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wmfork
Aug 19, 2007, 1:27 AM
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Registered: Jan 4, 2006
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The alarm clock woke me at 4am. I haven’t had the best night of sleep, but alas, it is time. Stumbling out of the tent, I woke up angry, and we started eating and racking up. The objective of the day is to climb Stoned Oven on the North Chase View Wall of the Black Canyon. Most of the routes I’ve done with angry had mostly been out of his suggestion; him being the much more experienced and better climber. This, however, was not one of them…
My first trip to the Black was exactly one month ago. Having never done a considerable length route, I came here with my planned road-tripping partner, Nick, to gauge our readiness for Astroman in Yosemite. Long story short, a fall broke Nick’s ankle and our plan of touring Yosemite and Squamish. The Black had delivered an adventure as promised.
This trip, however, was going to be different, or so I told myself. Within the month, I had nearly onsighted the Naked Edge under six hours, leading all the hard pitches. angry and I had easily onsighted The Cruise two days earlier, then had a rest day where we drove to the south rim of the canyon to scope out the route. We (or at least I) should be much better prepared.
Carrying a light rack (who needs large pros when you have a partner that can climb 5.12 OW, right?), we made a quick descent of the gully in our climbing shoes. At around 6am, we started the route.
P1
I volunteered P1 (and essentially, the odd pitches). Having had trouble following the pitch before with way too much stuff on my back, I again had to take at the 10+ crux. Hmm, some things don’t change, or maybe it’s only early morning jitter. I came up to the fixed nut/sling anchor, and one of them caught my eye: that blue one was what Nick and I had bailed off of.
P2
Angry came up quickly and then “walked” the 5.7 P2.
P3
This is the one where Nick took the fall, I told myself. I climbed slowly and carefully, checking all placements, and stopped at the anchor that arrested Nick’s fall. I was not about to lead the next 20 ft!
P4
Angry came up and proceeded to lead P4. My comment about the location of the fall must’ve psyched him out a little, as he moved quite slowly past the easy 5.9 section and through what supposedly is the first 5.11 section of the route (in retrospect, we were probably off route on the latter part of this pitch thru the first part of P5). I followed up to under a curving flake where angry had set up a 5 cam anchor (2 were bail cams), only he still didn’t like the anchor.
P5
This would be the first hard lead of the day for me. Not only am I staring at a menacing looking section that supposedly goes at 10c, but if I am to link up with the next pitch, a 11b crux awaits me. I fire up the route, so far so good, even though it felt hard. As I followed the curving flake to where it becomes vertical, the crack thinned out. I tried a few different variations to get over the flake, but I always came up with a hold short, so it seemed. I yelled down “take” and weighted the rope. I backed up the top green alien with a “bomber” nut and started trying again. Two more takes and a couple of falls later (the last of which drew angry’s comment “now you are just showing off to the tourists”), I thought I might have found a workable sequence, except now my forearms are flaming stupid. Realizing that the sun has hit the rock, I decided to aid through the move while standing on 2 lobes of an alien. Feeling the urgency to move fast, I made short work of the upper 5.9 section, only to stare at the 11b crux. Looking down at the rack, I found enough gear to get through it, except now I’m over 100ft from my belayer and he won’t hear me even if I yelled at the top of the my lung. I made up my mind that if I needed to take, I’d just have to clip myself onto the top piece. Up I went, without even planning the moves out. I managed to put a piece right at the crux before hanging off of it. A couple of tries later, I freed the move and set up a belay. Wow, I just got schooled. Eventually, I see angry making his way up the pitch, only he was in a sour and dejected mood. He had pulled a piece to get through the lower section and suffered the same flaming forearm fate. “A hold must’ve broken off”, I yelled. We’d agree later that the lower section was easily 11+/12- (and that we were off route).
P6
Things seem to take a turn for the better on P6. Though technically it’s another 11- pitch, it brought us to the base of the aesthetic P7 OW corner and the P8 “Enduro Corner” above. Only I question myself: “how did I end up getting the OW pitch?”
P7
Angry offered to lead the OW pitch (and in retrospect, had we swapped the lead order of the next 2 pitches, we might’ve climbed a bit faster), but I told him I’d give it a try, knowing that we brought less than recommended gear. Though described technically as not an OW pitch, I found myself doing all kinds of heel-toe bridge and chicken-wings to inch up it. Half way up, I decided I needed to take off my camelbak to continue. Struggling to take it off between my shoulders and the gear sling while not hanging on the rope, I eventually yelled down “take”. I’d finish the rest of the pitch clean. “Darn, I was so close to onsight that pitch”, I told myself. Angry, being the OW master, made short work of the pitch and joined me at the belay. We are doing well on time with only 2 more hard pitches, some light clouds had covered the sun, and we are feeling good once again.
