Fifty Classics Chronology
Bill Wright
1)
8/83, Ellingwood Arete on Crestone Needle with Steve Chupik and Jim
Merritt
I start my assault on the 50CC’s just one month after George Bell starts his
quest. We won’t meet until 1994, when I move back to Colorado. We hike in
from the car parking (no 4WD) and camp at the lake at the base of the ridge.
The next day we start at 7 a.m. and do the roundtrip in 12 hours, climbing
as a team of three. Epic pitch out of the chimney/gully on wet, overhanging
rock. I lead everything.
I climbed this again in 6/2002 with Homie and we do the route in 1h50m and link it to the traverse to Crestone Peak and then to the Prow (a much better, more aethestic route) on Kit Carson, all in a 15 hours, car-to-car.
2)
9/83, Durrance Route on Devil’s Tower with Chris Wright, Jim Merritt,
and Bob Johnson.
We climb as two teams of two and do the direct finish. We are all out of water
on the top and are dying of thirst by the time we get down.
3)
4/84, Kor-Ingalls on Castleton Tower with Jim Merritt, Eric Schneider,
and Bob Johnson
This is during Spring Break of my senior year at college (CU). I lead the
crux pitch and everything goes well.
4)
6/84, East Buttress of Middle Cathedral Rock with two unknown climbers
I drive through Yosemite for the first time on my way from Colorado to my
new home in San Jose, CA. I meet two guys in Toulumne Meadows and we plan
to climb Royal Arches in the Valley the next day. Unfortunately, the rotten
log has just fallen a couple of weeks earlier and we don’t know if the route
is still climbable. We opt for this route instead. A communication problem
causes me to bring hardly any water (I thought they had the water) and I do
the 12-pitch route in 95-degree weather on half a liter of water! I’m delirious
with dehydration on the descent. I lead more than half the route including
all the hard pitches.
I climb this route again in 1986 as two teams of two. My best friend and main climbing partner, Fred Yenny and his partner fall to their death from 900 feet up this route when a belay anchor fails after a lead climbing fall. This is by far the most horrific accident of my climbing career. I've never been back to this route.
5)
??, North Ridge of Stuart with Tom Karpeichik and Steve Shostek.
Tom and I balk at the last minute about a one-day ascent and carry bivy bags
and sleeping bags. Steve leaves an hour earlier with a partner, intent on
the one-day ascent. We see Steve just before dropping on the glacier. His
partner realizes a one-day ascent is too much for him and he wants to go back.
Steve teams with us. We complete the route, the long, horrible, 5000-vertical-foot
descent down the scree gully and then do the long hike back up. We get lost
in the dark trying to get around the lake on rock slabs. As it starts to rain,
Tom and I bivy for the night after 16 hours on the go. Steve continues as
he only carries a bivy bag. He doesn’t make it out and can’t find us either,
so bivies alone. We all meet at the trailhead the next morning.
6)
??, East Ridge of Wolf’s Head with Jim Merritt and Lou Lorber.
We started this with Sheri, but when it started raining, we lowered her off
and sat out the rain. I led the route when it stopped raining. It started
snowing at the summit and for most of the descent, but beautiful when back
at camp.
7)
??+1, Northeast Face of Pingora with Jim Merritt and Lou Lorber.
We simul-seconded most of this entire route. I led the whole thing. We descended
to camp in perfect weather, but then it rained the entire afternoon, night,
and next day. We hiked out in the rain.
8)
??, Direct Exum on the Grand Teton with Jim Merritt and Lou Lorber
I lead the entire route and we’re on the summit by 10 a.m. Starting from the
Lower Saddle, we do the route in five hours– as a team of three. We descend
back to the car that day.
9)
??, North Ridge of the Grand Teton with Loobster.
We aborted on this ridge a few years ago and a few days before as well. This
time we started with Tom and Judy, but scary, loose rock and a big rock fall
freaked Judy and they turned back. Loobster and I continued and did the route
in 14 hours camp to camp (at the Lower Meadows). One of the best alpine climbs
I’ve ever done with the Valhalla Traverse and lower ice fields.
10)
??, South Face of Charlotte Dome with Maribeth Tormey.
Runout, exciting climbing on huge, indistinct face. Very cool vertical rock
gullies up high.
11)
7/7/85, East Buttress of Middle Cathedral with Dan Fitzsimmons.
I free the bolt ladder this time. My regular partner Fred Yenny climbed with
another friend right behind us for ten pitches. They then had a catastrophic
accident and fell 800 feet to their death. We finished the route (quickest
way down) and rushed down to find them. We started to hike out and found the
recovery team on the way in. My work done, I sat down and lost it…
12)
8/1996, East Ridge of Bugaboo Spire with Loobster.
