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Tarbuster
climber
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jun 2, 2007 - 11:54pm PT
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Yup, It’s That Time of Year Once Again:
A Time When the Tuff Get Going, Ever Upward,
And the Slackers Flop into the Flatirons…
…too many slabby faces and sunny summits to list, but you get the picture.
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Tarbuster
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 2, 2007 - 11:57pm PT
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‘Ole Tim Stich and Turdbuster head out at o’noon thirty tehday,
Fixin’ to rack up and conquistador us some fine, useless, low angle grovels.
This here purty slabfest specimen is called Satan’s Slab, but we walked on past:
Our goal was fixed on the Hilbilly Rock, dead center,
Then onto the Amoeboid, just behind the Hillbilly and out of view,
And thence onward, upward to the Hippo Head, seen gracing the skyline, top center:
Tim, topping out on the Hillbilly Rock:
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Tarbuster
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 2, 2007 - 11:58pm PT
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From the Summit of Hillbilly Rock,
We cud see straight way out onto the sterling flanks of the Amoeboid:
This’n shows me,
A draggin’ the rope up the Amoeboid’s “Buckets”:
And here we have Stich,
Also draggin’ the rope up them buckits:
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 3, 2007 - 12:00am PT
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Lastly,
Stich toppin’ ‘er out on the Hippo Head:
…With a view down from the summit,
Looking back on to the road leading to the sandstone building complex of NCAR, where we started out:
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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that's a swell post, thanks - those flatirons go on and on and...
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Jello
Social climber
No Ut
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Tarbaby, you bring me back to "Sweet home...Ala......."Boulder.
-JelloWishesHeWasThere
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WBraun
climber
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The best shot is looking out into Kansas.
Nice flat land. Screw the mountains. It's too rough and cold.
Friday nights it's softball baseball.
Cruz main street saturday nights. Oh what a blast.
Grow corn and vegetables all week.
Now that's the life.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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nice and easy guys... hey what was in those packs? hope you had a good celebration on top!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 3, 2007 - 12:19am PT
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Gerry Roach, author of the Flatirons Guide, was once asked what his favorite mountain was...
Much to the questioner's surprise, he said: "Green Mountain".
Green mountain is the central mass in the first panaorama at thread top. Roach has climbed an incredible number of mountains, something like every named peak over 12,000' feet in Colorado, huffed up peaks the world over, Everest...
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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The most fun I've ever had is climbing around the backsides of various of the flatirons.
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girasolgrl
Trad climber
Colorado Springs, CO
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Okay, so who'd like to give me the Flatiron tour? Nice pics, Stich! I think I know what is in that bag....
;-)
GG
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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That looks like a lot of fun. Fjell rangling, as it's called in Norway.
Alternative alliterative appellations:
Flipflapflopping in the Flatirons.
Filibustering in the Flatirons.
Finagling in the Flatirons.
Fiddling in the Flatirons.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 3, 2007 - 12:27am PT
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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the climbing looks cool, it's the hike that's out of the question!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 3, 2007 - 12:36am PT
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 3, 2007 - 12:47am PT
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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very cool indeed Roy, thanks
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 3, 2007 - 01:08am PT
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Flying in the Flatirons.
Flourishing in the Flatirons.
Flugelhorning in the Flatirons.
Flatfooting in the Flatirons.
Floculating in the Flatirons.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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I wonder what Werner's spell check will make of flugelhorning and floculating?
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 3, 2007 - 01:13am PT
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A floozy florest was flushing in a flurry of flushing flora up in the florid Flatirons...
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Watusi
Social climber
Joshua Tree, CA
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Flippin'Flantastic! Looks like alot of fun Roy!!
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Landgolier
climber
the flatness
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Somebody want to lay down the basic camping beta for the flatirons for those of us who might trickle down there after a certain SE Wyoming gathering in early august?
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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there is a small campground a short drive up Boulder canyon (Canyon Blvd) I forget the name someone here'll know it though...not a lot else near town I believe
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Jude Bischoff
Ice climber
Palm Springs
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Bevin, my daughter and I asked the local climbing shop in Boulder what climb they recommended. The First flat iron is the Boulder classic, was the reply. The following morning as we geared up in the parking lot, my daughter insisted she could proceed no further unless she had a red bull, actually two of them. There would be no arguing with her. I waited while she went off and charged up.
The climb is 5.6 and that was pretty much the first pitch. The views were unbelieveable, what a line, and sharing it with Bevin was amazing. There were many exciting moves and the rap off the summit from the high point of the flat iron to terra firma is a fresh air classic. I'll remember that climb the rest of my days.
