Gina E.
Trad climber
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Here's some info from a recent solo ascend of Zodiac: http://sinkerjams.com/2015/05/18/soloing-zodiac/
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Chris McNamara
SuperTopo staff member
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I climbed this route in mid may 2013. Did all clean with minimal trickery. You can see the rack I took on the recommended gear tab above. We didn't hand place any sawed angles, but if you want the full bag of clean aid tricks, bring em.
Pitch 1 - the direct variation is still there if you want to pass parties
Pitch 3 - top step to avoid nailing. Still dont see the placement? get even higher!
Pitch 4 - there was some loose rock right at the start of the pitch. Be careful.
Pitch 7 - Black Tower - definitely the danger crux of the route. Offset cams of all sizes very nice for fitting in weird scars. If you want to hand place a pin, you will probably need to tie it off. Top step to get through anything weird up high.
Pitch 9 - there was a weird pod about 30 or 40 feet up. I hand placed a large Moses Tomahawk here. A large Black Diamond Pecker would also work.
Pitch 12 - loose blocks 2/3 of the way up. Be careful.
Pitch 13 - where the topo says reachy hook move... it is REALLY reachy. approach shoes or free shoes recommended on this pitch.
Pitch 14 - We brought one 1 #5 Black Diamond Camalot, 2 #5 Friends 1 #4 Camalot. This worked out well. But if you are conservative. bring even more #4-5 Camalots.
There are a bunch of rurps and peckers with cables about to break. Bring extra 3mm accessory cord and 1/2 webbing and read this thread Ideas for Replacing broken cables on RURPS, peckers, pitons
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Alejo
Trad climber
costa rica
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http://www.supertopo.com/tr/SOLOING-ZODIAC-JUST-LOVED-IT/t12759n.html
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StyMingersfink
climber
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There were so few copperheads on the direct P1 variation because when I re-installed the pitch in Sept. 2005 I utilized peckers instead of copperheads. ;) One of them held a 15 footer with no problem.
and BTW, Karl... On the first post-cleaning ascent you were mentioning, the nipple pitch was accomplished by leep-frogging two cam-hooks to the bolt at the nipple. No additional gear was necessary! (There was a fixed LA in the corner above the anchor with a broken eye, and a fixed astro-nut about 10' from the nipple bolt. Otherwise, when you get above the Huber anchors, step down in your ladders and clip one of the chains. {This should prevent you from swinging too hard into your belayers and the open dihedral should a cam-hook pop... :) } Be sure to leave lower-out slings for your cleaner.
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Chris McNamara
SuperTopo staff member
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GREAT photo essay here
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=523785
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Brendan
Trad climber
Yosemite, CA
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Climbed this route 6/19-6/21/09
I did Tangerine trip two weeks ago, and can attest that Zodiac is definitely harder. More sustained and less fixed in it current state. GREAT ROUTE.
Beta if you want it.
Rack:
2 ea. .3"-.5" (BD C3 000-0?)
3 ea. Green/yellow/gray alien (small fingers to wide fingers)
2 ea. .5 - #3 new bd camalot
1 #4 camalot (or 2 #4 old BD camalots and 1 new #5)
2 #5 camalot (leapfrog on pitch 14)
1 set nuts, 1 set offset nuts, MICROS!
Every offset alien/cam you can get your hands on
LAs. 2 ea. #1-3
KBs 1 ea. #1-3
Beaks 2-3ea. sm, med, lg (critical for us since we didnt have offset aliens)
4 med heads, cam hooks!, lg hook, sky hook, grappling hook
Go climb this route, it is sick. Lots of opportunities to get out of your aiders and do some great free climbing (ex: lower pitches and pitch 13/14/15). Figure out the rest for yourselves!
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Spanky
Social climber
boulder co
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You could do it if you move fast. If you fix to 3 you should be able to make it to seven. You can link 5 and 6 if you don't clip much gear at the end of 5. Getting from 7 to peanut will be a long day, and it is some of the more sustained climbing. I don't climb that fast but there are plenty of people who do. As far as I can remember those re the only 2 places i think you could sleep.
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Ryans
Trad climber
Idyllwild, CA
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Completed a two day ascent after fixing to pitch 3 last week. Here are my recommendations:
Gear:
-3 camhooks were enough. 2 narrow, 1 wide
-1 talon, and 2 medium sized hooks were good (I had the Cassin hooks).
-Peckers: 1 small, 2 medium, 2 large. These helped me get through every tough section (hand placed)
-Sawed-off angles were unnecessary. I didn't use mine at all.
