Wet Denim Daydream, Leaning Tower A3 5.6

 
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Yosemite Valley, California USA

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 (3.0)
Average Customer Rating:   
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Rating Distribution
9 Total Ratings
5 star: 11%  (1)
4 star: 56%  (5)
3 star: 22%  (2)
2 star: 11%  (1)
1 star: 0%  (0)
BrandonAdams

Big Wall climber
Yosemite, CA
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   Apr 10, 2016 - 07:59am
I agree that loose block was not a big deal at all in past. I want to advise however that it has certainly gotten worse. Take heed of this warning as much as you choose.
jeff constine

Trad climber
Ao Namao
Apr 9, 2016 - 06:43pm
 
Was a fun route The big Flake deal near the top was not that big of deal. Stellar location.
top left corner top right corner
Credit: jeff constine
bottom left corner bottom right corner
BrandonAdams

Big Wall climber
Yosemite, CA
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   Mar 31, 2016 - 04:18pm
The giant loose block below the roof is precarious and dangerous. Definitely use caution on this pitch.
thekidcormier

Gym climber
squamish, b.c.
Jun 29, 2013 - 01:01pm
 
Did this route in early may, holy cow what a route!

It went fairly easily hammerless, although I probably would have been tempted to give some peckers a little love tap had we brought one.

We bivied at the bottom, Kieran Brownie, Jim Bean and I.

Instead of linking pitches we went with the short fix approach and I jugged and hauled While kieran led to "UhWeenie"

The next pitch and a bit off "UhWeenie" ledge involve navigating some loose and precariously stacked rock, exercise caution here.

Pulling the lip of the roof was extremely engaging a couple of hand placed #3 peckers

were my saving grace.

The bivy ledge at the top trumps ahwahnee ledge,I would recommend this bivy at the bottom/bivy at the top strategy to any one.


EDIT; METOLIOUS HYBRIDS!
Hoots

climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
Apr 1, 2013 - 03:33pm
 
Ahwahnee Ledge doesn't offer much shelter. When I did WDD, I was super thankful I brought a tent groundsheet to use as an afternoon sunshade...when the thunderstorm rolled in at 2am (seriously!) ended up having to duct tape it out as a rain shelter. All of our gear was buzzing with electricity as we lowered our rack as far down as our ropes would allow!
Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber
San Francisco
Apr 1, 2013 - 03:18pm
 
Would this wall be good to do when it is raining? Or ledge could get wet and annoying from wind blowing rain on it?
jsb

Trad climber
Portland
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   May 24, 2012 - 12:25am
Lots of good gear beta on this forum. Just soloed the route in 3.5 days from 5/16-5/19, 2012. If I were to do it again, this is exactly what I would take (or the equivalent sizes in other brands).

 2 sets of C4's from #0.5-#2
 1 C4 #3 that you can leave in the haulbag until the final pitch
 1 set of all 5 C3 microcams
 2 sets of the four smallest Metolius mastercam hybrids
 1 set of nuts
 1 set of micronuts
 2 small beaks
 3 medium beaks
 3 #1 heads (and a chisel to place them with)
 3 #2 heads
 2 rurps
 3 small angles, various sizes with the largest being sawed-offs
 3 small arrows, various sizes
 2 knifeblades
 1 bat hook
 1 BD talon hook
 1 chiseled BD cliffhanger
 1 chiseled BD grappling hook
 2 cam hooks, 1 narrow and 1 wide
 No rivet hangers, as there are no rivets


The heads, the rurps, and the beaks are there to give you all the options for the thin seam of P5 which is mostly stripped of any fixed gear. Tapping in the beaks will probably be the most useful... but you might want to place a couple heads or rurps. For the full experience, try not to clip the free climbing bolts. (I sure as heck clipped them!) If you place any microheads, make sure you know what you are doing and do it right... and then leave them there.

The rest of the nailing gear (the angles, arrows and blades) are mostly just for backup, just in case any of the rusty old fixed gear is gone when you go. You might not even place any of this. In my case, I placed 2 arrows and 1 baby angle... but if I had been bolder, I might have been able to avoid doing this.

Other notes:

1) I bypassed most of the freeclimbing on P5 by not clipping the bolt right off the belay and instead aiding up a small corner just to the right of the bolt. This corner had two small fixed nuts in it, and there is just one arrow/cam hook move required to get back onto the normal route. Very little free climbing is required this way, and you could leave your climbing shoes at home. This way seemed a lot safer, too.

