new route at fresno dome

[mike a]

hi Gerard, what you said in your first e-mail was " sorry mike... not so new at all", and i did not see where you stated bill edmund did blah blah.... this was the obvious line...., anything like that, maybe you should read your first reply to see what exactly you said. what i see when i have climbed at the gold finger wall is that the obvious line to get to the g.s. anchors would be climbing onyz not dr. no, but thanks for your input & beta. it's good to have input from climbers who have done new stuff out at southern yosemite area. it's just in the future, if you are going to reply on new stuff being putting up(which is cool and helpful) i think you should never start with "sorry mike your a wanker not sooo new at all", i think that leads to a pissing match!!!,that we should save for super topo's forum :-) lol, you're a climber, you know what i mean!!!, putting up a new route whether ground up, top down etc. etc. etc. is a lot of hard work and bling bling out of ones pocket, so one feels some passion to it all :-), so i am not trying to be a jerk, but would like to make sure i do not give other climbers bad beta. As you have seen, for years I have never had any problem on giving out info on new routes and new climbing areas at the southern yosemite area, which i think brings up the big problem with info in the first place, like what is stated in the old spencer book "some of the climbers active in the area neglected to record their ascents, some closely guarded their information in an effort to keep the area secret. unforturetely, this practice resulted in some climbs receiving multiple first ascents" so may be this is a classic case of what spencer was talking about, once again thanks you your info, maybe be i will see you up there and we can have a beer over this and take notes, happy climbing cheers mike a.

[John]

Beckey probably flew in on a Pterodactyl and beat us all to it.

[John]

There is the most-interesting description of "Buzzard Book" in the old "Climber's Guide To Fresno Hinterlands" by Royal Robbins that I want to throw into this discussion that might suggest that this last crack may have been named already.

The first pitch description states..

"The first pitch starts 15' right of sigmoidescape goes up 15 feet and then right 15' into the corner which is jammed to a cove like a belay."

I mean, what is not to love about a name like "Sigmoidescape"?! There is no other reference to this name that I have spotted but there is a bunch of really odd typos and inconsistencies in that guide.

[mike a]

hey john, if your talking about the crack i am calling, dr. no, as far as i am conserned, i put the anchors in and have showed the first topo to it, so i got the california FA on it, if you look on page 50 on the spencer guide book, it does show a short little crack in the middle of the alcove, but thats all, no info, no rating, no name, no nothing, and buzzard book was put up by beckey which is to the far right of dr.no and onyx is a robbens route which it the route closer to dr. no and dr. no ends 70' up or so to slab face climbing the next 300' or so to the top in the middle of gold finger and south pillar which we are going to finish to the top when the season opens once again, so i main piont here again is if one does not have the documentation to back up what's been put up as a new route or climbed a new route i think it's all a bunch of blah blah blah, he said she said....., i know it's only a 5.7 and sure maybe someone as climbed it before, but to date i am the only one to record an ascent on dr. no, who's real got any proof that i did not climb it first???, i guess it's the same with neptune's net 5.7 on runnel vision, where one group claims the fa and another group said they got the fa, so who really got the fa??? slater has a dated pix so he's got the fa and documentation to say his group was there first???, so isn't possesion 2/3th of the law???, so that's my thought on this once again, i am psyched on the next time i am writing here on new routes at fresno dome, it will be just that!!! a repot of the new stuff, with rating and topos of the cool new stuff amy and one have put up, happy climbing arechiga.

[John]

Hi Mike
The climb or whatever Sigmoidescape is currently seems to be too vague a reference to be of any value but it still is something. Most climb information leads start with some odd reference like this one and sometimes reveal a much more detailed history.

Personally, I appreciate it when climbs like this at least get a name!

[DaveyTree]

Places with long climbing histories, I always assume it all has been climbed before I got there. I like to list my ascent as PFA (Possible FA). I have several routes been renamed later when the real FA claimed it. Either way it it is documented for someone to reference it in the future to dog or recommend to others.  And it is cool to find out who it was that eyed that sweet line like I did.

[John]

Great attitude on respecting the history of a place DaveyTree. Spread it around.

[mike a]

this last weekend amy and i put up a couple new routes on family guy wall, at wamello/ fresno dome, gigady-gigady 5.7 and bitch stewie 5.11d/12a, i will post pic and topos of them on  my fb, happy climbing mike a.

[John]

Nice! Now what about those of us not on Facebook (or more likely all three of us)? Could you post some photos here? Thanks.

[mike a]

morning john, i will see what i can do, if that does not work i will e-mail what we got going on at the family guy wall and the gold finger wall as well, happy climbing mike a.

[John]

Thanks Mike, looking forward to it. Giggidy.

[DaveyTree]

Where is Family Guy Wall? Never heard of a wall at Wamello by that name.

Will be there Fri-Sun this weekend.

[mike a]

morning daveytree, it's the left side of south pillar to the right of buzzard book, i will be up there sat noonish, i will park at the trailhead parking lot i have a black tacoma with black camper shell, not sure where we will start climbing, but i will be around, i got some topos and pix of the new stuff at fresno dome on mountain project if you want to see what we been doing, happy climbing mike a.

[DaveyTree]

Missed you last weekend Mike. I was camped Thurs night - Sun at the Dome lot. Got in a lot of climbing and scouting. I saw some of your new lines. Look pretty sick. Didn't get a chance to try them yet.

Did you put up that new route on the rt side of the descent trail in the trees before you even reach Zippa-De? It goes past 2 bolts on face to a ledge and crack and up to anchors. About 40'.

Anyone ever climb Watership Down. Spencer's says 5.7 and looks easy but it is a Royal Robbins' 5.7. I read later previous people liebacked it but I climbed it more like a chimney in a lot of places because it was so deep. Cool cave for a sitting shaded first belay on a 70m. Made ledge on pitch 2 but had to runout the top 60-70' due to the corner of the book being wet and caked with moss.

[mike a]

so if you go to fresno dome, do not climb on gold finger wall, the peregrine falcons are nesting right behind thunderbolt with a couple eggs, but family guy wall is far enough away not to bug them, they should be none with raising the baby chicks by the end of july, heads up!