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Jude Bischoff
Ice climber
Palm Springs
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There is a hostil in town that was a bargain. The closest camping we found was an hour away.
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Steve Komito wrote a fine piece introducing Boulder climbing to the mainly British readers of Mountain, many years back. Mine's buried deep in the attic, somebody have a copy they can find and scan? It contained a memorable line about the paradox of Green Mountain climbing, where you could hear "the Muzak of the new shopping center and the silence of the ancient flatirons."
Loved those hills when I lived there. They seemed so empty then, too.
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Wonder
climber
WA
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Thanks for the close up shots, Roy. As you know this is the closest I got:
It was really hot this day.
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Maysho
climber
Truckee, CA
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Good morning Roy! Looked like flatout flowing fun was fully felt.
Only climbed there once.
On me 18th birthday (another fine June day) I went up with Dan Michael and led Death and Transfiguration. On topping out I was swooped by a glider, so close, I felt compelled to duck. That evening, what a thrill to order 3.2 beer in town, and I did not even like beer. Dan and I were enjoying a "classics tour" and did Wunch's Dihedral the day before, and the Flame the day after, and my first day in Colo. that trip, we tried to do a repeat of the just done Kloeber-Jules Verne-Leans Dream-Naked Edge, and I couldn't do the face on Jules Verne and had to jump! Always remember the blueberry pancakes at the original Good Earth. Great days.
Peter
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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RE:
"Somebody want to lay down the basic camping beta for the flatirons for those of us who might trickle down there after a certain SE Wyoming gathering in early august?"
http://www.bouldermountainlodge.com
I stayed there once, they have a few campsites not bad close to Boulder - FYI
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 3, 2007 - 11:27am PT
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Last I checked, $20 per night, showers, tables, hot tub.
No reservations, first come first served, try mid week.
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Tim and Roy,
I was wandering around on Green Mountain yesterday also; too bad I missed you. What a glorious day ! Wildflowers were the best I have ever seen them.
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Gentleman, it looks like fun.
Tar, is that hat the new Petzl composite superlight?
Thanks.
Zander
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 3, 2007 - 05:28pm PT
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No Zander: it is a Stetson.
Yes Rick, the air was very sweet yesterday.
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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so,
the name
Blown Out Climber Series
has already been taken,
that means I have to figure out a name for my upcoming series...
maybe,
Burnt Out Climber Series?
Washed Up Climber Series?
Completely Cooked Climber Series (I like that one)
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 3, 2007 - 06:39pm PT
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...Rising from the Ashes Climber Series.
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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that's really good,
how 'bout
Dawn Of The Living Dead Climber series :)
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valygrl
climber
Boulder, CO
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The hot tub at Boulder Mtn Lodge was broken when I stayed there in March.
Hey Jude!! .... I just love saying that
Anyway, Hey, Jude, I moved to Boulder, email me if you are coming back.
Anna (formerly from Santa Cruz)
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girasol
Trad climber
Colorado Springs, CO
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Hey Stich -
Nice free solo! I would really love to climb with you in the Flatirons next weekend, but alas, I already have a date with this hot climber dude. And I have some very special places I want to take him climbing blindfolded. I guess I will have to take a raincheck on the Flatirons, maybe last weekend in June?
Girasol
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goatboy smellz
climber
colorado
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Hear Hear Royboy & Stichtoy is this the Green Mountain appreciation thread incognito, hush hush nudge wink?
Anyone looking to camp in Boulder after the veda boolgaloo we have some space reserved.
Provided you have the mojo for the get go.
five flat facres fhalf fa fmile fnorth of ftown for free NOoo faliens!
See you in voo.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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A little Death and Transfiguration featuring Roger Briggs from the very beginning. Fourth Flatiron classic.
From Climb by Godfrey and Chelton 1977
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WBraun
climber
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Great cut loose shots Steve. Death and Transfiguration nice route name too.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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I have lots of climbing images all told. Too much fun digging around for the next one and kicking up the past.
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Wes Allen
Boulder climber
KY
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He proposed on one of the flatirons, married last Saturday with them in the background...
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 8, 2007 - 10:54pm PT
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OK, there's lots of real cool steep stone in the Flatirons to be sure,
Like that Death & Transfig jobber that Grossman posted in B&W just upthread.
Super cool to be sure and historically relevant and all cool moves and tradlike & suchwise!
