[TR] Beasodden Rock - Jensen's Rectum (fa? III+, 5.8 C1) 1/16/2011

[ivan]

Trip: Beasodden Rock - Jensen's Rectum (fa? III+, 5.8 C1)

 

Date: 1/16/2011

 

Trip Report:

that perplexing puzzle persists, why can't i put a beacon wand report in its proper place?

 

the hibernal bear hug of perpetual gray and gloom and damp has desended on the rock, and getting up something new required quite the plan, albiet one that fell together rather haphazardly and w/ rarely a real goal in mind

 

i clibmed jensen's ridge proper w/ that rock-animal powderhound at the beginning of the fall or thereabouts, and was reminded of a line to the right of what i'd called jensen's rimjob a few years back- it turned out to be a fun line, one that would be spectacular in summer conditions, but whose isolation ensures it will be forever neglected unless rap anchors are put in for those who can't climb thin, hard, dirty 5.11+ or aren't dumb n' ornery enough to do a long aid pitch

 

moof a bit more than a year ago on jensen's rimjob - the rectum rumbles on down just to his right where the brush is (well, was.. )

 

bored n' lonely, somewhere not too long after the jaunt w/ the 'hund, i found myself soloing the first pitch of fresh squeeze, oft tr'ed but rarely led - i couldn't do it w/o some hammering, though even a hammer is little help in the Great Land of Razorblade Blocks bit halfway up - i left my static line fixed, figuring i'd be back sometime soon

 

turned out to be a couple weeks, weeks spent recreating n' boozing n' working n' doing god knows what in something like the reverse of that order - beaconben wanted to get after it, so up my rope we went, planning on the pipeline headwall and maybe somethign up above that - i threw all the big cams and the ironmongery in the bag, and watching him lead out, happy that for once i didn't have to do it

 

my yosylm future fellow-inmate-to-be

ben on the pipeline attack!

a fun pitch to follow too, requiring 2 lower-outs, just above the arena's roof - jensen's rectum follows that plumbline up to the trail

unlike y-day, the sun actually came out occasionally between bouts of rain

it got to raining hard that day, so i left my 2 lines fixed to the newish anchor up there at the great stance, 10 meters below jensen's rimjob - i cast off a souvenier from the silver crow line on the way down from

the rap through the arena of terror's rooftop never fails to please...

so it was the plan to return soon and do the new line -the big shrubs throughout made it pretty clear it would either be a first ascent, or the first in a real long time - but the winter setin something fierce - mike and i made an attempt to get up the fixed lines but in anything like a breeze the result was total, abject horror - before too long it was almost time for the closure, so even w/ a crap forecast, rainwise, w/ calm called for i resolved to get it done or cry trying

 

we fortified ourselves w/ some kalifornia-kandy and began the big jug

apparently it had snowed a good deal last week - the trail along the base required kicking in some steps

the fattest boy goes first - between the rain and the rope, i conspired to thoroughly soak myself, as well as tear the shit out of my hands...

the rain built and built, and by the time mike had followed up, i'd gotten the ropes n' rack sorted and set out, knowing we'd bail if i hadn't gotten out of reach by the time he arrived and Starting Making Sense - the pitch off the pipeline ledge is crazy cool, a great coursing waterfall in wet conditions, slathered in thick lichen - in summer, if you could rap into it, it would probably be a super-classic, maybe 5.8 once cleaned off? fantastic exposure and well protected, especially if you have 2 #5 camalots

after 10 meters you gain the sloping ledge that leads over to jensen's ridge & rimjob - i kept going strait-up what is a delightful steep finger crack w/ good feet - it needed a bit of gardening to get out the thick branches, but now is a free-climbing jewel to be had - above that it would have been easy to freeclimb over to the Yellow Cave that lets you escape onto jensen's ridge, but in the horrid, pouring wet, i had to instead do a penji - 35 meters from the pipeline ledge anchor i hit the notch in jensen's ridge, a half rope length from the trail - mike got the joy of doing that bit, which normally is just a couple feet of real climbing and then delicate brush pulling through poison oak, but on this occasion required several bizarre species of aid-climbing to be survived, all ably done by mike as i shivered in my sodden state, sipping on hot honied tea

 

the walk down the trail was memorable, rainwater swilling about the soles of my feet - a raging waterfall running over the last bit of the trail - it turned out my plan for getting into dry clothes consisted simply of drinking pbr the whole way home

 

lookig forward to going back inthe summer - there's a much more pure, direct finish to be done to the trail, but at the moment several hundred pounds of dangerous blocks are in the way...

