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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 27, 2009 - 02:23am PT
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The thread on the Night Climbers of Cambridge got me thinking about the buildering at our Universities. I guess we could talk about the best buildering anywhere, but to limit the topic, let's keep it to the best college buidings. To start:
There is some great buildering at UC Davis. Buildings like Sproul Hall, Clark Kerr Hall (AKA AOB 3), Kleiber Hall all had cool stuff that was high enough that we did some of it with a rope and protection(usually slings through holes and gratings).
University of Wisconsin-Madison had some big, roped routes, mostly chimneys and wide cracks and even a published guide.
How about your favorite place of higher learning?
Bruce
ps - I only got caught four times, but the dean at UC Davis just couldn't expel a straight-A student.
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Gobi
Trad climber
Orange CA
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Feb 27, 2009 - 02:29am PT
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UCLA has some good finger cracks and a couple walls with all these little artistic edges that make for great crimps
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Feb 27, 2009 - 02:50am PT
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Cal has many excellent crack and face problems. I used to practice off-width technique on the pillars of Eschelman Hall, and there are plenty of liebacks all across campus (a famous one in my day was on Doe Library). Memorial Stadium has good hand cracks, but had a very high police hazard in my day (1969-73). Several people tried to nail up the Campanile; none escaped the police. Two of my friends did manage to hang a Mickey Mouse on the south face of the Campanile Clock in May of 1970, though, which is a good story in its own right.
During my freshman year in 1969, someone did some sort of climbing performance art on the University Art Museum. For several years afterward (and maybe still, for all I know), there was a Leeper stuck in one of the joints above the patio.
Around the Student Union there are some good concrete faces. In 1971, and again in 1973, we rigged a tyrolean traverse between Eschelman Hall and the Student Union on the day the clubs had their activities fair. I wonder what the current state of affairs is there.
John
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland: what's not to love?
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Feb 27, 2009 - 03:01am PT
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(a famous one in my day was on Doe Library)
Which face of Doe, I wonder?
I've eyeballed those handcracks up at the stadium - that's the real deal. Did you do either? I've run by them many times at night, no one around, gone up 15 or 20 ft, and come back down. No cops, just chicken.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Feb 27, 2009 - 03:14am PT
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The South face near the main entrance on Doe Library. I, too, got perhaps 15 or 20 feet up the hand cracks before fear (both of cops and the lack of a rope) got to me. I know the cracks underneath the stadium (that arch and overhang) are boulderable, though -- or at least were then.
Also, the "b" on the sign on the Giaque Low Temperature Lab was quite a bit shinier than the rest of the letters my freshman year. My chemistry TA explained that one -- he was liebacking up the crack in the corner of the stairwell leading down from Hildebrand Hall past the sign, and started to chicken out. . .
No doubt about it. Those were the days!
John
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Feb 27, 2009 - 03:17am PT
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Memorial Stadium has good hand cracks, but had a very high police hazard in my day (1969-73)
Ha, ha, my high school climbing buddy, Steve Fish, and I got busted by campus police back in 1972 climbing those cracks on Memorial Stadium.
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Dirk
Trad climber
...and now, Manhattan
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Feb 27, 2009 - 10:44am PT
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Virginia Tech, anyone? It's like Boulder High School, but on a entire campus-sized scale.
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treeman
climber
mule city
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Feb 27, 2009 - 11:04am PT
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John MacMullen published a very well made mini-guide to buildering on the Northern Arizona University campus BITD. Anyone have one?
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cowpoke
climber
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Feb 27, 2009 - 11:17am PT
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anyone recognize these splitters?
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Feb 27, 2009 - 11:30am PT
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I'm not sure about Boulder High school, but the University
of Colorado in Boulder has been a traditional area--the
engineering building specifically, I think. When I was closer
to Boulder I used it occasionally. And in
'Front Range Freaks' Timmy O'Neill did a bunch of climbing
throughout the CU Boulder campus.
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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 27, 2009 - 12:41pm PT
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Small world. My Dad got his PhD at UC Berkeley and his major professor was William Giauque of the Giauque Low Temperature Laboratory fame. Giauque got the Nobel Prize during my dad's third year and he made my dad repeat his prize winning experiments before he would grant my dad his PhD.
Bruce
ps - yes, Boulder has some great buildering especially on one of the Engineering Buildings and at the 'Pit' at Mackey Auditorium.
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cowpoke
climber
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Feb 27, 2009 - 01:17pm PT
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yup, oakie...did you ever builder while there? with the woo so close, it was not too much of a temptation when I was there. nonetheless, the feature in that photo always caught my attention on the way to the office.