Below, on the cover of Rossiter's outa print guidebook,
Is a good look at a "modern" sport climber swath of Rock:
...so sumthin' fer everyone!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 8, 2007 - 10:55pm PT
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Yup, Sumthin fer All Everybody’s Mind-Body.
I'm currently more so entangled in the more slabby Festive Flatiron Fluff,
Like the jaunty East Face of Seal Rock:
(detail from Rossiter's book)
Me and the wifey wife, back in the big year 2000, rompin’ that thing:
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 8, 2007 - 10:56pm PT
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Lisa, AKA Super Girl, standin’ on the tippy top of Seal Rock:
She’s showin’ like, some Croftian jowls in this summit snap:
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 8, 2007 - 10:57pm PT
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On the rappel descent, you get to ogle a wicked trad test piece,
Done by Achey & Briggs back in ’82,
The fierce and far-runout Archeopteryx:
I think it goes up the black streak, with no protection bolts, just a drilled pin belay near the roof...
(somebody get that Hankster on the blower...)
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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cool
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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First and foremost, congratulations to the Newlyweds! Mighty grand spot to tie the knot and you two look marvelous.
Ever done the 5.8 route on Satan's Slab with the bolts placed in the cobbles?
Archeopteryx looks like a runaway train! How hard?
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 9, 2007 - 09:17am PT
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Ditto on the happy couple and best wishes for connubial bliss!
That is a cool shot of the betrothed in front of the 1st Flatiron.
Hmm, 'never seen the bolted cobbles Steve...
Seal Rock's Archeopteryx,
From Rossiter's guide: such nice drawings.
I'm thinking this was on-sighted.
Where's Hankster when we need 'im?
...Not a gangster, just a prankster.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Thanks Roy,
What is the s/vs rating about? Scary/very scary? A few more pics from Climb to assist the morning coffee.
The Northwest Passage on the Third.
And the ever popular and very memorable Maiden. Jiggy on up the easy way and treat yourself to arguably the coolest rappel in the land!
Cleve McCarty photo.
Dale Johnson in the thick of it on the Northwest Overhang FA while others enjoy the show.
Dale got the funk...
And lastly some ole school funky teamwork to get past the tricky bits!
Ya got me????
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 10, 2007 - 10:07am PT
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Lotta history there Steve.
North West Passage is a cool excercise; we did it by combining with the Direct North Face, which means we did a nice longer line, but missed some of the historically relevent features of that climb...
N Face of the 3rd Flatiron:
The line of DNF, finishing with the roof on NW Passage:
This made for some good crack climbing on the lower section, a starightforward left facing diehedral in the middle, and an airy headwall pitch getting to the roof.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 10, 2007 - 10:16am PT
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I don't have any personal experience with Archeopteryx Steve, other than rapelling sraight down it. It is a relatively crackless face, with maybe some water chute features which might take a mid/large size cam, maybe some gear higher up.
Perhaps Jello or Oli know something, ot Matt Samet. It has a rep for sure, as a run out test piece. Roger Briggs says the whole face feels to him like "The Diamond" (Longs Peak) of The Flatirons.
It certainly is one stimulating looking swath of rock and the runout is fierce.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 10, 2007 - 11:01am PT
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Here's a classy and somewhat under heralded route from 1963,
Rogue's Arete on Overhang Rock, done by Kor & Ament:
The climbing is steep and thrilling in spots, with a single bolt at a slabby crux. There is a lot a stuff out there that was freed in Kroenhoffers, which turns out to be plenty technical and very rewarding.
I grew up in Taquitz & Yosemite and it was most often both revealing and rewarding to do stuff which had been freed during the Golden Age, and likewise to be so instructed as to the acrobatic utility evidenced by those guys in their efforts.
Colorado is rich with cool historically significant climbs, many of which are not forgotten, but not so popular, plenty stout and well worth a look.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jun 10, 2007 - 11:53am PT
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Mouth watering shots Roy. It's a parralel universe in CO. Haven't spent much time there since the early seventies but lots to sample and taste with a strong historical flavor. Lucky place to be and you are soaking in it!
Cheers
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 10, 2007 - 10:40pm PT
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You know it dude,
This place has some terrain to knock around in.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 10, 2007 - 10:42pm PT
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Managed some more slabbaneering yesterday,
Dinosaur Mtn:
We headed for 3 summits,
Red Devil, to The Box, then up Fum.
