Trip Report
Hey Coz, Sure would like to hear the story of Southern Belle

by Prod
Tuesday April 1, 2008 6:01pm
Hey Coz,

Reading the rop bolt debate, got me to thinking that I'd like to know the history of Southern Belle. As well as see some pics if you have any. Did you ever write any sort of TR on it?

Thanks

Prod.

  Trip Report Views: 17,888
Prod
About the Author
Prod is a trad climber from Dodge Sprinter Dreaming.

Comments
adventurewagen

Trad climber
Seattle
  Apr 1, 2008 - 06:05pm PT
Most definitely. I'd love to hear some stories of the climb too! It's right up there with the dreams I have of being able to climb the B-Y. Not that I'll ever be good enough to climb either or get permission from my wife! :) Hahaha
caughtinside

Social climber
Oakland, CA
  Apr 1, 2008 - 06:06pm PT
If you guys read the story in R&I about Growing Up there is plenty of info on the Southern Belle as well.
philo

climber
  Apr 1, 2008 - 06:09pm PT
Yes please Coz. Southern Belle is an uber proud send and a route I would love to read a TR about.
Doug Robinson

Trad climber
Santa Cruz
  Apr 1, 2008 - 06:21pm PT
Me too.

Schultz enlightened me a lot about your climb, and I included as much as I could in the article. But I'd love to hear what it was like for you.

After awhile, getting down the history of the South Face got to be more interesting to me than writing about Growing Up.

And there's more. Who can tell us about Cataclysmic Megasheer (5.11d A2, B Law, E Kohl, 7Y2K)? I've studied the topo and photos of the wall, but after about pitch #8 I'm not sure where it goes. Either of you guys? Anyone else climbed it?

And how about Dreamscape?

Anything else on the South Face? It's been an awfully long dry spell between guidebooks...


Thanks,

Doug
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
  Apr 1, 2008 - 06:26pm PT
Sure is a lot of stone round back there!


And who doesn't love a thriller anyhow!
adventurewagen

Trad climber
Seattle
  Apr 1, 2008 - 06:36pm PT
Ahhhhh, Cataclysmic Megasheer. I've been staring at a photo of that climb for years now. I keep trying to talk my buddy into getting on that one but he has more sense than me. That Dike with the Toaster on it looks amazing.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
  Apr 1, 2008 - 08:00pm PT
For Cataclysmic Megasheer, see the thread from a year ago with topo and photos by Minerals and klaus:

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=163599
WBraun

climber
  Apr 1, 2008 - 08:18pm PT
Coz told me Southern Belle has some pitches that you could die on, way scary sh'it.

Now I've done a fair amount of climbing with coz and if he's saying sh'it like that about a route then I better move to Florida rather than get near that climb.

When we did that new route in the Ribbon Falls amphitheater to the top,(what's it called?). Anyways ....

I lead my pitch to a nice ledge and look at the next pitch while belaying coz up and just freak at what I see. No protection for 35 some feet off that ledge with bone shattering results if your mind is thinking Kansas.

I'm glad it's not my lead as I would have bailed. I'm scared sh'itless belaying coz as he goes for it on those hard sequential moves.

"Southern Belle" .... I'll take the helicopter.
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
  Apr 2, 2008 - 04:17pm PT
Come on Cozzy!
Tell us a story, please?
the kid

Trad climber
fayetteville, wv
  Apr 2, 2008 - 04:50pm PT
yes coz, tell the story and bust out the pics!
ks
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
  Apr 2, 2008 - 08:58pm PT
Okay,
I just got the X Man, that's a new term I believe, on the blower.
So Coz will soon regale us with tales of the Southern Belle.

And to adorn the bump,
Check this photo dating to something like 1990.
Does this look like the guy that would make a death route?
(I think that Werner character must have done evil things to the Coz, ha ha)

bachar

Gym climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
  Apr 2, 2008 - 09:24pm PT
Me and WB did the first ascent of the crack on pitch two...

Remember that old buddy?

Thought I was gonna take the ripper of my life. One of each Friends.... hahaha
WanderlustMD

Trad climber
New England
  Apr 2, 2008 - 09:39pm PT
I re-read the Growing Up article today after sifting through the thread.

DR: Style debate aside, it really was a well-done piece of writing. I always like articles that penji back and forth between background and present tense narrative.

Coz, post up!
healyje

Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
  Apr 2, 2008 - 09:45pm PT
This should be good...
TwistedCrank

climber
Released into general population, Idaho
  Apr 3, 2008 - 10:36am PT
Bump because we should hear about this museum piece.
SteveW

Trad climber
The state of confusion
  Apr 3, 2008 - 10:53am PT
Bump for me too!
Levy

Big Wall climber
Calabasas
  Apr 3, 2008 - 11:04am PT
If I recall correctly, there was an article about Southern Belle in an old Rock & Ice written by Amy (whose last name I forget), Coz's girlfriend at the time. I don't have the issue but it's out there somewhere. There was a nice pic of the 2nd or 3rd pitch.

Folks with scanners & the old issue please post up.
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
  Apr 3, 2008 - 11:51am PT
Harder for folks to dream big without those Tales of Power to stoke the fire. How's about a nice burl of that Southern pine to fuel the blaze!
Matt

Trad climber
it's all turtles, all the way dooowwwwwnn!!!!!
  Apr 3, 2008 - 03:34pm PT
bump
(to keep this on page 1)
k-man

Gym climber
SCruz
  Apr 3, 2008 - 04:11pm PT
One of my favorite route names...
Prod

Trad climber
Author's Reply  Apr 3, 2008 - 07:20pm PT
bump
Brian

climber
California
  Apr 3, 2008 - 07:27pm PT
Bump.

Coz and Bob Gaines launched my wall career. I fixed to Sickle with my friend Bruce, then we rapped and went back to the car, fully depressed about how long it took us, how big that Stone is, how small we were, etc. Coz and Bob were working to free an aid route (maybe How the West was Won?) and they pull up on the way out of the valley and find us sitting by the car. Coz (who knew Bruce pretty well, and had seen me around Josh) says "what are you two doing on the ground?" We mutter some lame gumby excuses. Coz and Bob climb back into their ride. Coz takes one more look at us and says, "if you aren't up on that wall tomorrow, I'm slashing your tires." It was just in kick in the pants we needed. We climbed back on, climbed on up, and summited.

Brian
Orion

Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
  Apr 3, 2008 - 09:05pm PT
Brian, that's a pretty funny story about motivation! Friends can be good to do that for you when you think you're in over your head.

And yes, I would like to hear some details about the Belle.
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
  Apr 3, 2008 - 09:11pm PT
Yeah man,
Give us the straight skinny. Looking forward to it.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
  Apr 3, 2008 - 11:33pm PT
Levy,

Here's the text of the article by Amy Sharpless, from Climbing #110 (October 1988, same issue as the Salathe' FFA).

----


HALF DOME - Cosgrove, Schultz free Southern Belle

Scott Cosgrove on the third pitch (5.12c) of Southern Belle. photo: Amy Sharpless

On July 19, one of the hottest days in Yosemite's history, Scott Cosgrove and Dave Shultz made the second overall and first free ascent of Southern Belle on Half Dome's huge South Face.

Originally established in spring 1986 by Schultz and Walt Shipley, the route starts on the second prominient arch and breaks through to the forbidding headwall above. Only 30 bolts, including belay anchors, protect the climb's 14 165-foot pitches. By comparison, Warren Harding's South Face Route sports over 300!

Some 5.11 pitches near the top have only three bolts apiece, which could be considered over-protected since the last 5.9 pitch has none. "It is more serious than the Bachar Yerian or You Asked For It, with 5.10 X and 5.11 X pitches," says Cosgrove.

The route was completed over three weekends, with the pair often starting out as early as 5am to avoid the extreme afternoon heat. During the first weekend, Cosgrove redpointed the second pitch, a short layback/undercling leading to an off-balance move, then a difficult crack system. This 5.12b pitch is protected by two bolts.

The second weekend brought more difficult climbing. The third pitch follows a beautiful overhanging crack splitting an outside corner, beginning as an offwidth and finishing with a 5.12c thin-hands crux. The fourth pitch, perhaps the crux of the route at 5.12c/d, starts on a very technical 80-degree face that is harder than the popular boulder problem Elegant Gypsy.

Cosgrove and Schultz spent the first two days of the final weekend fixing the fifth and sixth pitches, follwing a classic offset seam through the huge headwall to flakes and an obvious step right onto more hard face climbing. On their final day they jumared the fixed lines, dropped the extra ropes, and committed themselves to the top. The last eight pitches involved tricky, runout face climbing on excellent rock.

With three pitches of 5.12, eleven pitches of 5.11, and one pitch of 5.9, Southern Belle is a Valley testpiece and, without a doubt, one of the finest long free routes in the world.
    Amy Sharpless
[from Climbing #110, October 1988]

http://www.stanford.edu/~clint/yos/sbelle.htm
Bazo

Boulder climber
Ky
  Apr 4, 2008 - 04:52am PT
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
  Apr 4, 2008 - 04:02pm PT

adapted from photo by le_bruce

line on upper slab for Growing Up is a guess, based on route description, improved slightly with help from Doug

[Edit: line for Lost Again added, given Ed's description in his post below. The line above that arch is a total guess by me. Maybe Eric can help?]

Doug Robinson's "The Better Half" article with route histories on Half Dome's South Face:
http://www.rockandice.com/inthemag.php?id=7&type=exclusive

Ken Yager's photos from the FA of Karma:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=230752
Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
  Apr 4, 2008 - 11:15pm PT
Hey Clint,
you missed the route Lost Again VI, 5.10, A3 by Eric Kohl (solo) 1992...

the next arch to the left (west) of the South Face arch...
the Fet

climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
  Apr 5, 2008 - 12:17am PT
Pretty harsh words considering siege tactics were used on SB.
HighDesertDJ

Trad climber
  Apr 5, 2008 - 02:31am PT
" Pretty harsh words considering siege tactics were used on SB."

