Dru Posted June 16, 2004 Posted June 16, 2004 what is the worst rock you have ever climbed on? why was it the worst? compare and contrast it to other areas of bad rock you have experienced. Quote
klenke Posted June 16, 2004 Posted June 16, 2004 Been here before with this topic. It's still Mt. Custer for me, followed by McShitty Peak (Mesahchie Peak). Quote
cracked Posted June 16, 2004 Posted June 16, 2004 Anything in Oregon. Highlights include 3finger jack. Quote
catbirdseat Posted June 16, 2004 Posted June 16, 2004 It would have to be either Larabee or Johannesburg for me. Larabee is just a walk up, but it is covered with clinkers that are next to impossible not to step on. You have to just ride them a little and step off onto the next one. Â Johannesburg is steep enough in a lot of places that you'll want to use your hands. The holds are all portable. They work okay if you push down, but not out. I've never seen quite so many portable holds in situ as on that mountain. What I mean is not free from their original location, but ready to be pulled free. Quote
slothrop Posted June 16, 2004 Posted June 16, 2004 Yeah, shouldn't this be in the Oregon Cascades section? Â Mt. Forgotten has some choss. Especially if you try to traverse the ridge from the west. Quote
klenke Posted June 16, 2004 Posted June 16, 2004 I should add that some of the worst rock to climb on is Glacier Peak pumice. Man I hate that stuff. It's like trying to walk up a sand dune. Quote
Dru Posted June 16, 2004 Author Posted June 16, 2004 chossiest crag ever: vantage. don't mind occasional loose holds but when they are unpredictably loose, whole bolts come off with the rocks, and the entire column is unstable i do not like it.  chossiest rock climb: some pitches of cayoosh wall were quite bad, rotten schist. i was very worried the ropes would be cut just from their movement as they followed me up the climb  chossiest "rock": volcanic debris on the north side of plinth peak. but hey when you can cut a bollard in rock with your gloved hand you can just pretend it is a solid type of snow. however when chunks of snow hit the belayer they usually don't result in cracked helmets and broken cameras. Quote
iain Posted June 16, 2004 Posted June 16, 2004 f'ing amateurs. Â north sister in september. you can pick up up boulders and break them over your knee. You could package them in a honey maid graham cracker box and no one would know the difference. I have chiseled footholds out of almost elemental sulfur on mount hood. Â three fingered jack is totally solid on the standard route. In fact the rock is pretty damn good in my opinion. Quote
klenke Posted June 16, 2004 Posted June 16, 2004 Speaking of don't: don't ever climb Mt. St. Helens in late summer. Quote
Dru Posted June 16, 2004 Author Posted June 16, 2004 i don't think that hiking up some volcano can count as bad rock. i'm talking climbing, like belays and comical attempts to find pro. scree fields are a whole other category. Quote
willstrickland Posted June 16, 2004 Posted June 16, 2004 Ran into some stacked shale-like plates in NC once. Every hold was portable. Need pro? Remove a plate and stick a cam in the resulting horizontal. Â Investigated a cliff near Price Canyon, UT once that looked like Maple Canyon style cobbles. Only this stuff wasn't cemented together...anyone need a bowling ball? Â Cutler sandstone can be pretty interesting. Quote
layton Posted June 16, 2004 Posted June 16, 2004 On the climb, Angry Nipple Discharge, I did a huge dyno to a dirt patch across a gaping chasm with my ice tools aiming for a clump of grassblades. It held! Â I've held the lobes of my cam anchor in place with my palm on a route on Beacon rock. Â Necro had me belayed off a stick frozen in the ice on a lead that I had not a piece of gear, included when the lead stretched into a simul climb. Â The 10d O/W on carlos rossi memorial tower was so loose that my #5 cam fit until I tested it, the rock fell apart, then I needed a #6 and Jordan needed goggles to belay me. Dry heaves at the top. Â I'm gonna die young Quote
fern Posted June 16, 2004 Posted June 16, 2004 Â The worst chossiest rock I have ever climbed has been granite. eg: Crap Crags and N.N.Gully on the Chief, Mt. Reh in Anderson River group, upper part of Peruvian Flake in Yosemite. Â Weetbix schist in New Zealand was also gross, but at least you could kick steps into it. Quote
selkirk Posted June 16, 2004 Posted June 16, 2004 Scrambling through the Rabbit Ears on Glacier is an interesting experience. I've heard the rock up there refered to as chemistry in action. It's a blast in crampons. Quote
ken4ord Posted June 16, 2004 Posted June 16, 2004 (edited) I was down in Mexico with my sister one time. We were driving along and saw this nice looking crag about 300 feet high. Since we had ropes a gear we decided to pull over and attempt to climb up to a cave that was half way up the wall. I don't what that sheet was, but it was definitely sheet. The stuff just perpetually crumbled in hand and under foot. Just by taking a chunk you could make dirt by rubbing your hands with it. We made it to the cave. The suck ass part was nothing it the cave was solid enough to rap from, so I lowered my sister to the ground from a seated belay and then down climb the sheet. Â That shite that makes up Thumb Rock is damn crap, looks like it would be fun climbing to the top of Thumb Rock if it was solid. Edited June 16, 2004 by ken4ord Quote
specialed Posted June 16, 2004 Posted June 16, 2004 "Shit Infection of the Vagina" at Trillium Rocks in California is way choss. Last time I was there, the holds weren't even chalked, and there was mud on the approach! Also the red tape problem at V-World is super chossy - the third hold spun on me last night and I fell all the way to the crashpad! Quote
dberdinka Posted June 16, 2004 Posted June 16, 2004 The first half of Springbok Arete on Les Cornes is pooo. Lots of kitty litter granite mixed with a nice assortment of fragile holds, loose blocks and wide cracks. Oddly enough the second half is as good as alpine rock gets. I've decided that I must fundamentally be an optimist as I really only remember the second half anymore. Â I once attempted Sunday Cruise on the backside of With Doctor Wall in Darrington. It's the only freeclimb on the wall and the topo it looked sweet. We made it two pitches before bailing at the top of a pitch of 5.5. Entire thing was made of massive, loose, mossy, perched flakes. I will never go back. Â Yellow Brick Road in Marble Canyon is the BEST chossy climb I've ever done. If you don't tear off 1000 lb blocks of limestone you'll have a great time! Quote
jordop Posted June 16, 2004 Posted June 16, 2004 Fee sucks bad. You can even manage to pull stuff down on you by moving a rock that has a chain reaction above you self-trundle Quote
dberdinka Posted June 16, 2004 Posted June 16, 2004 eg: Crap Crags  Holy Crap! What inspired that?! Quote
catbirdseat Posted June 17, 2004 Posted June 17, 2004 Anyone climb the Black Buttes near Baker? They are reputed to be choss city. Quote
chelle Posted June 17, 2004 Posted June 17, 2004 The sandstone at Peshastin Pinnacles has to be the worst "rock" I've ever climbed on. Quote
layton Posted June 17, 2004 Posted June 17, 2004 The first half of Springbok Arete on Les Cornes is pooo. Lots of kitty litter granite mixed with a nice assortment of fragile holds, loose blocks and wide cracks. Â Tru Dat! Quote
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