 

Gear Notes:

camalots: 1-2 #5, 4, 3, 2, 1, .75

aliens: 2 yellow, red, green, 1 blue

double set of off-set nuts

[ivan]

mike took some videos that shows shit about right - wtf though, can't figure out how to make facebook videos work?

[video:facebook]

[video:facebook]

[video:facebook]

[billcoe]

Nice TR! What a super wet weekend, good on you for still doing something!

 

Facebook sucks. "This video either has been removed from Facebook or is not visible due to privacy settings."

[YocumRidge]

Ivan, still keep torturing poor Beacon, summer or winter?

 

Nice work you guys!

[stevetimetravlr]

gonna have to upload the video to Vimeo. Otrhwise it didn't happen.

[ivan]

gonna have to upload the video to Vimeo. Otrhwise it didn't happen.

yeah, gotta get mike to take that one - the video of the waterfall on the trail is worhtwhile

 

jeebus, 24 hrs later half my shit is still wet

[fgw]

Nice!

 

[pink]

did u really name that jensens rectum?

[ivan]

seeing's how it's not out of the realm of possibilities that some other motherfucka done did it in the way'back era, it could actually have another more legitimate name - i was just, ya know, trying to stick w/ a theme, given that these 2 pitches i've done are a species of variation of jensen's ridge (apparently a very old route at beacon too, and wicked proud for those old boys) - jensen's ridge, rimjob, and rectum - the rectum fits too, as a descriptive - it was pouring muddy water y-day, albeit not quite body temp

 

i doctored this photo of joe's i found online to show those rare-climbed lines on the taint-end of the bacon-wand - orange is jensen's ridge, red is jensens rimjob, yellow is jensens rectum (the skull is where a lot of blocks need to get cast off when a belayer's not below) - pink is pipeline is the access to the rectum and green is pipedream, which i need to do again and look at the top out from there...

[pink]

cool!

[ivan]

to stoke up righeous indignation, can i at least make a credible cause for bolted anchors along this side? the current inability to rap down to any of the rts downridge of big ledge consigns them all to oblvion - i'd like to be able to go from that big switchback in the trail to a pt just about the jensen's nothc, then plumb down from there...

[stevetimetravlr]

ya got my vote Ivan. Do it mon!

[Plaidman]

One yeah vote here! Anchors are good.

[JosephH]

Exactly where are you talking about? Seems like some poison ivy work would be a more productive use of the time - especially now while it's down.

 

...the current inability to rap down to any of the rts downridge of big ledge consigns them all to oblvion -

I'm a bit confused here. I thought we were climbers?

 

[corvallisclimb]

Exactly where are you talking about? Seems like some poison ivy work would be a more productive use of the time - especially now while it's down.

 

...the current inability to rap down to any of the rts downridge of big ledge consigns them all to oblvion -

I'm a bit confused here. I thought we were climbers?

 

I agree... wassup Ivan?!?!!?! Climbers not rappers!

[stevetimetravlr]

Does anyone ever venture into that area above the Arena of Terror? Have you ever climbed up there Joe? Nobody ever up there that I have seen except Ivan and company. I think perchance Ivan is just trying to gain a somewhat easier access to these little visited areas so he can do some cleaning/trundling so its not so gnarly/filthy when they do get climbed.

[JosephH]

Does anyone ever venture into that area above the Arena of Terror? Have you ever climbed up there Joe? Nobody ever up there that I have seen except Ivan and company. I think perchance Ivan is just trying to gain a somewhat easier access to these little visited areas so he can do some cleaning/trundling so its not so gnarly/filthy when they do get climbed.

 

Yes, I freed the stretch from the Pipeline anchor up to the base of Silver Crow and have spent a bit of time in the realm at the top of Jensen's. I thought the aid renaissance did constitute 'access' and I'm not sure quite how rapping routes relates to opening climbing on them in this case. Now I'm not clearly not opposed to anchors, but in this case I'm just trying to connect the dots between rapping from the railing and standing in the arena looking up.

[ivan]

Exactly where are you talking about? Seems like some poison ivy work would be a more productive use of the time - especially now while it's down.

