[TR] Wulf Rawk - Barad Dohl! 10/6/2012

[ivan]

Trip: Wulf Rawk - Barad Dohl!

 

Date: 10/6/2012

 

Trip Report:

dog love traditions - 4 years now i've been spending my bday weekend in fucksaken or-e-gone, climbing pinnacles - last year was a bit of a bust, w/ heavy mist and driving rain at wolf, but good enough to set the hook in me and drag me back for another go (plus, still good enough to get up the good bits of morgul vale and to do some decent cragging under the conspicuous arch)

 

raced home friday afternoon to pack up n' cast off - bending space through portland rush-hour traffic, bacchanalian-style - fred meyers at tualtin, our boy ben fuck knows where - a big bag of burgundy and bitter black smokes, a good book to pass the time - the connection made, the commerce dispensed with - a fine feast plan, bacon every meal to make sweet vengeance on the farmer-fucking porkies of this fair state - chuckles at the homestead and then a long dark drive to the Big Nowhere, stops every 20 minutes to drain the soiled n' sodden lizard

 

the big objective, the mighty barad-dur, way beyond my weight-class but i've a bit of a rope-gun w/ me, so why worry?

ran into a corvallis crew by the lake, and drank deep into the night - the morning after and too hung-over even to sort out the simple points of the french press

 

up the sad-sweat of the satisfyingly short yet sadistically sandy-loose trail we set, ben only having half of his usual false-starts to shit n' recover his helmet n' god knows what else - the corvallis crew was ahead of us, and suckered in by the wrong dihedral for p2, but then we were on our way - ole'boy on the attack, p1!

i followed w/ the pack quick enough, establishing my style right off the bat by immediately frenching on the bolts a restack and ben did p2 too - this one was the ugliest of the lot i thought, w/ gear that'd probably hold i suppose, but goddamn you don't want to test that if you don't have to...

i got p3&4 - ben following on 3 (strange storeis on the rebolting - the first couple on the only serious part of the pitch old smc 1/4 inchers, then some fatties where you don't hardly need'em

ben following the traverse into the top of 3

the corvallis crew did a good job of staying ahead of us - phillip (i think?) sending the last crux proudly as the sun keeled over in its wayward orbit

ben contemplating the inevitable, just below the top of p4 - fun anchor, that'n - modern bolts i think, but w/ the musuem-quality original hangers?

p5 ain't to be trifled w/, short as it is, but w/ gonzo-exposure - ben in the classic shot (and the only one where ole-boy wasn't grabbing on the gear ) - i followed in fuctacular style of course

p6 was the real nut-kicker of course, and ben sent in a style good enough for me - no joke trying to pull past the last bolt into a traverse w/ a ton of space under your heels, any fall off leaving you dangling in space w/ hershey-stains in your shorts...ben after vaulting around the corner

from there the real climbing is over of course, but there's no shortage of hill left to clamber up - several pitches, mostly simuling - a few bolts, but mostly no gear n' theoretical anchors (might as well shoulder belay there, no? ) - ben at the first summit w/ a fine vista below, hazy and smoke-fucked

minor squeaks n' furies near the summit of course -strong winds n' weak sun - where the fuck the descent/etc? put my trust in big ben, who done the whole enchilada a few months earlier, but his memory proved fallible - no worries as it all worked out - a good bit of a path at first, followed it below the next summit to a lower shoulder, then it got wiered - ultimately we hemmed n' hawed but then just headed down adn skiers right from the shoulder and, though it looked scary at first, it all worked out in the end

near the bottom of the scramble off, before pickign up a fine trail to the car

great evening after - bacon n' onions n' taters n' franks sauce n' hendrix n' camels n' crawing at the moon to the light of a roaring bonfire - early to bed n' early to rise - coffee redeemed and capital reading - then we ate mescaline and went swimming (but that, of course, is another tale )

 

Gear Notes:

cams from blue tcu up to #2 camelot - we brought doubles from yellow tcu to #1, but coulda done w/ just singles if we had to i reckon - plenty of long slings of course...

[powderhound]

Ben doesn't remember the descent cause it was damn near dark when we finally launched down the gully. I distinctly remember calling my girlfriend on top to tell her I was safe, but had to go or I was going to freeze my balls off if I didn't find the right way down soon. In fact right where you took that second to last picture of Ben I remember putting on my headlamp. Jealous. Sounds like a terrific birthday! Think the three of us need to make some plans for a Yose trip this next spring. You two climb anything else?

[ivan]

don't know if ben has the time for a yosylum adventure this coming year, but i always am free come june and prefer to go south w/ an Known Ropegun

 

i've been sworn to secrecy as to the deeds of the sabbath day

[mmeyers]

nice. I remember the first time I read about that climb. sounds like fun.

[Buckaroo]

A good piece of writing as usual.

 

That's some steep a** stuff.

[OlegV]

Eric, those bolts look rusty and old

 

"sadistically sandy-loose trail" - a mastership of phraseology again!

[YocumRidge]

 

Happy B-day, white boy.

 

Clipping screamers to those bolts? How fitting...

[powderhound]

Doubtful you would fall there, but if you did I think it is doubtful that bolt would hold. I am pretty sure I clipped a screamer to that one as well.

[stevetimetravlr]

Pretty rad, and a route I've always wanted to do. Glad to see Bacon Ben Dover getting out,and good to see you boys firing on something besides El Cap for a change!