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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 7, 2017 - 05:33pm PT
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On one hand, I think we're doomed, on the other hand, I still love climbing, particularly in the Black Canyon. I have a dismal photographic collection overall, considering how long I have been climbing. I was just perusing this small collection. These are two of my favorites. They were taken a coupla' years ago by my wife Elizabeth whilst Ken Trout and I did The Cruise. I'm also a geologist, and I can't help but love these two sequential pictures of Ken and I high up on The Cruise in the Black Canyon for both climbing and the geology.
Must be some really good ones in the ST community.
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bob
climber
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Not great photos, but a great day climbing Pathfinder.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 7, 2017 - 06:45pm PT
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Cool, Bob. I did Pathfinder with George Lowe in maybe, I dunno, 2007 I'm guessing. Chossy but fun. I love these routes.
One of my old Black Canyon partners was Tom Dickey, on the first ascent of Pathfinder.
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Vic
climber
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Awesome!
A timely forum topic as the North Rim just opened today. Black Canyon season is upon us!
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Grippa
Trad climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Great thread!
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Great stuff, Grug!
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Amazing pegmatite dykes. Why are are they so prevalent and thick?
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bob
climber
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Interesting you thought pathfinder chossy. It seemed pretty good to me. I only pulled two poison ivy bushlets out of the initial pitches by hand. Chalked up really good and gave them a yank. Never got any rashes. After the descriptions of that route I thought we were doomed.
We did cheap hooker after pathfinder and I wish I had some good shots of that. Clean and fun!
All of it is great down there. Crap rock to great rock and everything in between. The Black sure is a hoot. I've climbed just as much choss in Yosemite. Edit: that truly chalky peg is pretty dang unique though. And a bit unnerving. :-). Ahhhh the fun.....
Nice work on the guide Vic. Thank you. It was awesome to use it last May.
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Vic
climber
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All of it is great down there. Crap rock to great rock and everything in between. The Black sure is a hoot. I've climbed just as much choss in Yosemite.
Nice work on the guide Vic. Thank you. It was awesome to use it last May.
My pleasure - I'm glad that folks are enjoying the book. There are so many off-the-beaten-path routes in the Black to explore, that's for sure.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 8, 2017 - 03:25pm PT
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Damn Vic, that's what I wanted to hear! Either next weekend or the one after. Just got to corral one of the usual suspects.
Bob, I did enjoy Pathfinder very much, sure glad I don't get Poison Ivy like I do Poison Oak because of the Poison Ivy pitch. The upper pitches are looser than most pitches in the Black Canyon, IMO. On the other hand, the climbing is not that hard where it's loose.
The preponderance of pegmatite dikes is more or less an act of God as far as I'm concerned. It's not uncommon at all in the "basement" of the North American craton.
My goals this year are to do Atlantis and the Black Snake -- one on the north side, one on the south. They will be new routes for me. Will probably have a warm-up weekend first; maybe the Scenic and Kachina Wings; those would be nice Saturday-Sunday routes on a get-there-late-on-Friday night kind of weekend.
This is why I want to do the Black Snake.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Grug
That looks like your kinda climb!
I want a TR!!!!
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Only been there once where I did journey home with two of my brothers. Talk about full on. Will go back but need to get back into some hard crack climbing. What s beautiful place.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Any aaction shots of those 75 foot whippers? 😎
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 21, 2017 - 04:36pm PT
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Okay, so not real pictures. These are screen shots from Google Earth.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Apr 21, 2017 - 05:04pm PT
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If only it had not become so soiled (sloan'd) the phrase that comes to mind is
Whoot worthy!
Thnx for posting the long shots cool to see the sky view
In the summer of'88 I Made it to the Black only to have the 'Wennie' bail, , droped a rope down, two raps, from somewhere close to the touron zone and climbed back up.
Somewhere I do think I've got some scenic snaps.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 21, 2017 - 05:17pm PT
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Thanks, Gnome. Headed out there tomorrow with Henry Lester. I am so psyched!
