PT
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I swarmed up that thing - in '53 I think - with eyes like targets, quivering like a jellyfish on a
Model A fender. It looked terminal even then. Glad no one has done a Dr. Strangelove descent on it.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Sep 25, 2016 - 11:58am PT
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Ha. Then we could name the new way up the "Slim Pickens Pitch."
1953? Jeez that's the year I was born and I'm old...
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Sep 25, 2016 - 12:43pm PT
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Here you go Wayne, an ascent in 1957 and several other notable ascents from names in the past.
I first climbed it in 1958, my first Valley climb and over the years Roper and I would have a time contest on solo ascents. The Rotten log always scared the sh#t out of me.
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Sep 25, 2016 - 01:00pm PT
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I climbed it in 1980 on my first trip to the Valley. Typical blind Camp 4 date. Nice guy who wasn't dissuaded by climbing with a skinny 16 yr. old. He led that pitch. It didn't really feel that sketchy following, though I remember how some sections rotted out to make nice handholds, and there were a couple of friction moves on places worn smooth with hand oils. Still, back then, you could tell it's days were numbered. I'm surprised to learn that Fossil Climber found it sketchy back in '53. Maybe that means it wasn't as much of a time bomb as it seemed back in the 80s.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Sep 25, 2016 - 03:33pm PT
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Went up RA a year ago with Amac, and did the new var that goes up to the oak tree that's held there by bark and wishes. When that goes, the move will be hard.
But when I did it in the early 90s, we climbed well left of the current direction of travel. I remember it being steep and allegedly only 5.7 because the rating on the free climbing was supposed to be like 5.7. Felt like 5.9 and way harder than free'ing the pendulum when wet.
Anyone else have pics of this left hand variation? It ended by the little pine. I remember being quite happy to be at the belay on what was my longest single free climb to that point.
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Edge
Trad climber
Betwixt and Between Nederland & Boulder, CO
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Sep 25, 2016 - 05:28pm PT
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I climbed it on September 20, 1984, and honestly can't remember if it was there or not. If not, then it had just come down judging from the timeline in the thread.
I had just met a German lady in the Awahnee parking lot and although she didn't speak much English and my German was limited to phrases from Hogans Heros, we launched up Royal Arches together. I led the whole rig, simulclimbing most of it in good time, and we descended North Dome Gully which I had previously done in the dark coming off of the S Face of the Column.
A partner and I ran up Crest Jewel the next year in four hours car to car. A classic romp for sure!
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Sep 25, 2016 - 06:04pm PT
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Wow - Guido - where did you get that register?
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Sep 25, 2016 - 06:59pm PT
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Yo Wayne
Spent a good deal of time at the Bancroft Library in Berkeley several years back looking for old Yosemite Registers in the Mountain Record Section through their vast but deeply buried archives.
Quite a lengthy procedure as you have to have the Registers brought up from the basement in small groups at a time, have the pages copied by the library and put onto a disk and produce some real money to get all this done.Takes several months for the procedure but the results are well worth the effort. Salathe, Nelson, Terray, Steck and even Wayne Merry!
One of the problems with the Arches Register is very few people could find it and the records show that over and over.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Colorado & Nepal
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Sep 25, 2016 - 07:10pm PT
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I'm also one of those fossils who climbed the rotten log back in 1965. With a top rope it wasn't too scary. :)
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Sep 25, 2016 - 07:50pm PT
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Lionel Terray climbed the Rotten Log with Al Steck and Leo LeBon. How cool is that (or maybe demeaning). Conquistadors of the Useless: The Rotten Log (Without irony)
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Sep 25, 2016 - 10:07pm PT
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Nobody ever had to climb the Rotten Log, unless they wanted to. It has always been easy, about 5.7, to bypass it. That is now the regular way to cross that section.
The log was intentionally broken and trundled in late summer, or fall of '83. The trundler thought it was hilarious, and he attempted to regale an assembly of disgusted climbers in the Camp 4 parking lot. He not only endangered other people with two huge projectiles, he vandalized and damaged the route. He boasted about how hard he had to bounce on it before it broke, which indicated that it was still strong enough for a skilled climber (as opposed to an idiot) to safely ascend.
I had climbed the Log earlier that year, and it seemed reasonable to me. My partner wouldn't wear the eight-pound rucksack to follow my lead, though, and he wouldn't do the 5.7 on toprope, either. So we spent a LONG time screwing around with rigging a Tyrolean Traverse. We ended up in the Jungle for the night.
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Alan Rubin
climber
Amherst,MA.
