Manter Hall - Right Chimney - 5.6

I am so glad i don't live in nebraska. This is ridiculous!
HAHAHA

We did this climb when it was 15 degrees outside. I froze my ass off when I was belaying the second after I sweated for 45 minutes on lead. My abs and hip flexors hurt for 3 days after it. But we got the FA. Be smart and don't get caught!! There is a film canister with the FA information taped on the concrete side of the right chimney at the top. You can see it from the ground.

PM TO A GUY WANTING INFO: Don't read if you want to figure it out yourself.

Do you see those little notches in the cement?? Here's what I did. I measured a 2x4 longer than necessary (elbow to fingertips + 4 inches for me) and placed it outside the chimney with one end (LOW end) right at the notch. Then I angled it at about 15-20 degrees up and drew a line to mark where I will cut. Then I cut (with a circular saw) it and went back to "place" it. I made sure that it would go in at the right angle (15-20 degrees). Seeing that it worked good, I went home and cut 9 more (I think you can do it with 8, but have some for spare). I also angled the ends of one and remeasured (before cutting all the rest to length and angleing them)(do this right) so that when placed, they are PARALLEL with the sides so that not only a small corner is touching. Do this by sliding the wing nut on the saw and then retightening it. It doesn't have to be perfect, but it provided a little more piece of mind.

So now you have a board that is angled and the two ends are PARALLEL!! Make sure you didn't f--- up and make it a trapezoid. You want a rhomboid (look it up).

I took my shoulder length slings and clove hitched one to the HIGH side of the board (2 inches from the end) and duct taped the sling to it. (You could drill a hole through the 4" face and put a 7mm cord through it with a stopper knot and a 8 on a bite to clip to, but that takes more money for cordage). I made sure that the cross of the clove hitch is on the BOTTOM face of the HIGH side. Put a biner through it, and you have your pro.

Now the hard part. Wait until it is warmer. We did it when it was 10 f---ing degrees outside at 2am and my hands were f---ing frozen (November 1 year ago).

ATTENTION: This is illegal. You may get arrested for doing this. Do it at night. I, in no way, told you how to do this, nor have I ever heard of you. Don't be stupid and get caught!

That being said, here's what I did. (Ohh yeah, get some soft knee pads). I found a buddy who was willing to belay me (he will be cleaning) and 1 to video tape it, and my brother took pictures (the video didn't turn out too well due to darkness, but up close pictures will work nicely!!!). We got there just as the CSO's were driving through the lot. So we knew that we had time, but didn't know how much time. You could hang out in the parking lot in a dark car, or wait near the stadium on the walkway going to the statue and look for the CSO's. We were lucky for timing. You may not be. So I put my harness on and clipped the boards to it. This is really f---ing heavy. I got on belay, got in the chimney and just started going for it. Inch by ab-killing-inch I made my way up it. Every time I got to a notch, I placed the board in it with the sling on the HIGH side near the BRICKS. I smacked them down so they would be tight, but no hammering. I pulled over the top and found a little pipe for an anchor. Sit down and brace your feet too, and maybe duct tape the edge for the rope. Now belay your partner up as he cleans the boards. When he pulled over, we were up. Now to get down.

WHAT I PLANNED TO DO: I had 2 Five foot long boards duct taped back to back (4" x 4" now). I put 2 slings (redundancy) around them at the mid point and taped the s--- out of them. I planned to haul them up by hand after my 3rd buddy tied them to the rope (toss back down). I was going to rap off at the notch at the top. It has a pillar going out of it, so you will have to rap to the side of the pillar. What I would have done was to LAY the boards on the ground, butt up against the cement at the notch and have the rope through the slings. You don't need biners if you don't pull the rope with someone on it. BE f---ING CAREFUL!! Get on rappel and downclimb a little over the side. DON'T f---ING LIFT THOSE BOARDS UP OR YOU ARE f---ING DEAD!! Now just rap and have your buddy do the same thing. Pull the rope and you are home-free. I would have gone second so I could hold the boards down for my buddy. I don't like seeing people die, and I wouldn't have f---ed it up. This is much more dangerous than the next way.

WHAT I DID: Beware, this is "breaking and entering". A little harsher than simple "treaspassing". Before I put my buddy on belay, I looked for an open door. From the chimney, I went right 40' and back 20' to that door. It was open. Sweet. It may still be. So I belayed my buddy up and we started walking to the door. I fell on my ass on the ice. Don't do that. Take your harness off and hold it in your hand AWAY FROM YOUR BODY. This will keep the boards quiet. Go in that staircase and down 1 level. It stops there. Go in the building, and turn RIGHT. Move swiftly to another staircase and go down it to the outside. You could also turn LEFT and go down the one you climbed up to emerge as a hero (or a felon depending on who is there). We went for the quick exit.

Bring a little film canister with your names up. Tape it to the concrete (the side with the notches) at the top of the route like I did. Look for mine when you are there next.

If you rap, you will have to leave that gear. That's why I didn't use a biner. Guess where the first place the cops would go? The wall at the rec center (my workplace). Don't be dumb.

I hope this helps. Don't get caught, but have fun!!! LENGTH: My buddy said I was not at 1/2 way on the rope (60m rope) and I verified that when I pulled it up and put him on. So you can rap with 1 rope. I may be wrong, so bring two ropes just in case it is more than 1/2 way after you get to the top.

Be careful if you try to walk down through the building. Paul and myslef got some what lost on the way down. I also recomend doing this rout in the summer time and not the winter. Damn it was cold. Another great recomendation is that you lead it and have your partner follow. I say this because while I was cleaning this route I couldn't help but to notice that those 2x4's hanging off of my harness got heavier and heavier. My kidnies hurt for days. Read addiroids comments to find out more helpful hints.
P.S. Did I say I froze my fucking ass off.