All 3 crags on the right side of the pic:
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 10, 2007 - 10:47pm PT
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Goatboy gaining the first pitch of Red Devil:
A rare vert moment on a Flatiron east face for Tarbousier:
Goatster followin up:
And Rollin' up on top of Red Devil, headed for The Box:
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 10, 2007 - 10:49pm PT
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From the summit of The Box,
Looking out toward "Fum"; of Fee Fi Fo & Fum:
And the final prance, up Fum:
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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Jun 10, 2007 - 11:33pm PT
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way cool, linking formations like that - and getting to see climbs I really had no idea even existed - thanks.
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Jello
Social climber
No Ut
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Jun 11, 2007 - 12:56am PT
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Tarbs, you always find creative ways to burn the carbs. Love them tilted-up flat rock thingies.
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jun 11, 2007 - 01:03am PT
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Steve, Layton and I place no bolts at all when we did the first ascent of Satan's Slab. Are there bolts now?
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girasol
Trad climber
Colorado Springs, CO
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Jun 11, 2007 - 08:37am PT
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Wow, okay, Flatirons are definitely calling...thanks for posting all of those great pics!
Stich - Looking forward to seeing those pics from Elevenmile!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 11, 2007 - 10:03am PT
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Oli,
Any story behind Rogues Arete?
Such a stunning line; pretty cool how it kicks up right at the top.
Also, last I climbed Satan's Slab, no bolts.
Steve may be referring to one of the SW facing routes on the rock.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 11, 2007 - 10:14am PT
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Which route on Thorodin Stich?
Sure was warm enough to be up there.
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nature
climber
Flagstaff, AZ
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Jun 11, 2007 - 11:33am PT
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man... in some of those shots ya'll's look like you are crawling, not climbing.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 11, 2007 - 11:40am PT
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...and that's with extra tilt on the photos!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jun 11, 2007 - 12:23pm PT
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We're talking three decades back on Satan's Slab. I recall a steep cobbled 5.8 route with an old Leeper placed into an inset cobble. No big. I also remember sneaking through train tunnels to get out there?!? Way back.
Gotta love those wrinkly old towers. Touch em all Roy!
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jun 12, 2007 - 03:09am PT
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I could tell you so many stories from my experiences in and around the flatirons, it would need a whole website of its own. I systematically through the years climbed every summit, every rock, every obscure rock, from Mickey Mouse to Flagstaff, and some of them fifty times each. I mean, I KNOW the area, every blade of grass, every sunset and sunrise. I was intimate with any mood one could imagine. I've camped high up there among the rocks of Green and Bear, just lying out between a couple of pines on a sandy spot below the stars. I grew up in those rocks and among such stellar individuals as Baker Armstrong, the magician, and one of my grat mentors.
As a 14 year old kid one hot summer day I went with Larry Dalke and Joe Fullop to do some climbing. We caught a ride with Larry's older sister to Eldorado, hiked the 45 minutes up those steep, sweltering slopes and up those boulders through pines to the Maiden and climbed it. After the wild rappel off that pinnacle, we'd already finished our one bottle of water each but headed up the very rough, rocky, pine terrain north to Devil's Thumb, where we did both routes on the east face, strenous climbing over that east overhang. Ready to have heat stroke we continued up the endless, hot ridge of Bear Mountain to the top of the mountain and then down the long slopes north into Bear Canyon. We got a couple dirty sips of water, lying face down to drink out of a couple of puddles with spiders skimming their surface. Then the long remaining hike north to Larry's home at the southwest edge of Boulder (there was no Table Mesa then). Along that final hike, a cow chased us in a field. We ran with out packs flapping heavily against our backs and made it over a fence just in time.
Larry and I frequently went up and spent the night atop Square Rock or somewhere, in those years when no one was up there, almost no one ever.
Rogue's Arete was a phenomenal climb for its day, really the first 5.10 in the area, in 1963. Kor made me skip school, and we did the long hike from Boulder over to the fortress-like, formidable Overhang Rock. That wild, steep north wall was a great looking line. From a distance it's hard to imagine how it could be climbed. I led up a pitch and anchored well. I had caught Kor a couple times already and knew to anchor doubly. He raced up to me and started leading the vertical arete above. He stepped gracefully with his left foot onto a thin edge, and it broke off. He was a good 15-20 feet directly above me and fell past me, down another thirty feet or so before the rope caught him as he landed in a small bush upsidedown, face up, legs pointed skyward toward me. He had an anguished look, but nothing ever much discouraged Kor or stopped him. Without further adieu he ran back up and led the pitch. He stopped for a belay on what was no more than a foothold, with a couple pitons behind a block. It seemed logical for him to continue leading the third pitch, as it would be hard for me to get around his large body. He then led that last 40-or whatever-foot section, up rock that seemed to overhang slightly but was probably only vertical. There was no protection, not a single piece, and he mastered that stretch of rock. I wasn't worried i the slightest that he would fall. When he turned his mind, he was remarkable. He crawled onto the summit ridge. I will never forget following that pitch and thinking it was impressive.
