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Location: CA : Yosemite National Park : Yosemite Valley : El Capitan Base Routes : Sacherer Cracker (5.10a)
By: Rusty Reno When: Aug 10, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: As an old Yosemite climber, I can testify: this route is the ultimate sandbag. Don't worry about the upper wide section. It's the thin hands the works you.
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Location: CT : Central- Traprock : Main Cliff : Visions (5.10+ R)
By: Rusty Reno When: Aug 10, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: For reasons unknown to me, I led this route on sight in the early 1980s. I can testify: this line requires a great deal of commitment, but there is protection -- just enough to keep things from going completely insane.
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Location: CT : Central- Traprock : Main Cliff : Subline (5.10d)
By: Rusty Reno When: Aug 10, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: Ages ago I failed on this route. Then Henry Barber, who was belaying me with a smile took over the lead and gave me a clinic. Magnificent, both Henry styling in the lead and the route, which is undoubtedly one of the best in CT.
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Location: CT : Central- Traprock : Main Cliff : Ragged Edge (5.10+)
By: Rusty Reno When: Aug 10, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: This route is can be led without dire consequences. True, there is a frightening run-out midway up the route, but the crux has a secret RP placement that gives excellent protection.
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Location: CT : Central- Traprock : East Peak : Ampitheatre : Dol Guldor (5.11 PG13)
By: Rusty Reno When: Aug 10, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: I have fond memories of leading this monster in the late 1980s. I remember stuffing my head into the overlap after the crux to try to get a rest, and then launching out on the final 15 or so feet with utterly flamed forearms, crying as I lunged from hold to hold. Bruce Dicks was belaying, and I recall him saying that he wished he had a tape recorder to capture my melt down. Classic traprock -- epic.
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Location: NH : Cannon Cliff : Peppy's Face (5.12a R)
By: Rusty Reno When: Mar 31, 2008 | view comment >> |
Comments: Just a longish run-out -- really only at one spot going up to the mantle described above. There is no danger of ground fall on this route.
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Location: CA : Yosemite National Park : Yosemite Valley : El Capitan : Mescalito (5.9+ A3)
By: Rusty Reno When: Mar 2, 2008 | view comment >> |
Comments: Just for perspective: I did this route in 1980 with Dirk Havorka, and I'll bet I pounded more than 300 knifeblades and lost arrows. I also remember one of the most extrem moments I've had on El Cap. After nailing my way up the Bismark, and pounding in a bong sideways deep in the crack, I pulled up 20 feet of slack (which was itself a chore given the massive rope drag), and then I offwidthed to the belay. It was a moment of inner convulsion when I somehow managed to pull my way onto the top of... more >>
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Location: NH : *NH Ice and Alpine Climbing : Cannon Ice Climbs : Fafnir (WI5+) : Photo
By: Rusty Reno When: Feb 7, 2008 | view comment >> |
Comments: Jan 1999, I think. The tools are from the eighties. I moved from the east coast in 1990, and when I went ice climbing a few times in the ninties, I mostly borrowed tools from friends. But not that day, which was OK, since I'd done the route more than a decade before on the same tools.
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Location: CA : Yosemite National Park : Yosemite Valley : Half Dome : Autobahn (5.11+)
By: Rusty Reno When: Nov 29, 2007 | view comment >> |
Comments: I'm not convinced the Charles is right. We were bold, but not stupid. If there are single bolts, then it must be possible to get in a piece of gear as well. But we did put in quarter inch bolts, and it has been more than twenty years for them to rust up there. I recall doing routes in New Hampshire ages ago and clipping twenty (maybe only fifteen) year old quarter inch bolts and feeling that they looked pretty darn old and rusty. The California climate is kinder to metal, but there is good... more >>
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Location: CA : Yosemite National Park : Yosemite Valley : Royal Arches
By: Rusty Reno When: Mar 31, 2007 | view comment >> |
Comments: The Royal Arches Terrace Area is a superb cold weather location that offers some very good face routes. Shaky Flakes and Greasy but Groovy are 1970s test pieces that should be the tick lists of anybody who fancies himself a granite face climber. The Rambler is a more recent creation, but it shares in the ballsie spirit of the older routes.
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Location: WY : Grand Teton National Park : Grand Teton : North Face Highlight Tour (5.8)
By: Rusty Reno When: Feb 18, 2007 | view comment >> |
Comments: North Face adventurers should consider doing the complete route from the Teton Glacier start. Negotiating the moat between the glacier and the rock wall can add a small moment of alpine entertainment. The lower pitches are composed of somewhat fragile granite with spotty protection, but they are very easy. Once you reach the first ledge, the route becomes very pleasant and the rock is superb. Taken as a whole, the complete North Face offers one of the longest continuous climbs on steep rock... more >>
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Location: WY : Grand Teton National Park : Mt Owen : Serendipity Arete (5.7 C1)
By: Rusty Reno When: Feb 18, 2007 | view comment >> |
Comments: Over the years I have enjoyed many of the classic routes in the Tetons, and the Serendipity Arete is one of the best. The bivy sites in Valhalla Canyon are pristine (see photo above). The route has lots of very enjoyable climbing, and it requires some good route finding skills. You will need to use the basic rule of route finding in the Tetons: if the grade feels harder than 5.7, then you are off route. Also the descent down the West Ledges is easy but devious. It can be done without a rapp... more >>
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Location: NH : Cannon Cliff : Whitney Gilman Ridge (5.7)
By: Rusty Reno When: Feb 10, 2007 | view comment >> |
Comments: If you have fantasies of serious alpinism, then a winter ascent of the Whitney Gilman Ridge is the ticket. As an aspiring alpinist, I did the route in January, 1979, in very dry but cold conditions. Then, just a few weeks ago, when I foolishly scheduled an ice climbing trip to New England for early January, I did it again, this time with fairly warm conditions (mid-thirties), but with verglas here and there to keep things interesting. The terrain on the route reminded me of crux sections of s... more >>
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Location: NH : *NH Ice and Alpine Climbing : Cannon Ice Climbs : Black Dike (5.6 WI4-5 M3)
By: Rusty Reno When: Feb 9, 2007 | view comment >> |
Comments: Although rates WI 5, the Black Dike is a moderate ice climb over interesting and technically varied terrain. The first pitch is an easy, snowy slope that does not protect well. The second pitch involves a traverse up and left into the main tongue of ice that forms the upper section of the climb. In fat years, the ice comes down and the traverse is trivial. In thin condition, the traverse is more challenging. Once the ice is gained, the route moves up to ever thicker and broader flows. The ... more >>
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