>> February-March 2005
WORLD
NEWS
Bereziartu’s Logical Progression
Ever since her ascent of Honky Tonky,
the first female 5.14b, Josune Bereziartu has relentlessly pushed the standard
of female climbing. Having redpointed 5.14d with Bain de Sang, the logical
next step for Bereziartu would be a 5.15a. In November, Bereziartu traveled
to Japan to try Yuji Hirayama’s testpiece Flat Mountain, 5.15a. Though
Bereziartu came up short on her goal of redpointing Flat Mountain this trip,
she did manage to collect a consolation prize by sending Logical Progression,
5.14d. Originally established by Dai Koyamada, who is no stranger to hard
climbing, Logical Progression is vintage Koyamada, a steep line with powerful
pulls off pockets. The climb took Bereziartu a week to redpoint.
As for Flat Mountain, Bereziartu found the difficulty of the climb lay in
its extremely varied nature, demanding proficiencies on all types of holds
as well as management of power and endurance. However, she has already made
plans to return for a rematch.
Logical Progression is Bereziartu’s second 5.14d, two more than any
other woman in the world. In the meantime, Dai Koyamada has visited Cresciano
Switzerland and sent Dreamtime, V15, after only two days of work, the fastest
ascent yet.
Deep Water Solo in Croatia
A team of British and American climbers, including Leo
Houlding, Steve McClure and Chris Sharma, visited the Kornati Archipelogo
of Croatia to explore the deep water soloing possibilities. The team adhered
to a strict ground-up ethic, establishing more than 50 climbs over two weeks
without pre-inspection. The cream of the crop is Ring of Fire, a 13 m line
established by Steve McClure, weighing in at a hefty 5.14a. The crux occurs
9 m above the water and involves long pulls and deep locks off tiny edges.
McClure had taken the plunge three times before succeeding. Ring of Fire
is the most difficult deep water solo climb to date.
Another 14a Onsight from Patxi
Spaniard Patxi Usobiaga has added yet another 5.14a onsight
to his resume, upping the tally to five. In preparation for an upcoming
World Cup comp, Usobiaga visited Misja Pec and pulled off an onsight of
Millenium. The 40 m long stamina climb had previously been onsighted by
Christian Bindhammer and Thomas Mrazek. Having amassed so many 5.14a onsights,
Usobiaga would easily be considered climbing’s premier practitioner
of the form, were it not for Yuji Hirayama’s onsight of White Zombie
5.14b.
Nose Nearly Freed
The Basque team of Pou brothers, Iker and Eneko, made a
valiant effort to free climb The Nose of El Cap this fall, but came two
pitches shy of ultimate success. The brothers expected the climbing to be
difficult, but did not count on also contending with hot weather as well
as a wall crowded with aid climbers. The Pou brothers succeeded in freeing
32 of the climb’s 34 pitches, but were unable to solve the Great Roof
and the Changing Corners pitch. More than ten years after her first ascent,
Lynn Hill remains the only person to have freed The Nose. –Andre Cheuk
New 9a from Fred Rouhling
After a period of inactivity, Fred Rouhling has returned
to new routing with a new 5.14d, Mandallaz Drive. Located at D’Allonzier
la Caille, Mandallaz drive took Rouhling a year to complete. The 20 m climb
launches up an overhung bulging face with an eight-move V14 boulder problem,
leading into a stamina 5.14a. Unlike Rouhling’s previous new routes
such as Hugh and L’autre Côte du ciel, also rated 5.14d, Mandallaz
Drive is reported to be all natural.
Czech Child Climbs 5.14
Eleven year-old Adam Ondra sent Mascherina 8c/5.14b at
Grotta dell’Aeronata in Italy. Ondra has traveled extensively in Europe
and has climbed five 5.14s since last June.
