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scuffy b
climber
just below the San Andreas
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Feb 26, 2009 - 11:51am PT
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If memory serves, Kevin posted even more better info about this
climb in the big Basket Case thread.
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Feb 26, 2009 - 11:58am PT
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I copied Kevin's post on the first ascent of "Milestone" to Basket Dome Thread
and his account of the first ascent of "The Crufix" to
[url="http://supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=794009&msg=794644#msg794644
"]The Crucifix Thread[/url]
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Doug Buchanan
Mountain climber
Fairbanks Alaska
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Feb 26, 2009 - 01:47pm PT
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There I was, mind you, and it was desperate indeed, albeit as usual.
It was in the dead of winter in the dark of night, lost amid crevasses on a glacier in the heart of the Alaska Range. The mountains towered above and the storm raged.
A lurking suspicion blew by, against the wind.
Exposed flesh freezes in seconds, you know.
To this very day I am not sure if we survived.
What? You already heard the account of that first assent?
That's the problem with the old stories. Just as well walk away from the computer and go live a new story. A walk through the alley is better than reading the truly unique story of the first assent of Mt. Deception in the Alaska Range, among the others.
No, not that Mt. Deception. There are more than one, of course.
Or something like that.
Doug
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MH2
climber
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No, not that Mt. Deception. There are more than one, of course.
Well put, DB.
In recent days as the thread title caught the corner of my eye I started thinking
Old? Check.
Geezer? Redundant.
(Yes, you!) See no one here but me.
FA stories? Hmmmm, my FAs run well into the twos or maybe threes.
Had a look at the thread itself and was steam-rollered by the valued names and ledgend-ary climbs there-in.
But Karl is among other things inclusive.
So here are tidbits.
The top:
Partway down:
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Double D
climber
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Kevin,
Just stumbled upon this gem... great stories of both the Crucifix and the route on Basket Dome.
Warner's reflection of the C4 serenade bathroom brought fond memories... it did have good acoustics, eh?
Thanks also to Lynn & ß Î Ø T Ç H for reviving this thread.
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Kevin, thanks for the info.
Dude. No, Duuude, I know you were busy and all, but There is always (almost) time to take a picture!!
Shame on you. Double shame on you!!
How in the heck will you get pix of someone on the thing?
You gotta network, and talk someone into it!!
Like, is it the "very best" granite?? Maybe you could talk Tommy C. into doing it.
Remember on the Mother Earth thread when a friend of Tommy's said he didn't climb on Middle because he only climbed on the very best granite?
Damn, that cracked me up.........
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Urmas
Social climber
Sierra Eastside
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Here's a story about 2 big wall FA'S that happened concurrently a while back...
A Tale of 2 FA’S
Sean Plunkett and I scoped the line while we were putting up The Prism on the South Face of Mt Watkins the previous summer. This was to be our second route on the face. It would start with some steep slab climbing to the right of The Prism, but left of Bobo’s Buttress. From the ledge at the top of the huge tower in the middle of the face, this route would go straight up, where the previous route had traversed right.
By now we had made enough load carries to the base, we were starting to feel like we owned the place. On the day of our last carry, we arrive at the foot of the approach pitches and to our surprise, find a Japanese fellow who is also ready to blast on a new South Face route, and solo no less!.
He had all the gear, including a fistful of brand new Rawl 5/16” drill bits, which he intended to use for all drilled anchors! To our relief he was eying a line to the left of ours. It would share the start of the Regular South Face [SF] route, but shoot straight up at the lower pendulum. Near Sheraton Watkins, it would cross the SF route, and finish slightly to its right.
The contrast between our ascent tactics and lifestyles-on-the –wall, couldn’t have been much greater. He was lean and driven, we were on a mission to shed some beer tumors. We bivied early and enjoyed the sunset, he worked away into the night. While he listened to the wind, we listened to the boombox. In the end we kept about the same pace.
Before dawn we were woken by the sound his empty food tins bouncing down the face (we all did a big base clean-up afterwards). He went on lead as we were still sipping tea in our bags. His bad luck started early on, when his portaledge broke. From then on, he had to rappel down to a suitable bivi ledge, and then jug back up in the morning. At times he was going up and down 3 pitches or more. Then the weather got shitty.
Cold rain hammered us for 24 hours. We were cold and damp, but we knew he was really hurting. Occasionally we would hear his cry asking for a “weather report”. We couldn’t find one on the box. I’m sure he couldn’t imagine the point of lugging such a large sound system around, that couldn’t even receive weather reports! Bob Marley was coming through loud and clear though. (We named the route Soul Shakedown, after his tune).
Finally the weather cleared, and we were all moving again. Things stayed exciting for him; we watched him take a 40 footer zipper. Things weren’t too tame for us either. I led the crux pitch (expanding copperheading with a ledge fall potential) over two days. Sean drew what turned out to be a full pitch of rivets. As he was drilling, I was sharpening. Finally near the top we made what almost became a costly decision. We left our haulbags and ledges clipped to an anchor at the top of the steep headwall, and pushed for the top with only light storm jackets and climbing gear. It would have been tough hauling around the sharp edge of the face onto the slab around the corner, and the climbing seemed trivial ahead. We bid our companion fare well, and headed for the top.
Wouldn’t you know it though, no sooner were we committed to the upward path, than the weather turned to sh#t again. What had appeared easy to us-would have been…had it been dry. It would have been 5.6 slab, but now I was using hooks and copperheads to aid it under an inch of running water. Of course we made it, and in hindsight believe we made the right call. Wrestling those pigs in the rain on slabs would have been no picnic either.
It took our unfortunate friend 2 more days to top out. He suffered an ordeal with frostbite and hypothermia – we drank martinis at Cedar Lodge.
Soul Shakedown VI 511c A4 Urmas Franosch, Sean Plunkett July, 1994
Seido VI 5.10 A4 Seido Urano July, 1994
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MisterE
Trad climber
One Place or Another
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Bump for the good stuff
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Urmas
Great story-would be superb if you had any photos?
Such a wild adventure, encapsulated in so few paragraphs.
cheers
guido
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drljefe
climber
Old Pueblo, AZ
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May 16, 2010 - 02:41pm PT
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BUMP!
The Warbler rules!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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May 17, 2010 - 10:12am PT
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With a velvet fist...
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426
climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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Yes you bump
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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How is the Buzzard archive at this point?
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jstan
climber
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Gosh!
We all used to be able to write.
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426
climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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Mostly clip ups; tidbits of fixed, have seen some interesting birds (owls/raps)other then the ubiquitous
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philo
Trad climber
Somewhere halfway over the rainbow
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Climbing Bump
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
bouldering
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There is some ice climbing to do in Yosemite Valley.
Even though Lehamite is on the north rim, it's facing west enough to freeze.
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snowhazed
Trad climber
Oaksterdam, CA
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Apr 26, 2012 - 02:49am PT
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bump
(!!!!!!)
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Mar 22, 2014 - 09:46am PT
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Bumpf!
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looks easy from here
climber
Ben Lomond, CA
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Apr 27, 2016 - 08:23pm PT
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Phenomenal climbing content bump. Hopefully generates a bit more activity than it's last two bumps...
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