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couchmaster
climber
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Nov 23, 2016 - 12:18pm PT
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That's some worthy climbing news, thanks for putting it up. Will pay extra for sunny granite climbing shotz:-) Need more pictures and I'm only saying that as a selfish DH sitting in an office watching it rain outside.
I thought this was interesting, I clicked on KJ's Tweet photo that you linked and a bunch of big climbing sponsor labels popped up.
BAMMMM
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ryankelly
Trad climber
Bhumi
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Nov 23, 2016 - 02:13pm PT
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mega write up
you gotta topo? or you throwing it back to the Roper days?
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splitclimber
climber
Sonoma County
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 23, 2016 - 02:40pm PT
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Ho Man. Largo - thanks for posting that.
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couchmaster
climber
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Nov 23, 2016 - 02:58pm PT
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Largo, the world misses it when you don't write man, that stuff is so damned good. Thanks for putting that in this thread. Great writing!
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Nov 23, 2016 - 03:26pm PT
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Thanks, John. Great accomplishment, nicely told.
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F10
Trad climber
Bishop
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Nov 23, 2016 - 06:05pm PT
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Cool read, Largo
I remember watching the West Face film back in the early 70's
Another outstanding piece on the Valley
Hats off to the FFA team
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hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
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Nov 23, 2016 - 06:36pm PT
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Thanks John--way to get the spirit flowing
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greyghost
Trad climber
Las Vegas, NV
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Nov 23, 2016 - 07:42pm PT
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We were hanging out a bit when you were trying to free that BITD's; nice write up. Awesome job for first ascent team.
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ryankelly
Trad climber
Bhumi
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Nov 23, 2016 - 07:55pm PT
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his story is better than most climbing writing, but that ain't saying much
so many proclamations and predictions of the future glory of this climb
how many repeats?
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Matt's
climber
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Nov 23, 2016 - 07:56pm PT
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good writing largo...
...but that's a whole lot of spray for adding one pitch of 5.12 free climbing to a 30 year old route... and not even doing it in the ground-up style. Come on, its 2015... I guess when a multinational sporting goods company is footing the bill style matters less than creating marketing material?
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Nov 23, 2016 - 10:47pm PT
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Never written a word that was marketing material, but once that started getting spewed around I nixed the story immediately. Wrong guy. Wrong read.
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matty
Trad climber
under the sea
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Nov 24, 2016 - 02:32pm PT
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Tell you what Matty, you go up there
Matt's ≠ matty!!!!
but no worries we know you you were referring too ;)
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Matt's
climber
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Nov 24, 2016 - 03:28pm PT
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Tell you what Matty, you go up there and see what the West Face is all about and you give us a report.
Then we'll compare notes about what you think about it.
The difference is that I'm not paid to climb. The story about freeing this route has not received much media attention is because, frankly, it's not cutting edge-- in 2015, a single new pitch of 5.12 trad climbing is not really news-worthy.
It's cool that Largo brought in a younger generation of climbers to finish up a route he had worked on long ago-- I just find it sad that there didn't appear to be any attempt to hold that younger generation (fully capable of onsighting 5.12) to a similar climbing ethic. Style doesn't seem to matter when the #1 goal is to create marketing material for adidas...
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Spiny Norman
Social climber
Boring, Oregon
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Nov 24, 2016 - 03:45pm PT
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Heckuva job, Matt. You got Largo to take down one of the more interesting pieces of writing posted here in some time. Can't wait to see how else you serve the community.
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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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Nov 25, 2016 - 07:56am PT
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Come on, its 2015...
I guess I'm just ahead of time.
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Nov 25, 2016 - 09:17am PT
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Happy Thanksgiving everyone. First, a couple corrections. The West Face of Sentinel is not 5.12. KJ and Ben have been doing 5.14 routes for some years now - and so had Scott C. when he first tried to free the route in the later 1980s. The jumbo dynamic move took many tries for either climber to dick - and that was on a top rope during the "project" phase. On the lead, they both failed on their first attempt at the lead, and barely made it on the send.
It's also the kind of pitch that you can't really isolate out the crux. It's all a running crux, and when you stick the mambo dynamic in the middle of it, a flash lead is exponentially harder. But as mentioned, the West Face was not served up an another Dawn Wall, but a quintessential example of a Yosemite classic, involving all the techniques, on a historical route, staged on a sensational formation. So far as being cutting edge - we'll let others weigh in after a few more ascents are logged. My sense of it is that someone going up there thinking they are in for a standard 5.12 Valley climb will quickly find out otherwise. We'll see.
