climbers do it best in lycra
Renee Reed
Well, enough people have asked about my recent trip, that I will
chance the ire of "real" backcountry types and tell some of it.
First, I want to warn you; I wore lycra every day. I am also ready
to come out of my bivy bag admit that, yes, I am .. a sport climber.
The following article, contains words that may be confusing or even
offensive to you trads and non-climbers, so have the 'n' key at your
finger tips.
Thanks to all of you who sent me information on Boulder, Moab and
the Salt Lake areas. It was around 100 every day, so I bagged the
Canyon Lands trip and went to Snowbird a few days early. (Hey, I
even went on a hike and road my mountain bike a little before the
altitude got me.) First stop was Colorado Springs. I went to
a climibing store and convinced one of the sales guys that he
wanted to take me to Garden of the Gods. A truely beautiful
place. Somehow the crunching, grinding sound of rock disintigrating
under my feet, made it hard to be real cool and chill on the lead.
"You don't really lead on these things?", I asked. "Sure, but we don't
fall on them", was the answer. "Thanks, but I'll 2nd if you don't
mind". I felt like a rock monkey. We had at least 5 tourist come
up and take pictures and videos of us. Maybe you'll see me in the
family album some day..
[skip the track cycling epic at the Velodrom],
on to Boulder, for a pre Snowbird competition at C.A.T.S. We are each
treated to isolation and 2 on-site routes, on the new 36" outdoor
wall. I place 4th(of 5 women), falling off low on both routes. Guess
Bobbie B can breath easy for awhile longer. Got in some decent climbs
in the FlatIrons. Couldn't even get on a crimpy overhaning 10B, get
real agro and almost get an 11B, hangdogging is real tough work in
100 degree temps. I'm melting and my new radical black Sportivas are
cooking my toes. Oh, a back country experience. I see a bolt of
lightning start a forest fire! By the time we are back in Boulder
there are 2 fires coming down the canyon real fast. I'm impressed.
I did set a couple of tcu's on one runout route. Have to admit
it was a kind of uncomfortable feeling; depending on my own pro... I
made a pact with myself, up there on these manky little crystles,
looking at a grounder if it pulled... I promise to climb more traditional
routes and get real good at gear placement. Just let me reach this
bolt and get clipped to something solid! Why do I have to be only 5'1
and who ever sets the route is always some baboon with a +5 ape index.
[.. skip .... indoor training, stretching, practicing lead falls,
starving myself to loose a few more pounds. figure I don't have time
to get stronger, but I can get thinner. ...]
Down to Shelf road. What a neat place. I could stay here for a week
and climb. Another backcountry experience. I almost stepped on
a Rattler! Gesh, this sport climbing is getting down right dangerous.
My first 11B lead. I'm psyched now. Give me vertical limestone pockets
any day.
[ .. skip the tour of I-80 under construction the whole f$%^&&*
way through Wyoming! .. ]
Camping below Snowbird, by a water fall... best sleep I've had
so far. Another backcountry experience. Brad goes to put a
gas canister on his stove... It won't connect, it's spewing noxious
fumes and noise everywhere. Deb comes running, "How do we use
this stove". " I don't know, I use an 8R. I just pour gas
all over mine, throw it a lit match and run.", I say. Brad gets
his hands flash frozen on to the canister. Finally, he tossed the
whole stove and ran. We come back later and find all the directions
are in picturegraph or something. Guess you need to be a real
backcountry type to read it.
Finally, the competitions. Great routes set by Scott Franklin
and Gia Phipps. The womens qualifier is 11A/B ( I fall off low
again.. keep forgeting about my feet, am duely embarressed for
about 5 minutes, then sit back and enjoy the show. ) There are
70 men to get through the qualifing rounds. Isolation stretched
out to 12 hours... very few flashes on the stiff 12C route.
most men bail at about 20 feet. The womens semi final is a solid
11D, Bobbie, Alisen, Jade and Susan Price flash out of 17. 10
go to the finals. The mens route is a wicked 12D again. Dale
Goddard is the only flash after about 8 hours in iso.. Scott has
set up a really sick set of moves onto a slab. No holds, off balance
and truely bizzare. Sean Miles and Jason Kern both fall fairly low
to the total suprise of the crowd and of course Jason and Sean.
I'm secretly pleased, because of a scene they made over me dogging
on "their" warm up route at Smith a few weeks earlier. Bobbie
climbs past Alicen in the super final, big surprise huh. Moments
later it begins to rain and hail. The men are held in isolation
for about 5 hours before the decision to call the competition off
and go with the semi - final results. Too bad, there where some
really strong valley boys looking to do in the Boulder boys.. Maybe
next time.
Best part of Snowbird was climbing in Hell, American Forks Utah
if you ever get by there, difinitely go to Hell. The warm up
route is a serious 11D. Most of the climbs are in a cave. Real
gonzo monkey climbing. I crank on the crimpers for a while, come
down and watch the "boys" from California do their thing. Yabo
is awsome. Now there is a "real" climber. The guy can hang onto
nothing, with his little toe and a fingernail and never, never give
in. He calls it "pull down zen", I call it the ultimate in sport
climbing. Hugo A (from France)shows me what down climbing is all about.
up and down, up and down. until he gets the flash or quits. The man
does not dog. Scott Frye shreds a rope doing Burning. Sick! This
is a wicked, sick pyscho sport and I'm hooked. (Yabo doesn't wear
lycra, maybe thats what makes him such a hard man.)
I come away determined to train harder, get stronger and lighter
and learn how to put my feet above my hands, on vertical. In the
mean time, it's welcome back to Seattle. I tried to go to Index
yesturday and got rained out. Off to Squamish to fullfill my
promise and practice gear placement. (Besides its damn hot at
Smith and the only bolts around here are way hard!)
