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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 25, 2008 - 05:40pm PT
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Steve,
Bongs Away Center is very clean - it should have been easy to spot if you rapped from Bongs Away Left.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Mar 25, 2008 - 11:55pm PT
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Eric at the top of p1. You can see the ultra-thin lieback flake of Duck and Cover above and to the right of Eric. Also the yawning darkness of the "200 foot chimney" is on the right margin of the image:
Eric about half way through the crux dike traverse on p2, heading for the bush. This is now protected by a bolt, but on this trip we didn't have much in on the traverse.
Eric on the p3 lead off the belay of p2, this is the '5.7 2-3"' first part, with him moving over out of the crack
Eric on p4 just below the thin, steep crack going up to the head wall.
notice the hummock in the foreground and the vegetated environment. Be kind to the vegetables!
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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Mar 26, 2008 - 12:05am PT
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Very cool Clint! Thanks for the post. It is true there is new stuff everywhere.
From one of your pictures, I recognized a climb I did with Grant about twenty years ago. It is the crack system to the right of the Center Route of Bongs Away with a tree in it. The climbing was three short pitches and involved some tree climbing and an angry community of ants.
Ken
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 26, 2008 - 02:05am PT
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Ken,
> I recognized a climb I did with Grant about twenty years ago. It is the crack system to the right of the Center Route of Bongs Away with a tree in it. The climbing was three short pitches and involved some tree climbing and an angry community of ants.
Cool. Is it the one labelled "Bongs Away Right" in the latest Reid and Supertopo guides?
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Mar 26, 2008 - 02:39am PT
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Thank you - another one for my pre/post FaceLift list.
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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Mar 26, 2008 - 08:30am PT
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Yes Clint. We called it Bonged Out as it appeared to be the last line to the formation.
Ken
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drc
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Mar 26, 2008 - 04:28pm PT
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bump, Ed's got the right idea.
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tadhunt
Trad climber
Sunnyvale, CA
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Yo,
Just wanted to drop some kudos to the FA party. My friend Dan and I just did this climb on Saturday 04/05. Lots of fun!
I must admit that we weren't expecting quite so runout climbing! I wouldn't recommend this route to someone that isn't a very confident leader at the grade.
Leading P2, I was very happy for the 2 bolts (one on the crux 5.8 face before the tree, the other at the top of the 5.5 slab). I should mention that pulling past the 2nd bolt, the handhold I was using (tiny edge on the top of the bulge above the bolt) crumbled in my hands as I committed... somehow I was able to not fall and kept going to where I could stand up and get something in (purple camalot, I think). Phew! I warned my 2nd about the crumbly hold, and asked him if he wanted to know where it was. "I'll find it" was the answer... Sure enough, he popped off when the edge finished flaking off in his hand. heh heh heh.
My partner got P3 up to the hanging-ish belay, and seemed to enjoy it, especially the step left out of the first crack.
P4 is the money. It's the best pitch on the climb! It did take quite a while to find a spot for pro at the end of the traverse. Felt like it took about 20 minutes before I realized I was too low and had to move up higher. After I got something in and committed, the rest of the pitch was quite enjoyable!
There was practically a line on this climb. Shortly after we hit the ground after rapping through the gaping chimney (wow, that looks scary, even with the bolts!) another party started up (sans topo).. We gave them one of our two copies... They ended up only doing the first 3 pitches because they couldn't figure out the pro after the traverse on P4. Then we gave our other copy to another party on the way back to the car.
Great job guys!
-Tad
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kev
climber
CA
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Whats to figure out on the pro after the traverse on P4? After the traverse you're in the crack? Where they on route? Also is it still wet? The start of the crack on p4 was a wet a month ago...
kev
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drc
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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I thought you was still in the Valley, kev?
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kev
climber
CA
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Yo drc,
Came back late last night...Call me for the details...
kev
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Tad, thanks for the topo. It did help minimize the "Where the??" factor. We bailed after 3 mostly because we were freezing our arses... The last pitch does look like the best, and I want to enjoy it.
As for the route, fun stuff. But I do not recommended it for the budding 5.8 leader. I can't imagine doing that dike traverse with nothing but blocks below for "pro." Great job.
One note--when rapping, I would use the bolts at the top of Duck and Cover instead of the ones at the top of the [bolted] chimney. That chimney rap is a real rope-catcher.
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tadhunt
Trad climber
Sunnyvale, CA
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kev said: Whats to figure out on the pro after the traverse on P4? After the traverse you're in the crack? Where they on route? Also is it still wet? The start of the crack on p4 was a wet a month ago...
As for wetness -- nope, it was nice and dry!
