North Face VS South Face

[iain]

I don't need another lecture in cirque generation either, I've had enough geomorphology.

[iain]

how long till dr. fern rings in?

[Greg_W]

quote:

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Originally posted by iain:

I don't need another lecture in cirque generation either, I've had enough geomorphology.

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Hey there, Iain. Don't let Dru's intellectual superiority get you down. I'm sure there are things you excel at. Geomorphology just isn't everyone's bag, man. Chin up, there, bro.

 

Greg W

[iain]

ah greg's a'trollin' once again. don't you have some sport climbers to snuggle with right now? the portaledge is always open Pooh-lover, I'll put a Zima on ice for you.

[Necronomicon]

Frost action.

[Greg_W]

quote:

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Originally posted by iain:

ah greg's a'trollin' once again. don't you have some sport climbers to snuggle with right now? the portaledge is always open Pooh-lover, I'll put a Zima on ice for you.

---

Thanks, now I have to go shower in acid to remove the extreme yucky feeling I have after reading your post.

[leejams]

This is a no-brainer! Me and every partner I have ever climmbed with, upon reaching the summit took a piss on the warm sun baked south side. Therefore, more erosion on that side. Vice versa for the southern hemisphere (I think)

[snoboy]

quote:

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Originally posted by ScottP:

quote:

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Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman:

Doesnt the nose of el crap face south?

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Yep, and it's one of the easiest wall routes on the formation.

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Is Elcap young though in comparision to many of the routes we are looking at here?

[remlec]

back to the crux of the question 'cause we were talking about it over the weekend. if it's true north routes are more severe here, alps, etc, are the south routes more severe in the southern hemi?

[Dru]

yes. BUT, east faces are still steeper than west faces due to Coriolis Force effects!!!

[ScottP]

Mt Cook, New Zealand:

south side

vs

north side

[ScottP]

quote:

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Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman:

What's so easy about it

Are you judging from reputation?

 

What if I cant climb 5.10 but weigh 98lbs and think A4 is easier. 36 pitches of A4 could be easier

 

Also how was I to read your mind about using the word "wall"

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In rock climbing vernacular, the term "wall" usually is a shortened term for "big wall" which denotes "big wall techniques" meaning a substantial use of aid, hauling supplies for an extended stay, etc.

 

As for your A4 anaolgy, hard aid is as much a head game as it is a technical ability. Even 98 pounders can find A4 to be quite hard, when they are looking at 36 pitches of potential substantial falls. Since the Nose isn't that hard, I don't see how your analogy applies anyway.

[Cpt.Caveman]

quote:

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Originally posted by ScottP:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman:

What's so easy about it

Are you judging from reputation?

 

What if I cant climb 5.10 but weigh 98lbs and think A4 is easier. 36 pitches of A4 could be easier

 

Also how was I to read your mind about using the word "wall"

---

In rock climbing vernacular, the term "wall" usually is a shortened term for "big wall" which denotes "big wall techniques" meaning a substantial use of aid, hauling supplies for an extended stay, etc.

 

As for your A4 anaolgy, hard aid is as much a head game as it is a technical ability. Even 98 pounders can find A4 to be quite hard, when they are looking at 36 pitches of potential substantial falls. Since the Nose isn't that hard, I don't see how your analogy applies anyway.

---

Right on. I still call you a wank for saying it's easy if you have not climbed it and hauled the pigs. I can sit here and say that the many climbs are easy at the comfort of my fatmaker chair

[Dru]

more brawling

[ScottP]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman:

quote:

---

Originally posted by ScottP:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman:

What's so easy about it

Are you judging from reputation?

 

What if I cant climb 5.10 but weigh 98lbs and think A4 is easier. 36 pitches of A4 could be easier

 

Also how was I to read your mind about using the word "wall"

---

In rock climbing vernacular, the term "wall" usually is a shortened term for "big wall" which denotes "big wall techniques" meaning a substantial use of aid, hauling supplies for an extended stay, etc.

 

As for your A4 anaolgy, hard aid is as much a head game as it is a technical ability. Even 98 pounders can find A4 to be quite hard, when they are looking at 36 pitches of potential substantial falls. Since the Nose isn't that hard, I don't see how your analogy applies anyway.

---

Right on. I still call you a wank for saying it's easy if you have not climbed it and hauled the pigs. I can sit here and say that the many climbs are easy at the comfort of my fatmaker chair

---

Compare the "Big Wall" ratings of the routes on El Cap and you will see that it is one of the easiest. That's all I was saying.

As for Big Walls in general, there's nothing easy about them.

They are nothing but self-induced forced labor.

[BigWallBigBallsRocky]

Big Walls are for punters. Big Boulders is where its at. In 10 years climbing Big Walls with aiders and daisy chains is gonna seem as anachronistic as climbing waterfalls with leashes does now.

[meganerd]

In a sense, El Cap is hardly a mountain at all; it is a high point of the valley wall of the Merced River (Yosemite Valley). A particularly active valley glacier carved this formation out of particularly hard rock and now you have quite a steep and sporting wall to climb. Same process is forging big wall routes in the Ruth Gorge in Alaska near Denali, but in that case, only half of the granite is exposed due to an obnoxious glacier in the way. As soon as we dispose of that through G W Bush's SUV promotion campaign, we will have a killer big wall to go conquer. Yeah, roc jocs forever!!!!! I hate the world

 

But yeah, in general, due to colder conditions due to shading, and less solar radiation due to lower sun angles, north faces in the northern hemisphere and south faces in the southern hemisphere tend to have far more glaciation. There are two predominant types of erosion in the high mountains: glacial and frost action. Glacier erosion acts relatively quicly and tends to carve out very steep headwalls, ridges, horns, and such. Frost action on the other hand generally tends to work more slowly and more or less smooth the surfaces of mountains lessening the angle of a slope and producing a big mellow-angle talus pile at the bottom of cliffs. So, on north facing slopes in the N Hemisphere, relatively recent heavy glaciation during the recent ice ages (up to 10000 years ago or so) produced some very steep forms and frost action hasn't really had a chance to catch up yet. Through G W Bush's supply side economics and unchecked corporate influence and "self policing" polution policies warming the climate and reducing glaciers, frost action should have some time to catch up and wear things down until the human race destroys itself and the earth corrects itself and heads into another ice age preparing the world's mountains for an invasion of the mountaineers from other worlds previously mentioned in this thread.

 

As we have seen in Yosemite and the Ruth Gorge however, N face glaciation = steep rock is not a hard and fast rule. In areas with intense valley glaciation and very hard, erosion resistant rock, steep faces can be found facing any direction, in the N or S hemispheres. Now isn't that super!