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'Pass the Pitons' Pete

Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
Aug 25, 2011 - 01:34am PT
Voice of Steve Martin: "Well, ex-cuuuuuuuuuse me!"

Mark - maybe something Bad.
ElCapPirate

Big Wall climber
California
Aug 25, 2011 - 02:26am PT

Well, I’m done with the rough draft, it needs some polishing and I’m nearly 1,000 words over the limit but, hey… that’s what editors are for. I do have to say that I’m brutally honest and even poke fun at myself and critique some of my own actions up there (no I didn’t add any holes/bolts/rivets). LOL

I’ve got another 2nd ascent lined up on The Captain (I’ve got two pitches fixed) so by the time I get down hopefully the article will be out and I will try to answer any questions (except who the 3rd shitter is), that didn’t get answered in the story, or maybe some of them will get edited out.

See some of you at the Facelift, YYaaarrrrRRRR!
the Fet

climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
Aug 25, 2011 - 02:36am PT
Great news Ammon! Can't wait!

Earlier I mentioned my notion of style and ethics, and I was mistaken it wasn't from Mountaineering FOTH, it was straight from god himself.

ETHICS
Actions which directly affect others in the climbing community are properly questions of ethics. Several might be considered, but we will be concerned with only one.
PRESERVATION: The primary ethical consideration involves leaving a route unchanged so others may enjoy, as nearly as possible, the creation of those who made the first ascent. Through the years there has been controversy over questions of placing and removing bolts, as well as other questions such as destroying holds or creating them with the pick end of the hammer. Those removing bolts (and holds) often think everyone should do a route in the best possible style or not at all. This is extreme. Climbing is good style is admirable, but must everyone be forced to do so? Opposing these super-purists are extremists of the opposite bent who insist all routes should be accessible to all persons. A compromise is in order, one based upon a simple point of reference.
THE FIRST ASCENT PRINCIPLE: A climb is a work of art, a creation of the men who made the first ascent. To make it more difficult by chopping bolts is to insult those who put it up and to deprive others the joy of repeating the route as the first party did it. It is like taking another's painting or poem and 'improving' it. Better to paint our own pictures and write our own poems. On the other hand, to bring a climb down to one's level by placing bolts (or pitons on an all nut climb) shows and equally lamentable lack of respect for, and degrades the accomplishments of, its creators. If we do not disturb the route done in a shoddy manner (e.g. the placement of unnecessary bolts), it will do no harm, and may provide a good climb for the less capable. And as for the route done in elegant fashion - let it remain as a pinnacle of achievement to which we may aspire. Better that we raise our skills than lower the climb. So let it be.
The above definition of climbing ethics, self-limiting as it is, has the advantage of avoiding the chancy area of pre-judging the way a first ascent should be done. This is left entirely to the individual and becomes a question not of ethics but of style.

STYLE
'Style' is a slippery word, difficult to define. In rockclimbing it refers to the methods and equipment used, and the degree of 'adventure' involved in the ascent. Adventure here means the degree of uncertainty as to the outcome. Generally, methods and equipment determine the amount of adventure. Thus, by using the method of siege climbing and using as part of our equipment an unlimited number of bolts - success on any pure rock climb on earth, no matter how flawless, is virtually assured. There would be no adventure in such an endeavor, and it would be in the worst possible style. On the other hand, to assault a great wall in a direct, committing way, without fixed lines, and with a limited amount of food, water, and equipment, is to climb in good style. It is to place more trust on one's personal qualities and skill, and less reliance on equipment and laborious methods. But the style must be suited to the climb. To use good big-wall style on a little wall is to turn good style to bad. To climb in good style is to climb in the most natural way possible, to do it with the smallest number of technological aids. The first technological aid to be eliminated, if possible, is the bolt, for it can be placed anywhere. With pitons one at least needs a crack, though almost any size and shape will do. Jammed nuts are better, for with them we must adapt to the nature of the crack. We must work with the rock; we can't force it. It is more natural. Better still are runners placed on the natural belay points such as horns, trees, or chockstones. And finally, we come to climbing alone, without a rope. But that will be for the few. The trick is to suit the style to the climb and to oneself. The truly ultimate style is the perfect match - the treading of that fine edge between ambition and ability.
Granted we are free to try to climb in any style we choose as long as we don't damage the route, what about the many individuals who desire a better definition of the good game, those who aren't so much interested in getting up routes as in meeting the essential challenge of them? What is a good general goal to shoot for - one which, when achieved, will leave us with a feeling of accomplishment, of having done the route in the right way? In other words, what is the point of the game? Every climb is different. A good standard which is always applicable and yet which also allows for the individuality of each route is our first ascent principle. It can guide us in questions of style as well as ethics. If we take our general stylistic goal the way the first ascent was done, we have a ready made, always available standard for a minimum style to shoot for. The acceptance of this principle has the advantage of obviating general style controversies. A further advantage is that the style of the first ascent is a reasonable goal, for those who come after have the psychological advantage of knowing the route will go, as well as a description of the route. If we regard the style in which a route was established, we pay respect to the men who did it, and show we are aware of their values and that we consider their climb a creation, not just another climb to be knocked off and checked in our guidebook.

