Southern Yosemite Climbing Discussions
Southern Yosemite Categories => Shuteye Ridge Area => Topic started by: John on April 16, 2013, 06:57:35 am
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Some of the most interesting climbing I have done on the ridge has been wide crack climbing and would like to share some climbs and experiences that stand out.
Nearly every formation has something at least fist sized all the way up to giant expanses that are more like a gulley than a chimney. Some wide cracks don't need any special gear but others require home-made wooden chocks, Valley Giants, tube chocks or even, ironically, micro cams and RP's to comfort the leader when looking down at some potential falls that no one is really sure what happens if you do.
I do own a Valley Giant (it is a 9" size cam) and it opened up a new world that I wouldn't have been so enthusiastic about if I only used tubes, so I really encourage others to try one sometime. We honestly don't need it very often, but it is another specialized tool in the toolbox.
Minerva seems to have the most really good chimneys and OW's on a single formation and they are all unique.
There is Tail Feather, Sleeping Giant and Young Mans Fancy, all big, all within a hundred feet or so of each other, all outstanding.
Tail Feather
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g388/jhgodar/Public%20Pics/1be3ee3d-ac2d-4c6f-8065-103c71ca4987_zps206d83e1.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/jhgodar/media/Public%20Pics/1be3ee3d-ac2d-4c6f-8065-103c71ca4987_zps206d83e1.jpg.html)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g388/jhgodar/Public%20Pics/P1010390_zps64e95426.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/jhgodar/media/Public%20Pics/P1010390_zps64e95426.jpg.html)
Sleeping Giant
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g388/jhgodar/Public%20Pics/IMG_2986_zpsd10f7adf.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/jhgodar/media/Public%20Pics/IMG_2986_zpsd10f7adf.jpg.html)
Young Mans Fancy
(the climber is actually outside of YMF on "Middle-Aged Mans Fancy Dreams")
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g388/jhgodar/Public%20Pics/IMG_2739_zps5a582905.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/jhgodar/media/Public%20Pics/IMG_2739_zps5a582905.jpg.html)
More later.........
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Stunners
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Climbers on Pink Balloon
(http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/xx99/susangodar/fbeba018-1650-4163-9e53-fd14c8ba7edc.jpg) (http://s745.photobucket.com/user/susangodar/media/fbeba018-1650-4163-9e53-fd14c8ba7edc.jpg.html)
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Mojumbo - Not the best gear here but not the worst altogether
(http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/xx99/susangodar/P1010117.jpg) (http://s745.photobucket.com/user/susangodar/media/P1010117.jpg.html)
Screaming Demon?
(http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/xx99/susangodar/P1000504byjoshcamera.jpg) (http://s745.photobucket.com/user/susangodar/media/P1000504byjoshcamera.jpg.html)
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Gray Eagle
Gray Matters
(I haven't done it yet but it is on my short list for this year.)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g388/jhgodar/Public%20Pics/3251620e-2dd0-4c3a-a9d8-c9e2a7cf4edf_zpsf49681ce.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/jhgodar/media/Public%20Pics/3251620e-2dd0-4c3a-a9d8-c9e2a7cf4edf_zpsf49681ce.jpg.html)
Some Random Cracks
We did the left one but the right had a rattler guarding the start so we need to get back there.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g388/jhgodar/Public%20Pics/P1000866_zps899fecdc.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/jhgodar/media/Public%20Pics/P1000866_zps899fecdc.jpg.html)
More coming...
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A view from another Jack Delk line
(http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/xx99/susangodar/P1030783.jpg) (http://s745.photobucket.com/user/susangodar/media/P1030783.jpg.html)
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(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g388/jhgodar/Public%20Pics/P1000866_zps899fecdc.jpg)
Favorite crack pic so far.
They don't look so far apart that if a rattler was in one, that I would climb the other. Yowza!
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Well, it was a hike to get there which might make ya more determined to try it. Hah... or less if wise. It felt like a terrarium in the crack on the right, required more of a full body insertion, and into the dark... hard to see what lurked... so it gave us the willies. It looks so cool tho... would love to get back to it sometime. Maybe use headlamps to scope it better.
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I have really come to appreciate Jack Delk and his choices of lines. He mostly went to the lines that you can most likely see from at least 50 miles away. We even named a newly-explored dome after him when we found ourselves going straight to the wide lines first.
He had also attempted just about everything wide that he ran across, including Sleeping Giant, Gray Matters, Breast Feather Left and I am sure more. More importantly, he shared a bunch of very detailed topos that still circulate to this day and are one of the few "public" records of the earlier climbing on Shuteye Ridge.
