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sonso45
Mar 21, 2006, 10:54 PM
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Registered: Sep 1, 2002
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Kor Wall in Sabino Canyon Tucson, AZ climbs up a square buttress for @ 500' at the very head of the canyon. According to the original Mt. Lemmon guide book by John Steiger, Kor Wall has been the scene of epics since it was put up by George Hurley and Layton Kor in 1969. They left one piton on the whole face and climbed it in 5 enjoyable pitches. The width of the wall is no more than 100' or so, forming a picturesque chunk of banded gneiss. I was hiking in there a couple years ago with non-climbing friends and was awestruck by it. Stories of loose rock and bad bolts abound so I felt some trepidation about climbing it but I had to try it.
I finally climbed it earlier this year and spied some lines on the western side around the corner. The one we tried last week is a dihedral that seemed to run the height of the tower as I looked at it from a distance. In my photos, taken on the descent from the wall, it looked like it ran the whole way. When Mike K and I finally walked up to it, we were disappointed to find the dihedral did not reach the ground. Fortunately, the corner to the left did. We saw a potential line of weakness going to the base of the route. Having brought a bolt kit, we felt that we could retreat if necessary and Layton Kor would forgive us for being weenies. Since we didn't get all dressed up for nothing, I girded myself for the first pitch and racked up. I brought my wild country superlight nuts (single cable), Wallnuts, double rack of thin cams to #1 and a #2,3 camalot with a couple med hexes and several lowe tri-cams. Since I thought the crack hit the ground, I left my hook at home. Big oops. It really helps to hang out and drill.
Great rock in an overhung dihedral with finger locks and solid nut placements gave me a good feeling right off the ground. Once I got on vertical ground I started my rightward trend up flakes and edges, some of which I pushed off, away from my belayer. A couple tricky pieces brought me to a slabby stance with a tiny alien and very small superlight nut at chest height. I was aiming for a slabby feature I spied from the ground but it was pretty far away. I could see a crack where the slab met the face and just knew it would be ok for gear. From the stance it was still @ 30' away and I would have to pass a slight bulge. I tried to move out but as I climbed up I saw nothing for gear. Having given it some thought and thinking I might be way out on the tiny pieces, I hauled the bolt kit up and started drilling up and right as much as I could reach. If you ever tried hand drilling, you know it works much better if it's at shoulder height. Unfortunately, I had to buy more space and drilled about arm's length overhead and as far right as I could reach. It really sapped my strength. Tap, twist, repeat. At least 45 minutes passed. As I drilled, I thought about the old routes in Sabino Canyon. They were reputed to have bad bolts and loose rock. I found the rock extremely hard and not very loose at all. Sure, some stuff had come out and I tossed it if I could. My belayer was under the overhang and to my left so I felt ok about cleaning. Finally, the hole was deep enough. I hammered the bolt in and felt the secure thunk of metal on rock when it seated to the hilt. After tightening the 3/8 x 3" rawl I lowered the kit and rested for a couple minutes to let the blood and strength return to my arms. With a bolt giving me some freedom, I wanted to check out what I could find straight up. I climbed edges up a ways and fell a few feet later when an edge came out in my left hand, ripping my nail to the quick. I screamed a bit, more from surprise than anything. My story, right? And slammed my left side as I came to a stop about 10' later. I didn't feel any pain til two days later, then I could feel my ribs a bit. Anyways, up and right this time, the bolt making me feel like I could explore more. I crept up edges on very good rock til I found a flaring slot that I could fit a brown lowe tri-cam into. I worked it in enough to feel confident it would hold. I continued up and right to a purple tri-cam in a similar slot! The bolt was quite a ways behind by now but the climbing was vertical on good rock. Just above was the slab and crack I was headed for. Tricky moves onto the slab and I got a yellow tcu into it. Huge Sigh! I shook out and rested a bit, moved up to the crack's end about 8' higher and got a grey camalot in. I had brought 12 slings and draws and used them all by then so I was a bit worried about rope drag but it was pulling ok at this point. The slab continued and the crack didn't but I could see that it met the arete formed by the dihedral above. I moved above the last piece several feet on the polished slab and had gastons and rough spots for fingers. The rope was getting to be a bit of a drag as I tried to balance my way around the arete. I moved down then back up trying to see something that would give me confidence. Nothing really shouted out at me so I tried going up to try and tag a flat-topped block around the arete. My right foot balanced on the edge of the slabby arete, I leaned out to touch the block with my right while keeping my lower body still. Once I did touch it, I remained balanced and started my left hand out to it as well. Voila, that was all it took. I shifted my feet below the block, reached up and put in a #2 camalot. Couple moves and I was at the bottom of the dihedral putting an anchor in for Mike. I pulled him up and just enjoyed watching him come around the corner on the slick slab with insecure holds. Misery loves company. I thought my pitch was a 10c on the moves after the bolt. Moving around the slab to the base of the dihedral felt 10 as well, scarier too.
He moved on out up the dihedral with the intention of getting to the bottom of what we thought was a slightly overhung dihedral. At least it looked that way from the ground. His pitch was a fairly sraightforward crack running straight up. A couple roofs made for interesting moves, especially since he had to bypass a couple blocks on the way that he left for me to clean. He ended up at a hanging belay from thin pieces after climbing 140 feet or so. This pitch came in at 9+/10- cause of the roofs you have to pass.
After I came up to below his belay I traversed to the right of the crack he was in. Two more hand-drilled bomber bolts and we had a real anchor. With two 60m ropes we landed on the ground. My pitch and his combined seemed to long to make it to the ground but since the first pitch ran up and right and we put the belay below him, we just got lucky to avoid drilling another rap.
Still, it was too late to meet the shuttle on the road below us. The last one comes at 5:15 and we made the ground at 5:40. Not bad for a short spring day. We are headed back soon to find a way around the roof that we thought would be a dihedral. The crack blanks out as it moves out the roof, appears again, rises to a second roof and goes outta sight. On the other hand, the right side of the roof was vertical rock. Really did remind me of Lover's Leap in Tahoe. The banded gneiss formed horizontal dikes of black rock with inset grey bands running horizontally throughout. Occasionally, the dikes looked good enough to stand on, just like the last anchor's stance. We could see a way to get above the roof then a dihedral/crack appeared again, at least in the photos. We'll be back.
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g-funk
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Mar 21, 2006, 11:25 PM
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Sounds cool man. . . .post up some of those photos when you can!
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phugganut
Mar 22, 2006, 12:21 AM
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Registered: Jan 17, 2003
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Nice TR Manny! That was a fun day and you captured the essence of it well. That first pitch you led was certainly bold, especially for a ground-up onsight FA, and I still think we should add a bolt to that last traversy section. Too bad the crack ends just below the big roof, but I think the best way (at least for now) is to pull the roof towards the right side. Sorry I can't get back there this Friday (see your PM's) but we'll get it soon. There does appear to be several other nice potential lines there too.
-Mike
PS: That was my first time hand-drilling a bolt, and it definitely saps some energy. It's nothing like using the Bosch!
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sonso45
Mar 22, 2006, 12:57 AM
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I posted a couple photos of both pitches. M
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