So far as yanking my little write up. I have never done any kind of writing that has wandered far away from experiential narratives. The moment any of my work is seen or posited as commercial fluff or advertisement, or that I'm some corporate shill, is the time to strike that story down. The fact that corporate sponsorship is now part of the fandango is a simple fact of life. It was certainly not the tact that we took back in the day, but life is MUCH more expensive these days, and anyone with big ambitions simply can't realize same on the shoestring we once held onto. Adidas Outdoor has been great in that regard because they only offer support, not directives about what folks should climb or how I should write. They are merely facilitators of what WE want to do. Holding this model up to some arcane model of purity, or an old amateur ethic, is IMO someone totally out of step with reality.
Anyone who doubts the core values of those involved is invited to stay a few days in the with the group the next time we gather in Yosemite. The game has changed, but the thrill is not gone - at least for some of us.
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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Nov 25, 2016 - 09:43am PT
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Lastly, by your trolling you also disrespect the early history of the route (that John was trying to honor) which is one of the most bad ass FA's in human history and the efforts of all of the early parties before cams. It is a history well worth sharing and now it is gone thanks to you.
Yo tut- chill bro
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Matt's
climber
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Nov 25, 2016 - 10:27am PT
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just to be clear-- my original point was not a troll-- I meant it more as good-natured ribbing, but I seem to have accidentally hit Largo in a very sensitive spot (writing as an artistic vs. corporate endeavor).
Largo-- thanks for clarifying the difficulty level of the route- if it's not 5.12, what grade does it go at? I'm still confused...
Kingtut-- with respect to your question about "how I contribute to the community"-- I'm a cancer biologist who researches the aging process-- I think that serves the community of old farts on this website quite well!
happy thanksgiving,
matt
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Matt's
climber
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Nov 25, 2016 - 10:33am PT
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So far as yanking my little write up. I have never done any kind of writing that has wandered far away from experiential narratives. The moment any of my work is seen or posited as commercial fluff or advertisement, or that I'm some corporate shill, is the time to strike that story down. The fact that corporate sponsorship is now part of the fandango is a simple fact of life. It was certainly not the tact that we took back in the day, but life is MUCH more expensive these days, and anyone with big ambitions simply can't realize same on the shoestring we once held onto. Adidas Outdoor has been great in that regard because they only offer support, not directives about what folks should climb or how I should write. They are merely facilitators of what WE want to do. Holding this model up to some arcane model of purity, or an old amateur ethic, is IMO someone totally out of step with reality.
Largo-- There is no reason that free-climbing the west face of the sentinel had to be some big-budget production-- your decision to involve sponsors in the process made it that way.
There are plenty of under-the-radar climbers who could have freed this route without needing to bring photographers on fixed lines, media handlers,etc...
best,
matt
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Nov 25, 2016 - 11:20am PT
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Matt, I Don't think anyone should begrudge climbers who can get some monetary support to climb. John and I and all other early 70's climbers started climbing when there were no opportunities to get paid to climb. These opportunities didn't open up until a bit latter. As commercial opportunities opened up, John along with other 70s climbers who were still around took advantage of them. Is is great that good, committed climbers can make enough money to keep climbing. It sounds like John is facilitating that. I cannot find any fault with that. Commercial interest in climbing has only enhanced climbing as far as can tell.
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Matt's
climber
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Nov 25, 2016 - 11:21am PT
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King Tut-- a good question. I can think of a few reasons:
1) el cap has the center of the hard free climbing universe in yosemite. The sentinel has been relatively neglected (for no good reason, I might add-- i love the climbing on it)
2) the routes in question involve only adding a pitch or two of free climbing to previously established routes.
A final thought:
Cosgrove, Bachar, Lechinski, (maybe Bob Gaines too? Clint can chime in here if he wants) -- these climbers tried to make the West face of the sentinel go free. They nearly succeeded. I think we all know what sort of style the ascents were made in. I guess part of me is sad that the climb finally went free as part of an adidas marketing event, with fixed lines, photographers, top-rope rehearsal, etc... -- perhaps a fitting metaphor for how much climbing has changed?
best,
matt
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Matt's
climber
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Nov 25, 2016 - 12:04pm PT
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I think it is totally reasonable that it took sponsored climbers to get it done, otherwise most locally able are busy at Jailhouse...or don't wanna hike up there and fail.
I think that your perception of the current state of the yosemite valley climbing scene is remarkably out of touch.
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Nov 25, 2016 - 12:16pm PT
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I guess part of me is sad that the climb finally went free as part of an adidas marketing event.
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This is where I think that Matt looses his way, IMO - that both climbing the West Face, and my writing about it, is first and foremost a "marketing campaign." Implying that the "true" motivation was to promote a corporation, rather than to finally do a climb that I and several others spent a ton of time trying to do by trad methods, but could never manage. As though ANY association with a company totally and incontrovertibly violates some sacred code and makes the true motivation some vein of commercialism. That simply is not so.
