Epinephrine: Long TR
jmc...@dow.com
Epinephrine at Red Rocks. Included in quotes are comments made by my most
excellent partner, Chris Weaver, AKA Dr. Ascii. We did the climb in the
spring of '98, but I guess I write slowly.
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After he's once failed on a climbing objective, Greg Opland calls it a
"vendetta route" . I've had more than a few failures in my less than
stellar climbing career and in general, they don't bother me much. But
every now and then, a route manages to get into my soul. If I attempt it
and have to bail, it gnaws away at me like a rabid dog. Epinephrine
became such a route for me.
I first set my eyes on Epinephrine on our first trip to Red Rocks in
'89 while climbing the Gobbler. Velvet Canyon is a magical placeand
its beauty had my head spinning that day. My eyes we continuously
drawn over towards Epinephrine so I ran over to get a closer look.
I was hooked. I just had to climb this route. Alas, this was our last
day at Red Rocks so Epi would have to wait until next year. We
finished the day on Delicate Sound of Thunder and headed north
to the City of Rocks.
As the time passed, I talked with my buddy Jim occasionally about
doing Epi the following spring. He'd done it a few years back but
was up for a repeat, so I was psyched. At that time, I was a training
addict and by the time spring rolled around, my onsight ability had
gone up a full grade. I was confident in my ability to cruise Epi.
Karen and I arrived at Red Rocks a week in advance of Jim and
mixed our days between sport routes and multipitch trad. But
when Jim arrived at the Oak Creek site, all was not well. He had
met a young lady and the two were getting along very well until he
invited her along on his annual two-month road trip. She declined
and he parted Jackson a very unhappy man. Jim, Karen and I did
a day of sport before her plane was due to leave. Jim and I then
did Nightcrawler in Juniper Canyon and it seemed that Jim was
displaying extremely schizophrenic behavior - happy one
moment, angry the next - for no apparent reason. We loaded up
with food, water and beer and headed into Velvet to camp.
The next morning, we literally sprinted up Sour Mash, climbing it in three
pitches after soloing the first pitch. Jim was getting into an increasingly
aggro attitude and I was starting to get tired of it. I felt like he wanted
to do the simuclimbing on Sour Mash just to get me freaked out. We'd talked
about doing Epinephrine the next day, but he wasn't in the mood, so we slept
in. Two of his friends arrived late and ran up and down Epi like it was
cake. To me, this was torturous, like waving a bottle of whiskey under the
nose of an alcoholic. Jim spent the day reading in the back of his truck
while I hiked and bouldered. That evening, I asked about doing Epi the
following day, but Jim had decided we would do Rock Warrior instead. I'd
told him before I would like to do it, but I didn't feel ready to lead the
runouts just yet. It seemed that he really was trying to push me towards a
freakout. The thing is, I'm not that easily bulldozed, so I took a look at
the topo and told him which pitches I was willing to lead, and which I
wasn't. At this point, he went ballistic and ranted like a spoiled brat. I
was less than amused. The trip was over and Epi was not to be. My last full
day was spent hiking and bouldering. I had another peek at Epi, promising to
return with a willing partner, then we drove down into the Valley of Sin so I
could catch my plane.
Over the next few years, I couldn't find anyone interested in giving it
a go. Karen wasn't into routes that long and my other partners didn't
like the idea of slithering around in chimneys. Then I got to know Inez
through rec.climbing and we made plans to meet up and do it in the
spring of 1996. I climbed a few days with Sam Linzell, a friend from the
Detroit area, then Sam flew home and Inez arrived. She and I did
Tunnel Vision to get acquainted. The night before we were to head up
Epi, a storm blew in. After dinner, the wind picked up and it began to rain.
We settled the issue by opening another bottle of wine and talking until late.
It was time for us to depart, so Epi would have to wait another year.
The spring of '97 rolled around and after a few days at Hueco Tanks and
Joshua Tree, we drove into Red Rocks to meet up with Inez, Allen and Ken.
We got set up to attempt Epi as two teams of two - Ken and Allen,
Inez and I. Allen was not ready at the agreed-to parting time and we
got to the base of Epi over an hour later than we'd planned. We
probably took the lower pitches a bit to casually, talking at the belays
instead of moving fast, etc. Inez and I topped out the Black Tower at
about 1 p.m., well after our target of noon. We had a snack
and thought it over, waiting for Ken and Allen to arrive. But Allen was
getting tired and decided to bail. Now, it was nearly 2 p.m. and our
dawdling meant that we would have to bail also.
I didn't feel too bad about failing but I wasn't thrilled about it
either. I realized that the chimney pitches were a little more difficult
than I'd expected too. But I was certain of one thing - I was going to
top out Epinephrine on our next trip to the desert. Epi had become a
true vendetta climb. I'd assumed I'd climb it with Inez, but around
Christmas found she was making plans to do it with a lady friend. So I
called a few friends, looking for a determined partner. Oppy was too
busy to commit, but Chris Weaver was psyched. I was in there.