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scuffy b
climber
just below the San Andreas
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Feb 27, 2009 - 02:22pm PT
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At Cal:
The "glass chimneys" on the UC extension building, I think it
was,Fulton & Bancroft
Various problems up the outside of Edwards Stadium, as mentioned
by Guido
The OW cracks in the pillars at Eshelmann, as mentioned by John
Several really nice problems on the Bear's Lair, later made
too scary when ankle-breaker bike parking blocks were emplaced
A fun problem across Lower Sproul from there, jump up to an
angling frieze, ratchet up till you could get a foot on, etc
A few good problems at the entrance to the Little Theater
Really hard, mysterious traverse at Dwinelle Hall
Hard traverse problem at the entry to the Giacque Low Temp lab
The crack nearby metioned by John, and the even better
Hildebrand Hand crackaround the corner to the right
Difficult chimneys on the S and N sides of Evans with the option
of hideous hard undercling traverse entry. The ones on the
North side were later obscured by additions to the hall.
A good retaining wall to the north of Evans, mostly eliminated
by the additions
A matching pair of shallow wide cracks in corners at the western
entrances of Evans hall
A fun retaining wall traverse between Evans and Davis--one hand
recommended
Tall easy chimneys at Davis hall
"Sunday Crack," lieback to 10 ft undercling to lieback on Davis,
typically with escape traverse to easy chimney, rarely top
roped to top of building
Very hard traverse on frieze at Agnes Fay Morgan
Crack climbs with pillars at Giannini hall
Very slick squeeze at Wurster
Hard hard mantel at Wurster
Infamous Wurster lieback, easy way quite hard, hard way harder
Several named climbs at the Optometry building
Plus, of course, the library and the stadium.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Feb 27, 2009 - 02:25pm PT
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Of course, for those of you that remember 'The Exorcist'
there was a wall in Georgetown (I don't think it was the university), where the priest goes barreling down. That was
a bildering wall too. . .
As was a bridge over the Rock Creek Parkway in DC. . .
I was climbing it and got some booty, before we got
nabbed by the DC police. . .who told us never to be caught
there again. . . oh well, I still got the booty. . .
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Dick_Lugar
Trad climber
Indiana (the other Mideast)
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Feb 27, 2009 - 02:54pm PT
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Yep cowpoke, attended classes in that very building a couple years ago, but never sent it!
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Feb 27, 2009 - 03:13pm PT
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I've always liked this "bystander double-take" shot from Marc Jensen's Bouldering, Buildering and Climbing in the San Francisco Bay Region 1988.
http://www.stanford.edu/~clint/ba/berk68.htm
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Anastasia
climber
Not here
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Feb 27, 2009 - 03:22pm PT
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Georgia Tech has a few John Gill problems.
AF
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Feb 27, 2009 - 03:25pm PT
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"UCLA has some good finger cracks and a couple walls with all these little artistic edges that make for great crimps"
Where are those? I went there two years, and the only stuff I did or saw other doing were at the Student Union: a traverse along the masonry by the patio facing south campus and some thin edges you could lieback on the opposite of the building where they have the outdoor concerts.
Edit: Oops. Forgot the time at grad school. Make that five years.
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TwistedCrank
climber
Ideeho-dee-do-dah-day
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Feb 27, 2009 - 03:38pm PT
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Buildering.
Pff...
In my youth growing up in the shadow of the ivy-covered buttresses of the University of Chicago the real prize was the spire on Rockefeller Chapel. There are some delicate moves near stained glass windows and the first ascent is reputed to have involved lassoing a gargoyle which we eventually freed.
John Gill is reported to have some problems on some local buildings there as well.
As for other spires of the ivy nature, when I was at Cornell University a pumpkin was mysteriously impaled on the lightning rod on the top of the McGraw Tower. I'm not naming names...
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MH2
climber
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Feb 27, 2009 - 04:51pm PT
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If you are going to climb at night it is nice to have company.
This is a beckoning gargoyle on Hull Gate at U of Chicago,
contrasted with Regenstein chimney in backgkround.
The Hull Gate kind of hints that architecture is there to be climbed.
edit
Rockefeller was the one with the Carillon, I think, and the clock with the Grimthorpe double three-legged gravity escapement. I visited the inside once. An impressive climb. It was the tower with the set of change-ringing bells I spent more time with, mostly in, a little out. We could go up above the change-ringing room to watch and hear the giant bells swing on their wheels, the clapper striking as the bell reached apex on either side of of its swing, ringing with mouth turned skywards, "The better for God to hear."