Matt says that he is a cancer researcher. As well all know (or at least I do, having grown up in a family of doctors - dad, sister, oldest daughter et al), the drug companies are some of the most shameless profiteers in the world. Not all, all of the time, but the instances of money grubbing and shady practices are legion. No doubt some researchers got into research to try and stop disease. Does their association with a drug company or a grant or university that is paying them mean, categorically, that they are sell-outs to the true and pure researcher working out of a home lab for nothing?
For that matter, name one cutting edge free climber up on El Cap who is not or will not accept sponsorship in any way shape or form. Is every one of their ascents first and foremost a marketing campaign? Or is the rather minor money involved just an end to a means of getting the climbing in.
The fact is we need to check our projections. The fact that a person has a certain conception about things does not make it so in the hearts of every one involved.
Lastly, there was the matter of logistics. I had a limited budget and days to try and pull off not only this climb but also the Misty Wall, which we also managed free. the free route on the West Face was anything but settled when we first went up there. Three or four possible lines existed, and most of an entire day was spent working on options that if they would go at all would take massive rehearsing. The big dyno option was the last one tried. These guys might possibly have dicked the line ground up but never in the few days we had to pull it off - they also had to clean the route in sections and shore up the anchors (place bolts in a few places) and so forth. The film crew (one cameraman on the wall, John Evans) as usual worked as an independent unit and we were not there for his sake. He was there for ours.
The idea that the main reason KJ and Ben were up there was commercially driven is a radical distortion of the truth. Adidas made it possible for them to pull off this route in a short time frame (basically three days on the wall, including one long one for the push, bottom to top), but the notion that their experience or integrity was cheapened by corporate support is Matt's take alone. He's entitled to it, but that doesn't make it true.
To me, Matt had flipped the equation. We discussed with the climbers what seemed like the best climbing options. What they really wanted to do, and Adidas help fund a concentrated effort. Adidas did not cook up a marketing campaign and hire the people to pull it off. That is, the direction was climber driven, from start to finish. The climbing, NOT the marketing, drove the whole thing, just as it played out on the Dawn Wall.It's a climbing event which a sponsor can promote after the fact.
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Matt's
climber
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Nov 25, 2016 - 12:27pm PT
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I guess that I draw a distinction between:
a) a climber being sponsored by adidas (or anyone else), showing up to the valley and deciding to climb a new route.
and
b) adidas paying to bring essayists, photographers, media professionals and its sponsored climbers to yosemite.
To me, option (b) feels pretty damn close to a marketing event.
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Byran
climber
Half Dome Village
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Nov 25, 2016 - 01:19pm PT
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Did they replace any of the bolts while they were up there? The original "A5" variation (now C1 w/small cams) had a 55 year old Chouinard bolt which I recall looking pretty bad. You need the bolt to aid past a short blank section, and if it blew and you didn't have a hammer/drill you'd either have to bail (leaving lots of gear) or try the Cosgrove variation (probably has mandatory 5.12 free moves?). There was also a bad bolt protecting a short 5.9 crux up higher, but that one's not as essential.
Really good route though. Better than the Chouinard-Herbert I think. Aside from that one crux pitch it's all 5.10d and easier with relatively good pro, although a lot of those 5.8 and 5.9 pitches are pretty awkward/burly and feel hard for the grade.
Edit: also who really cares if the sponsors brought in a film crew and everything? I doubt they were in anyone's way on a climb as unpopular as the WF. Why should that matter? Plus now there are some sweet photos out there for one of Yosemite's unappreciated classics.
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Nov 25, 2016 - 02:49pm PT
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I think the one main reason nobody went up on the West Face is owing to the concentration of free climbing on El Cap. The other wall we pushed free was the Misty Wall, right next to the falls, which is far harder than the West Face and people from YOSAR are raving about it. That rock is flint hard and featured, not glass smooth like typical Yoz granite. And the crux is burly 5.13 out an airball roof. Didn't get much video of that one but got a couple good stills.
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ryankelly
Trad climber
Bhumi
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Nov 25, 2016 - 06:22pm PT
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I think its cool that there is a debate about this, its a sign that folks are interested.
I don't understand why JL would remove the write up, I believe it should remain for others to read and form their own opinion.
Mostly though, I would say the write up by JL is totally secondary to the actual climbing achievement, which seems bad ass according to his description.
These days in Yosemite, after we establish a climb we make topos and give them to our friends. Then they tell us what they think....
