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gblauer
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Mar 4, 2009, 6:52 PM
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I waited a year to post this...I just got back from our annual trip to EPC and decided that the time was right to post my trip report from the largest climb of my life.
Timewave Zero
March 21, 2008
Timewave Zero, North America’s longest, bolted sport climb. At 23 pitches, it’s nearly ½ mile of vertical climbing. The pitches range in difficulty from a 5.7 to a 5.12a, with nearly all of the hard pitches taking place on the steep headwall on the last ½ of the climb. The vital stats;
1) 850 hours of training
2) 13 hours of climbing
3) 36 hours of recovery
For me this climb was more than a year in the making. My goal was to climb Timewave Zero in February of 2007. Unfortunately, one week before our planned trip to Mexico, a belayer error left me with a broken back and equally broken spirit. One week after I was released from the hospital, I resumed my training. My back was stable and my determination strong. I resumed a “lite” version of my training schedule while my back healed. Within 12 weeks, I resumed training for TWZ in earnest. At age 50, I figured that I needed to dramatically improve my technique and learn to climb efficiently or I would never make it though the climb. Further, I needed to substantially improve my endurance.
With the support of my loving husband Mitch and my training partner Jen and we created a grueling training plan (thanks “Self Coached Climber”) that involved a lot of power, endurance and ARCing. Over the next 12 months we trained a minimum of 4 days a week and both saw huge improvements in our technique, strength and most importantly our endurance.
We arrived in Hidalgo on March 13th and my husband and I eagerly hit the rocks. Our traditional warm up climb was occupied (Las Chimeuelas) so we warmed up on the Central Scrutinizer on what I thought was Blood Meridian, an easy 5.8. As I am pulling the roof using small finger pockets I am swearing under my breath about what a crappy climber I am…I can’t even pull a 5.8, how the hell am I going to climb a 23 pitch climb with 11’s and 12’s in the mix? I pull the moves, continue the climb, following a bolt line to seemingly nowhere. Out of the arroyo, I hear Dane call up to tell me the location of the bolts. Apparently I warmed up on Full Throttle, a 5.10d/5.11a! Not bad for the first day out on real rock since November 2007. What a difference a number makes! Armed with the confidence that I could onsight an 11a, we climbed strongly, but, lightly during the first part of our trip. Unfortunately, Mitch broke his right ring finger day two of the trip. I was trying to get used to the rock, recover from my dieting (oh, that’s another story) and get my energy to where it needed to be to attack TWZ. At this point I was not committed to doing TWZ, I didn’t have a firm partner, although I had one in mind. For the first few days of the trip I climbed only 6-7 pitches a day, conserving my energy, getting used to the rock and hydrating in preparation for our climb.
Finally, it was time for me to commit. I had to choose a day that we were going to do the climb. Early morning conference calls for work prevented an attempt early in the week. We decided that we would do the climb on Thursday, March 21st, coinciding with the full moon. My partner, Dave Bundus, 20+ years my junior and a 12+ climber was eager to climb TWZ and surprisingly amenable to climb with an old lady in tow.
Our plan was to get up at 530AM, eat a light breakfast (complex carbs), leave the casita in the dark and get to the base of the climb by daylight. We prepped our gear on Wednesday night, taking the bare minimum to minimize weight. We knew it was going to be sunny and in the 90’s so we prepared 3 liters of water, some nuts, peanut butter mixed with honey and two peanut butter sandwiches. We also planned to bring comfortable shoes for the rappels. Looking at our gear, it seemed like we had so much even though we pared our stuff to the minimum. I knew that I would not get any sleep if I didn’t give myself some chemical assistance, so I gave in and downed a ½ of a Tylenol PM. Dreamland came and went in a snap and Dave and I were actually executing our plan. I had to force Dave to eat breakfast, once done we left the house in the cool darkness wearing our fleece layers and walking briskly to ward off the cold. It took us more than an hour to get to the base of the climb, it was daylight. Given the holiday crowds, we were gratified to see that we were the only climbers at the base of the climb
After a bit of gear jockeying, we were on our way. The first pitch at 5.7 felt awful. I was carrying my 2 liter camelback, an extra nalgene, food, an emergency space blanket, a radio and a pair of shoes. I felt like I weighed 120 pounds as I slogged my way up the slab. It was too early in the morning and I felt off balance. Pitch 1 led immediately into pitch 2, an 11b/c. If I was feeling awkward on a 7, I was really going to feel it on the 11. As luck would have it, the hard climbing actually served to warm me up and after I pulled the crux on the 11 I began to hit my stride. When I got to the top of the 2nd pitch, I noticed that Dave’s bowline knot had come undone. He was anchored at the belay, but, his knot was completely untied. We looked at each other in a bit of alarm, he took it all in stride and tied a figure 8 for the rest of the climbing.