All of these are wide or wideish climbs that he did:
Nipple Bypass-Queens Throne
East Crack-High Eagle
Tail Feather-Minerva
Old Man's Dream-Minerva
Young Man's Fancy-Minerva
Red Dihedral-Red Eagle
Around the Corner-Gray Eagle
The Great Depression-Gray Eagle
Lightning Bolt-Gray Eagle
Kind of Neat-Eggs
South Chimney-Chiquito
Pretty cool.
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Is he still climbing?
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This is one of the best threads EVAR!
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We've never run across him, but Ger (tiki-ger) once did in recent years... just camping. After hearing of their interaction, and seeing his topos which are really drawn well with great care, and over time climbing his climbs, we developed an admiration for this person we've never met, and these climbs he has done out there. Haven't done them all yet but did a bunch.
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I can't recall, but I wonder if that was the guy that was at the Soda campground when I first climbed at Chiquito. Didn't get to talk to him, but either Matt S or his brother and maybe Ger were.
Hope he posts up and confirms.
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Yes, munge, that was actually the time Ger met and chatted with him - before heading up to Chiquito for that SSCA activity.
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Thx! Glad I got you guys to help me remember what happens at SE.
There was this other trip with margaritas and speed drilling contest. Lol
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I can't recall, but I wonder if that was the guy that was at the Soda campground when I first climbed at Chiquito. Didn't get to talk to him, but either Matt S or his brother and maybe Ger were.
Hope he posts up and confirms.
That was totally where Ger met him and got him to sign his Spencer Guide!
If I saw Jack Delk at Soda Spring Campground I would totally start shrieking like a little girl at a Justin Bieber concert.
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That was totally where Ger met him and got him to sign his Spencer Guide!
If I saw Jack Delk at Soda Spring Campground I would totally start shrieking like a little girl at a Justin Bieber concert.
LOL!
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(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8114/8690938565_02f8eb3ca2_c.jpg)
I do believe this is Mr. Delk, from that trip.
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Really? Was he OK with the Paperazzi? He must be used to them.
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you know, I have no idea. I just knew there was this reverent conversation happening and I couldn't just walk up on it, so took a pic. In hindsight, glad I did.
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Chihuahua Chimney on Queens Throne
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g388/jhgodar/Public%20Pics/P1020798_zps95ea932a.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/jhgodar/media/Public%20Pics/P1020798_zps95ea932a.jpg.html)
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Sue on P1 of her new climb, "The Elf Boot". This pitch is really enjoyable for a chimney. No really.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g388/jhgodar/Public%20Pics/P1040060_zps295347a2.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/jhgodar/media/Public%20Pics/P1040060_zps295347a2.jpg.html)
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Recognize this one?
(http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/xx99/susangodar/P1040232.jpg) (http://s745.photobucket.com/user/susangodar/media/P1040232.jpg.html)
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What route did you do?
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That is Her Majesty's Crack in the photo. We also did the first three pitches of Macduff. Fun stuff.
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A very fun spot - at the Queen's feet. I like the Macbeth references very much btw.
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Fistful of Doghairs on the Aerie:
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g388/jhgodar/Public%20Pics/P1000435_zps07ef7551.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/jhgodar/media/Public%20Pics/P1000435_zps07ef7551.jpg.html)
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Dan-
I did that Crack line /Ow to hands route to the left of the wyde in the photo at QT. Finishes with a bustamove out right on slab to the same anchor.
Really good, and deceptively hard looking from below.
That is one of your crew's additions correct? Really good, 5.7 or so?
The upper pitches and that big ass left facing corner pitcher up high look stellar.
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We sure maxed the cragging there that afternoon. The 2nd pitch slab climb was really good too.
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We tried three starts at the middle base of Queen's Throne. The original on the left which Bob led and I simul-climbed with the pack which never makes me happy. We later put in anchors so you don't have to simul climb. The middle one we did on toprope. I though it was fun fingertips, went first without trouble and I think Bob weighted the rope - the first time I ever had less trouble on something than Bob. We did the wide thing too.
(http://danielmerrick.com/SOYO_photos/Queens_Throne_Base_Center.jpg)
I have always thought the swooping corner up above was a striking feature. Two lines there: Banquo 10a and Fleance 10b. I am a weak, lazy, old, occasional climber and Bob has to lead anything beyond 5.9. I think the best thing we did in this area was figure out a descent from the top - down the gully and rap stations. (scroll the image right)
(http://danielmerrick.com/SOYO_photos/Queens_Throne_Upper_Center.jpg)
We tried the orange corner below Orange Bang but couldn't levitate over the bulge to do the start. Somebody might manage it but we couldn't get our feet off the ground. Orange Bang is the wide thing in the center, the corner bulge is just visible left of it.
