You wanted trip reports...
John Byrnes
Lord Slime
P.S. As it turns out, it was the fourth ascent.
June 23-25, 95
BLACK CANYON TRIP
-----------------
I picked up Tim in Denver then drove to the North Rim campground to meet Mike
and Jill. We rolled in about 8:00, in time for dinner, beers, and for Jill
and Tim to plan on doing "Born for Adventure, V, 5.8" then next day. Little
did we know how prophetic that name would be...
Mike wants to do AstroDog on Sunday, which is approached via the North Rim
gullies, but tops out on the South Rim. There is a zip-line rigged across
the river, but it doesn't look very high above the water. If we do it Sunday,
Jill and Tim can pack up camp and drive around and meet us when we top out.
I have high anxiety about the river crossing, the route (5.11+, V or VI),
the heat, etc.
So Saturday Jill and Tim take off early for BFA, and Mike and I get a
leisurely start on Checkerboard Wall, an nice 7 pitch 5.10 that we do in
five pitches. We're all done by 2:30, so we eat, lounge and drive over to
the overlook to see how Jill and Tim are doing. They're having an adventure
of course!
It's 5:00 and they are a LONG way from the top. We watch them climb a pitch
and measure the distance with our fingers. One, two, three... seven.
They're seven pitches from the rim. "Mike, they're gonna be benighted."
To make this story shorter, we ended up going out on the pinnacle and dropping
a rope to them. Just as it got dark someone on the opposite rim settles
down at the overlook and starts some complicated rhythms on bongo drums.
Really an eerie effect as it echoes and fades in the wind. We got them
back to camp about 10:00, and got to sleep about 11:30, just in time to
toss and turn about our climb the next day.
5:00am. "Mike, I don't wanna do AstroDog. I have all these bad feelings
about it." ...much whining and undefined waffling... "Okay, then let's do
The Great White Wall, it's only 5.10, on this side of the canyon and is in
the shade. And we'll be bagging the second ascent." "Okay," I say but
warning bells are going off in the back of my mind. "...second ascent?"
Lots of loose rock, grunge, bushes. A nice 5.10 pitch with only a little
loose rock. Another grunge pitch. A good pitch, then another. We make
it to a nice ledge (with bivy spot. Hmmmm...). We have some water and
a food unit. We've stretched the pitches and have only done five pitches
where the topo says seven and have been moving nice and fast; considering
we have to test each hold before we use it. The next pitch just says
"thin" and shows twin cracks leading to a notch with no rating next to
them. It's Mike's lead and he has trouble, more trouble and finally yells
down to watch him (a rare event). He makes a move...SCRRIITCH! The hold
comes off, Mike comes off and I duck the flying debris. "That's really
hard!" He rests a bit and gets it next try with a deadpoint to a good
hold. "Boy that was scary!" I follow and manage to get through the hard
part with a series of thin moves off side-pulls and underclings. Mike
and I agree: it's 5.11, and the #2 RP he fell on is history.
I combine the next two pitches into The Enduro Pitch which is complete
with 5.10 climbing, shitty pro and loose rock. I constantly worry that
some damn unlucky hiker is in the gully below us. The sun explodes around
the corner as we reach the upper, easier pitches.
Our last "incident" occurs on the second to last pitch, a long traverse to
the escape dihedral. Mike steps over a cooler-sized boulder, but other
rocks move and lever the thing over the edge. We both scream "ROCK!" and
look at each other with wide-eyes as major destruction takes place in the
gully bottom. The sound of the explosion echoes up and down the canyon.
We're 1400 feet above the gully, but a huge dust cloud still came billowing
up past us.
We top-out at 4:30, 8 1/2 hours after we started. The climb is supposed to
be 13 pitches but we did it in 10. We both agreed that the loose rock and
sketchy pro slowed us down a great deal. All in all, this will be a pretty
good climb after a few more parties clean off all the loose rock. I have
the topo if you want it: The Great White Wall, V, 5.11-.
Rawdomg
writes:
> Mike and I agree: it's 5.11,
but later: >The Great White Wall, V, 5.11-.
This is how sandbags are created. Any questions?
Mike Rawdon
Alistair Veitch
>In article <41daiq$r...@tadpole.fc.hp.com>, byr...@fc.hp.com (John Byrnes)
>writes:
>> Mike and I agree: it's 5.11,
>but later: >The Great White Wall, V, 5.11-.
>This is how sandbags are created. Any questions?