It took 6 pitches, but, I was finally warmed up. At the top of the 6th there is a fixed line (completed shredded and stripped) and a long walk across an unprotected ridge to the base of the remaining pitches. The summit was straight up; we were no longer slab climbing, we hit the vertical stuff big time. It looked like we would have hanging, exposed belays for the remainder of the climb, all 17 pitches.
After a quick hike across the ridge (it was fine, I just made sure that I was very careful with foot placement and that I stayed out of the flora and fauna populating the ridge) we arrived at the base of the remaining portion of our climbing adventure. I made a mental note of the directionals at the top of the 6th pitch, so that upon rappel I would remember to clip in. The sun was now well in the sky, it was hot and we used the comfortable belay to strip down, add sunblock, and get hydrated.
The next 14 pitches are a blur. I remember getting to pitch 12, the infamous bivy ledge. I noted a large bottle of water and a space large enough to sleep 3 or 4 people. We were now climbing in full sun, probably 90 degrees with a light/comfortable breeze. I remember noting that my finger tips were still in good shape and that I felt strong. I remember that there were some remarkable pitches between pitch 6 and pitch 20. Some overhung with crazy juggy handholds, some more slabby, and others with varied features like offwidths and laybacks. Somewhere around pitch 17 or so, my fingertips began to feel sore and I was more careful about placing my hands. I continued to feel strong, I was climbing very efficiently, using my feet/legs more than my upper body.
Dave was climbing stronger with every pitch, but, growing quieter. I was worried that he was not hydrated and that he needed food. He acquiesced and ate some peanut butter and we agreed to turn the radios on to keep in better communication at the belays. My fears were unwarranted, we were each in our own world, climbing to our individual rhythms. Our banter ceased and we simply climbed. Pitch after pitch I could hear my own labored breathing as we neared the famous 21st pitch.
P20, I do remember Pitch 20. In this book it says it’s a 10d, in Dane’s book it says an 11a. I can tell you now that both Dave and I hoped we had miscounted our pitches and that in fact we were on the 21st pitch. Yup, it was that hard. Maybe we were tired, or maybe it’s sandbagged. We both found the 20th pitch a hard slog. It was clear, however, that we had counted correctly. Because the next pitch was a steep headwall with a bulge populated by slopers. Dave stripped off his extra gear (camelback etc) to get the onsite. The climbing looked ok to the crux, but, he struggled at the crux and pitched off into nothingness (2000 feet of air). He tried again and pitched off once more before completing the moves. He dropped a loop of rope and hauled up our gear. I had set up a tbloc to ascend in case I couldn’t pull the crux moves. Dave also hung some long runners in the event that I had to yard through the moves. The climbing to the crux was fine, but, I was simply too tired to pull the crux. I yarded through two draws before I resumed climbing. The sun was traveling far too fast across the sky for me to spend a lot of time trying to figure out the moves. At this point, I knew that Dave and I were in for a night time rappel.
Pitch 22, the book says it’s a 5.8. Sure, it’s a 5.8 M.A. (my ass). It was a hard climb, with an awkward start. Probably goes in at 9+ or so. Pitch 23 a crappy walk across crappy rock with a crappy fixed line. The view from the summit is briefly celebrated (enough time to force in ½ of a sandwich) and we plot our descent. The sun is starting to set and I am a bit unnerved. I want to make it to the top of the 6th with daylight so that we can see where we are walking on the unprotected ridge.
We rap the first pitch individually and then decided to simul rap the remaining pitches. Dave had never simul rapped, but was very familiar with his gri gri because he uses it to rope solo. Because of our weight difference (80 pounds?) we clip into each other so that no one can get too far ahead of the other. I use my reverso with a prussic, Dave on his gri gri. We quickly create a routine, I am responsible for my rope (the blue side) and Dave has pink. Since our rapping is going well, I get superstitious and decide that we have to thread the rope the same way every time and that each of us had to perform the same duties at every rap. We are tired, the sun is leaving us and we double check everything at every rap station.
