Owl Roof, Yosemite

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P.Kingsbury

Trad climber

the jeep

Jan 22, 2009 - 05:49pm PT

BUMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cultureshock

Trad climber

Mountain View

Feb 22, 2011 - 07:40pm PT

OW Bump!

Elcapinyoazz

Social climber

Joshua Tree

Feb 22, 2011 - 07:56pm PT

Nice newish bolted belay anchor at the top of P1 of the Bypass (8' or so below the old one with some sketchy mank) for you heroes making attempts on the roof. Take a tight hands piece for the bit up to the roof proper and a blue, gray, purple camalot for the roof itself with a optional 6" piece. Looks all wide, but tapers fast inside, you'll be climbing wide fists to a kick through, hard sit up move into a bar/wing. Nice crispy quartz edges/fins on the left side edge when facing it from below start about halfway out and can help a bit.

Have fun. The approach pitch is worth climbing in its own right, really good long 5.9, mostly hands to tight hands, slightly flaring, really pebbly inside.

Salamanizer

Trad climber

The land of Fruits & Nuts!

Feb 22, 2011 - 08:56pm PT

Climbed it two weeks ago. I don't think that "new" anchor is that new.
I had two blue #3's and a #6 C4 and let me tell ya, the #6 will just get in your way. 3 #3's is the magic ticket, maybe a #4 at the lip.

BTW, I did not redpoint. Must recruit better belayer and bring tape.

Elcapinyoazz

Social climber

Joshua Tree

Feb 22, 2011 - 10:09pm PT

Yeah, it ain't last week new, but it's nice 3/8"ers and spankin new compared to the fixed junk from the old anchor, I'd guess it was done within last 6-8yrs anyway. I used old 3, 3.5, 4 camalots...6 friend wasn't placed, but you could throw it in behind you before starting the pivot. Might be hard to see the placements if using only 3s once you're out past halfway since they'd be a little deep.

Only tried it that one day, two burns no send. Partner came as close to onsighting it as you could without actually doing it. He sat up, got the wing, patiently moved feet, was reaching to gaston or something with the other arm, basically upright and starting to sort of standup and started to oozed backwards then rifled out.

Real funky size just small enough where I can barely get a wide fist in certain places,and they feel super-marginal...like you really don't want to drop feet and kick through because you think they'll pop, in all but those couple of spots it's too wide for my fists. If I go back, I'll concede to using tick marks...hanging around dragging your fist back and forth looking for that one spot, while horizontal and hanging off another fist that feels like it could go any second is kind of tiring, and I've only got about 3 or 4 attempts on that thing in me during a session.

Alexey

Trad climber

San Jose, CA

Dec 17, 2012 - 06:27pm PT

I wonder about this crux "one move from sit-up"
Is this kind of inversion ?
Also think that building plywood prototype of ow roof can help for training to get ready for Owl.
So what is geometry of this roof?

correct me if I am wrong: deep fists before the lip. Than to the lip fists disappears and it turn out to be 6" ?

Elcapinyoazz

Social climber

Joshua Tree

Dec 17, 2012 - 07:31pm PT

Alexey, yes it's a situp from a kickthrough inversion. Before that it's wide fists, deep inside. You can reach about halfway out the roof before your feet ever leave the back wall. The crack is much wider at the lip than inside (tapers) and then gets slightly wider the further out the roof you go until it just flares open. Toward the end of the roof, it flares open wide enough to get your legs/hips in there.

So it is flaring in two directions with the flare getting wider toward the ground and toward the valley side. As you get about two moves out after getting your feet into the crack, just over halfway out the roof, you can drop your feet, hang off your fists, then swing your legs around and put your feet/legs back into the crack ahead of your body.

It's a standard "kick through". At that point, you can really bury your legs up in there and are hanging off your feet at the end of the roof. Then you do the big situp/pivot move, and can get an armbar or wing above the lip of the roof with your body in a mostly horizontal position. This is all pretty straightforward to this point, especially if you have large hands. The next bit is the technical crux, and requires many little small movements as you get your upper body over your feet.

My hands are probably average size for my height (~ 5'9") and it is REALLY difficult for me to find spots in the crack to get solid fists. The jams feel really marginal but there are enough spots there if you hunt for them. I kicked through much earlier than my partner and used the little edges on the lip of the crack to help from there, but he did an extra fist jam and skipped using those edges.

It's worth going up there even if you don't send. The approach pitch is worth the trouble. I think it's one of the best 5.9 crack pitches in the valley.

