southern yosemite

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Tork

climber
Yosemite
Feb 10, 2009 - 04:39pm PT
I'll even throw in a crazy climber


Tork

climber
Yosemite
Feb 11, 2009 - 10:02am PT
Don't let the SoYo thread die

Who has photos? Stories? Anything?

I know you have more, Matt,DR,Munge,Ricky...




Minerva,Red,Gray, and Electric Eagle

Doug Robinson

Trad climber
Santa Cruz
Feb 11, 2009 - 10:56am PT
OK Tork, I'll bite: where is that huge steep slab dwarfing the climber? Looks awesome, but maybe not TOO hard?
Tork

climber
Yosemite
Feb 11, 2009 - 11:46am PT
Doug, thats Matt S on a new route on Chiquito Dome. I think it's called the Big Banana 11a. 400' in two long pitches. One of the coolest faces I have ever climbed plus all the holds are natural I think.
crazy horse

Trad climber
seattle, wa
Feb 11, 2009 - 11:59am PT
dito. Big Banana is one of the best 5.11 face routes I've ever done. Steep, big gaps between holds with a little help from some thin feet. Great route. I don't think there's any doubt that all the holds are natural...Tork and his lady got the 2nd ascent of the route, I got the third, but i still have to do the finish pitch so i don't know if that really counts. I was just glad to get the first pitch without falling :)
bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
Feb 11, 2009 - 12:08pm PT
That is an impressive looking face!
survival

Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
Feb 11, 2009 - 12:21pm PT
Beautiful, just beautiful.

Must get there someday..while I can still walk.
Nate D

climber
San Francisco
Feb 11, 2009 - 05:53pm PT
DR,
You might be interested to know that the impressive face pictured above on Chiquito dome was first climbed by Higgins and Chris Vandiver - a very bold route called Sahib.
Read about the FA here: http://www.tomhiggins.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6&Itemid=20&limit=1&limitstart=0

The route deserves to be resurrected somehow.

Tork

climber
Yosemite
Feb 11, 2009 - 06:20pm PT
Nate, thanks for the link! Good read and great history.

I would be into replacing the bolts although several routes cross the original line. The route in the photo is an independant line but the next three routes left of this one cross the original.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Feb 11, 2009 - 06:26pm PT
Tork,

I usually have lots of ASCA bolts and hangers, and would be psyched to get back there and replace the bolts on Sahib.
Joel and I replaced the bolts on Elegant Inclinations last June, but didn't have time to fix both routes in the same weekend.
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=621065
crazy horse

Trad climber
seattle, wa
Feb 11, 2009 - 06:39pm PT
Speaking of Sahib,

has anyone done it? I remember walking up there probably 8 years ago with my minty Spencer guide and the route was so run out that i really couldn't tell where it was supposed to go. Even if i could link the sequence of holds and bolts together, i don't think i would have ever climbed it, even if the bolts were replaced.

I remember the bottom 40 ft of rope would have been spent clipping one bolt like 15 feet off the ground and traversing diagonally up and right through a very ballsy steep section to another bolt way over while climbing 5.9-5.10 slab and risking a definate decking fall on said terrain. Can anyone correct me on this? False impression from the ground?
Nate D

climber
San Francisco
Feb 11, 2009 - 06:42pm PT
The bolts on p.1 of Sahib were replaced by Brandon Thau and maybe Greg Vernon (correct me if I'm wrong), a handful of years ago. They didn't finish the rest. Greg also relayed that someone put in a direct start to p.1 of Sahib, just to the right. It appeared to me to be a steeper line and equally bold/scary (if I don't have the lines confused). I think Thomas Hartmann mentioned it also, so it's over 10 years old. Don't know if newer routes potentially obscure that pitch as well, as I haven't been back since all the activity.

Grahm and Brandon, I suppose, would best be able to identify the original line of Sahib. Don't know if any bolts on the higher pitches were utilized/replaced for the newer routes. If anyone else on this forum has climbed Sahib, feel free to chime in.

If you are reading, Tom (LongAgo), it would be cool if you had a much higher resolution version/scan of the one photo of the route posted on your site. Any other photos would be helpful as well.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Feb 11, 2009 - 06:47pm PT
Nate,

The Sahib photo is in the 1984 AAJ which I can scan, or just grab their PDF version. It overlaps with Jeff's second Big Banana photo.
http://americanalpineclub.org/documents/pdf/aaj/1984/116_higgins_chiquito_aaj1984.pdf

Big Banana on left, Sahib on right.
Circles indicate the position of the climber in the other photo.
Nate D

climber
San Francisco
Feb 11, 2009 - 08:29pm PT
Well done Clint! Tom had said the Spencer topo was accurate to what he supplied and that the climber in that picture is either near or at the top of p.1 or the start of p.2. I reckon the climb continues up that rightward trending weakness, but what do I know? Don't have the guidebook in front of me, but I recall p.1 comes in from the left, so the new routes may cross p.1, but maybe not further up. Unless there is a route right of Big Banana. Tork?


Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Feb 11, 2009 - 08:48pm PT
Nate,

Here's the Sahib topo from the Spencer guidebook
(I edited out the Elegant Inclinations topo, which was shown a little too close on the right):


The topo shows a shaded bulge which p1 diagonals underneath. I'm not sure, but I think the same bulge is visible on both photos,
so that agrees with the climber in the AAJ photo being near the end of p1.
It should be easy enough to locate those belay bolts.
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
Feb 11, 2009 - 08:48pm PT
cool pics, was just looking at the book last night and was thinking about the bolts... remembering that Clint and Joel had replaced one of the routes.
Nate D

climber
San Francisco
Feb 11, 2009 - 09:14pm PT
CC,

Hmm, forgot the upper pitches trend back left.

I think the shaded area is evident in this photo of yours.
Before the new routes went in, I recall looking with binoculars and seeing a bolt with weathered tat just below this shaded/steeper area (the darkest spot in the lower middle), and I think a bolt further down below, but still in the knobs.
Stephen McCabe

Trad climber
near Santa Cruz, CA
Feb 12, 2009 - 01:21am PT
"Anyone know how The Balls got their name?"

Apologies for the following colorful language.

I can't remember if it was Virgil, the Miwok Indian who could still trace his tribes' old trade trail for many miles east of North Fork, or the local young (at the time) couple "Dave and Wanda"? whose dog was bitten by the rattlesnake or somebody else on the Minarets Work Station Crew, but somebody gave me the following info. the summer I worked up that way.

They said most of the formations in the area used to have other names, but they were later cleaned up. You can see why.

Squaw Domes was "Squaw xxxs"
Fuller Buttes was "Fuller's xxxx".
Balloon Dome was "Preacher's xxxxx".
the Balls was "Jackass Balls."
I don't know about Jackass Rock
None of this is too far from what is still called Hell's Half Acre.

That was long enough for the colorful language to be up. you can fill in the blanks now.
Phantom X

Trad climber
Honeycomb Hideout
Feb 12, 2009 - 11:41am PT
Why it's as if the local intellectuals were showing off their @q%#X$%& vocabulary.
Grahm Doe

Sport climber
Oakhurst, CA
Feb 12, 2009 - 11:04pm PT
Here is a quick topo of the the Sahib area in question. I am working on a Shuteye Guide and this monumental task is slowly moving along.
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