I could tell you about making the first free ascent of the West wall of the Third, called Saturday's Folly, one of the most beautiful, yellow walls on the planet in afternoon sun. Or I could tell you about Fail Safe, a 5.10 crack I led going up a virtual roof on the backside of the third. But maybe Soarks is the one to mention, also on the back of the Third. It's a wonderful memory of climbing in the middle of a hot summer with Tom Higgins. I had found this horrendous, overhanging wall that looked possibly climbable. It was an unusual method I used to place the one bolt the route required. Reaching the base of the wall we realized neither of us had brought a hammer. I led half way up the wall to a tiny indentation that required balance. The rock was steep and getting radically steeper. I found a way to wedge my forearm between two points, i.e., my elbow and heel of my hand jammed between to protruding edges. This allowed the fingers of my left hand to be free and to hold the drill, while with the right hand I first hauled up a heavy stone with the rope and hammered on the drill with the stone. This took a long time, and I got so tired doing that I came down. Higgins went up and led the overhang, got a shaky nut in and a small sling around a flake. As he made the 5.10 move, the nut fell out. He moved up and around the corner at the top, raving and moaning that he had really gotten away with something. When I followed, if I were to fall I'd swing fifty feet or more out into space and around the corner south. Gliders were soaring very near overhead, giving me that empty-stomach sense that I too would soon be gliding. It was so hot no chalk helped much. Hands just stayed greasy and sweaty. But I chalked and chalked until I finally had to do or die. Up I went and made it solidly, but it was a rush. It was the fourth of July, and already fireworks were going off down in Boulder, so we named the route Sparks, but Mountain Magazine misprinted it Soarks, and we liked that name better...
Pat
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 12, 2007 - 12:44pm PT
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Stich:
Same for me when I went up there, CMC chimney route.
Gotta go back for more.
(can you please downsize that photo bro?)
Oli:
Great little history on Rogue's Arete, thank you very much for that. I really enjoyed the climb, one of the better "obscure" routes in the area -funny too, because it is highly visible. It scares some folks and is a stunning, sparsely protected line, which does not see so many ascents.
The Flatirons have so much: in my extended convalscence I've done some 50,000' of low angle slab. Then there are many steep trad test piece routes which rarely see an ascent, like The Inferno (!) and now quite a few darling sport routes, tucked away in secluded spots.
Cheers & Berg Heil,
Roy
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dmalloy
Trad climber
eastside
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Jun 12, 2007 - 02:02pm PT
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thanks for the pictures and stories, guys....I second the motion to Please downsize that photo, so I can read Oli's tale(s) without getting motion sickness. It would be a shame for me to vomit all over all this paper I am shuffling around here.
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jun 12, 2007 - 08:25pm PT
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I think far back in this thread someone has it wrong about the Briggs-Achey climb on Seal Rock. Do you rappel off the north face of Seal? I wouldn't have imagined so. But anything is possible I guess...
Has anyone repeated my route with Higgins called Soarks? That is a wild ride, on the southeast lower side of the Third Flatiron.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 12, 2007 - 08:39pm PT
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I've been off both the South & North sides of Seal Oli.
I posted this shot upthread, in hopes of getting some interest going for the Briggs/Achey Archeopteryx:
This rappel is from the top of a route started by Rossiter in the late 80's, called Sea of Joy, which is left of Archeopteryx.
A-teryx (I think) takes the black lichen streak and angles right.
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jun 13, 2007 - 12:41am PT
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ok. I never got a close up look at the route, strangely. Jeff Achey. Now there's a thread...
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jun 15, 2007 - 03:44am PT
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One night Larry and I found ourselves (he was 15 and I 14) on top of Square Rock, where we intended to spend the night. Sometimes we hiked up into those beautifully lone places now flooded by the masses and found some nice flat summit that would give us protection and let us see the stars and think about the climbing we would do next day.
This night, we heard a noise below, a rather loud, heavy noise. It sounded frightening. It sounded big, like an oversize bear, or some other kind of monster we'd never imagined. We didn't dare look over the edge. Was it the Wendego? Thank heaven we had the square walls of the rock to keep the intruder away. What if it could climb, though? That was a terrifying thought.