Occasionally we did a course of Cambridge Surprise major or minor. I never got good at the timing but once made it through 3 hours of something-or-other, on 6 bells probably.
U of C has had a few ring theorists, too. There was a Susan, one of those rare women mathematicians, who came to the change-ringing practices.
Change ringing requires special bells, special "music", and ordinary people who enjoy climbing towers,
 North American Guild of Change Ringers
http://www.nagcr.org/pamphlet.html
It looks like the US President studied law at Chicago and a peal of changes rang in his era of change. (Although when I went to a site to learn more, they were trying to shake quarters out of my pocket.)
Plus ca change.
saving changes now
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Feb 27, 2009 - 05:26pm PT
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Actually, Columbia College (Sonora/Columbia) had some pretty good climbing BITD (1974-76), if the Arboretum (great limestone bouldering) on the campus was not suitable for climbing because it was raining or snowing, then the arches on the main admin building (by the cafeteria), where the walls were made up of rock and plaster, so to speak, were great for buildering. You would have to see them to know what I am speaking about. Protected from the elements by the 'balcony' that ran the length of that portion of the building. We (myself, Claude Fiddler, Jim Keating and others) were never harassed (that I know of) by campus officials. It was great.
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Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
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Feb 27, 2009 - 09:42pm PT
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Cowpoke stole my thunder. The University of Wyo rocks for buildering. Long travers, roof problems all kinds of stuff. When I went to school there, I picked up a copy of the School paper to see a photo of Todd Skinner on the cover, climbing one of those cracks in Cowpoke's photo (the classrooom building, sometimes reffered to as the kodak carousel building) Todd had played the photogtapher as evidenced by the caption; "Real estate major Royal Robbins, training for Mt McKinley._
MH2, twist, My older bro went to the the U of C and had a whole series of gothic boulder problems;"Mantle the Saint, dyno the gargoyle" etc.
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I'm hurtin . . .
Ice climber
land of cheese and beer
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Feb 27, 2009 - 11:34pm PT
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St. Olaf College in Northfield MN has some great buildings as well, especially the athletic fieldhouse. Super hard, sharp limestone cut from nearby quarries. Fantastic traverses at any height you care to fall from!
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Feb 28, 2009 - 02:58am PT
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Kolledge???
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Feb 28, 2009 - 03:24am PT
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Kollege is too German for this topic.
The proper English gentlemen are the ones who've climbed King's Chapel.
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cowpoke
climber
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Feb 28, 2009 - 10:24am PT
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Sorry, Jaybro, I didn't intend to thunder steal. Indeed, I hoped the image would evoke such a tale. Very funny. I wonder how many folks noticed the RR photo credit?
Knight Hall (I think?) was another spot on the UWyo campus where I often looked up and wondered if someone bold had been -- on the south side of Prexy's Pasture, it has the pink granite facade, but occasional window-like concrete features that might be great jugs for shaking out. I, however, never buildered while there. I wasn't a student and the idea of my Dean happening upon an adventure was usually excuse enough to just look and wonder. Yet, a couple of our grad students were more brave...
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Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
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Feb 28, 2009 - 10:50am PT
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I remember the facade on the Quarteracre(?) gym was different than most of the other buildings, less sharp, more subtle. Might be something else than the standard Casper/Chugwater formation stuff.
Almost got nailed when traversing on the residence hall cafe. An explosion of chocolate milk blasted right next to me, apparently thrown from a higher window in one of those wyoming skyscrapers,,,
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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I'll second the motion for C.U. Boulder. I spent
endless hours there in the early 1960s and onward,
and the possibilities are virtually limitless.
Of course people began to focus on the Engineering
Center, but that was of least interest to me. I had
all sorts of hideouts, out of view of walkways, on
the backs of buildings, even inside. The whole campus
is made of that Lyons formation sandstone, and so
about a hundred buildings have these walls, many walls
of many varying sizes, some easy, some very difficult.
It's not all about flat holds. It depends on how
they laid those stones... We especially
enjoyed very long traverses that pumped the forearms
beyond belief. We would set records, back and forth,
on certain routes as many times as possible, sometimes
staying on a traverse for several hours. I've been
to some of the other places mentioned, and I've been
to lots of universities and buildering locations,
and I can honestly and emphatically say I haven't
really seen anything that compares with the full scope
of the C.U. campus, most of which the modern builderer
has little knowledge, as they stick around the Engineering
Center, many do, much of the time... And then within a
few minutes one can switch from the sandstone of the campus
to the actual rock above the city... Boulder was always
a climber's paradise... in many more ways than one...
