New and Experienced climbers over 50 #23

Carl, have you ever been here? Freycinet National Park   Looks like a really cool cliff coming right out of the water. 

I was admiring these two routes put up by our very own Jan McCollum and my bf Dave Houser.  (And Mike Waugh?).  They were two red tshirt days to remember. 

I’m surprised how often Houser’s name comes up in connection to his aluminum bolts,  Apparently one recently pulled out of EBGBs causing an accident. I didn’t understand the challenge of rebolting this entire park with new steel (?) bolts properly placed but it is apparently an enormous and costly job  

Anyway… it was a thrill to climb Chalk Up Another One although it is so polished I think you can only really climb the arete

But I thought I’d never get to climb Good To The Last Drop… it was a lot of fun and just about my speed.

There’s still a couple of Houser routes on my list—Bottle In Front Of Me and something over at Split Rocks.  The rest are probably just over my head.   It’s quite a hike to get to that wall but from the base looks like a very cool route. And lots of white smelly stuff everywhere. 

Edit: HOW DID I MISS WELCOME TO JOSHUA TREE? It’s here??? 

Lori, the bolt pulled on EBGGs long ago.  Dave Mayville replaced all the 1/4" bolts long ago.  Dave gave me the 3rd bolt  (that I placed on the FA) when he replaced them.  As far as I know only one aluminum hanger ever failed.  Any others were just typical 1/4" bolt failures due to too many people falling on the damn things (which we never anticipated since the old rule was that the leader must never fall).

Jan Mcwrote:

Lori, the bolt pulled on EBGGs long ago.  Dave Mayville replaced all the 1/4" bolts long ago.  Dave gave me the 3rd bolt  (that I placed on the FA) when he replaced them.  As far as I know only one aluminum hanger ever failed.  Any others were just typical 1/4" bolt failures due to too many people falling on the damn things (which we never anticipated since the old rule was that the leader must never fall).

Thanks, Jan.  The EBGBs sounded like a current report. Thanks for clarifying.  

I will always consider myself a newbie and looking at routes through limited eyes since I’ve never had to think much about bolts and leader safety for myself.  Often I’ll climb right past a bolt and think hmmmm… that doesn’t look too safe. And keep on going. 

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

Nice shot of pinnacle. Not as many photos from the old days.   Mostly the cameras were manual focus.  By the time you got the shutter speed and F stop correct and got it focused while wearing wool mittens chances are pretty good  you were not giving the kind of belay that could actually catch a fall.  Good thing we almost never fell.   My first trip up Pinnacle 1983. we brought a bar maid with us and she had a Kodak brownie camera hence the square format.  The AT boots and footfangs are borrowed.  i am wearing my very first  Pat Littleohn harness.   Wearing blue jeans and  a canvass Dickies  Jacket. I have an extra pair of Levies and  another wool sweater in the  Camp Trails pack along with my Sorels that I hiked up in and 3 beers that I did not know I was carrying ;)  It was a few days after this climb that I bought the old Kolflachs and broken SMC crampons from Mike Fisher. 

 

Cool photos, Nick. I especially like the hardcore gear you wore for your first trip up Pinnacle. You make me look foppish by comparison. My excuse is that I worked for EMS's Boston store from '72 to '75 and, with a 40% employee discount, could afford all the newest toys and clothing: Chouinard tools, crampons and pitons, Salewa screws, Molitor Eisboots, Forrest swami and leg loops, Terray knickers, Peter Storm sweater and a North Face KakSak with a Sierra Designs 60/40 parka inside. (But no beer; I was on the wagon.) The Hummingbird came later but I never bought a Chacal -- I quit ice climbing and took up backcountry skiing after a scary, nearly leg-snapping fall in '79 or '80.

ANOTHER try of Japetus (5.11d).

Still can’t get it   

https://youtu.be/8gvJp6TgzSA

I guess this is turning into a 3-way New England ice nostalgia sub-thread!!!! My first visit to the Ravine was in ‘66 ( or so). Don’t remember my complete outfit, but a lot of it was army surplus. On my feet I had huge, clunky insulated Micky Mouse boots—-definitely far from purpose-designed technical footwear with 10 point crampons (no front points). I had a fairly long straight ice ax with a flat (not curved), toothless pick—the only kind available back then—bought from the Seattle Coop ( now REI). I had some type of cotton long underwear, probably under dungarees, with surplus canvas overpants, several upper levels, with a Gerry parka, and down jacket from Sporthaus Schuster. First gully was North—always my favorite. Interestingly, I didn’t climb Pinnacle until 1978–towards the end of my active ice climbing period—got diverted away from the Ravine to other areas after ‘the ice revolution’.

Few pictures from those days and, given my lack of ‘tech’ ability, none I can convert from slides to post here.

Nick, that was a pretty damn warm day for climbing in the Ravine—given your partner is standing around on top showing off his classic rugby shirt ( thought those were passé by the 80s’!!!).