An epic ascent two days after a 10-inch snowstorm. We climb the route with
one 9mm rope and switch to our boots halfway up due to the snow. We kept thinking
we had to go over the top to get to the descent. At the summit we realized
that was impossible. Loobster nearly loses it here and utters the now classic
line, “I’ll never climb again.” We make it down in 19 rappels and only leave
some stoppers and slings behind.
13)
??, Lost Arrow Spire with Dan Fitzsimmons.
I led the route and we fixed ropes to the saddle and didn’t do the
Tyrolean. We rapped back to the saddle and jug out.
I do it again with Tom, Judy, and Loobster in 6/2000. We climb as two teams
of two and Loobster leads the first pitch and I do the second pitch. We do
they Tyrolean this time and it is a blast.
14)
7/88?, Liberty Crack on Liberty Bell with Jim Merritt.
We fix two pitches on this route and blast it the next day.
15)
7/86, West Ridge of Forbidden Peak with Jim Merritt.
We hike to camp just below Timberline and simul-climb the route the next day
in five hours camp-to-camp, passing one party along the way.
16)
6/85, Steck Salathe on Sentinel with Fred Yenny.
We haul on this ascent and it takes us two long days. We don’t do the Narrows,
but go outside it because of the haul bag.
6/00, I repeat the route all free and in a day with Tom. 15 hours car-to-car.
A super physical route!
17)
?/91, Northwest Face of Half Dome with Loobster.
After failing on this route three times before (without ever getting above
the second pitch!), I go with the Loobster and we do it in 2.5 days San Jose
to San Jose. The first day we drive out, hike in, and climb to pitch 6. We
can’t go further because another party is sleeping at the pitch 11 bivy. Loobster
carries a single pack and we sleep just with space blankets. The next day
we pass the other party and climb to within a pitch of the top when it is
too dark to see which way to go. We top out the next morning at 6:30 a.m.
I lead every pitch.
6/2000, I climb the route with Tom in 18 hours car-to-car and 12 hours for
the route itself. I lead half the route. Brilliant, fun climbing!
18)
??, Traveler Buttress with Fred Yenny
After failing on this route above the crux pitch due to partner fatigue, I
go back and once again lead the offwidth crux and this time complete the route.
19)
7/85, Regular Route on Fairview Dome with Fred Yenny.
We did this in a day from San Jose! We drove the five hours up there and then
climbed the route. We took a two-hour nap on Crescent Ledge to wait for slow
parties. Perfect weather!.
6/2000, I simul-climbed this route in two pitches with Hans Florine in 1h8m.
It is just one of the eight domes that we climb that day.
20)
5/16-20/89, Salathe Wall with Tom.
We fix two pitches to mark our place in line. The next day we do Free Blast
and haul our bag to Heart Ledge. Sleep on the ground again. Then we sleep
at Hollow Flake, El Cap Spire, and Long Ledge.
In 6/02 I do it again in 15 hours with Jim Herson. I jug the whole route except
for 7 pitches that I free climb while following.
21)
9/12/89, Southeast Face of Clyde Minaret with Loobster.
A fun ascent with me leading all the way. I tried this with Tom a year earlier
in May, but there was way too much snow and it took us too long to approach.
We only did one pitch that time. This time we are the only party to summit
this day. Two others bail because they are too slow.
22)
?/85, East Face of Mt. Whitney with Gilles Bouchard
We do the route in 12 hours car-to-car and descend the long trail. I lead
most of the route.
23)
8/10/86, Northcutt-Carter on Hallet with Giles Bouchard.
We do this in 12 hours car-to-car with me leading all of the way.
24)
8/11/86, South Face of the Petite Grepon with Giles Bouchard.
We do this in 12 hours car-to-car with me leading most of the way. This is
the day after doing a 12 hour ascent of Hallet.
25)
5/20-21/94, The Titan with George Bell.
Scary and difficult. We fix two pitches the first day. The third pitch turns
out to be the crux, many 1.5” angles needed. We take so much time on these
three pitches it seems we’ll never make it, but things go faster after that.
The final pitch is incredibly exposed and I am glad that Bill leads it. Scary
raps lead back down in the failing light.
26)
8/10/96, North Face of the Grand with George Bell.
From a bivy at the base of the E ridge, we arise early as we are passed by
some dudes from Salt Lake City. Bill has crampon troubles, then we start
too far left and have a scary time in some shallow, crackless chimeys. Back
on route before the Guano Chimney, which is much nicer than I expected. I
lead the pendulum pitch and Bill the traverse into the V. On top by 3PM,
back to camp by 6, and out to the car by 8:20.
27)
8/12/96, Direct South Buttress of Moran with George Bell.