Bzzzt, wrong! I thought 5.11- meant 5.11a/b, ie, low end of the
5.11 range. Likewise 5.11+ means 5.11c/d.
Cheers,
Alistair
--
Alistair Veitch | Email: ave...@cs.ubc.ca | o/\_ "I'd rather
U. of British Columbia | Phone: +1 604 822-9407 | <\ _,\ be climbing"
Vancouver | Fax: +1 604 822-4585 | "> |
Canada | | : |
Brutus of Wyde
> raw...@aol.com (Rawdomg) writes:
> Bzzzt, wrong! I thought 5.11- meant 5.11a/b, ie, low end of the
> 5.11 range. Likewise 5.11+ means 5.11c/d.
Alistair:
I've seen 5.11 divided into 11 different grades of increasing
difficulty, as follows:
5.11a 5.10d 5.11- 5.11b 5.11 5.11c 5.9 squeeze 5.11+ 5.10 OW 5.12a 5.11d
Brutus
Rawdomg
climb is either 11 minus or it's 11 (or it's 11 plus or something else).
If it's got an "11" move and gets an 11- rating, that's misleading by
exactly half a grade. I don't know about you, but a half grade at MY
limit is significant.
Mike
Aggro Canine
Wyde) wrote:
>I've seen 5.11 divided into 11 different grades of increasing
>difficulty, as follows:
>
>5.11a 5.10d 5.11- 5.11b 5.11 5.11c 5.9 squeeze 5.11+
5.10 OW 5.12a 5.11d
I like it! Now we can start to compete with the Brits in the "Most Free
Climbing Grades" competition. But where do the East Coast 5.11's fit in here?
MD
Tom Kelley
>
>I've seen 5.11 divided into 11 different grades of increasing
>difficulty, as follows:
>
>5.11a 5.10d 5.11- 5.11b 5.11 5.11c 5.9 squeeze 5.11+ 5.10 OW 5.12a 5.11d
>
I like this! But you seem to have forgotten one subgrade. That'd be
the "5.8 jam" grading given to some pitches in Yosemite. Little did I
know when I first encountered such a pitch that it meant BODY JAM.
And what about a 5.10d squeeze like the Crack of Fear at Lumpy? I
think it should land squarely between 5.12a and 5.11d on your scale
... as long as you're not following the pitch after the leader puked
in it. But I'll save that for a forth coming trip report.
-Squid
David Harris
>In Article <41il99$l...@data.interserv.net>, bbin...@ebmud.com (Brutus of
>Wyde) wrote:
>>I've seen 5.11 divided into 11 different grades of increasing
>>difficulty, as follows:
>>
>>5.11a 5.10d 5.11- 5.11b 5.11 5.11c 5.9 squeeze 5.11+
>5.10 OW 5.12a 5.11d
>I like it! Now we can start to compete with the Brits in the "Most Free
>Climbing Grades" competition. But where do the East Coast 5.11's fit in here?
My eastern climbing has been limited to the arctic and one weekend in
the Gunks, but according to what I've learned on rec.climbing, East
Caost 5.11s don't fit in there at all, but are actually right off the
far end of the YDS scale.
I guess maybe now that 5.14c has arrived in the west there might be
some meaningful comparison for eastern 11s, but then how many of us
westerners can actually climb that hard without a Frenchman to tow the
rope up for us?
D
------------------------------------
David Harris
dha...@mindlink.bc.ca
-------------------------------------
John Byrnes
> In article <41daiq$r...@tadpole.fc.hp.com>, byr...@fc.hp.com (John Byrnes)
> writes:
>
> This is how sandbags are created. Any questions?
Yes... are you awake? The topo we got from the first ascentionist
listed the climb as "5.10". We upgraded it to 5.11- (who cares for a/b
on a grade V?), so why are Mike and I sandbaggers?
I wouldn't even accuse the first ascentionist since it might have been
5.10 when he did it (the crux hold may be gone).
Or are you merely splitting hairs over 5.11 vs. 5.11-?
Lord Slime
P.S. I talked to the 3rd ascentionist a few weeks after writing that trip
report. He concurred on the 11- rating.
John Byrnes
Mike,
I'm SOOOOO SORRY, that our wimpy Western ratings don't have the anal
retentiveness of your Gunks ratings. I'm so sorry to have sandbagged
you (As if you were considering doing the route. Hah!). And I'm very
sorry that I'm unable to distinguish a 6-move sequence on a Grade V for
you. And I'm extremely sorry that you haven't a brain.
Lord Slime