Lovers Leap T.R. w/ moral!
gor...@violet.berkeley.edu
Ordinarily, I wouldn't bother posting such an ordinary trip report, but
this particular climb had some events that happened that might be of
interest to anybody who is just beginning to lead, such as myself. So,
here goes:
The Surrealistic Pillar, Lover's Leap, CA
(A long trip report with a moral!)
There's probably a lot of people out there who have cut their
leader's teeth on this route, or so I was told, as I peered up the route
that I was about to climb. It looked steep, and needless to say the more
I stared at it the more nervous I got.
I've been climbing for about a year now, mostly at Yosemite, and
I have just started to lead. I've led several 5.9 multi-pitch climbs, but
always with a more experienced partner who knew the route. This was to be
my first climb with another relative newbie, and neither of us had been up
this particular route before. It had all the potential for being a great
adventure. My usual climbing partner was going to go off and solo a bunch
of routes and let me and a friend struggle up all alone. The route's rated
5.7, so I had some confidence, after all I had led 5.9, right?
Well, that confidence quickly evaporated at the base of the climb
as we watched Paul solo a 5.10 just to the left of where we were racking
up. It was very disconcerting watching him get 100' or so off the deck.
For some reason, I was shaking in my Ace's as I started up Surrealistic
Pillar. This for me was an excellent example of the strong affect
psychology has in this sport. I knew I was up to the climb, but my brain
would not let my body do what I knew it could.
The climb starts out a bit awkward with a crack that goes around
a large bulge. It's very off-balance, but the holds and jams are good and
I had no reason to feel gripped. However, I felt like my feet weighed
50 lbs. each and my hands had been dipped in 10W-40! Somehow I made it
around the bulge and pulled up onto a ledge where the crack ended and
I had to traverse left 10' into the main crack. The rest of the pitch
was a beautiful crack that has copious footholds and was a lot of fun.
There are no bolts at the belay, so this was my first time in setting my
own natural pro belay anchor. It took a while, but when I was done I was
quite proud of my creation. It looked just like an anchor out of John
Long's Climbing Anchors book. My partner came up with out a hitch, although
she seemed to be as nervous as I was.
After re-racking and adjusting the belay to my partners satisfaction,
I took off on the second pitch. Here the crack gets about 5 to 6 inches wide,
but there are plenty of face holds so it doesn't become an off-width/shred
fest, like I had feared. The guide book shows the route leaving the crack
and crossing a small arete on face holds (dikes). Exactly where this
occured was not obvious to me, so I followed the crack in order to keep
as much potential pro between me and a fall as possible. I got to the end
of the crack soon though, and had to make a decision. Do I go out on the
exposed face and cross the arete here? Or do I follow the corner below the
arete to the top. The corner looked bleak but doable . . .the arete looked
exposed with no pro at all for at least 10 feet (and I really hate traverses)
Well, as fate would have it, some pretty mean looking clouds started
to roll in over the mountains to the west and the wind was kicking up. I
started to rush, as I knew we still had at least another pitch. Exploring
the corner, I spot a new piton hammered in a small crack and decided to clip
it as my last pro was about 10' below. With this small measure of security,
I decided to traverse left onto the arete to see if I could see anything on
the other side. Boy, now that was exposed. But the feet were good and
the hands were bomber. I started to enjoy it. Once around the arete it
looked pretty bleak as far as pro, or so I thought so I backed off and
decided to belay from the piton with a nut for back up. The weather kept
getting worse and more threatening, so again I started to hurry. After
tying off, I unclipped my locking 'biner and started to thread it through
my harness when my belay device came off of my 'biner and went bouncing
down the cliff! A sharp stab of panic went through my gut. What do I
do now? I can't bring up my second! Okay, calm down. Think. You didn't
buy all of those books on climbing technique for nothing. What is that
knot called? Munster, Muncher, Muenter . . . that's it! A Muenter hitch
around double carabiners! I fumbled quickly at a couple of attempts at the
knot, and got it right on my third try. I really should've practiced this
at home. It looked bomber though, and I gave the signal for my second to
start climbing. Again, she followed without incident, other than hanging
on the rope to get my #4 friend that I had placed out of her reach. The
Muenter hitch passed the test with flying colors.
Once up to the belay, she eyes the hitch with a little distrust,
but I show her how it works and she seems satisfied that I wasn't trying
to kill her! I offer to let her belay me from the hitch and I would
take her tuber to the top if it made her feel better, but she declines.
Anyway, I step back out onto the arete and continue further to the left
this time, feeling a little more secure. Two steps more and I see a nice
crack that is hungry for pro. I put in a piece, and start up the crack.
The climbing gets really easy at this point and I guess I finally got
warmed up and I start to cruise, running it out about 40'. I finally get
to the top just as I run out of rope. I set up a quick belay, and in
no time we are headed down the walk-off. As we are walking down, Paul
suprises us by coming up the climb behind us. He had soloed in about
20 minutes a climb that had taken us about 3 hours (I am a very slow
leader at this point!).
Paul had found my belay device at the bottom, and it was in
sad shape. Another 20$ down the tubes. Oh well, at least we made it up
a great climb!
I think that any new climbers who are just starting to lead
should pick up a few pointers from my inexperience!
1.) Route-finding can be difficult . . . and fun as long as
the weather is holding out.
2.) Know back-up techniques for EVERYTHING. You cannot anticipate
everything that is going to happen.
3.) Practice those techniques at home. Don't think you will remember
them on the cliff. If our situation would have been worse (ie weather,
injury, etc.) I'm not sure I would have remembered how to tie a Muenter.
Well, I'm off to practice my prussiks! See ya' later!
Gordon Moore
Dept. of Geology and Geophysics
Berkeley, CA
Elmar Stefke
Nice trip report and good thinking. Try "Haystack".
E.Stefke (the guy who successfully flailed on the OW boulder problem)