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Nov 25, 2016 - 07:27pm PT
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Here. I removed the one offending mention of the sponsor.
***
Trip Report: Free Climbing the West Face of Sentinel
In the fall of 2014 and 2015, a popular outdoor clothing brand sponsored a two-week Yosemite Camp for their athletes to project routes. I was in charge, though I never quite knew what that meant. We had a big rental house in Yosemite West and a hefty food budget we burned through in the first few days, mostly on booze. Celebrated dirtbags streamed into the crib like ants to a hole. It felt like a scene out of Animal House.
The first year we filmed a few projects and had a blast. In 2015 we pulled for a piece of history, and got it, including Libby Sauter and Alix Morris' fem speed record on the Salathe Wall. But I still felt the team was underutilized, and as putative field marshal, was merely marching my troops down the beaten path. Few on the team were Yosemite regulars but they could all climb like nobody's business, so for 2016 I shot for the moon.
Several all-time routes had for years lingered in my mind like unrequited lovers, climbs that thwarted my sincerest advances and which I still dreamed upon in the wee hours, whenever the night came undone. If anybody could manage these routes it was this crew. All us climbers come and go but these last great routes were treasures for the ages, a part of our collective soul fixed in stone, that dared to live on in the Valley of light. As I watched many old climbing partners fade to black, these treasures seemed worth fighting for.
The first treasure was the West Face of Sentinel (FA, Tom Frost and Yvon Chouinard, 1960), the third "Golden Age" big wall accomplished, after the Northwest Face of Half Dome in 1957, and El Cap's Nose Route in 1958. Sentinel West Face, like most iconic Yosemite walls, follows prominent features up a great granite face, a bona fide classic "line." Seminal Golden Age climbs are the most striking and obvious in the valley, and were uniformly bagged in the 1960s by a core group of Yosemite pioneers, primarily Royal Robbins, Tom Frost, Warren Harding, Tom Frost, Chuck Pratt and Yvon Chouinard. Their legacy includes the aforesaid Regular Route on Half Dome and the Nose on El Cap, plus the East Face of Washington Column (Astroman), Rostrum North Face, Quarter Dome, Leaning Tower, the Salathe, Muir, and North American Walls on El Cap, and a handful of other must-do classics.
The golden age was barely over (roughly 1968) when successive generations charged into the valley with evolving skill and equipment. Quite naturally, the iconic routes and variations thereof became the focus of intense free climbing campaigns resulting in the most sought after pure free climbs in the world. My hope for the 2016 camp was to add two more to that bucket list - starting with the West Face of Sentinel - and to document the effort in the process.
For several years, Ben Rueck had torn up the western states, climbing a succession of 5.14s in both sport and trad venues. Strangely, he'd never climbed in the Yosemite, but agreed to tackle the West Face as his first valley route. Ben questioned this strategy, suggesting he first get jiggy with the glacier polished granite by way of a couple trade routes. But I didn't have time for Ben to ease into the game, so he'd have to go big straight out of his truck.
Ben arrived in the valley the night before we arrived, stopping at the popular Tunnel Overlook (the iconic valley panorama featured on a million post cards) at midnight. Ben thought it strange that, despite the moonless night, there were so few stars in the sky - till realizing that El Cap and Half Dome were blotting out half the sky. He nearly turned around and drove back to Grand Junction.
Support, so vital on these mega projects, would come from veteran valley climber, AMGA supervisor and gym owner, Marcus Garcia, rigger Devo Derby, renown on-cliff photographer John Evans ("Jevans"), photographer and Adidas media manager, Ted Distel, long-lens shooter and Yosemite legend, "El Cap" Tom Evans, and myself.
Gaining the base of the West Face of Sentinel is no gimme, but Marcus had soloed the route back in the day so I figured the approach was small beer. Except I hadn't factored in the 660-foot monster coil of static line, the 3-gallon plastic jugs of water and haystack of other crapola needed to rig the wall for filming and to project the route, not to mention schlepping that cargo 45-minutes up the Four-Mile Trail, then the intricate traverse across the bushy 4th class ramps below Sentinel and around the horn to the tree-covered ledge below the West Face. When Ben, Marcus and Jevans loaded up for that first hump up to the cliff they each bore crushing loads and kept harping over the walkie talkie how I'd sand-bagged them into a death march. Tom and I, smoking cigars and following their progress on the long lens in a shady clearing far below, showed no mercy.
The plan was for the team to climb up to the top of the fourth pitch, to the hanging belay beneath the notorious Dogleg Crack, the storied, 200-foot long lightning-bolt jam crack visible from the valley floor. They'd string a top rope off the bolts beneath the Dogleg, then Ben could boulder out a free line over the last remaining aid on that fourth lead. He wouldn't be the first to try.
