Matt Posted September 29, 2003 Share Posted September 29, 2003 Climbed the Minuteman this weekend. This is a great piece of granite with interesting climbing in a spectacular position tucked under Liberty Bell's shadow at Washington Pass. First two pitches are pretty straught forward, following the left corner dihedral system up to well recognized belay ledges. The third pitch was interesting, as Burdo reccomends to traverse to the right on the pitch. I went up and to the right for almost 50m to a solid tree belay. Looking up, it appears that the 5.10 hand crack is above, there is even a tree with slings to tempt the foolish climber. Luckily my partner C knew to traverse right further through the only unpleasant pitch of rotten rock, up and around to the base of the 5.10 pitch. Burdo says there is a poor belay here, but we found an excellent crack from which we could build an anchor and set off on the off-hands 5.10 crack. The best advice I can give is look for the yellow headwall. 10 feet into the 5.10 crack there is a loose flake. My partner insists that the only way to safely protect it is with two stoppers, one on either side of the flake to prevent it from coming out. I loved each and every hand jam on this pitch, each more secure than the next and the crack widened and took my fat fingers. The next pitch starts with a roof right off the belay, much easier than it looks, and a 5.8 hand crack that some say is equal to the money pitches on Outerspace. With one more scramble we were on the ground. A great climb and an easy 1/2 day makes this a must do at the pass. Be sure to dress warmly as this time of year you're in the shade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt.Caveman Posted September 29, 2003 Share Posted September 29, 2003 Fantastic!! When you mention your partner-insists that the only way to safely protect it is with two stoppers, one on either side of the flake to prevent it from coming out- Can you elaborate? Do you agree? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layton Posted September 29, 2003 Share Posted September 29, 2003 I must'a been daydreaming while doing that pitch, cuz I certainly don't remember this flake that folks are talking about. I wasn't off route either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cracked Posted September 29, 2003 Share Posted September 29, 2003 Damn! Eric8 and I tried to do that thing this morning, but got turned around at the base due to hard snow. We were in sneakers. Did you guys take crampons, or was the snow softer when you did it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt.Caveman Posted September 29, 2003 Share Posted September 29, 2003 michael_layton said: I must'a been daydreaming while doing that pitch, cuz I certainly don't remember this flake that folks are talking about. I wasn't off route either. New variation ala pete? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layton Posted September 29, 2003 Share Posted September 29, 2003 not paying attention doesn't count as a new variation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted September 29, 2003 Author Share Posted September 29, 2003 Cpt.Caveman said: Fantastic!! When you mention your partner-insists that the only way to safely protect it is with two stoppers, one on either side of the flake to prevent it from coming out- Can you elaborate? Do you agree? Well, I was thinking I would place a cam on one side and a nut on the other and he was insistent that this was an inferior way to protect this section of rock. My thought was as long as the two pieces were equalized it didn't matter cam & nut vs. nut & nut. He argued if the nut was weighted first it would push the cam, the cam would compress, and the flake would come out. I thought if the cam were weighted first or the nut and cam were weighted together it would be fine, and I might get through the section a little quicker. I was annoyed because I was psyching myself up to lead the pitch and he was going on and on about how the flake pulls out and I was like, shut the fuck up biotch. I was leading it. We worked it out during the descent. Anyway, I placed two nuts. ON a side note, I also lead (yes chest beating) the double roofs pitch on the Boving Route on SEWS. We did is as a variation of the SW Butt. Very cool. It's not often you get such killer hand jams on a big ass roof. True alpine cragging. WA Pass is such a killer place to climb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted September 29, 2003 Author Share Posted September 29, 2003 cracked said: Damn! Eric8 and I tried to do that thing this morning, but got turned around at the base due to hard snow. We were in sneakers. Did you guys take crampons, or was the snow softer when you did it? We found little rocks that had fallen off the face all over the snow and we tiptoed across in our rock shoes. I also held a small sharp rock in my hand and used it as a ice axe, Ed Abbey style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik Posted September 29, 2003 Share Posted September 29, 2003 nice work matt! wa pass is dome rocking good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnibmilc Posted September 29, 2003 Share Posted September 29, 2003 , My suggestion regarding the method of protecting the initial section of the 5.10 pitch on the right side of the bright yellow headwall was intended to improve the quality of that point of protection. My simple minded recollection of the “one arm bandit” led me to believe that two nuts would work better because the “arm” is an unusual expanding type feature. It is an extension of rock that runs up into the ~2” crack, which, while an integral attachment, will flex outward and side to side. If