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[TR] ZZZZZZion - Space Splooge 4/1/2012


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Trip: ZZZZZZion - Space Splooge

 

Date: 4/1/2012

 

Trip Report:

"wind and water raged w/ storms,

wave and shingle were shackled in ice,

until another year appeared in the yard,

as it does to this day, the seasons constant,

the wonder of light coming over us.

then winter was gone, earth's lap grew lovely,

longing woke in the cooped up exile!"

 

and so it was again, a third spring i shuffled away from the storm-wracked nor'west, wanting sun and sanity after the stifling what-the-fuck of family and profession - since last year was a bit of a bust, i bet big on success this time - geoff, the gentleman who first tempted me to take on the Big Drive back two years ago was on for a sequel

 

plans laid, ripped up, reset - agonizing vacillations amid the vagaries of meteorological auguries - would yosemite go? finally we resolved to Bend Space to the big desert - one final obstacle, my own brother, bound by buxom wife, brought forth new life - yet another fatal femme to bedevil the life of men in the generation to come - i lashed the family into the family wagon to make the visit, then vacated the scene at geoff's for the glorious blast off

 

my eowyn w/ the infant ina eirinn :)

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we cast off in cloud murk, helm hard-o'er for the Faded West - wine n' black tobacco - tom waits, the crooning cookie-monster, medicating our Black Passage - i pass out near midnight, and wake in the dawn, to the dazzlingly display of my long-suffering lawyer still blazing away down the proud highway - awestruck, i volunteer to take the tiller, and within 30 minutes manage to nearly kill us all in an ill-advised passing of a double-long trailer, then to get pulled over by one of you-do-hoe's finest for the mere crime of being a man :)

 

amazingly, we arrive in zion in the mid-afternoon of our first day, fit n' fiddle enough to get after the goods - space shot! we scope it out even as a pair approach the earth-orbit ledge (can you find waldo?)

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hard to hate the zion-wands - 3 minute approaches! and to boot, this was the day before the driving restrictions set in, so we could park just across the wall n' pack n' recreate in the shadow of our impending glory

 

geoff volunteered for pitch 1, a simple move, then mostly just hiking to a belay below a big crack

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i took p2 - eschewing the 5.9 alpine start in consideration of the cob-webs engendered by trans-continental crossings, i choose instead a 5.7 rambler

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stoke-meter sprung! holy shit, you CAN find non-impossible free climbing in Mormon Country!

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moon rise over the big ledge atop pitch 2

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p3 above - given 2 choices i of-course opted to go entirely off-route :) shit, reckon they all go the same place...

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our plan was to fix as high up as possible that first road-addled day, and though we knew the strategy was to go to 4 first, then fire it off, we felt too soporific for such sheenanigans - instead we'd fix to 3, then set-off sunday, hauling basic bivy gear (wine and smokes, mostly), intending to o'ernight on the earth orbit ledge

 

high on life, we toasted our taste in life, all things having aligned - 2 ropes fixed to the top of p3, we rapped off and roared out to nap in the dust outside the park

 

day 2 dawned in the pre-dark - we'd obtained a coveted red pass to drive into the now-verbotten volkspath, so we set out in a gathering gloom - the forecast hadn't been so sweet, but the long-term look for the week was great, so how could we sit around our first full day? shit....by the time we'd jugged to the top of 3 though, the spray of sleet and shitty rain had set in...

 

geoff started up p4 anyhow as i covered under what cover i could find

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goddamn it's raining!

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strange weather, as mister waits would say - blasts of cloud and cold cum-shots, then quick clearing and glorious sun, followed by more of the same

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the road rain-slicked, geoff completed p4 and, feeling hemmed in by our plan, i prepared to follow him - the book says retreat's damn hard after the middle of p5, so i was a bit unsure what was going to happen...

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the sun returns w/ scenery

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i took off after p5 as the sleet returned

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i hit the mid-pitch free anchor as the intensity of the storm increased - soaked and not looking forward to an evening on a ledge in said condition with winds, we picked the prudent course - go down, get drunk n' get after it again tomorrow! :)

 

so off we fixed n' rapped, leaving our bivy gear n' wine n' water up high - our 3rd rope was just a skinny one though, so we rigged it instead to top-rope p3

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fine vistas on the drive out - himalayan sandstone!

