keenwesh

after the 2nd one blew I figured as much. P1 and P5 had sections of shitty rock, I didn't lead P3 or 4 but I think they're pretty solid. P2 would be almost impossible to cleanly aid without camhooks however.

we climbed the real first pitch. actually did it twice. we tried to do the whole route in a day a little over a month ago and only managed 2 pitches in 6+ hours. after that we rethought our strategy and went back with overnight gear and loads of shit. I did take two aid falls on the first pitch though. I wanted to try placing camhooks and the rock isn't very high quality, the first one popped a big chunk of rock out that almost nailed mark in the head. it was where the crack does a little jog to the left. the 2nd one was above that jog 2 placements, the hook was good, I stepped up on it, and I had time to see the rock around it start to fracture and say oh fuck before ping! and I took a 15-20 footer. (the cam in the crappy rock below it blew too) P2 being 12a looks like a total sandbag. that upper semioverhanging corner is THIN and you'd have to be placing micro RP's and shit blind. the flare right below it is super thin too. I do want to do the P4 roof. incredible air and position. jugging it was fun, climbing it would be off the hook.

yeah shiny bolts on top of each pitch. bomber. I hope to get on it next week if the weather doesn't go to shit like it's forecasted to.

does this mean you can drive in to 3 o'clock rock again?

Trip: Upper Town Wall - Green Dragon Date: 4/30/2011 Trip Report: Mark and I spent last weekend slowly plodding up our first real aid route. I think I'd done 2 aid pitches before this, mark had similar experience. I owe a big thanks to ScottP who was generous enough to lend me his ledge for the weekend. it made the night on the wall downright cozy. I packed up all my shit after school friday and hit the road by 4. Major traffic and other bullshit slowed my progress but managed to pick up the ledge and mark and still reach Index before dark. cooked up a quick dinner and passed out. The hike up was pretty shitty. Carrying tons of crap in a old river drybag with no hipbelt hurt. I flopped down at the base and threw Mark on belay. I'm taking a film lit class (2nd semester senior, really don't give a fuck about any form of academic rigor) And our current assignment is to make a documentary of some kind, I'm not sure I didn't really read the assignment sheet. anyway I figured I'd do some filming and narrating during the climb, so periodically I would pull out the cmaera and mumble some shit about how the piece I was on was scaring me, or how beautiful the weather was. Mark climbed the first pitch as it rained and hauled our shit up to the P1 ledge with the basic "haul system" I had devised, a pulley and a prussik. I jugged and cleaned the pitch as the sun came out and then wasted more time eating and filming. Eventually I got my stuff together and headed up P2. man those fixed pins in the seeping crack flex! I slowly trudged upward, soaking and covering the left side of my body in slime all the while. this skyhook was fun! it only took me 2 hours to get here! I continued on up the slime free and wider flake until forced to head back left, got a few bomber pieces and just went for it. 2 hook moves and many small RP's later I reached high and got a bomber 1/2 offset TCU in the pinscar right at the lip of the corner. I had fumbled the skyhook into the dirt at the base by this pint so I had to bathook the flake to reach the bolt just before the anchors. whooooo!!! No pics for this section, just lots of video. I'll post it after I put together my "documentary". Mark said I moved way faster through the thin section at the top then I did lower down. I guess I was too scared to mess around much. I hauled up my gear and set up the ledge while mark jugged, then threw him on belay for him to fire up the last pitch in only an hour and a half or so! he fixed the lead line and rapped past me down to spend the night on top of pitch one. I gave him the stove to cook up some hot food while I decided to just eat a can of pineapple and watch the sun set. I called both our mothers to let them know that we were alive. As mark was too far away for conversation I tried to impress a girl texting her about my big wall climbing prowess. she wasn't that into it, chicks don't dig climbing. I gave up on that conversation and zipped up my bivisack to get away from the drips. all tucked and ready for bed! the sun hit Index first mark got up and jugged past me, then i dismantled the ledge (with some difficulty) and followed up. Hanging belays are clusterfucks, especially with tons of aid gear. I was feeling like a pussy so I offered the P4 roof to mark, he jumped on the offer and headed off with much cursing from both of us, as was were kinda hanging together under a constant drip with all our shit tangled together. I hung out for a few hours while mark steadily but slowly cruised on up. Mark took a break from cruising for a photo We seem to be around the same speed aiding but he doesn't whimper as much on sketchy gear. He did a great job and I had fun jugging up the steep corner with considerable air under my ass. kneepads were key for me we had a short cluster at the hanging belay and I was off! The end of the bolt ladder is a fixed circlehead that scared the shit out of me cause like i said I'm a big puss. I bounce tested it for a while before gingerly stepping up. it's good I guess and even if it did blow theres a big old bolt 4 feet down. after the ladder it got wet and grovelly. some free climbing up wet stuff with aiders and shit getting caught on gear, a 15 or so foot mossy traverse that I stupidly let cause a ton of drag (maybe this is why it's the green drag-on?) then a wet 20 foot crack to the belay. mark jugged up and I ran up to the top of the wall. we topped out at 4 and quickly packed up and headed down Lovin' Arms and D/H. The last pitch of Lovin' Arms looks sketch! has anyone blown it going to the bolt? is it really not that hard? anyway we made 6 raps down to the ground packed up our shit and trudged down. Gear Notes: the kitchen sink, lots of small nuts and cams, doubles up to BD #2 and a #3. camhooks and a skyhook. maybe a bathook too? I'm sure mark will chime in on what he used. Approach Notes: not too bad. only took us 40 minutes. I was delirious from malnutrition and dehydration on the way down so I have no idea how long it took to deproach, but faster.