Yeah cause you're climbing in bad style if you FFA 5.11 death pitches and then don't sleep on the wall?!? Whaaa? Seems like it's better style to climb in a manner that people never knew you were there than go "alpine" and blaze a trail 20 feet wide.
Jaybro

Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
  Apr 5, 2008 - 02:48am PT
Cheers Coz, you left us all thinking, after that other thread. Can't get to Josh this weekend but would love to hear the story when the time is right. Talked with Walt a bunch about that line and it's history, back then.

Jay(bro) Anderson
Michael Irwin

Trad climber
San Leandro
  Apr 5, 2008 - 12:25pm PT
BUMP!
wildone

climber
EP
  Apr 7, 2008 - 04:27pm PT
Still waiting.....
wildone

climber
EP
  Apr 7, 2008 - 07:18pm PT
GhoulweJ

Trad climber
El Dorado Hills, CA
  Apr 7, 2008 - 08:45pm PT
Story please
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
  Apr 7, 2008 - 10:23pm PT
Hank,
I believe you have one of your own?
I would like to hear that tale too!

Coz, We know you're in here from time to time...why so quiet?
Prod

Trad climber
Author's Reply  Apr 8, 2008 - 08:06am PT
Yeah Hank,

Feed us your story.

Prod.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
  Apr 14, 2008 - 01:42am PT
(copied from the other thread, then buried by other posts; perhaps it belongs here instead):

Here is the text from Climbing #147 (1994) with the description of the attempted repeat by Hank Caylor and Alan Lester (note that the topo had just been published in the 1994 edition of Yosemite Climbs - Free Climbs by Don Reid):

Southern Belle: getting a reputation

In late July, Alan Lester joined forces with Hank Caylor in Yosemite Valley to attempt the second (and first one-day) ascent of the dicey 15-pitch Southern Belle (VI 5.12d R) on the South Face of Half Dome. The pair made excellent progress on the crux lower pitches, with Lester on-sighting the 5.12c/d fist-to-finger crack on the third pitch. By 10:30 a.m. they were over halfway up the face, with the four 5.12 pitches behind them. The upper pitches are no giveaway, however, involving very runout, insecure 5.11 face climbing. "Alan would go 75 feet to a 1/4-inch bolt, then another 75 feet to the belay," says Caylor. "And you couldn't see the bolts from below, so you were doing these moves that you couldn't reverse."

One hundred feet out on the eighth pitch, with one marginal HB nut and a tiny cam nestled 30 feet below him, Caylor took a 60-foot "slab-splashing plunge," as Lester put it. He sustained numerous bruises and abrasions and a broken ankle. "I scraped off all my skin," says Caylor. "It looks like I got dragged behind a pickup." Lester set up 1300 feet of devious angling rappels, then helped Caylor to the tourist trail, where rangers gave him a pony ride to the Valley floor. "The route was horrifying," says Caylor, who has done other Yosemite scare routes, like the Bachar-Yerian. "I'll never go back."

Lester, however, says, "I'm going back for sure, unless it gets done this fall." The route's reputation seems to grow. The taxing climbing and the long approach makes doing the route in a day even more formidable.

Dave Schultz of Yosemite and Scott Cosgrove of Joshua Tree freed the bold line in 1988. Peter Croft and Schultz had attempted it on two subsequent occasions, but reportedly never got past the fifth pitch.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
  Apr 14, 2008 - 01:44am PT
topo, posted by Blair in that other thread:

Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
  Apr 14, 2008 - 10:05am PT
Thanks Clint.

Hey Cozzy,
When you get back from Holly-wierd, how about a nice little story.
Prod

Trad climber
Author's Reply  Apr 20, 2008 - 10:20pm PT
bump
tradmanclimbs

Ice climber
Pomfert VT
  Apr 21, 2008 - 07:19am PT
44 posts Vs 1750 and growing..... maby few people realy care about museam piece death climbs........... Just a thought.......
mcreel

climber
Barcelona
  Apr 21, 2008 - 08:54am PT
Who generated more internet noise last year, Britney Spears or Marie Curie? History and style do matter.
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
  Apr 21, 2008 - 09:08am PT
44 posts vs 1750.

Tradman, 44 posts just trying to get Hank and Coz to tell their stories. There's plenty of interest. I hope those guys will get on here and write a chapter. Remember that half of the interest on that other thread comes from each side of the issue.
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
  May 9, 2008 - 12:17am PT
I know Hank's story, sort of.
He was doing great, but his sunglasses got in the way and so he took the big wipper.

But Coz!!!
Your audience awaits you...
k-man

Gym climber
SCruz
  May 9, 2008 - 07:04pm PT
Indeed, looking way forward to it. I remember when that got put up, then sent. I'[m not exactly an armchair climber, but I'll certainly take the armchair on this route ;-)
wildone

climber
EP
  May 10, 2008 - 09:45am PT
Looking forward to reading it coz. Take your time and make sure it's good.
graniteclimber

Trad climber
The Illuminati -- S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Division
  May 10, 2008 - 11:00am PT
"I am working on as we speak probably post the story here and then send to the mags."

It would be great to read it here, but if you post it here first, won't the mags be much more reluctant to take it?
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
  May 10, 2008 - 11:04am PT
The mags get in line behind Supertopo.
This is where they get their fresh, hot steaming news!
'Always been that way, always will be...
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
  Mar 20, 2009 - 06:22pm PT
Hank Caylor posted this great account of his attempted 2nd free ascent in 1994 with Alan Lester on another thread:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=809769

Other stuff is mixed into that thread, so I thought it should go under a thread with Southern Belle in the title, so I've spliced together his posts from that other thread here:

------

South Face of Half Dome. 94'. Alan Lester and I are in the prime of life. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Scott Cosgrove said that this was the most state of the art thing he'd ever done. If he did it, that means that if I want to be "state of the art", I gotta do it. 12DX no problem.

So Alan and I get this plan together to repeat the Southern Belle. Not try, repeat. We drive all the way from Boulder with one thing in mind, 2nd ascent, PERIOD! All this under the gaze of Valley big shots like Croft and Cosgrove and God whoelse?

And yeah, I had visions of sugarplums dancing in my head. I just did the BY, Midnight Lightning, Astroman blah blah. In Yosemite, those folks don't care about who you think you are and what you just climbed. Kinda hard from a Texas/Colorado hybrid like me to understand.

We drove in one straight shot to Yosemite(get a globe, it's a long way). Marched straight up to the Southern Belle, camped, drank nothing and tried to fire. CRAP!

We had a deal, I do all the freaky runout face pitches and Alan gets the cracks, that's his thing. Alan floats the 1st 5.9 pitch, cruises the shorty 5.12 2nd pitch and then HIKED the12C 3rd pitch with 2 #2cams. He just left one halfway up and milked the second for 60feet. I just pooed myself.

The 4th pitch is the "crux", 12DX, I work the 5 bolts and do what we considered an, A0? followed by a 100foot 12a runout. The scariest climbing moment of my life(in the 90's), almost so far. I tried to put in nests of RPs and just left them hanging cuz' they were crap! Who's foolin' who? I nail the runout and Alan does the 5th pitch in excellent style, 12A.

Alan blows through the 6th pitch, that's right, 1 bolt in a 150' 5.10.

This is where we get to the porn....but not on Half Dome with Alan....ahem.

So Alan nails the 6th pitch and it's all me from here on up, his crack duties(funny) are through at this point. 2 mindless unprotected 5.11 pitches with almost no bolts go by, AND!

Here's where I screwed up. The topo only sez' where the one bolt is and 1 bolt is hard to see. I missed, not hard to do on Half Dome.

If you've ever had to climb 40' to get to within' seeing distance of the bolt. When I say the bolt, I mean the only bolt.

I just could not find the bolt. There was a garbage drawing Coz gave over but dangit. 14 bolts on the back half of Half Dome does not register in the heat of battle.

So yeah I fell(you wanted to hear it and there it is). Crap I thought, where is the bolt. I already climbed 40 feet longer than Coz's(I love him) crappy topo said.

And there the bolt was, 30' to the right of where I was climbing. I had already done way too many moves to downclimb.

Once again, I've said before, this is where I thought you separate the "men from the boys". The Cali boys from the Boulder boys! If you've ever been that far off route, yet so close.What a mind f*#k. A BASE rig wouldn't help you. Largo couldn't help you.

(Any partner affiliation that has to do with death routes is well discussed before hand between the partners. Alan and I did not even broach this subject. We were studs from Boulder and arrived in Yosemite to steal the 2nd ascent of the Southern Belle.) [This was in response to a question.]

The 3rd worst moment of my climbing life was on the Belle. I had climbed to far to the left to ever get to the 1 bolt. 40' of 5.11 that I just could not downclimb. I yelled my ass off to Alan, get me the bolt kit!

Seriously people, I was wearing a baseball cap. I leaned in a little to far and the brim of the ballcap clicked on the rock and chucked me off. Alan needed 150' feet of rope, we didn't, have to send up a bolt kit. I started sketching as much as you can halfway up Half Dome. Mentally, I had a meltdown. Seriously, Alan was 100' below me separated by a #2 TCU and a tiny Lowe Ball Nut. If those two pieces blow, ugly factor 2 straight onto Alan.

This brings up a situation I've always fancied. Do you wanna take a 200' fall and blow out your legs, or do you wanna hold a 200 foot fall as the belayer? Behind every earthquaking leader is a bold unheralded person holding the other end of the line. The belayer of freaks should be recognized!

So 1 pitched, I knew I was going to pitch. The mental process of pitching the kind of pitch that Doug Robinson would write about and make Coz cringe is a many splendered thing. Getting so far up all the rad sh#t on Half Dome, and then tossing so far was unthinkable.

Anyhoo, I went 40' into a dike (the kind that runs all over the S. Face of the Dome). I knew I broke my ankles very quickly. Actually, I knew they were toast way before. I then skidded like a dog dragged by a truck for another 40'.