 

...the current inability to rap down to any of the rts downridge of big ledge consigns them all to oblvion -

I'm a bit confused here. I thought we were climbers?

fuck, i have patches of zombie flesh popping up all over me - poison oak, a poignant reminder that, if god exits, he's a malicious asshhole

 

 

[billcoe]

i have patches of zombie flesh popping up all over me - poison oak, a poignant reminder that, if god exits, he's a malicious asshhole

 

...wuz it old growth Poison Oak as seen here running up the Fir Tree?

I think some of that Beacon Rock poison oak tried to kill Jeff. I didn't have the heart to tell him that all of the PO he'd ripped out had grown back a few months later on Lay Lady Lay crack. That stuff is malevolent.

[stevetimetravlr]

If its going to take rap anchors to clean up there and allow access, I am for it. Just back from Beacon again. It was raining so we just rapped in checking out some lines for future reference. That first pitch of the Dutchman is clean, but the 2nd pitch must never get done because the crack is all lichenated and somewhat chossy. Next spring I'll volunteer to give it a good scouring.

Jensens Ridge and all those upper routes must be even worse? With Beacon closed half the year, we just don't get the traffic to keep most of the climbs clean, and a majority of the climbs in the guidebook are rarely if ever done either due to the moss has overtaken them or the fixed gear/anchors are old. Its not a matter of whether you can climb up there, aid or free, its a matter of who wants to clean those cracks while leading them. Not me, but it would be great if they could all get a good scrubbing, and if it takes a new rap anchor to access that terrain to do it, why not? I talked to Jim as he was out there at the parking lot, and he is not for it intially, but I think he could be convinced if its for a well thought out cleaning project. If Ivan wants to go to all that work, who are we to stand in his way!

Also, rockfall came down the Corner and hit a tree. Nothing major but the tree blocks the trail right below the corner now. Cool.

[Plaidman]

If its going to take rap anchors to clean up there and allow access, I am for it. Just back from Beacon again. It was raining so we just rapped in checking out some lines for future reference. That first pitch of the Dutchman is clean, but the 2nd pitch must never get done because the crack is all lichenated and somewhat chossy. Next spring I'll volunteer to give it a good scouring.

Jensens Ridge and all those upper routes must be even worse? With Beacon closed half the year, we just don't get the traffic to keep most of the climbs clean, and a majority of the climbs in the guidebook are rarely if ever done either due to the moss has overtaken them or the fixed gear/anchors are old. Its not a matter of whether you can climb up there, aid or free, its a matter of who wants to clean those cracks while leading them. Not me, but it would be great if they could all get a good scrubbing, and if it takes a new rap anchor to access that terrain to do it, why not? I talked to Jim as he was out there at the parking lot, and he is not for it intially, but I think he could be convinced if its for a well thought out cleaning project. If Ivan wants to go to all that work, who are we to stand in his way!

Also, rockfall came down the Corner and hit a tree. Nothing major but the tree blocks the trail right below the corner now. Cool.

 

Go Steve Go! I am with ya 100%. Thanks for doing rap duty with me today. Slippery but fun. It may take a saw to get that broken branch at the bottom of the corner. It must have been a sizeable rock that fell to break the branch.

[ivan]

yeah, mike and i saw all that shit that had come tumbling down, obliterating a good chunk of the trees in the way - i was glad not to be in the neighborhood

 

i woulda been out there 2day but my shit's still wet

 

nothing stays clean out there unless its done quite regularly - not bitching about it really, explains why aiding's often easiest - i think most of the obscure lines in the book weren't done more than a few times and were just cleaned then enough to get it done - so by that rationale, only free climbs that have the potential to be done a bunch are worth cleaning much - jensen's rectum probably fits the bill - you can downclimb the ridge over the railing, then you'd need just a single rap anchor to do a double rope rap to the pipeline headwall anchor

 

omfg my oozing skin makes me want to hurl

 

 

[JosephH]

I didn't have the heart to tell him that all of the PO he'd ripped out had grown back a few months later on Lay Lady Lay crack. That stuff is malevolent.

Last winter I rapped LLL with Jeff and we replaced all the anchors to the ground. I went with him to check out the PO on LLL because I think it's one of the better free climbs out there and from the boat launch the PO looked like it was single large vine up the climb. Turns out it is hundreds of individual plants rooted way the f#ck back in the crack and grown into a more or less solid mass. I'm guessing to kill them you'd have to:

 

1) Drop in with 2-4 backpack sprayers of a mix of crossbow and diesel fuel just about this time of year and saturate the shit out of it.

2) Come back six months later after it opens, saturate it with straight diesel, then torch the whole thing and burn it out.

