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HighTraverse
Social climber
Bay Area
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Oct 29, 2010 - 01:15pm PT
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I never thought I'd say this, but I've finally seen something that makes my local crags look solid.
that makes me smile.
Trouble is at the Pinns you can't tell which holds are mank. They all look bad (well, some worse than others). 90% of them are fine. Good luck identifying the 10% that will blow if you load them. They usually lurk with a smirk hoping you'll give a mis-directed tug.
Another problem is the so-called "adhesive" matrix absorbs water and softens in the rain. Best to wait for a couple of warm sunny days after a rainstorm.
I don't get to the Pinns often enough. So on routes that require a good pull on runout I often chicken out on lead. cluck-cluck.
Back to the The Hand:
Did it once, BITD when it was REALLY seldom done. A few feet above the first belay I pulled a large knob handhold out.....and 4.5 milliseconds later my other hand pulled a knob!
Krikey!
Somehow managed to catch two other handholds. There must have been a brief cessation of Gravity at that moment.
Got to the summit and a few minutes later an "old gent" arrived soloing. Claimed he was Salathe. Salathe was in fact staying in the bay area at the time. Have always wondered if he was for real or just joking.
Gotta go back and climb the Hand again.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Oct 29, 2010 - 03:34pm PT
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Bruce,
Thanks for locating the pins at Neptune's (with help from Marty) and posting the photos. I agree, probably not pitons made by Salathe'. The ring one is not hard steel (since the tip is bent), and for the other one, I don't know of any "vertical" type pitons which are confirmed to be made by Salathe'.
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Barry Bates
Boulder climber
Smith River CA
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Oct 29, 2010 - 05:31pm PT
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K-MAN
Sometime in the early 70's I was climbing at the Pinns and ran into Robbins. We spent the day doing some routes together, he told me about the salathe pitons under the belay knob on the hand. At the time I thought about retrieving them but just never got around to doing the route again. Recently I've wondered what ever happened to them being collectors items now days. I'm surprised they were left undisturbed for so many years.
Salathes first ascent was certainly impressive protected by pitons in bad rock and climbing in high top tennis shoes.
Peter, Thanks for the pictures out of the old Roper guide they bring back such great memories.
Barry
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Rick Gustafson
climber
Eureka,California
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Apr 16, 2014 - 11:52pm PT
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It was great to see this climb, brings back some great memories. Although for me as a climber in the early 70s this wasn't the most difficult climb in Pinnacles but it surely was the most precarious. My first climb of the Hand I followed a climbing party working on the new(at the time) Chuck Richards climbers guide. I later returned to lead this climb with Richard Harrison following. Does anyone have experience on the South Yak.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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Apr 17, 2014 - 12:14am PT
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Rick I think I did So. Yak, but is now ever so long ago. I mean....more than fifty years now.
Barry, damn. I had no idea those Salathe pins were under that giant knob/embedded boulder when I was up there. I did the sucker when I was in high school, so maybe 1964-1965. Just looking down was hard enough. I was a child.
I remember the event of someone "finding" them in recent years and kicked myself then as well. How fun that RR knew of them all that time. RR loved provenance and although in later times he would gather up some of our historical goodies, mostly he respected and enjoyed it, hoping it would stay in situ.
If you think of it, the pins were in the correct vector: if a leader fell, the pull would have been upward of course with those couple things in on that lead and maybe some knobs too. John must have had a knob above him for a kind of accommodation support especially when starting out on the last pitch. ((Don't forget there were several established lines to take on that final pitch)). What a freak, John. As I remember that embedded boulder is at the apex of a very long overhang in crappy rock of course, kooky exposure, and to have found spots for pins DOWN THERE.... is just otherworldly for back then.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Apr 17, 2014 - 01:52am PT
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well said Peter
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Apr 17, 2014 - 01:27pm PT
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Anybody have any tales of woe on the old route on the backside of the Hand. It made the classic Salathe route look like a cakewalk. I remember Foott and I were pretty uncomfortable with this route and the horrible bolts. That would have been 1960 or so.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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Apr 17, 2014 - 02:29pm PT
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The back of the Hand was really rotten. I did the sucker and was thinking it was actually more daunting than the classic route on the other side. It was quite dangerous though far less steep and sweeping.
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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Apr 17, 2014 - 02:32pm PT
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On an ice cold Jan. 1st did Hand with Crile C. Out of my sight line, I heard him mutter "Oh Lord, I haven't served you like I should"
Classic. The little stream was still frozen on the hike out.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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Apr 17, 2014 - 02:37pm PT
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No kidding Clinker. It can get quite cold there. I hated that campground; it was even colder.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Apr 17, 2014 - 03:21pm PT
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No kidding Clinker. It can get quite cold there. I hated that campground; it was even colder.
Agree, Peter. Our water bottles froze one December in 1970, and our hands tried to do the same the next morning. To add to my misery, I'd bought a new pair of PA's, and was breaking them in (or more accurately, breaking my feet in). I can't recall face climbing ever being so painful before or since.
John
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Apr 17, 2014 - 04:38pm PT
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agreed on the back of the hand. I think I got lucky with p2, iirc.
On the Salathe, I got p1. Probably lucky there too.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Apr 17, 2014 - 04:54pm PT
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I did Back of The Hand a year ago.
I recall it has a couple of new replacement bolts. Not to be confused with new bolt placements.
The traverse was really scary but in fact not hard and pretty safe.
Definitely a fun climb.
Perhaps all the crud has been pulled off??
Crossing the rivulet at the reservoir inlet on our way back we saw a swimming rattler. I think he was in the water to cool off. Our biggest hazard that day was dehydration and/or heatstroke!
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