I'd first climbed the West Face back in 1973, fresh out of high school, with the late, great Kim Schmitz. Over the following two seasons I logged half a dozen other attempts and eliminated all the aid but a 50-foot section pitch 4. With modern techniques and modern talent - weaned on wheatgrass, gyms and hangboards - I hoped the route would go free.
The original fourth pitch follows the infamous "A5 Expanding Flake," a down-slanting granite wafer Chouinard pitoned across on the first ascent, each successive pin placement loosening the one he was standing on. A blank corner shoots up from the flake for 30-feet to thin cracks bisecting a super slab leading to the hanging belay below the Dog Leg Crack.
During my various attempts during the 1970s, armed with hexes and stoppers, the A5 Flake seemed unlikely as a free option, so on my last free effort with Bill Price, we ventured up and right, placing a bolt beneath a 25-foot span of steep but featured wall. The climbing above looked possible but far too steep to place another, and crucial, protection bolt while free climbing on the lead - the only kosher technique back then - so it was game over for me on the West Face. Others followed (most notably, John Bachar and Scott Cosgrove), hoping to free the noble West Face. Both Bachar (soloing fall) and Cosgrove (who never fully recovered from a 40-foot groundfall from a crane, while rigging lines for a TV show) have since died, so exactly what they did up there is probably more folklore than fact.
Bachar was said to have free climbed the A5 flake at 5.12, but got shut down by the corner above. Cosgrove, working on aid off my initial bolt on the right hand variation, fixed a nut in a flake and punched in a second aid bolt, then freed up and horizontally left out a roof above, at 5.12, finishing on 25-feet of brave 5.10+ face climbing up to the sling belay beneath the Dog Leg Crack. Thirty years later, I figured either the A5 flake and corner, or the right hand face, had to go free.
With the loads finally in place on the ledges beneath the West Face, Ben and Marcus cast off up the first pitch, a right-slanting bombay flare rated 5.9+. Up above, the flare narrows requiring tricky 5.10d transfer moves left to a flake and crack system riffling up the face. When Ben finally thrutched his way to the hanging belay, tying off two 56-year old Chouinard bolts, he grabbed the walkie talkie and ranted fulsomely.
"5.9 my ass, Largo. And I've climbed easier 5.12s than that changing cracks bit. And these bolts are rusted through. And what's with this slick rock? Dooooooood! You're killing me up here!"
Down in the meadow, peering through his long lens, Tom blew out a cloud of cigar smoke and said, "Welcome to Yosemite, son..."
The next lead is a quintessential, 5.11 Yosemite splitter running from fingers to tight hands, a pitch I recalled as one of the finest pure cracks in the valley. Sadly, for Ben and Marcus, it was full of gravel and soot. Throughout the 60s and 70s a regular conga line of leading climbers queued up to repeat the West Face. But when word got out in the 80s that it would "never" go free, and as El Cap became the axis of modern valley free climbing, the West Face fell out of favor. Thirty years of spring runoff had since freighted the lower cracks with choss. After Ben fought and frigged his way up the splitter to a good stance at "Tree Ledge," 120 feet overhead, the rest of the day was spent dredging and wire brushing the splitter and the lower flare (sheathed in moss) till both were clean as Plymouth Rock. They also replaced the old bolts with sound hardware. The table was set: only the next pitch stood between them and the free send. But it wouldn't come easy.
Then Kevin (KJ) Jorgeson showed up.
KJ, recently married, was fresh off a Balinese honeymoon and was dying to get his lyback on. The Dawn Wall epic had thrust KJ and partner Tommy Caldwell onto the international stage in a way never before experienced by adventure athletes. His dirtbag days were largely behind him but in the ways that mattered, KJ remains the selfsame, soft-spoken kid from Santa Rosa who dreams huge and pulls down like all get out. He needed another big project to get back up to ramming speed and the West Face fit that bill. He and Ben were fast friends and made an excellent team to try and dick the remaining aid.
Day two. Marcus aided up the original A5 flake and corner and rigged a top rope at the sling belay beneath the Dog Leg crack. Ben set to work, free climbing out the flake at 5.12+, then spending the next hour working out a heinous sequence of bleak layaways, tip locks and Gaston side pulls up the corner. The whole shebang would probably go, but would take more time than we had to link and send. So when KJ tied in and cast off, he b-lined out right to the face variation, cranking a 5.11 move up to the rusty quarter-inch coffin nail bolt I'd sunk in 1977, then reefed onto powerful face climbing past the fixed nut up to the last bolt Cosgrove placed in the 1980s. Barely a dozen feet separated KJ from the roof above, which purportedly already went free.