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cowpoke
climber
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Aug 29, 2012 - 08:14am PT
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Jaybro and others with uwyo pasts should enjoy this climbing guide...a wonderful campus brought to life through a climber's eyes...a lovely work.
"This thin, beautiful line was developed after someone picked out the rubber from the expansion joints in the concrete late at night. As Davin describes, the point of all this is often 'just to climb a rock for the sake of climbing a rock' — not to summit — but just for the sheer feeling and rhythm that comes from moving your body vertically over a face of stone. The small, open crack of the Physical Sciences Building is of the type that draws climbers by the thousands to places like Indian Creek, Utah, where cracks in the walls perfectly split the burnt-auburn and sienna-colored rock face without changing in width, whether the cracks are finger or fist size."
sketch and prose by Paula Wright
Link to the full essay:
http://www.mountaingazette.com/features/a-climbing-guide-to-the-university-of-wyoming/
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Gunkie
Trad climber
East Coast US
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Aug 29, 2012 - 10:44am PT
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Thomas Hall @ Temple University, sadly, now gone (1998) with a modern dormitory in its place. On the back side of this thing was one of the greatest bouldering traverses I've ever done. Student & Faculty climbers hit this spot often and there was always chalk all over the red stone holds. Campus security typically looked the other way. However, late in my undergraduate career they turned up the heat and consistently chased us off.
I held a music performance scholarship and would often practice in the studios in the basement of this building then go climbing.
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Pratyush
Mountain climber
Pasadena
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Aug 29, 2012 - 10:52am PT
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Caltech, in Pasadena, has quite a few climbs. So many that there was a whole booklet (pdf link) published about them long ago when Chuck Wilts (of Tahquitz fame) used to be a Professor at Caltech. Campus security does not allow many of these climbs anymore though, but there are still a few you can do.
Quoted:
Dedicated to Chuck Wilts "for the insane idea" The "Climbing History section" says: The history of climbing at Caltech is rather vague, but then perhaps most of Caltech is rather vague. It is known that Dave Rearick made a number of ascents, the most notable of which was the first ascent of the famed Spalding layback, accomplished only by a rest on the belay halfway up. Second term 1967 opened up a new era of building climbing. The revived Caltech Alpine Club, lacking transportation, took up climbing buildings for practice. The North campus routes were found and done, (they are definitely first ascents) as well as many others. And on the rating system: It is quit difficult to find a grade VI at Caltech... First ascentionists mentioned: Dave Rossum (1967), Neal Erickson (1967), Rob Jackson (1967), Keith Edwards (1967), Georges Balassa (1967), Dave Rearick (1958))
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crasic
climber
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Aug 29, 2012 - 11:25am PT
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Hey Chris, one of our current climbing team presidents is probably the fourth person to get the full Doe traverse
He nails the last move
[Click to View YouTube Video]
For the uninitiated, the rules are
1. No vertical pulls
2. No sticky shoes
3. No chalk
There is also a "doppelgänger" doe traverse on the other side of the library that is identical in every way except the last iconic move.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Aug 29, 2012 - 11:27am PT
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How cool is that, Cowpoke, thanks! That red arrow in the second image shows where I first did a one arm pullup on a climbing problem ( as opposed to a flexible pullup bar).
I woke up this morning in california sinus running like a facet craving the dry austerity of Vedauwoo air......
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 29, 2014 - 11:42pm PT
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I don't know if any of you UW (University of Washington) climbers tried it, but Husky Stadium had a really neat flare that one could do heel-toe/knee-heel or knee-heel/back-foot. It was on a giant cylindrical support for a spiral ramp leading to the upper deck and faced the climbing rock across the parking lot. I never saw anyone else on it but did see scuff marks on it that weren't mine. You could top out at about 30', but I always down-climbed much earlier. Anyway, it's no more, the victim of the newest renovation.
Also wrt UW, how high on the Red Square Chimneys have any of you gotten? For the information of non-UW people, it's a perfect back-foot brick chimney, open on both sides and must go up more than 80' with a hard (uneven brick) landing. I think when I showed up in 93 there we a few manky looking 1/4" bolts up high. I let discretion be the better part of valor and retreated quite low down.
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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just a friday night bump, 'cause I'm curious about the Red Square Chimneys.
dar
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Todd Eastman
climber
Bellingham, WA
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The Wyman Park bridge at Johns Hopkins U. is fantastic buildering. Huge traverses and long enough top out to have some concern. Still go there when I visit Charm City.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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The U of Washington was a fertile field and there was a mimeographed guide book.