ALPINE NEWS
Brits Put up
Hard New Route on Tengkang Poche
Tenkang Poche (6,500 m), although not especially high by
Himalayan standards, has a steep and icy 5,000 ft northwest face. Experienced
Brits Nick Bullock and Nick Carter made the first ascent of a new line on
the face, Edge of Darkness, in late October, summiting on October 23, and
making it back to camp after a three-day round-trip. Extreme cold and heavy
snow made protection very difficult and they described the route as similar
to the North Face of Les Droites, but twice as big.
New Italian Route on East Face of Cerro Torre
Ermanno Salvaterra, Alessandro Beltranni and Giacomo Rosetti
made the first ascent of a 1,200 m new line up the massive East Face of
Cerro Torre, to the left of Proctor and Burke’s 1981 East Diedre climb.
After equipping the first few pitches, they climbed for ten days in a continuous
push, encountering difficulties up to A3 and 5.12d. It was Patagonian veteran
Salvaterra’s second attempt on the climb.
Lafaille Makes First Winter Ascent of 8,000
m peak since 1988: Solo
On December 10, 2004, French Climber Jean-Christophe Lafaille
stood on the summit of Sishapangma (8,046 m) after climbing it solo without
oxygen. Himalayan winter climbing can be defined in one of two ways: the
calendar winter, which starts on December 21, or the Nepal winter permit
season, starting on December 1. Lafaille’s climb occured in the permit
season but not world calendar winter. Lafaille followed the Scott/Macintyre/Baxter
Jones route of 1982, but established a variation for the last 1,300 m. His
climb is the first winter summit of an 8,000 m peak since the Polish ascent
of Lhotse in 1988.
CANADIAN NEWS
Squamish: Continuous
Free Ascent of Black Dike, Continuous Free Ascent of Opal
The Opal is a stiff, varied line with 5.12 crack climbing
and a crux 5.13a face pitch and is described by Kevin McLane as “one
of the most dramatic climbs on the Chief.” Nick Jones and Philip Wassenaer
did the first ascent in 1986 and prepared the entire route, including the
last three face climbing pitches. In 1988, Perry Beckham made the first
free ascent of the first three pitches. Since then, Andrew Boyd freed the
crux fourth pitch at 5.12d and the fifth and sixth pitches 5.12a and 5.11d
respectively. The climb had seen no continuous free ascent however, until
this summer, when local guide and guidebook author Marc Bourdon teamed up
with Jeremy Blumel and both climbers made a continuous free ascent, grading
it 5.13a. Bourdon described the climbing as “bizarre, the kind of
thing you could fall off even if you were really strong, because the holds
are so small,” and commented that there were three distinct cruxes
on the crux pitch.
The pair also made the first continuous free ascent of the Black Dike (eleven
pitches, 5.13b), another route with a long history of free climbing attempts.
Al Givler and Mead Hargis, who made the first ascent of this scary and unique
aid route in 1970, free climbed some of the less steep upper pitches. In
2002 Matt Maddaloni bolted pitches one to four and freed, on separate attempts,
all the pitches on the route. Blumel and Bourdon made a continuous free
ascent, with both climbers freeing every pitch. Bourdon commented “there’s
lots of loose rock and dirt still, but the sixth pitch is spectacular and
overhanging, right in the middle of the Chief.”
Temple’s Striving for the Moon Sees Second
Ascent
Greg Thaczuk and Eamonn Walsh were dumbfounded when Scott
Semple presented them with printed schedules of altitude/hydration/calories
–all mapped overtime– to direct their attempt on Ward Robinson
and my unrepeated line up the east face of Mt Temple: Striving for the Moon
(SFTM). Thaczuk and Walsh had “never planned anything” preferring
the “let’s just give’er” approach to climbing mountains.
Semple was adamant (and probably reading too much of Mark Twight’s
Extreme Alpinism); he and Thaczuk had ascended the first 3,000 ft of the
4,700 ft climb in a 10 hour push on November 16. At that point SFTM merges
with the classic East Ridge on top of that route’s famous “Big
Step.” Semple and Thaczuk’s try ended there when the small amount
of fuel they’d brought puttered out long before they’d rehydrated
–Semple later identified this as “poor planning.”
