[TR] Brass Balls

[pope]

For Stevie SeaGal, JakeyP, ChoadLoad.....and all who are annoyed by the frequent posting of an image which occasionally appears on cc.com, we bring you the following photo essay from a visit to Castle Rock in the early 1990's. My friend Jon wanted to do some climbing photography. Since I hated carrying camera equipment but enjoyed photography, I talked him into a climb of Brass Balls.

 

The year we did this, I was into soloing climbs that were well within my ability and/or that I had climbed frequently with a rope. I had climbed Brass Balls ropeless maybe three times before our trip, so for me it was pretty routine. But Jon had only climbed a couple of things prior to this and for him it was a pretty big deal. I remember that he was intimidated by the first roof, so I talked him into taking a swing on the rope to calm his nerves. One photo included below illustrates just how steep this two-roof climb is, and in retrospect, relative to his previous experience, Jon was the guy with Brass Balls on the day we did this.

 

The logistics were pretty simple. He photographed while I climbed solo, then I returned and set up both a rap rope and a top rope so that I could hang in space near the action, both belaying and photographing. When the party was over, I shoved some stones in the crack at the belay and descended off slings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The previous photo gives a feel for the steepness of the route.

 

 

 

 

OK kids, that's all. I recently ran into Jon and amazingly he still had the negatives which I borrowed. They were generously scanned by Dwayner. Does anybody know a photoshop trick for correcting that red linear defect in the film? The only correction technique I can think of is going to be extremely tedious. Is there a way to select and color correct a linear error? Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kimmo]

don't know about the red line, but climb=nice. looks like fun times indeed.

[spiderman]

Wicked shots!

[billcoe]

Awesome! Show up anytime with any climbing photos!!!! Appreciate you sharing these with an honest account of the days work. Sorry I'm lame at photoshop (I could fix red eye but red streaks, hmmm) or I'd help fix the pics.

 

To me, this is a more impressive pic than the one that gets posted a lot.

 

Good stuff all the way around though. I don't have any/many pics I can pull from the way back machine, so it's always nice to see others stuff.

 

[fenderfour]

Man is that climb good.

 

Nice pics and thanks for sharing.

 

The first roof is very fun and not as hard as it looks. The second roof is pretty damn hard, pulling over on a rattly finger lock.

 

 

[olyclimber]

Nice Pope! Thanks for the TR.

 

BTW yes fixing that redline should be a fairly straight forward procedure, but you'll have to have some grasp of Photoshop. I'm not photoshop wizard, but I did this basic/crude removal in about 5 minutes (you can see a few defects that could be cleaned up):

 

 

 

 

There are many ways to achieve this, some better than others. I just used the "Spot Healing" and "Clone" tools.

 

 

[Off_White]

Right on Pope, possibly the best post you've ever made. Those are some great shots, need any help cleaning up the scans? I've got a slide/negative scanner that will give some great baseline data to start with, and with a large scan its just a matter of patience to make old images look great. Of course, if you come down to Tenino to do the scans I'll make you sport climb in my yard, but I promise I won't tell any tales out of school.

[Spore]

Stroke Pope Thread.

[pope]

There are many ways to achieve this, some better than others. I just used the "Spot Healing" and "Clone" tools.

 

 

Thanks. Those are the two tools I tried and I found it to be a bit tedious, but at least it works.

[pope]

Right on Pope, possibly the best post you've ever made. Those are some great shots, need any help cleaning up the scans? I've got a slide/negative scanner that will give some great baseline data to start with, and with a large scan its just a matter of patience to make old images look great. Of course, if you come down to Tenino to do the scans I'll make you sport climb in my yard, but I promise I won't tell any tales out of school.

 

OW, you're too kind. I may take you up on that offer. Always wanted to check out your private crag.

[pope]

Good stuff all the way around though. I don't have any/many pics I can pull from the way back machine, so it's always nice to see others stuff.

 

Thanks Bill. Funny that I got into hiking because of photography, and hiking eventually made me curious about climbing. Then, the more I got into climbing, the less I wanted to carry a 35 SLR with multiple lenses or even a zoom. Wish we had digital photography 20 years ago.

[Raindawg]

Stroke Pope Thread.

 

Dude...this was your first post and you registered just to insult a guy who shared some of his cool photos.Classy!

 

Speculative reenactment of a first post.

 

[telemarker]

Thanks for sharing the story and photos! This is my dream free-solo pitch. What a great route.

[JensHolsten]

I really like these shots...cool stuff. I will say to potential free solo suitors...Pope's left hand hold in the second shot (a key hold on BB's) is loose as a goose these days. Careful if your up there with no cord...

[StevenSeagal]

Hey Pope-

 

Cheers and thanks for the cool report. It's good to get the full backstory and more photos about it in a non-spray setting. That was the real deal!

 

-SS

 

ps-even though it does give Raindawg more spank material!

[TrogdortheBurninator]

I've always thought those posted photos and the one in the guide book were awesome! Way beyond me.