Born Again Noob

Jeffo wrote:

Were you on a static rope?

That bolt ladder has a "vintage" hook for lack of a better description down fairly low on the ladder.  After climbing maybe 20 feet of free climbing you clip the first bolt and I think the third is the many hook thing thats been there forever doesn't inspire much confidence even though its been there forever.  If that hook blew it could be a bad fall and a little extra cushion probably isn't a bad idea and certainly wouldn't hurt.  The many hook is basically a S Hook pounded into a lead sleeve of an old bolt or at least thats what it looks like. 

Had a short window and great weather in Yosemite, so I ran up the first 4 pitches of South Face of Washington’s Column with a friend who’s new to Aid Climbing yesterday...

I led the Aid corner on pitch 2 and pitch 4 Kor Roof, before rapping off and driving back to LA

I was running a totally new system of Petzl Evolv Adjust instead of my traditional pocketed Daisy’s and I had my new Alfifi from Skot. I also had a 3rd “Floater” Aid Ladder, that I never needed.. stayed clipped on the back of my harness all day..

The Alfifi was a massive game changer! It is so intuitive and effective, it’s sort of that thing you never knew you needed and then instantly can’t live without.. 2 pitches and I’m sold!

The Petzl Evolv Adjust is also a great upgrade from standard Daisy’s.. the Alfifi eliminates some of the need for adjustable tethers- but the suppleness of the cord on the Evolv is a big improvement over flat webbing Daisy’s.. and being able to exactly dial in your connection while Jugging or hanging at belays was really great..

Good day on the wall- feel like things are finally clicking with my systems...
Slowly remembering how to do this shit!

Quinn Hatfield wrote: Had a short window and great weather in Yosemite, so I ran up the first 4 pitches of South Face of Washington’s Column with a friend who’s new to Aid Climbing yesterday...

I led the Aid corner on pitch 2 and pitch 4 Kor Roof, before rapping off and driving back to LA

I was running a totally new system of Petzl Evolv Adjust instead of my traditional pocketed Daisy’s and I had my new Alfifi from Skot. I also had a 3rd “Floater” Aid Ladder, that I never needed.. stayed clipped on the back of my harness all day..

The Alfifi was a massive game changer! It is so intuitive and effective, it’s sort of that thing you never knew you needed and then instantly can’t live without.. 2 pitches and I’m sold!

The Petzl Evolv Adjust is also a great upgrade from standard Daisy’s.. the Alfifi eliminates some of the need for adjustable tethers- but the suppleness of the cord on the Evolv is a big improvement over flat webbing Daisy’s.. and being able to exactly dial in your connection while Jugging or hanging at belays was really great..

Good day on the wall- feel like things are finally clicking with my systems...
Slowly remembering how to do this shit!

Hi Quinn,

That’s totally awesome!  Jealous. 
Can you describe when and how the alfrifi came in handy?

Jeffo wrote:

Hi Quinn,

That’s totally awesome!  Jealous. 
Can you describe when and how the alfrifi came in handy?

Since the Alfifi has a long strap and is super easy to extend one handed- you can clip it immediately to the biner on the next piece, that completely eliminates the need to raise your body to fiddle the FiFi in to place.. 

then you can haul yourself to any height on the next piece.. its super easy to adjust to let in or out slack for getting  up on the top step, or even lowering back down to backclean the previous piece (2 hands) 

Quinn Hatfield wrote:

Since the Alfifi has a long strap and is super easy to extend one handed- you can clip it immediately to the biner on the next piece, that completely eliminates the need to raise your body to fiddle the FiFi in to place.. 

then you can haul yourself to any height on the next piece.. its super easy to adjust to let in or out slack for getting  up on the top step, or even lowering back down to backclean the previous piece (2 hands) 

With this config, were your evolves attached to your aiders?

Yes:

Almost forgot!!!
Had a set of the 5 smallest Totem Cams too!! Yeah- those are awesome!!

Looking for a partner

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/116632842/looking-for-partner-for-el-cap-sleeper-mods-aprilmay

Quinn Hatfield wrote: Looking for a partner

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/116632842/looking-for-partner-for-el-cap-sleeper-mods-aprilmay

I don't think I have enough experience yet to get on some of those walls but dihedral wall is a goal of mine to do sometime! Hope you find a solid partner!

Happy to come in here and report some Big Wall Success!!
So Ross G. Messaged me through MP. We met up for some gym Bouldering in LA.. he is half my age and freakishly tall, but he seemed smart, climbed strong and Most importantly  he was stoked! We got along well at the gym- so we put 3 days in the calendar for a Prow attempt..

Watching the weather we realized that our proposed days were not looking great- so we pushed it forward and headed to Yosemite Saturday night.. a quick gear sort at my house and we headed out.. we drove straight to the Ahwahnee and were loaded up and hiking to the base of the Column by 8pm.