There must be shorter definitions of style and ethics I read somewhere that basically say the same thing. Ethics are your actions that affect other climbers (changing the route). Style is the method in which you climb the route (time, gear, etc.). I take the preservation ethic even a little bit farther from leaving the route as much as possible as the FA party left it to leaving the route as much as possible as nature created it. So the FA team is also on the hook for that ethic IMO.

An FA is really the only situation I can think of where style and ethics collide, because there's only once chance for the FA. And did the FA team take away the opportunity for another team to do it in better style. BUT, almost always (unless it's on onsight solo FA) someone could potentially do the route FA in better style. Everyone of SG's routes that required even an single bolt, pin, or head, could potentially be done in better style. So the FA team decides they if they are capable of doing the route in a good enough (reasonable) style.

For WoS:
1. The potential is for a different FA team to take less time- I believe this is a somewhat personal decision because it is really a question of style, not ethics, but they took 39 days for the FA. They didn't climb on Sundays so that leaves about 34 days climbing. The SA by one of the fastest difficult big wall aid climbers in the world took 13 days. So the SA took about 40% of the time for the FA. SAs are almost always quicker and considering this route required lots of drilled placements which take lots of time (we don't know yet how many placements had to be replaced by the SA team, versus the placement that were replaced earlier) but I would say that shows the time required for the FA was entirely reasonable.
2. A different team could have used less bolts- Everyone I'm aware of who has actually been on the route says is is very stout and required multiple falls of up to 60 feet. I would say the number of bolts used was entirely reasonable and actually more than bold enough.
3. A minority (approximately 10%) of the hook placements were "enhanced". The FA team was honest enough to be forthcoming with that information when they could have not mentioned it and no one would know, so for people to claim they are lying about it without any evidence is really lame. The FA team has demonstrated that they used many marginal hook placements that other great climbers had difficulties and took falls from. So they can do very difficult hooking. If they had to knock a crystal off an edge to get a hook to hold, probably any other team would have had to do the same. So then the question is should they have drilled a hole and put in a rivet instead. I think that's a judgement call. Personally I don't think knocking out a crystal is much different than pounding in a pin (which also changes the rock) or scraping out a seam for a head.

So Mimi how could it have been done "much better"?

"The bashing came only after the misrepresentation persisted for months/years." That is utter bullsh#t. The bashing started immediately after they started the climb. Maybe you mean the bashing from you personally? And what misrepresentation? I have seen zero evidence that the FA team misrepresented anything, while I see lot's of misrepresentation from the detractors brought to light. And basically that is why I came to support them, not because they were underdogs but because what they have said has been proven true and what they detractors say have often been proven false. And when the really negative things (it's a bolt ladder) have been proven untrue the detractors move the goal posts and complain about less and less significant issues (enhancements/time), that IMO are really up to the FA team to decide.

You say "The problem with the whole truth about enhancements is that it dances around what they actually did", but Richard started a whole thread (in typically painfully verbose fashion) about it called surprisingly enough: The-whole-truth-about-the-enhancements LOL!

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/963934/WoS-confessions-The-whole-truth-about-the-enhancements

To call it out again from above:
The above definition of climbing ethics, self-limiting as it is, has the advantage of avoiding the chancy area of pre-judging the way a first ascent should be done. This is left entirely to the individual and becomes a question not of ethics but of style.
graniteclimber

Trad climber
The Illuminati -- S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Division
Aug 25, 2011 - 03:19am PT

She Just Knows!