Regarding the traverse, I must have come across too low. There wasn't really a crack where I ended up... There was a garden! It actually looked like there was a spot for a #5 or #6 Camalot (which was home to a lizard) Of course I didn't have either of them ... Up a little higher, there was a micro crack cleared out, which I didn't have gear for either... And then even higher, there was a small-but-not-micro nut placement that had been previously been cleaned out, which I cleaned a tiny bit more (not killing any plants, just removing a bit of dirt). Then there is a good placement (don't remember the size) under the block-o-moss that you work around to the right. After that, it's fun, smooth sailing to the belay!
k-man said: Tad, thanks for the topo. It did help minimize the "Where the??" factor. We bailed after 3 mostly because we were freezing our arses...
Sorry for the confusion, I must have misunderstood when we were talking about the last pitch. Yeah, it was a bit windy and chilly up there, I was happy to be heading down.
BTW, I think the white rock in the headwall right above the P4 anchor looks like a tombstone from the belay at the top of P3!
Ed's photo from above
"Where does it go" ... "See the tombstone" ... "yeah?"... "that's the top"!
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Greg Barnes
climber
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Ed or Clint, if you're up there doing replacement, that old 1/4" bolt with Leeper hanger at the start of Bongs Away right (actually "Bonged Out" as we now know!) is pretty nasty, and could use replacement.
Ed, you'd better hope that those are 1/4" buttonheads. Messing around with trying to pull 5/16" buttonheads is an invitation to rebolting epics. If they are 5/16" I can give you the beta on the best way to pull them. Actually it's pretty straight forward, just drive thin then thicker pins under the hanger to pop the bolt out a bit, then tap the bolt back in (not too snug), then repeat. After about 20-30 cycles, the bolt pops - you're basically using the 5/16" buttonhead as a drill bit to break away a bit of rock so it will pull out. As you can tell from this method, it doesn't work if the rock is weak at the surface - you end up digging/cratering the rock with the pins.
Sooner or later someone will have to start replacing the many 5/16" buttonheads on some of the routes on East Cottage in Tuolumne (like Disintegration/The Bulge, Orange Plasma, etc). Several of the key bolts are beginning to loosen up. Still, those are way, way better than any 1/4".
On another subject, does anyone know if the bolts on Pole Position in Church Bowl are still 1/4" buttonheads (with good stainless SMC hangers, lots of people don't notice they are 1/4" bolts)? Good winter project, or summer weekends when Harleys drown out hand drills...
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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whoa Greg, glad I didn't know your beta last summer when I rebolted Peter, Peter. The anchor bolts at the top of the route had been replaced at some time with 5/16" button heads, and they pulled easily with the tuning fork beat under the hanger... I don't recall any problem at all, they gave up the ghost pretty easily.
I half thought to use them, but something inside told me to go ahead and replace them... glad I did!
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Dr. Rock
Ice climber
Castle Rock
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Yikes!
J2 seam, dips in 20 feet, could break loose...
Rodgers slide at Ferguson is still moving North, so is the whole valley...
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jenren
Trad climber
Sac, CA
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Apr 10, 2008 - 12:56pm PT
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My Husband and I were climbing the direct route the day they were finishing up. They were kind enough to spend some time going over the route and chatting about what they'd done..very cool people..very cool route..way to go!! : )
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Chris Oakes
climber
Hayward
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Apr 13, 2008 - 11:32am PT
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We turned around before the 120/140 junction because we didn't want to deal with construction delays. We went back to Reeds and met Eric there who was kind enough to give us a topo of the route.
Eric did the huge chimney while we were on Dream Easy and we saw each other and laughed most of the way up. I came off the second pitch going for a high right hand on friction feet and the bolt was right where it needed to be. Don't come here looking for an easy lead. This is a physically and mentally sustained route, that demands focus and good pro skills.
I pointed out to my partner at the top of the 2nd pitch that he no longer was trailing our rap line. He left it at the top of the first pitch. We were able to work something out with Eric that allowed us to finish the route. Thanks Eric.
If you happen to find my rope, I would like it back. If you decide that botty is botty than please don't use it as a lead line, it's only 43m and it's got a little too much history.
Eric is getting ready to work the roof above the 4th pitch.
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ablegabel
Trad climber
Livermore,Ca.
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Apr 14, 2008 - 01:42am PT
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Hey Chris, good to see someone doing the route. Glad you enjoyed it. Your rope is still hanging off the middle of the second pitch as of Sunday evening. Also, I found a guide book at the base witch I beleive is yours. E-mail me and I will get it back to you. I'll be in the Valley the next few weekends if your around. We sent the crack/corner system that paralels Dream Easy up to the roof. Good climbing. Mostly hands and fingers. 5 pitches, 5.10a/b to the roof. Climbing seemed a little contrived and un-interesting after that, so we ended it there, at the roof. The chimney with the bolts(first 2 pitches) turned out to be quite good. Don't know who's route it is though. Probably 5.8/9ish? - Eric
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Apr 14, 2008 - 02:43am PT
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"when Harleys drown out hand drills..."
Sounds like a country western song.
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