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okay, whatever
climber
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Apr 21, 2017 - 05:24pm PT
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I haven't been there since the mid-1970's and did only one route, which wasn't a testpiece, but rather a long (10 pitch?) 5.9 on the typical rock of the Black Canyon... sometimes stellar, sometimes awful. It was just left of the descent gully from the south rim, as you looked at it from the river... I think it was the Russian Arete? I didn't do that climb with Earl Wiggins, but he and I were good friends back then, and did climb together a lot, though he was a lot better than I ever was. RIP, Earl. Anyway, the Black Canyon is a unique and beautiful place to climb, and I have fond memories of those days. Thanks to all who have posted, for the photos, and for stirring my memory!
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 21, 2017 - 06:49pm PT
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When you go to the Black Canyon, you have to be prepared with a few options, as another party may have already "claimed" your route on the white board at the ranger station. The Russian Arete, which I have never done, is one of our contingencies.
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golsen
Social climber
kennewick, wa
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Apr 21, 2017 - 08:12pm PT
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Top of the Stoned Oven, 1994, I forget the name of this grovelly pitch. The Womb?
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golsen
Social climber
kennewick, wa
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Apr 21, 2017 - 08:15pm PT
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Above the Womb in the last daylight.
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golsen
Social climber
kennewick, wa
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Apr 21, 2017 - 08:17pm PT
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golsen
Social climber
kennewick, wa
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Apr 21, 2017 - 08:18pm PT
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golsen
Social climber
kennewick, wa
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Apr 21, 2017 - 08:25pm PT
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First trip I took to the black was in 1984. We had a pic of the Cruise from Climbing Magazine, or was it the Scenic? Driving from SLC down to the Black we realized we didnt know what the hell side of the Canyon the climb was on, let alone anything about the climb other than our friend told us it was awesome. We guessed we should start from the North. We were fortunate enough to get a topo from the ranger there. Awesome.
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wayne w
Trad climber
the nw
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Apr 21, 2017 - 08:38pm PT
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On Astrodog last May, hope to do another line there in the Fall.
Earl Van Sickle; photo
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bob
climber
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Apr 21, 2017 - 10:38pm PT
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Some crud photos of a damn good route. Cheap Hooker
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 22, 2017 - 06:04am PT
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Dang, that Cheap Hooker looks great! Been meaning to do a route on the Hooker Buttress. It's got some proud routes.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Apr 24, 2017 - 03:16pm PT
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hey there say, ... bump for neat pics... and neat google earth stuff, :)
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 24, 2017 - 04:04pm PT
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Thanks, Neebee! On all of those Google Earth pictures, be sure to click on the picture and see the enlarged view.
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BrassNuts
Trad climber
Save your a_s, reach for the brass...
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Apr 24, 2017 - 06:40pm PT
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Apr 24, 2017 - 10:40pm PT
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hey there say, eeyonkee, say, thanks!
:)
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 25, 2017 - 06:37am PT
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Didn't know that you'd done Air Voyage, Dave. Wished I'd found Clean Dan's slides from when he an I did it in 1991. By the way, nice shots of Stoned Oven, Golsen. That Womb Fight pitch is almost as memorable as the Enduro pitch in its own way.
Actually Dave, I just read your account on the Even More Black Canyon Stories thread. Nice!
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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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Apr 25, 2017 - 09:11am PT
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This thread is awesome. The Black scares me. I think I'll head on back to the "Have You Ever Climbed 5.5 or Below?" thread. You boys and that place are inspiring in your own chossy, steep, scary twisted way!
Scott
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 25, 2017 - 04:42pm PT
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Okay, last of the Google Earth screenshots. The central feature in both of these screenshots is called the Gothic Pillar. The west face, which is in the shade, has a route called Sistine Reality, which is where I took my big whipper (two of them back-to-back, actually) back in 2007. So it holds for me a special, I don’t know, fascination, I suppose. The route basically goes up the center of the west face. The second shot emphasizes the approach. You take the left branch of the “Y”. Those same three pegmatites that are so prominent on the Hooker Buttress are major features on the west face of the Gothic Pillar as well.
This is a link to the route on Mountain Project. I fell leading pitch 3. Notice the pegmatites on the topo.
//www.mountainproject.com/images/53/83/105905383_large_0f40d0.jpg
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Apr 28, 2017 - 09:22pm PT
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Some archival snapshots from my first trip to the Black Canyon, circa fall of 1987, after Yosemite Mountaineering School closed for the season.
