[TR] Hubba-hubba hill - that chimney - 2/27/2009

[montypiton]

Trip: Hubba-hubba hill - that chimney -

 

Date: 2/27/2009

 

Trip Report:

having walked past this feature on the way to the Funnel for almost thirty years now, I finally got around to taking a closer look, and was most pleasantly surprised. What looks like it might yield two pitches of climbing actually turned out to present four, and the second pitch, where the chimney narrows, is distinctly sporty! - WI4, THIN (very short screws or very large testicles...)and dead steep. First pitch goes WI2-3 & mixed, depending on conditions. I was up there with John Tarver two weeks ago, & we climbed the first two pitches before I had to get back for work. Left two pegs for a resident rap anchor at the end of the second pitch, and a 60m rappel from that anchor gets you back to the start. From that anchor, Mark Shipman and I found two more pitches of WI2 & mixed to top out. There's now a v-thread at the end of the third pitch. For those of you who have grown bored of the Funnel, this chimney, about 150 yards left, will make your day. Both the Funnel, and this chimney are still plenty Fat, and should last a while, as they're on the shady side of the canyon. If ya decide to give 'er a go, take a handful of stoppers, cams, and a couple of thin blade pitons, in addition to a handful of medium & SHORT ice screws...

[rat]

cappellini and i climbed it early season a couple winters ago and found a fixed pin. second pitch was m4-ish over the chockstone roof at that time. prone to filling up with snow during mid-winter but,yeah, a real fun route.

[wayne]

Wow, Sounds amazing!!, Thanks for posting, Any pics?

 

Who knows how many of these gems were done by you easterlies? You have no me-show going. Please , are there more like this out there?

[rat]

hints have appeared in various threads (the aforementioned chimney, left side of duty dome, mixed variation left of silver tongue, many lines on careno, etc.) but really all you have to do is show up with more rock than ice gear and pick a line you wouldn't think of wasting your time on in the summer. same situation at snocrummie pass.

[montypiton]

Rat is right - so few lines form consistently the same from year to year that most of them don't have "official" names, or a few of us have names that we use so that we can figure out which area we're talking about from time to time. -- In a winter like this one, with an extended melt-freeze cycle, most shaded pockets hold ice which would be buried under snow in a "normal" winter. For instance, in a heavy snow year, the wi4 bottleneck in the chimney described above would most likely be buried...

 

I took a camera both times, but Tarver dropped it off the first pitch on the first trip, and I found the battery dead (the wife had used it and not recharged it...) on the second trip, so, sorry, no pics. But Andy Barber and I are headed up there tomorrow morning, and I can try for some photos then...