"Los Banditos" and the A-5 of Math

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Messages 1 - 57 of total 57 in this topic
marty(r)

climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 1, 2007 - 11:42am PT
A-squared plus B-squared = tipped out beaks and jingous hooks???

Just came across this copy of a new Geometry text that's being used here at school.


The shot is by the Taco's very one Jerry Dodrill. For other purty shots, check www.jerrydodrill.com



yo

climber
The Eye of the Snail
Mar 1, 2007 - 11:48am PT
Math is A5 fer sure. Excellent work C-Mac and J-Do.


That thing's still looking for a repeat. Ho man, where's my beaks...
Jerry Dodrill

climber
Bodega, CA
Mar 1, 2007 - 01:25pm PT
Shizzzam! I wondered where that check came from. My agency licensed it to the publisher. It payed my rent and then some.

I need a copy. Can I get the publisher's info?

Thanks Marty!
s. o.

Trad climber
academia
Mar 1, 2007 - 03:17pm PT
I thought you didn't climb any more yo
marty(r)

climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 1, 2007 - 03:22pm PT
Jerry,
The publisher is McDougall Littell. The authors are Ron Larson, Laurie Boswell, Timothy Kanold, and Lee Stiff. To look it up, use ISBN 10: 0-618-59557-0, or check classzone.com or mcdougallittell.com for more info. It's possible you could pick up a used (read: cheap) copy online.
My kids keep thinking it's me on the cover. Thanks for the suave ego-boost!
bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
Mar 1, 2007 - 03:24pm PT
What's cool here is that kids always ask, "why do I gotta learn Geometry", and this pic in it's context will actually get kids to appreciate how geometry can be used in countless ways. Sweet! Congrats on the royalties, Jerry.
Chris McNamara

SuperTopo staff member
Mar 1, 2007 - 03:41pm PT
that is hilarious!
leinosaur

Trad climber
burns flat, ok
Mar 1, 2007 - 03:43pm PT
Great shot, in itself -

and I love geometry, but . . .

how does that equal-angle stuff apply to the climbing?

(Just in case one of the "why do we have to learn geometry?" kids should ask)
Jerry Dodrill

climber
Bodega, CA
Mar 1, 2007 - 03:58pm PT
Uh-oh. I feel a full-on retro trip report coming on. Firing up the scanner. I think I have a black mail shot of Chris in the files somewhere. Heh. There's still time to protect your reputation, C-mac. Better send the money quick, unmarked bills of course...
bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
Mar 1, 2007 - 04:07pm PT
Class, a climber climbs 20" above his last pro, and is on a viscious overhang. He peels, yells, "Gaaaa". Caclulate how far the climber falls, where he'll smack the rock, and most important, calculate the angle generated by his ride from where he peeled to where he makes smackdown. There would be an illustration of where the pro was and where he fell from.
Jerry Dodrill

climber
Bodega, CA
Mar 2, 2007 - 05:17pm PT
Did some fast low res scanning last night to share these photos, most of which have never seen the light of day, which is a shame.

The FA of Los Banditos went down in May of '99. It was my first big wall photo shoot. Needless to say, I learned a ton about how to do and not do many things. I also gleaned many years worth of experience watching C-mac and Luke Miller for these five days. The story was for Elevation Magazine's premier issue. Elevation is gone now, but the experience (and stock imagery) was worth much more than the mere thousand dollars they paid me to shoot this.

Los Banditos is on the Right Twin formation. I don't have a photo of it here unfortunately. The day before starting we climbed/hiked to the top with 1,500' of rope for me to fix and shoot with. Intended to fix all the way down, but found out the hard way that it's a 1,700' wall. Oops. Long story, but I got down on a 7mm cord, hiked back to the car, back to the top, and rapped back down again. This kind of shooting is just a lot of work. I should have gone climbing instead. Enjoy. Maybe I'll add captions later.