And then Mitch (my husband) calls through on the radio checking our progress. He is in the arroyo awaiting our arrival. I deliver the news that we will not be down before dark and sensing my concern, he gives me a pep talk and tells me everything will be just fine. I tell him to go back to Posada, eat dinner and then come back. He bids me farewell and Dave and I are back into our rap routine. You lose track of all of the raps, but, we must have been very quick and efficient (and the gods were kind to us) because we did make it down to the top of the 6th pitch with enough daylight to cross the ridge. I was so relieved to make it there. By that time, Mitch had returned from his dinner and was waiting patiently in the arroyo. We rapped quickly (had to go individually off the 6th because of the shredded fixed line and the directionals) and we lost track of where we were. I was physically tired, but even more alarming, my brain wasn’t working correctly. I was saying one thing, but, physically doing something else! We were extra vigilant on the remaining raps. Dave hit the ground first and said “hey we are on the ground”. I was so disoriented that the only reason that I knew we were on the ground was because I could see my pack laying where I had left it in the morning. We were suddenly both woozy and dizzy, almost like being seasick.
We changed into our approach shoes (I rapped much of the way in my climbing shoes because of the pitches with the directionals) and began the long slog back to the arroyo. Dave lead the way (as he had most of the day) and found our trail. Mitch and I exchanged banter along the way, but, all I wanted to do was get down to him. I had no idea where I was, but, I began to hear Mitch whistle. He could see our headlamps…we were almost there. I practically fell into Mitch’s embrace; he greeted me with a warm hug, a cold soda and my down jacket. Nicole and Mark also came out to welcome us home. It was so great to be back down on the ground after such a huge adventure. My legs were like jelly, my brain exhausted.
We walked back to Homero’s to our home away from home and the rest of our climbing group (14 of us). They treated us like heroes and were very excited that we achieved our goal.
What was my reason for doing this climb? It was purely a test of my strength and capability. Dave’s reason? Well, I can’t begin to say. If I could guess, I would say it’s because Dave is about to become a father for the first time. His carefree climbing days are numbered. This was his last shot to have a great adventure before his next adventure of fatherhood.
I will always cherish my memories of my climb with Dave. I have renewed respect for my own climbing ability and my strength. Would I ever do this climb again? Well, I think this climb is best sent by the young. If I ever do it again, I will bivvy on 12 and take my time to stop, look around and enjoy the view.
1 year in the making, 13 hours to execute, 36 hours to recover. And now I need a new goal…
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brotherbbock
Mar 4, 2009, 7:04 PM
Post #2 of 29
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Cool story. My buddy and I did that climb 2 years ago. It was epic no doubt. Took us 5 hours to summit, onsighted all the pitches but took a couple falls on the 12a section. We made the mistake of trying to go left at those slopers. We linked pitches and were climbing basicly 400 ft swings to do it that fast. We trained pretty hard for this as well. Getting down took just as long to get up because the wind was blowing our ropes everywhere and wrapping them around those spikey plants. 5 hours of simul-rapping and almost getting nailed by falling rocks but we made it. 10hrs round trip and the best climb of my life so far. Congrats on your send.
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olderic
Mar 4, 2009, 7:11 PM
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Bring's back ,empries of January 2007 for me. Here is a private trip report I wrote up about my experience on TWZ. Since it is more about parent/child dynamics your partner, Dave, might find it intesting - something to look forward to.
Simul-rapping with Zeb – Potrero 2007
“Pay attention Dad – if you go off the end we’re both gone”. I know my kids typically place me somewhere in the range between marginally competent and bumbling stumble-bum so I am used to this type of comment – but this matter of fact statement served its purpose as a wakeup call. Perhaps my waking up was also partially due to my immediate circumstances. I was ~2500 feet off the deck atop the longest climb I had ever done in a single day. It was chilly (mid 40’s) and we were enshrouded in mist and fog and it was drizzling off and on. We had 23 rappels to get down with just over 3 hours of daylight to do them in. We were sitting on a crumbling knife edge ridge atop El Toro – the highest point in El Potrero and internationally famous climbing mecca in Hidalgo, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. We had just climbed Time Wave Zero, a 23 pitch 5.12 route to get where we were. We had done the route in a remarkable fast 7 hours (the average time is a full 2 days including a bivy at the comfortable ledge atop pitch 12) – this was primarily due to the abilities of my 20 year old son, Zeb. The 5.12 grade is typically a warm-up to him – and in truth this route just had one short section that was that hard – most of the climbing was a very easy cruise for him – my job was to carry the pack and follow as fast as possible. I had complete faith and trust in Zeb going up – he was at the height of his powers – has been climbing routes as hard as 5.14 for 4 years now and he had been at the Potrero for over two weeks now and had the climbing dialed in. But going down was a different story for me.