Alexey

Trad climber

San Jose, CA

Dec 17, 2012 - 07:47pm PT

Elcap, thanks for the Beta. I've climb this 5.9 pitch before and it is 5stars, but roof itself, and especially rating 5.12 and the fact that Salamanizer give up before- scare me to even to try it.
Do you think it possible to start roof with feet ahead of the hands ( like climbing reversing) and this will transfer smoothly to inversion without kick off the feet in the void ?

Jaybro

Social climber

Wolf City, Wyoming

Dec 17, 2012 - 07:55pm PT

You're ready Alexei, go for it! It's safe and amazingly cool. Short approach too!

Elcapinyoazz

Social climber

Joshua Tree

Dec 17, 2012 - 07:57pm PT

I think it would be hard to start the roof that way because your feet won't be very deep at the beginning and it will make moving the fists much harder. On one attempt, I tried to reach out as far as possible, and then immediately kick through, but I had the problem I'm talking about.

Since you are moving toward your feet doing it that way, the move requires your hips/body to sag down (compared to going the normal way, where making the move causes your body to get closer to the plane of the roof). This sagging pulls your whole body away from the crack and makes it hard to get your fists deep enough for good jams.

Don't be intimidated. It is hard, but it's very short. It's also easy to bail.

WBraun

climber

Dec 17, 2012 - 08:11pm PT

Just throw a bunch of natural chock stones in the roof and it will go 5.9 .......

rockermike

Trad climber

Berkeley

Dec 17, 2012 - 08:16pm PT

Mark Chapman on Owl

Jaybro

Social climber

Wolf City, Wyoming

Dec 18, 2012 - 07:36am PT

Saw you posted on that Lucille thread too, Alexey. I rated Lucille (.13a) using The Owl, and Paisano both .12c as a yardstick. I'm pretty sure no one else has done all three. You are in a unique position to do that next! The owl is in your backyard, Vedauwoo is a straight shot down I-80, idylewild is more Involved to get to, but not that far all in all.
Meet you in Vedauwoo this summer?

BASE104

Social climber

An Oil Field

Dec 18, 2012 - 12:11pm PT

Yeah, Dale was the best crack climber that I ever saw. Now things have progressed, as they always have, and Honnold soloed Cosmic Debris and the Phoenix.

I wonder if he would solo Lucille or Owl Roof or any of the other heinous offwidths that take a thousand calories per inch.

k-man

Gym climber

SCruz

Dec 18, 2012 - 01:23pm PT

I've always wondered about EE. Ivo showed me some smoking images of Dean at the lip of EE, said it was likely an FA ... Who knows.

This Owl Roof history, Rich!! Fun reading through the editions, but Lo, I am so the arm-chair reader here. Lol.

FTOR

Sport climber

Dec 18, 2012 - 02:25pm PT

gone up there a few times with some strong ow climbers to no avail. think the last time was with wbraun and ccole. on an early attempt with daltman we spotted a line up the hill from the regular start that we came back later and climbed. can't even remember the name and doubt it's had many ascents if any, is it in the guide?

edit: stroke? that could be it... not too many cells left from that era.

scuffy b

climber

heading slowly NNW

Dec 18, 2012 - 02:29pm PT

Wasn't that Stroke?

Clint Cummins

Trad climber

SF Bay area, CA

Oct 1, 2013 - 05:08pm PT

Jaybro wrote (in 2004):

I was in the valley and was introduced to a very young looking Dale Bard as the first guy to REALLY free climb the Owl.-early Meyers Green-top-ring-guide era.
Then came the Lakey/Jardine show. I really don't know what to make of any of this in a factual sense, but, I'd put my money on Bard.

Werner wrote (in 2005):

I talked to Kauk today at the deli and he told me Dale and him removed the chockstone from the roof. They both had to work it over a couple of days and Dale managed to lead it first, not an onsight flash like some want to believe.

I asked Ray Jardine about this yesterday, and he was good friends with Dale and Ron in those days - they bouldered together, etc. He said the correct chronology starting with the chockstone removal is:

Dale and Ron removed the chockstone and started working on it. They got up it, but not free at this time.

1977-04-04 Ray Jardine and John Lakey started working on it

Ray worked on it for 12 days (was also working on The Phoenix at that time); John worked on it for 10 days.

1977-05-03 John led it free for the FFA

1977-05-05 Ray led it for the 2nd free ascent

1977-05-07 Dale led it for the 3rd free

1977-05-07 Ron led it for the 4th free (date might be later; unclear)

The dates and discussion of timing are in Ray's climbing log:
http://www.rayjardine.com/adventures/Climbing/climbing_log/index.htm