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rat-baby
Mar 3, 2008, 12:44 PM
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Registered: Jul 17, 2002
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Does the first pitch of the OR go up just left of the dihedral or down the hill up the face with the lone bolt? The guide says nothing about the bolt. And one last question. On the pitch just left of the dihedral does the difficulty drop off after the angle changes about half way up or is there still some funky friction left up there? thanks
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stabla
Mar 3, 2008, 1:05 PM
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Registered: Apr 29, 2005
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1st pitch of OR=terrifying....No matter which way you head that pitch is absolutely terrifying. I was climbing in a team of 3 about 9 months ago and the leader got scared/off-route and had to be rescued off the route (1st pitch) by myself.
To be honest with you I am not sure where the actual pitch starts/goes, our leader started about 15 meters to the left of the dihedral. I had to climb the dihedral to make it above him to the anchors during my "rescue" session. It was one of, if not the scariest moments in my life. Wet, chossy, and off-route Whitesides dihedral climbing.
We never saw the old manky bolt, but I have heard from the grapevine thats its the line of least resistance. Don't quote me on this, this is only rumor. Can anyone else verify about the line with the bolt being the correct 1st pitch? Good ole' Selected climbs in North Carolina once again provides a vague description of yet another intimidating/potentially deadly climb.
In short...be careful when climbing at Whitesides. Make sure you (or your partner) are extremely comfortable on slab. Nearly every pitch is R or X (except bolt ladder) and a good number of the bolts have been chopped ( at least when I was there).
If you need more direct pitch to pitch descriptions feel free to PM me.
Peace
blake
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rat-baby
Mar 3, 2008, 1:30 PM
Post #3 of 7
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Registered: Jul 17, 2002
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Ya, if we took the same line I down climbed from the higher and way sketchier flake that feels like it could come off in your hands. 10' after that flake the angle changes and the climbing looked more secure, but I could not see the last tiny bit of the climb from the stance at that flake and the thought of down climbing from near the top of that pitch with a 100' ground fall liquefied me. If I knew that that last little bit was solid with no sketch moves in store I would have headed on up. Is the last half easier than the first half?
I bet that corner sucked. That thing looks worse than the death slab, and by the way, the bolt I mentioned is in the middle of the face that starts all the way at the bottom of the hill. It would be about even with you when your standing at the start of the corner about 100' left.
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John_Long
Mar 3, 2008, 1:31 PM
Post #4 of 7
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Registered: Mar 1, 2008
Posts: 19
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norskagent
Mar 3, 2008, 2:41 PM
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Registered: Jul 9, 2003
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the first pitch goes up the slab, but not necessarily by the bolt. The bolt was placed as a result of an injury / self rescue incident that occured after a ledge fall on the 4rth pitch I believe. This would be in the early 90s or so. I also seem to remember that you could skip the entire first pitch if you wanted to, by hiking to the right, then making your way back left along the ledge that marks the end of the first pitch.
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rat-baby
Mar 3, 2008, 10:09 PM
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Registered: Jul 17, 2002
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I'd hook Modz up with the meat bomb.
Hey Norskagent, you remember what the slab was like up near the top?
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norskagent
Mar 3, 2008, 11:37 PM
Post #7 of 7
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Registered: Jul 9, 2003
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not really...it was all slab. If you are comfortable on stone mtn., n.c. slab then you're good to go - cashiers slab is actually a little easier, it has more features to work with.
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