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markguycan
May 6, 2010, 4:05 AM
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R in noRth face! 0+0=1 w/ sed- see his description toward the bottom which is pretty accurate. The hike in is pretty long but not as bad as I expected. Leisurely it took us about 4hours going up and the same coming down. Lots of wildflowers and cactus blooming this time of year! The creek was flowing, supporting a lot of life including frogs, a turtle!! snakes, lizards, morning doves, hummingbirds, swallows, deer, coyote, and supposedly bighorn sheep- although we missed them. Also didn't see any rodents- and our packs were undisturbed. About the climb: I've pasted my and sed's here to follow: The run outs are long if you don't count marginal pro of which there is ample. After all 0 + 0 = 1, right? ~as in a couple marginal tiny cams equals one good piece, at least it does psychologically/if you don't fall! We carried more water than we needed(5-6L ea), especially since the creek was running and we could have treated some. The wind was bitter cold the afternoon we camped at the base but a clear calm day as we climbed allowed me comfort wearing Tshirt, long sleeve shirt and fleece vest- a little warm those few times we were in the sun, a little cool on shady belays. I also would take less big gear: 1 #3, 1 #3.5, doubles of smaller and a good selection of nuts,maybe a few hexes, and many slings rather than qd's. Dont forget your headlamp! & I wish I had stashed a beer in the creek for the hike out! The descent: rap from a tree to the far SE of the summit. rap one is almost 100ft, rap two is about 115ft to relative safety. per user: sed Whirlwind adventure "A few notes about the northwest facing north face route. First, I lead the odd numbered pitches (recommended) and Mark led the even numbered pitches (not recommended!). If you are interested in leading the 5.10 pitches you should be regularly leading solid 5.11 due to the run out and poor gear. I wont give detailed beta on every pitch but i'll make a few comments. p1: I'd say this pitch is like 5.7 and only about 80 feet - a pretty easy stroll with decent pro. p2: you can keep this at about 5.10b if you veer left a bit from the bolts then traverse back right but any way you look at it is kind of scary. The bolts are oddly placed and there is some decent run out before you make it to the flake. The crack above the flake is kind of dirty and pro isn't great but a short 10a move and you are soon on easier, though poorly protected rock. p3: In my opinion the most enjoyable pitch on the climb, nice rock, good pro and pretty long. p4:Not as runout as we expected, if you bring a nut tool you'd be amazed what cracks you will find with a little digging. p5:We belayed at the tree then I traversed straight right from it, did a bit of wandering up and down and a lot of route finding but not that difficult, good rock and decent pro. p6:Mark let the jagged crack left of the dihedral. The dihedral looked really filthy. The jagged crack was a nice pitch, 5.9 starting move and a nice flake, around roof to right then bolts a bit higher up. p7;scary flakes, if you look underneath them you'll see they are all just stacked on top of each other. A crowbar would release them all. Dance gingerly, pull down and not out. p8: The actual difficulty of the climbing on this pitch is (in my opinion) 10d but you are leading left and above two pieces of crappy gear to a flake that will take another piece of crappy gear. If you blow the moves to the flake you can assume that neither your tcu, nor the old pin will stop you and you will be taking a long pendulum fall into a corner. I would rate this pitch as X, not strictly due to the length of runout but the poor quality of the protection below the runout as well. This pitch is why I would recommend the leader should be comfortable leading solid 5.11/+ to lead it. It would be a great service for someone to replace that pin, either with another pin or a bolt. It might have inspired confidence 25 years ago but it certainly doesn't now. p9:A long pitch of chimney, hands, and offwidth, you'll need all your gear on this one. This pitch is continuous in difficulty and i'd rate it 5.9+, but being that you've already climbed a few hundred feet it will seem longer and harder than it is. p10:The chimney starts off fun, easy with good stemming. The exit from the chimney sucks, climbing past a yucca and trying not to slip on grassy and dirty slab for another 30 feet. This is one of those routes that is enjoyable primarily in retrospect. I'm glad it's done, now I don't have to go back. The area is amazing, so many domes and so much rock. We did it in two days, camped at the base the night before then climbed it and hiked out the next day. The rappel for the decent is over the top of the dome to the back, at the notch between leviathan and wilderness domes. There is one rappel from a fairly healthy tree that is about 60 feet, then a 2nd rappel from another tree that we did with one 70m rope. You could do it with a 60m if you don't mind a little scrambling on ledges to the ground." see short YOUTUBE video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK4qiEKGT0s
(This post was edited by markguycan on May 6, 2010, 2:25 PM)
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guangzhou
May 7, 2010, 1:49 AM
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What are you uing to shoot video? Curious, nothing more. Eman
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markguycan
May 7, 2010, 3:27 AM
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Olympus 10mp waterproof Stylus
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boymeetsrock
May 7, 2010, 2:59 PM
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Awesome trip and report. The slide show is really well done. Thanks SO much for sharing !!
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gblauer
Moderator
May 8, 2010, 1:41 PM
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you guys are hard core. Great youtube slide show/video. THanks for sharing.
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losbill
May 8, 2010, 2:58 PM
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Nice write up! Very much enjoyed video as well! Thanks for sharing the adventure. Favorite quotes:
In reply to: if you bring a nut tool you'd be amazed what cracks you will find with a little digging.
In reply to: pull down and not out.
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nkane
May 8, 2010, 4:17 PM
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I love how bob marley says "the ground was my bed last night" right as you zoom in on a thousand ants.
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sonso45
May 11, 2010, 12:23 AM
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Nice one guys. Loved the vid.
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mrtristan
May 11, 2010, 5:50 PM
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Awesome! I've been wanting to do that route for a while now. I like the pitch-by-pitch drawing in of the route in the slide show. Have you done Cherry Jam on Table Mountain? That one looks fun, too.
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markguycan
May 11, 2010, 6:08 PM
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& "rock was my pillow" too!
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markguycan
May 11, 2010, 6:09 PM
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nope haven't done Cherry Jam but it sounds good too!
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damage
May 17, 2010, 12:58 AM
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i like it, thanks for the TR.
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deschamps1000
Jun 8, 2010, 6:06 PM
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You can get bomber gear next to the pin, so no need to worry about that. I think it was a good, though a bit shallow, #2 or #1 for me. I strongly disagree with suggesting an X for this climb. I know someone that took a fall on the runout 8th pitch and they were banged up good, but there is no way you are going to die. But, you definitely want a helmet on that pitch! This climb is serious, but don't be intimidated. The 5.10 moves on the runout pitch are right next to your pretty good gear.
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markguycan
Jun 8, 2010, 6:19 PM
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just for the record: I was quoting my partner SED about the "X" rating. I would not consider the gear bomber, perhaps the crack is now more blown out than when you did it- the gear near the pin was definitly flared gravelly 0.5in. I was not scared enough to believe it was rated X, glad I didn't fall and get "banged up good" like your friend.
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deschamps1000
Jun 8, 2010, 7:14 PM
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Knocked out for a little while actually. Yikes! Congrats on your send. I saw your video. Nice.
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RyanJames1984
Jun 8, 2010, 11:23 PM
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Great write up! I've had my eye on this route for some time now - can't wait to make it up there. Thanks for the detailed beta!
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edge
Jun 9, 2010, 6:19 PM
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Nice write up and vid; thanks for sharing!
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