After four munge pitches, they reach the base of the "Dream Catcher". The seam rises straight up in front of Chris for about 300' on a blank steap tower. Beaks, rurps and KB tips forever. I was giving chris crap for sowing it up. heh. He just smiled. I'd never even placed a beak, but thought I was pretty funny. He didn't. There were two pitches on the tower, Luke got the second one which turned into a corner. They bivied at the hanging belay in the middle.













Jerry Dodrill

climber
Bodega, CA
Mar 2, 2007 - 05:23pm PT
From the top of the Dream Catcher the route drops left, "Changing Lattitudes" and gets really interesting. Chris Took all day on one pitch.

There were some blind hooks. Chris looked at me after sliding this one up the wall with his hammer. "Is it good?" "Uh, Looks okay" I was looking through my 300mm. It was questionable perhaps.




There was another party doing an FA at the far end of the wall. Don't know who, or what route.










I've been accused of all sorts of things regarding the photo below. I don't even own a fish eye lens, if you must know. The above photo shows the Tsunami Headwall. It's steep and concave. You can see the long 5.8 or 5.9R slab that Chris climbed before drilling out the headwall to a crazy summit move. The smile and drill grit in the teeth tells it all.





Jerry Dodrill

climber
Bodega, CA
Mar 2, 2007 - 05:24pm PT



The loads were heavy. Chris couldn't haul because of the angle and load. It's flat on top. I joined in the fun, tainting the FA. Heh. The rope was sawing through the rock.


Luke cleaning the last moves. Check out the garden hose on the rope at the edge.


Good times.
yo

climber
The Eye of the Snail
Mar 2, 2007 - 05:39pm PT
Wow.

I was packing up the car before I saw the hook pitch. Never mind.
Crag Q

Trad climber
Louisville, Colorado
Mar 2, 2007 - 05:40pm PT
Wow. Freaking awesome pictures. Thanks.
Cuckawalla

Trad climber
Grand Junction, CO
Mar 2, 2007 - 05:43pm PT
great pics
WBraun

climber
Mar 2, 2007 - 05:45pm PT
That was a really nice photo session Jerry. Excellent.

And the name of the route is very nice.

Beautiful man, just beautiful!
L

climber
The City of Lost Angels
Mar 2, 2007 - 05:58pm PT
Wow Jerry--Amazingly beautiful photos! The one that looks fisheyed-but-isn't is simply incredible. Looks like a really great trip...and it sounds like you got to do a whole lotta work, too!
Jerry Dodrill

climber
Bodega, CA
Mar 2, 2007 - 06:10pm PT
Yeah, I was pretty stoked about this. Fun to pull these out. The Tsumani image was made with a 24mm lens aimed pretty level, so not much distortion. Just a magnificent finish to the story.


Jello

Social climber
No Ut
Mar 2, 2007 - 06:35pm PT
Jerry, you are a very good photographer. And what a photogenic route! The wave makes such a dramatic finish, too.
bachar

Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
Mar 2, 2007 - 06:43pm PT
Incredibly nice photos Jerry! Very beautiful stuff...thanx for sharing.

Film or digital, might I ask?
Jerry Dodrill

climber
Bodega, CA
Mar 2, 2007 - 07:03pm PT
Awe shucks guys. blush

All film. (This was in '99...) Mostly Fuji Velvia 50 and some E100VS. I was nervous that nothing was coming out. Bracketed a lot, shot about 55 rolls of 36. The camera, a burly Nikon N90s broke on the drive home. Shutter jammed open. Too much sand in it. Didn't have a backup.
Mimi

climber
Mar 3, 2007 - 01:57pm PT
Great pics and story Jerry. What a wild looking route. Thanks for taking the time to post em up.
golsen

Social climber
kennewick, wa
Mar 3, 2007 - 06:19pm PT
Terrific photos and nice writeup. Thanks for sharing.
slayton

Trad climber
Morongo Valley, Ca
Mar 3, 2007 - 06:35pm PT
Some absolutely stunning photographs. Actaully makes it look like fun.

Thanks for sharing.
Mighty Hiker

Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
Mar 3, 2007 - 06:57pm PT
A nice TR! Is the climb anywhere near where Sushi Fest will be? I'm quite weak on the geography of that part of the world.