Karen, the boys and I arrived a few days before Chris and settled into
Bonnie Springs. Since giving birth to our first son 4 years previous,
Karen had only bouldered, toproped and sport climbed single-pitch
routes. She and I did Tunnel Vision in 4 pitches, combining one with
two and 5 with 6. It was great to see her back on a longer route. She
was obviously enjoying herself. Unfortunately, the plans we'd made for
friends to watch the boys while we climbed fell through. I did a few
hikes to burn some calories and carried a load to the base of
Rainbow Wall for some friends. We even did a morning in the gym
(blasphemy on a road trip to me). Then Chris arrived and we made plans
to do Solar Slab the following morning. It turned out to be an
excellent route and was a good, fun day. We then took a rest day to
shop for food and gear up for Epi. Sounds like an old fart's excuse,
huh? It is. The weather report looked perfect and we were itching to go.
Chris comments:
"I agree that we could easily have skipped the rest day after Solar Slab
and done Epi that day. For some reason I guess it didn't come up. Maybe
there was some reason not to do it at the time, but I don't recall it.
Turns out SS is a much more casual route than we were expecting.
It's worth noting that SS was as much a probing of each other's abilities
before we committed to Epi as it was a climbing objective. For my part, I
had high expectations that we would do well on Epi after we finished SS."
We left the motel at about 4 a.m. and left the Velvet parking lot at
about 4:45. As we neared the base of the route, I thought I heard
voices and sure enough, a couple (Gary and Lynn Clark) were bivied at
the base. I don't think they were too happy to see us hike by as they
finished breakfast. Chris and I tossed on our harnesses and Chris
flaked the ropes while I racked up. I lead the 3rd class pitch, placing
a few pieces of gear and soon Chris was leading up the second pitch.
The second pitch had been my lead in '97 and I didn't mind giving it to
Chris this time around. Brutus had described it to me as "pretty but
tenuous" and I think the "tenuous" part is the more accurate of the two
descriptors.
Chris comments:
"I don't really recall it being too tenuous, but you and I have discussed
this before; being on lead improves one's concentration level. I did feel a
bit lost on that pitch though, not sure which way to go at any one point. I
eventually just went where it felt natural, but ended up missing the
anchors for p.2."
As the pitches went by, it was obvious the pair behind us
wanted to pass. I felt like we were moving fast and was not in the mood
to let them pass but when Chris arrived at the belay atop pitch 4, he
asked if we could let them through. I was still resisting and when Gary
set his belay to the side of us, he told Chris not to wait.
Chris sez:
"I didn't realize you were as against the passing thing as you apparently
were. I wouldn't have objected if you had said, "No, don't let them pass,"
but I know that's not really your style. I suppose we should have
communicated better or perhaps I should have read your signals better."
So Chris headed on up the first of the "real" chimney pitches. This was
his first experience with chimneys of this type and he handled the task
admirably. It's a fairly long pitch and the upper crux took a bit of
wind out of both of us. Not long after I followed the pitch, Gary lead
up and set an anchor beside us. Chris again asked if we should let them
pass and I read his exression to mean that he wanted to. I don't like
having my heels nipped at, so I agreed and we sat back to wait for the
Clarks to get out of our way. Since I also didn't want to nip at their
heels, I waited until Gary was leading the final chimney pitch before I
headed up. I then grunted on up the short pitch, finding it harder than
I had the previous year.
Chris comments:
"Well, it wasn't strictly speaking my "first" experience with chimneys,
but it was sure my first experience with leading 5.9 chimneys. I had done a
5.10 chimney the year before on second, and it felt fine and have done a
handful of easier, 5.6 and below chimneys. I felt okay with the climbing
task in the chimneys for the most part, but I think the protection factor
was giving me trouble. I always felt like I was running out of gear and was
looking at a long runout above me. This never really proved true, but I
ended up climbing those pitches with more apprehension than I usually have.
The "slot" section of the chimney that I aided was the part where the
climbing really kicked my ass."
Dr. Ascii says:
"I admit that I did prefer to let them pass at that point. I hadn't had
the letdowns of the previous attempts at the route like you did, and I
might have underestimated the importance of our speed at that point. I
still think that they really didn't hold us up once they got above us a
bit."