Below in the meadow, Tom and I were glued to the little digital display on his camera, whose 1,000 power telephoto pulled KJ in tight. When KJ jacked his feet onto high holds, coiled and started windmillinig his right arm, I said, "He's gonna jump for it." And he did, launching up and sticking a rounded jug hold, deadpointing for a second before pitching off into a harmless swing. He stuck it a five tries later, muscled out the undercling, styled up the tricky face climbing above and lowered off the anchors to Tree Ledge.
A KJ only comes along every few generations. Neither the strongest or boldest man on the mountain, few move as fluidly, as if the sport was made just for them, or as thoughtfully, fashioning creative solutions on the fly and in short order. If Kevin's sideways dyno on the Dawn Wall is the most famous jump in climbing, this easier installment on the West Face might prove the most popular.
Ben tied in and after a half a dozen goes he too stuck the big dyno and quickly disposed of the 5.12 undercling and fingery face duty up to the belay. The wall above already went free at 5.11. Now all the boys had to do was lead the beast, bottom to top, in one push, and they'd have a modern-day classic.
The climbing team took a much-needed break after three days of humping loads up to the West Face and sessioning and cleaning the wall. Rigger and workhorse Devo Derby showed up just in time to join Jevans (who runs ultramarathons in his down time), muscle a 60-pound spool of static rope to the top of Sentinel and string 900 feet of it down to the Dog Leg belay (Jevenas would shoot video while dangling from this line). Devo had never been on a wall before but by the end of that first day he'd rapped and fixed the entire, 1,600 foot face.
Day 3. We stumbled out of bed at 4 a.m., pounded coffee, porridge and eggs and the crew set off for the send while Tom and I settled into the meadow with the long lens and Ted drove up to Taft Point and broke trail out past Sentinel Dome and over to the rim where he commanded a spectacular camera angle of the entire West Face, as if shooting from a blimp. Tom and I kept checking in with "Theodore," up there all by his lonesome, fearing he'd get weepy with no company (his solitary task won him several kisses on the cheek from various housemates). Tom said to quit coddling the boy who needed to "man-up" and do his job. Tom was a Captain in the army if you're wondering, and he logged multiple trips up El Cap, including the third ascent of the Muir Wall, during furloughs.
By the time the team gained the base of the West Face at 6 a.m., KJ was turning green. He finally stumbled off and starting yaking into the dogwood trees. Something about those pizza pies we'd scarfed the previous night. It seemed like we were hosed. Half an hour later KJ shook it off, said he was "about 65 percent," and agreed to head up, taking it a pitch at a time. Two hours later, he and Ben were staring up at the fourth pitch. Game time.
Ben muscled up the lyback flake, out the stiff finger traverse, motored up the face to the high bolt, hucked the dyno and flew off. Again and again. He wasn't even close to latching the jug. Ben lowered off and Kevin took the lead. And he too never got close to sticking the jump. What seemed like a done deal, two days before on a top rope, was suddenly feeling remote.
Who knows what triggers a change in heart, how people find that secret cash of gusto and rise to the occasion, but after brooding on Tree Ledge for a few minutes, as our mutual dreams dangled in midair, Ben tied back in, grappled back up to the jump move and stuck it straightaway, then powered up to the belay without pause. But he and KJ had agreed on a "team free" approach, and they couldn't charge for glory and the complete free ascent till KJ successfully flashed the lead as well. And he did, on his next try, a command performance if ever I'd seen one. A couple hours earlier KJ was puking his guts out. Now he and Ben were poised to bag a master route that in could possibly become as popular as Astroman. I felt proud to ever know these guys.
But the fun was just beginning for Ben and KJ.
During the first ascent, Tom Frost led the first Dog Leg pitch (110 feet of flaring fist and wide crack, rated 5.9+) using only one wooden wedge hammered into the crack. When Royal Robbins and Chouinard did the second ascent in 1964, Robbins led the first Dog Leg with no pro whatsoever. KJ, huffing and puffing and slotting cams all the way up, was rather amazed at what the old guard had managed 56 years before, climbing in hiking boots. Ben - by no means fluent in greasy Yosemite "wide" - tackled the second Dog Leg, a ruthless squeeze, thrutching and whimpering the whole way, cussing the day his parents ever met.
Afternoon was settling over the wall when Kevin charged out onto pitch eight, a brilliant 120-foot 5.10d splitter ranging from fingers to shallow off width, ending in a spectacular hanging belay 500-feet below the summit, and all over burnished, fine-grained granite. From the belay, Ben climbed up and left over a chromium smooth slab to a 56-year old Chouinard bolt protecting 5.10a friction moves, hoping his feet didn't blow (they didn't replace the old bolt in order to retain full flavor).