Alan. that was a beautifull day in March. Jud's brother in law was a gear rep so Jud had all the cool toys.. we might have been a few years behind the times in VT though. never did experience the lycra stage untill I met Isa in 98

You guys were bad asses climbing ice in the 60s and 70s!    North Gully is good. 

Don't tell Marie Kondo these mouse boots are still in our closet. Yeah, a little dusty.

Mouse boots kept your feet warm even in serious cold ( though your feet would get sweaty) and were great for wading through deep snow—-technical climbing,  however, even on ice ( step chopping back then) was NOT a strong point —however BITD there really wasn’t much option, especially for typical Mt. Washington winter conditions.

Once they became available, I transitioned to mountain boots with Supergaitors for ice climbing ( still never as warm as the MMs)  but for a long time still used the Mouse boots for trudging in the snow.

Alan Rubinwrote:

I guess this is turning into a 3-way New England ice nostalgia sub-thread!!!! 

My husband was also a NE Ice climber when he was a student at UNH in the 70s.  I thought he would enjoy the nostalgia photos and stories and he did. He was a slightly later era than Bruce. I asked him if he had climbed the things you are mentioning.  He related that he climbed the Standard route with his buddy Steve Larson in 1976, soloed Pinnacle Gully in 1977 in a blizzard while his buddy was skiing nearby, and got to do the Black Dike that same year because Rainsford Rouner was looking for a partner (RR led the crux pitch).  His equipment back in those days mostly all Chouinard.  He used a 60 cm Chouinard Piolet axe and climbed in Galibier Makalu boots.  He still has that ice axe, it hangs in the gear closet and he uses it when he does Baldy Bowl on occasion.

In the 70s there weren’t many alternatives to Chouinard gear for ice—-not that that was a bad thing. I, too, still have my Chouinard ax from those days.

Climbing with Larson, Rainsford—your husband was in with a ‘fast’ crowd!!!!

I break out my Chounard at least once a year... 

Soloing Pinnacle is a solid deal even with todays equipment. It a long time to keep your feces together. A real calf burner as I recall. 

A very cold day with no snow section in the middle. Just bullet proof ice and winds gusting to 90 on the summit that day..  Feb.1986. foot fangs, Purple Kolflachs and Simond Chakal in one hand, Cassin Anteres in the other. The cassin was a direct knockoff of the Chakal but a slightly better pick attachment. 

Between sugar shacks and ice climbing and endless snow we really are worlds apart.   It’s nice to see so many pictures of what y’all are doing back East. 

I thought I’d take a short hike this morning and the sun was out and it looked beautiful and I thought I’d go check out Welcome to Joshua Tree. But when I got out of my car there were terrific winds and the temperature couldn’t have been more than 35°… it just wasn’t nice at all.  I should’ve gone home, but instead I put on my headset and listened to Alex Honnold’s 4-part podcast on that period of time when a plane crashed in a remote Yosemite lake, and a lot of people got rich from the booty. I recognized a lot of names that I have seen in the Joshua Tree guide books. I’ve been wondering if the East Coast had the same kind of history and folklore that came out of Camp 4 in Yosemite? 

Meanwhile, I’m not sure why the comic book area always strikes me as a little creepy. But I’m always happy to see these little pagodas on the way back down from a hike because it’s easy to take a wrong turn and wind up on an impassible boulder. I kind of know the area now, but I appreciate the little directionals.

Yes, the east coast has its own history and folklore—-no crashed dope planes, though—sigh!!! Each area, region, country have their own climbing backstory. Though there are often common threads and some of the same names may appear on occasion, each also has unique aspects. For an overview of the climbing history of the Northeast, I recommend reading Yankee Rock and Ice by Guy and Laura Waterman. The writing style might not suit all tastes, but it gives a good overview of the story,

Alan Rubinwrote:

Yes, the east coast has its own history and folklore—-no crashed dope planes, though—sigh!!! Each area, region, country have their own climbing backstory. Though there are often common threads and some of the same names may appear on occasion, each also has unique aspects. For an overview of the climbing history of the Northeast, I recommend reading Yankee Rock and Ice by Guy and Laura Waterman. The writing style might not suit all tastes, but it gives a good overview of the story,

Clearly you have not yet seen Cocaine Bear    .

We’ll, ones that impacted climbing lore—though there is a symbiotic relationship between bears and climbers!!!

Alan Rubinwrote:

We’ll, ones that impacted climbing lore—though there is a symbiotic relationship between bears and climbers!!!

True, but only because the bear was quicker   

The first edition of Yankee Rock and Ice is a good read. The most recent remake is a travesty that sprays a few N Conway climbers and completely omits the actual history of the modern 70s to present era. 

Agreed Nick, but that is only the last 3 chapters, the bulk of the 2nd edition is a reprint of the original. Anyway, history stopped in the mid-70s, didn’t it!!!!!!