2) There are a ton of loose blocks on pitches 7 and 8. I thought these blocks were extremely dangerous and scary, and I tried to climb around them as much as possible. Someone drilled bat hook holes to get around the "detached block" labeled in the Supertopo. By all means use these. I was even scared of the block that the detached block was sitting on. That whole mess is going to fall off soon. Try not to be near it when it does.

3) There is almost no fixed gear in the roof on P9, which is nice b/c it's pretty much a C1 crack. Around the roof there are 3-4 fixed pins/blades and above that it's just a couple moves of C1+/C2 to get to the anchors. Either mantle the last move up onto the ledge, or reach way back for a not-so-good hook in a groove.
Chris McNamara

SuperTopo staff member
Jul 27, 2009 - 12:21am
 
great tr here - http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=912701
Brendan

Trad climber
Yosemite, CA
Apr 26, 2009 - 04:00pm
 
Beta, if you want it...

-bring Small bird beaks and small heads for the A3 pitch. Lots of fixed pitons at the end.
-Bring 2 cam hooks for the next pitch, might as well just clip em right to your leashes cause there are so many placements.
-You might want to tape a lower edge on the last aid pitch, twas a little sharp.
-No need for rivet hangers, ST rack is good, coulda used one more #1 camalot but the move was easily bypassed. Bring micro offsets for the final roof.
-I think me and my partner pulled all the bad fixed pro off, so have at it!

Chris McNamara

SuperTopo staff member
Dec 7, 2008 - 05:31pm
 
I made a little mistake on the topo in the SuperTOpo book:
http://www.supertopo.com/bigwalls/yosemite/bigwalls.html

Pitches 5 and 6 do NOT link together. (only pitches 5 and 6 of the West Face link together)
Chris McNamara

SuperTopo staff member
Nov 24, 2008 - 03:56pm
 
great trip report here

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=729781
Lambone

Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
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   Apr 10, 2008 - 01:32am
Just soloed this route in some chilly spring weather! I thought it was awesome. %90 of the fixed gear are good pins, the rest are good lookin, but old lookin big heads. Not much fixed "junk," There is one fixed cliffhanger hook sideways in a crack just below the big roof. Had to laugh at that one, wtf?

Some comments:
1. The 5.7 free is not rated X as someone stated below. I was able to get 5 to 6 good pieces in on it that would have kept me off Awhanee, ranging from Red Ballnut to #3 Camalot. The crux is just below the mid-point belay bolts. Watch yer rope drag, it's tempting to clip the Jesus anchor early in the pitch but use a real long runner if you do.

2. The A3 corner has no fixed gear in it. I was going to leave my heads fixed to preserve the rock, but it turns out they were all self cleaning while I was jugging the pitch! Bring 2-3 medium size BD Peckers, they are the ticket on this pitch. Hard not to clip those free bolts when your standing on #1 heads and beaks...

3. The "Death Block" is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I didn't even feel it move (much). Two camalots (#1 and 2)on the right side get you to a bomber red alien above. Looks like the sparrow poop is holding it in there pretty good. This pitch is wicked steep and long.

4. I'd second using the ledge belay above the loose block, it is a nice stance and makes for a good hanging bivi for one portaledge if you don't make the summit.

5. The roof is so cool! I thought it is the best roof pitch I've done in Yosemite. Sheild Roof, and Black Cave on NA are cool, but they are all laced with fixed pins and tat, this roof is just a perfect clean splitter. I popped the one fixed pin in the middle unexpectedly, and took a fun little ride. The C3 part above is all fixed with good pins, and the other placements are C2 at most. I'd recomend clip-cleaning the roof instead of monkeying with jugs across it, and tape the lip up.

go get er!
Billy Smallen

Trad climber
SLC
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   Sep 24, 2006 - 11:07pm
This is a really cool line up very steep rock. As for fixed gear on the crux, you will want to bring some medium and small heads as some were gone (one fixed head came out EASILY while I was cleaning the pitch just from rope pull...test the fixed gear). Mirco cam hooks come in very handy on the crux pitch and elsewhere on the route. The gear list in Supertopo is good. Leave anything above a #3 Camalot at home, you wont need it. There was only one spot where a #3 really comes in handy. We definitely were excited that we brought triples of aliens up to red instead of the recommended doubles though. I can't think of anywhere that I would have placed an angle pin but bring a couple blades and arrows in case the fixed ones are blown. We placed 1 rurp and 1 beak.