A wise old climber once observed that climbing is simply applied Newtonian physics, which in turn is firmly rooted in geometry.

Speaking of which, how does the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle apply to these situations?
Chris McNamara

SuperTopo staff member
Mar 5, 2007 - 07:14pm PT
thanks jerry for all the great photos!

ill chime in some stories:

As luke finished pitch 4 , I almost got the chop. I belayed on the left side of a 3' x 1' ledge. When he finished the pitch, i took him off belay and moved to the right side of the ledge. A few minutes later, as he was pulling up lead rope, i looked up as a tv-sized block came ripping down and impacted within a foot of me. It erased the part of the ledge i had been standing on just minutes before... i mean how often do you hear of a belay ledge getting vaporized before your eyes?!! Luke didn't knock anything off and never knew it happened... which means just pulling up the rope must of dislodged the big block. Anyway, had i not moved to the right side of the ledge when i had, i would not have just been dead, i would have been and unrecognizable heap...

but i was really glad luke led that pitch. it was one of those chimney pitches that had nailing so you had to bring all the iron and just thrash. typical zion route: you have to earn the amazing pitches with a few no so amazing ones.

pitch 5 was amazing. placed so many small blades that i had to back clean a few times. the wall gently overhung and i was so unsure about the quality of the blades and beaks i stayed in the third step and never got into my second step. but amazing pitch i think that pitch took something like 15 beaks and 25 blades.

luke's pitch was an amazing 200 foot blade and beak pitch to finish the awesome Dreamcatcher pillar/headwall.

The next pitch "changing latitudes" took me forever because i tried to get creative. I tried equalized two rurps under a roof. after 30 minutes of work i tested the pieces and they blew. then did the cool hook move that jerry got a few pictures of. the edge was out of reach so i extended my daisy with a quick draw, put on the hook, then slid the hook up with the top of my hammer. i asked jerry how it looked. he thought it was ok so i climbed up on it. it was the worst hook placement i had ever stood on: a downlsloping sandstone edge. i dont know how the hook held. it was the type of hook i would have never stood on had i actually seen the placement. jerry must have just wanted a falling shot.

overall it was cool to have jerry dangling there. i think at one point jerry almost had a rope cut through? jerry? how many feet did you jumar to shoot that route?

That tsunami pitch (cover of the book) was definitely the coolest top out of any big wall i have done. off the last bolt, you can topstep and just grab the giant jug at lip. you then have to hang from one arm, Stalone/Cliffhanger style, and unclip from you daisies and aiders, then match hands, throw up a foot and do a 5.9 mantel onto a flat ledge where you can instantly unrope.

my only regret from that tsunami pitch was having my white socks pulled up so high. jerry, where was your fashion advice when i needed it!? photoshop?

luke gets all the credit for finding the line. i just showed up and he had it all worked out. i still dont know how he saw that 400-foot seam on the "dreamcatcher."


also, the route was called los banditos cuz some bandits stole some sleeping bags and gear from jerry and crew at their campground.
Fluoride

Trad climber
California somewhere
Mar 5, 2007 - 08:27pm PT
Christ Jerry, those are some stunning pics! Thanks for taking the time to post & share 'em.
Jerry Dodrill

climber
Bodega, CA
Mar 5, 2007 - 08:41pm PT
Hah. Yeah, it was almost named Agent Orange because of the defoliating gas caused by a batch of rice and beans that Chris consumed throughout the ascent.

I forgot about the ledge incident. I'll scan a shot of Luke in the chimney. You can see the hanging blocks-o-death right at the top.

