Moratorium, Schultz Ridge

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Messages 1 - 43 of total 43 in this topic
Trusty Rusty

Social climber
Tahoe area
Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 19, 2008 - 01:13am PT
Once a classic test piece; who still appreciates the hellish corner?
Salamanizer

Trad climber
Vacaville Ca,
Sep 19, 2008 - 01:42am PT
It's alright. Better when it's not wet.

Definately better start to East Buttress.
peternies

climber
San Francisco, CA
Sep 19, 2008 - 04:12am PT
nah, it's quite good (definitive response)
Jack Burns

climber
Sep 19, 2008 - 04:31am PT
Good summer route. I led the whole thing and remember the end of the second pitch being as exciting as the corner. There was a fixed stopper at the crux which made it not so hellish.
Karl Baba

Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
Sep 19, 2008 - 12:00pm PT
Super awesome. Shady on summer afternoons. Feeling a bit old to lead all the pitches these days without cheating ;-(

Peace

Karl
KP Ariza

climber
SCC
Sep 19, 2008 - 01:14pm PT
Poor man's Good Book without the rockfall potential
ontheedgeandscaredtodeath

Trad climber
San Francisco, Ca
Sep 19, 2008 - 01:20pm PT
Better top out than the good book too.
deez nuts

climber
Zona
Sep 19, 2008 - 02:46pm PT
any pics?
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
Sep 19, 2008 - 06:34pm PT
1st pitch might be the looker.
-No photo though...

2nd pitch:



3rd pitch:
bvb

Social climber
flagstaff arizona
Sep 19, 2008 - 07:04pm PT
me and john wason hiked all the way up there once, and wound up doing some chossy pile no-star .12a thin crack a few hundred feet to the left because we were on this lame quest to do every .12a thin crack in the valley. god that thing was a pile. wtf??
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
Sep 19, 2008 - 07:08pm PT
Demon's Delight is interesting...
BeeHay

Trad climber
San Diego CA
Sep 19, 2008 - 10:35pm PT
That's a 3 minute hike, bvb.
Jaybro

Social climber
wuz real!
Sep 20, 2008 - 12:15am PT
Morbutt!
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Sep 20, 2008 - 02:28am PT
Here are some more photos, from 2004:

pitch 1

pitch 2

pitch 3 (crux)
Brock

Trad climber
RENO, NV
Sep 20, 2008 - 09:05am PT
All I remember is that my small fingertips fit snuggly into the crux. My buddy's fingers were too big. Will repeat this one again.

Demons Delight is okay. A horizontal traverse. Weird crux. Will not repeat.
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
Sep 20, 2008 - 10:50am PT
Moratorium is high quality and fairly diverse as monolithic corners go.

p1 is pumper
p2 pretty darn technical
p3 single hardest move of the route


...impressive onsight free solo for Johnny Rock!
k-man

Gym climber
SCruz
Sep 20, 2008 - 11:56am PT
Demon's Delight in the morning, Moratorium in the afternoon.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Sep 20, 2008 - 02:02pm PT
> ...impressive onsight free solo for Johnny Rock!

Impressive that he survived it; he was not happy about it.

After doing pitch 2, he realized he couldn't downclimb, and didn't want to be there anymore. A very insecure crux above, and he managed to get through it.

After this, he did not try any more 5.11 solos onsight.
Raydog

Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
Sep 20, 2008 - 03:30pm PT
terrific shots Clint.

Inside corners have their own terrors :)
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
Sep 20, 2008 - 04:16pm PT
Jeepers Clint,

Now that you put it that way...
'Nice jog of the memory there.
Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
Sep 20, 2008 - 04:33pm PT
on approach...
Trusty Rusty

Social climber
Tahoe area
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 20, 2008 - 05:33pm PT
On sight free solo?? That post made me afraid!


Way Bold!
ontheedgeandscaredtodeath

Trad climber
San Francisco, Ca
Sep 20, 2008 - 06:26pm PT
Solo!? Yikes.

The crux corner is so insecure feeling.

murcy

climber
San Fran Cisco
Sep 20, 2008 - 06:56pm PT
that looks so fun---thanks for the pictures, clint.
couchmaster

climber
Sep 20, 2008 - 10:45pm PT
Bump for a climbing thread and the photos that all rule!
Double D

climber
Sep 20, 2008 - 11:08pm PT
One of my all time favorites, for sure. It has a lot of pump and a lot of craft as I remember... but then again memory is a bit hazy from the '70's, eh.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Sep 21, 2008 - 03:15am PT
Here is the Moratorium corner system, from our approach in late June 2004 (timing it so the route would be in the shade).



