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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 25, 2009 - 09:48am PT
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This was the start of it all Alexy, can't say that I'll be attempting 5.17 OW in another 5 years though, scuffy....
Great advice about route finding inside a chimney. I think the worst time I had was in Chockstone Chimney where I got locked into a preconceived notion of how a chimney should go, and ended up getting completely exhausted making no real progress in some squeezing, polished section. Backing down, Gary found a perfectly good seam to follow, which he did... why I didn't do the same I don't know..
Must say that we have come a long way in 5 years on this stuff...
...it's actually fun now.
I can see the The Remnant, Right might not have had any pro until you turned the lip, back in the day. It's not so easy to protect these days, but also not so difficult if you keep you wits about you. Fortunately, it is going to freak you out, it will do it low...
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Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
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Apr 25, 2009 - 11:13am PT
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Werner, the modern embodiment of a rescuing angel.
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Apr 25, 2009 - 07:15pm PT
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I posted this 'trippy' report in 2005 in response to a story about someone climbing up behind the Reeds Direct crack (I think).
On a hot summer day in about 1974, I was cooling my heels waiting for my party to lead the second pitch of Reeds Direct, the long, undulating hand crack that ends on the main ledge at the base of the pinnacle itself. I wasn't belaying, and I was bored.
On a whim, I climbed under the slab and started chimney climbing behind Reeds. The standard trick is to chimney up behind the crack, and then try to push your hand out and scare the crap out of someone on the 'right' side of the rock. However, rather than stay close to the crack, I angled up toward the base of the last pitch. I figured I could always chimney down if it got too narrow.
You come out in the tunnel that connects the right and left sides of the pinnacle. It is long, dark, and at places tight. You also have to go sideways at different places and work around chock stones. I found old slings on the tops of some of chockstones that had fallen off as someone chimneyed through the tunnel at the base of the last pitch. (This tunnel was the regular free climbing route on Reeds until the Direct was done in the middle 60s.)
There was enough light to dimly make out the chockstones. A headlight would be useful, but a helmet might be dangerous—if it got stuck—and would definitely limit your progress. If you got lost and lost your presence of mind, you had better hope that Werner is close by and willing to find you.
The only reason to trail a rope is so that someone can find your decaying body. (I think that rope drag might be a problem if one were on belay. On the other hand if you carried the rope up and paid it out as you climbed, someone could follow your line and find you to say last rites.)
I cannot say that I recommend this as a climb, but if you wiggle up inside Reeds, and meet your party on the main ledge, you will never be afraid of getting stuck in one of Harding's horror shows. I think that I also have to say the I was very skinny in 1974--when I wanted to avoid someone I owed money to, I would turn sideways as they passed.
And, congratulations to you Ed--impressive progress.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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May 18, 2011 - 03:51am PT
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Here's a list of chimneys by rating, without the toprope / well protected requirement:
Chimney
347. Gilligan's Chicken p1 5.4
552. The Iota 5.4
596. Lunatic chimney 5.4
2617. Leaning Chimney 5.4
1329. Swan Slab Chimney 5.5
481. Chimney for Two 5.6
570. Reed's Pinnacle - flake chimney start 5.6
1335. un SS j 5.6
1564. Church Bowl Chimney 5.6 *
271. Capital Punishment 5.7
344. Pat Pinnacle 5.7
500. Chimney Sweep 5.7
565. The Remnant - Right Side 5.7
653. Mojo chimney flake 5.7
709. Hard on the Beaver 5.7
1328. Swan Slab Squeeze 5.7
1551. Uncle Fanny 5.7 *
1718. Washington Column - Direct Route 5.7
215. The Cookie - Original 5.8
567. Reed's Pinnacle - Left Side p1 5.8
1145. Split Pinnacle - East Arete 5.8 **
1599. Trial by Fire 5.8
2226. Chockblock Chimney 5.8
2293. Tilted Mitten - Right Side 5.8 *
84. Entrance Exam 5.9 *
205. Cookie - Left p1 5.9
211. Cookie Center 5.9 R *
345. Jack Pinnacle - Left 5.9
441. Whim 5.9
795. Chockstone Chimney 5.9
857. Moby Dick - Left 5.9 *
2277. Steck-Salathe 5.9 **
2291. Tilted Mitten - Left Side 5.9
2312. Boulderfield Gorge 5.9
415. Free Press 5.10a **
536. Hand Job 5.10a
573. Reed's Pinnacle - Direct p3 5.10a *
640. The Reception 5.10a
749. The Riddler 5.10a *
1502. Lost Arrow Chimney 5.10a
1987. Fresh Squeezed 5.10a
2802. Worst Error - Right Side 5.10a *
859. Ahab 5.10b *
67. Narrow Escape 5.10c
175. Twinkie 5.10c
1701. 10.96 5.10d **
1886. On the Edge 5.11b R *
1174. Viva Gorditas 5.11c
2322. Realm of the Lizard King 5.11c
from:
http://www.stanford.edu/%7Eclint/yos/YOSTYP.HTM
and updated to add a few more, 12:20pm.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - May 18, 2011 - 11:37am PT
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hey clint,
what is this?
1335. un SS j 5.6
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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May 18, 2011 - 02:33pm PT
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Clint;
Is your list a graded list in order of difficulty from easy-->hard? Or, are all climbs at a particular grade simply lumped together?
P.S. I've actually done one climb on that list and it was my first-ever chimney: Split Pinnacle, East Arete. I was nearly barfing by the time Paul Kunasz saw my non-smiling face pull onto the chockstone! Needless to say, that kept me from doing any more chimneys for a long time.
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scuffy b
climber
dissected alluvial deposits, late Pleistocene
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May 18, 2011 - 02:39pm PT
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un named, Swan Slab, above h or i?
