Preparing for first grade VI wall

[Farrgo]

I'm getting ready to try my first grade VI wall in a couple months and was wondering if anyone has suggestions on some good walls to practice on in the area?

thanks.

[Bug]

Norwegian Buttress on Mt. Index. Take lots of kb's.

[lummox]

how do you practice vertical camping and hard labor? just get fit and do it.

[EWolfe]

Never been on it, but perhaps University Wall at Squamish?

[Lambone]

Lummox makes a good point. I use to respond to this question by saying, fill up a haul bag with heavy shit, rocks or water or soomething, then go drag it back and forth across a huge parking lot all day. Then you'll know if you really want to climb a big wall or not.

 

The biggest difference between a Grade V and VI is that you get alot more tiered. Being in good shape helps alot. It's possible to climb walls off the couch, but you'll pay for it afterward...speaking from recent experience here.

 

However, practicing your rope + anchor systems and bivi set-ups will help reduce the clusterfuck factor on the Big Stone, and make your chances for sucess much higher. It's better to do as much aid climbing as you can before you go, it will pay off.

 

Of course Squamish has lots of cool aid routes. I haven't done any of them. But closer to Seattle you can hit the Upper Wall of Mt Index. Town Crier and Green Dragon are both fun, relatively safe and easy classics. Do both of them, then do them again faster, then again, then do them both in a day...then do something harder like the Golden Arch.

 

If you haven't worked with a ledge much, it might be worth it to just go out to the Lower Wall some evening, climb a pitch and set up your bivi and get things sussed out. Go in the rain, figure out how the Fly works and how to keep all your shit dry, this could be the most important practice you can get for the real deal. Don't forget to bring plenty of whiskey. Drink it all...this will give you an idea of how you'll feel on the thrid morning of your grade VI.

 

Have fun!

[dbb]

You might check out the new routes on the Witch Doctor Wall in Darrington. VooDoo Wall (details here) and Solaris are both IV 7-8 pitch 5.10 A2 sort of affairs, VooDoo being a little shorter with more clean aid, and Solaris having more nailing and a long OW pitch. There are also several other IV-V walls around, like Squamish and Index.

 

Get a lot of those in anyway, but in my experience fix & push walls, or one night walls don't really prepare you for the pain and anguish of a VI. They will certainly help, but it is still a big step up. But what do I know... have fun!

[Lambone]

Which wall are you planning to do?

[scott]

other than climbing, i suggest doing some long hiking trips.

[Dru]

just fully overload yourself and climb a grade IV very slowly hauling a bunch of shit you dont need

[mattp]

As much as I love everything that is Darrington, I wouldn't recommend those WitchDoctor routes as a place to go practice wall climbing. You can climb routes of equal quality at Index or Squamish with a lot less work in dragging your stuff to the base.

 

They are good climbs, but you should go for the Witch Doctor if you want to climb that particular wall -- but not as a way to "get ready" for the Capitan or something.

[Peter_Puget]

This will sound stupid but at Exit 38 on the right side of the Sub-Station are several very short routes with anchors about 20’ off the deck. I bet it would be easy to practice setting up hauling systems there. I have never seen anyone climb them. I know it sounds silly but it would be a productive use of an hour or two after work.

 

As far as preparing for walls since you are in B-Ham I say go north (and forget about the paragraph above)! Uncle Ben’s, Cannabis Wall, Wrist Twister are all good routes. Plan on spending the night out on Uncle Ben’s for even more fun. It has a variety of climbing including slab, easy cracks, hooking, mixed free and aid pitches and traverses. Great fun!

 

PP

[specialed]

I'm getting ready to try my first grade VI wall in a couple months and was wondering if anyone has suggestions on some good walls to practice on in the area?

thanks.

 

Stop whining and just go do the fucking wall. If you don't know how to aid climb yet, learn how.

[Lambone]

sheesh dude, give the guy a break. what the fuck crawled up your shorts this morning...

[shapp]

with all respect to Mattp, humping a haul bag into the Witch D. with all the pain in the ass involvement along with being out in the relative middle of no-where with a good deal of adventure is a perfet training ground for VI routes cause grade VI is about suffering (for most mere mortals) and I can't think of a better place to pratice a little S&M suffering.

[mattp]

Sorry to dissagree with you again, Mr. Shapp, but Mastsernate asked where there were some good walls to practice on and I just assumed he wasn't looking for a place to practice hauling his luggage through the woods and over a bunch of moss-covered boulders.

 

Most of us don't need to practice that particular aspect of climbing 'cause we do enough of it as it is. Had he asked where there was a real scenic grade IV wall climb, and added that he didn't mind a bit of jungle crawling, I'd have said "go for those new routes on Witch Doctor..."

[Farrgo]

Lambone, I'm only going after the reg. route on half dome. But were gonna try and do it in a day. Both of us are pretty proficent with free climbing up to 5.10, so were sure that we've got that dialed. Neither of us has aiding experience, or any big wall experience bigger than the chief. we just wanted to get on a long route that we could completely botch so that when we actually are in yos, we can climb quick and efficent. thanks for the help all. i am thinking that the u-wall at squish would be a good one. does anybody know where i can find a topo? do you need a ledge to do that one or not?