Note also Kelly's route with Tom and Dave on the right wall - Burden of Dreams. I've tried toproping parts of it on the way down from Moratorium - it's pretty darn cool.
bachar

Gym climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
Sep 21, 2008 - 06:55am PT
Scariest boulder problem I've ever done....

Is that little puzzle-piece "cheatstone" still in place before the crux?

Yikes....
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Sep 21, 2008 - 02:25pm PT
Definite YIKES!

I removed that rocking flake below the crux in 1994.
ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber
bouldering
Feb 12, 2011 - 03:37am PT
bump
pud

climber
Sportbikeville & Yucca brevifolia
Feb 12, 2011 - 10:34am PT
The way Bachar talks about soloing this climb in the bio "Man,Myth,Legend" is chilling.
He says after he reached the top he felt "completely hollow".
I think he 'went to the edge and peeked over' when he soloed the Moratorium.
Chief

climber
The NW edge of The Hudson Bay
Feb 12, 2011 - 12:41pm PT
The Moratorium is one of my all time favorite Valley routes and a great way to start the East Butt, almost makes the link up a real El Cap route. There's a magical and intimidating quality to the route and I have fond memories of being up there in the shade with the wind blowing, the Merced way below and The Captain towering above. John was way out there on sight soloing that rig.
Thanks for the pictures Clint.
Jay Wood

Trad climber
Fairfax, CA
Feb 12, 2011 - 01:55pm PT

Onsight free solo? (shudder)
J. Werlin

Social climber
Cedaredge, CO
Feb 12, 2011 - 03:18pm PT
Was it Pete Livesly (sp?): "The grandaddy of all lie backs."

Thanks to Fosburg for dragging me up that thing many years ago. Stellar.
Ihateplastic

Trad climber
It ain't El Cap, Oregon
Feb 12, 2011 - 03:23pm PT
bvb... Yea, I know this is going back in time...

wound up doing some chossy pile no-star .12a thin crack a few hundred feet to the left

I wonder if you were doing a free ascent of an old A4 line I put up with Mark Blanchard called Creamatorium.

This picture of Clint's shows the corner we started in. We only did one pitch since we lacked enough blades to effectively climb the pitch. We alternated leading and also leap-froged blades. It was starting to look like a YOSAR call. We finished the pitch and placed a single 1/4" button head for the belay. Rapped off with plans to come back the next weekend with more gear, hook/bolt left to the corner then finish out right through that big roof. The picture makes it look layed back... it isn't (well, not THAT much anyway.)

Next weekend came and went. About four months later Blanchard jugged that sun-drenched line (hanging from the single 1/4") and rapped down. We never went back and that Chouinard Fantasia rope never looked so bright again.

zBrown

Ice climber
chingadero de chula vista
Dec 21, 2012 - 05:50pm PT
blimp
bvb

Social climber
flagstaff arizona
Dec 21, 2012 - 06:16pm PT
Pretty sure the thing we did was Demon's Delight? I clearly recall the first pro was a 1/4 inch bolt about 20' - 25' up. Weird and scary moves.
k-man

Gym climber
SCruz
Dec 21, 2012 - 06:34pm PT
Don't think so bvb, Demon's doesn't have any bolts (as far as I recollect, done it a couple times too...).
First belay is kinda hanging, and it sucked up all my #2s (Friends).


I don't know why, but it sucked reading Bachar's post here... But kinda funny at the same time. "Hardest boulder problem..." Ha!


And this is a great pic of Burden of Dreams:


Now that is one heck of a route ...
bvb

Social climber
flagstaff arizona
Dec 21, 2012 - 06:49pm PT
Huh. Whatever we did was on the far left side of Shultz's Ridge, was one pitch, and was 12a in the '86 Meyers guide. Don't have that guide at my elbow right now...

EDIT: I think it was up by Lycra Virgin?
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Dec 21, 2012 - 07:01pm PT

bvb, there's a 5.12 finger crack called "Ain't That a Bitch" on the wall left of the Moratorium corner.
On this photo, it's above the leftmost foreground trees (just left of the big shady corner).
bvb

Social climber
flagstaff arizona
Dec 21, 2012 - 07:37pm PT
Yeah! That's it. Ain't That A Bitch. Whew, I can sleep now. That was driving me crazy.
ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber
bouldering
Dec 22, 2012 - 03:25am PT
Amazing photo to psyber climb.
ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
Dec 4, 2016 - 08:36pm PT
bunmp
Messages 1 - 43 of total 43 in this topic
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