This thing was steep and scary to rap off. When I came off the lip of the Tsunami it was about 350 feet before I touched the wall. Damn that was scary. I couldn't stop thinking about the sharp edge at the top. Then when I lowered over another huge roof I was way out in space from the Dream Catcher. That whole photo set was shot spinning in space. Somehow I got a big swing going and spent several hours kicking off the wall, shooting at the apex of the enormous swing. It was amazing. The light came out real nice too. Meanwhile, my rope was slightly rubbing on the smooth wall. When I jugged back up my ascenders shreaded the sheath. Somehow I didn't notice until I stopped to rest and saw this big white ball of stuff on the rope below me. I was like, "What's THAT?!" I pulled it up, tied it out in a butterfly knot, and tried to block it out of my mind. Used a lot more duct tape and hose to shield the rope after that.


Still looking for the black mail shots. They are here somewhere.
Jerry Dodrill

climber
Bodega, CA
Mar 5, 2007 - 11:23pm PT

That was an ugly pitch. The next one was bad also, but a different kind of bad...


More Air

Big Wall climber
S.L.C.
Mar 5, 2007 - 11:39pm PT
Yes! no Zion wall adventure is complete without some loose rock! Fantastic trip report!
Fluoride

Trad climber
California somewhere
Mar 5, 2007 - 11:59pm PT
Hey marty, out of curiousity what school district/grade level uses that book?

If I had a math book with an awesome cover like that one, I might have taken math more seriously haha!
Nefarius

Big Wall climber
Fresno, CA
Mar 6, 2007 - 12:09pm PT
Beautiful series, Jerry. Truly.

I don't think most people realize just how much hard work it is when we go out on a climbing shoot, especially on a wall. I usually feel the same - I'd rather be just climbing. But at the end of the day, when going through the shots, it's all worth it.

Cheers!
blankslate

Trad climber
brooklyn
Mar 6, 2007 - 12:42pm PT
hey is there a SuperTopo book in the works that covers Zion???

it looks like topos of yosemite are pretty well covered, but what about people who want to cut their teeth in Zion doing clean aid?

thanks for any info...
L

climber
The City of Lost Angels
Mar 6, 2007 - 12:56pm PT
Jeez Jerry--This thread is just getting better and better! With a forum sadly lacking in TRs at the moment, your beautiful photos are keeping us all high in more ways than one.
Jerry Dodrill

climber
Bodega, CA
Mar 6, 2007 - 03:15pm PT
Glad you guys enjoy this. As Nefarius said, it's an amazing amount of work and effort to get these shots. To me it was just wild rapping down off a virgin wall to get photos. Very different than dropping off a popular route in the Valley.

Chris, what ever happened to Luke? Ever hear from him? Didn't he turn into a porn star or something?
426

Sport climber
Buzzard Point, TN
Mar 6, 2007 - 03:27pm PT
nice stuff.
coldclimb

climber
Wasilla, Alaska
Mar 6, 2007 - 07:01pm PT
Awesome shots for sure, makes me desperate to go back. Thanks for sharing!
SARgeek

Social climber
Sebastopol, CA
Mar 7, 2007 - 11:42am PT
Jerry, beautiful shots of a stunning route. The top out is incredible. I know Chirs Mac from a long time gone when he was young spud on the SAR team in Marin. It is fun to see him living his dream.


Chris McNamara

SuperTopo staff member
Mar 7, 2007 - 12:18pm PT
no zion tacos in the works but Bird has been working on a free climbing guide for a while that i hope will be out soon.

don't know what happened to luke. porn star? what do you know about him that i dont, jerry?

ahhh marin sar days...
Jerry Dodrill

climber
Bodega, CA
Mar 7, 2007 - 01:17pm PT
C- You're the one that shared a ledge with him for five nights, sooo... heh. This is how rumors start. I swear I heard something about Luke through the grapevine a couple years ago. Can't remember what it was exactly, or from who (Maybe Allison?). Seems like he was doing web work for the girly sites or something. Pretty tough tele-skier as well, from what I recall. He did some serious whimpering on some of his pitches, but he also had all the vegetated/nasty ones.
localdan

Trad climber
Exeter, CA
Mar 9, 2007 - 02:31am PT
Really enjoyed the pics. Thanks for sharing
Slimper

Trad climber
Saltwater, Ut
Mar 10, 2007 - 06:16pm PT
Great TR, those photos are truly inspiring.
MedDeviceEngineer