ElCapPirate

Big Wall climber
California
Aug 25, 2011 - 03:19am PT
The Fet wrote:

1. The potential is for a different FA team to take less time- I believe this is a somewhat personal decision because it is really a question of style, not ethics, but they took 39 days for the FA. They didn't climb on Sundays so that leaves about 34 days climbing. The SA by one of the fastest difficult big wall aid climbers in the world took 13 days. So the SA took about 40% of the time for the FA. SAs are almost always quicker and considering this route required lots of drilled placements which take lots of time (we don't know yet how many placements had to be replaced by the SA team, versus the placement that were replaced earlier) but I would say that shows the time required for the FA was entirely reasonable.

Just to clarify:

People who know me or have been around the Valley while I'm on a wall, knows if I'm camping I'm going to lounge around in the portaledge a good part of the day. I'm not exactly an early riser and most days on WOS I would climb a pitch that would take three or four hours and call it a day.

When I'm going for a push ascent, that's a whole other ball game, it's GO time.

[edit] but good points
Da_Dweeb

climber
Aug 25, 2011 - 06:42am PT
Prod-

Given your request, here is a summary of my post in haiku.

the canary speaks
warns the snake of its own blight
snake hears only "tweet"
DonC

climber
CA
Aug 25, 2011 - 10:28am PT
My first post on this long thread...

Pounding one pitch of pins or heads is likely to cause far more damage to the rock than the enhancements made on the entire WOS. One pin in a highly granular placement will knock-off more edges than many micro enhanced hook placements.

Isn’t less damage to the rock one component of good style – fewer pins pounded, fewer bolts used, etc. If so, the scope between what people did to establish other new routes during the same time period, and what people continue to do today on established clean routes and WOS, doesn’t even compare. So, what is the issue? Is it just something personal against these guys?
Da_Dweeb

climber
Aug 25, 2011 - 10:35am PT
In a word? "Yes."
Gary

climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
Aug 25, 2011 - 10:37am PT
So, what is the issue? Is it just something personal against these guys?

The issue seems to be that some people completely lost their sense of perspective. Their priorities in life became so out of whack that they felt justified in trying to kill two climbers on El Capitan by throwing heavy objects at them from far above.

Apparently, the community of Yosemite climbers' priorities were so out of whack, or perhaps they were intimidated, that they gave tacit approval to this attempted murder, and even protect the identities and admire the thugs to this day.
graniteclimber

Trad climber
The Illuminati -- S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Division
Aug 25, 2011 - 10:54am PT
2:43 "Leeroy, you were just stupid as hell!"
Da_Dweeb

climber
Aug 25, 2011 - 11:18am PT
"Leeroy, you were just stupid as hell!"

Ahh, sweet Warcraft memories.
Meaty

climber
Aug 25, 2011 - 11:31am PT
"Apparently, the community of Yosemite climbers' priorities were so out of whack, or perhaps they were intimidated, that they gave tacit approval to this attempted murder, and even protect the identities and admire the thugs to this day." Wanker Gary


Talk about loss of perspective, you're just one of the many delusional wankers posting jive ass bullshit here regarding an incident you know absolutely nothing about...you moron. An individual throws full beers at these two and you decide that everyone approved of that?
Speculative postulations are pretty rampant on this thread but you're more delusional than most. The lame canard that there is some sort of climbing community shows how misinformed and downright ignorant you really are.
One of the folks that threw full beers down on these two was from Germany, people from all over the planet gave these two a hard time you schmuck.
You weren't there, you don't know squat about much, and your perspective is warped. So just wait for the article from the tabloid Rack of Lies for more lies and misinformation. If you throw down money for that bird cage liner then you deserve to be misinformed.
WBraun

climber
Aug 25, 2011 - 11:41am PT
Meaty says

Talk about loss of perspective, you're just one of the many delusional wankers posting jive ass bullshit here regarding an incident you know absolutely nothing about...you moron.