Now I like to think that I am at least somewhat responsible for Zeb’s climbing prowess. Certainly from an early age I dragged him along on climbing outings and encouraged him to climb whatever he felt like – or play with the gear. At a slightly older age we went over the basics – knots belaying, rappelling etc. He was an enthusiastic student and had led the cruxes of Whitney-G and Pinnacle Gully (we did ice too) as well as climbed the Grand Teton with me by the time he was 13. But by the time he was 14 or 15 his abilities far exceeded mine and we didn’t climb together that much any more – he had his own posse. But occasionally we still did team up – he took me up Moby Grape a few years ago when I was recovering from a badly broken leg for example. But despite the huge difference in our abilities when it came to the logistical aspects of at least trad routes – when to start, how to pitch it out, how to descend – I had been an equal member. But now Zeb was (more or less) patiently explaining to me the mechanics of simul-rapping (he actually had been suggesting it to me all along but I had been ignoring him – figuring it was just some off the wall technique he had perfected for occasions when he was climbing with his girlfriend, Rachel). He calmly went over the details for the umpteenth time and was adamant that this was the only way we were going to get down the 23 pitches in any reasonable amount of time. It was time to apply the old horse new trick cliché.
The first few pitches went easily enough although I noticed that Zeb always waited to unclip until a split second after me to be able to insure that I was actually totally sitting on the rope. Then came the dreaded pitch 19. The guidebook was quite wordy in describing the rap for pitch 19 (the Potrero guidebook in general is something less then verbose when it comes to detailed beta). Pitch 19 diagonaled a lot and the guide suggested that one should clip ones rope through the 3 fixed directional draws when rapping and also to carry the rope instead of throwing it so it wouldn’t get caught in the cactuses which were more directly below. Seemed reasonable and Zeb who was a few feet in front of me went ahead and did that easily. When it was my turn to clip through the first fixed draws things were not so smooth. I was rapping on my ATC- same as always, Zeb was using his GriGri – same as always. As usual we had traded considerable barbs about the sillyness of the other’s belay device. But now as I struggled to clip through without the convenience of an immediate hands off capability the shortcoming of my setup was becoming apparent (I might as well confess that for the sake of expediency we were not bothering with any superfluous things – friction knot clipped into a leg loop, extending the belay device from the belay loop, knots in the end of the rope – heck we didn’t even have a middle marker – we were just guestimating). I needed a hand to hold me, a hand to manage the coils of rope that we were carrying down so they wouldn’t be cactus food and ideally two more to grab the draw (which now was playing hard to get under Zeb’s body weight) and clip into it. I had my shoes on (unlike Zeb) and couldn’t use my toes. Well it wasn’t pretty but eventually I got clipped and got to the next anchors without sliding off the end or feeding the rope to the cactuses.
Things went more smoothly after that although my hand got pretty tired desperately clutching the skinny single strand and trying to generate enough friction for pitch after pitch. Zeb’s silly GriGri was looking better and better. We took a quick energy bar break at the bivy ledge atop pitch 12. Another of the lower pitches also required clipping through directionals but there were. only two and the angle wasn’t as sharp. With a couple of pitches to go the visibility improved enough so that we could see the ground. Finally, at 9 hours and 59 minutes after we had started up the first pitch we touched down – together. There were about 45 minutes of daylight left and Zeb was still full of enthusiasm – “Dad let me show you the Surfbowl (the cave where a lot of hard routes are concentrated), it’s right over here”. I staggered up and he gave me the run down of all the 13’s and how he had done on them. Then he came up with “Dad, there is still enough light left to do Guppie – it’s only 12a and I’ll give you all the beta”. I balked at that and grabbed my pack and headed on down.
