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evan
Apr 1, 2004, 7:11 PM
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Hey all,
Posts in this forum seems to get as many responses as a leper begging for change on a congested New Delhi street corner, but here's my query at any rate.
Summersville Lake. Bolts, bolts and more bolts. Yowzah. I know, and I'll partake, but I've heard rumors of a handful of outstanding splitter sandstone cracks in the area too. I've heard the approach described as "scenic," so I'll be dragging my trad rack with me. I've looked at the drtopo.com guide, and flipped through a guidebook for the area, but I haven't found what I'm looking for yet.
A friend of mine once mentioned that one of the best cracks he'd done in the New was in Summersville. Splitter. Beautiful orange wall. He said it was to the left of a highly recommended bolted arete in Summersville. After flipping through the guidebook, I noted a high proliferation of high-quality, bolted aretes. None of the trad lines seem to be well noted in the guide I have.
Does anyone know of any worthwhile crack climbs in Summerville? Grades and areas?
Thanks in advance...
Evan
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j_ung
Apr 1, 2004, 7:19 PM
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Sweet crack, but even sweeter socks!
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chill41
Nov 27, 2007, 6:27 PM
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Having recently done a couple of these (cracks at Summersville) I thought I'd post up about how awesome they are.
Both are on the buttress between Pirate's Cove and the Coliseum. One is a 5.10 splitter face crack (hands to fingers) and the other is a 5.9 perfect hands dihedral. Cater doesn't give a name for either in his guide. I just posted a couple photos of the 5.10; we thought it should be called Indian Summer.
Anyway, these two routes alone definitely make it worth dragging the rack in there when the lake is down. Check 'em out.
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munky
Nov 27, 2007, 6:40 PM
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Indian Summer is sweet. Probably the best pure crack climb I've come across at the New. I thought it was hard for the grade. That size is a challenge for me. Not quite hands or fingers, I guess I gotta practice my ring locks.
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chill41
Nov 27, 2007, 8:11 PM
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In reply to: Probably the best pure crack climb I've come across at the New. I thought it was hard for the grade. That size is a challenge for me. Not quite hands or fingers, I guess I gotta practice my ring locks.
Agreed on all counts there. It was hardest the first time when I had fat tape gloves on and couldn't jam most of the way. Still haven't led it clean...but last time I followed it felt pretty good. Just gotta get used to tight hands and really shoving those toes in there no matter the pain.
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j_ung
Nov 27, 2007, 10:03 PM
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That crack slapped me silly when I tried it. I suck so bad at that size.
Hey Evan, you might also want to gear up for some of the classic sport lines. I hear several of them go quite nicely au natural. (No ethical point to make here. I'm just saying.)
Edit: this is pretty old. I hope he had a good time.
(This post was edited by j_ung on Nov 27, 2007, 10:04 PM)
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notapplicable
Nov 27, 2007, 11:45 PM
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They do indeed. If you can deal with getting the stink eye from the sporties you can have alot of fun just working your way down the wall seeing how many bolts you can do without.
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truello
Nov 28, 2007, 5:35 PM
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Would he be referring to the crack between Fabulous Groupies and Hippie Dreams? It's definitely no splitter but is left of a popular bolted arete. I swear it has a name in the guidebook but I don't have access to it at the moment:
http://www.rockclimbing.com/...l/Unknown_53414.html
Edit:
j_ung wrote: Edit: this is pretty old. I hope he had a good time.
I just realized this too. Damn old thread bumps.
(This post was edited by truello on Nov 28, 2007, 5:37 PM)
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munky
Nov 28, 2007, 6:16 PM
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No. He is talking about Indian Summer which is near Mutiny (11c). You can find I.S. when you walk from the Colliseum to Pirates Cove. Obviously this climb is only rope climbable when the water level is low.
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j_ung
Nov 28, 2007, 6:55 PM
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Now that Orange Dihedral has been chopped, it's also a pretty nice little trad (mixed) route at solid 5.9. And again:
j_ung wrote: (No ethical point to make here. I'm just saying.)
Satisfaction Guaranteed would be an impressive trad lead. Some of the Long Wall moderates would be fun, too. And just in case it wasn't clear the first two times...
j_ung wrote: (No ethical point to make here. I'm just saying.) |
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j_ung
Nov 28, 2007, 7:01 PM
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Oh, you know what? There's also a long, broken crack system just left of the Coliseum that supposedly goes at .10-something. It looks fun, too.
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munky
Nov 28, 2007, 7:58 PM
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Yea, those do look really fun. What about down by Whipporwill or Rats Hole? Are there any good gear lines down there? If I hadn't busted my heel this past weekend whipping on Portley Gentlemans Route I would probably be at the lake at least once a month through the winter searching for good lines. Oh well. My dumb ass deserves it. Instead of doing the sane thing and toproping Portley before leading it, I decided to be high and mighty and stick to my guns and go ground up on every attempt. BAD IDEA when 5.12+ on bolts is your limit. Well, I guess I learned a valuable lesson: You gotta know when to hold em' and when to fold em". I just hope that by X-mas I'll be able to walk normal again. Have fun out there this winter.
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dreday3000
Nov 28, 2007, 8:25 PM
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You busted your heal on that thing? shit, was gonna invite you out for the weekend.