P.S.
You should see the new pair of puke lime green lycra tights, with
purple calf zippers that I got at Snowbird. Radical. I wore them
on the drive home. A couple truckers in Idaho tried to "hire" me
for some fun. The only place a women is safe any more is at the
crags. See you there.
Wilbur Doak Heyser
>
> Well, enough people have asked about my recent trip, that I will
> chance the ire of "real" backcountry types and tell some of it.
> The following article, contains words that may be confusing or even
> offensive to you trads and non-climbers, so have the 'n' key at your
> finger tips.
trads? I can't find it in my Hiker/Climber dictionary. But I'm not
complaining.
> in the FlatIrons. Couldn't even get on a crimpy overhaning 10B, get
> real agro and almost get an 11B, hangdogging is real tough work in
> 100 degree temps. I'm melting and my new radical black Sportivas are
> cooking my toes. Oh, a back country experience. I see a bolt of
For us backountry types that really do want to be enlightened, could someone
translate this for us into hikerese? Sounds like you hung your dog on
a hot rock and then cooked your toes but that can't be right.
> Camping below Snowbird, by a water fall... best sleep I've had
> so far. Another backcountry experience. Brad goes to put a
> gas canister on his stove... It won't connect, it's spewing noxious
> fumes and noise everywhere. Deb comes running, "How do we use
> this stove". " I don't know, I use an 8R. I just pour gas
> all over mine, throw it a lit match and run.", I say. Brad gets
> his hands flash frozen on to the canister. Finally, he tossed the
> whole stove and ran. We come back later and find all the directions
> are in picturegraph or something. Guess you need to be a real
> backcountry type to read it.
Gosh, a backcountry experience and a stove comment from a sport climber. I
feel faint. Dump this guy Brad and get a Real Camper like me for a boyfriend.
So what if my mom named me Wilbur? I can light any stove made.
> route is a serious 11D. Most of the climbs are in a cave. Real
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Caving too! Where have you been all my life?
> You should see the new pair of puke lime green lycra tights, with
> purple calf zippers that I got at Snowbird. Radical. I wore them
> on the drive home. A couple truckers in Idaho tried to "hire" me
> for some fun. The only place a women is safe any more is at the
> crags. See you there.
You bet. I'll be looking for you.
I liked it. A real story for a change. I used to think that I wanted the
climbers out of rec.backcountry (I've even irritated a few) but I've changed
my mind. If climbers want to hang out with us backcountry types then I won't
complain. I can use the 'n' key. This is one of the most interesting
articles I've read on this echo since, well, since MY last posting.
More trip reports. That's all I want.
Hal Lillywhite
>In article <12...@june.cs.washington.edu> re...@june.cs.washington.edu (Renee Reed) writes:
>> in the FlatIrons. Couldn't even get on a crimpy overhaning 10B, get
>> real agro and almost get an 11B, hangdogging is real tough work in
>> 100 degree temps. I'm melting and my new radical black Sportivas are
>> cooking my toes. Oh, a back country experience. I see a bolt of
>For us backountry types that really do want to be enlightened, could someone
>translate this for us into hikerese? Sounds like you hung your dog on
>a hot rock and then cooked your toes but that can't be right.
No, she hung her dog over a 100 degree barbeque :-)
Since apparently nobody else has done so, I will try to translate.
10B and 11B are shortened forms of 5.10B and 5.11B, from the rating
system alleged to describe how difficult a climb is. (Either is
harder than I could probably do.) Hangdogging is (I think) resting
on protection before going on to the next part of the climb.
Renee's toes were hot and uncomfortable because of the heat, the
black shoes (Sportivas, a brand) absorbing the sun, and probably
because like most serious rock climbers she buys them so small
they're going to hurt under any circumstances. (Having the shoes so
tight gives you a bit more control. It also satisfys any
sado-masocistic urges the climber may have.) :-)
Anyway, the picture we get is that Renee is out in the hot sun in
100 degree temperatures, probably wearing *very* tight black shoes
and trying to climb some rock which is probably also in the sun and
quite warm. Under these pleasant conditions she is having
difficulty climbing places she would usually be able to do although
she gets pumped up and almost does one difficult move. She must be
enjoying herself because she does this for *fun.*
(About now you may be thinking that the loud tights she is
wearing will at least make it easier for the people from the funny
farm to find her.) (This is somewhat tounge in cheek but if Renee
wants to comment or tell me I'm wrong she's welcome to.)
I will try to describe the rating system so you can get an idea of
what 10B (5.10B) etc mean. The system is supposed to be used to
communicate how difficult a climb is and was originally based on the
decimal system of numbers 1 through 6. 1 means easy walking, 2 a
bit more difficult, 3 starts to get steeper, 4 is steeper yet, most
people would probably be a bit nervous about extended class 4
travel. 5 is close to vertical but can be climbed using only the
hand and foot holds which are there. 6 is "aid" climbing, meaning
climbers put in pitons or other anchors and climb on them instead of
depending on natural holds which are not there. Most route
descriptions are in 5 which is divided into progressively more
difficult subgrades 5.1, 5.2... However a few years after the
system was devised people began climbing routes significantly above
5.9 in difficulty. Since 6 was already used they started abusing
the decimal system by saying that 5.10 was the grade above 5.9, then
5.11, 5.12 etc. 5.10 in not equal to 5.1 in this system, it means
5.9 plus something. Next, someone decided that in the upper ranges
the system was not detailed enough and for example they needed
subcategories within for example the 5.11. The solution was to add
a letter suffix, ie. 5.11B is more difficult than 5.11A.
The book _Mountaineering, the Freedom of the Hills_ has a
semi-tounge-in-cheek description of these in an appendix. You may
want to find a copy in the library.