finish the route!

another question: how long does it take for the wall to dry?

I'm pretty sure it was repaired last fall, whether or not they fixed the taylor river bridge I have no idea. my guess is that it's snow free. the snow is almost gone on mt Si, should be dry!

quarry daze!!!!

great, thats what i like to hear. thanks dane!

I'm reading your blog right now and realized you've already put up a very good and comprehensive review of the batura. sounds like you dig them, I realized though that the boot I tried on is the first gen boot is there a fit difference between this and the new boot?

I need your wisdom once more dane. I figured out that the Batura's fit me in size 48. super comfy! really like the integrated gaiter. I know they'll be great doing daytrips iceclimbing in bozeman and be warm in patagonia, but would they hold up in somewhere like little switzerland or on Huntington? the smaller (but by no means less difficult) peaks in the AK range. They kept me feet plenty toasty inside my house here at sea level in Olympia, but that obviously doesn't mean shit. ps do they climb better than the nepals?

would anything else be dry? psychowussy? bust the move? FALSE IDOL?

does the wall stay dry in the rain? its all overhanging... I'd like to go up on wednesday but it's 90% chance of rain

anyone know how dry WW1 is? I've heard that Chronic is dry to the 5th bolt or something like that, but alas, I can't even come close to climbing .13. Anything else dry?

dyneema is fine, it just wears out faster that nylon. I have a handful of dyneema slings I use when I go into the alpine and the rest are metolious nylon that'll last forever. I've never been but I assume most climbs at smith have chains for anchors, in that case you don't have to really worry about much, I just clip a draw to each bolt and clip the rope through the draws heres a pic I pulled off google. http://tawkroc.org/files/2010/06/focal-point-433x291.jpg as for a rope i wouldn't go thicker than 10.2.

try posting on the taco mark! a lot of socal climbers there

Thank you! that'd be great, I'll take you up on that! unfortunately I would feel really bad leaving my partner to sleep on the ground. Another kind soul has to be out there!

yup, exactly!

if all else fails I'd do that but I've always wanted to sleep on a ledge. plus I can't wait to haul 70 pounds worth of extra shit up that trail!

Mark and I climbed the first two pitches of the green dragon today. I'd love to go back and complete it but we're both so slow it would take us at least a day and a half to make it to the top. Are there any kind soul(s) out there with a ledge willing to lend it/them out? payment in beer.

have you ever climbed godzilla? it it completely impossible that that thing just happened to fall off. someone jacked it off and didn't even have the decency to shovel off the dirt. I'm kinda beating a dead horse here because that other thread on it went on for something like 7 pages but there is no doubt in my mind that the big 'ol block couldn't have gone without help.

just for clarification, the boulder is 30 feet off hwy 2 and the ground around it is very level, plus the stump is very much dead. No harm if it gets pulled out, and the chainsaw would be drowned out by the countless 18 wheelers and other car traffic blasting by a stones throw away. I still think it's good to check with the community before tearing shit up however, i.e. that fucker who jacked the block off on godzilla. That shit is not cool!

My buddy fractured his ankle yesterday at the Serene Boulder along hwy 2. Stump under a pad rolled his ankle in a big fall from the top of the V4 corner problem. The image of his foot all askew and his scream of pain has been seared into my brain. We all made errors as spotters and I wish we could go back and better protect him but I have a quick question for the community, if theres a stump or something in a landing, would it be overly detrimental to rip it out? I'm thinking bring a saw and ax and cut/chop it out. I hate tearing up vegetation for something as selfish as climbing a rock.