My two pieces of gear held. I asked Dean and he never saw them on his ascent. This was easily the biggest fall Alan ever held. He lowered me down 8 gruesome pitches(thank you Coz). Anybody who knows about the South Face of Half Dome knows what a train wreck it is to get there. A freakish rescue is unbelievable. I begged and pleaded for a YOSAR rescue, a helicopter or whatever. Alan then looked me straight in the eyes and said "dude, were from Boulder and we won't be rescued in Yosemite". Alan literally carried me on his back to Little Yosemite Valley, a coupla miles. I then took a horse ride down to the bottom. Another crazed experience.

if you ever break your feet on Half Dome and got to be carried out. Alan Lester is the man for the job. I just want Tami to do all the play by play toons!

The horse ride to the Valley floor with air splints on is a sobering experiance.

[on his 3 worst moments in climbing:]
#1 is the 3rd ascent of Sheer Terror here in Eldo. Closest I've ever come to killing myself.

#2 is blowing the exit mantle on Midnight Lightning. Pads had not been created then and I almost broke both legs for the first time.

Caylor
--------------
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
  Mar 20, 2009 - 06:35pm PT
Here is my most recent photo overlay guess, trying to match up the Southern Belle topo with where it crosses the South Face route:


Is it even close?

The published topo ("Yosemite Climbs: Free Climbs", Don Reid, 1994) agrees with Hank's description for the first 5 pitches (except the end of p4 is 5.11a on the topo, vs. 5.11d/5.12a 100' runout as per Hank). Then it has:
 p6 5.11b, no bolts (vs. 5.10 one bolt as per Hank)
 p7 5.8, one bolt, diagonals left (first of two 5.11 pitches as per Hank)
 p8 5.11a, 2 bolts, diagonals left, crosses South Face (second of two 5.11 pitches as per Hank)
 p9 5.11a, 4 bolts, diagonals right then up, long ways to first bolt (on the pitch where Hank fell, he was 30' left of the first, bolt, but 100' above the belay, with a TCU and nut 40' below him)

I could scan part of the topo and post it, if it would help.
ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
  Mar 20, 2009 - 08:47pm PT
" Some 5.11 pitches near the top have only three bolts apiece, which could be considered over-protected since the last 5.9 pitch has none . "
Who lead the last pitch ? Was it protected at all other than the belay ? The imagery of the rope drag , maybe factor in the heat / some fatigue (?) and the exposure - being that high on the face is pretty impressive .
Prod

Trad climber
Author's Reply  Mar 21, 2009 - 01:42pm PT
Thanks Clint.

Has there been a second yet?

Prod.
drljefe

climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
  Mar 21, 2009 - 03:12pm PT
Thanks coz. I can't wait to hear more.
{{{GOOD CHIT}}} man.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
  Mar 21, 2009 - 04:51pm PT
Wow, thanks for sharing this, Coz. The description in the mags at the time was way too short, and I knew there had to be much, much more to it!

Hank, your thread is still here, but I copied your posts from it into one post, on the previous page of this thread - to make sure people could find it.
aldude

climber
Monument Manor
  Mar 21, 2009 - 07:12pm PT
Nice read coz.....grammar & punctuation need work for the mags....heh heh*
Mighty Hiker

climber
Outside the Asylum
  Mar 21, 2009 - 07:32pm PT
Another Southern Belle thread is at http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=278940&f=0&b=0

Does anyone know why the route was given that name? Of course, it faces more or less south, but I thought there might be a story.
ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
  Mar 21, 2009 - 09:05pm PT
O-M-G Thanks for that story . Forget the mags - A book is in order .
Zander

climber
  Mar 21, 2009 - 11:32pm PT
Thanks for putting that down coz,
Zander
Lynne Leichtfuss

Trad climber
Will know soon
  Mar 21, 2009 - 11:40pm PT
Say Mr. Coz, it was cool running into yo in Josh awhile back with Beth and Al. You saw the lost arrow I had and said mayhap if yo ever had time you might help bury it in a special place where it would be "lost" forever.

If you ever have time, let me know. appreciate, lynne

Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
  Mar 22, 2009 - 12:42am PT
'Bout time you ponied up to ride your pen out over those memories for us Coz!!!
bhilden

Trad climber
Mountain View, CA/Boulder, CO
  Mar 22, 2009 - 01:45am PT
I looked in the dictionary under the term "epic adventure" and it pointed me to this thread. Thanks to both Hank and Coz for sharing what the spirit of climbing is all about.

Bruce
Lynne Leichtfuss

Trad climber
Will know soon
  Mar 22, 2009 - 01:52am PT
Thanks Scott, maybe I can email yo if that's ok. Lynne
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
  Mar 22, 2009 - 01:58am PT
Coz, and Hank - thanks for keeping the dreams alive.
Shoot, it's been 15, 21 years and the memories of those pitches and the leadup are burned in like it was last week.
Like what Tom Higgins once wrote about how you have a limited time at your peak and you have an opportunity to create memories that will last.
To go to the edge and survive it - I think it's what we all aspire to, but for most of us the edge does not stand out so much from the routine.

I suppose my particular slant is to look at the rock and try to envision finding the route on the FA. Being a slacker in the internet age, it's amazingly easy to find good photos and play the game without even hiking up there. Here's a photo I found today and tried to match up with the topos of Southern Belle and the South Face (some of the belays may be off...):


I think you can follow Coz's description of pitch 10, which leaves the belay 9 in the "Middle Tri-Clops Eye":

"Little did I know the real amazing climbing lay above. Shultzy took off and flew up an easy but run out pitch that put us in the pot holes. Just huge scooped out holes of rock. Galen Rowel,l had said on the first ascent of the South Face that, a door would open, we'd walk inside and the key to all knowledge would be printed on the walls. But all I found was the crazed Iron Monkey with an old sling tied around a horn of diorite, that he called a belay.

I knew this was the second to last aid section left on the wall. Shultz and Walt both thought my size would help. Climbing up the outside of the first pot hole I reach up on to the blank vertical wall and found a small hole about 12 inch in diameter, pulled up, mantle, reach as high as I could and found another hole the same size. I repeated the mantle and looked in depression as the four feet to the next golden dike was overhanging and blank. I dime edged out of the hole, searched for an edge and to my complete shock found a four finger crimp. I pasted my feet high and threw a four foot dyne just grabbing the dike, mantling and walking the the top of the dike to the bivy ledge on the South face route. I couldn't believe our luck and the beauty of the line, so impossible and improbable that if just a single feature where missing it would never go free."
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
  Mar 22, 2009 - 03:32am PT
Being a lover of slab climbing, this is like gold for the soul! I'll never fire something like that but even if my limit is less, this story of perserving will remain etched.

Thx Coz for posting up.

I know a lot of the guys that climbed in and spent a lot of time in Yosemite are reticent to speak up online about their climbing experiences. But it is a worthy goal. A futuristic way of rekindling the apprenticeship ways of climbing.

thx,
Munge
deuce4

climber
Hobart, Australia
  Mar 22, 2009 - 03:35am PT
Awesome Coz-mamma

Nice bit of writing. I think we should all collaborate and each write a chapter of living in the dirt in the ditch in the 80's together.

cheers
deucey
ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
  Mar 22, 2009 - 04:28am PT
That area between Southern Belle and Karma is waiting ...
GDavis

Social climber
SOL CAL
  Mar 22, 2009 - 04:51am PT
I remember climbing the snake dike with my brother what seemed like a million years ago (probably 5 though!). We were kinda new to climbing, and knew nothing about these routes. We were teenagers, and looked up at the South Face.

"Wow, look at that arch! I wonder if there is a route up there!"
"Nah," I told him. "Its impossible. Its too steep, no one can climb slabs like that. Maybe someday in the future, though."


Crazy.... just crazy. Always was one of the big, looming, scary faces I had seen. Up there with my first view of El Cap and flying over a 17,000 foot volcano.


One of the best peices of climbing literature I've ever read. Thanks for sharing, Coz.

Peter Haan

Trad climber
Wyoming
  Mar 22, 2009 - 09:36am PT
Scott, if you ever questioned your achievement, don’t.

When “between myself and Dave, we had climbed almost every scary climb we could think of and wanted to do something beyond, something that would in the long run prove that the media darlings of the time were not the only ones doing scary stuff”, you two entered a realm where almost no one has ever been on earth but which realm is the basis for all climbing.

A truly incomprehensibly profound experience and contribution to---I have to say it---mankind.
mcreel

climber
Barcelona
  Mar 22, 2009 - 01:13pm PT
Whoa, we had to wait for that tale, but the wait was worth it! Thanks! Walt told me his part of the story (multiple times, sometimes twice in a row, I think!), and he always got a little more excited than normal for him when talking about this route. Now I understand why. How did you manage to keep that story inside yourself for so long?

A request (Clint?, anyone) - Karma and S. Belle must both be on this photo. Could anyone sketch their lines on top?

mazamarick

Trad climber
WA
  Mar 22, 2009 - 01:38pm PT
Reread the entire thread again this a.m., last night I was blown away. Needed chalk just to finish reading the thread. Was the hard part negotiating the cajones wheelbarrow up the trail? Incredible face, incredible climbers.....incredible.
Levy

Big Wall climber
Calabasas
  Mar 22, 2009 - 02:29pm PT
Great stories Scott!

One of the proudest routes in North America. The lack of complete ascents & the number of unsuccessful attempts is rather revealing. You & Schultz really scored with that route. I agree with you that Walt would have wanted it left the way it was bolted. The ethics applied to the routes creation are so sharply contrasting with the ones SJ & DR used to create Growing Up.

Hearing a detailed account of this route is something many have anticipated for a long time now. For some reason, the whole South Face of Half Dome area had not got the attention it deserves, until recently. I would imagine that more people will be seeking to do some of the routes over there now that better info & pics temp one to dream of sunny skies & dreamy rock.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
  Mar 22, 2009 - 03:05pm PT
mcreel, actually this overlay is on the second page of this thread:

Southern Belle & South Face cross each other, but Growing Up stays left.

I think I have the lines a little better in this one (from the Long, Hard and Free page http://www.stanford.edu/~clint/yos/longhf.htm#half:

I'd like to improve the topo, too - Scott's and Hank's stories should help a lot with this. (I'll need to hike up there with a telescope or something to positively locate some of the features).

