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epic_ed
Oct 8, 2004, 11:36 PM
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4,000?!?! I was 4,000 bolts they chopped?!?! :shock:
David, bro -- your new avitar is dead on. It could be a photo of you. :P
Ed
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yosemite
Oct 9, 2004, 12:53 AM
Post #127 of 158
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Ed,
Your beta is sooooo September.
GaVoBry told me that they bootied the Black Tower and augmented the Nipple. I hear the latter is way stout.
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holdplease2
Oct 9, 2004, 1:26 AM
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I heard they actually re-seeded the lichen in the old head placements...bring your wire brushes, ladies and gentlemen!
Also, and its the weirdest thing.
At the base of the black tower there is a set of calipers hanging off of a manky old RURP. The only one left.
And there is, like, this sign...
It says
"Your balls must be at least this big to continue"
And there is also a drop-box, where you must leave your hybred aliens. Bryan, Ivo, and Gabe will be sharing shifts at the summit.
You summit with small balls OR a set of hybreds, and they toss you off the top. No questions asked. And not from the top of ZM with a clean fall, either. They toss you from the top of the East Ledges rap, so it looks like you are the gumby that you are.
-Kate.
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epic_ed
Oct 10, 2004, 1:20 AM
Post #129 of 158
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Oh, sure. Impose those rules after you've climbed it.
I like the sign idea, though. If I ever have the balls to make it up that high on the route I just might hang one like that. Wouldn't that be a riot? Something in a laminated poach hanging from a quick link off of one of the belay bolts?
Ed
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holdplease2
Oct 10, 2004, 6:15 AM
Post #130 of 158
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Saw pics of a guy who summited today. (seriously, not sure if his team was the first since cleaning, though.)
He looked a little awkward manteling over the top (a 90 degree lip)...all I saw was a heel and one elbow and hand. Rumor has it his gigantic left nut was acting as a counterweight His second actually had to jug to the higpoint and push*. ;)
-Kate.
*just kidding, I'm sure he summited under his own power.
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ricardol
Oct 10, 2004, 11:29 PM
Post #131 of 158
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In reply to: Saw pics of a guy who summited today. (seriously, not sure if his team was the first since cleaning, though.) He looked a little awkward manteling over the top (a 90 degree lip)...all I saw was a heel and one elbow and hand. Rumor has it his gigantic left nut was acting as a counterweight His second actually had to jug to the higpoint and push*. ;) -Kate. *just kidding, I'm sure he summited under his own power.
they summitted on saturday .. it was a team of 3 .. ivo showed pictures of the summitting party on saturday night at the lodge amphitheater.
-- ricardo
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lambone
Oct 11, 2004, 3:06 AM
Post #132 of 158
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the question is...did YOU summit TT?
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holdplease2
Oct 11, 2004, 3:34 AM
Post #133 of 158
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I was there, ricardo, looks like we almost crossed paths...
-Kate.
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holdplease2
Oct 11, 2004, 3:59 AM
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Your photo isn't working...
I'm assuming its your summit photo. Ether that, or a picture of a dozen or so young ladies gathered at the base coaxing you down, cracking open coooolllld beers, and wafting pizza scent in your general direction. Which, of course, is a perfectly acceptable reason to bail. ;)
The spray monitor gives you a period of 48 hours during which you can spray all you like. He called and told me so.
-Kate.
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ricardol
Oct 11, 2004, 4:05 AM
Post #137 of 158
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In reply to: Your photo isn't working... I'm assuming its your summit photo. Ether that, or a picture of a dozen or so young ladies gathered at the base coaxing you down, cracking open coooolllld beers, and wafting pizza scent in your general direction. Which, of course, is a perfectly acceptable reason to bail. ;) The spray monitor gives you a period of 48 hours during which you can spray all you like. He called and told me so. -Kate.
.. i shoudl have waited until the photo was approved before responding .. its a summit photo .. (though the other photo sounds pretty fun too!)
i had a total blast on this wall .. very different from a year ago (when i was scared shitless) .. some great fun, and ran into alot of friends on and off the wall..
.. i wish we'd ran into each other on saturday, i was sitting up front..
-- ricardo
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holdplease2
Oct 11, 2004, 4:16 AM
Post #138 of 158
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Let me be the first online to congratulate you! Congrats!
I was in the front row, too, the concrete step on the left sitting next to Nick, who kept trying to give Ivo beer. We came in late. Can't believe I missed you.
Glad you are safe and had some fun!
-Kate.
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epic_ed
Oct 11, 2004, 4:21 AM
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And I'll be the second! Congrats, Ricardo!! Great job, bro. Feel free to start a thread in trip reports, dude. I'd love to hear about it.
Ed
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karlbaba
Oct 11, 2004, 5:32 AM
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Congrat Richardol!
Great job. Another adventure in sucess.
But since we're on the Zodiac thread, do you think you would have got up in it's cleaned state when you soloed it? Would you be able to get up the Trip after Evo cleans it? (at least I heard he was headed for the trip)
Would you be willing to wait to climb El Cap to climb at that higher standard, or do you think you could have risen to the event and pasted lines of heads, nailed, and so on?
Peace
Karl
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ricardol
Oct 11, 2004, 2:58 PM
Post #141 of 158
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In reply to: Congrat Richardol! Great job. Another adventure in sucess. But since we're on the Zodiac thread, do you think you would have got up in it's cleaned state when you soloed it? Would you be able to get up the Trip after Evo cleans it? (at least I heard he was headed for the trip) Would you be willing to wait to climb El Cap to climb at that higher standard, or do you think you could have risen to the event and pasted lines of heads, nailed, and so on? Peace Karl
thanks karl ..
re: zodiac
last year i would have had a very hard time getting through the zodiac in a cleaned state (without fixed heads) ..