you step on top of it, it is solid. If you push it left or right it moves. If you grab this feature from the top and pull out it will elastically bend outward. The intent of my advice, besides instilling additional confidence in your protection, was to encourage the use of two stoppers in lieu of a spring loaded camming device and a stopper. My memories of the feature from 4 or 5 years ago gave me an extra bit of imagination regarding the possibility of the nut being weighted first during a fall, which could compress the slcd, if not fully retracted already, which could in turn allow the nut to come out and then permit the camming device to expand the arm enough for the slcd to come out as well. Clearly a sequence of events which are highly unlikely and perhaps not even possible and certainly not appropriate to spout off about prior to your lead. My apologies for shaking you up and as I recall, you were effortlessly quick and cool on that lead. It was very nice to see you out there leading the cruxes, thanks for that! The end of you post seemed to have a discontinuity. The scrambling pitch after the awesome 5.8 crack deposited us on the summit. The descent was done with two 50m ropes and some errant/unnecessary gully groveling. It is probably best to do the first rappel, which is located about 50 past the summit, scramble down and toward the Concord Tower/Liberty Bell gully, rappel and scramble the climber’s right side of the face of the Minuteman, never venturing into the gully proper or passing a rappel station without using it. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle_Tricky Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 Good to see some repeat customers on these two routes. Now all you guys got to do is figure out how to back down my road without driving off into the field and getting the van high centered, subsequently resulting in a minor engineering project to coax the van cross-country down the hillside, over a cutbank, and back onto a different road. Ya'll checked for oil leaks yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimL Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 Kinda reminds me of the time the 3 of us were in the valley at Reeds Pinnacle. Remember the lizard that changed colors........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimL Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 from Carazy Jamies emergency bivy kit...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnibmilc Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 drinking and driving and talk of towing with an old climbing rope can never end well. last thing i remember was a cloud of dust and thinking we needed to change tacks or put up a spinnaker. the big white witch leaks no oil. hey thanks for letting me crash in the front...acre...a fine one! Tim, as for crazy jamie, i only remember a hasty retreat from a hornet's nest on the first pitch of Zodiac and a gift of bottled water. we thought about going up to Chianti on Saturday but i didn't see light until 10am...and we saw your car on the way to the pond pullout. that twisp brew pub has wicked good beer and chow...hence a return visit on Saturday night and the subsequent off road adventure. Going to need to visit the Chianti summit yet this year... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnibmilc Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 TimL said: Kinda reminds me of the time the 3 of us were in the valley at Reeds Pinnacle. Remember the lizard that changed colors........ I've got a picture of that lizard somewhere...btw...that guy that we met there at the base of Reed's, Rolo? Ran into him again...he was kicking back again...this time at the base of Daff Dome....except he's a little different since our rant about the Walt Shipley route on LCS. he went up there and got chased down the rappel route by a huge boulder (which topped the landmark tree on the descent). pretty funny story from a teller like that guy Rolo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimL Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 Chianti is another story. You know my phone #. Give me a call. You have some pictures of hauling the pig on the cap. Post them. It'd be funny. I've never seen them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnibmilc Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 Can't seem to post anymore pictures. I'll take a look tonight and see if I can find some of those pig pictures. Which reminds me of that bear at the base of el cap that was slobbering all over the Aussie's pig right as the haul line was drawing tight. I can't help but imagine the whole thing...with a few modifications of fact...like say we didn't stone and chase the bear away from the pig...either the bear shreads the pig and the Aussies haul up nothing but rope and the top end of the pig...or they haul up a HEAVY pig with an angry bear mounted on top...those were the crazy guys that did one big haul from the ground up to the third or fourth belay...same guys I saw antagonizing Kurt Smith down in Mexico by swimming in his bird bath/swimming pool. I think we should have let the bear have it just to see how things would have turned out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted September 30, 2003 Author Share Posted September 30, 2003 Friends, Stories of each other's folleys and brief moments of triumph are what climbing is all about. The Minuteman brought out what good writers of fiction call "pleasurable tension," only instead of fiction, it was real and we were there and it was good, like Crazy Jamie's bivy kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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