-Fixed copperheads seemed to be in good shape, none pulled on me. I did not bounce test them.
-Three #4 C4s and two #5 C4s were okay for pitch 14. Massive runouts for me.
-Hybrid aliens (red-yellow especially) and TCUs were incredible.
Hauling:
-While hauling one of the upper pitches (11, 12, or 13?), my bags dislodged some partially detached flakes 30 feet below my haul point. Nothing you can do about it really, just be aware. It looks like more could go.
In general, every time a section gave me trouble, I got through it with peckers or camhooks. A few times I remember using the peckers to hook on top of broken beaks or dead-heads.
The route easily went hammerless on my ascent, but it did depend on some crucial copperheads and a few fixed pins.
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yana
Big Wall climber
Japan
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I have a one qestion,the "GRAY CIRCLE" in the supertopos.
what's that meaning?Please tell me for that.
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Lambone
Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
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Grey is a color, circle is a shape. Look closely at the picture. Have fun ;-)
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Erik Sloan
Big Wall climber
Yosemite Big Wall
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Actually the falls are doing some wierd stuff this days with strong easterly winds at the higher elevations. The beginning of the route has been uncharacteristically clear of water, though with the falls blowing around so much when it does come back West it packs a punch. The route goes now, for sure. Just be extra-careful to get past pitches two and three (ideally hauling from the ground to the top of pitch four) as fast as possible.
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Kindredlion
Big Wall climber
4hrs too far from YNP
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hm...
thanks guys... I will have to think about if that will work for me... I am already limited with time this weekend...
Maybe I'll just bask in the rays on southern man or south central...
thanks again guys...
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Chris mcNamara
Advanced climber
4hrs too far from YNP
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zodiac will be wet on the first three pitches in the morning and evening due to drip/tiny waterfall. between 10am and 6pm a consistent breeze should blow the drip to the east and leave pitches 1-3 dry. if you time it right, everything should go smoothly. after pitch 3, everthing is dry to the summit.
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RockMD
Big Wall climber
Arizona
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I have a question. Does anyone think that leaning tower is a good warmup wall for the Zodiac?
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Lambone
Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
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Yes, but expect much trickier clean aid on Zodiac. The Tower is a beautiful wall all around, go for it!
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Chris McNamara
SuperTopo staff member
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i agree. the tower will give you a tast for some of the exposure but the climbing is not all that difficult compared to zodiac. ten days after is probably the best preparation for zodiac. the prow is also good: harder than the tower but easier than ten days after.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Just got off Zodiac June 25th. Route was not very fixed but we managed it clean with cam hooks, aliens and offsets.
Wanna run pitches 5 and 6 together without having to make freeclimbing moves after backcleaning 35 feet? You probably do want to run the pitches together since Dead End Ledge hasn't got the greatest anchor set-up for hauling. I just clipped the Dead End Anchors when I decided I didn't want to stop there and lowered off to back clean the traversing bits above the bolt ladder. Didn't take nearly as long as the second would have taken to clean it on jugs and I reduced rope drag for making it to the pitch 6 anchors.
Pictures and trip report on my site at
http://member.newsguy.com/~climbing/El_Cap_Zodiac_20_years.html
Peace
karl
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Bob Jacobson
Advanced climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Was at base July 5th 2002. Watch out for the Rattlesnake(s)
Saw one near start of Pitch One hiding in the Talus.
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Kindredlion
Big Wall climber
4hrs too far from YNP
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Anyone have any beta on the amount of water soaking the route from the falls? Think I might try to blast off this Friday... 3/19
Should I just keep my arse on the column for another week?
nudge nudge
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Chris McNamara
SuperTopo staff member
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the falls are pumping. the first 3 pitches will be wet until about 11am when the wind moves the water east. around 6pm the water will come back onto the route.
so you have to work with that window on the first 3 pitches. after that you are in the clear.
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Erik Sloan
Big Wall climber
Yosemite Big Wall
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Tips from April '03 ascent of Zodiac:
Pitch 1 cam hooks are less secure than the rest of the route. If you can do pitch 1 clean it will only get (mostly)easier.
Pitch 2 belay is the first haul--less than fifty meters to the deck. Hauling to pitch 1 is no fun because then you have to lower the bag out a lot(and haul it up again).
Pitch 3 bolt ladder is reachy, including a couple reaches from bolts to fixed heads. So if you're taller than your partner, do them a favor and take this one.
Pitch 8 does not have as many bolts as are on the topo and there are a couple reachy moves between fixed heads.
Pitch 9 rivet in the middle of pitch is missing.
