LOST: BD C4 #4 & #6

My partner refused to follow my lead through The Narrows on Sentinel in Yosemite Valley, so he jumared around on the outside, resulting in lost cams that may still be on the inside. They're big cams, so that means a bigger reward to whomever recovers and returns. 

??? After your partner jumared to the belay, why didn't you lower down to get cams back??

Paul Hutton wrote:

My partner refused to follow my lead through The Narrows on Sentinel in Yosemite Valley, so he jumared around on the outside, resulting in lost cams that may still be on the inside. They're big cams, so that means a bigger reward to whomever recovers and returns. 

When you say "refused" do you mean they said "screw you Im not doing that" or that they were unable to follow, due to skill, fear,  strength etc....

Sounds like the partner owes you two new cams.

SMDH. Sounds like a bad blind date. 

Jake Jones wrote:

Not familiar with the route- so I don't know if you're aiding or hauling or what.  But, if he's jumaring the lead line, then wouldn't he HAVE to pass and unclip from the pieces?  Did he just unclip and say fuck it and not clean them?  Just trying to understand how this happened.  Did he jumar the haul line?  Either way, if my follower failed to clean gear, like flat out refused, two things would have happened:  A) He comes off my partner list permanently, and B) I go back down and retrieve my gear.  That's over $200 in just 2 pieces assuming you paid retail or close to it.  

I think the whole thing is a troll...

EDIT- I was wrong, not a troll. updated description of events below

In responding to this thread, I will call upon a quote from the illustrious Paul Hutton himself: "The mountains are harsh, too. Prepare for a beating when you thrust yourself into wild terrain. Expecting everything to be nice [and getting big expensive cams back when you're too lazy to lower and retrieve them yourself] isn't realistic. "

Really?

Allen Sanderson wrote:

Sounds like the partner owes you two new cams.

Not to me it doesn't

Adam Orton wrote:

Sounds like your partner owes you several racks of beer. 

Why?

To me it sounds like the OP was in to much of a hurry and didnt bother going down to retrieve his gear.  Unless the follower said Screw you "I refuse" to clean them (which doesn't seem to make any sense anyway)

No one in here has climbed Steck-Salathé on sentinel in Yosemite? There's a squeeze section that clamps down on your skull and torso. My partner was claustrophobic, so he took the option of jugging my fixed line on the outside of the chimney. He lost a number 6, I lost the 4.

mpech wrote:

??? After your partner jumared to the belay, why didn't you lower down to get cams back??

 If you saw what I climbed through, you wouldn't want to either. And we were losing daylight. 

Adam Orton wrote:

Then split a bottle of jack with your partner and laugh about it. 

We used Vodka on half Dome for 3 nights following this. 

Adam Orton wrote:

Sounds like your partner owes you several racks of beer. 

 He bought all the consumables while we were in the valley for over a week. He's a doctor. I'm dirtbagging. 

Abram Herman wrote:

In responding to this thread, I will call upon a quote from the illustrious Paul Hutton himself: "The mountains are harsh, too. Prepare for a beating when you thrust yourself into wild terrain. Expecting everything to be nice [and getting big expensive cams back when you're too lazy to lower and retrieve them yourself] isn't realistic. "

 I'm lucky to still have my knees and elbows after leading that pitch. 

Paul Hutton wrote:

No one in here has climbed Steck-Salathé on sentinel in Yosemite? There's a squeeze section that clamps down on your skull and torso. My partner was claustrophobic, so he took the option of jugging my fixed line on the outside of the chimney. He lost a number 6, I lost the 4.

I've done the steck salathe, so trying to scare me about how awful the narrows is isn't going to work...

It's a 90 foot pitch, max. Pretty easy to lower back in, grab cam, then climb back up/swing out and jumar/Batman up rope/etc... 

One final thing-- some gear beta- biggest piece needed for steck salathe is a #4...

mpech wrote:

I've done the steck salathe, so trying to scare me about how awful the narrows is isn't going to work...

It's a 90 foot pitch, max. Pretty easy to lower back in, grab cam, then climb back up/swing out and jumar/Batman up rope/etc... 

One final thing-- some gear beta- biggest piece needed for steck salathe is a #4...

Isn't going to work? To what effect? Trying to get you to retrieve my gear? Trying to become an idol to you? You think I give a damn? Fuckin tool. A #5 saved my partner's ass twice when he took lead falls in two of the chimney pitches. You take what you want. 

When Salathé was pioneering the FA, he aided around the Narrows pitch, aka "claustrohorror" to some people. The #6 was bomber for protecting the final moves to the ledge on that pitch. When my partner put weight on my lead line to try to jumar my lead, the rope pulled the #6 back inside the chimney, the cam became unclipped, and it fell down outta sight. He never saw the cam fall down to the bottom of the pitch, so it might be wedged in somewhere over the belay station. I placed the #4 somewhere around the crux of the squeeze, where he couldn't get to. 