After a pretty crappy Bivy at the base, we were leading pitch one at 7am

  The plan was to go all the way to Tapir Terrace and Bivy there... Ross led 1, I linked 2+3, 3 pitches each and we were at the Bivy and in our Ledge with daylight to spare.

With just 4 pitches to the top- but the North Dome Gully waiting on the other side- we were climbing again by 7:30 Monday morning..

Nothing eventful on the last pitches- besides the awful last haul that ended up destroying my haul line.. we were all on top by 2:30- and took an hour to eat and pack before the descent.

I hadn’t done NDG in 25yrs so I was sort of stressing about getting through it- and our daylight situation... all in all it went smooth, we fixed a line for the “exposed 4th class” section and managed to stay on track for almost all of the descent.. down low in the gully we probably got off the trail and did one 30m rapell- soon we were in the trees and after that on the horse trail at last light.. back to the car right at 48hrs round trip..

This was Ross’s second wall after SFWC- he ended up being a hell of a partner! No complaints, no quit, just got it done! 
Thanks for reading guys!!  

Fuck yes to trip reports!

Right on Brajskiis!

I wudda rapped the route. NDG sucks chongo ass!

:P

Quinn and Ross, great job.  Quinn, can you give some feedback on the Petzl Evolv after having used it a good bit now?

Inspiring thread Quinn. Keep it up and sharing! I am also coming back to climbing after long hiatus to raise a kid, and your stoke has stoked my already stoked stoke.

Good times! I may be half his age but Quinn made me feel like I was 40 years out of shape! Dude can haul gear and set up belays like no body’s business! Learned a ton about getting all the systems and belays setup neat and proper, fantastic experience and Quinn is by far the best climbing partner I’ve had to date.

I can add a data point to his wall cooking abilities. I think I ate better food and drank better coffee those two days than I do at home!

Also fuck NDG, honestly that was the hardest part of the whole trip for me haha.

Quinn Hatfield wrote: Yes:

Try clipping your evolve biner to the ladder itself (it'll fit in the top loop of the ladder beneath the ladder biner. Stays out of the way of the allfifi and has the added bonus of if you take a daisy fall, the stitching in the ladder loop with break a bit and absorb some of the force of the fall - something I've unfortunately tested a few times in my earlier days and can attest that the F2 didn't feel that bad) 

kevin deweese wrote:

Try clipping your evolve biner to the ladder itself (it'll fit in the top loop of the ladder beneath the ladder biner. 

Thanks Kevin! I’ll give that a shot for sure. Definitely run out of real estate in that Aider Biner.. especially with the 3rd Floater Aider.. 

Homer Simpson wrote: Quinn and Ross, great job.  Quinn, can you give some feedback on the Petzl Evolv after having used it a good bit now?

The Petzl Evolv is good- but the Alfifi is great!!

I can’t see using the Elvolv to adjust tension to each piece- like I do with the Alfifi.. so the evolve just ends up being used as a tether while climbing  and I only adjust length for jugging, hauling and adjusting at belays and Bivys..  
That said- I still really like it.. it’s super clean and the suppleness of the cord makes it so you’re not dealing with kinks.. the only annoying part is the stitched section at the hitch point.. without that it would be cleaner at the hitch point 

Quinn Hatfield wrote:

The Petzl Evolv is good- but the Alfifi is great!!

I can’t see using the Elvolv to adjust tension to each piece- like I do with the Alfifi.. so the evolve just ends up being used as a tether while climbing  and I only adjust length for jugging, hauling and adjusting at belays and Bivys..  
That said- I still really like it.. it’s super clean and the suppleness of the cord makes it so you’re not dealing with kinks.. the only annoying part is the stitched section at the hitch point.. without that it would be cleaner at the hitch point 

I cut the stitching off with a knife

Quinn Hatfield wrote:

Thanks Kevin! I’ll give that a shot for sure. Definitely run out of real estate in that Aider Biner.. especially with the 3rd Floater Aider.. 

I sometimes use my second ladder as a "third" floating one in difficult places where I'm finding it hard to get balanced. I clip it to the grab loop of the other ladder. On mine, this means the rungs are at the same height and doesn't add to the mess at the piece, and hence makes it very easy to remove 

David Coley wrote:

I sometimes use my second ladder as a "third" floating one in difficult places where I'm finding it hard to get balanced. I clip it to the grab loop of the other ladder. On mine, this means the rungs are at the same height and doesn't add to the mess at the piece, and hence makes it very easy to remove 

I've never found a use for a floating ladder. I use a single ladder for most upward movement. Even when drilling on lead when the long time in the ladder makes it easier with two, I just use my second ladder. I've never understood why a third ladder is needed when you have a second ladder and there's no need for it to be hanging out on the previous piece if you've already moved onto your current piece (and arguably is a bad idea to have your ladder on the previous piece because it sets up a daisy fall instead of a rope fall if the current piece blows)