Pitch 12 is reachy and not that easy.
Remember that Zodiac is shorter than the Nose or Lurking Fear, but not nearly as easy, climbing-wise. Have fun!
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Chris McNamara
SuperTopo staff member
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hey, just a heads up. the webbing on the anchors of the first eight pitches of the zodiac have been replaced with steel quick links.
quick links are stronger and lower profile than massive quantitles of webbing.
if you need to retreat, thread your rope through the quick links--please don't add webbing
c
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Erik Sloan
Big Wall climber
Yosemite Big Wall
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as of 10/03 there are still several bolts missing on Zodiac that are shown on the Supertopo....but people are gettin by:)
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ricardo
Gym climber
San Francisco, CA
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Solo'ed this route on 9/20 - 9/26 .. (my first big wall) ..
the only place where a cheat stick was essential for me was on the missing bolts on top of pitch 8 .. (as you traverse onto the crack that enters the grey circle) .. the parties ahead of me also cheat sticked through this section
tons of fixed gear on route .. specially the upper half of the wall ..
my most memorable moment was rappelling back down to the previous station on the upper half of the wall .. you always end up hanging in space .. its terryfiyng ..
ricardo
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malabarista
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Just got off the Zodiac, my first route on el cap. It blew my mind.
We climbed it clean made possible using TCU's, HB offsets, Alien Offsets, various hooks (especially cam hooks) and Lowe balls (blue and red).
I did not have to use a cheater stick on pitch 8. I followed a higher line than the chopped bolts and used a talon hook to get past.
Thanks much to Ricardo, who inpired me to try this route, and to the Huber brothers who gave us extra water when we were low due to the heat!
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retired
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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climbed Zodiac april 9-11. Great route! couple of comments: the bolt ladder shown leading to pitch 8 belay has been chopped, small nuts and cam hooks will work there. we climbed under a steady stream which was coming out of the route above pitch 13, it felt refreshing when the sun was out but a bit worrisome when you would be suddenly sprinkled during the middle of the night. the wind pushed the water around a lot and it never seemed to hit you for long but a bivy sack is a good idea even if the weather looked great. Horsetail falls never came as far west as we were.
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up2top
climber
Phoenix, AZ
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Anyone know when the sun hits the route in the AM, and what time of the day it goes back into the shade this time of year? Looks like it's going to be hot next week and I'm wondering if it's feasible to wait for the cooler parts of the day to climb it.
Ed
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ricardo
Gym climber
San Francisco, CA
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ed:
.. zodiac has about the worst sun/shade ratio on el cap .. goes into the sun early in the morning .. and stays in the sun until about 1 hour before sunset
ricardo
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up2top
climber
Phoenix, AZ
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Hehe. Looks like I better bring the Crisco. CUZ I'M CLIMBIN THAT F U KER!!!!!
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Wade Icey
Social climber
Phoenix, AZ
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Yo Hey-
Recent update on the Zodiac cleanup- I just received a call from the American Chopperhead himself. Here are the facts as of 8/28/04 noon.
five pitches fixed
pitches 1-5 have a total of 6 fixed pieces remaining
pitches 1-3 7 bolts have been removed
all fixed heads removed from 1st pitch variant
some fat 3/8 recently replaced anchors are deteriorating quickly due to repeated rapping and hauling (Opposite forces on the hangers)
the team is resting up at the deli- work will recommence tomorrow on the meat of the project, pitch five.
Chopperhead notes that a 1/2 full shopping bag of fixed mank has been accumulated thus far "and it's going to get a lot worse."
He also states that "the character of the route is already definately different." and that aspirants should include beaks, heads and... "they'd better know what they're doing."
A detailed report will be issued by the principals upon completion of the project.
over and out,
Wade Icey- editor at large. SEND Magazine
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ricardo
Gym climber
San Francisco, CA
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Ammon made a pretty informative post on the clean-job on zodiac
http://www.rockclimbing.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=844356#844356
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david_webb_aus
Big Wall climber
Canberra Australia
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Hi there All,
Just finished Zodiac Yesterday and found the route as good as I thought it was going to be. Just some info on the route, pitch three has a fixed head missing know my partner took a fall and ripped it it has not been replaced. Pitch Twelve had some expando on it just before you swing to the right and head to the first bolt. that expando section is now missing as I pulled it off when I fell. you need to hook the horn to the right to get to the bolts. In relation to the sun. We found we started climbing in the morning around 0630 and got into the sun around about 1100h and stayed in the sun till around 1630h. The last note is do not try to use the bolts you see to the right and left of the route as you go up these were placed by the Huber brothers or Tommy Caldwell (I think dont quote me) If you get onto these you will get off route and get stuck stick with the supertopo route info and you will be right. We left about 18 litres of water at the top on thursday 13 August
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david_webb_aus
Big Wall climber
Canberra Australia
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It has not been confirmed but I believe that Zodiac has been cleaned of heads and pitons and unneeded bolts. It was cleaned so that only bolts and bolted belays that were placed or made on the first ascent. If this is true then be prepared to bring lots of heads and pitons for this route in the future. If anyone has more info post it.