I really don't need critique on my climbing. That route has some scary climbing on it, just during the day. It was starting to get dark on us, with 4 or so more pitches above us, no bivy gear, headlamps that can fall off, fail, break. We were trying to avoid an epic on this big wall climb. 

because relevance!:  

Man, sucks to lose gear, especially those two pieces. Sounds like the #6 is gone, but keep an eye on the Camp 4 boards for the #4?

Seems like people are coming down on your b/c you're framing this as your pard's fault. Better to own it, as it would have been a snap to get that #4 back. Lowering down would have been easy, 15 min tops but much faster if you were dialed. Easy to traverse outside if you didn't want to put your knees through the Narrows again.

My partner and I endured an unplanned bivy our first time up this route. Easily one of the best routes in the Valley I think. 

Hope you get your gear back, and this response was right on I thought:

Isn't going to work? To what effect? Trying to get you to retrieve my gear? Trying to become an idol to you? You think I give a damn? Fuckin tool. A #5 saved my partner's ass twice when he took lead falls in two of the chimney pitches. You take what you want. 

Paul Hutton wrote:

Isn't going to work? To what effect? Trying to get you to retrieve my gear? Trying to become an idol to you? You think I give a damn? Fuckin tool. A #5 saved my partner's ass twice when he took lead falls in two of the chimney pitches. You take what you want. 

When Salathé was pioneering the FA, he aided around the Narrows pitch, aka "claustrohorror" to some people. The #6 was bomber for protecting the final moves to the ledge on that pitch. When my partner put weight on my lead line to try to jumar my lead, the rope pulled the #6 back inside the chimney, the cam became unclipped, and it fell down outta sight. He never saw the cam fall down to the bottom of the pitch, so it might be wedged in somewhere over the belay station that's established on that chalkstone. I placed the #4 somewhere around the crux of the squeeze, where he couldn't get to. 

I really don't need critique on my climbing. That route has some scary climbing on it, just during the day. It was starting to get dark on us, with 4 or so more pitches above us, no bivy gear, headlamps that can fall off, fail, break. We were trying to avoid an epic on this big wall climb. 

Paul, 

I'm sorry that my comments have pissed you off so much. I did receive your PM, and no, I don't want to talk to you on the phone about this. 

My original post showed my confusion about why there were two cams left in the narrows pitch, given the lack of details provided. Thank you for clarifying what happened-- as sirius said, the #6 is probably gone for good (in the bowels of the chimney system or having fallen to the base of the sentinel). If you want the #4 back, your best bet is the camp 4 message board. I feel your pain about losing a #6-- a few months ago, I accidentally left one in el cap meadow; it was gone an hour later, once I realized my mistake. 

Not sure why you're calling me a "f***ing tool," thinking that I'm trying to come off as some bad-ass yosemite climber. Are you projecting? You're the one continuously mentioning how difficult, bad-ass and scary this climb is. You and your partner epic'ed up this thing, you left+dropped some gear on a pitch, and you preferred to use the internet to get your gear back  rather than retrieve it yourself. End of story.

 Having done the climb, I offered sincere beta to others-- to bring no gear bigger than a #4. I felt safe climbing it that way. It's really hard to do a chimney or OW when you have two huge cams on your harness or sling. I'd also recommend not bringing a helmet for this climb, as it gets in the way on the narrows pitch. If you are proficient at OW climbing, this climb is fantastic and enjoyable, one of my favorites in the valley. If you are bad at OW, or if you are too fat to fit in the narrows, I'd probably stay away from this thing. 

best,

matt

PS-- Steck and Salathe did the FA of this climb in 1950, using non-nylon ropes, hiking boots and pitons. They spent 5 days on the wall. They ran out of water. Those are some pretty good reasons to aid around the narrows pitch.   

Why does it matter -- the why, the how, or the when? The point is that they're THERE. Go booty them if you want! I'm sure you'll get away with it! I'm down here on the ground! Regardless of our mistakes --- I'm dealing with my own situation! I'm offering a reward. This only concerns the climber that's willing to close the deal with me. You can take your own avenue. The #6 is not mine! I'm trying to get it back for my partner. It's not that I'm lazy, I was more concerned for our safety.  Im not just going to write him off, just because he's an upper-class doctor. Pediatrician, to be exact. He could go buy 2 #6s right now. I take care of my friends. It'd make a great story/memory for us to be able to talk about getting "that gear" back that we thought we'd never see again. We'll laugh about it over a bottle of booze while bivvying on some subsequent big wall ascent in the future. We were in high spirits on Half Dome, after this climb. You're being a jerk in speculating my motives to burden someone else with my problem, which is a result of the worst decisions I could have possibly made on my first time climbing this wall, and trying to exploit me on the forum! 

We summited by headlamp. Times are different now. Technology and ability levels are exponentially higher i.e. you climbed this thing perfectly, with less pro than we had. I applaud your success! This big wall is more committing than Nutcracker. Gear beta on the app says 1 ea. 4-6 by multiple parties. So, we played it safe.

 No need to spend even 2 days on this wall. I don't need to epic to compete with the FA LOL! 

I was unaware that there's an offwidth pitch in El Cap meadow. I'm gonna go project it with my #6.