(http://danielmerrick.com/SOYO_photos/Queens_Throne_Orange_Bang.jpg)
That was all in July 2012. I had climbed there in 2009 with my friend Jay Kumar but don't recall where we started, probably the one marked original. 2009 is when I decided the Banquo line looked too cool to pass up. 2009:
(http://danielmerrick.com/SOYO_photos/Queens_Throne%20_2009.jpg)
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Nice share. Thanks! It's a cool area. The Banquo & Fleance lines look clean and tough. Did you like them enough to want to do them again sometime?
Levitation? Do you mean this might be best done by a sort of Pamela Shanti-Pack upside limbo, getting the feet over the head first and jack-knifing up? Yikes.
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I suppose I'd do Banquo and Fleance again but I couldn't lead them. Heck, I'd have to climb more than one afternoon a month to be in shape to do something like that. I wish somebody would climb them and tell me about it.
The orange corner has a little alcove at the base. If I recall correctly there is a hand hold on the orange wall to the right but no feet that I could use until about eyeball level. I could probably do it if I could stand on somebody's head. Go try it, I'm sure John will let you stand on his head.
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ha ha ha... that would be a good example of how to use my head, encourage John leading it using mine. sounds like i will have to start doing yoga, or stretch ever at all again, for me to lead something like that. i remember Scuffy once showing a group of us how to climb Remnant Left at Reeds. He floated the overhanging start where none of us could lift our feet for fear we'd break ourselves.
Banquo and Fleance intimidated me looking up at them last time. Climbs will do that then sometime suddenly look right. They are definitely on the radar for a try sometime. Or, as a great one likes to say, no try just do.
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Anybody done Gray Matters yet? Or Did I do the 1st, 2nd and only ascents? That thing is a classic journey.
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Anybody done Gray Matters yet? Or Did I do the 1st, 2nd and only ascents? That thing is a classic journey.
Probably just you, Kiddo. One of these days we will get on (in) it, I swear.
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I didn't expect the next post after threatening to do Gray Matters to be a post about doing Gray Matters but it is!
We had trouble taking photos of the climb, mostly since it was so dark and the camera had trouble focusing so excuse the fuzzy shots. Jeff actually suggested headlamps, which we brought and did use at one point.
Nice job on that, Jeff. Proud line.
Here are some shots:
A good direct shot from somewhere on the approach to Minerva from some other day. It is absolutely one of the most prominent features on Gray.
(http://www.southernyosemiteclimbing.com/SMF/photo_album_resized/IMG_3703_resized.jpg)
Looking up from the base:
(http://www.southernyosemiteclimbing.com/SMF/photo_album_resized/P1060005_resized.jpg)
Starting P2. Note the small rack to 3" yet I still brought way too much gear. You generally are the gear on this pitch past what we thought was the crux.
(http://www.southernyosemiteclimbing.com/SMF/photo_album_resized/P1060010_resized.jpg)
Get in there
(http://www.southernyosemiteclimbing.com/SMF/photo_album_resized/P1060022_resized.jpg)
Sue on P3.
(http://www.southernyosemiteclimbing.com/SMF/photo_album_resized/P1060057_resized.jpg)
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Yowza!
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Was there blood loss on the climb?
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Not really, but the skin of my elbows hurt and I ruined the knees on a good pair of pants!
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Nice! Man Jeff got a classic. 5.9 right? Haaha!
What a maw.
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Yeah, the ratings for wide climbs are the strangest exception to the rest of the rating spectrum since a 5.7 OW can require the effort required of 5.12. Do the right side of The Remnant on Reeds, it is Valley 5.7 but more struggle than any other 5.7 on the planet yet "it's all there".
We agreed with the 5.9. It is kinda runout, like 25-30' in a couple of places but most wide climbs have stretches where you are the gear, so to speak so I don't know if an "R" is fair.
Jeffy? What is your say on this?
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I was too busy getting stuck and unstuck following the 2nd pitch of Gray Matters to notice such details as how the gear is. Thought of Scuffy B of ST who once encouraged me that at least when you are stuck you can relax and get a good rest. It was a series of that for quite aways for me plus some shameless grunting. The climb was like a journey because it feels like another world in there. Very much enjoyed the tunnel through on the third pitch. Another vote on this being one proud line, Jeff!
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Nice you guys, I am so glad you climbed it! And great pics!
As for the R rating, as John said you are the protection. You would have to give up or pass out to fall. I guess passing out is possible. I wasn't sure my buddy Doug was going to make it. I did want to add a bolt way back when, but a few unnamed folks were lining up to climb it first.
It is a journey.
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I did want to add a bolt way back when, but a few unnamed folks were lining up to climb it first.
You know, I am pretty sure you couldn't possibly bolt part of P2 since you couldn't fit a drill in there or even swing a hammer!
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the 5.7 on the far left side of 50 5.7's wall has a little OW fun. A worthwhile route to do. The 5.9 toprope face on the right is better.