Down is in ... and up is out, or something like that:
Helga was new to climbing. Shortly after guiding The Nose that spring, I had poached her from her boyfriend.
Following their introduction to climbing during a class I taught, roping them up a 5.6 on Swan Slab, she showed up solo the next weekend and never looked back, until she got to The Black:
Billy Westbay, savoring the vibe. His best pal, Ceto Kirkpatrick, packing the pipe with aromatic weed:
..........
Both our stomachs were churning, mine from a foul order of chicken McNuggets hastily procured in Grand Junction.
Helga's tummy was reeling from the exposure and a good dose of inexperience, laced with apprehension ... we never got on Checkerboard Wall:
Several days later, surrounded by the relative placidly of Indian Creek, she top roped Coyne's Crack, no falls. The Black was a different matter!
............
 Photos recently tuned up by Peter Haan.
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Apr 28, 2017 - 09:32pm PT
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Awesome images of Cheap Hooker bob . . . I don't think the route gets much traffic, much less photos. You are providing some excellent beta here, thanks so much!
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Don Paul
Big Wall climber
Denver CO
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Apr 29, 2017 - 07:03am PT
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - May 10, 2017 - 05:46pm PT
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So, I'm headed to the Black this weekend to do the Great White Wall, a west-facing, Grade 4 moderate (5.10+, 13 pitches). You have to hike down the Long Draw to get to the start.
I've been studying the Long Draw and adjacent areas on Google Earth. I previously pointed out the obvious NE-SW structural grain of this area. At the time I wrote that, I just knew, essentially, that the major joint patterns were on this trend. Now, it's clear to me that the structural grain is much more ancient than the current drainage patterns.
Included is a series of screenshots that clearly show tightly-near-vertically-folded basement rock on this trend.
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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May 11, 2017 - 01:59pm PT
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Bump for folded and metamorphosed rock
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - May 11, 2017 - 04:44pm PT
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Seems to me that most routes on the wall that we are going to do are very close to being along foliation planes. So, for the most part we will be climbing along, rather than across the "bedding". Foliation really isn't bedding, but it can essentially be a metamorphosed equivalent. I've seen it myself around my thesis area in northern Baja California where clearly-traceable gravelly layers were folded along the foliation.
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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May 11, 2017 - 04:48pm PT
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So.......did climbing happen?? Inquiring minds and all that. I made it through the first day of Jury duty without having to make the week long commitment, so tomorrow I go easy slab hunting. The current formula is climb slow = low pain.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - May 11, 2017 - 04:50pm PT
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Leaving tomorrow for a Saturday ascent (Zeus-willing). Going next weekend too.
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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May 11, 2017 - 04:52pm PT
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Nice! Can't help but be envious, but have a great time!
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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May 11, 2017 - 06:07pm PT
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Great thread! I've never been out there, but it looks damn attractive. If you had a couple of days there for your first trip, what would be some recommended "get to know the place" 5.9 up to mid 5.10 climbs?
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - May 11, 2017 - 06:18pm PT
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Well, there is this little route called the Scenic Cruise (13 pitches). It's 5.10+, but basically only one move at that grade. It's rather continuous in the 5.9 through 5.10a/b grades in sections. As Brassnuts has pointed out, it has cleaned up considerably over the years. It's almost certainly one of the best 5.10 all-day routes in the country. All but the trade routes in the Black are still a little loose and spicy.
Journey Home is the shorter, somewhat easier equivalent (8 pitches, 5.10a), but has an infamous 5.9 R first pitch. I would assume that most climbers' introduction to the Black anymore is either Comic Relief or Escape Artist. I've done both a couple of times. They are clean but sub-par IMO.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - May 12, 2017 - 11:29am PT
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I apologize for bumping a thread that has not been exactly lively, but I'm totally in to the whole geology aspect of my upcoming climb. Just up-thread I anticipated that we should be climbing essentially along the "bedding planes". So, I was looking on Mountain Project and noticed this picture, in particular, that shows exactly what I was anticipating. I show the picture again but with a line approximately along the base of an obvious "bed" that is approximately coincident with the plane of the climb. Gotta go!
