Abraxas Anchors

[jshamster]

Anyone know if the Abraxas anchors and other bolts have been

upgraded in the last few years?

I seem to remember someone maybe taking on this project, but I could be wrong.

I'm gonna go check it out regardless. Just lookin' for more info.

Any history of this and other neglected UTW aid routes would be cool too.

 

Cheers

Jimbo

[WhiteLightning]

We did the first two or three pitches last year before turning around due to rain. Most of the bolts seemed pretty crappy....and I don't remember seeing any new bolts. I haven't been back to look yet this year. Let me know what you find out because my partner has been talking about replacing some of those bolts.

 

There are some new bolts on the 2nd pitch of Dana's Arch. As many as 5 or 6...

[Alpinfox]

Interesting story about first ascent of Abraxas:

 

 

First Date

 

It was the summer of 1971. The Vietnam War was in full swing. Nixon was still in office. I [Don Harder] had just turned 17 and was too young for the draft. A lot of unknown climbing was out there to be had. Life was good. For some.

 

One of my friends, Richie Doorish (Pete’s younger brother), said that someone named Pat Timson was working on a new route on the upper Index Town Wall. I’d heard rumblings from other climbers about this guy– what a badass he was. Richie didn’t have much good to say about him so I figured he must be ok.

 

In 1971 few climbers were in the Seattle area and we all seemed to know each other. Weekends in Leavenworth were, after climbing, amazing parties around campfires at Eightmile or Rat Creek. We’d all seem to congregate at or near the same campsites for an evening of roaring fires and camaraderie. Mark Weigelt, Jay Ossiander, Bruce Albert, Al Givler, Carla Firey, and Julie Brugger were just a few of the people you would find at the parties. Sometimes there’d be dozens. Anyway, if you didn’t know a certain climber, you knew someone who did.

 

So a guy named Pat Timson was working on a new route on the upper Town Wall. I picked up the telephone and called him out of the blue. He sounded suspiciously amenable and we agreed on the next weekend to give it a try. If I’d had any idea what I was getting into I would have hung up the phone, locked my door, and hidden in my room.

 

Pat had this great ’63 or ’64 pale green Volkswagen bug. We put a lot of miles on that car over the years. It finally blew a sparkplug and Pat sold it to some sucker with the sparkplug epoxied in place.

 

We found ourselves driving to Index on a beautiful summer day. We got a late start and carried god-awful pin and rope-laden packs for the hike up. We didn’t get to the base of the climb until sometime in early afternoon.

 

In 1971 the Upper Town Wall didn’t get much traffic. Only three or four routes were there and you could usually count on being the only people around; you might have been the only people there for months. The place had a surreal, peaceful feel, at least until you got to know it better.

 

At the base, Pat sort of nonchalantly looked at me and said he’d lead the first pitch if I wanted to lead the second. Being out of breath and obviously stupid from oxygen debt, I agreed. Several decades and a thousand pitches later with him taught me what was behind his evil offer, but this first time as a rope partner left me clueless. If I’d had any idea what was behind his generosity, I’d have grabbed my stuff and run in screaming terror down the trail.

 

Anyway, Pat did a good lead to a small ledge where he set up a one-bolt and tied-off pin belay. I got there and eyed his dubious anchors. I wouldn’t be the one to complain. If the anchor was good enough for him, it was good enough for me. In these days we actually trusted 1/4-inch bolts.

 

Pat had a friend who worked for a construction company who’d given him a bunch of construction bolts. They were even worse than the standard climbing bolts available at the time. If you’ve ever clipped one, the experience is unforgettable. Pat only put in bolts as a last resort, so if you clipped one of his, it was either a long way out from the last one or in the midst of some really nasty climbing. Either way, the bolts sucked. Unless someone has had the sense to replace them, you’ll still find some scattered throughout Washington and California.