Gotta say, I'm proud you weren't top roping your project. yeah it cost you a busted heal but who said having ethics was easy?
Stay hard.
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notapplicable
Nov 28, 2007, 10:49 PM
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j_ung wrote: Now that Orange Dihedral has been chopped, it's also a pretty nice little trad (mixed) route at solid 5.9. And again:
When did this happen? I thought everybody was pretty much cool with it being bolted, given the venue and all.
Did they atleast do a clean job of it?
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justroberto
Nov 29, 2007, 12:36 AM
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I was on it this summer and the first three bolts leading up to the ledge were there, then no more until the one that's just a couple of feet above the point that the dihedral stops (it wouldn't be so terrible if this one were gone). I didn't see evidence of any bolts going up through the dihedral, so they must have done a pretty good job of it...
Speaking of cracks, what's that short splitter at the end of Orange Oswald Wall down to the right of She Got the Bosch and all those other 10s?
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munky
Nov 29, 2007, 1:59 AM
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Yea man, I whipped hard and stopped myself with my right heel. I nearly pulled it off though. I was 1 move away from hitting the jug to end it. I was gripped and just froze. Oh well, spring time its going down. How's the documentary on the chess player going?
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notapplicable
Nov 29, 2007, 12:37 PM
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justroberto wrote: I was on it this summer and the first three bolts leading up to the ledge were there, then no more until the one that's just a couple of feet above the point that the dihedral stops (it wouldn't be so terrible if this one were gone). I didn't see evidence of any bolts going up through the dihedral, so they must have done a pretty good job of it... Speaking of cracks, what's that short splitter at the end of Orange Oswald Wall down to the right of She Got the Bosch and all those other 10s?
Thats good. I'm still curious to know the back story to them getting chopped (not that I'm complaining, they werent needed) but I'm glad the job was well done.
I've done that route several times and its quite fun, with a perfect hand crack out the roof. It felt 5.9ish, especially if you use the ledge out right and dont jam straight out the roof. A good route, give it a go next time your there.
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LaddRaine
Nov 29, 2007, 1:43 PM
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Jim Taylor chopped it September 2006, he does a great job and doesn't damage the wall.
He chopped them to make a stand about bolting lines that go without the need for bolts.
I don't think it was such a great idea to bring the fight of the New to Summersville, but it did raise awareness. People might not agree with Jim's methods or appreciate his ego/attitude but I think most folks can appreciate the sentiment behind his actions.
-Ladd Raine
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notapplicable
Nov 29, 2007, 2:00 PM
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LaddRaine wrote: Jim Taylor chopped it September 2006, he does a great job and doesn't damage the wall. He chopped them to make a stand about bolting lines that go without the need for bolts. I don't think it was such a great idea to bring the fight of the New to Summersville, but it did raise awareness. People might not agree with Jim's methods or appreciate his ego/attitude but I think most folks can appreciate the sentiment behind his actions. -Ladd Raine
Thank you.
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chill41
Nov 29, 2007, 3:25 PM
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In reply to: In that same area, there's also a nice-looking dihedral with a thin crack that looks fun once you climb through the wide, overhanging start.
Yeah that's the perfect hands dihedral I mentioned. The bottom is probably the crux...you can chimney out the overhang or just campus a couple jugs on the face to get into the hands part.
In reply to: What about down by Whipporwill or Rats Hole? Are there any good gear lines down there? If I hadn't busted my heel this past weekend whipping on Portley Gentlemans Route I would probably be at the lake at least once a month through the winter searching for good lines.
There's a .12a finger crack at Whipporwill that I'll be checking out this weekend if weather holds. And there have to be plenty more splitters (possibly undone?) on the miles of lakeside cliffline north of the bridge.
PGR looks really freakin' cool. How'd you like it (other than the injury of course)?
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j_ung
Nov 29, 2007, 3:36 PM
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I think most of the Summersville splitters have been climbed, but I don't have any real info to share. I just know that there have been periods of development over the years. Whipperwill has several fine trad lines, too, as does the other side of the lake. Munky, I don't know how many of them are in the 12 range, but if you're climbing that hard, Hell, just walk the shore and climb what looks good! 
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munky
Nov 29, 2007, 5:55 PM
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PGR is awesome. Its probably easy 5.10 getting to the rest below the roof and then BAM!, a hard crux sits in front of you. The way I'm doing it feels like V6-7 range but I dunno-its just plain hard for me. Also, you're looking at a scary fall because its nearly impossible to place gear on the face while climbing and if you try to place it from below the roof, man, your lock off power is nil. And even after all this, I can't wait to have another go at it. Have fun if you get on it.
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chill41
Nov 29, 2007, 9:25 PM
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Woohoo sounds spicy. The way I'm picturing it you have to pull out the roof while your last piece is still below it? That's always a little unnerving for me...guess I feel like I don't know what I'm going to hit if I fall below the roof. Is that the fall that busted your heel?
Got another question for you...have you done any of the cracks on the wall to the left of PGR (they all look steep broken and funky up high)? I couldn't pick out any good landmarks on that wall based on Cater's guide but some of them pretty cool. Thanks man!
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