Finally Larry had the courage to inch over to the edge and look down with his flashlight at what was moving around near the tree we climbed to get started up the northwest corner of the rock. A remarkably fat cow had wandered up into the hills... and was trying to figure out how to get up there and join us to watch the stars.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jun 16, 2007 - 09:36pm PT
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So Oli, how does the wendego relate to the route of that name that you did with Larry Dalke in Eldorado, Rincon area?
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Jello
Social climber
No Ut
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Jun 17, 2007 - 01:12am PT
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Stich, sounds like a pretty fun game. I'd participate if I was able.
Steve, Wendego is a cool route. Jeff Achey free climbed it in 1978?. A few months later I repeated it with Pat Adams. Pat followed the crux first pitch barefoot. Classic Eldo climbing with the early crux protected by one of Pat's old upside-down pins driven at the start of the hanging dihedral. Maybe it wasn't Pats' piton, but I like to think it was.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jun 17, 2007 - 03:16pm PT
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In 1986 I did Rincon (Reveley direct finish too) with Steve Matous and had a good look at it. Haven't been around Boulder since but the name is still lodged in my head.
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jun 17, 2007 - 07:50pm PT
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The Wendego is a story I heard, maybe on the TV series Twilight Zone or somewhere, when I was young, about some monster that would come out at night and, looking like some giant kangaroo, but with fangs, jump from tree top to tree top and sweep down unexpectedly and take certain campers right out of their tents while they were sleeping. I was impressionable, needless to say, and always feared being taken by the Wendego. Often I went looking for any crack or dihedral on which I could practice my aid climbing. Usually I had some less experienced friend, and usually I was thinking about some route in Yosemtie or the Black Canyon, or on Longs I wanted to do. So it would be annoying if I could simply free climb the pitch. The first part of Wendego, up on the Rincon Wall, is an overhanging dihedral leaning to the right in a strange way. It had been raining mightly, and that was the only dry thing in sight, so I went up it with a new gymnast friend who had been a high bar man on the C.U. team. He was just learning climbing. When we got up to the outer wall, we had to come down because of the rain. I returned with Larry Dalke to finish the climb, both of us still pimply teenagers and relatively unsophisticated in terms of free climbing. That someone should come along years later and do that dihedral free hardly surprised me, though I think it's a really good climb and a stiff challenge. But watch out for the Wendego.
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jun 17, 2007 - 07:54pm PT
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Yes, Jeff, that was so far back in time we were still hammering in those soft, silver Simond knife-blades. They were virtually impossible to get out, because they conformed to the inside of the crack. They were great pitons, though. Kor loved them. You could put one in a tiny rurp crack, just by the tip, and it would be bomber. They were great behind thin, loose flakes, not hard enough steel to pry the flake off. I still have visions of some of Kor's upsidedown Simond knifeblades under one of those roof routes... They never pulled out on you like those inferior Chouinard pitons invented later by those wierd guys in California...
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jun 17, 2007 - 07:58pm PT
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Thanks for the story Oli. Route names are usually a mixed bag of meaning, whimsy and outright absurdity which makes the question worth asking.
Eldorado cracks are anything but granite-like, so those soft iron noodles make total sense. Besides, if they held Kor's weight, you had to like your chances.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jun 17, 2007 - 08:22pm PT
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A little more photo flavor from Glenn Randall's Vertigo Games 1983. Skip Guerin barefooting it on Wendego.
Still makes me wince at the thought...
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Jun 18, 2007 - 08:40am PT
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A few years ahead of his time ... Roger Briggs attempts Wendego, mid-70s. Note the complete absence of chalk.
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jun 18, 2007 - 10:54pm PT
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I taught that kid Briggs how to climb, and he thanked me by freeing some of my routes.
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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Jun 19, 2007 - 12:43am PT
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great pic Chiloe - thanks
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jun 19, 2007 - 01:33am PT
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It's one thing to climb up that first little dihedral to the start of the big one. My grandmother could do that. The next thirty feet, though, are pretty stiff.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jun 19, 2007 - 11:11am PT
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Ahh those nice clean and capable hands! Compare and contrast. Eldo is the reason that I quit using chalk in the early seventies. Birdshit covered buckets everywhere on that beautiful stone, even back then. Steve Antel, if you are out there, you created a monster by suggesting the clean alternative to me early on.