.. this year it would have been a challenge but i would have made it through ..
. i actually really dislike clipping fixed heads .. and whenver possible i avoid it .. when i was on p2/p3 of virginia i avoided several head placements by making offset alien placements and ball-nut placements .. i avoided other fixed head placements on the trip by using a bathook and topstepping sometimes ..
.. anywyas my $0.02 on the issue -- after spending the last 2 weeks in the valley and listening to ivo talk about why they did the clean up -- i applaud his efforts .. and think he's done a service to the community ...
-- ricardo
-- ricardo
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lambone
Oct 11, 2004, 3:17 PM
Post #142 of 158
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So what did they say bout their Zodiac climb at that slideshow? Anything?
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ricardol
Oct 11, 2004, 3:22 PM
Post #143 of 158
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In reply to: So what did they say bout their Zodiac climb at that slideshow? Anything?
it was ivo's slide show ..
.. he showed pictures of the ascent... explained why they went to remove the gear .. and what the goal was ..
"To restore the route to its original FA state, as much as possible"
he then showed some of the gear they used to do the cleanup ..
.. and finally some pictures of all the gear they cleaned ..
... i was surprised that my red lowe-ball was in that pile .. i fixed that piece last september when i forgot to bring my hammer while cleaning p5/p6 .. but i would have thought that i was easy booty with anyone cleaning with a hammer. -- the pile of cleaned gear showed ALOT of slings ... about 8+ rurps .. MANY pitons .. (i think they said it was about 50+) .. and lots of heads / nuts / etc.. --- and ONE supertopo Big Wall guidebook ..
-- ricardo
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lambone
Oct 11, 2004, 4:33 PM
Post #144 of 158
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it might not have been yours...those things get "fixed" easily and often.
I cliped a fixed one on pitch 8 last year.
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holdplease2
Oct 11, 2004, 5:28 PM
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I was pretty impressed with the slide show. Knowing how Ivo can come off sometimes (sorry Ivo) I was glad to see that he took the time to carefully address concerns that folks have and present very clearly the philosophical reasons behind the cleanup.
He talked about how some of the fixed gear had been there for so long, that even with special tools including an 10lb funking sledge hammer, it could not be removed.
I looked closely at the big pictures of the piles of gear and counted about 20 shiney bolts. (the gear was grouped by type) Some of these were removed for good, some had been poorly placed (i believe...) and were replaced with better work.
Only one of the removed rurps still had a cable...whether these were lost in the cleaning effort, I don't know.
Additionally, looking at the pile of heads, there were 6-8 that looked like they might have been in good shape, the majority of the others were actually piled in a different spot and looked like crap...the same crap my partner and I clipped on the way up earlier this year in May.
Honestly? The only peice I was sad to see go was that angle piton with the huge wad of runners that signified the end of the climb.
Ivo's closing point was kind of like this...not an exact quote
"If this is how much fixed gear/mank is left on this climb after 30 years, how much will there be after 50? 100? Its not the tourists going up there leaving this on the climbs. Its us, the climbers. It is our responsibility to keep the climb clean for ourselves and for future climbers."
Remember...some of the super-old welded stuff is still there. COULD NOT be cleaned. Better to get much of the other old mank out now before it becomes permanent, too. Sure, other gear will likely become fixed in some of these slots. Good, damage will be reduced. But hopefully it will get cleaned in subsequent years before it, too becomes rusted/welded in place and useless for future generations.
And you want to argue about the maybe 6 good pins and 6-8 good heads that MAY now require further hammering until they get fixed again? This is NOTHING compared to the massive piles of crap that might have become permanent over the next 10 years due to rust/corrosion.
Parties are summiting. Stand at the base of the climb and it now looks like a climb you can want to climb with your heart instead of your quickdraws. It looks like a real crack that takes real gear now.
I hope one of these days I get good enough to send it in its current state. I don't think I'm there yet...but I want to be before it becomes "fixed" again.
Now zodiac is something for even more of us to strive for...again.
Anyway, just my 2 cents, not saying I'm right, but I've had many conversations with these guys before the cleanup, during the effort via radio, and afterwards. I climbed the route when it was waaaayyyy fixed right after the Huber's speed records. These experiences and reading all of these discussions and Ivo's presentation has pretty much sealed my opinon for now.
It was a good thing, IMO.
-Kate.
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karlbaba
Oct 11, 2004, 5:40 PM
Post #146 of 158
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My partner fixed my red lowe ball near the bottom of the circle in 2002. It wasn't really needed there but he wanted to get more experience with his balls.
Peace
Karl
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lazide
Oct 11, 2004, 6:00 PM
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Hey Karl, they cleaned an older style red lowe ball that was actually still in useable shape! ;)
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karlbaba
Oct 11, 2004, 6:42 PM
Post #148 of 158
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They earned their booty. I felt bad about leaving it in the stone.
Peace
karl
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stymingersfink
Oct 12, 2004, 2:36 AM
Post #149 of 158
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In reply to: Saw pics of a guy who summited today. (seriously, not sure if his team was the first since cleaning, though.) He looked a little awkward manteling over the top (a 90 degree lip)...all I saw was a heel and one elbow and hand. Rumor has it his gigantic left nut was acting as a counterweight His second actually had to jug to the higpoint and push*. ;) -Kate. *just kidding, I'm sure he summited under his own power.
yes, my own power... just had to borrow a rope, but that's another story.
I must have missed the large angle full of tat, exiting left of the standard topout. Luckily for me, that crack takes aliens. Nothing like finding yourself free-soloing 1800 feet off the deck.
ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR SOLO BELAY DEVICE!!!!!!!
nuff said.
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