On the top of the 8th pitch you will find the worst hanging belay on the route, with barely a wall to touch. Instead of suffering here either short fix or keep going through half of the 9th pitch to the ledge on the topo. It has two good bolts and is big enough for two people to sit down. Belay the last pitch from there, to do anything else would be crazy!

HONESTY TEST: There is a #2 Camalot below the final roof the my partner had to leave to avoid taking a swing (his worst fear) while cleaning the roof. If you get it please bring it to the Gift shop in Curry Village (next to the mtn shop) they will know how to get it to me. My last name (Smallen) is written on it if you need proof of ownership. Thanks!
Karl Baba

Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
Jul 1, 2006 - 01:39pm
 
Seems unfortunate to me that folks are cleaning fixed heads. You can only whack em in and remove them so many times before you just have a mess that requires a bolt or a chisel

Peace

karl
tahoe valle

Big Wall climber
lake tahoe ca.
Jun 27, 2006 - 08:07pm
 
tried to do it in a push two days ago,however all fixed heads off awahnee are gone as of 6/25/06
Kindredlion

Big Wall climber
4hrs too far from YNP
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   May 11, 2005 - 05:49pm
Great Climb! Tried to solo this route without a hammer (dumbass) - thanks Lunchbox and BillyGoat for nailing the crap outta that pitch and putting some heads back in...

All the heads in the C3F section are now bomber - and some may even survive the scrutiny of the free climbers...

Good Beta below says beaks are bomber...

A lot of the pitch lengths in the topo are off, bolts have certainly been added, and there are numerous tick marks....

Again - nice frikin job to whoever is gonna free climb that sloppy wet, crumbly daydream... It was a great line for me... My pants are still crusted...

Good climbing with you guys...
lunchbox

Big Wall climber
santa cruz, ca
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   May 5, 2005 - 06:49pm
I'd just like to add a little more bata to billgoat's post. i did place an angle on the 5th pitch, former C3F, but we got it out. the only thing that is fixed are 4 head placements. i think you
might find thick knifeblades useful and cam hooks for sure.

i also free climbed up to the first two free climbing bolts to the
left of the optional belay. i aided through these two bolts to gain the head seam. i also tried to place the heads out of the good free climbing holds on the seam itself. no further heads are nessisary about the free climbing bolts! but if you stay low and use the belay station on the right you'll need to nail and hook something.

good job by the free climbing team. if you clip to many of thier bolts you'll eat it on the big block below if you come off.

good luck and happy heading
billygoat

climber
Pees on beard to seek mates.
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   May 4, 2005 - 01:41pm
Just did the "cotton crotch rot" (aka wet denim) this last weekend (5/1/05). All fixed gear in the C3F seam was cleaned. There has been a lot of free climbing activity on the line, and many of the head scars had chalk marks. Our party fixed 4 new heads. We tried very hard to put these placements out of the way of free climbing holds. In addition, we used two beaks. It you go any time soon, there should be no need to hammer. The heads placed are solid. Just bring a few beaks. You might want to tap them in, or duct tape them in place, but please try to avoid future destruction of the rock. Also, there is one bolt on the free line that and be reached from the aid line. This is on the C3F section. If you clip it, the section is not C3 until you get higher up, but you would still hit the ledge if you fell near the top of the fixed head seam. All the same, whoever placed this bolt should have done a better job. If it were a foot further left it would not be accesible from the aide line. Needless to say, our party did not clip this bolt, and you shouldn't either.

Also, please note that the supertopo (at least the older one) contains many mistakes--too many to list here. It'll get you up the route, but don't rely on it. One suggestion: bring duct tape. There are quite a few sharp areas, and both our ropes had core shots by the end of the route (we somehow left the tape at home, opps). On the same note, be careful not to run the lead line behind the top of the detached block. And please folks, remove any duct tape out of respect for free climbers.
clustiere