It's still so impressive that Hank and Alan went up there onsight, 6 years after, with an untested topo and without Dave to tell them where to find the bolts!! That is full-on adventure and beyond.
hoipolloi

climber
A friends backyard with the neighbors wifi
  Mar 22, 2009 - 03:13pm PT
So great to hear the story of Southern Belle. I think the South Face of Half Dome is one of the most striking, mysterious, and awe-inspiring faces around. Everything back there seems so untouchable to mere mortals.

Lets hear some more, how about Autobahn and The Fast Lane? JM you were in on The Fast Lane. What about Autobahn (no guide in front of me right now, can't recall the FA). Those both look incredible and maybe (a little) more plausible to mortal men...


cheers and thanks
WBraun

climber
  Mar 22, 2009 - 03:38pm PT
Wow ... what cool looking pitch. This must be the pitch Croft told me about. Didn't Peter and Bachar or Shultz do this before "Southern Belle" was done? I've always wanted to do this pitch.

Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
  Mar 22, 2009 - 04:05pm PT
Werner,

On page 1 of this thread, John Bachar said he did it with you....

"Me and WB did the first ascent of the crack on pitch two...

Remember that old buddy?

Thought I was gonna take the ripper of my life. One of each Friends.... hahaha"

(OK, it's been over 20 years so memories may not be so clear...)
WBraun

climber
  Mar 22, 2009 - 04:09pm PT
LOL Clint

That's too funny. But to tell you the truth I never did this climb.

I believe it was John and Peter because Croft told me about that pitch and how cool it was. Some OW to thin hands on that overhanging dihedral.

Best to you Clint, hope to see you in the Valley soon again .....

P.S. The Valley is getting heavily hammered with wet heavy snow today from that storm.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
  Mar 22, 2009 - 04:24pm PT
Thanks for the correction, Werner. Although Croft went up there twice with Dave Schultz to try to repeat the route, too.

What an outrageous crack, though. And to think that something so steep leads to a freeable face.
Jaybro

Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
  Mar 22, 2009 - 04:27pm PT
That's one of the coolest looking pitches that I have ever seen!
Lynne Leichtfuss

Trad climber
Will know soon
  Mar 22, 2009 - 04:27pm PT
Say, Chris Mac, this thread is my vote to be on your monthly email topic mag. One of the best of the best. Lynne
Peter Haan

Trad climber
Wyoming
  Mar 22, 2009 - 04:29pm PT
I want to add a little context to Southern Belle and to Coz’s historic story here. For many years most of us were aware that the back of Half Dome had enormous route potential, even before Galen and Warren finally got their aid route done in 1970. It was not a secret to us. It was obvious that many lines could be established on the wall but which were beyond us in those days. So we yearned for it and talked quietly over the issues.

By the mid-seventies a bunch of us were scoping this incredibly beautiful wall and trying to figure out paths of least resistance, poking around the base for days, glassing it from other vantage points. John Bragg and I even were up there in July of 1975 and while there, established the Call of the Wild, a fun several pitch roof and crack climb on the back of the Pearly Gates area, while snooping around for this bigger game. But in fact no one for 15-16 years after Warren and Galen were done, actually went up there and squared off with the other bigger challenges back there. One of the greatest flowers in Yosemite.

There was a central problem. It was not just a matter of fire power. Obviously requiring a base camp, ground help, money, preparatory climbing and huge amounts of energy, time, and commitment, this salient problem was the enormous runouts that surely would develop up there. They just had to. And the assessment was nightmarish. It looked like climbing for a future era.

So, back to context. That Walt and Dave actually addressed this issue finally in 1987, and Dave got Coz to help him establish the FFA a year later, still signifies a new order of climbing, frankly, that we had not seen before but surely all dreamed off---climbing this hard and this runout was purely fiction before then and mostly still is. Doing 5.11 and 5.12 sections 100 ft above protection. It just had not happened before and we all had been real busy making certain for decades that it DID not. So it did turn out that what we had been fearing for 20 years---that the face would be so terrifying---was true. A huge leapfrog past what was the cutting edge.

I think in the interchange above it is clear that today there would be the possibility of making (while on lead) the route somewhat less runout, but now that this line is historic and with Walt having passed, the surviving FA/FFA party wishes to keep its statement intact. Running out free leads was very much part of climbing expression and especially of steep slab and steep face. And as Coz implies, it was the ultimate and eternal expression of the mastery and genius of Dave Schultz and Coz in their prime.
Chicken Skinner

Trad climber
Yosemite
  Mar 22, 2009 - 04:42pm PT
Hi Coz,

I have to agree with you. Schultz was extremely talented and had nerves of steel, a lethal combination. Walt told me that Southern Belle scared the crap out of him. It is a proud route for sure.

Ken
tom woods

Gym climber
Bishop, CA
  Mar 22, 2009 - 04:43pm PT
I've spent some time up there walking around and looking. It's clear that there are only two ways routes will go, lot's of bolting, or lots of runouts.

Like Chicken Skinner said on the Karma post, those dikes, on Karma look huge from the ground. I guess that's not true once you get there.

Either way, a super proud line and there is tons more room for other routes, but like Peter Haan said, the routes would take a lot of effort, time, money...
Jello

Social climber
No Ut
  Mar 22, 2009 - 04:54pm PT
I don't know which story is more inspired/inspiring, scary/beautiful or downright perfectly adventurous than Scott's or Hank's regarding Southern Belle. Sometimes people get themselves into a state of mind/body that seems normal to them at the time, but is anything but. It's so gratifying to me that you two have finally fully shared these visceral vignettes from the collective edge of a unique type of climbing experience. You've both done it in your individually inimitable styles such that I predict these recollections - jotted down in the heat of the remembrance of battle - will in years and decades to come be regarded as a high-point in climbing literature.

Thank you, my friends!

-JelloSlimesHisWayUpTheSouthernBelleAlongSideCozAndHankster - InHisMind
Peter Haan

Trad climber
Wyoming
  Mar 22, 2009 - 05:27pm PT
The dikes on Karma are huge, but they are like saws mostly---will cut the rope---and for the most part are very very sloping. Their bottom edge is large but tops are steeply ramped.

here is the link to the Ken Yaeger's/Skinner's thread:

http://supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=230752&msg=230772

and this is a photo from that thread:
Chicken Skinner

Trad climber
Yosemite
  Mar 22, 2009 - 06:00pm PT
This is a view looking down the pitch after the one Peter Haan just posted. Southern Belle goes up the wall in the background and this view gives you an idea of how radical Southern Belle is. Imagine running it out on that stuff.

Ken
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
  Mar 22, 2009 - 09:15pm PT
SWEEEEEEEEEEET!!!! SICKLY SWEEEEEEEEEEET!!!
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
  Mar 22, 2009 - 09:40pm PT
Peter Haan said:

"Doing 5.11 and 5.12 sections 100 ft above protection. It just had not happened before and we all had been real busy making certain for decades that it DID not."

Good prelude to my point.


Coz,
In your words, aside from a terrific tell of a horrific and visionary adventure, I see some hints of sadness within you about the regard for this route.

It's as though the assessment of the community, either by way of subsequent rap bolted routes, lack of attempted repeats, lack of other routes done in kind as was yours, a dearth of aspirants stepping out to carry the torch forward by way of emulation; that all of this somehow devalues your effort.

Were I in your shoes on this one, I'd start by owning the intrinsic value of my ascent as a stand-alone experience. Sure, all of us want to make a contribution and likewise garner a degree of appreciation from the community along with reinforcement and positive feedback based on our creative and highly invested efforts.

But you guys just blew the doors off of all of this; we'll be lucky to see one or two attempts per generation on something so committing. With this, the net effect is that it doesn't get readily absorbed by the community.

But, but... now that we have your stunning & detailed report, the star gets a little brighter to steer by...
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
  Mar 22, 2009 - 10:45pm PT
Fair enough Coz,
A thoughtful reflection and elucidation of your internal contours.
Lynne Leichtfuss

Trad climber
Will know soon
  Mar 22, 2009 - 10:46pm PT
Good Words Tarbuster and Warbler. Some on ST criticize the fact that not more post to these climbing threads. The fact is some of the threads, like this one, can overwhelm.

This Thread of incredible climbing history is something no one wants to reply to with some trite, lame response. I spent years with a fairly good climber and his friends so understand a little bit about what's involved. It has been beyond special to view and enjoy this thread. Lynne

drljefe

climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
  Mar 22, 2009 - 10:51pm PT
I hope this doesn't sound trite, or lame but
WOW....wow.

{{{gratitude}}}

Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
  Mar 22, 2009 - 10:54pm PT
Coz- Truly fantastic account and, as I had hoped, a tale of power.

Chouinard and Frost once wrote that "but every climb is not for every climber; the ultimate climbs are not democratic. The fortunate climbs protect themselves by being unprotectable and remain a challenge that can be solved only by boldness and commitment backed solidly by technique."

You and Dave took a little stroll through a magic place. Other than maintaining the quality of the anchors, please leave your accomplishment as it stands and be at peace with the exclusivity and grace with which you solved the problem left by Walt and Dave in the first place.

You never find out what have until you have to use it and use it all! Makes me want to jump around and howl at the thought because I've had many a taste!

A selfish thing wouldn't inspire your peers as it does. A pure and proud effort does it every time. Don't go changin' a thing.

WBraun

climber
  Mar 22, 2009 - 11:18pm PT
Coz

Cashner? hahaha what irony. I just had breakfast with Rick today and yesterday in the cafe. If I would have known I would have asked him about it.

Next time I see him I will ......
Karl Baba

Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
  Mar 23, 2009 - 12:26am PT
Coz wrote

"I never set out to be a great climber, but the Belle threw me into another realm of self, an enlighten being if only for a moment. The run outs and the danger slipped me into a gap, I can not and do not want to find again.

I for whatever reason held that face as holy, beautiful and divine, the rap route (Growing Up), killed me inside, and Dave for that matter. It was if some one spray painted the Mona Lisa. But I know the same could be said for drilling period.

The Buddha said," you can not perceive what you can not understand," I do not understand why I climb, so I can not perceive an answer. I am just a climber, who loved climbing, I know not what I do or why. Do any of us? Really? Maybe that sounds simple, but trying to answer question with no answer, is a waste of time and thought.