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jun 19, 2007 - 12:58pm PT
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In many places Eldorado does pretty well washing the chalk away, or keeping it relatively undiscernible on those faces that are open to the rain. Under the roofs, though, as with Wendego or the roof routes, the rain doesn't reach in there very well. I have always endorsed a colored chalk. There could easily be various colors, choose one to match the route. Red, as with the Wendego dihedral, so that the chalk isn't so offensive. No one cared to follow up, I guess. Yosemite's white rock is great for chalk, though the darker rock is equally bad as Eldorado red for holding the chalk all over holds... Could there be a darker or gray chalk for that rock?
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jun 19, 2007 - 12:58pm PT
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I was, of course, joking about Roger Briggs. There is one who deserves a thread. He was one of the true Colorado stonemasters. Try his route Higher Wisdom sometime. Some really solid 5.11 climbers I know said they couldn't make an upward move on it with a tight top rope, and it was horrifyingly scary, and they couldn't even find ways to make any kind of move upward... I think I might have taught the kid a little too well.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jun 20, 2007 - 12:19am PT
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I didn't think that Briggs could rise any higher in my estimation and whammo, no chalk too. Amazing! Any idea how long he stayed clean handed?
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jun 20, 2007 - 03:18am PT
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I never saw him without chalk, after it came out (Gill and I were the guilty ones, to introduce it, in the mid '60s). So probably about a minute past this photo of him there on Wendego Roger was digging into the bag... (not to disillusion you, he is still one of the great ones).
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jun 20, 2007 - 03:22am PT
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P.S. -- I never thought of being without chalk as "clean handed." In fact, in bouldering, just one person trying a certain route without chalk could ruin that route. The slime, grease, and sweat of such a person's hands would get all over the holds. I saw lots of routes on Flagstaff ruined by people trying them without chalk. The chalk, I found, served as a protection to the rock, as much as to make the holds more usable, though we all agree it can be a little unsightly at times, especially in those places where the rain doesn't reach the rock to wash it off...
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jun 20, 2007 - 11:29am PT
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As I said earlier, Roger is stratospheric in my book, birdshit or not. Curiously, when I would go bouldering, I would take along a trash towel and water bottle to clean off the holds, especially the footholds. People were so tunnel vision about chalk that you would see them chalking up their shoes! Having trouble, use more chalk! That mindset is why the stuff became an eyesore. No thought about the wider impact or aesthetics, all collapses into immediate need. I had no interest in adding to the mess personally and so gave it up.
Arizona had a strong no chalk ethic among the Syndicato Granitica old guard so I was in keeping with tradition by adopting their leave no trace stance.
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Jun 20, 2007 - 11:58am PT
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Quite a visual contrast, looking back at those Wendego photos ca. 1983 with its pre-chalk state ca. 1975!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jun 20, 2007 - 12:08pm PT
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Character assasination and little left to the imagination. Just where the chalk deposits were supposed to go in a rainstorm has always been a mystery to me as a chemist.
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Jun 20, 2007 - 06:17pm PT
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Another scene from the time before chalk: Roger Briggs attempting a first free ascent of South Crack on the Maiden, 1974.
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jun 20, 2007 - 06:41pm PT
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That isn't the "time before chalk." You just don't see it there on the rock in that photo, because that's an open face, and it washes off pretty well. Roger is using it there, I can assure you. Chalk use started with Gill in the early '60s and then me in the mid 1960s. Roger certainly picked it up quickly and liked it.
I don't really disagree with you Steve, in principle, though you make me feel like such a scum bag for using chalk.
I think I was always sensitive, and more so than most, to the environment and to aesthetics. A certain spirit people leave in a climbing area has always been more offensive to me than chalk. Indeed much of what is ugly in the world or in climbing is not visible to the eye. It's always been a compromise for me. We could quickly ruin all the climbs by having the masses climb them with sweaty, greasy hands, or let the chalk buildup be an unsightly layer of protection. I'm not sure what ultimately is right or the best course, but wouldn't it be great if one of the mega-rich companies could do some research and find a way to put a chalk into the climbing world that was invisible? I don't believe it's impossible.
In the meantime I agree that we all could do so much better at eliminating these chalky lines of holds, etc. That's one reason I tried hard for a while to get colored chalk going, but it didn't take, in part because in Eldorado, for example, the rock changes so many different colors, you'd need ten chalk bags.
Erickson used to criticize everyone for chalk use, until he finally succumbed to the reality that he could climb a lot better with it. Often ambition, greed, ego, etc. win out in the climbing world...