P8
We are not to get off the Black that easily. Angry started off P8 in proper style, jamming his way up the OW start. Slowly, he worked about half way up the pitch, but then, unexpectedly, he yelled “take”, followed with some profanity. “The next section is an OW and I’m probably gonna die if I lead through it with the gear I have”, he said. I lowered him to where he’d placed a new style #4 camalot (the largest piece we’d brought) earlier on the pitch. With that, he grumbled over the OW section and onto the thinner section above. By now, angry is cleary a bit frustrated as he weighted on the rope a few more times. As he starts to build an anchor, dark clouds rolled in and it started to rain. Luckily, the crack stayed dry. After being soaked in the rain for 20 minutes, I decided to follow the pitch anyhow. In proper sporto fashion, I liebacked almost the entire pitch, but also got flash pumped stupid yet again.
P9
P9 was to be the last 5.11 pitch with the bouldery technical crux of the entire route. If we make through this, the rest is just a cakewalk, I told myself. I made my way under crux and found the rusted quarter inch bolt. I managed to clip it, but could not immediately see the sequence to get over the roof. I reluctantly hung on it as the hanger made squeaking noises rotating its way around the bolt. It’s now or never, I told myself… Not wanting to find out if that bolt would hold a fall (even with the 2 cam backup below), I fired over the roof on first try. Some funky traverse mixed with a bit of off-route “exploration” brought me to the huge “bivy” ledge that angry and I had scoped out the day before. Wow, I can relax a bit now! It took angry what seemed like a while and he joined me at the ledge. We breathed a sigh of relief and rested for a bit. The rest should be easy now, as I recalled how we dispensed the upper half of The Cruise in little time 2 days ago.
P10
Angry slowly made his way up P10, including lowered down to back clean a cam to build the anchor. As I got up to start the pitch, something didn’t quite feel right: my whole body is stiff and aching, my hands and feet are throbbing. Hmm, must’ve sat for too long, I thought. But as I started to climb, I got really worried. It’s as if something had sucked all energy from my body: I could barely hold a stance and I certainly could not pull. I started taking, each time growing more and more despaired. I started cursing to try to wake up my now comatose body. I had crashed, hard. Reaching the anchor, I told angry: “dude, you may have to finish leading the route, I can’t f%*king climb at all”. Angry tried to comfort me a bit by telling me how he thought the pitch was a bit scrappy and felt closer to a mid 10. I was also reminded I wasn’t completely out of water and still had an energy bar left.
P11
While still munching on the bar, I asked for the rack. The least I could do is try. For getting so close to the top, neither of us was willing to spend the night on the rock, even with an hour of daylight left. With resurgent will and adrenaline, I started P11, growing more determined with each move. The pitch was a straightforward 5.9 hand crack, and I fired up all 160 ft of it in little time. As angry got up it, still fired up, I yelled “let’s get the f&*k out of here!”
P12
The Womb Fight. If one is not afraid to get down dirty with it, it’s not even technical crawling. I certainly have never seen an OW climber who’d give up a fight. Angry crawled his way to the bottom of the exiting crack pitch and proceeded to curse at his Peruvian headlamp that kept turning itself off. Oh yeah, darkness has finally fallen. As I made my way across the crawl, I wasn’t sure whether the fact I couldn’t the bottom of the canyon was a bad thing, since everything on the right side of my body was pitch black and seemed only 20 ft deep.
The exit
Angry had set the anchor mid-way up the crack, though we weren’t completely sure it was the exiting crack. It’s funny how sketchy 5.9 face moves can be when you can’t see what your feet are on. After inching my way up 10 ft or so, I could see the 4th class exit and let out a “Hell yeah!” We estimated that we’d topped out around 9:30pm and got back to camp just before 10pm.
Angry had this to say about routes he’d done: ones that are completely pile that he’d never want to do again, ones that are absolutely stellar that he couldn’t wait to do again, and then there is Stoned Oven. He theorize that, though for the most part the route was way scary, committing and hard, he’d warm up to it when the pain goes away, to the point that he may even think about going back and red point all pitches in a few months. Luckily, in a few months, we’d have to wait until next spring to climb at the Black.
I was a bit skeptical of all the Black hype before I got here, even after Nick had broken his ankle. I can still remember the slightly cocky attitude when I finished The Cruise, thinking all the Black stories were over blown hype. But I should have known better, especially after meeting the humble Arizonians Scott Baxter and Karl Karlstrom, who had FAed The Dragon in a nine day push. I should have reasons to feel good about myself; only a year ago I was still a sport climber complaining about a 15-minute approach (and I still do), now I’ve ascended a near 2000-foot route on sometimes sketch pro in almost 16 hours. But the more I read about the stories of the Black, the less I have to be complacent about. There is no end to personal challenges, wherever we are or want to be.
As I leave for Alaska for some sightseeing (and with school starting soon as I come back), my summer climbing has come to an end. I did not get to see the majestic El Captain, nor did I get to enjoy the mild sunshine and the calm water at Squamish, but I’d like to think I’ve grown a bit as a climber and as a person. When the cushy living of Boulder has softened me sufficiently, I shall return to the Black.