As far as the future having value and morals, then yes, I am sad, when the last great places are tarnished what then do we do, what then do we value. I am no saint, I have my sins, if others feel different great. I still say we should leave the face alone from rap-bolting, so others one day, can swim with the red serpents in the golden desert of the South Face."

We've had our differences about this whole question but I want to acknowledge this fine post.

Peace

Karl

Edit for Warbler, I edited my post after Coz edited the quote. They match now.
Anastasia

climber
Home
  Mar 23, 2009 - 12:33am PT
Big happy "BUMP!"
marty(r)

climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
  Mar 23, 2009 - 01:26am PT
"A huge leapfrog past what was the cutting edge."

Beautifully said Peter!
Fletcher

Boulder climber
Institute of Better Bouldering-DirtbagDad Division
  Mar 23, 2009 - 04:14am PT
Wow... I'm at a loss for words other than I am truly appreciative of the magnitude of that ascent and thank you for sharing its tale.

Eric
Norwegian

Trad climber
dancin on the tip of god's middle finger
  Mar 23, 2009 - 11:14am PT
where the threshold of friction meets the threshold of gravity,
stout men and women dance.
SteveW

Trad climber
The state of confusion
  Mar 23, 2009 - 11:20am PT
Again, Mr. Grossman is right on the money.

Southern Belle is not a democratic climb.

A tribute to those who did it. Unbelievable.

Visionary
aldude

climber
Monument Manor
  Mar 23, 2009 - 02:31pm PT
Kevin - never say never....a single push, ground up,stance drilled (no bolt/bathook ladder)free first ascent is feasible and would certainly eclipse SB. Hint - just right of Cataclysmic*
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
  Mar 23, 2009 - 02:57pm PT
Go Al Go!
It cud' be called "Cataclysmic Megasmear"
aldude

climber
Monument Manor
  Mar 23, 2009 - 03:03pm PT
Megasmear....good one roy! Maybe you could give it a go - not much crimpin - lots - o - palmin *
Colt

climber
Midpines
  Mar 23, 2009 - 06:21pm PT
Contender for one of the best ST treads ever! Props to all of the contributors.

Thank you!...bump!
Mighty Hiker

climber
Outside the Asylum
  Mar 23, 2009 - 06:23pm PT
Hopefully it would be shoes and not climbers doing the megasmearing.
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
  Mar 23, 2009 - 07:42pm PT
'Best aim for the stratosmear...

Hey Coz,
Can we get a lil' story about that N Face route on Higher Rock sometime?
Should I start a thread asking after it... that seemed to work well for The Belle.
scuffy b

climber
heading slowly NNW
  Mar 23, 2009 - 08:19pm PT
What a captivating and powerful account. Much of the time, I
fancy myself a climber.

This just points out my folly.

Thanks, Coz.
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
  Mar 24, 2009 - 11:40am PT
Awsome!
Enough of this sissy slab climbing reportage...

Will you be including Coz, next to that Higher Rock story,
Something about Return to the Stone Age & Ribbon Falls Amphitheater???
I've gotta think so.

Here's the deal kids:
Ya'll probably only have an inkling of just how good this guy is on the rock.
So these routes, the MAN's climbs I'm mentioning, CRACK routes, more or less bottom to top, each of them have passages which Cozzy completed that would sear your butt hairs right to your smooth baby bottoms.

Forget about aiding through the tough sections too.
The only way we are going to get a crack at experiencing these bold masterworks is through reading about them...


I'll edit that sucker for you Coz!
I need my big break: you understand I got no résumé.

But you can see, as evidenced by my florid postings here, I will churn that puppy out with concision, brevity, and a particular knack for flow and an eminently digestible regard for proper diction.

I will shape it with no uncertain sense of tension, cast your words in dazzling rhythm and likewise imbue your work with the delectable flavor of the tell befitting man's greatest adventures, such that your readers will page turn that puppy straight from cover leaf to closing, and without fail be importuned to do so in a single push from dawn to dusk.

Or you can go for the slamdunk and ask Peter Haan to do it.
SteveW

Trad climber
The state of confusion
  Mar 24, 2009 - 12:15pm PT
My vote's for Roy the editor. . .

















he needs a new 'hat'. . .


















:-)
Chiloe

Trad climber
Lee, NH
  Mar 24, 2009 - 12:31pm PT
Brilliant thread, not just Scott's core story but Hank's too, and all the other notes.
Prod

Trad climber
Author's Reply  Mar 24, 2009 - 01:02pm PT
Hey Coz,

Thanks for rekindling this thread.

As for editors, I might also consider this guy, he's even looking for a gig.

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=815192

Prod.
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
  Mar 24, 2009 - 02:18pm PT
Submitting one's work to the constraints of classical structure?

That could fly...
Go Coz Go!
bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
  Mar 24, 2009 - 03:32pm PT
Damn, coz, that is a ballsy route fo sho!!!

Nice write-up.
Doug Robinson

Trad climber
Santa Cruz
  Mar 25, 2009 - 02:50pm PT
Coz,

What you wrote transcends in the same way as what you climbed. It was well worth waiting over 20 years for the story. Very few have come close, ever -- climbs or stories. Thank you.

I barely know what to say here. Werner, I was four thousand feet higher than you for that snowstorm 3-4 days ago, shredding the powder proudly on this era's short fat skis. But I was on aid -- riding a ski lift -- and those skis are the equivalent of sticky rubber compared to the long skinny nordic mountaineering skis that we were turning down near-death-fall couloirs during those same years that Coz and Schultz and Walt were setting a high water mark in the history of mega-smearing boldness.

That's why I missed the first posting of your meteoric words here Coz. Getting home I noticed that this thread had revived, but it took me a full day to sack up and read it. I was already gripped, just knowing I had your story to face. And this morning it literally scared the sh*t out of me, mulling it over the black-and-white tile floor before returning to read the rest.

You reached to, you transcended to, a realm that the decades since have proven beyond any doubt very few humans over many generations ever match. Most humble congratulations. I agree that the route I helped to construct only underlines the purity of your effort. Boldness that stretched forever the meaning of that proud term. Maybe the proudest ideal we have in this, our ascending passion.

BTW Steve, I wrote those words you quoted, not Chouinard and not Frost. They published them, but I got inspired to say something that helped define our game, and that brother Coz carried to rarified realms I did not dream of, then. I point this out not just for accuracy but because I am proud of being the conduit for that voice. It's a gift to write vividly and to channel big ideas. So being proud here goes beyond ego.

This is the kind of pride that waltzes eye to eye with humility, as equal partners. With both there's a shot at that transcend-dance. But if one gets the upper hand, it's the black hole, brotha.

Coz, you tapped into that gift in your post. I am unbelievably excited that you are making it part of a book. (And I too recommend Tar to edit it for you.) It is already, in this chapter here, among the great pieces of mountaineering literature. You can take that to the bank, just as you can bank the proof of the decades since of barely any takers to try to read, and translate into action, what you guys wrote onto the blank page of the South Face. That is seared forever into the annals of the practice of climbing rocks.

Incandescent story. No wonder that you, just like the rest of us, are humbled to the point of bafflement that your climb reached a point where your moves opened onto a transcendent state with your mind going blank behind them, gone into utter calm and certainty. It is a very special place. It may sound trivial, almost like a joke, but I'll proudly say that I have been in that flow even on 5.7. And at rare moments I've pulled off that fierce state of grace on the, for me, threshold of annihilation at 5.10. Proud runouts for me, but still they somehow do not prepare me to get it – even just physically -- what you did up there. I'll liken it to watching Croft solo Crack a Go Go. I was there; Strassman was filming. But there were moments when I was too gripped by what was right before my eyes and had to turn away, feeling sick to my stomach. Only later, on the editing monitor and knowing that he had survived it, could I face seeing what Peter had done.

You have vividly described your state of mind and your feelings surrounding that – you said it – momentarily enlightened place you transcended into. It’s a good description of a rare place that I think is essentially the goal of climbing. A beyond-ego place that all our playing with fire tempers us into. I’m writing a book about that, and your description is so vivid that I want to quote pieces of it as an example of the best that arises, occasionally, out of climbing.

Thanks again, Coz. My hat is off to you. And to the Iron Monkey and the legacy of Walt. Caylor too -- whew! -- and your partner Alan, a hero up and down. And the finally-come-latelys Dean Potter and Leo "Alfa Romeo" Houlding. Pretty tight pantheon that far runout into boldness.
marty(r)

climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
  Mar 25, 2009 - 04:44pm PT
”Climbing requires intense concentration. I know of no other activity in which I can so easily lose all the hours of an afternoon without a trace. Or a regret. I have had storms creep up on me as if I had been asleep, yet I knew the whole time I was in the grip of an intense concentration, focused first on a few square feet of rock, and then on a few feet more... This concentration may be intense, but it is not the same as the intensity of the visionary periods; it is a prerequisite intensity."

Had to reach for "Climber as Visionary".

Thanks Scott.
Chris McNamara

SuperTopo staff member
  Mar 25, 2009 - 04:54pm PT
awesome story!

i put this on the home page
http://www.supertopo.com/index.html
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
  Mar 25, 2009 - 08:27pm PT
Right On, DR!
I have always had some difficulty separating the voices in that piece but yours is the firm but compelling voice of boldness to be sure!
micronut

Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
  Mar 26, 2009 - 03:08pm PT
I climbed Snake Dike once........
ught
I thought it was kinda scary too.....

Coz, thanks so much for posting that account. You invested so much of yourself in that route. Really inspiring man. Way to ruin my Snake Dike experience. I remember being gripped going down the cables late season without the posts. I'm a sissy. I live through you guys and your boldness. Thanks for keeping the dream alive for us punters.
philo

climber
  Mar 26, 2009 - 04:28pm PT
For me, as gripping as the story lines were, the most telling and compelling passages of the SB saga are these sentiments that Coz posted after the story.

"my sadness with the Belle is not so much what others perceive or do not perceive, but more the fact that other can not experience what a great climb it is. That it will never be climbed by all but a few people, this to me is sad."