Trad climber
Pees on beard to seek mates.
Mar 12, 2005 - 11:12pm
 
Leaning Tower
Wet Denim Daydream
V 5.7 C2+
Yosemite Valley, June 2004. Trip report by David In order to preserve the fantasy that I can actually still climb while in grad school Ryan convinced me to have a three-day big wall adventure. We chose a route that was relatively short and required only easy free climbing so that my lack of fitness would not jeopardize our success. Wet Denim Daydream was originally rated A4, but that was a long time ago and new free-climbing bolts have tamed any run outs that may have existed on the more spicy sections. It would give me a chance to use cam hooks and other trickery that I had not used before.
We left after Ryan got off work. We could call our departure time of 11pm an alpine start, except we weren’t alpine climbing. More accurately, we were getting a very late start. “Don’t worry, we can take turns sleeping,” said Ryan. There is no way for a passenger to sleep when the driver always has to have the radio at max volume so they don’t fall asleep. Caffeine and excitement would have kept us from sleeping even we had no tunes.
When we arrived at the parking lot we were already worked. A quick bear proofing session of urinating on all the tires gave us peace of mind as we approached under the burdensome loads wall climbing so richly provides. The sun hit us just as the trail steepened. No sleep, too much Vanilla Coke, the sun, and general over ambition were all working against us. We easily doubled the average approach time. Even Gu could not improve our speed.
I’ve read about adventurers in tough situations having hallucinations. These stories usually involve epic days above 8000 meters, or solo winter polar crossings. All it took for us was one night without sleep and a little dehydration. Before we made the turn for the catwalk, Ryan looked at me and asked, “Do you think that guy is heading for the West Face, or for our route?” Though I was more concerned with my own suffering at this point, I dutifully looked over to where Ryan was pointing. I saw no one. In fact, we hadn’t seen anyone yet that day. “Ryan, where is he?” I panted. He looked back to that spot and in slow motion said, “I just saw a guy right over there who looked like me, and was stooped over carrying a black haul bag, just like me.” I looked again and was confused for a moment because there was no other climber. When the light bulb turned on in my head I was excited for Ryan. “Congratulations! You have just experienced a visual hallucination. How about we take a break?”
We struggled across the catwalk and tried to sleep for a few minutes under an overhang. I lay in a shattered state for a few minutes waiting to fall asleep, but I heard a whole posse of climbers beginning the catwalk. Their clever banter and clanking gear grew louder, closer. I woke Ryan quickly so we would not be passed. It turned out there were no other climbers.
After assessing our mental status, we decided we would be very careful for the rest of the day. We finished crossing the catwalk and combined the first four pitches into two. We arrived on Awahnee ledge that marked the divergence of our route from the West Face in what felt like 110-degree sun. It was only 2pm, but we were baked. I shoved my head into a hole to get a little shade. What I found instead was the latrine for every party that ever bivied on the ledge. It was so hot we couldn’t sleep. We drank all our water for the day plus about two more gallons that were stashed on the ledge waiting for the sun to go down. When it did we were asleep instantly.
Day two was perfect. Two dookies each in the morning. Great overhanging granite where I got to use all the hooks I would ever want to. Ryan led the crux pitch in fine style. Three bat hooks in ¼ inch holes followed by the smallest copper head pounded in a fourth hole with a broken-bone-guarantee fall didn’t even slow him down. He didn’t even complain about losing the Lowe Ball that I couldn’t clean. I landed the very intimidating 20-foot roof pitch that ended the route. The last pitch was awesomely exposed. I was so tempted to pound iron to assist me turning the lip, but I persevered and stuck in some tiny offsets followed by cam hooks with nothing below me but 1500 feet of air. My groveling belly flop onto the best bivy ledge ever was perfectly timed with sunset. Wahoo!
Dinner, water and second-to-none celestial views added to the comfort of the spacious ledge. Sleep came easily. The descent took a long time. Lots of rappels in first a tight slot, then gully and finally a blank face deposited us on the ground with only a short hike back to the car. We were happy and taking lots of pictures. We paused right under the route to look up and speculate that I might actually still be a climber. As we put the haul bags back on, I found the sunglasses that I dropped from about 800 feet up laying right on the trail. One lens had fallen out, but I found that less than two feet away. It popped right back in the frame and I was feeling not only proud of my ascent, but stylish too.
We ate a massive pizza, and drank some imported beer in Curry Village. On the way out we stood in El Cap meadows to check out all the parties on the real deal. Upon reflecting on our recent sun experiences we scrapped our plans for an August ascent of Zodiac, deciding to do a route in the Sierras instead. Tired and happy, we jumped back in the car for a slow drive with all the RV’s and tourists leaving the park with us. This was only my second time in Yosemite, but I am definitely looking forward to my third. Many thanks to my rope gun partner Ryan. Nose-in-a-day anyone?

We only pounded one Beak

Lambone

Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
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   Jan 26, 2005 - 04:05am
Is it just me or does anyone ese think that it's bullshit that new bolts were added to one of the crux aid pitches of this route in the name of free climbing?

lame
Moof

Big Wall climber
Orygun
Jan 23, 2005 - 02:26pm
 
Spike wrote: "The C1F section on P1 is no longer fixed ..."