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bit of a rumble w/ a ranger hereafter - drove up to the slickrock roof of the park to partake of the poisons there - retired to the empty bosum of the coal pits wash soon after only to discover the evils of utah booze peddlers - fucking villains!!!

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day 3 and again we were off in the gloaming, guilt-ridden at the ridiculous lack of common coffee - i supping instead of caffeinated cookies and 3 day old pizza-bread

 

geoff led up the fixed lines this time

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the crux of the route for me was the 2nd bit of p5 - short but toughish - offset cams nice - soon enough i was through it though, and geoff was up and ready to get after #6

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i chain-smoked and took in the views - moonlight buttress and the swoop gimp!

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geoff nearing hte top of 6

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there's gotta be something down there...

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geoff just below the most glorious aid-crack i've had the pleasure to penetrate :)

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seriously, look at this sick-mother-fucker! such a thrill - wish i'd been behind a rope-gun who coulda lead it clean, then given me my shot to follow it - as it was, it made for fantastic top-stepping on each piece, fists jammed in the dog-legs

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f-u-c-k-y-e-a-h!

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nearer my god to thee

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just below the earth orbit ledge

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i hauled in the glorious sun

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geoff arriving as the sun gets set to depart - the berths for that bitter evening just at his feet - holy shit, great ledge for a cackle and taking in the views, but hardly pimptacular for having a lay-out and a good sleep!

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we set to the serious business of getting shitty-shitty and soaking in the scenery - the great white throne!

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burgundy n' butts n' the bitter-end of the pizza bread

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my mind unmoored as the mists of evening rolled in - tunes n' tittering - tall tales - maniacal laughing - raptors roaring above the vault of the heaving heavens - venus hellbent on the heels of jupiter - the full-waxed lunar lamp born above us

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watch them birdies!

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we made out as the light faded that a three-some was nearing the jungle camp of the desert shield - the next day found 3 girls coming to grips w/ the meaty pitches, full of vim n' vigor

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after much ruminating on the meaning of some-such that i couldn't' recall now if you staked me a miner's fortune on it, we tottered off along our tiny-ledge to take our relief - geoff found a novel solution for keeping his feet Out of the The Abyss :)

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our 4th day in the park found us pissy at sun-up, shat upon in shade - we rejected the right-obvious, shuffling deeper into our sleep-sacks, not rising till the sun sprung upon not far from noon :)

 

geoff was due for p8, and paid the price - excellent exposure - a mysterious missing bolt/pin left his whimpering but soon enough he miracled his ass up the pitch anyhow

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a last look at our lodging of the last evening

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and the obligatory look down...

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geoff hauling up the last of the bivy-bits after i fixed the rope to a blasted stump just above the last "pitch"

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a grand view of the desert shield - the bevy of buxom beyotches just above the lower shade

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suck in that gut son!

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ready for the ramble on down...

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the ambling attorney too...

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a bit of cacti-kicking on the slabs, then soon enough we were at the big pinion, and on the first rap - pulling the rope, i found my gloves riddled w/ surgical spines, set in flesh

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as we descended space shot became clearer

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tearing it up on the shield!

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fun raps

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set firmly back on terra firma, there was but one thing to do...

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and holy-shee-it-muslims, here it was only half-way through the week and we got time to climb something else! luckily we had an idea...

 

Gear Notes:

das rack - the wrong hook's shown though - geoff said he used a talon twice on p4, but that was it

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AND CURSE THOSE BIRDS ON ANGELS LANDING

meh, there's so much to do in zion it's hard to begrude them a couple cliffs for a couple months, 'specially when it was so damn cold and windy and they were in the shade most of the day when i was there! :)

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Rockin' TR Ivan! Thanks for the memories! Beautiful route and looks like you had a hoot!

Did that in 2000 and wished I hadn't dropped my roll of film off the top :(

 

Kolob is my place, some sweet routes and some killer cragging up the South Fork...if you ever get the opportunity.

 

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