Down in the meadow, as Ben and KJ chugged up the last few moderate pitches to broken ground below the summit, I knew these guys had managed a resurrection of sorts, pulling back to life one of the proudest walls in the valley and what future generations will no doubt embrace as not just another classic free climb, but a full-value Yosemite experience, with an approach march and technical trek up the ramps below the towering North Face, a flawless, air-ball wall climb featuring everything from dynos to squeeze chimneys, a true summit where a team can stand on a regular mountaintop, feeling like gods and watch the sun set over El Cap, three miles distant, then a laborious tromp down Sentinel gully to regain the trail and the tired march back to the world of cars and people.
POSTSCRIPT
Two days after Ben and KJ's first free ascent, YOSAR climbers Ryan Sheridan, Erik Sloan, Cameron Ganley, and Brenna Engstrand, ventured onto the West Face and replaced the last of the bad bolts, including the "coffin nail" on pitch four, and the two Frost/Chouinard nails at the sling belay beneath the Dog Leg Cracks. In addition, using everything but jeweler's rouge, they cleaned, brushed and polished first two pitches till they gleamed like gems of the purest water. Future parties will find a fully restored masterpiece, with newly installed hardware at the bolt belays and bomber gear available at all others.
A small selection of wires, a double rack of cams (triple on finger to tight hand sizes) plus a 5-inch cam for extra security round out the rack for a one day flash ascent. Allow 1.5 hours for the approach, and a solid hour for the descent down Sentinel Gulley back to the Four Mile Trail, and 30 minutes from there down to the road. Headlamps advised. Allow 8-10 hours for the ascent. 1,600 feet. 10-12 pitches (depending if you string leads 1&2 and the moderate chimneys at the end).
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JustThatEasy
climber
South Lake Tahoe, CA
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Nov 25, 2016 - 11:47pm PT
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Is there an updated topo available for this route?
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tarallo
Trad climber
italy
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Nov 26, 2016 - 01:26am PT
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I can not understand the Mike's point??? as far as I'm concerned I'm more and more interested on the Sentinel west face than down wall Ondra's free climbing also because may be I can think to go up there and try to free climb the route.
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Keith Leaman
Trad climber
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Nov 26, 2016 - 07:40am PT
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Largo, I was just about to request that you re-post that piece. Thanks! Informative and engrossing.
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Matt's
climber
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Nov 26, 2016 - 08:52am PT
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thanks for reposting largo.
To ask my question again-- what's the grade on this thing? All I can gleam from the report is that it's harder than 5.12 but easier than the dawn wall dyno...
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Johannsolo
climber
Soul Cal
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Nov 26, 2016 - 09:46am PT
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Considering the following statements about the previous grades of certain pitches:
"5.9 my ass, Largo. And I've climbed easier 5.12s than that changing cracks bit." During the first ascent, Tom Frost led the first Dog Leg pitch (110 feet of flaring fist and wide crack, rated 5.9+) using only one wooden wedge hammered into the crack. When Royal Robbins and Chouinard did the second ascent in 1964, Robbins led the first Dog Leg with no pro whatsoever. KJ, huffing and puffing and slotting cams all the way up, was rather amazed at what the old guard had managed 56 years before, climbing in hiking boots
I'm not sure how much to trust their grading.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Nov 26, 2016 - 09:52am PT
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Thanks for reposting John, inspiring!!
For my two cents, I'm super stoked to see the great wall get some overdue attention.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Nov 26, 2016 - 09:55am PT
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Matt's keeps talking like it was Adidas that brought climbers, writers and photographers to the wall, when it seems plain enough to me that it was the other way around. So thanks to Adidas for pitching in.
Looks pretty f*#king cutting edge to me.....
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Nov 26, 2016 - 12:45pm PT
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I'm hesitant to give the West Face a rating because I didn't do it free. Most of the pitches rated 5.9+ are almost certainly 5.10A or harder, including the first pitch. The 2nd pitch is rated 5.10D but is 5.11 at the changing cracks bit. The 3rd is solid 5.11 according to both KJ and Ben. The dyno pitch must be 5.13 if not harder seeming that both 5.14 climbers had to huck the mo various times to stick it - on both the project phase and the send - but they called it 5.12d, probably not wanting to scare off people. The West Face is not an end-all free route but IMO a modern classic. The Misty Wall is a different animal with a stout and airy and scary 5.13 crux.
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Matt's
climber
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Nov 26, 2016 - 02:10pm PT
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thanks largo for the grading explanation.
