[TR] Index- Green Dragon 11/19/2005

[telemarker]

Climb: Index-Green Dragon

 

Date of Climb: 11/19/2005

 

Trip Report:

To piggy back off Mister E's day at Index, Kyle Flick, Travis, Ed and I decided to climb the Upper Wall. This would be my first trip to Index, so Kyle and I chose Green Dragon, while Travis and Ed climbed Town Crier.

 

Green Dragon is a great climb to practice some low commitment hooking and cam hooking, all of which is done over excellent gear. GD's a great climb, especially climbing in the inversion, perfect temps, great views cool exposure, especially off the belay on the 4th pitch.

 

A few photos:

 

Kyle leading pitch one:

 

 

Me from the start of pitch 2

 

Ed Hobbick on Town Crier

 

Kyle starting his lead of pitch 3. One could easily climb this flake at 5.8 or so for 30 feet, if you're not too lazy to put on climbing shoes.

 

Kyle jugging pitch 4. There's a cool hook move just above that red carabiner to reach the next bolt. It's in a shallow pocket so it makes you think as you're stepping up.

 

Kyle starting pitch 5

 

Gear Notes:

HB Offsets are very useful. I placed probably three cams on pitch 2, the rest being offset nuts and RP's, and cam hooks. Used the Leeper Logan Wide twice on the 4th pitch, plus various cam hooks again.

 

Approach Notes:

Easy trail.

Edited November 24, 2005 by telemarker

[gosolo]

Cool pics. Thanks for sharing, that weather looks pretty damn good compared to the pea soup over here in the dustbowl.

 

Looks like kyle is gonna give himself some extra rope drag the way the rope is running through those biners on P5? Pretty easy to see behind my keyboard in the armchair qb role, harder to see when you are doin it...

[EWolfe]

Great pictures! It was an amazing weekend!

[telemarker]

Thanks. Truly a great day. to inversions, at least early season ones.

 

Thanks Gary. Looks like the rope did get a little twisted aruond on Kyle. We ilke climbing with a little extra drag sometimes. If you get on this route, at the top of the 3rd pitch, be sure to tie in to the panties instead of the chain anchor for extra hardman points.

[Kyle_Flick]

Yeah, I noticed the problem, and telemarker can correct me, but I think I added a carabiner so that it threaded smoother (and probably safer).

[bcollins]

Thanks. Truly a great day. to inversions, at least early season ones.

 

Thanks Gary. Looks like the rope did get a little twisted aruond on Kyle. We ilke climbing with a little extra drag sometimes. If you get on this route, at the top of the 3rd pitch, be sure to tie in to the panties instead of the chain anchor for extra hardman points.

 

Ahhhh yes, Jessica's purple thong...........

[EWolfe]

Thongs are aid.

 

Where's Bob to say it goes free at .12c and you're a bunch of wankers.

[JoshK]

I like the headlamp.

[bigwalling]

Isn't that carabiner clipped wrong??? I have had big problems messin that up!

 

If bob says that he is full of shit, no one has freed even the 2nd pitch! Someone should tho, cause it probably would go at something like that. Figure out the bolt ladder area and the whole route would go down.

[telemarker]

Where's Bob to say it goes free at .12c and you're a bunch of wankers.

 

Kyle and I don't need P-Bob to tell us something that's already painfully obvious!

[stillcrankin]

Jesus H. Christ......

 

Where did all those bolts come from??

[DCramer]

Don -

 

Greg Child placed a couple on the second pitch to protect a free route that very quickly moves to the left. With the exception of the first pitch, I haven't been on the route in at least 25 years but remember the top always had alot of bolts.

[pope]

Don -

 

Greg Child placed a couple on the second pitch to protect a free route that very quickly moves to the left.

 

Are these the bolts added by Greg Child? Isn't that a C2 crack right there?

 

[stillcrankin]

Greg Child placed a couple on the second pitch to protect a free route that very quickly moves to the left. .

 

Thank God. For a moment there I thought those added bolts might be superfluous and stupid.

[DCramer]

Anyway, on another subject do you know the guys who climbed the Waterway Route? That's a hell of a route and I always wondered what people thought of it in the 60s & early 70s.