And this one;

"I for whatever reason held that face as holy, beautiful and divine, the rap route (Growing Up), killed me inside, and Dave for that matter. It was if some one spray painted the Mona Lisa."


The correlation of art to ascent is both poignant and provocative. Coz speaks on many levels regarding the pain of the Artist through the looking glass of the creative process. I doubt that while up there they thought at all about the happy campers to follow. They did not produce a route for the mass proletariat to possess, only to admire from afar. They were creating a singular work of vertical dance and survival. Now the artist, having never intending to produce "Performance Art", is inevitably saddened that the audience is so small, that so few will know the price
and the rapture. But such is the way with artists and their work.
Growing up is not so much a spray paint tagging of the Mona Lisa as it is the hanging of a wildly modern abstract piece hung on the same wall. Conflict of styles? Absolutely! Debasement of either? Hardly.
In time it is likely that GU will attract many suitors, certainly many more than Southern Belle. The style of FA will be less an issue than the greater accessibility GU's more survivable protection provides. But all the while Southern Belle will like Mona Lisa be watching. No matter where one goes on that wall She will be watching. And she will be difficult to look away from and impossible to take for granted

drljefe

climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
  Mar 28, 2009 - 04:07pm PT
I like what Philo says at the end there.

I'm glad I can at least repeat(re-read) this thread,
as it seems to get better and better.

{{{{respect}}}}
wildone

climber
EP
  Mar 29, 2009 - 02:00am PT
Thanks Philo. You articulated some of my thoughts more succinctly than I could on why I feel good about my role in putting up GU. I've read every account of all the bad-asses in Yosemite. I lived in El Portal for almost a decade. Climbed with some real legends. Look up to all the ground up "heroes". Respect them all so much. All my FAs until GU, were ground up (and to be honest, I was Sean's partner for trying to free Harding and Rowell's South Face, which we got turned back on at around .14a, and then I was his partner for all the climbing of the arch (trad, bolted belays).
And I went down the upper face with him on the preview, but didn't help him on that half of the route or place any of those bolts.
I don't feel bad about those choices we made. Different? Yes.
I still see southern belle as a pinnacle achievement in climbing.
Doug Robinson

Trad climber
Santa Cruz
  Mar 29, 2009 - 10:50am PT
Coz,

One more try to speak to your being "just killed inside" by the route I helped to construct. Philo rather brilliantly outlined how I see our vastly different artistic statements hanging on the same wall.

I meant no disrespect to you or to the South Face of Half Dome. And I firmly believe that Growing Up not only takes nothing away from Southern Belle, but actually enhances by contrast what you did up there. And it answers in part your sadness that so few will ever experience SB, by opening up a parallel opportunity for many to taste the unique and otherworldly stone of the South Face.

Far from tagging, we created a different art up there, one more accessible to modern eyes. But I for one never lost sight of the Mona Lisa, watching.

Thanks again for your story: open, honest and brilliantly told.

Much respect,

Doug
Doug Robinson

Trad climber
Santa Cruz
  Mar 29, 2009 - 02:12pm PT
Thanks Scott,

I too want not to get into ethics again. And style. We've been over that and over that. So I totally agree, leave it.

I love it that in this thread we can talk about the climbing.

But I will say a little more about perception. I am not lying to you. My honest perception of the part of the wall we were on is that ground up it would have been way beyond Southern Belle as a runout. It's a different part of the wall, with different qualities. I am not presuming to say what it is like over on Southern Belle because I haven't been there. I trust what you say about it, don't doubt any of it. And it's certainly confirmed by the Iron Monkey, by Caylor and by Dean Potter and Leo Houlding.

You haven't been on the part of the wall where Growing Up goes. It is hundreds of feet away. So I ask you to respect the possibility that Sean and I with 3/4 of a century of climbing between us are saying honestly to you and the rest of the climbing world what our perception is of the wall we were on.

Are there stances on Growing Up? Sure, but not enough of them to keep it from becoming a worse death route than Southern Belle. We had the same sort of thoughts as you, imagined the same sort of sadness at no one ever -- or only rarely -- repeating the climb if it were run out so far. So we took a different tack.

It's based on our perception of our part of the wall. Even looking at Clint's blowups it's easy to see that Harding and Rowell were following a more featured part of the wall. When Walt soloed their line he spotted the Belle, which runs up that same relatively featured corridor.

Now look on the same blowups at our part of the wall. Even at that distance it is smoother and blanker. Different, that's all.

I ain't lying.

Doug
Jello

Social climber
No Ut
  Mar 29, 2009 - 03:14pm PT
Coz, my respect and admiration for you grows everytime I check back to see how this thread is progressing. Your absolute committment to the truth in representing your actions, state-of-mind, passions and ideals is as inspiring as your climbing skills, and those are obviously of a very high order, indeed.

Back in the late-80's, I had formulated a plan to do a climb on that beautiful big south face. I was going to solo my line first, aiding and placing bolts where necessary (ground up, naturally). Then I would recruit a strong partner to go back and free the climb. Problem is, just when I was ready to go, I found out that Walt and Dave had just completed Southern Belle, which was the exact line I had planned on trying. Dratt!!!...and Whew!!!...now I don't have to do THAT one, at least. Guess I'll go look at that line on the Eiger, instead...

DR, you know you've always been a mentor to me, and my admiration for Coz's impassioned lucidity here in no way undermines my respect and gratitude for the ideas and values you've introduced to me, and the climbing community in general. I haven't read but a fraction of the thread on GU, because I could see early on that no one was being convinced to change their perspectives from those they had brought with them to the party - like most of the "discussions" on this forum, as well as in everyday contemporary life.

Thank you both for being the amazing, honest people you are. You guys make me proud to call myself a climber.

-Jello
philo

climber
  Mar 29, 2009 - 04:08pm PT
Coz, my illustration on art was also metaphorical.
In climbing we travel on the paths the gods gave us with the media as presented to us. Thus climbing becomes a performance art. With the performer and the primary audience being one and the same. Their are many styles to creating the vertical dance but the creative process occurs only once. Subsequent performances usually only endeavor to emulate. Often, as is the case with you on SB and your other brilliant test pieces, the artist will rise to the challenge of improving on the past. As you did by removing aid and Hank and Alan almost did by going for it in a day. Someday when the right artist is ready to perform at that level it may be soloed. But it will never be performed lightly or with disrespect. You assured that by your stellar performance in establishing the FFA.

To me the important part to me is to not degrade a route by altering the work as established. Or the media as presented. Stylistically it was always important to me to do a route in at least the best style it had ever been done in. So what really taints things for me is less the addition of the stylistically incompatible GU on the SFHD as it is the negative altering of existing routes, particularly the great ones. The now commonly accepted and seemingly endless addition of fixed gear and the enhancement or comfortization of holds has made a mockery of many a work of art.
And in a way that GU could never do to SB. I would be appalled if new bolts popped up on SB to comfortize it. No for that performance you better be able to suffer like an artist!

In my best years of good climbing and moral clarity I believed that bolts had only the most meagerly limited role in "modern" climbing and that bolt ladders were an abomination. I felt that the rock or mountain deserved preservation till a good enough climber could ascend without cheats, aids or taints. I also didn't use chalk, avoided clipping fixed gear when possible and went all the way to the ground pulling the rope if I failed. But that was then.

Climbing, being indifferent to my personal take on style and ethics, moved on. The juggernaught of growing popularity propelled the "lifestyle" into the "sports" arena.
Convenience over sacrifice became a compelling drive. The Urbanization of the sport was at hand. Routes of "dubious" styles sprouted everywhere. The sheer quantity of new routes was staggering. To me it seemed a sad Machiavellian manifesto. But the truly classic ascents remained for the most part undimmed by the progression of time and change of means. Except where they were cheated into submission.

Now, with the convenient excuses of being the decrepitly aged father of three with an 18 year old prosthetic knee, things are different. Now I relish a rope over my head. I wallow in chalk while phaffing away time wishing for more fixed gear. I bark like a French Free poodle when I am windging. And I have a harder and harder time convincing myself to start all the way over from the ground every time. But the climbs are not about me. Once a route is established only the style of my performance really matters and it only really matters to me.

What I am getting at is that by the standards of style from my time on stage a great many subsequent routes would have been called profane. Yet like changes in styles of art movements resistance to difference is to be expected. It is only normal. It is also normally futile. All anyone can do is make the best statement they can when it is their turn in this evolving art of performance. And hope their art stands the tests of time. This you have done with Southern Belle. Regardless of future developments no one is going to paint another Mona Lisa.

There are masterworks still to be created and performed. They will be done by those who come after. Having the benefit of monumental accomplishment to perform upon they will see a little further than those who came before. They will have their own visions. And they will create difference. But they just might feel the same about their performance, their art as those who preceded them.

Coz, you alliterate so well the experience of being in that zone of oneness that you attained on SB. I have known this transcendent state in the past. Of all the losses of time that is the one I rue the most. To have known it at all is to have entered that divine state where inspiration is found. Where artists find their voice. To never know it again is a sadness I am unable to express in any form available to me. I hope you can find yourself moving beyond the sorrows and unto the joy of the many rare performances you achieved. Peace Phil Broscovak



SteveW

Trad climber
The state of confusion
  Mar 29, 2009 - 07:23pm PT
Bump it again.
More climbs.

More satisfaction
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
  Mar 29, 2009 - 10:13pm PT
Scott said:
I like this thread because it was not about your climb GU it was about the SB and about climbing, not ethics. --- It's my hope we can go back to talking climbing, I think we all enjoy bringing back the memories of days gone by, as it is all an old climber has.

DR said:
I ain't lying.

Jello said:
(Everything that's in his post.)

Philo said:
No for that performance you better be able to suffer like an artist!


I’m just sayin’ ….
Would it not be so cool if we could have a thread which goes to thousands of posts, merely expanding upon, perhaps searching the truth and good tidings we find out there traveling on our fingertips and toes?
Peter Haan

Trad climber
Wyoming
  Mar 29, 2009 - 11:04pm PT
Roy, we do. We do have “a thread” of the sort of which you speak.