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Johannsolo
climber
Soul Cal
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Nov 26, 2016 - 04:48pm PT
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I think it would be very interesting for some of these 5.14 climbers to give their own ratings to some of the 5.12 routes at Suicide.
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RyanD
climber
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Nov 26, 2016 - 10:09pm PT
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I hate to do this but I have to nominate kingtut as achieving lording status on this thread.
Congrats.
As for things being cutting edge under 5.13 these days......
There aren't any.
Cool story though.
Peace.
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
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Nov 26, 2016 - 11:30pm PT
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It would seem almost required reading - RR's solo of it in VWOY.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Nov 27, 2016 - 06:41am PT
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I climbed the west face with Steve Quinlan in May, '79. I got the doglegs and he got he got A-4 expando (thats what Meyers Called it!) each of us thought the other got burned 😎
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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Nov 27, 2016 - 07:18am PT
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congrats to the ffa'ers ... jolly good show!
wish i could remember more than the approach, being bashed by battleship sized clouds cruising up the merced at mid level in blue-oo skies, my first night in a hammock (which was the point) heavy frost and glazed manzanita on the summit where my MD partner insisted, so we brewed up ... 'cuz my vote to descend the gully straight away was "hypothermic thinking" (ever forced frozen lips to defend level of consciousness to an anesthesiologist?) and that hellweather broke loose the moment we hit the trail. forty years have passed but still, i wish i could remember ... more
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BG
Trad climber
JTree & Idyllwild
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Nov 27, 2016 - 09:25am PT
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RyanD
climber
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Nov 27, 2016 - 11:24am PT
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@kingtut
Thanks for telling me what my stoke level and wishes are.
I said this was a cool story, it's probably even a classic route on a beautiful piece of stone.
But it is not IMO a cutting edge route, sorry you feel it is the best thing since sliced bread was first invented.
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Nov 27, 2016 - 11:36am PT
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So, you're the dude in the Superman tee? Do you have a Cleveland connection?
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RyanD
climber
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Nov 27, 2016 - 12:14pm PT
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@kingtut
Thanks for the tip.
Again, congrats on all of this.
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bootysatva
Trad climber
Idyllwild / Joshua Tree Ca.
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Dec 23, 2016 - 06:57pm PT
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That route looks burly from the Steck Salathe.
Proud project!
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i-b-goB
Social climber
Wise Acres
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Apr 15, 2018 - 07:51pm PT
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^^^
Nice to see the video!
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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Apr 16, 2018 - 07:31am PT
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Thanks for the video. Brought back a few memories having done the route in 1971, but certainly not free. I remember that lay back on the 1st pitch, since I don't like lay backs.
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WBraun
climber
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Apr 16, 2018 - 07:37am PT
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The dyno was awesome.
I think if Bachar would have known of that variation he would have freed the route back when he tried it as he was like one move from doing it free back then .....
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Apr 16, 2018 - 09:05am PT
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Not knowing much about this history of the route, my buddy TD and I went up there to see what we could do. This was about 20 years ago.
I think what scares most people away from this route is the pitch that's labeled "5.10c OW Fist." At least that's what scared me. I like underclings, so the .11d undercling was my pitch (I didn't notice the A0 tacked on at the end).
Needless to say, I couldn't touch the undercling and flailed on the short aid section above that. But the rest of the route was beauty, even the very wonderful .10c OW!
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Lassitude 33
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Apr 16, 2018 - 10:44am PT
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Enjoyed reading this thread and Largo's story on the first FFA. Dave Evans and I did this back in 1976, following Bruce Carson's example, and bagging perhaps the 2nd "all clean" and hammerless ascent. This seems rather unremarkable by modern standards, but even into the late 1970s, going without a hammer and pins was uncommon (old style hexes and stoppers being the best equipment available).
I remember those wide dogleg cracks as being super burly indeed. We had borrowed from Mike Graham a couple of his extra wide hexes (#10 hex stock, custom cut to 4 and 5 inches) which at least made it possible to place some protection. In one case, I'm not embarrassed to admit that I stood on the nice platform formed by one of those hexes.
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L
climber
A place where Blue is the new Black...
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Apr 16, 2018 - 01:01pm PT
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Awesome video.
Loved the juxtaposition of Frost and Chouinard with Ben and Kevin, not to mention the amazing cinematography.
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martygarrison
Trad climber
Washington DC
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Apr 16, 2018 - 07:04pm PT
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When we climbed the West Face in the early 70's that flake was an expando thing we banged pins into. I remember the doglegs as being run out as heck but I always felt secure. The old bolt in the video that Yvon steps on is the same one I hung, hauled and my partner jumared on, all at the same time. Back when we really trusted quarter inchers.
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