[stillcrankin]

Jim Stottard and someone, I can't remember who, did the fist ascent in the late 60's. A couple friends of mine did the route in 1970 and didn't really say much about it other then it was kinda cool. They used only pitons-they didn't have a single nut, hook, cam, head, or any other device. They used multiple wraps of one inch webbing as swami belts and no leg loops. How did those old guys do it??

 

Shit, wait a minute, that's what I used to use!

[MisterMo]

Stillcrankin's modesty is here only exceeded by his capacity for indignation (see post a ways above). He did an early ascent of the Waterway route with Dick Emerson before, I think, he was old enough to drive.....using swami belt, pitons, and all the rest of the memory lane bullshit.

 

A feature of the route (which I haven't climbed)causing a certain amount of trepidation/awe/reluctance back in the day was a section of supposedly un-nailable 5.8 (gasp) up high somewhere.

 

I am so pissed that I cannot remember who Stoddard's partner was on the FA.........and I just recently parted with all my old mags & such.

[DCramer]

It was Les Davenport? The "mandatory" free section btw is clean white rock.

 

It's an amazing route. Virtually no pin scars. Wild features. Steep. Pretty impressive for a 40 year old route.

 

Must be the limited season that keeps people away. Although the slime isn't really slippery when dry.

[ScottP]

According to Fred's 1976 Darrington & Index guide it was Stoddard and Davenport in July of 1967.

[MisterMo]

Thanks. Sounds right. I rarely see people on that route.

 

The waterfall, BTW, is dry or close to it much more of the year than back in the day. I think it's because the timber up top has regrown and so stream runoff is much lowered.

[pope]

Greg Child placed a couple on the second pitch to protect a free route that very quickly moves to the left. .

 

Thank God. For a moment there I thought those added bolts might be superfluous and stupid.

 

This is not the "murder of the impossible". This is the castration of the casual.

[stillcrankin]

Stillcrankin's modesty is here only exceeded by his capacity for indignation

 

MisterMo Sir,

 

Indignation might not be the right word. Resignation and maybe even disgust might be a better fit. It wouldn't be so bad if people (more then one) actually did the pitch free and used the bolts for that purpose but, if you read the posts above, it seems that this pitch may have never gone free in the first place.

 

I need to be careful about criticizing people for placing stupid bolts as I may have placed a bolt or two where I wasn't on the absolute edge of death but I never did something like this on an established route-especially on a route where the only first ascenter that's still alive is bigger and nastier than I am.

 

Perhaps the next time I'm in the area you and I can do a thirty-something year memorial ascent of the route in question. This would have particular meaning since you were the first to explore the beginning pitches so many years ago. We could carry a chisel and prybar and probably have a good time.

 

You get snowed on today??

[MisterMo]

Indignation might not be the right word. Resignation and maybe even disgust might be a better fit. It wouldn't be so bad if people (more then one) actually did the pitch free and used the bolts for that purpose but, if you read the posts above, it seems that this pitch may have never gone free in the first place.

 

No, stillcrankin, it's clearly indignation. Resignation is for has-beens and candy asses. You're not that far gone.

 

I need to be careful about criticizing people for placing stupid bolts as I may have placed a bolt or two where I wasn't on the absolute edge of death but I never did something like this on an established route-especially on a route where the only first ascenter that's still alive is bigger and nastier than I am.

 

No, honk on it. My only reluctance here was that it all stemmed from a cool TR and pix by a couple of guys who didn't bolt shit..........they just went & climbed the route they found..............

 

This is P2 of the route we found. We placed bolts only at the stations at the top of pitches 2 and 3.

 

You get snowed on today??

 

You betcha' Lots of it. Good stuff.

[stillcrankin]

No, honk on it. My only reluctance here was that it all stemmed from a cool TR and pix by a couple of guys who didn't bolt shit..........they just went & climbed the route they found..............

 

Okay....Okay........I stand properly rebuked.

 

BTW- nice pic. You look 30 or so years younger. I guess Al must have taken it and it was obviously taken before the second pitch pillar with that beautiful 2" crack fell off of the Becky route and resulted in all the devestation at the base. Do you have any more from your trip up there? If you do, email them to me. I've got a bunch from my outings that I'll scan and send you...

 

 

The "glory days" are now!

[crazyjizzy]

Stillcrankin's modesty is here only exceeded by his capacity for indignation He did an early ascent of the Waterway route

 

I would guess that just about any ascent of Waterway is still "early". Maybe Don's ascent should be refered to as "early-early", or early post-Pleistocene.