3) Come back a month later and clean it out (w/ full suits/breathing gear).

4) Follow up with another round of crossbow / diesel at the one year mark.

5) Follow up with another round of straight crossbow after the next open and then start climbing it.

 

In other words, you'd have to get as agro on it as the PO itself.

 

seeing's how it's not out of the realm of possibilities that some other motherfucka done did it in the way'back era

FAs above Jensens? I have a hard time believing McGown didn't crawl all over that area on one hand; but on the other, if he had, I would think you'd have seen at least some trace of fixed gear unless it was really C1.

 

If its going to take rap anchors to clean up there and allow access, I am for it.

Last I checked there was ample access from the ground [for climbers] and cleaning can be accomplished by climbing as well. Look, need an anchor? Do an anchor, but I'm still trying to connect-the-dots as far as the "access" rationale (and what if you couldn't rap?). Maybe I'm wrong, but I think I'm hearing new-anchor-for-rap-in-climbing which seems an odd deal at best, but hey, that's just me.

 

That first pitch of the Dutchman is clean, but the 2nd pitch must never get done because the crack is all lichenated and somewhat chossy.

I cleaned the whole thing out thoroughly when I re-anchored it and given it at least a light going over every year on open since to clear out the majority of the stuff water pulls down the crack every winter. Not sure why p2 would need more than that unless you were going to try and free it and then it's a pretty easy and straightforward job on that rap.

 

With Beacon closed half the year, we just don't get the traffic to keep most of the climbs clean, and a majority of the climbs in the guidebook are rarely if ever done either due to the moss has overtaken them or the fixed gear/anchors are old.

The 'majority of the climbs in the guidebook' on the south face have new anchors (71 at last count) and basically all of the fixed gear across the face has been checked / reset / replaced fairly recently and is solid. The columns above the arena are the only area I haven't gotten to and if you guys would take a drill, even a hand drill, on your aid expeditions up on those they'd have fresh anchors in no time. And we don't have cleaner climbs at Beacon in general because by and large no one can be bothered to clean them. If everyone would simply adopt and clean just a single south face column route at the start of each season they'd stay relatively clean, certainly clean enough for aid climbing.

 

I'll be honest and say I really don't get the whole aid renaissance thing in the face of the fact all you guys are capable of doing high-level free climbing when you want. Ditto on the rapping-in-the-rain deal, but to each his own I suppose. I was more thinking of a free revival when I did the anchors, but then I'm pretty glad to see routes get traffic either way (and kudos to Ivan for always getting after something). I get the idea of using existing anchors for routine cleaning, but I guess I don't know how I feel in the end about new anchoring for rap-in 'access' to climbs.

 

Also, rockfall came down the Corner and hit a tree. Nothing major but the tree blocks the trail right below the corner now. Cool.

Hmmmm, this could theoretically be remnants of last year's big rockfall, but I can't picture what other than the big rock to the right on the last pitch of YW and I have a hard time believing that wouldn't be further out on the tracks. I'd guess more likely it's further deterioration of whatever mystery patch is over the edge below the high, final Corner ramp that's been raining stuff down on the Corner start for the past two years. If it's nice this weekend I'll be out and survey things; everyone else doing the Corner should take a look around for the source as well.

[stevetimetravlr]

I'll be honest and say I really don't get the whole aid renaissance thing in the face of the fact all you guys are capable of doing high-level free climbing when you want. Ditto on the rapping-in-the-rain deal, but to each his own I suppose. I was more thinking of a free revival when I did the anchors, but then I'm pretty glad to see routes get traffic either way (and kudos to Ivan for always getting after something). I get the idea of using existing anchors for routine cleaning, but I guess I don't know how I feel in the end about new anchoring for rap-in 'access' to climbs.

The whole aid and rapping in the rain renaissance thing is due to the fact that the last 10 weeks have been very wet, cold, and windy. I don't see anyone freeing anything. Its just been to slick to free climb. So when you can't free climb, aid climb. Or rap in and clean and check out lines for future reference.

[JosephH]

On s. face column routes at least, cleaning them in the rain would truly suck and be a bit counterproductive what with all the mud you'd be smearing into the rock grain. But I hear you, I just dig in and study over the winter until two dry days happen in a row. Between being sick and the weather I haven't been out at all this winter versus most of them I get in 15-25 goes between nov. 1st and feb. 1st depending on the how the winter goes. This year has definitely been a bust.