Hans' report on the Nose Record

Hans’s play by play of Wednesday July 2nd 2008.(credit to Bill Wright for dictation first draft.)

Wednesday at about 6:05 am we arrive at the base of Pine Line. Around a dozen people with us as we prep to leave the ground. Another two dozen along the trail in the forest below.

We solo up Pine Line to the ledge at the base of the first pitch to meet Tom Frost’s smile and camera.(Can’t wait to see the black and whites)

We do a warm up climb on the first pitch around 6:25am. Yuji takes a 20-foot fall onto a bashie if that popped it would have been bad. He had tick-marked a foothold and on the practice run thought it was a handhold. So he fell.

We rapped off the first anchor and rested 5 minutes.(leaving no fixed gear)

GEAR: Didn't bring any #3 Camalots and just one #2 Camalot and one #1 Camalot, two .75 Camalots, and one .5 Camalot. Then doubles below that. Four nuts, one cam hook, 18 quickdraws, four long runners. One Yates Rocker.

We started at 6:43:30 am. Hans arrived at the top of the first pitch in 5:20 (5:22 on Sunday the 29th).

Get to Sickle in 16:30 (16:20 on Sunday). Rocker used at the left side of Sickle. First gear exchange at the pitch 6/7 pendulum into the Dolt hole cracks and Stovelegs. Yuji puts the rocker on at the top of the 9th pitch to protect Hans on the weird 5.10 section just below this belay. 51 minutes to the top of Dolt, after getting the rope stuck on pitch 9 where Hans had to rap down 20 feet, free the rope, while Yuji was waiting. They lost a minute here. Yuji Fixes at the top of Dolt (first time they fix the rope). He climbs on 100-feet of slack while Hans jugs. We simul-climb to the top of Texas Flake and fix at the top. Hans jugs outside of Texas while Yuji starts bolt ladder. Hans simul-climbs the bolts while Yuji climbs the Boot. 1h13m for both of us to Eagle Ledge (1h03m for Yuji to the top of Texas Flake).

On the King Swing Hans hands Yuji the gear for the second time.Hans does a 360-degree barrel roll and the crowd goes nuts. Yuji drinks half a can of Xcyto energy drink at Eagle Ledge and Hans has the leftovers to chase his Double caffeine Tangerine Power Gel.

Yuji puts a Rocker on at the end of the 5.12a traverse (5.10c grabbing the bolts). Yuji clips the bolt on pitch 20 and goes from there to the top of pitch 21 (right past Camp IV) without any other gear. Yuji fixes at the start of the Great Roof pitch and while Hans jugs.

Hans was at Camp IV, what he has always called the halfway point, in 1h37m. That's not record pace. Of course he is revising the halfway point downwards. They averaged 5m06s per pitch for the entire route. In 2002 they averaged 5:27 a pitch.

Yuji climbs the 5.11 start of the Great Roof with just a loop of rope. As soon as Hans gets up there, Yuji hauls up gear on 4 mil cord, for third gear replenishment. Hans simul climbs the 5.11 first 35 feet of the roof pitch. Yuji just clips the fixed gear on the roof, so he only had 5 pieces across the roof. Yuji doesn't place any extra gear, he tensions and reaches between the fixed gear.

Hans was at the bottom of Pancake Flake in 1h48m.

Yuji fixes at the top of the Pancake Flake and by then Hans is 2/3's of the way up the pitch. Hans jugs the end of that pitch (11d) while Yuji climbs unbelayed up the 5.11 groove and then fixes again at base of camp 5. Hans jugs the groove then simulclimbs the 5.easy stuff up to the top ledge of Camp 5 while Yuji leads the Glowering Spot pitch (5.12c). during Pitch 25 Yuji pulls up 4th and last gear replenishment before reaching the top. Yuji uses a combination of French Free and aid climbing and fixes at the top of the pitch. Yuji climbs the next 5.11a pitch without a belay while Hans jugs. Yuji short-fixes again at the lower section of Camp VI. Hans jugs then simul-climbs the 5.8 below Camp VI and the 5.10d above Camp VI to get to the first bolt which is to the left of the Changing Corners. Note Hans passes by Camp six at 2:17 into the climb. Yuji clips three bolts here before swinging into the corner on the right.