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jun 21, 2007 - 12:05am PT
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I moved up to the Northwest in 1987 and started using it again after climbing indoors. I used to needle folks extensively on the matter and fortunately little residual vitriol beyond a good ribbing ever came of it. I did get my commupance, however, when Steve Quinlan gave me and my little bag a long and pitying look before declaring "I've never chalked at Indian Creek." Pause...."Okay, okay, back to the old way," I replied in mock humiliatiion before we both bust up laughing. Gotcha, gotcha good.
Oli- you might be amused to hear that I tried to get a very young Christian Griffith to forsake his chalkbag. He was camping in Camp Four with his parents who had clearly brought him to climb. We had an interesting chat about chalk and its effects but he really wanted to know about Valley 5.10's above all. I could tell by his frequent blinking that I wasn't undoing his tutoring on leading Eldo 5.10's at thirteen or fourteen years old. We both have a good laugh when it comes up.
I always liked the puzzle and discovery of clean stone and tried my best to leave it that way. But Boulder was full of climbers even back in the early seventies and chalk use has never slowed. Bigger fish to fry these days in the area of route preservation.
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jun 21, 2007 - 04:16am PT
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Christian became my "student" or protege, or whatever, when he was 14. I took him up lots of 5.9-ish stuff, and he was fast becoming very skillful. I think his first serious lead was at age 14 when I let him try a short new route I had spotted on the south wall of the lower ramp. He ran it out, in part out of fear, and was so overwhelmed by the head (adrenaline) rush he could hardly anchor properly to bring me up. It was a serious little lead, I think named (by him) Zombies on the Lookout. Within a year's time he started following 5.10 and probably leading a few. I would take him to Flagstaff and lift him up to feel the holds. Little did I imagine how strong he was to become later, as he grew more than a foot and thinned out...
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Beatrix Kiddo
Mountain climber
Denver
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Jun 21, 2007 - 12:30pm PT
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NICE! Some much to the Flatirons besides the standard routes on 1-3.
I need a partner for next Monday in the Flatirons or Boulder Canyon after work if anyone is interested. We could do a group thing. I just can't organize it. I lack the skill
Her Tar. . .Tim tells me we should get out climbing. Seems like we both have a route on Powell pretty high on the ticklist. I have my own cowboy hat too.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 21, 2007 - 12:35pm PT
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Ok, let's saddle up!
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Jun 21, 2007 - 12:37pm PT
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That's a TR I really wanna read! Have fun, guys!
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Jun 22, 2007 - 02:34pm PT
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One more shot of Roger attempting the FFA of South Crack on the Maiden in 1974. Looked adventurous at the time, heading up there with just a dozen or so nuts.
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Jello
Social climber
No Ut
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Jun 22, 2007 - 03:16pm PT
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Chiloe, those pictures of Roger remind me of my own reluctance to use chalk. I held out until 1974. At that point I had been living in Boulder for a couple of years, having a mix of success and failure on the 5.11's in the area. Spring of '74 I broke down and started using chalk. Immediately went into hyperdrive on the hard routes of the era, climbing 25 or 30 5.11's with no failures or falls in one month, ending with a clean on-sight of the Edge with Kevin Donald. I was hooked on the white stuff!
A few years later I climbed that beautiful South Crack with Duncan Ferguson, who followed it barefoot, if my memory is correct. Roger and Duncan would both make good thread subjects, wouldn't they?
-TaintedJello
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Jun 22, 2007 - 03:17pm PT
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I agree.
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jun 27, 2007 - 04:24am PT
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Just because you don't see the chalk in this photo doesn't mean it isn't there. It's subtle. Nice, though, that it's not visible.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Anyone done this one?
From Mountain 94 Dec/Jan 1983/84. Chip Ruckgaber on the crux of Doric Dihedral on Satan's Slab during the FFA. Carl Harrison photo.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 2, 2008 - 08:47pm PT
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Nice recall there Steve.
I've looked at all those old routes like Doric & such.
Cobwebs all over that stuff man... ain't it a shame.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Eventually folks will project these routes and freshen up the fixed pro, etc as necessary to bring them within reason. In the meantime, tales of power will have to do.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 2, 2008 - 09:13pm PT
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"bring them within reason"
hahaha...Think: Dennis Hopper rambling on about Kurtz in "Apocalypse Now",
...or Kurtz hanging from the cord at the train window on the Eiger, perishing!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Shssssssh, Roy you're scaring off the future nimrods with all this Eigertalk! LOL
What a fine adventure this would be. The High Over Boulder description 1976.....
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 2, 2008 - 10:02pm PT
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From: High Over Boulder, 1984
...whutabout that roof on p2?
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Better bring a few Screamaids and micronuggets for that one. Yahoo! 5.12 mantle!
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