We bivy in the trees a half mile from the lake after canoeing over. Bill
opts for the 5.9 variation on pitch 6, a big mistake which costs us lots of
time. The vertical crack is more like 10b, and he finds no free way back
left as in the topo, ends up doing it A3. Rossiter's topo is very poor, but
we relax when we get to the double pendulum as we know we are on route! We
opt for the raps which take a long time, after 4 raps we fail to look right
and spend a half hour too low looking for the next anchor, I finally spot
it and we climb back up. Rope hangs on the second to the last rap and I go
back up to free it. We arrive exhausted and out of food in camp at ~8PM and
crash, to canoe over in the early AM. I order two breakfasts at Dornan's.
28)
5/93, The Nose on El Capitan with Loobster.
Fix lines to Sickle Ledge, then sleep at El Cap Tower and Camp V. We top out
at 5 p.m. and hike 11 miles out to highway 120. Sheri and John Black meet
us on top. We swing leads the whole way.
6/2002, I climb the Nose with Tom in 22 hours, leading in blocks.
29)
8/26/97, The East Ridge of Mt. Temple with George Bell and Loobster.
We rouse at 4:30AM at the Lake Louise Campground and leave the car at about
5:45. We are soon confused by the route description but rapidly ascending,
doing some tricky borderline 5th class moves free solo. We soon reach a ridge
blocked by a small tower, and climb right and up a steep chimney to another
step. This is not the Big Step but we cannot find an easy way past. Finally
we get out the rope and rock shoes and go for the direct assault, esp after
we spot 2 pins. I lead a short exposed pitch up the step. We then move up
to the base of the Big Step (9AM). The Big Step takes us 5 pitches, the starts
of the first and third are quite hairy. I lead all the pitches on the Big
Step as I’m the only one with rock shoes. Move right to climb another step,
then we begin to traverse left. We find the correct couloir through the Black
Towers, arriving on the summit ridge about 3:30PM. We rope up for glacier
travel and really enjoy the final ridge traverse to the summit, 5PM. We blast
down and have to hike all the way back to the car, round trip in 14.5 hours
(car at 8:15).
30)
?, Liberty Ridge with Tom, Loobster, and Jim Merritt.
We do the complete ridge from the base, starting at an elevation of 2,000
feet! A total ascent, climbing the actual summit of Rainier of about 13,000
vertical feet. We camp first on Curtis Ridge, then climb to 13,000 and dig
a ledge where all four of us get in one dome tent. We summit the next day
and hike clear back to our camp on Curtis Ridge. Out the next day.
31)
10/13/02, Climb Shiprock with Warren Teissier, George Bell, John Prater and
Steve Mathias.
Really fun and devious route! We climb the “Standard Route” to the Colorado
Col, with one exposed and wild pitch before the col, and much tricky route
finding below that. We fix two ropes for the return (better to use a 120’
rope for the second one, and not go down through the chockstones). Warren
leads the traverse, then me most of the rest of the route. Cool summit register
listing every single ascent of the peak! We reverse the complex line, doing
9 raps which all go well (except I pull some rocks off, nearly missing myself).
Just under 11 hours car to car.
32) 7/2003, Japanese Route on Mt. Albert with Loobster, Homie, and Trashy.
An incredible route on an awesome, complex mountain. We were the first ascent
of the year. We did the roundtrip from the hut in 19 hours. What an amazing
place to be. I want to come back for the Northeast Ridge...
33) 7/2003, North Face of Edith Cavell with Trashy. We did the route, car-to-car in about 16 hours, I think. Probably favorite alpine route. Just incredibly varied climbing on an immense face. A super short approach, but a long, long hike out.
Failures to add:
8/16/85, Northwest Arete of Mount Sir Donald with Loobster. I’ve been to this trailhead twice and the furthest I got was halfway to the col. It has rained nearly constantly while I’ve been here. Note: This is the only 50CC that I have attempted and not done eventually.