 

My turn. I looked up and saw a nasty bottoming groove disappearing over a short headwall. Pat was silent as we sorted hardware. Shit, I thought, I can do this. I had a couple good aid routes under my belt. Besides, I’d read the Chouinard catalog about how to stack pins, how to make them “cunningly jam themselves” into the crack. A friend of mine, on another route, having read the same words from the same catalog, took a whipper when the pin he was standing on “cunningly” un-jammed itself from the crack.

 

I started up the flaring groove. Those days were before copperheads or smashies. This pitch would have been a piece of cake with some of those little do-dads but what you don’t have, you can’t use, and we didn’t have any. So I found myself doing nasty stacks with rurps and angles. I was taking my time and Pat was getting antsy down below. I’m ten, fifteen, twenty feet out and really getting nervous since none of the placements are worth much. One last, ugly placement remained before the crack formed up again. I slammed in a solid knifeblade. It sounded good and I eagerly clipped into it and stood up. I’ll be double dipped in dog-doo if the side of the crack by the blade didn’t fracture away, and off I went. I don’t remember flying past Pat but it must have been quite a sight. All that crap about pulling a pitch sounding like a zipper isn’t true. The stuff I had placed didn’t make a sound as it woofed out of the seam.

 

The next thing I remember is bouncing on the end of the rope twenty-five feet below our funky one-bolt and one tied-off pin belay. I’d gone fifty feet and ripped everything to the belay and was hanging on our one bolt. Pat had had the foresight to clip his Jumar to the bolt and use that as a belay device instead of belaying around his waist as was the norm in those days. Time to go down–for now.

 

The next day found us hiking back to the base and jugging up our fixed line to the top of the first pitch. Pat was eyeballing me from the side, really giving me the stink-eye. I don’t think he was too sure about his new climbing partner. He wasn’t about to let me slack off leading that second pitch so I had this nasty deja-vu as I racked up and headed up the pitch for a second time. This time around didn’t seem any easier. I didn’t even make it up to my previous high point before I found myself flying through the air again. This time wasn’t quite so bad; I was getting used to it.

 

Do you think I was nervous heading up there a third time? Duh! I could tell what was going through Pat’s mind, “What the f*** is this guy doing” and “I’m f****** glad it’s his rope.” Somehow I made it to my high point using tricks that I didn’t even know I had. One placement stands out in my mind; a ground-to-a-taper skyhook tapped into the seam. I thought for sure I was going to take another whipper but somehow it held. I made it past the spot where the traitorous rock had broken away with an extreme feeling of relief.

 

We went up several more pitches, doing some pendulums and granite ballet before backing off. For some reason, Pat and I never went up there again together. He went up there a year or so later and finished the route with Bob Crawford who came back with horror stories of expanding flakes and nasty overhangs. Pat called the route Abraxas.

 

NWMJ link

[catbirdseat]

Don is a fine writer. Nice story.

[jshamster]

Well, so far I have done the first two pitches.

The first belay is one decent 3/8" looking bolt & one horrible relic of a bolt. I went ahead and used these. One more good bolt, and removal of the mank would be good.

The second pitch is actually quite easy due to fixed heads and cam hooks.

I'm glad we are in the age of copperheads, unlike Pat & Don.

As far as cleaning the second pitch, I used a single, new 3/8" bolt that may be the start of the 2nd pitch of Technicians?

Tomorrow I think I'll check out Golden Arch as it is way too cool looking when standing right under it!

After that I'm gonna check out the upper pitches of Abraxas.

 

All climbing so far has been solo with a Silent Partner.

Placed two pins so far. All else has been clean.

I have a feeling with a little more diligence the first two pitches could go at something like C3+.

 

Anybody wanna give Waterway a try sometime this month? Wouldn't mind having a partner for that one.

 

Cheers.

Jimbo

[jshamster]

Alpinfox, thanks for the story!

Cool to read about Index history.

That second pitch without copperheads? Yikes.

[bigwalling]

those first 2 go clean with the heads fixed.

[stillcrankin]

Wish I'd had a camera on that trip.......