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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May 15, 2017 - 02:04pm PT
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THAT looks like something between a schist and a gneiss from here. It would be interesting to see it up close. Supposedly the Black's got schist, gneiss, and migmatite, with the pressure indicator minerals being sillimanite or andalusite = somewhat low metamorphic pressure. Wonder if there is any zonation showing, or is it sort of a jumble.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - May 16, 2017 - 05:00pm PT
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Chris, you bring up some interesting ideas, but I didn't bring a hand lens. I was foucussed on the structure, and it turned out pretty much exactly how I had anticipated. Basically, the routes on this wall are aligned with the foliation, which may well align with the original bedding planes overall.
So, it turns out that the Great White Wall is a particularly good Black Canyon climb to photograph from above by a third party. Laurent and I had our wives and his daughters on this trip. Kinda wish they would have come over to the Balance Rock Overlook a little earlier, as the more interesting climbing is in the lower pitches, but, in any case, Elizabeth got some pretty good ones of the upper (easier) part of the route. (By the way, if you don't know, click on the photo and it will show you an enlarged view).
Approximately the upper half of the route in shown in this photo. You can't actually see the bottom of the route from this overlook. This side canyon is deeper than it is narrow. (Use the v-shaped pegmatite band to align yourself with the next photo).
The Great White Wall is in a canyon trending more or less 90 degrees to the main Black Canyon in which the Gunnison River runs.
Our pre-planned color scheme is particularly noticeable in this shot.
As noticeable particularly in the enlarged view, Laurent seems to be showing off his bald spot.
This last photo, in particular, shows the foliation parallel to the plane of the climb.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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May 16, 2017 - 06:24pm PT
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Eyonkee...a great climb just to the right of the Scenic Cruise (and a tad bit harder) is Highway 61 Revisited. It has six nice pitches and then exits into the Journey Home for the last five pitches above the R pitch.
No bad rock or spice.
Two good options to the right of Comic Relief are Cloak and Dagger and Modern Day Migs. Both better (in my opinion) than Comic Relief and no bad rock or spice.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - May 16, 2017 - 06:43pm PT
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Jim, the second-to-last climb I did at the Black was Highway 61 Revisited. I gotta say, I pretty much always agree with your assessments of grade on the Black Canyon routes as you have posted on MountainProject. The 5.10+ on Great White Wall seemed hard to me (just like you said), although Laurent led it on-sight and I was able to (barely) follow it. The 5.10+ on Highway 61 was similarly hard (I led it, but thought is was 5.11-).
With a little luck (it IS popular) I'm hoping to do Cloak and Dagger or the harder link-up this weekend (I'm on a mission from God).
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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May 17, 2017 - 09:48am PT
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Ohhhhhh man eeyonkee, NICE WORK you two! I know it's serious when you are wearing a helmet ;) I kind of screwed myself with the ankle and all, but it would be nice to get a few routes done at this place before I'm of that "age". It still could happen, no more screw-ups tho. Either way, cool local and climbing!
Some last bit of geo geeking, and then I'll leave it. That first shot shows beautifully this "grooving" along the foliation plane; it's almost horizontal but obviously drops from the left to the right. Could be indicative of movement during metamorphism. Carrying a hand lens, LOL. Probably the last thing on your mind.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - May 17, 2017 - 05:09pm PT
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So, I bumped this thread for two reasons, one; to acknowledge Don Paul's two contributions, which seem particularly artistic, and two to point out that, ever since Monday, I cannot reproduce on Google Earth what I had previously seen and took snapshots of. This is what I get now on looking at the SE face of the North Chasm View Wall.
I'd be interested if anybody could reproduce the detail in my Google Earth screenshots up-thread which I will reproduce below.
This shot was just amazing to me -- clearly it (seems to me) incorporated camera pictures from the ground, as there is no way that a satellite is going to see detail on a vertical wall. I wonder if I just lucked out and they were experimenting or something.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Dec 22, 2018 - 10:45am PT
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Hey Greg- Alpinist is doing a big article about the Black and would love to hear from you if they haven't already.
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| Messages 1 - 53 of total 53 in this topic |
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