It is a meta-post. It is Supertopo Forum. Right? I think so. And I am thinking you see it this way as well.

best to you and "that hat", p.

Lynne Leichtfuss

Trad climber
Will know soon
  Mar 29, 2009 - 11:17pm PT
"searching the truth and good tidings we find out there traveling our fingertips and toes..." agree heartily Tarbuster. Although new to this forum I did spend years with the most excellent people that inhabit this world....climbers.

Climbers and the climbing community encompass a very special realm of living on this planet, a real and very separate reality. The traveling companions I've found here and reconnected with are like none other found on this globe.

Each climber may have a different life map, gifts and qualities...from a repeat beginner like me to the best of the best. But as Tarbuster said, finger tips and toes on the rock are a life touchstone for each of us, a compass pointing the way in life each one called climber wants to discover. Many facets of our lives are first discovered and then enhanced by climbing.

Bachar said in his dvd, (loosely quoted) "you keep going back to the mountain until you find out about yourself....."

And you sure do. But the experience includes the community, the friends and antifriends....that may later become friends. Diverse, unique, gifted, caring ....going for the hard line. Climbers.

Peace, Lynne
Todd Gordon

Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
  Mar 29, 2009 - 11:41pm PT
Way cool read, Coz;.....I climb alot, but I never do stuff like that;.....but actually;...everyone has their climbs of "epic" proportion....each is different for the individual....each as exciting, dangerous, committing, and thrilling as the next;....only few do ones that are cutting edge for the whole climbing world;.....just our "own" little climbing worlds....You and Dave threw it down.......again;...excellent read, awesome adventure, and that So. face of Half Dome has to be one of the most beautiful pieces of rock on the planet. Bravo. Your committment to challege, adventure , and purity of line once again has me in awe and deepens my respect for what you have done as an individual, and for the climbing community.....
Also Doug, (whom I haven't seen for years, but had a few excellent days out cragging with years ago with some very beautiful ladies......thanks.....).....I do new routes too, and I do them in the style which I choose and which suits me;......it works for me, but others might not always agree........can get to be a pain in the ass, but thank heavens we do have these freedoms to explore and express as we seem fit......once we lose these...then we are REALLY screwed........
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
  Mar 29, 2009 - 11:44pm PT
Peter & Lynne & Todd,
YES it is so.
dogtown

Trad climber
Cheyenne, Wyoming and Marshall Islands atoll.
  Mar 29, 2009 - 11:53pm PT
Very well put Gordon !!

Bruce.
SteveW

Trad climber
The state of confusion
  Mar 30, 2009 - 06:28pm PT
Bump this one back, cuz. . .it's real and it's GREAT!!!
jbar

Mountain climber
urasymptote
  Mar 30, 2009 - 11:40pm PT
Rebump cuz that rock really IS steep!

johnboy

Trad climber
Can't get here from there
  Mar 31, 2009 - 12:55am PT
This thread, and especially this last page is what makes ST great.

I'm honored to sit a the same campfire and listen to all the diversity acknowledged while maintaining a level of civility and respect that rises to the level of their climbing careers.

Thanks, I'm humbled.
dogtown

Trad climber
Cheyenne, Wyoming and Marshall Islands atoll.
  Mar 31, 2009 - 04:05am PT
No it's not a free country but it is a free forum.(Last time I checked)
john hansen

climber
  Mar 31, 2009 - 10:51pm PT
Cosgrove, Robinson, Lowe.. Great stuff.
SteveW

Trad climber
The state of confusion
  Apr 2, 2009 - 01:06pm PT
This is always worthwhile on the front page
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
  Apr 2, 2009 - 01:09pm PT
great pic jbar, rad!
wbw

Trad climber
'cross the great divide
  Apr 2, 2009 - 02:29pm PT
In my dreams, I imagine an awe-inspiring face in a wilderness setting. A faint but long, distinct unclimbed line. I am fearful but because I am inspired I place protection only where the rock allows me to. The moves are very difficult, and often very runout, but I have elevated myself and my ability to the level of this amazing location. It is my own, personal journey and I understand that as soon as I try to express that experience to others, I have changed the experience. The rewards of such an experience are internal, I really don't care very much about what others think of my climb.

Sometimes it seems that the new generation of climbers do not look at our passion in the way that I describe above. Whatever; that's okay. But I know that for many of us that learned to climb in the 80's and before, my description above might represent the ultimate climbing has to offer. I've never met Coz or DS, and Walt only briefly, but I believe that they probably had this experience on Southern Belle. Me: I'm still dreaming of having that experience, but have not the skill, boldness or time to live the dream. Nonetheless, it is a dream that I live with at one level or another, every single day.

Wow, did you guys really inspire us! Thank you.
MisterE

Gym climber
Small Town with a Big Back Yard
  Apr 8, 2009 - 11:42am PT
Bump
WBraun

climber
  Apr 8, 2009 - 11:43am PT
What ya mean bump?

Get your ass up there instead ...
SteveW

Trad climber
The state of confusion
  Apr 8, 2009 - 11:52am PT
So I'd fall off, I don't think so, Werner!!!!
MisterE

Gym climber
Small Town with a Big Back Yard
  Apr 8, 2009 - 12:57pm PT
hehe. I am certainly a likely candidate, were I to get on it.
SteveW

Trad climber
The state of confusion
  Apr 9, 2009 - 12:01pm PT
BUMP, FOR WERNER!!!!11111
Crimpergirl

Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
  Apr 9, 2009 - 10:53pm PT
Perhaps I'm the last one to get here. It was worth waiting for. Great stuff by all...
MH2

Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
  Apr 10, 2009 - 09:10am PT
^^^
Or perhaps second to last.


A damn good story.


Who would not want to swim in the gold desert?
But who can?
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
  Apr 10, 2009 - 12:51pm PT
Answer: Shultz, Coz, those beautiful golden worms and red serpents...
And the next Uberman who steps out to complete the thing.
It will happen.
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
  Apr 10, 2009 - 01:04pm PT
I went back and re-read some of what Scott wrote.

"Dave assured me the following pitch, the one Hank would get off route on and break his leg was the most scary of his life."

He says that Shultz, during the big run out pitch that subsequently Hank fell off, was yelling up to him where to go.

"I remember being lost where you were and have a shouting beta match with Shultz telling me where to go. That pitch you fell on was the worst one. I can remember every move to this day."

It looks to me that Leo or Dean found his way and Hank didn't.
This route would probably benefit from some very definitive beta on how to find one's way on that particular pitch.

Back in the day I recall oral history/beta was often very important to completing some of the neckier lines.
Rhodo-Router

Gym climber
sawatch choss
  Apr 10, 2009 - 01:44pm PT
"Shultz, Coz, those beautiful golden worms and red serpents...
And the next Uberman who steps out to complete the thing.
It will happen."

--In which Roy channels Werner. gives me an idea....like the faux Hemingway contest.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
  Apr 10, 2009 - 02:14pm PT
> It looks to me that Leo or Dean found his way and Hank didn't.
> This route would probably benefit from some very definitive beta on how to find one's way on that particular pitch.

I agree - an improved topo would be nice. Few may be willing to lead p4, but it would be nice if they could find the few bolts above.
I've been thinking of going to near the base with a telescope to see if I can find the bolts and improve the overlay/topo.
matty

Trad climber
Sad the forum is gone =(
  Aug 19, 2009 - 03:56pm PT
Sweaty palms bump.

Awesome, inspirational story.

Matt
micronut

Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
  Aug 19, 2009 - 05:06pm PT
Hayden Kennedy, that kid who just waltzed the Bachar Yerian should go have a look.
Chris McNamara

SuperTopo staff member
  May 19, 2010 - 03:57pm PT
I just created a page for Southern Belle and posted the original FA topo by Walt Shipley

http://www.supertopo.com/rock-climbing/Yosemite-Valley-Half-Dome-Southern-Belle
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
  Oct 19, 2010 - 07:54pm PT
Hats off to the best of the best......
k-man

Gym climber
SCruz
  Oct 20, 2010 - 12:24am PT
C-Mac, that Southern Belle page is mostly empty! What happened to the original topo?

Dude, you gotta learn how to use the cool Photo-base that SuperTopo offers!! :p


!~!~!~!


Thanks Coz for putting that TR together, an all-time classic read. A deep dig into the emotions that rule the act of putting courage into a rucksack.


And I don't know about you, but I think the most unreal performance of the whole deal is this part:

"'You can sleep too, just relax, you'll be fine, it's not up to us what happens.' And with that he [IM] started to snore again ..."

I mean seriously, who the Fo can sleep at a time like that? 100% insanity. Skilled insanity.
S.Leeper

Social climber
somewhere that doesnt have anything over 90'
  Oct 19, 2010 - 11:45pm PT
Is this the Alan Lester that attempted SB?

http://conted.colorado.edu/about-us/instructor-interviews/alan-lester/
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
  Oct 20, 2010 - 02:11am PT
if it means something to you then it means something. It's my hope you'll raise to the level of the past instead of beating it down with a heavy hand.



true that

Karl Baba

Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
  Oct 20, 2010 - 03:25am PT
Was cruising back to camp on our art car at Burning Man in the morning after an epic all night party cruise and this guy recognizes me from way back. Says he never forgets a face.

It was Dave Shultz. Maybe he'll get this picture now.

Peace

Karl

justthemaid

climber
Jim Henson's Basement
  Oct 20, 2010 - 01:35pm PT
Wow.. hands down the finest accounts I have read on this site. I was totally gripped reading both Hank and Coz's stories. Some beautifully written posts by others as well. I'm in awe. Should be required reading.


I agree with Doug: "open, honest and brilliantly told."

With greatest respect.

Skip




Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
  Oct 20, 2010 - 12:23pm PT
S Leeper: yes that is the Alan Lester in question.

Terrific picture of Schultz!
freerider

climber
  Oct 29, 2010 - 03:24pm PT
absolutely fantastic
justthemaid

climber
Jim Henson's Basement
  Jan 20, 2012 - 11:45am PT
A thread this good needs to be dragged out of the closet and dusted off once in a while.
Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber
San Francisco
  Jan 20, 2012 - 02:43pm PT
coz you are my hero man!
Matt's

climber
  Dec 15, 2012 - 10:56pm PT
bump for great reading
ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
  Dec 16, 2012 - 12:57am PT
That jbar photo is nuckin' futs.
Big Mike

Trad climber
BC
  Dec 16, 2012 - 03:07am PT
TACO GOLD!!!

