mec Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 Climb: Index-City Park Date of Climb: 8/9/2005 Trip Report: I decided to try out solo-aiding, and I figured that City Park would be the perfect venue. Nice bolt ladder to start things off and figure the system out, then a perfect crack to enjoy the rest of the climb. After reading all of the various postings about which belay system was best, and decided to go with the silent partner. After receiving the partner in the mail, I was a bit wary at how big it really was, but decided to hold off my judgement until climbing with it. After racking up, I was ready to go except for hooking up the silent partner and all that jazz. Well, that is when I found the first and only problem with the silent partner. and that is how the hell do I get 2 lockers into my harness after already having my fifi hook, 2 daisy chains, and one end of the rope tied in? There was simply no room for anything else. I do not have a big aid harness, so that just multiplied the problem. But after a few minutes of struggling and sweating, it was in. After that, the need was for the belay back-up knots. After all of the trouble of getting the silent partner attached, I just decided to clip them above my leg loop... When I was all done and ready I felt a bit front heavy with all the shit hanging from my harness. So, after figuring it out the setup I was ready to get started. Oh yeah, that first bolt is a couple of moves up there. ugh, with all the shit hanging in front of me, those moves were a pain in my ass. Good thing I was in some old ratty tennies instead of my climbin shoes. I would not want to make those moves easy. So I get to the first bolt and clip in, and then move on to the second. Then I figure that I can use the first bolt as the anchor, and the second bolt as a back-up. I tie a knot in one end of my lead rope and leave it with a locking biner to the first bolt. Then I tied another knot a bit farther up, and left this on the second bolt. They were not quite equalized, but hey they are big fat bolts and I was not too worried. So, I cruise through the rest of the bolts, and am diggin how easily the rope moves through the silent partner. Not bad at all. But now I am beginning to wonder how good one of these things are. Never having used one to catch a fall before, I decide to setup a controlled fall. I bring the rope through the last bolt and as close as reasonable to the partner. I tie a long daisy chain to the previous bolt and decide to just go for it and jump. JOLT!!! ooops, I made the mistake of still having my top daisy clipped to the top bolt. I won't make that same mistake twice, those non-dynamic falls hurt... Second time, I unclip the top daisy and go for it. Ahhh, a nice soft catch. No problems at all. I decide to just move out and get through the rest of the climb and see if there are any issues that come up. I get into the crack and am just lovin it. place nut, move up, set cam hook, move up, place nut, move up, place cam hook, etc. I probably averaged a cam hook every other move through the crack, which for me was pretty good. I am really starting to dig those things. Got to the top, tied off, and enjoyed the view for a bit, and decided to rap down. Now, the only problem was getting the silent partner back off my harness. a few more minutes of grunting, swearing and even more sweating, I get the partner off my harness. Set up a rap, down I go, cleaning as I went. Overall, the silent partner rocks!!! easy to use, self fed much better than expected. It looks big, but it really did not get in the way too much. I just need to figure out the harness situation and maybe find a different harness with a bigger clip in point. City Park is a fun aid climb. Great Day! Gear Notes: couple set of nuts, cam hooks, 2 blue metolius TCU's and 2 yellow TCU's and a silent partner Approach Notes: none Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squid Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 FYI, some kind soul put a pair of bolts in the huge boulder at the base of City Park. They don't have hangers or nuts, but if you bring your own, it makes a nice convenient anchor for solo aiding City Park. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mec Posted August 10, 2005 Author Share Posted August 10, 2005 Which side of the huge boulder? I did not see anything there, but I also was not looking much since I knew I had that nice easy bolt ladder to start with... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squid Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 It's on the side facing the wall, but it's sort of on the underside. If I remember right, you have to crouch down to find 'em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willstrickland Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 (edited) It's kinda on the underneath side, facing the wall. Just look about a foot off the ground, on the wall side of the boulder and you'll see it. EDIT: Looks like I was beaten to the punch. Edited August 10, 2005 by willstrickland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mec Posted August 10, 2005 Author Share Posted August 10, 2005 are there any other good solo-aid climbs at lower wall? I am thinking of green dragon this weekend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpinfox Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 Yeah, the bolts are underneath the boulder. They have (had) nuts, but no hangers. You can cinch the cables of a couple of wired nuts down on them for a good anchor if you don't have a couple of hangers. Clove hitching the first bolt or two of the bolt ladder is a good idea for additional anchor security. I've used a gri-gri for solo-aiding CP. Works great. I once did CP ground to ground in 45min. I thought that was pretty good since I haven't done much aid. Beat that Dan Howshit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomtom Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 There's plenty of solo aid at the lower wall. The trick on some is rigging anchors. So far I've soloed (from left to right): Snow White (p1) Numbah Ten (p1) Iron Horse (p1) Japanese Gardens (p1) City Park (p1 & p2 link w/ 60m ropes) Narrow Arrow Overhang (p1 & p2 link w/ 60m ropes) Narrow Arrow Direct (p1 & p2 link w/ 60m ropes) They all went clean except Snow White, which I placed a couple kb's for protection on the thin crack below the first little roof. (You don't need the anchor bolts on City Park, just lasso the freakin' boulder). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpinfox Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 There is a section of iron horse that is pretty tough. I think Squidly can comment on that with more authority than me. Squid? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwalling Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 The anchor bolts are lame under the boulder! They used to have hangers on them, but those hangers are on some other climb now. Someone should chop them! Iron Horse pretty tough??? WTF??? HAHAHAHAHA!!! Best aid route on Lower Wall that I've done is, Narrow Arrow Diagonal. I highly reccomend it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpinfox Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 The anchor bolts are lame under the boulder! They used to have hangers on them, but those hangers are on some other climb now. Someone should chop them! Iron Horse pretty tough??? WTF??? HAHAHAHAHA!!! Shut up shitstick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwalling Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 hit a nerve did i? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpinfox Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 hit a nerve did i? Well, just cuz you can aid A5 don't mean you gotta pick on me fer gettin scared on a wittle C2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwalling Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 HAHAHA... no that was my first aid climb ever. If you haven't done it, you should do the Narrow Arrow Overhang but start up the Direct and go under that roof. It is really cool. Shirley is also a really good one to aid up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvallisclimb Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 (edited) jake where is a good place for beta on aid lines at index? harder ones? also wheres your A5 pitch at index... 50 feet of rotten hooking to a string of #0 heads and mabey a tied off blade, bring back new wave to the northwest! Edited August 11, 2005 by corvallisclimb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourteenfour Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 seems like a decent system…I need to try solo-aiding that route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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