When I hit this spot there was one fixed knife blade, and a few blown heads. The knife blade is an alternat to a bat hook a foot lower, making the placements in the horizontal strenuous. In the crack I got a green-blue alien in the horizontal sticking out straight left (looked painful for the alien when I weighted it), a bomber black alien above that, and then I was back to bolts. I see no reason for any heads in this section.

On P2 the topo says to bring some small stuff (0.4-1"), but I was able to make a strenuous second step to get the bolt above the rooflet. The girl in the next party was maybe 5'6" (hard to guess when she's sitting in her harness). She had more trouble than me, but still placed no gear. At the top either an OK hook move, or a high step to a blind green alien move gets you to the anchor
SPIKE

Big Wall climber
Orygun
Jul 30, 2004 - 12:06pm
 
Rob M and I did this route in 2 days ... July 14th and 15th 2004. Wednesday morning we humped all the gear up to the catwalk and then shuttled everything over to the dead tree start ledge. Someone placed a brand new rope on the 4th class exposed/loose section just before the start of P1. Fixed ropes are hanging down from P1 & P2. We linked P1 and P2 as a single pitch plus P3 & P4 as a single pitch. The C1F section on P1 is no longer fixed ... it looks like someone tried to funk out the 2 fixed/hammered in nuts but just ended up breaking the cables, so bring a hook plus your cam hooks to get through this section. Thursday morning I let Rob M. do the 5.7 moves up P5 to the bolts below the C3F or A3 section. The 5.7 section can be protected ... except for the last few slab moves to the bolts. But someone is trying to free this route and has added many bolts to the left of the A3 section. You can climb up to a newly added bolt and then go right into the A3 section. The A3 section had 1 fixed Pecker and many fixed heads. At one time I think I did 5 head moves in a row before getting to a fixed pin. The A2 top section of P5 is fixed with pins. The start of P6 tension traverse has been made easier ... someone added 1 bolt with a huge rap ring plus 2 new bolts to the right of the belay for a portaledge. The start of the C2 section has some fixed heads, bring your cam hooks for the top of the pitch. Make sure you have a lower out line for the pig on this pitch. P7 was nice until the last little roof about 20' below P7 anchors ... it is awkward and a pain ... if possible have your partner lead this pitch. There are 5 bolts at P7, the 3 lower bolts are not very good, the top 2 are good. I hauled from P7 ... its a hanging belay and the pig is out in space ... easy haul. P8 is only 90' but the 'detached block' takes a little time to figure out. You can't batt hook around the left side of the block. The way I got through this section was to hook the leftside of the loose block until I would place gear above the pointy section of the block. P9 the roof ... I was told that an old fixed green rope was hanging down from the start of the roof section ... the rope is gone ... The roof is nice ... taking yellow and green aliens plus 3 fixed pins. As I turned the roof I clipped into a fixed brass nut and then multiple fixed pins plus placed 2 aliens. I had to place only 1 pin ... the last move before the bivy ledge I pounded a #2 KB. The last move is a mantle onto the bivy ledge.
clustiere

Trad climber
running springs, ca
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   Jun 9, 2004 - 02:24pm
Just finished climbing this route took my time it sure was pretty easy considering what I was prepared for. Most cruxes fixed. pitches 7&8 were the crux as far as strenious and tricky and loose C3?? the route as a whole felt like C2. Linked the route in 7 pitches including the last 4th class pitch. It was fun but now I am interested in freeclimbing speaking of which it looks as if someone is freeing the route. The last pitch is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

clustiere

Trad climber
running springs, ca
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   Jun 9, 2004 - 02:23pm
Just finished climbing this route took my time it sure was pretty easy considering what I was prepared for. Most cruxes fixed. pitches 7&8 were the crux as far as strenious and tricky and loose C3?? the route as a whole felt like C2. Linked the route in 7 pitches including the last 4th class pitch. It was fun but now I am interested in freeclimbing speaking of which it looks as if someone is freeing the route.

clustiere

Trad climber
running springs, ca
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   May 30, 2004 - 12:28am
Any recent updates I am looking to do this in a few days.
Josh Higgins