Rather than do a long pitch to the top of the chimney, our plan was to
have Chris do the finger crack option on the next pitch, which would
Chris interrupts:
"Well, calling it a "plan" is being generous. It was more a case of
wussing out than any attempt at planning. The plain fact is that I was sick
of the chimneying at that point and wanted to get onto some familiar
territory for a change. It worked, because it instantly made me feel more
comfortable with the whole climb and brought back the fun of climbing that
I was sorely missing while in the slot."
leave me with a short final chimney lead. The last slot is a little
intimidating to me, with no pro to speak of in the first ~30'. I put a
nut and a small cam behind a hollow flake, not expecting it to hold much
of a fall. Above the first bolt, the climbing becomes more secure and I
got a solid cam in before the second bolt. Upon reaching the fixed
anchor atop the chimney, I hauled the pack, tied it off and continued
the lead on up to the top of the Black Tower. Chris arrived at 11:45
and even though we'd lost over an hour letting the Clark's pass, we'd
have plenty of time to finish the route.
Chris sez:
"I think we probably would have been better not hauling on this route. I
think it slowed us down and increased the frustration and manic haste that
I occasionally felt. If we had stuffed a jacket each and a couple of space
blankets into a smaller pack, I think we could have tied it off short to
the harness on the uglier chimney sections and avoided the haul."
After some food and water, the plan was for Chris to link the next three
pitches but the topo is a little nondescript and he stopped ~50' short
of the anchor and set a belay.
Chris:
"I felt that the topo was not explicit enough about the belay location. I
couldn't reconcile any of the features I was seeing with the drawing on the
topo, and was concerned that I passed the anchors again as I had done on
pitch two."
I lead the rest of that pitch and on up the 5.9, supposedly tricky,
face pitch. After following it, Chris declared it would be 5.6 at
Seneca. I felt a little slighted by that, having been proud of
mastering the "tricky" pitch with such smooth resolve.
Chris cuts in:
"I didn't actually "declare" it to be a Seneca 5.6. As I recall, you said
something like, "That'd probably only be a 5.6 at Seneca, right?" and I
think I hemmed and hawed and said something like "Yeah, maybe 5.7
maybe 5.6 something like that." I was on second there, so perhaps it
felt easier to me than it would have on lead. I don't normally want to
play up the Seneca sandbag thing too much because I think that in
many cases it simply isn't warranted and it makes me sound pompous
when I'm not trying to be. I didn't mean to belittle your effort on the pitch
or the quality of the climbing on it. Besides, on retrospect it was probably
at least a Seneca 5.7."
Hmmm, I didn't remember it that way. Regardless, the pitch is apparently
way too soft to be a Seneca 5.9. Chris then ran up the sport dihedral
and soon it was my turn to lead again. I should have looked at the topo
closer. By this time, I'd come to expect that every belay would have two
or three bolts. The next pitch is 5.6 and 75' long with a gear anchor
according to the Swain guide but I was thinking it was longer and ended
at bolts. So I just kept plugging away and before long was realizing that
I was running a bit short on gear and slings. Still no anchor in sight and
this was feeling a bit stiff for 5.6... Another 30' up and still no anchor in
sight. Now I'm out of runners and resorting to the use of tricams as a
quickdraw. About the time I was getting concerned, the anchor came into
view and life was good. A quick look at the topo convinced me I had
linked two pitches.
Chris then linked the next two pitches and all the sudden, I realized we
were one pitch from the ramp.
Chris reminds me:
"Might be worth noting here that the 5.9 roof that is noted on the topo
isn't anywhere near that difficulty. Inez did the route with Sue after I
left and agreed with this."
My buddy Brooke had told me how much fun
the last pitch is and I couldn't agree more. Huge holds and big air.
Chris interjects:
"I was really sucking wind at this point. The combo of the pack and the
aerobic action left me huffing and puffing for the rest of the route. I
don't have much aerobic endurance, and this was getting tough for me."
I went past the fixed anchor and set a solid piece when Chris yelled up
"That's ME!", then we simued for 100' or so. At this point, I was near
a sort of knob on the ramp and I set an anchor. Chris was carrying the
pack up this part and climbed the entire 300' at an anaerobic rate, so
when he arrived, I re-racked, grabbed the pack and lead a pitch about
500' long, which got us into the final amphitheater. We dashed across
it and were soon happy to have our harnesses and tight shoes off.
Chris says:
"I was very happy that I didn't have to talk you into doing the next pitch
and that I had a chance to rest while I belayed for a bit. I figured you
realized how wasted I was getting and knew the correct course of action.
Incidentally, I felt the same way on the slabs atop Snake Dike the year
before with Inez. Huffing and puffing the whole way. I really need to get
in shape!"
The descent was fairly uneventful, which was good. Along the summit
ridge, we found a full bottle of water and this told me we were living
right since our own supplies were nearly empty. Thanks a million to
whoever left it! We moved as fast as possible until it was dark enough
to need a headlamp, then stopped for more food and water. A short while
later, we were back at the car, two tired but happy boys.
Chris concurs:
"True. This the most ambitious climbing challenge I've taken, and it was
incredibly satisfying to finish it and do so quickly and safely. I was very
tired afterwards, but extremely fulfilled. Thanks for the great experience,
Jeff."
My pleasure, bro!
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