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Todd Eastman
climber
Bellingham, WA
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The U of Washington was a fertile field and there was a lithographed guide book.
Fixed it for ya...
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Todd, thanks, I forgot that Gutenberg did lithos.
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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I appreciate the tradition, but someone here must have climbed more than a few feet up the Red Square Chimneys. ???
Actually, Steve G. or Clint; do you have a copy of the UW Buildering Guide? I know I've seen it over someone's shoulder at the rock.
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Did I miss it or has nobody mentioned Stanford? I think it already has it's own thread already.
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Rocky IV
Social climber
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Reid hall at MSU bozeman is sick if you like doing the same move over and over and over and...
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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I must say that after a Friday night walk up and down our Main St. in the newest University of Cal town there are few opps here in the main thouroghfare.
This is one which I managed tonight, not much, but for an aging (descriptions of has-wooses abound) climber who has no clue to what he dan do, but has had an Angry Orchard and a Fireball chaser, too, this was purty im-preee-ive.
Up, up, reach the top, down, slowly,
You must not drop.
Climb it all the way to the top.
On the way down, step lighter and stop
To look for those toe holds you have forgot.
Step on the pavement, light as a feather,
Now knowing whether if or whenever
You will re-live the buildering arts,
Like when you were younger and throwing darts
At a pub on San Pablo in the East Bay
And jamming that crack next to the door, eh?
College and knowledge they go a-crawledge
When you get the beer that cost you so dear
Youth will be served in year after year.
Architecture.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Knowledge, crawledge, fraternity of the keg, basically.
Cheers and happy landings by degrees!!!!!!!!!
--Sutch A. Thread
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alxj
Trad climber
Calgary, AB
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This is a photo from 1994.
A bunch of us spent many evenings avoiding the Vancouver rains and UBC exams honing our finger strength on this wall of the Frank Forward building.
We did get ejected a few times by security guards over the years but in general we managed to go unnoticed for a couple years.
No doubt other climbers have used this wall over the years.
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drapnea
Trad climber
SLC, UT
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When I was at UW I remember the guidebook to UW being passed around. Wish I had a copy of it.
Also I remember that in the late 90s/early 2000s there was a topout of the Red Square chimney route that required a fire truck rescue because they were too freaked out or tired to down climb the 80-100 feet back down.
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drapnea
Trad climber
SLC, UT
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Found the online guide to University of Washington (the University Range)
http://www.alpinedave.com/uw_buildering/
and info specifically on the University Range's Red Square Towers which are actually much taller than I remember:
http://www.alpinedave.com/uw_buildering/climbs/redsquare_towers.html
Funny description:
"This route has been the the subject of much controversy over the years, and many have been arrested for scaling this forbidden spire. The route was bolted every 10 ft or so in the 70s with hangerless 1/4" bolts. Most would forego a rope and solo up and down the 180 feet. However, during a 1999 ascent which lead to a public arrest, the lower 3/4 of the route's bolts were chopped. There is now only about two or three remaining bolts near the top. Be careful when scaling these towers due to PI patrols every 15 minutes."
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thebravecowboy
Social climber
Colorado Plateau
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East Hall in Kalamazoo, MI, is situated on a big hill overlooking the town and its opiated seasonally affective disordered drones. I got some kisses here, once, and circumnavigated the arch several times. v1R seems fair
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Darwin, some loonies have been waay up those chimneys, trust me.
What I want to know is who has done Brunelleschi's dome? How rad would that be, assuming you got away without a trip to the Hotel Medici?
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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The student union building at San Jose State University has these wicked chimneys, each with a big bomb-bay roof at the top and scary mantle onto the roof. The chimneys are the perfect width.
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Oct 20, 2014 - 04:30pm PT
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U-Village just east the the University of Washington campus just put up a new parking structure in its east edge, and I always check out new concrete structures when they are close-by (10 min from my house). These "cracks" are both about 15-20'. The first one is perfect fists for me *when I wear jammies*, so the FFA awaits someone better or with larger fists than I have (3 and 3/4"?). The second OW is too narrow for me to get a real chicken wing, too narrow to get my hips into and my heel-toe is way oblique and painful (8''?). I could hang in it for a few seconds, but I'm getting over a bad cold and just couldn't force myself to have the energy to try to move up. I suspect a short small person with small feet would hike it. My compliments to the construction crew. There were many clones of each crack, and they all seem the same size. I'm going back to try both again. They were dry on this rainy morning.
left- and right-facing versions.
straight-in only
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