Thanks to all!
RyanD

climber
  Dec 16, 2012 - 05:16am PT
Probably the best thing I've read on here ever. So much respect. Amazing story coz, my hands are falling apart! So much more I could say but it's all been said above.
MisterE

Gym climber
Small Town with a Big Back Yard
  Oct 20, 2014 - 06:43pm PT
Bump, and a thanks to Clint Cummins. Here's the original text from Coz:

Southern Belle

It loving memory of my friend, mentor and bad-ass human, Walt Shipley.

This story is for supertopo; any reproduction in any mag will be a violation of the Che Guevara power to the common people act.

I'll write as much as I can when I can, that's all I can do. The whole climb was an idea of Walt's, (Walt Shipley) he - in a mad bender - soloed the South Face Harding route, and in the process saw the line that would become Southern Belle.

He recruited, the boldest slab climber ever to grace planet earth to join him. Dave (Iron Monkey) Shultz. Dave had skipped bolts on the Bacher Yerian on-sight, and on a regular basis soloed 10 plus slabs in bare feet, up and down.

In a four - five day, ground up, big wall style push, the two climbed the Southern Belle, they tried to run it out as far as they could taking advantage of the plentiful and giant stances, all over the South Face. Years later, others would claim there are no stances; that is pure BS and an out right fabrication of the truth.

Walt and Dave both thought the line would go free, but Walt felt he lacked the free climbing skills to pull off the hard sections. Dave decided to fly to Boulder, Colorado and asked me to join him the following spring to free the thing, an offer I could not even consider turning down.

Between myself and Dave, we had climb almost every scary climb we could think of and wanted to do something beyond, something that would in the long run prove that the media darlings of the time, where not the only ones doing scary stuff.

Dave and I loved the idea of adventure and the beauty of the South Face-alone- above our own glory was really behind the idea of free climbing it; the magic dome truly seemed to be the greatest thing we could do with all the skills we had manage to muster.

It was a hundred degrees in the Valley, the day we hike to the base, sporting 100 pound packs and two girlfriends carrying their share. The girls-sun themselves as Dave and I thrashed up the first few pitches of the arch. I boulder out the first aid section and Dave had a go at the third pitch ( long OW to finger crack) falling short, pulling the rope and trying myself, I failed one move from the top.

We bailed and return the following weekend and stayed for four days, climbing the crack and launching onto the face proper only to be stop again at the crux 12d slab. The climbing to this point had been fairly safe and the quality- out of this world, we where adrift on a massive featured face. Dave manage to red point the crux slab and the 12a death-slab crack above. I lead the next pitch through some dam scary sections, I remember climbing one crack and then pimping to the next as the sun started to set.

The following weekend we climbed what remain of the aid climbing, except high on the upper pitches were - laid in wait for us, two more sections of aid.

I cried out in fear as we Jumared up our fixed lines and faced what Walt had named the Cuntress, a fine etch seam of tips lay backing and the rare bomber stopper. The Iron Monkey just dropped in stopper after stopper and floated the seam for a hundred and fifty feet of what must have been one of the best pitches on earth. I followed more marveling at the beauty of the climbing and location. It is like being in a golden desert surrounded by beautiful golden earth worms disturbing the surface in their sub-terrianing wanderings. Joining the smiling Iron Monkey at the belay, he said how hard do you think it was. "11b," I said, although I knew it was way harder.

It fact, Croft wanted to punch me after he failed on the pitch years later; for my sand bag. But, for the life of me it seemed just like a beautiful experience to climb. Then we ran out of fixing rope and decide to rap back down to camp for the night and rest the following day. I spent the day laying on my back looking up at the summit, the birds and the blazing hot sun and thought to myself, this could be my last day on the planet.

Dave assured me the following pitch, the one Hank would get off route on and break his leg was the most scary of his life. Walt had told the story of how Dave on that pitch, looking at a death fall from 12a moves, was calling out,"watch me, I could come off here." Walt said that he could only laugh, because the only thing he could do was watch him die.

I couldn't sleep, many aid section lay above, possible death and to make things worse I had lost my glasses. But I would wake, try or fall and die, there was no bail in my brain at that time. Dave just snored away and I was getting so pissed at him, that I threw a rock to wake him up, "What's wrong Coz." "I'm gonna die tomorrow and all you can do is sleep." "You can sleep too, just relax, you'll be fine, it's not up to us what happens." And with that he started to snore again as I toss and turned and dreaded the raising of the sun.

At first light we busted up our tattered lines, and drop them, committing to the summit. Traversing out a long dike I got to a blown out section with no bolt, f*#kers! I thought to myself as I balanced to the next section of dike. I threw in some bad gear and punch it up 40 feet of glass 5.11 to a big ledge with a bolt. The first in a 130 feet! A few easy moves, another ledge and another bolt and the wall steepen above me. Bouldering up twenty feet, now looking at a very bad fall... back down onto the serpent like dikes, mantling on a small ledge to my horror no bolt greeted me.

I was in a trance and committed to the 12a/b moves above, unsure of the next move, I felt like I was in another world, no thoughts, no fear, just pure survival, having been willing to fall and die I had no second thoughts, with a final slap I reached what I thought would be a good hold and wasn't, another three feet of hell finally got me gripping a large ledge and the belay. A changed man, and surely one of the only humans willing to do that section.

Little did I know the real amazing climbing lay above. Shultzy took off and flew up an easy but run out pitch that put us in the pot holes. Just huge scooped out holes of rock. Galen Rowel, said on the first ascent of the South Face that, a door would open, we'd walk inside and the key to all knowledge would be printed on the walls. But all I found was the crazed Iron Monkey with an old sling tied around a horn of diorite, that he called a belay.

I knew this was the second to last aid section left on the wall. Shultz and Walt both thought my size would help. Climbing up the outside of the first pot hole I reach up on to the blank vertical wall and found a small hole about 12 inch in diameter, pulled up, mantle, reach as high as I could and found another hole the same size. I repeated the mantle and looked in depression as the four feet to the next golden dike was overhanging and blank. I dime edged out of the hole, searched for an edge and to my complete shock found a four finger crimp. I pasted my feet high and threw a four foot dyno just grabbing the dike, mantling and walking the the top of the dike to the bivy ledge on the South Face route. I couldn't believe our luck and the beauty of the line, so impossible and improbable that if just a single feature where missing it would never go free.

I was near blind from the sun as Dave took over for the final aid section, a desperate slab in the horrible blinding heat, he fell off three times and we stop and ate our remaining food. I could almost not open my eyes, but Dave tried again this time nailing the crux and the 90' run out to a 11a mantle, the rock above the mantle turns to an overhanging dike, the rock by magic had large in cut jugs and you really couldn't believe the feeling of climbing through blank rock on overhanging jugs two thousand feet off the deck.

Walt's pitch at 11c was next and my nerves, eyes and mind had had it, I surge through not thinking or caring like a well oil robot just wanting off, 30 feet above my last bolt just cupping slopers and hoping for the best, I fell into the trance again and before I knew it the belay was in front of me.

I'd had it, my nerves where shoot and I couldn't open my eyes, Dave led the last two pitch that had one bolt for pro the last being 10c and has no gear, Leo Holding, years later, would lead this pitch with a rattled Dean Potter, and call it a life changing experience. The Iron Monkey just Laugh and joked and made it look easy.

I followed and soon found my friend at the summit, we knew we had done something amazing, something special. Walking down the outside of the cables with the amazed tourists watching, I remembered an old, overweight guy looking at me and saying,"you two are crazy," I look into his eyes and said," no my friend you are crazy."

We talk and dream of going back but never did and the years past and people tried to repeat the climb, we thought of bolting it to make it safe but when Walt died, we decided to leave it. We where very proud of our climb and thought that the next generation would certainly complete the many other possible (easy to see) lines on the face. We'd never imagine that in the future the boldest climbers would barely repeat the thing.

I remember being with my old friend soloing in Malibu Creek when we heard some guys had rap bolted a line next to ours and claim you couldn't do it on stance, I think I saw the Iron Monkey almost cry at the news,"It's just bullshit Coz," was all he managed." I said, "aw well, f*#k those guys," and my friend agreed.

Anyway, brief story hope u folks like it. Just my musing, if it means something to you then it means something. It's my hope you'll raise to the level of the past instead of beating it down with a heavy hand.

http://web.archive.org/web/20101106204813/http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=568523&tn=60
bbbeans

Trad climber
  Oct 21, 2014 - 08:06am PT
bump for a compelling tale of ridiculously bold climbing
radair

Social climber
North Conway, NH
  Mar 23, 2016 - 02:35pm PT
Bump for Coz's Southern belle story (posted by MisterE a couple posts above). I searched around for this for a good part of my afternoon today after reading the sad news of Scott's passing.

Rock climbing can take your mind places that few other endeavors can. Scott's story reminds me of those few times that i reached that inexplicable zone that he undoubtedly experienced many times. RIP
More Air

Trad climber
S.L.C.
  Mar 23, 2016 - 09:24pm PT
Earlier this year in SLC Alex Honnold & Cedar Wright gave an entertaining presentation that I was able to attended. Afterwards I chatted with Alex about his ascent of Southern Belle with Will Stanhope. He started out by saying that it was definitely the scariest route he'd ever done in Yosemite.

He also said the topo wasn't very accurate and that making a repeat ascent of the route is almost harder because you can't find the bolts. "If you're on the first ascent and get scared, you can just put in a bolt". I asked him how hard the climbing was at the runnout sections. In his usual casual way, he said "the really runnout stuff wasn't that bad". Then he signed his poster for me by saying "Brian, go climb Southern Belle, it's not too scary" !!!
justthemaid

climber
Jim Henson's Basement
  Mar 24, 2016 - 06:45am PT
I've always felt that certain moments in time are singular and profound. In the history of climbing- this story is one of them. RIP Coz.
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