[Dru]

you don't need a ledge to do u-wall if you don't mind sleeping in a tree

 

or you can do it squamish style by fixing so you can spend the night in the bar instead of on the wall

[Peter_Puget]

Now that I know what you goal is is I would say that you would be better off climbing Freeway or Liberty Bell than the U-Wall.

[texplorer]

Masternate,

If you and your partner climb .10 in the valley or at index then you'll do fine on the reg route. It is really alot of 5.9 climbing. Take a regular rack of double cams for the thing from tcu's up to a #3 camalot and you'll be fine. The aiding is straightforward and pretty fast. I think I ended up aiding like 3 pitches and part of 2 more. I didn't place a single nut on the whole thing and french freed even some hard .10 sections. If your fairly fast then you could go pitch by pitch or go even faster by short fixing at least aid pitches.

 

A few other options would to be to camp at the base and fix the first two pitches or so and then jug in the dark the next morning. Good Luck, the Reg Route is one of my favorite climbs of all time!

[scott]

jugging with a pack on, and leading and following pendulums. we took 4 liters of water, down jackets and a little food, and one 9.7 rope. we were a little light on water, but i wouldn't bring much more. just drink three liters on the approach.

 

when you can do 11 pitches or so without feeling worked, you are half way there.

 

to do it in a day, go as light as possible. not knowing the route hurt us a little, and we were glad to have down jackets and a little extra water.

 

be fastidious about rope management, don't let it get tangled in flakes-- somewhat difficult when jugging...

 

lead in blocks of 3 to 6 pitches. i wouldn't want to do the next to last pitch in the dark, it is exposed bolted slab with a little bit of mandatory free climbing.

 

also, when you can run a marathon or hike 20+ miles in a day no problem, you are ready. it was this sort of endurance that was the crux.

 

make sure you are comfortable climbing quickly with massive exposure under your feet-- my partner wasn't and this cost us some time.

[Matt_Anderson]

 

"Now that I know what you goal is is I would say that you would be better off climbing Freeway or Liberty Bell than the U-Wall. "

 

Agreed. RNW on HD is mainly free and what aid exists is easy.

Also practice for speed on town crier - Aid doesn't have to be the slow, clusterfuck that many people make it.

Go combine Davis-Holland with Town crier, The diamond, Godzilla-slow children-etc. to get fast. Spend lots of days at Index making sure that you get at least ten pitches in. Practice french freeing to keep things going fast.

 

Bottom line - Just do a lot of days with multipitches as fast as you can - the main difference is that belaying on a wall is not quite as restful as belaying at the base, leaning on a pack arranged "just so."

[lummox]

I'm only going after the reg. route on half dome. But were gonna try and do it in a day. Both of us are pretty proficent with free climbing up to 5.10, so were sure that we've got that dialed.

you will be able to free a huge amount of that route. a lot of the 'aid' is just a few bolt/rivet shizzle(though the second should know how to deal with jugging a traverse) cept for the couple pitches above the sandy ledges (the name escapes me) which you might french free cuz they are pumpy.

[willstrickland]

The zig zags are the pitches.

 

To prep for NW Face, do four things:

 

1. Log all the mileage you can. Epic days at Index at Squish. If you can pull off a 20 pitch day at Index, you'll have no problem. Probably if you can pull off 15 pitches at index with all the moving around you'd have to do, you'll have no problem.

 

2. Do all the clean aid trade routes at index or squish. The aid on HD is easy, but you need to be able to do it quick and without having to think about it too much. If you and your partner each log 10 pitches on lead on C2 a week or two before you get to Yos, it'll be plenty.

 

3. Climb a whole bunch of chimney pitches. The middle third of the route with the chimneys and aiding the zig zags is what slows most people. If you can cruise the chimneys, you'll be a step ahead of the game.

 

4. Know the route and your game plan and be in good cardio shape. Know exactly how you're going to handle the pendos, if you will short fix at all, which pitches you can link, etc. Be in good overall shape because the hike up there ain't no picnic like walking to the base of El Cap.

 

You might consider walking up to the base, fixing the first few pitches and blasting the next day. That'll give you an extra hour or two.

 

Some dude from the east coast has a photo-journal of the route that is very detailed. If you're not worried about spoiling the adventure, I'd take a look. http://ghiz.org/halfdome.shtml

[Lambone]

there ya go masternate...lots of good advice.

 

I think the route you are planning makes all the difference, if you were thinking something like Zodiac, I'd probly give you totaly different advice.

 

One thing I would recomend is to pick a Plan B that you will be satisfied with should your HD plans fall through. Sometimes you can't get on a route because of time, weather, crowds or whatever. Having a second choice that will still make you happy is a smart thing.

 

Someday I'd like to do the Reg NWF of Half Dome, and when I do I'll spend 2 weeks in the Valley doing long free climbs in prep for it. I think thats the best way to go, but if your short on time just go to Squamish and Index alot and do the longest routes you can.

 

Whatever you do, don't haul.

[j_b]

you already got excellent advice, but i think the key to doing a very long route in a day is building mental endurance so as to keep going at a high pace throughout the day and not slack off under pressure because it becomes more confortable. doing lots of uninterrupted long day climbs is the best/only way to prepare so that you can focus on maintaining the drive to get the job done.