Over the course of the next few days I had a chance to climb and simul-rap a few more times with Zeb. I eventually got the hang of it pretty well (at least I thought so – I’m not sure if Zeb was as confident in me). The high-light was on another cold blustery day when we did a double of two classic “S” climbs – Snot Girlz (7 pitches 10d) and Space Boyz (11 pitches 10d). We did Snot Girlz in about 3 hours (under an hour for the 7 raps) and Space Boyz in about 5 hours. We were delayed a bit coming down Space Boyz because we got hung up rapping behind Shar and Nick who insisted on doing it the old fashioned way – one at a time, knots in the rope ends, friction knots on the leg loops, device extended from the harness… Exactly the things I might have been doing a week earlier. Zeb was right – our method was at least twice as fast. There is that old saw about speed being safety in the mountains. When you are tired, cold and hungry and it’s getting late it’s nice to be able to descend 1,000 feet an hour. Of course those conditions are when an accident is most likely to happen so the whole speed vs safety thing is a pretty grey area. But I had the strong sense that out methods was safe for us and definitely faster.
An interesting thing happened on the last rap on Space Boyz. Shar and Nick offered to leave their double ropes for us to rap one (as well they should since we had been freezing out fast and light butts off waiting for them all the way down…). This presented a dilemma for Zeb. An integral part of his rapping method was using a Gri-Gri and how well it was going to work on a single skinny rope was questionable (I had the same concerns with my ATC but there are tried and true methods of increasing the friction with a tube device). After thinking for a second he quickly rigged up a redirection of the rope with a biner through a leg loop and off we went. That worked perfectly for him and he beat me down as usual.
Climbing with Zeb was certainly the highlight of the trip for me. I know that I will never climb with him as much as I used to 6-7 years ago (before he and his friends had their licenses) so just climbing with him was nice. He has been technically better then me for at least 6 years and been at a very elite level for the past 4 – I knew that – but it was still nice to experience his ability first hand. But what was really special, what really brought out the parental pride (and relief), was witnessing just how competent and skilled he had become in all aspects associated with climbing (he cooks up a mean dirt bag meal too).
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onceahardman
Mar 4, 2009, 7:12 PM
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Gail,
Beautiful story of a great adventure. Well done. Thank you for sharing it. I'm glad you are well.
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tallnik
Mar 5, 2009, 9:58 PM
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Hi Gail,
Thanks for sharing you TR. I don't know if you will remember but I met you and your partner Mitch in the Gunks in August of 2007. I was climbing with Wojtek (Tradrenn).
TMZ was one of the raddest days of climbing I've done for sure. A lot of non-memorable pitches - but there's a couple I'll never forget. pitch 2 in the dark (5am start, we were a party of three) lots of great hard 10s, and trying to free the 12a pitch after 20 odd pitches prior to that! The guys I was climbing with and I had such a lark, we were laughing and BSing our way up the thing. I'll second the 5.8 MA rating.
The training paid off and it sounds like was a great experience for you too!
Thanks for sharing,
Nik
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tallnik
Mar 5, 2009, 10:02 PM
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Old eric, I'll agree that simul-rapping is fast. However, why no knots in the ends? Takes all of five seconds to tie and untie and offers a much greater safety margin.
Our party of three Simulrapped with two and then one, or one and then two. However, knots in the ends for sure.
Nik
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sungam
Mar 5, 2009, 10:49 PM
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Amazing TR's, both of you.
Sounds like a great route.
Thanks again for sharing, it's this kind of write-up that gets me all shaky and spiced up to get back on the rock.
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sonso45
Mar 5, 2009, 11:42 PM
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Wonderful TRs, my partner and I simul rapped the thing except for the diagonal rap. We both used atc guides and a klemheist back up. A challenging day for anyone. Great work.
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potreroed
Mar 8, 2009, 5:15 PM
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We rarely tie knots in the ends of our ropes here at EPC because there is so much vegetation and loose flakes etc on either side of the routes that it is really easy to get the knotted end stuck on something. That forces us to be extra vigilant coming down.
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USnavy
Mar 10, 2009, 7:44 PM
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How run out did you find the route to be? I was told 30 foot run outs on that route is not uncommon.