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kfons
Trad climber
Madison, WI
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I think the cleanup for the most part is great, however, I am worried about it too.
I am worried that the super cleaning may result in even worse conditions or possible permanent damage Many of the people heading up there may not be very good at placing heads, beaks, etc and may either damage the route or end up placing crap gear / heads or more bolts. Sometimes it might be better to leave that bolt instead of taking it out and forcing the party to use a hammer, that they may not be very good with, and end up breaking off rock, flakes, ...
Just a thought ...
Keep up the good work.
Kevin
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ricardo
Gym climber
San Francisco, CA
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Some piece of beta that came to mind recently ..
p15 and p16 will link if you are soloing the route (if you have a partner there might be too much rope drag). --
If you do link these pitches, plan to backclean such that your rope stretches to the anchors.
I failed to backclean enought pieces and reached the belay with about 5' of lead line left. (I was lucky to be climbing with a 65 meter rope).
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oldskool
Trad climber
eugene, or
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i was wondering if anyone knew if the rack has changed for zodiac since the cleaning? also do you think this would be a ok route to get on with marginal weather, possibly some snow and rain.
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oldskool
Trad climber
eugene, or
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i was wondering if anyone knew if the rack has changed for zodiac since the cleaning? also do you think this would be a ok route to get on with marginal weather, possibly some snow and rain.
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Gabe
Social climber
eugene, or
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The rack for the Zodiac has changed a bit after the clean-up last September. I would recommend bringing a double rack of aliens,(they fit nicely into old pin scars) 3-4 beaks are plenty, a few heads (there are only two or three head placements on the entire route)a very small pin rack may help (the first party to send after it was cleaned said they only nailed a couple of times). All bolts on p.14 were removed. I recommend three #4 camalots. Have fun, and let's keep the trash off all our climbs.
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up2top
climber
Phoenix, AZ
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Anyone done this route recently? Has it seen much traffic this season? I'm interested to hear if anyone has been able to do it clean, yet, since the clean up.
Ed
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Coffeeman
Trad climber
Corvallis, OR
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Does anyone know how wet Zodiac is, specifically the first and last couple pitches? Are the falls soaking it pretty bad or is it climbable? Also, is the nipple still pierced or has that bolt be removed?
Thanks
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ricardo
Gym climber
San Francisco, CA
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Horsetail falls is now dry .. i was looking for it this weekend .. could not find it
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2mas
Sport climber
Norway
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We did the Zodiac approx a week ago. It's still pretty clean after the big cleanup, but some gear has shown up again. I think we clipped 4-6 newly placed heads, around 6 really old bolts, one new knifeblade and one new rurp. We didn't leave any of our gear behind, and cleaned out a couple of older pieces.
The route is dry during daytime, if the sun is on. When doing the route, one should fix to pitch 3 or 4 and blast at least to 7 on the following day. The pitches below 7 recieve a lot of runoff when the sun isn't showing it's pretty face and of course during the night. Above 7 everything is dry and great!
I think the gear suggested in the supertopo would be good. We had two sawed angles and three lost arrows. We would be a lot faster if we had the right gear.
Good luck!
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2mas
Sport climber
Norway
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We did the Zodiac approx a week ago. It's still pretty clean after the big cleanup, but some gear has shown up again. I think we clipped 4-6 newly placed heads, around 6 really old bolts, one new knifeblade and one new rurp. We didn't leave any of our gear behind, and cleaned out a couple of older pieces.
The route is dry during daytime, if the sun is on. When doing the route, one should fix to pitch 3 or 4 and blast at least to 7 on the following day. The pitches below 7 recieve a lot of runoff when the sun isn't showing it's pretty face and of course during the night. Above 7 everything is dry and great!
I think the gear suggested in the supertopo would be good. We had two sawed angles and three lost arrows. We would be a lot faster if we had the right gear.
Good luck!
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billygoat
climber
Pees on beard to seek mates.