Now that is good description of a lot of these stupid Supertopo wankers here ....
TwistedCrank

climber
Ideeho-dee-do-dah-day boom-chicka-boom-chicka-boom
Aug 25, 2011 - 11:49am PT
Maybe if the route had been named after a Frank Zappa song, it wouldn't cause so many hemorrhoids to flare up so.
Gary

climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
Aug 25, 2011 - 11:53am PT
Somebody tried to kill those guys, and their identities are protected here. According to what has been posted previously, anyway. You spin it however you like, Meaty.
Meaty

climber
Aug 25, 2011 - 11:56am PT
No spin from me you dickwad, I was there, you weren't.
No one is protecting anyone except the shitters, fun to watch people go nuts because they don't know who they are.
Rumor has it one of the folks that threw beers at them is dead, the other?? Who knows?? You surely don't know much.
madbolter1

Big Wall climber
Walla Walla, WA
Aug 25, 2011 - 11:56am PT
It’s been years and at any single point you’ve had the opportunity to lay down arms, swallow your pride, and attempt some resolution.

Noble thought; not gonna happen.

You see, almost 30 years ago, the screaming Mimi squatted down over the pile of ropes and gear on the ground, the heap to which she had reduced a week of risk, pain, and injury, and she emptied her bowels on it. And she has spent the last 29 years justifying that event in her own mind and in the minds of as many people as would take her seriously. Easy to see in that context why she is the way she is. Hard to see how such a distorted personality is going to suddenly change now.

Exhibit Z' for the court: she keeps quoting the same passage from my book as though it is an INDICTMENT, when what the passages says is EXACTLY what I've explained in detail on these threads: "leveled the edge." NO mention of a dimple, pit, hole, etc. Somehow in the distorted Mimi's world, that quote proves that I've been lying on these threads all along. What it actually demonstrates is a multi-decade consistency on every detail. Mark and I know what we did, and to the absolute best of our recollection we've been entirely forthright about it for decades. What Mimi keeps quoting is just another demonstration of that fact.

And the idea some keep floating that we've got to wait on Ammon's report to really evaluate whether or not the shyter's/bombers were ultimately justified is patently ridiculous.

Even if such tactics could EVER be justified, there is exactly ZERO doubt about what the first two pitches are, and there's been no doubt for many, many years. MANY people have been on those pitches and ALL report the exact same thing: long run-outs, desperate hooking, no visible modifications, etc. etc.

THAT is what the chopping/shyting cowards had in front of them that night. THAT is the evidence that was before them when they decided to start lying to everybody.

And THAT is what Mimi chopped and squatted over 29 years ago. Isn't that right, Mimi? Can you finally admit it?

Whatever Ammon has found higher on the route after, lo, these 29 years is pretty meaningless, because this has never been about evidence. If there are holes, we didn't drill them. If the route remained pristine, that will change nothing in the minds of our critics. They will just move the target again and continue on as before.

Because, this is the crux point....

What people got all rabid about and chopped, squatted, and bombed on was in the context of TWO pitches of evidence, and the jury has been in on that subject for a lot of years.

To NO AVAIL!

Evidence and rational thought have NEVER been factors with these people, Mimi heading the list.

Mimi, you're no Spartacus in ANY sense.
madbolter1

Big Wall climber
Walla Walla, WA
Aug 25, 2011 - 12:02pm PT
The lame canard that there is some sort of climbing community shows how misinformed and downright ignorant you really are.... people from all over the planet gave these two a hard time you schmuck.

Uhh... let's see if I can follow this. NO climbing community = worldwide climbing community. Uhh....

And Demetri, you sure were there, weren't you? At the ranger meeting, on the basis of no evidence that YOU had in your possession, you were well-remembered by everybody there as BY FAR the most rabid of the lot. And ALL the evidence you COULD have had would have showed you that you were wrong. But exactly like a dog pissing on a tree....

Well, point made.
Gary

climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
Aug 25, 2011 - 12:07pm PT
No spin from me you dickwad, I was there, you weren't.
No one is protecting anyone except the shitters, fun to watch people go nuts because they don't know who they are.
Rumor has it one of the folks that threw beers at them is dead, the other?? Who knows?? You surely don't know much.

You're right. No reason to be upset about the thought of objects being thrown down at people on a wall. It's all cool and all in fun. I'm sure the FA party got a real chuckle out of that. You have a nice day, Meaty.
Meaty

climber
Aug 25, 2011 - 12:10pm PT
Like I said Gary, you don't know much.
Trying to imply that everyone around was cheerleading for objects thrown in their direction is pure bullsh#t.

Again, there is no climbing community no matter how much you'd like to buy into that delusional bullsh#t.
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