[TR] bacon rawk - WindSurfer/FFS=>P-line HDW=>Jensen's Rimjob III+A2 8/24/2009

[ivan]

Trip: bacon rawk - WindSurfer/FFS=>P-line HDW=>Jensen's Rimjob III+A2

 

Date: 8/24/2009

 

Trip Report:

last September I did the first ascent of pipedream in likely a bazillion years and mentioned that the anchors for the pipeline headwall looked like total shit – moof was w/ me on that epic belay (which we settled up on down on Mideast crisis this spring ) and graciously volunteered to not only fix the anchor, but also the first lead bolt – y-day lost cam Kenny and I set out to check on his handiwork

 

I began by totally sucking on windsurfer – holy fuck! I was a shitty free climber even before I started seriously into the aid thing, but I’ve badly degenerated and found myself whining way, way more than ever before on that particular gem – shit! anyhow, after a sad show, I made it to the top and Kenny opted to jug up rather than show me up smile – round 6 in the post-meridian I set off for the sickness, leaving Kenny w/ my tunebox to pass the time

 

I reckoned I’d be able to finish in far less than the time it took me to do pipedream, which was good, as that would put me at the anchors damn near midnight (we still ended up rapping in the dark) – moof is the man for swapping out the jingus lead bolt, which instilled a tremendous confidence (albeit only for 4 feet) that I’d lacked on pipedream, which shares the first few feet – I used tension to traverse over 3 placemtns before commencing up the crack, which perhaps moof didn’t take (you can stay on pipedream a long ways before swinging over) as he didn’t report using any exotic gear and I needed 2 beak placements

 

gotta love the hornets – while sketching on thin bullshit, I spotted a funky pocket that refused a #2, but accepted a seriously bizarre #1 placement – I noticed an old, seemingly abandoned hornet nest in the back, but upon plugging up the pocket, it began to buzz like yer mama’s favorite double-ended dildo, spitting out pissed off bugs that illustrated that the pocket was in fact just a fractured block with several exit points, likely to spit me off when I began thrashing around to swat the evil fuckers swarming about me – for the rest of the climb, kenny’s job was to alert me when one was actually landing on me (which he did while simultaneously belaying, talking on the phone, smoking, photog’n, and manning the mp3 smile )

 

the route is que exciting, and blissfully shorter than pipedream – once past the first 1/3 which involves stupid thin gear and terrible anxiety, it gives way to a antique via ferrata mixed in w/ more exciting gear (not that half of the pins are real reliable – 1 in particular looks homemade, 50 years old, and has recently shed half the rock that once held it in place! smile ) – moof still hasn’t swapped out the 2nd lead bolt, but it’s not critical to the pipeline crack

 

the last half of the climb would be classic if more folks will get on it – a 5.7ish scoop leads through intense exposure and lichen-crusted rock, complete w/ ancient vegetation garbage and broiling antmounds to a wide finish crack to the anchor – there’s a blackberry bush that threatens to take over, but maybe moof cut into it last winter?

 

the new anchors are superb and would be an even better locale than ground zero to enjoy a portaledge evening – better yet is the next pitch! 60 feet of 5” crack leads to you to jensen's rimjob and the trail walkoff for the complete experience – I’ve no idea if it’s been done before – the Olson writeup for the route is a joke (no description at all and pro to 2”?!? the 5.11 rating also seems insane) – but i’m looking forward to going back and finishing the whole mealdeal (which mean’s carrying 2 #4-5’s and a #6)

 

for anyone still reading, here’s the most important bit – the rap off moof’s new anchors is fucking incredible and by itself justifies climbign the route! don’t know how he misstated it (wait – well, he is a laconic fucker I reckon) but the double rope 60 meter rap to the ground boggles the mind and is by far the kewlest rap to be found at beacon – 35 meters down you pass the arena of terror and the wall suddenly shoots away, leaving you dangling in space, 50 feet away from the rock w/ a looong way still to go – as we did this in the dark, the experience was greatly enhanced

 

anyhow in closing, thanks to moof for the cleanup and revivification and for the love of jeebus, would somebody help us keep these bitches in shape? they are spectacular practice routes for the valley and are plenty fun in their own right.

 

now for the climbing pron:

the royal we approaching pipeline headwall belay via windsurfer

where in da fuck?

standing on a hundred year old pin

who doesn't like nailing from a shaky stance, surronded by pissed off wasps, just one blue alien away from a big'ole pendulum fall into a pillar?

well up the pipeline headwall

kenny, upon getting his first-ever instructions on how to lower out to follow an aid-pitch

 

 

Gear Notes:

gear:

1 cam hook (no other hooks necessary)

1 birdpeak (used twice – shortest kb’s would work too, especially if you wanna fix’em to complement the iron above)

double set of nuts – offsets useful – didn’t use any micro-nuts

X2 blue to green aliens

X2 #3 camalots (need them for the top)

X3 yellow aliens, .5, .75, #1, #2

if you wanna top out (highly! recommended) – 2 #4,#5, 1 #6 (or leave the #6 and 1 of the #5s and finish via jensens ridge instead of rimjob)

