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Trad
Trad climber
northern CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 4, 2009 - 12:03am PT
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Nostalgia bump. I was in a newsstand and the cover on Rock and Ice caught my eye. The TOC said, "Yosemite's best routes, 5.10 and under, off the beaten path." Hmmm, gotta check that out! So when the article listed Commissioner Buttress it reminded me of this old thread. (Wasn't easy to find because apparently the word "commissioner" comes up in a lot of political threads.) Anyway, good times.
And the Crowley aspect is sort of funny now that they deleted all his posts. I'm glad I quoted him in the response or it would've looked even more out of place.
Gotta get back and finish that route one of these days.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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"Hmmm, gotta check that out! So when the article listed Commissioner Buttress it reminded me of this old thread."
Oh god, anybody who would pick that route as one of Yosemite's best, even among obscure routes, is a sick puppy
Choss, Funky and a bit dangerous too
peace
karl
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Jack Burns
climber
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I got off-route on this thing, too. Might as well tell the story...
So there I was, getting off-route on the Commissioner Buttress and wondering why this "classic" was harder and chossier than I had been told. I managed to spend every piece I had leading up to a small, rounded ledge that I could straddle with both legs. I was extremely disappointed with the fact that I had no gear to build a belay. There was a bomber crack behind the ledge to put a #3 Camalot in but I didn't have any gear left from the lead. So I just straddled that ledge like a birthday pony and yelled down to my partner to not fall because the anchor was "kinda jingus". Anyway, he seconds the pitch without falling and arrives at my awesome rodeo belay. The first thing he does is broadcast his disgust with my poor anchor choice. Next, he reaches behind me, grabs a #3 Camalot off the back of my harness, puts it into the crack behind me and ties us into it.
"If I wanted to solo today, I would have gone soloing" he says.
Oopsie, looks like I had one last peice after all. These days I try to keep all my widgets on a sling or on the front of my harness where I can see them.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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yup Jack
It's totally easy to get off-route on that route. I think I got there too and had to downclimb and traverse. The topo is bogus
peace
karl
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franky
climber
Davis, CA
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Hey there Tom,
I'm looking for a climb to really break into 5.9 on, what do you think? Is this the one?
Sounds like it ;)
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Impaler
Trad climber
Munich
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Yeah, I thought this recent R&I was ridiculous. Knot only their list of 5 routes includes two that are in the ST guide and calls them obscure (which they are definitely knot), but they can't even get the names of the routes right. Super Slab? WTF? Super Slide is not even that good - kind of average for the valley. The other three I haven't done, but they don't even look like anything worth the hike. The Valley has so many routes that are way better than that.
Just so we are on the same page, the article listed:
HCS, Regular Route
Super Slide
Commissioner Buttress
The Sequel on HCR
Absolutely free (possibly an exception to what I said above, but I haven't done it).
I'm disappointed.
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Impaler
Trad climber
Munich
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Dingus,
That's hilarious. ROTFLOL!
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Trad
Trad climber
northern CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 4, 2009 - 11:57am PT
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About the route, the R&I piece says "Commissioner is also short and truly moderate..."
If you replace the word "moderate" there with the word "desperate" it better describes my experience on the first pitch. Ha!
Well, it's easy to criticize but I'll at least compliment R & I and the author for putting out something on routes that mere mortals might climb, that not everyone has heard of a million times before.
And the comments here are reassuring in that, despite the route getting written up in a climbing rag, it doesn't sound like I'll have to wait in Nutcracker-like lines at the base if/when I ever go back to try and finish the route!
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msiddens
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA
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How funny, did this route last Spring. Enjoyed it and considered it a tad obscure and tough for the grade. Old School Yo 5.9. Worth doing but had its share of adventure. Do it!
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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When I was breaking into doing climbs akin to the ones in the article, J insisted that I climb Commissioner Buttress before he would do the NEB of Higher with me.
I will say that having done the former, I was more confident on the latter.
I laughed at the "no lines" bit about Higher Spire and Superslide though. One day last summer, I think we counted 9 people on the Spire summit at once (as viewed from across the gulley. And about a month ago, I participated in a conga of at least as many people on Superslide.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Why is it called Commissioner Buttress?
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scuffy b
climber
Whuttiz that Monstrosicos Inferno?
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Manure Pile Buttress was also called Ranger Rock in the old days, because
it was used for some kind of training.
I did the climb in 74 and went back soon after to climb it with my brother, who hadn't climbed much but showed lots of promise.
Apparently, I liked it. I let him lead the last pitch, which I recalled as
class 4. He took a while to lead it, and when I followed I thought it was
more like 5.6. It was his first lead.
Went back in 2000, tweaked a back muscle on the first pitch, decided it was the hardest 5.9 going.
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