The pair spent nine hours rappelling through massive spindrift avalanches
as a storm lashed the mountain, and at one point Semple had to hold his
face 10 cm away from the ice screw he was desperately driving “just
to see through the onslaught.” “We did learn that you can get
down in a storm with Abalakovs and by leaving behind all your shiny cams,
pins and nuts,” observed a bleary eyed Greg from across my kitchen
table, in Canmore, later that day.
Having recruited Eamonn “Bussa” Walsh they skied away from their
car at 9 a.m. (hour 0), Nov 26, for a second attempt. The first 3,000 ft
follow a water-ice gully. They stepped over the bergschrund at hr 4 (1 pm)
and by hr 7 Walsh had dispatched the crux WI 6 pitch. Semple led a desperate
WI 5+ in darkness and the trio continued moving together with Tiblocs placed
on running pieces (don’t try this at home kids, these men are professionals).
Hr 16 (1 am, Nov 27th) saw them shivering atop the Big Step for two hours
of brewing, all according to plan.
“Bussa” Thighs (there is nothing small about Eamonn) plowed
off into “quite horrid” waist-deep snow at hr 18. An hour later
he stood urinating while Thaczuk drytooled a small rock step while Semple
remained another ropelength below. The pick that Thaczuk was cranking on
snapped like a dry twig, pitching him down slope for a 20 footer, while
Bussa was torn from his piss to carve a yellow arc, “Good thing I
was wearing Gore-Tex, eh?” he commented later.
Six hours later the full moon broke through the clouds and illuminated their
mistake. They’d climbed into the first of the four gullies that bypass
the Black Towers. That gully is too hard in winter conditions. “Yep,
that’s the Sphinx Face down there,” stated Walsh on gaining
Semple’s high stance at hour 25. “I just want to be home in
bed” replied Semple, and they rapped back to traverse into the proper
exit, gully 3. They topped out of that at hr 28:20. An hour of traversing
saw them on the summit at 2:39 p.m., Nov 27th and a twelve year quest, replete
with numerous attempts, was put to rest; the second ascent of SFTM completed
in a single 29 hour and 39 minute push, and in the flavour of the first
ascent, during the light of the full moon.
Six hours later, via Paradise Valley, Bussa, Greg and Scott staggered back
to their rig. They’d been out 36 and 1/2 hours and had entered into
a new world of exhaustion and hallucinations. Greg observed that he was
walking just like he does after pounding down a 12 pack of beer.
–Barry Blanchard
First Free Ascent
of Verstiegenheit at Yam
Ludwig Binswanger’s essay on existential psychology
spoke of verstiegenheit as “wandering beyond your limits,” even
into the realm of mental pathology. Shep Steiner’s eponymous project
of eight years on the steep wall to the left of General Pain at Yamnuska
certainly has some of the hallmarks of this tendency. The main obstacle
to a first ascent had been long runouts on dubious vertical and overhanging
rock. The first four pitches were drilled on lead from hooks on crumbly
edges, as per the local ethic and the last four were drilled on rappel with
Todd Guyn, but both sections, according to Steiner, “are equally poorly
bolted.” The project was started in 1997 with Steve Lovenuik, Steiner’s
other main partner had been Todd Guyn, who described the rock as “hideous”
and the cruxes as “low percentage,” moves. Steiner, however,
commented that although he wouldn’t do another route of its kind any
time soon, “bad rock at a high standard is rare outside of Europe,”
and, he added whimsically, “it has its own pleasures.” Recently
Steiner teamed up with global hardman and Gripped columnist Scott Milton
to make the first free ascent of the eight pitch line, the hardest at Yamnuska,
at 5.10+, 5.12a, 5.11d, 5.12c, 5.11d/12a,5.12b,5.10++, 5.12b R. Scott’s
story of the climb appears in his column in this issue.