Table 1 : Summary of climbing Royal Arches
|
Year |
Partner |
Notes |
|
8/84 |
Dan Fitzsimmons |
5 hours; 7.5 hours car-to-car. I led all pitches |
|
9/90 |
Tom |
4 hours, I led every pitch and then we did South Face route on North Dome. Hiked down Falls Trail very dehydrated. |
|
1991 |
John Black, Mike Brodesky |
3 hours, I led every pitch. Simul-climbed a lot. We had heavy packs as we cleaned and bolted a new route up there. |
|
1991 |
John Black |
1h8m. I led every pitch. We then climbed Crest Jewel on North Dome and were on top of that before noon. Hiked out Falls Trail. |
|
1998 |
Loobster (partial ascent) |
Climbed half the route and then finished on the Cobra. Didn’t even start until 3 p.m. Descended in the dark. |
|
2001 |
John Black |
John led everything and we simul-climbed the entire route in 50 minutes or so. |
Table 2 : Summary of climbing any pitches on the Nose
|
Year |
Pitches done |
Partner |
Notes |
|
6/86 |
1 |
Gilles Bouchard |
Practice |
|
4/91 |
1 |
Loobster |
Practice |
|
4/92 |
4 |
Loobster |
Practice. Water forced epic retreat from the top of 3rd pitch. Jug up the next day and had another party fixed the 4th pitch for us. |
|
4/93 |
8 |
Loobster |
Practice |
|
5/93 |
34 – complete |
Loobster |
3.5 days |
|
6/2002 |
1 |
Tom and Judy |
Practice for NIAD |
|
6/2002 |
7 |
Tom and Judy |
Learn the variation into the Stovelegs |
|
6/2002 |
34 – complete |
Tom |
22 hour NIAD ascent! |
|
9/2002 |
1 |
Loobster |
To film Hans and Yuji |
Table 3 : Summary of climbing any pitches on the Salathe
|
Year |
Pitches done |
Partner |
Notes |
|
6/92 |
1 |
Sheri |
I free first pitch and clean on descent |
|
6/92 |
11 |
Loobster |
Free Blast. I lead the first pitch and then the even pitches |
|
6/99 |
36 – complete |
Tom |
We fix two pitches to mark our place in line. The next day we do Free Blast and haul our bag to Heart Ledge. Sleep on the ground again. Then we sleep at Hollow Flake, El Cap Spire, and Long Ledge. |
|
6/2002 |
36 – complete |
Jim Herson |
I follow the entire route. I free seven of the pitches including the 11b/c pitch off Sous Le Toit but with many hangs. I jug the rest. 15 hour ascent. |
|
9/2002 |
3 |
Loobster |
I lead all pitches free, but hang twice on the 11b third pitch. |
Table 4 : Summary Chart
|
Year |
Failed Attempts |
Partial |
Repeats |
Done |
|
1983 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
1984 |
||||
|
1985 |
||||
|
1986 |
||||
|
1987 |
||||
|
1988 |
||||
|
1989 |
||||
|
1990 |
||||
|
1991 |
||||
|
1992 |
||||
|
1993 |
||||
|
1994 |
||||
|
1995 |
||||
|
1996 |
||||
|
1997 |
||||
|
1998 |
||||
|
1999 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
2000 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
2001 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
|
2002 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
|
Total |
5 |
11 |
7 |
32 |
Table 5 : Summary of climbing partners
|
Partner |
Number of 50CC Routes Done with Me |
Route done with |
|
Tom Karpeichik |
9 |
Nose, Salathe, Lost Arrow Spire, Steck-Salathe, Half Dome, Royal Arches, Liberty Ridge, Mt. Stuart, Lost Arrow Spire |
|
George Bell |
8 |
Titan, Mt. Temple, North Face of Grand Teton, Mt. Moran, Ship Rock, Japanese Route on Mt. Alberta, North Face of Edith Cavell |
|
Jim Merritt |
9 |
Liberty Ridge, Liberty Crack, Castleton Tower, Forbidden Peak, Ellingwood Ledges, Devil’s Tower, Direct Exum, Pingora, Wolf's Head |
|
Loobster |
11 |
Nose, Half Dome, Clyde Minaret, Bugaboo Spire, Mt. Temple, Direct Exum, Japanese Route on Mt. Alberta, Pingora, Wolf's Head, North Ridge of the Grand Teton, Lost Arrow Spire |
|
Fred Yenny |
3 |
Fairview Dome, Steck-Salathe, Traveler’s Buttress |
|
Gilles Bouchard |
3 |
Petit Grepon, Hallet, Whitney |
|
Homie |
3 |
Ship Rock, Japanese Route on Mt. Alberta, Ellingwood Ledges |
|
Dan Fitzsimmons |
3 |
Royal Arches, Lost Arrow Spire, Middle Cathedral Rock |
| John Black | 2 |
Royal Arches, Royal Arches |
|
Bob Johnson |
2 |
Castleton Tower, Devil’s Tower |
|
Chris Wright |
1 |
Devil’s Tower |
|
Hans Florine |
1 |
Fairview Dome |
|
Jim Herson |
1 |
Salathe |
|
Steve Mathias |
1 |
Ship Rock |
|
Warren Teissier |
1 |
Ship Rock |
|
Steve Shostek |
1 |
Mt. Stuart |
|
Eric Schneider |
1 |
Castleton Tower |
|
Steve Chupik |
1 |
Ellingwood Ledges |
|
Unknown #1 |
1 |
Middle Cathedral Rock |
|
Unknown #2 |
1 |
Middle Cathedral Rock |
| Maribeth Tormey | 1 |
South Face of Charlotte Dome |