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brotherbbock
Mar 10, 2009, 8:18 PM
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The easier pitches are more run out, but if you are doing a 12a running out a 5.8 or 10a should not even be a worry. Worst run out I had was about 30 feet but I skipped a bolt....oops! Other than that maybe 15 feet is the norm on the easier stuff. The hardre pitches are well protected. Potrero Ed rules! I met him at the cafe he is a cool ass old man.
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lena_chita
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Mar 11, 2009, 7:43 PM
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pictures are missing!
Great report, Gail!
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USnavy
Apr 10, 2009, 1:34 PM
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brotherbbock wrote: The easier pitches are more run out, but if you are doing a 12a running out a 5.8 or 10a should not even be a worry. Worst run out I had was about 30 feet but I skipped a bolt....oops! Other than that maybe 15 feet is the norm on the easier stuff. The hardre pitches are well protected. Potrero Ed rules! I met him at the cafe he is a cool ass old man.
How accurate is the 12a rating? I met a climber from Mexico in Red Rocks who said he felt the crux was more like 5.11- and the rest of the pitches were 5.8 to 5.10-. Does that sound accurate or would you disagree?
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olderic
Apr 10, 2009, 2:05 PM
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USnavy wrote: brotherbbock wrote: The easier pitches are more run out, but if you are doing a 12a running out a 5.8 or 10a should not even be a worry. Worst run out I had was about 30 feet but I skipped a bolt....oops! Other than that maybe 15 feet is the norm on the easier stuff. The hardre pitches are well protected. Potrero Ed rules! I met him at the cafe he is a cool ass old man. How accurate is the 12a rating? I met a climber from Mexico in Red Rocks who said he felt the crux was more like 5.11- and the rest of the pitches were 5.8 to 5.10-. Does that sound accurate or would you disagree?
the 12a section is VERY short but there probably is legitimately a 12a move. The rest of the pitches are consistent with Potrero grading in general I think - maybe slightly softer.
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camhead
Apr 10, 2009, 2:35 PM
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olderic wrote: USnavy wrote: brotherbbock wrote: The easier pitches are more run out, but if you are doing a 12a running out a 5.8 or 10a should not even be a worry. Worst run out I had was about 30 feet but I skipped a bolt....oops! Other than that maybe 15 feet is the norm on the easier stuff. The hardre pitches are well protected. Potrero Ed rules! I met him at the cafe he is a cool ass old man. How accurate is the 12a rating? I met a climber from Mexico in Red Rocks who said he felt the crux was more like 5.11- and the rest of the pitches were 5.8 to 5.10-. Does that sound accurate or would you disagree? the 12a section is VERY short but there probably is legitimately a 12a move. The rest of the pitches are consistent with Potrero grading in general I think - maybe slightly softer.
It is definitely a v4 boulder problem, way harder than .11-.
When I did it about four years ago, the word was that nobody had yet onsighted the 12a pitch. A bunch of us "hardmen" had planned on it, but by the time we got up to the 12a pitch, after the endless 5.10, and in full sunlight, onsighting it was the last thing on our minds!
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brotherbbock
Apr 10, 2009, 2:43 PM
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olderic wrote: USnavy wrote: brotherbbock wrote: The easier pitches are more run out, but if you are doing a 12a running out a 5.8 or 10a should not even be a worry. Worst run out I had was about 30 feet but I skipped a bolt....oops! Other than that maybe 15 feet is the norm on the easier stuff. The hardre pitches are well protected. Potrero Ed rules! I met him at the cafe he is a cool ass old man. How accurate is the 12a rating? I met a climber from Mexico in Red Rocks who said he felt the crux was more like 5.11- and the rest of the pitches were 5.8 to 5.10-. Does that sound accurate or would you disagree? the 12a section is VERY short but there probably is legitimately a 12a move. The rest of the pitches are consistent with Potrero grading in general I think - maybe slightly softer.
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olderic
Apr 10, 2009, 2:44 PM
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[quote "camheadIt is definitely a v4 boulder problem, way harder than .11-.
When I did it about four years ago, the word was that nobody had yet onsighted the 12a pitch. A bunch of us "hardmen" had planned on it, but by the time we got up to the 12a pitch, after the endless 5.10, and in full sunlight, onsighting it was the last thing on our minds!