Trad climber
Ca
Mar 10, 2007 - 11:53pm PT
Sweet photos. you earned that check!
Marc
marty(r)

climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 11, 2007 - 04:03am PT
Flouride,
I teach at Hillsdale High in San Mateo (San Mateo Unified). I'm actually not sure if this was an examination copy or something that's being used specifically in Special Ed classes--it was in the SpEd office. Anyhow, glad it turned into such a rad thread.
Jerry Dodrill

climber
Bodega, CA
Mar 11, 2007 - 02:58pm PT
Special Ed? How appropriate! HA ha HA ha HAH!!! LOL!

Cheers!
Jerry Dodrill

climber
Sebastopol, CA
Apr 3, 2009 - 01:12pm PT
Bump, because its apparently still waiting for a second ascent and the time is right.
SteveW

Trad climber
The state of confusion
Apr 3, 2009 - 01:22pm PT
Awesome, Jerry
Congratulations on the publishing accomplishment,
and thanks for the great photos, as usual!!!!
survival

Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
Jul 30, 2009 - 02:00pm PT
Holy Freekin' max my eyeballs out!

Nice work Jerry. You da man.
Pewf

climber
nederland
Jul 30, 2009 - 02:19pm PT
Time flies..I climbed my first wall w/ Luke must be 14 or 15 years ago. After teaching myself to aid from Freedom of the Hills, I taught him everything I knew by belaying him on all 40' of Puppy Dome and we hit the Valley and blasted the next day. Total epic on WFLT...I'm surprised we didn't have to get SARed with how clueless we were. I remember the first morning I was getting ready to jug fixed lines off that big ledge (Ahwahnee?) and a baby bird which had fallen out of its nest landed next to my feet. It was lying there dying... I didn't know what to do. Step on it to end the pain? Watch the life slowly drain out of the little thing? I ended up kicking it off and hoped it enjoyed its few seconds of flight before the end. Hoped I wasn't next. I think the only reason we topped out was that retreat down the overhang seemed harder.

I saw Luke last summer by chance in the Indian Peaks here in CO. He was coming down from some morning tele skiing. As of then he was still in Boulder with a web design business (porn-free I think) but heading with his wife for an extended fall trip around the Indian subcontinent. Looks like the domain I had for his email isn't up anymore.

Amanda

Edit: that tsunami is killer
mucci

Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
Jul 30, 2009 - 02:44pm PT
Awsome pix, what a perfect wall, that wave finish is one of the best (about to top out) photos I have seen.
Jingy

Social climber
Flatland, Ca
Jul 30, 2009 - 03:28pm PT
Jerry - I can't say enough about these photos....!!!!

BAD ASSS!!!

Love those corner (arete/dihedral) shots.. Shows the detail of the rock up close, then the perspective draws the eye to the subject...

Nice shots, great shots, I'm in awe

Thanks for posting these photos as a retro-TR...
Jerry Dodrill

climber
Sebastopol, CA
Jul 30, 2009 - 07:29pm PT
Anyone have an extra copy of the recent Mountain Gear catalog with this same shot on the cover? I'd be psyched to get ahold of one.
L

climber
Somewhere under the Milky Way tonight...
Jul 30, 2009 - 07:34pm PT
I might have it, Jerry. I'll check once I get home and let you know.


Daaaammmmn...I remember this thread...those photos were worth a second, third and fourth look.
Jerry Dodrill

climber
Sebastopol, CA
Oct 6, 2010 - 11:36am PT
Sorry to kick a dead dog, I just ran across the above referenced cover from last year. Anyone repeated this thing yet?
philo

Trad climber
Somewhere halfway over the rainbow
Oct 6, 2010 - 11:58am PT
Absolutely wonderful photos Jerry. You have an artist's eye.
couchmaster

climber
pdx
Feb 13, 2013 - 09:38am PT
How did I miss this first go round? Badassed and awesome all at the same time. Thanks for sharing!!! Wow!
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