Trad climber
San Diego
Apr 11, 2004 - 02:56pm
 
I just got off WFLT and rappeled the route. When I got to the base of the first pitch, I lowered the pig off of the tree just to the climber's right of the start of the bolt ladder. This worked great with 1 60m dynamic and and a 60m (200') static line. It felt like the pig went slack about 20' from the end of the rope, but it was night time so I couldn't see anything. When I took the pig off belay I didn't hear it fall either so I think it was down. Anyways, just my experience. Maybe you lowered from the tree right at the base of the climb and that is higher relative to the ground Chris? I can't swear the pig was on the ground, but I'm pretty sure it made it with about 380' of rope which is what I read somewhere.
Dre

Trad climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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   Sep 13, 2003 - 06:18pm
Great Route! Just did it a few days ago. We were a team of two with a moderate amount of experience - lots of trad climbing experience, but limited aid experience. We spent 2 full days on the route, climbed it completely clean, but relied on lots of fixed gear. The heads on pitch 5 were all fairly new. We used the new belay midway on pitch 8, on a ledge just above were it says "detached block" on the supertopo. Two new bolts above a great ledge, and the first place it is possible to stand on your feet since leaving Ahwahnee Ledge. The trickiest placements for me were on pitch 9, just after turning the big roof. I ended up pulling on a few micronuts, and doing a sketchy hook move to pull up the last few feet after turning the roof. It looks like someone is trying a free variation to this route as we saw many new bolts just off the regular route, and some fixed rope up high. I think you could slim down the recommended rack to just one each of the pins (just in case), a few heads (#'s 1-3), 2 sets of cams (including Aliens - of course), a set of nuts, a set of micronuts, and some hooks (esp. cam hooks). I didn't need any rivet hangers. Like I said earlier, we didn't hammer at all, but I clipped several fixed angles, a few dozen heads, one beak, one blade, and maybe 2 or 3 LA's. - Enjoy - Andre Callari
Chris McNamara

SuperTopo staff member
Jul 28, 2003 - 12:50pm
 
I just got this piece of feedback from a SuperTopo user:

There is a serious error on the Supertopos Leaning Tower topo.  The error is related to the distance recorded to the ground from the base of the first pitch of the West Face route.  The distance is recorded at 400 feet, however we used a 55m and 70m rope tied together, 125m (412 feet) and the ropes DID NOT reach the ground.  We then returned and used a 70m and 60m rope tied together, 130m (429 feet) and JUST made the ground with all the rope stretch.
 
I am confident about our rope lengths as we measured them against other ropes after this incident.  Please verify this information for yourself, but it seems that the rappel is definitely long than the stated 400 feet.
Kenny R.

Advanced climber
Mill Valley, CA
Jun 27, 2002 - 01:55pm
 
The SuperTopo for this climb implies you must back clean alot as gear list for wet denium daydream seemed light. we needed more beaks for the 5th pitch
Lambone

Novice climber
Mill Valley, CA
Mar 12, 2002 - 03:07am
 
I see now. The false belay that Sharif mentions is at the ledge above the loose block eliminates the need for belay 7 and 8 (supertopo).
Lambone

Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
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   Mar 11, 2002 - 02:31pm
Question:

In a forum topic on WDD, BL suggests that pitch 3+4 of WDD proper (pitch 7+8 in the supertopo) link with a full 60m. Am I correct? Is this so? If true this will significantly help us top out before dark (yes, were slow).

Any beta on this pitch link would be great. Does it go?
Sharif Taha

Advanced climber
Ashland, Or
Jun 21, 2001 - 10:59pm
 
my two partners and i felt that the latter half of the last pitch (9) over the roof was definitely not a3 -- or even c3f, as there are a number of reasonable nut placements and little likelihood of a big fall. c2f, i guess. minor point: on pitch 8, there is a false belay (2 bolts) which isn't on the topo on the ledge (which you do show on the topo) above the loose block. and the loose block needs to be bathooked around -- i think you put bathooks on the gear list, though, but you would be really, really screwed without them. someone tried to copperhead the second of the three bathook holes so it sucks, too. i don't think we had any real quibbles with your difficulty ratings, though it did seem that pitch seven (third above awh. ledge) required some of the most varied and tricky aiding, and maybe had a3 fall potential. dunno. it was one of the more interesting and difficult pitches, for sure, with loose rock to be dealt with and a fair amount of questionable gear.

the roof is spectacular on the last pitch is spectacular. fun swing too, with a party of three, at least on the pitches below ahwanee.
Leaning Tower - Wet Denim Daydream A3 5.6 - Yosemite Valley, California USA. Click to Enlarge
The steepest cliff in the Park.
Photo: Chris McNamara
 
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