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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May 18, 2011 - 02:46pm PT
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Ed & scuffy b,
Yes, it's above h & i. Shown on the topo p.146. (Or the topo Jim just posted)
It's above and right of the small tree which people use to toprope Grant's Crack.
I've never tried it...
I use names like "un SS j" for unnamed routes at an area (SS = Swan Slab; j is the 10th unnamed route there).
Rodger,
> Is your list a graded list in order of difficulty from easy-->hard? Or, are all climbs at a particular grade simply lumped together?
The latter.
Within a grade, the climbs are in "guidebook order" - left to right / clockwise around the Valley.
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aldude
climber
Monument Manor
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May 18, 2011 - 03:04pm PT
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Hey Clint - Church Bowl Chimney ??
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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May 18, 2011 - 03:22pm PT
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Al,
Oops, good catch! I added it, plus a few others that were missing as well, like Washington Column Direct and Lost Arrow Chimney.
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kev
climber
A pile of dirt.
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May 18, 2011 - 03:30pm PT
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Nice to see you're keeping busy Clint and Ed :)
kev
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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May 18, 2011 - 03:49pm PT
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In the spring, an old/midlife man's fancy turns to ... lists. :-)
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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May 18, 2011 - 04:18pm PT
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and since it's raining (Again! Still? ) here in Wyoming....yeah....lists.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 22, 2011 - 01:23pm PT
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bump for chimneys....
...not just OW's
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Dec 22, 2011 - 01:42pm PT
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Personally, I love chimneys because they feel so secure.
Maybe they're easier for women because we have more padding?
Or because they require less arm strength and give more chances to rest in place?
I'm sure Church Bowl is harder now that it's slicker, but I did it with my arm in a cast.
I had no problems but the people I was with hated the sound of plaster scraping on rock.
We didn't use knee pads back in the day either. Probably that caused us to go slower
and to pay more attention to body placement?
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PellucidWombat
Mountain climber
Berkeley, CA
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Jan 18, 2012 - 05:27pm PT
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I don't see Elevator Shaft on the list . . .
What's with the numbers before the route? Does this correspond to a route number in an old guidebook? Definitely not the newer Falcon Guide.
un SS j 5.6 I wandered my way up this one for fun last year. Great 5.6 chimney that I found harder than the Swan Slab Squeeze. You can place some small pieces in a crack to the right outside to start, and then you have to run it out to the end. There is a bolt at the top that protects the exit.
Regarding the Remnant, Right side, I'm glad I'm not the only one who got spooked away on my first visit! :-) When I led the thing I found that you can get in a #6 cam about 15' or so up, and can push it along for most of the rest of the chimney. At the squeeze, I placed a #5 BD Cam, retracted the #6 to bring with me, and continued scooting it along once the squeeze opened back up again. A great route for sure!
The 5.8 2nd pitch to Stone Groove is a challenging chimney lead. You can't quite get all the way inside and it flares a bit, so it seems like you could easily fall out of that one. Fortunately you can barely slide a #6 cam along most of the way, although occasionally it pops open and you have to carefully fish around for a constriction tight enough to hold it again.
I found the crux to be dealing with the sudden step in the wall against my back, since I went right-side in.
You could TR this one after leading the first 1.5 pitches of The Rorp if you wanted. Instead of turning left up the wide crack, continue up the chute to a chockstone with slings in it. This is the belay/rapp for the pitch. I approached the pitch via an unnamed 5.9 route just around the corner to the right from Stone Groove. Apart from a couple of loose rocks that are easy to avoid, it was a great pitch.
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PellucidWombat
Mountain climber
Berkeley, CA
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Feb 20, 2012 - 12:59pm PT
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[Click to View YouTube Video]
Here's a boring video of me leading The Remnant, Right, for those that want to see what it looks like. Maybe next time I warm up I'll try mounting the camera inside the chimney so you can better see what I'm doing with the cams.
This rack pretty well sews up the 90' route as long as you push the #6 and then take it with you through the squeeze for more pushing.
The Remnant, Right, seen from the 5.8 P1 chimney on Reed's Left.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 20, 2012 - 02:04pm PT
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nice...
don't forget that back in the day they probably didn't get any pro in until after the wide section where you might get a large bong in... so you solo the chimney section (which you almost do today, since a #5 (or #6) or even a Valley Giant #9 doesn't go in until you're high up.
Saw an Italian video of Bridwell climbing with a clip of him climbing Remnant right side...
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PellucidWombat
Mountain climber
Berkeley, CA
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Feb 20, 2012 - 02:46pm PT
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Climbing at Reed Pinnacle I worked out a nice chimney/OW circuit to do for the beginning wyde leader:
1. Lead The Remnant, Right (5.7 squeeze)
2. Top rope The Remnant, Left (5.10b OW/squeeze/LB)
3. Lead Reed Pinnacle, Left Side P1 (5.8 chimney) & rappel.
4. Rappel onto 5.10b var flake & TR the 5.10b Var (really more of a 5.9-5.10a OW crux & then 5.6-5.7 squeeze chimney) or lead the route with one #6 C4.
6. Lead Tarkus (5.8 chimney, 2 pitches) & rappel
7. Lead Stone Groove chimney variation (2-3 pitches: 5.9 wide fists, 5.8 flaring squeeze, 5.7 OW if finishing on The RORP) & rappel from any pitch.
8. Lead Iota Chimney (5.4) to set up a TR for Chingando. Climb great 2nd pitch with another rope & rappel off the Iota Flake
9. TR Chingando (5.10a OW) to finish the day
The winter days haven't been long enough for me to do the full circuit yet, but it seems like a nice one!
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Feb 21, 2012 - 02:34am PT
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Wyde bump!!
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SuperTopo on the Web
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