(note: the pitches described were how we broke it down; it does not necessarily correspond to Robbie Williams' guide book)
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moose_droppings
Aug 19, 2007, 3:34 AM
Post #2 of 15
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Nice TR, thanks.
Once you go to the black, you'll always go back.
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angry
Aug 19, 2007, 4:21 AM
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The proper term is "retrospective enjoyment"
I'd probably go back next week if you asked. What's the matter with me...ugh.
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wmfork
Aug 30, 2007, 6:08 PM
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Registered: Jan 4, 2006
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Yeah, what's the matter with you? 2 weeks later, my fingers are still losing some dead skin, the rash on my shoulder from the bush-wracking is still a little red, and I still don't have too much desire to go back unless we can make the route feel a lot more casual. (But if you say Air Voyage, I'm all game, hehe.)
"retrospective enjoyment"? sure, I do many things for that all the time.
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jer99
Aug 30, 2007, 7:35 PM
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Registered: Dec 21, 2004
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Nice TR, and nice job on the Oven. Thats a proud route, and the best of those I've done in the Black. It sounds like you guys definitely got a bit off route before the "off-width," did you end up not doing the face/slab traverse and somehow just climb straight up into the corner system?
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redpointron
Sep 1, 2007, 6:59 PM
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Registered: Dec 12, 2003
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fantastic read.
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flamer
Sep 4, 2007, 2:08 PM
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wmfork wrote: (note: the pitches described were how we broke it down; it does not necessarily correspond to Robbie Williams' guide book)
CLASSIC!!
Do any of the pitch's in the black correspond to the ones in Robbie's book??
Sounds like you had a good trip!
josh
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cologman
Sep 4, 2007, 3:08 PM
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Registered: Sep 29, 2002
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Nice job and nice TR. Haven't done Stoned Oven yet but it certainly is on my hit list. Now you know the mystique of the Black. For all the pain and suffering you always find a way back into her depths.
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angry
Sep 4, 2007, 3:25 PM
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Registered: Jul 22, 2003
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Funny thing.
I climbed the Regular Route on Half Dome in 14 hours about 2 weeks before this. I hit the top tired but with lots of energy and truly felt fine (of course it wasn't free).
I climbed the Stoned Oven in 16 hours. Even though I had a stronger partner and it's a bit shorter. I was fucking exhausted on top of the Oven.
I bring up the two because the Oven is often compared to Astroman. At no time on the route did I see any similarities. Half Dome and The Oven however are long and committing without a ton of continous crack systems. Though the climbing is different, these two routes may be the better comparison.
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flamer
Sep 4, 2007, 4:49 PM
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Registered: Oct 22, 2002
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The valley is soft....when compaired to the black.
josh
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cologman
Sep 5, 2007, 4:17 AM
Post #11 of 15
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You know I've done the Womb Fight a couple of times now and the thought of doing it in the dark just leaves me..... well breathing rather shallow and a definite lack of spit. Ya its not hard but the thought of worming your way across there in the dark with only your own grunting and the ever present murmur from below to guide you puts a certain gravitas to it.
Again.. well done!
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wmfork
Sep 5, 2007, 4:25 AM
Post #12 of 15
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jer99 wrote: It sounds like you guys definitely got a bit off route before the "off-width," did you end up not doing the face/slab traverse and somehow just climb straight up into the corner system?
We did the face/slab traverse just below the off-width, it was the pitch leading to it that we were off.
Just today, I've started to toy with the idea of going back (even though yesterday I decided I had enough after only 2 pitches on Wunsch's Dihedral. I have to say it angry: cracks in a dihedral is GAY!)
To those who may think we were climbing in really hot condition (summer in the Black and all), we were pretty lucky with the temps.
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angry
Sep 5, 2007, 4:36 AM
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Registered: Jul 22, 2003
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wmfork wrote: Just today, I've started to toy with the idea of going back (even though yesterday I decided I had enough after only 2 pitches on Wunsch's Dihedral. I have to say it angry: cracks in a dihedral is GAY!)
It's desert corners, hello. I haven't seen much sandstone on the Cynical Pinnacle. I'll forgive you this time, but a history lesson is in order.
Back on topic. I would be interested in going back there when I'm honed, not worn out from endless roadtripping and no rest. I think I'd also like to do the off route variation on purpose, and free it.
It's all talk right now though, maybe this spring.
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piton
Sep 6, 2007, 3:10 PM
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Registered: Nov 11, 2002
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great Hang dog TR
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golsen
Sep 20, 2007, 4:28 PM
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Registered: Mar 1, 2005
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Great TR and good job, but take a camera next time alright?
I did the Oven as a Training route for something bigger. Afterwards I was not sure what the real warmup should have been...
Here are some pics of that back in 1994.
The wall,
"Dude, I thought this was gonna be 11a offwidth?" Well, it did get harder before the belay.
The great long corner pitch
The Womb Pitch
Topping out
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