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Sep 26, 2016 - 07:17am PT
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An earlier poster mentioned "pin scars" in the log. We climbed it in June (I think), 1966 and my recollection was that there was a fixed pin about 1/2 way up the thing and we had a debate about the wisdom--or lack thereof--in clipping into it--though today I have no memory of whether or not we did so. I do remember having the same thoughts as someone who posted earlier in the thread--this was first climbed in the 1930s and "they" named it the "rotten log". I know that I have a picture of one of us on it, but unfortunately it is deeply buried someplace. Still one of the 'wilder' pitches that I've ever done.
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steve s
Trad climber
eldo
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Sep 26, 2016 - 07:50am PT
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I remember climbing the rotten log with Keith Ned Guy in 1980 right after an earthquake. Might have been the mt. Saint Helens episodes. But we didn't think twice about stomping around on the thing in fact Ned, being a smartass, tied the thing off! I was ready to take him off belay which wouldn't have been hard to do since it was barely even a waist belay. Pure fun. And kinda dumb. Now puke.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Sep 26, 2016 - 10:54am PT
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I climbed it at least 7 times between 1970 and 1981, and intended to do so again in 1984. We didn't bother looking as we raced up until we got to the pendulum, and noticed something missing.
While the bypass is more conventional and stable, the Log had a certain something about it. Here's a poor copy of a picture of me taken in 1974:
I always gave the first ascent party full marks for adventure.
John
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slabbo
Trad climber
colo south
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Sep 27, 2016 - 10:30am PT
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82? or83? it seemed to even have small pockets in it for fingers ! Sure made the climbing quick 'cause you thought it was coming off at any time
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Sep 27, 2016 - 11:05am PT
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Somebody ought to see if there's a piece of sound wood in the debris and carve a piece of climbing art out of it. Oops - did I say that? It's in a National Park, isn't it.
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TomKimbrough
Social climber
Salt Lake City
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Sep 27, 2016 - 04:48pm PT
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This thread has a special meaning for me this week.
In 1966 I climbed the Arches with Kim Schmitz, 50 years ago.
Plus my son is in the Valley and did the Arches for the first time this week.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Sep 27, 2016 - 06:04pm PT
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Tom
I found this the other day in my archive of the Arches Register but it seemed too sad to post. For you and Kim, the two Kims!
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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Sep 27, 2016 - 06:39pm PT
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As I recall the time when Lionel Terray climbed the Rotten Log with Al Steck and Leo LeBon, Royal was along also. At the time Lionel had a broken arm in a sling from his ascent of Chacraraju a few weeks earlier. Rather than do the pendulum with one arm, Lionel ran across!
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Sep 27, 2016 - 07:41pm PT
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Wow! I followed in the footsteps of the great Terray, five months later! I did the climb with a "pick-up" partner from Seattle, who had done McKinley [now Denali] that summer. Snow plodding isn't the same as slab climbing, and he fell off at least 5 times!
I don't remember finding/signing the book.
[EDIT] Anyone have the date for Cassin's ascent?
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TomKimbrough
Social climber
Salt Lake City
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Sep 27, 2016 - 09:47pm PT
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Thanks Joe.....
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DrDeeg
Mountain climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Sep 30, 2016 - 10:16pm PT
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As I recall, the first ascent party in 1936 thought that the Log would not last the winter.
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madbolter1
Big Wall climber
Denver, CO
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I just checked: It's still gone.
It's because you checked that it seemed gone.
At other times, it's back.
Schrödinger's Log.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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I'm told relics, consisting of pieces of the True Log, have found their way into the possession of various climbers.
John
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Outside the Asylum
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The following rumours are completely untrue:
1. That the rotten log removal was an early special project of the Facelift.
2. That it is now in the custody of the same people who have the Ahwahnee Hotel sign.
3. That so as to make America great again, Trump will replace the log with a rotten politician. Himself.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jul 17, 2017 - 03:20am PT
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Rumor has it Trump's gonna replace the Rotten Log with the Access Hollywood Flake.
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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Jul 17, 2017 - 09:44am PT
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Make Arches Great Again
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English fellow
Trad climber
UK
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I climbed the rotten log in 1982 and could pull bits off it easily. I didn't know there was an alternative route at 5.7 or I would have taken it.
English fellow.
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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The log was the highlight of the route
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Climbed it on June 25, 1965 with George Sessions. The log was always approached with apprehension.
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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About 1977. Slick as snot, creeky, bouncy but classic.
Peace
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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Well never belonged to that club, but my knickers were the blue cords by Chouinard.
Another shot, before the fixed line on the traverse, was called 5.9 then I think.
Peace
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Zay
climber
Monterey, Ca
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Mar 18, 2019 - 10:44am PT
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so my meyers guide is in storage... but was the log on the same pitch that has the awkward stemming under the canoe of a rotten branch (that is now also gone)?.
i believe it is the vertical pitch after the pendulum?
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| Messages 1 - 57 of total 57 in this topic |
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