[ivan]

post-script:

 

having done the aformentioned tuesday afternoon, took the original villian himself (moof) out sunday to top out the route - moof, who'd been saving his strength since our valley trip, defty dispatched aided-by-sum while i chain-smoked and head-banged at the base, enjoying the rope recovery operation a crew on free for all endured

 

i re-led the first pitch of pline headwall, whining every bit as much as the previous day, but somehow forgetting to do the cam-hook bit - tried sparing the wasps by not placing a piece in their pocket, but dispatched it w/ a vengeance after they decided to come after me anyway

 

i short-fixed our 3rd pitch while seann cleaned - this pitch could be fuckign awesome if The Brethern wished it - a 5 inch offwidth that upon inspection revealed a right-book side of a thin crack for nut-pro - good feet too - just needs 50 feet of thick-ass-never-been-scrubbed-since-da-dawn-of-tide lichen to make perfect

 

we ended up on the ledge below jensen's rimjob - i selflessly yielded this pitch to moof, who took my sweet ass directions ("pull the roof, enter a funky pressure chamber w/ intensely orange lichen everywhere, then escape via face cracks to the left to a notch in the ridgeline and belay") and ignored them in favor a sweeter, though scarier variation straight up - the beta here is critical: you must stuff something into the finger crack at the roof-top to prevent horrendous ropedrag which threatens to kill the leader and makes the second on cleanign wanna wet his pants, contemplating an 800 foot fall down to the railroad tracks

 

standard poison oak escape off the top - waiting for the flowers to bloom even now

 

on the homeward leg, returned to my humble abode and mixed benadryl w/ a couple quarts of redwine and pizza, taking in the usual sunday fuckey-fuckey shows w/ the little missus - then i woke up and went to work for the first time in 2 months, so i'm feeling a wee bit crabby

 

moof styl'n'on aided-by-sum

from jensen's rimjob - a fine place to take in the courting rituals of horny-ass ospreys while trying not to let the avalanche of lichen from above to blind you

moof on jensens' rimjob, shortly before finding his own variation to my variation

[pink]

nice goin man, pipedream is a fun climb. i climbed it asszillion years ago in a snow storm... remember the bird poop being thick in some spots. didn't eric free climb pipedream a few centuries ago?

[billcoe]

Classic as always. BTW, the offer for free jewelweed is open to you or anyone who is suffering from the oak from hell as well.

[ivan]

i can't imagine anyone freeing pipedream, though i know it's been done - the pro is so thin, the rock so steep and dirty, sheee-it!

[pink]

hey wait! you're eric.... good job man! did u finally get that rosetta stone for free climber?

[ivan]

hey wait! you're eric.... good job man! did u finally get that rosetta stone for free climber?

quite the opposite, the winter of aid-climbing to prepare for da valley has yielded the poorest climbs i've yet had of blown out and windsurfer

[pink]

ya know???? if we could turn beacon rock upside down there would be more stuff to grab onto... how were the anchors on pipedream? did you have to place your own, trad anchors are such a pain in the ass

[ivan]

haven't climbed pipedream since last year but i bet i was the last guy there, so that anchor is 1 shitty bolt and 1 shitty pin i recall, connected via my ratty old emergency prusiks, the whole works protected by an immense blacberry bush that i noted yday has gronw a bit in the intervening 12 months

 

the pipline headwall, on the other hand, has super-nifty new anchors and no shrubbery - the ow pitch above it could be cleaned w/ a pair of shears though and yield a schweeet pitch htough i think, so maybe i have a plan for next weekend?

[LostCamKenny]

Ivan forgot to mention that my headlamp went dead when I reached the belay after jugging and cleaning the 2nd pitch - thus the rappel into the darkness, and then the free-hanging darkness, got really, really freaky! I almost needed to stop and cry when I reached the top roof of the arena...

[billcoe]

Ivan forgot to mention that my headlamp went dead when I reached the belay after jugging and cleaning the 2nd pitch - thus the rappel into the darkness, and then the free-hanging darkness, got really, really freaky! I almost needed to stop and cry when I reached the top roof of the arena...

 

Deeper into the dark misty fog of confusion...slowly...ever so slowly. Holding the breath, afraid of death as the slow agonizing fear crept up form the dark abyss unknown underneath.....the ground the daylight and sanity and all but distant confusing dreams.....

 

 

The horror....the horror....

[ivan]

Ivan forgot to mention that my headlamp went dead when I reached the belay after jugging and cleaning the 2nd pitch - thus the rappel into the darkness, and then the free-hanging darkness, got really, really freaky! I almost needed to stop and cry when I reached the top roof of the arena...

which is why i was happy to let him go first

 

seriously though, go do this rap!

[LostCamKenny]

Oh it was plenty exciting! I knew the ropes would reach since we dropped the tagline before I started to clean P2... The knot in the main line halfway down did provide a bit of the excitement, though. Luckily I saw it with enough rope to do a few leg wraps to free it up! Then I had to untangle the tag line from the tree it landed in closer to the bottom... Nearly epic descent!