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We topped out Zodiac on Sunday (7/10/05), and found the route to be in perfect condition (depite water dripping from Shortest Straw). Big tumbs up to the clean-up crew. They have done a truly excellent thing: restore Zodiac to as close to its original condition as possible. Talking with Gabe in the meadows after our ascent was awesome. We were told only about seven parties have topped out since the clean up. Twenty plus have bailed. In otherwords, climbing Zodiac is no joke!
I would highly recommend bringing the pinns on the supertopo's gear list (for once they haven't over racked). We nailed aproximately 30 times. It is possible to nail less, but far more committing. For instance, I took a big fall on the Nipple. That made me rethink doing the pitch clean. Surprisingly, the first pitch went clean with the exception of fixed heads at the beginning and one fixed angle higher up. The key is to cam hook past potential pin placements.
Bolts have been chopped, but not some of the ones folks were expecting. The bolt at the tit is still there. However, there are none on the 14th pitch. Personally, I think this is the way it should be. Gabe's advice to bring three big cams is good. We had 1 ea of #4, 5, and 6 C4s and one red wild country. This works, but I ened up nearly fixing the friend over and over. Two number 4's would have been better, three excellent. Either way, get ready to walk it out, but no worries 'cause the placements are bomber.
Also, be prepared to nail on the third pitch. And be prepared to hook too. Heed this advice, lest you wish to join the bailers. And leave the stick clip at home, lest you wish to cheat yourself of the real experience.
One more piece of beta: double sets of offset aliens went a long way. I used every single one on the nipple, and I could have used more. Tripple would be overkill, but don't heasitate for double. We also had a double set of regular aliens, though we probably could have gotten by with a single set.
If ya'll want more beta, I'd be happy to share. But for now I want to go climbing.
Peace.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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It's cool that Billygoat sent the climb and was honest about the style, which was great except for nailing 30 times. The first party to climb Zodiac after the cleanup nailed less than a half dozen times.
While the cleanup did many good things, it has unfortunately given many folks license to nail and head without second thoughts. Some folks have actually been chiseling head placements.
How the community deals with this condition on Zodiac is up in the air. Either folks should wait for more wall experience before heading up the route, or folks should leave all heads fixed and maybe a few pins too.
I'll agree that to get the Nipple clean, it's great to have an arsenal of Hybrid Aliens and HB offsets. It could be heavily cam hooked but you'd have to rig tricks for your second to clean it.
Peace
Karl
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billygoat
climber
Pees on beard to seek mates.
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I agree it is always better style to nail less, but for the record I did not chisel or place any heads by any means. All the heads I encountered were fixed and in good condition. My partner placed a few in pre-existing scars. Many of the pins I placed were beaks and RURPS, and others were LA's. I could've cam hooked past a few of the LA's--probably.
Oh yeah, I tought I should probably add that we did not use or cary a stick clip (I have strong reservations about their use outside of sport climbing). From what I've heard, some parties have been carrying one in order to avoid some nailing. This could certainly come in handy on pitch three, and probably a few other spots--but everyone would think less of you for it.
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piglicker
Trad climber
Cubage Patch
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Did the Zodiac about 10 days ago with wife and friend (team of 3). It was my second El Cap route, and their first.
One LA, one baby angle, 4 stumpies, and some RURPs and beaks were the only iron used on our ascent. The stumps might have been avoided if we had had some larger Aliens.
A triple set of offsets (both bronze and aluminum) was very handy, and all of them got used, especially on the Nipple pitch, where I think I placed 30 offsets. Wished we had had more Aliens, especially up into the yellow or orange Metolius TCU sizes. The middle of pitch 3 was pretty weird and blank - fifi hook on a cheater stick got us past the weirdness but still found myself hooking in a chopped bolt hole that someone had chipped the epoxy out. There were lots of places where it looked like people had tried to hook on little tiny flakes and pulled them off. Later on, the Fish hook was very helpful.
Brought the big guns for p. 14: 1-3.5, 3-4, 1-5 camalot were all used with good success and without a major runout. Watch out blindly placing large cams - they heads can twist sideways and seem "solid", but will be junk. Last pitch was kind of funky but stumpies came out to save the day. I might have been able to do that pitch clean, but I couldn't tell where the route went at 10:30 at night, and the slab below me was not making me feel that wonderful. Fish hook came in handy on this pitch as well.
The only negative feedback I would have is that the Chopper seemed to have whacked some of the belay bolts. There were always at least 3, but the 14th belay was kind of a turbo-cluster because they were all on top of one another. Pity he/she couldn't have left the damn belays alone, if bolts were chopped from there by him/her. You can see the old holes, some of which would have been much more helpful.
FYI
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