Modes of Ascent
OlsenRG
of various terms, such as "red point", "pink point", etc.
To put this matter to rest, I turn to the definitions
by John Long and Russ Walling
in John's excellent book "Face Climbing",
which I highly recommend to all aspiring hard-persons:
Onsight Free Solo
Angus MacGillicuddy has never been to Mt. Hogwash.
Walking along the base, Angus spots a line of bolts
up an overhanging schist intrusion. He fancies the
look of the route, laces up his boots, blows his nose,
chalks up and gapes at several girls from the Swedish
Sport Climbing Team, who are limbering up and changing
into bright-colored tights. Psyched, Angus winks, spits
into his palms, then solos up the schist intrusion.
Free Solo
Angus has been to Mt. Roughage several times.
On two occasions, he's climbed The Watercloset,
a difficult route that follows a basalt intrusion
via chancy dynamics. Angus has it in mind to solo
The Watercloset. Now at the base, he laces up, touches
his toes, exhales hard, then solos the route.
Worked Solo
Angus has been coming to Mt. Peatmoss for 11 years.
He's lead Compost 50 times, toproped it 70 times,
and, also on a toprope, has worked the crux bit over
and over till he knows it better than the hair on his palms.
Now he plans to `solo' Compost, an intricate razor job
up a monzonite intrusion. At the base, he flexes his guns,
flexes his back, flexes his loins, jumps onto Compost and solos it
in six minutes.
Onsight Flash or A Vue
Angus has never been to Mt. Basura. One route, The Offal,
takes a loose line up a steep albeit trashy intrusion.
Angus racks up and leads The Offal straight off,
placing all the gear. He takes no falls, nor a single
rest on the line.
Beta Flash
This is Angus' first trip to Mt. Gismo. At the local pub,
Angus runs into Jack Nastyface, the local hardman. Since
Angus is buying, Jack describes down to the last pinky lock
the sequence for climbing The Honest Indonesian, an improbable
Mt. Gismo test piece following a sketchy dun intrusion.
With the sequence memorized, Angus flashes the route
the next afternoon.
Deja Vu
It's been some years since Angus was last at Mt. Tallywhacker.
He remembers trying the Chamfered Luby -- and failing miserably.
The successive lunges along the scarlet intrusion notwithstanding,
he remembers little about the route. But Angus is a better climber
than he was 7 years ago, and the next morning, he manhandles
the Chamfered Luby on his `first' try.
Red Point
Angus has tried to climb The Widget on Mt. Sputnik for five
years now. He's aided it, toproped it, studied it from a helicopter,
on jumars, with opera glasses. Finally, he leads it, no falls,
placing the gear as he goes.
Pink Point
Angus has been trying to climb The Bullwhip on Mt. Maplethorp
for 10 years. He's gotten close, and after hosing the Windgate
intrusion with Gumout, squeegeeing it clean, then buffing
each hold with 600-grit sand paper, he wants to try the lead once
again. But first, he raps down the route, places all the gear,
then flashes the lead.
Brown Point
Angus has never tried Intelligent Gas From Uranus on Mt. Bachar.
He starts up the blank face between the two brown intrusions full
of intentions to make a flash ascent. Things go bad in a hurry,
and Angus soon is hanging from the cord. He's quickly on a toprope,
pulling through the first two grim bits. Later, stumped at the crux,
he incorporates a side rope, one etrier and a `come along' belay.
This makes Angus feel like he's got the strength of 10 men
as he works out the crux. Within hours, he stands on the summit,
ready to rap down and place the gear for a `pink point'
ascent the next day.
Other Techniques
There are other procedures that Angus sometimes employs in
his quest for the summit that are worth mentioning. For instance,
he's been known to `hangdog.' That is, after he falls off
his lead attempt, he won't hesitate to hang on the rope,
rest, then carry on fully refreshed.
When Angus first went to Mt. Pipedream, he didn't have time for
too many shenanigans, but he did want to bag The Tiajuana Virgin,
a nearly non-existent line of pockets along an ivory intrusion.
To save time, he rapped down to the crux, worked it out on a toprope,
then rapped to the deck and `red pointed' the route.
Thus, Angus had `speed dogged' the route (also known as `greyhounding').
At Mt. Cameltoe, Angus desperately wanted to scale The Man in the Boat,
but first wanted the beta. He sent his hapless buddy --
Shawn O'Sean -- up to work out the moves, while he watched smugly
from below. Shawn was `seeing-eye dogging' for Angus, who was
then set to try his Beta Flash.
Also at Mt. Cameltoe, Angus took a liking to The Pipefitter.
He did not, however, like the looks of the first bolt,
which was 30 feet off the talus. Angus needed a `coon dog'
to go up and fetch him that first clip. Shawn had already
mounted The Pipefitter 69 times before, and gladly
`coon dogged' for Angus. He clipped the first bolt, lowered,
then handed off the blunted sharp end for Rover to take over --
in relative safety.
Angus encountered a similar situation at Mt. Hamstring.
The Rocky Mountain Oyster followed an overhanging intrusion,
and the first bolt, way the hell up there, already had a quickdraw
on it. Nobody's fool, Angus took a long bight of rope, twirled it
over his head like a lariat and hurled it at the in situ quickdraw.
The bight of rope hit the dogleg carabiner at the gate and with a
click!, Angus was clipped in! He named this method the `rodeo clip.'
Angus certainly is not one, but he's known a few `dog's asses.'
These are craven swine who cannot accept defeat and alter
an existing route to make it easier for them to scale,
placing additional bolts, chiseling holds, etc.
Starvation, thirst and financial ruin to them all.
----------
Ron Olsen
Boulder, Colorado
r...@druhi.att.com
Jeff Elison
> There has been some talk lately on the net about the meaning
> of various terms, such as "red point", "pink point", etc.
>
> To put this matter to rest, I turn to the definitions
> by John Long and Russ Walling
> in John's excellent book "Face Climbing",
> which I highly recommend to all aspiring hard-persons:
>
>
> Also at Mt. Cameltoe, Angus took a liking to The Pipefitter.
> He did not, however, like the looks of the first bolt,
> which was 30 feet off the talus. Angus needed a `coon dog'
> to go up and fetch him that first clip. Shawn had already
> mounted The Pipefitter 69 times before, and gladly
> `coon dogged' for Angus. He clipped the first bolt, lowered,
> then handed off the blunted sharp end for Rover to take over --
> in relative safety.
>
Also known as a "courtesy clip". After leading a pitch this can be left
for the next leader by removing all the gear except the first piece. Then
when the rope is pulled, the end will usually whip right past this piece
rather than snake its way thru it. Or for pinkpoints, just unclip the rope
from all the gear, but the first.
Mort (only used it once - honest)