It's so high on the route I think that is frequently what happens. i did it with my son on a cold drizzly day. Normally that wouldn't have made him blink an eye (he has climbed up to 14c) but he had led the vast majority of the pitches up to that point (I had led maybe 3) typically linking 2 at a time and by the time he got there he was cold and tired. He pulled off the on-sight of that pitch but I don't think he had much to spare when he did the crux sequence. I, on the other hand, only had to cheat through about 7-8 feet of it which makes me thnik the crux is quite short.
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dreday3000
Apr 10, 2009, 3:15 PM
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I think that 12a sequence is HARD. I've climbing a few 13s and that section absolutely spanked me. I was tired from the previous pitches but all the same, that is a legitimate 12a.
I found that section just as hard as Celestial Omnibus ( a nice 12a on the outrage)
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dlintz
Apr 10, 2009, 3:38 PM
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Nice TR Gail. I remember seeing you down there that year a few days before your ascent.
d.
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USnavy
Apr 11, 2009, 11:41 AM
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dreday3000 wrote: I think that 12a sequence is HARD. I've climbing a few 13s and that section absolutely spanked me. I was tired from the previous pitches but all the same, that is a legitimate 12a. I found that section just as hard as Celestial Omnibus ( a nice 12a on the outrage)
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dreday3000
Apr 11, 2009, 1:23 PM
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In reply to: Can one aid through it? If so what should one bring? RP's, small cams, stick clip?
Hmmmm aid through it....its been a while but I don't remember much in the way of cracks in the general area. Also think it'd be a major pain in the ass to bring a rack and/or stick clip.
That said, you should be able to French Free the crux if you're in a pinch.
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USnavy
Apr 11, 2009, 1:53 PM
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dreday3000 wrote: In reply to: Can one aid through it? If so what should one bring? RP's, small cams, stick clip? Hmmmm aid through it....its been a while but I don't remember much in the way of cracks in the general area. Also think it'd be a major pain in the ass to bring a rack and/or stick clip. That said, you should be able to French Free the crux if you're in a pinch.
Well I can only redpoint single pitch 12a sport so I am not going to be finishing a 2500 foot route in a day. I think I would rather do it in two days and that said I think I could bring a haul bag and haul rope so I could bring whatever I want. Would it be easy to haul stuff on that route or is there too much crap for the bag to get caught on well its towed up between the pitches via a haul line? Also would you recommend half ropes or is a single rope ok? Do the pitches wonder a lot?
(This post was edited by USnavy on Apr 11, 2009, 1:54 PM)
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local_guy
Apr 11, 2009, 2:44 PM
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first- there's no way you want to bring a haul bag and deal with that. if you really want or need to spend two days on the climb, do the first part of the route with backpacks. none of the pitches are that hard up to the ledge after pitch 13. hauling just sounds like a nightmare... some of those pitches wander, and like much of potrero, there's vegetation and loose rock all around the cleaned areas.
second- the 11a and 12a pitches: my partner and i were onsighting 10d in potrero, but didn't even try anything harder until that day. the 11a was difficult, but more importantly at that point in the day, it was sustained. that being said, it doesn't seem like a huge obstacle to hangdog it if you've made it up the 10d pitches before.
on the other hand, the 12a pitch IS NOT bolted close enough to completely french free. right off the belay there is a slab/face section that i didn't even bother trying to free. you can aid that. maybe that is the 12 section? however, the next few bolts up and over the overhang have to be climbed. it was some of the hardest climbing i've ever had to do, probably because of the length of the day. i fell off the overhang ten or more times.
all that is to say: if you can onsight it, great. if you're counting on french freeing it, be aware there's going to be some tough climbing between bolts, at what grade i won't speculate. if you're planning to aid it, you're out of luck. climbing is involved any way you slice it.
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gblauer
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Apr 11, 2009, 3:03 PM
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Actually, I remember the opening moves up to the crux on the 12a being quite reasonable. I do think you could french free the crux, it's only two bolts AND they are pretty close together.
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olderic
Apr 11, 2009, 3:43 PM
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gblauer wrote: Actually, I remember the opening moves up to the crux on the 12a being quite reasonable. I do think you could french free the crux, it's only two bolts AND they are pretty close together.
That jives with my memory. I got up the lower 2/3 of the pitch cleanly and french Freed with a few draws on the crux bolts. I did have a tight TR but I thinik the bolts were close enough through the crux so that it wasn't an issue.
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