Index Aid Climbing!

[Corduroy Man]

Hey all! So I'm training for a big project down south later this spring and I'm looking to get my aid skills dialed! I hear Index is the place! Any one have good route reccomendations up to A3 would be okay, just got my hammer!!! Some place to practice setting up my hammock and haul bag? Soon I hope to have a FISH ledge! Anyways look forward to some reccomendations! Thanks! Rock on!

 

PS Anyone want to partner up? Send me a message!

[matt_warfield]

Cord Man,

 

I think you really have the right idea to get ready for the big stone. Peruse your earlier thread and I think you will find some good routes at Index to hone your skills. Like was said before, big walls have a lot of logistics so work hard on cleaning, hauling, and overall efficiency. Find a partner with experience and you will greatly benefit. Or swallow some ego and hire a guide.

 

Good luck on your preparations and on the proj down south.

[LostCamKenny]

Hey all! So I'm training for a big project down south later this spring and I'm looking to get my aid skills dialed! I hear Index is the place! Any one have good route reccomendations up to A3 would be okay, just got my hammer!!! Some place to practice setting up my hammock and haul bag? Soon I hope to have a FISH ledge! Anyways look forward to some reccomendations! Thanks! Rock on!

 

PS Anyone want to partner up? Send me a message!

be the "town crier..." great fun!

[Otto]

Do the Town Crier and Green Drag-on, but leave your new hammer behind...

[IceIceBaby]

Shine on new hammer… like it said b 4 leave the hammer home! Almost everything in index can b climbed clean or with skillful hand placed piton or hook for that matter. Get the micro and standard cam-hook and go at it…many lines can b done there…shoot just give me a decent weekend and Ill b there too

BTW if u are into practicing nailing find a chosspile that nobody interested n and go at it get some sawed-off nails and bashies too if u at it

 

[Corduroy Man]

Thanks you guys! Can't wait to get up there once the rain stops! Rock on!

[keenwesh]

are there ledges on town crier? I want to do it solo but I know it would take me more than a day. any thing big enough to sleep on? I don't mind uncomfortable, after all, it's part of the experience! ha. actually I'm dirt poor and don't want to buy a portaledge.

[climbercam]

Why so much hate on hammers? They're a must for cleaning stubborn nuts, or checking out hook placements.

[mattp]

are there ledges on town crier? I want to do it solo but I know it would take me more than a day. any thing big enough to sleep on? I don't mind uncomfortable, after all, it's part of the experience! ha. actually I'm dirt poor and don't want to buy a portaledge.

 

You might take a chase lounge from Wallmart.

[ivan]

only ledge of note is the big one at p1 top - i hauled a single 'ledge up there this summer and enjoyed solo-aiding, linking up the 2 recommended routes while partying like a rock-star at night - you could sleep up there sans ledge but it'd be shittier - the top of p2 on town crier offers a better natural ledge for sleeping i reckon, but from there on its nothing to the summit

[JBC]

From 'smokeout ledge' at the top of pitch two if you go up and right for a bit (off route) you will reach 'Big Honker Ledge' Plenty of room for a comfy bivy, even has a nice set of bolts thanks to the Swim route which uses it as a belay.

 

Jim Couch

[fenderfour]

Why so much hate on hammers? They're a must for cleaning stubborn nuts, or checking out hook placements.

 

Cleaning nuts, yes.

 

Hooks? I've done a fair amount of hooking and I've never used my hammer.

[keenwesh]

cool, I need to get my aid systems dialed too. heading up to index to solo city park on tuesday. my mom's making me look at colleges so I'm climbing on my way up to bham.

what do you guys think of the fish econoledge? can you make your own fly for it? also, are there any ledges that are 7 feet long? I'm 6'6" and would prefer not to have to dangle my gangly appendages off the edge of a ledge.

thanks!

[stevetimetravlr]

The Fish ledges are generally quite a bit smaller then the other ones, especially widthwise, pretty cramped for two unless they are small people. If you order a Fish, you should tell Russ how big you are and have him custom fit it for you for sure or you will not be happy. That said, the Fish ledge goes togather pretty quick once you get some practice with the sequence and breaks down in a couple minutes.

[ivan]

cool, I need to get my aid systems dialed too. heading up to index to solo city park on tuesday. my mom's making me look at colleges so I'm climbing on my way up to bham.

what do you guys think of the fish econoledge? can you make your own fly for it? also, are there any ledges that are 7 feet long? I'm 6'6" and would prefer not to have to dangle my gangly appendages off the edge of a ledge.

thanks!

i'm 6'7" and the fish ledge i've used is just fine - dood, you know the deal, when yer a freak you just gotta change yer expectations! my advice, only use single ledges (being also 250 lbs, i find i'm over the weight rating for X2 ledges if my partner is anything but a pixie)

[keenwesh]

so go with the econoledge? would it cost extra to extend it 5-6 inches longer? thing is I don't have 800$ to throw down right now. sewing your own fly? again, is that feasible?

[ivan]

ledges are best when begged, borrowed n' stoled

 

i got by w/ just having my bivy sack n' no fly - less of an option on a true bigwall w/ continental type weather

[keenwesh]

managed to climb city park in the blazingly slow time of 3 hours today. ended up running out of small nuts and cams 30 feet short of the top, and that was with backcleaning. any tips on how to move faster? also, another couple was out there and the dude told me to do green dragon as opposed to town crier. are there any ledges on the drag-on? can I pendulum in to a ledge on TC? should I just sack up and learn how to aid quickly? also, are there bolted belays on either routes for quick and easy bailing?

[keenwesh]

stupid double post.

Edited April 7, 2010 by keenwesh

[keenwesh]

hey, anyone want to teach me to aid climb efficiently?!

I figure me fucking around by myself on a clif will take a long while to get good, plus, my rack isn't all that big in the small sizes. anyone want to do a upper town wall route with someone with minimal aid experience? well, slow aid experience?

[ivan]

you won't aid quickly till you've aided a lot, that's just the way it goes - on city park you basically just use 3 nuts and spend all your time leapfrogging them through the crack - don't know if you're aid-soling but probably the best way to practice and get faster (even if you do spend all your time cursing at the gri )

 

both gd and tc have bolteda nchors and are easy to bail from - they're practially 20 feet away from each other and not hard to go from one to the other, especially as you go higher up - tc is marginally harder as you have to do a small pendy, plus a mostly mandatory squeezy-pitch - both routes share the same shitty natural ledge atop p1 - gd has no ledges above that and tc has 1 decent 1 just another pitch up

[ivan]

you might start working on speed and efficiency by doing laps on a bolt ladder

[G-spotter]

learn to top step

[underworld]

you have to do a small pendy

 

no you don't ::

[keenwesh]

I'm soloing with a clove hitch and a 11 mil rope. it doesn't really feed through a gri very well, and I don't have a gri, I just borrow them from my sporto friends, so I can't mod it.how do you remain stable topstepping? I don't have a fifi but I was using a adj. daisy pulled in really tight and I just didn't feel stable in the top step. rising up on my toes in the 2nd highest step felt okay though.

tips?