Yuji fixes at the top of the Changing Corners pitch while Hans jugs,Yuji climbs the 10d handcrack without a belay and without placing gear until clipping some fixed gear near the top.

Yuji fixes again at top of pitch 28 and Hans jugs. Hans says he was pretty wasted at this point and not simul-climbing, but did get up 20 feet above the belay before Yuji fixed him. Yuji fixes again at the base of the 10b crack, aka wild stance, and takes off. Wild stance at 2h33m with just the 10b crack and the bolt ladder and finishing slab to go. When Hans gets to this belay he doesn't even bother putting Yuji on belay. He simul-climbs the 10b crack and climbs the bolt ladder. Yuji places no gear in the 10b crack because he has no gear left. Yuji leads from the base of the Glowering Spot to the summit without re-gearing!!! And this a very small rack!

Yuji arrives at the top tree and pulls the rope in as Hans climbs, crawls, scrambles, and runs to the tree. Hans lays gasping for air as Yuji comes close to see the time on the watch.

Monday: 4:48
Thursday: 3:28
Sunday: 2:47
Wednesday: 2:43:33 (previous record was 2:45:48)

Congratulations!

Bill Wright, edited by Hans Florine 7/5/08

24 HOURS OF CLIMBING

From the American Alpine Club E-news: 24 HOURS OF CLIMBING

A novel event in Arkansas last month challenged climbers to lead as many routes as they could in 24 hours. More than 60 two-person teams entered the 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch. The winning team—Clay Frisbie and Todd Johnson—each led 42 climbs up to 5.12a/b, with nothing easier than 5.10! Competitors in three difficulty categories could choose any of the 300-plus sandstone routes at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch; more points were awarded for harder routes and for trad leads. Only the leader got points for the route, and it had to be a clean, no-falls ascent to count. Sounds like fun! See www.24hoursofhorseshoe.com for photos and more information.

Bill, Stefan, and Dave Stewart (left to right) starting up the Front Porch in the last race of the SMSC Tour de Flatirons. 

Stefan (left), Dave Stewart, Bill (white shirt), and Mark Cartwright (red shirt) 

Mackey takes the Tour de Flatirons

Yesterday in the third race of the SMSC 2005 Tour de Flatirons Dave Mackey made it a clean sweep. Last year Dave had dominating performances in two of the five races, but he missed one, had navigational problems on another, and bad cramps on the third to miss out on the title. This year he left nothing to chance and no doubt who is the king of the Flatirons.

The race last night was as close as ever, though, as Dave faced a stiff challenge from not only the conditions, but 2004 Series winner and Slab FKT holder Jon Sargent. They finished just 23 seconds apart. Satan himself (Bill Wright) took advantage of the tired legs of Stefan and confusing climbing to just barely take 3rd place, three seconds ahead of Dave Stewart.

Full results and report are here: Slab Results

We had a record nine racers last night and we do it all again tonight! This was actually an early alternate race and the same race is on again today at 5:30 p.m. Bill and Tony are definitely going again. Hopefully we'll have about the same numbers.

I have obtained the exclusive video of this event and posted it here:

http://www.billwrightenterprises.com/videos/index.htm

I’ve heard that a mixture of short roping and minimal placements helped speed things along, as well as his anonymous partner was apparently quite familiar with the event. Derek and said partner passed two parties going to the summit. The route taken was Baker's Way to the North Ridge. He freed the entire route including the reachy, steep, difficult start and the crux slot on the Direct East Face route.

Rumor has it that the young speedster has now set his sites on the Third Flatiron record (under-10 record, so Stefan need not worry just yet).

Tour de Flatirons Series under way for 2005!

Dave Mackey takes the first two races, both of which saw record turnout!

The schedule with links to race reports and results is here:

http://www.wwwright.com/climbing/minions/2005RaceSchedule.htm

Bill

Hans climbs the Nose twice in 72 hours

Hans Florine climbed the Nose in a day on Monday, Sept. 19th and on Wednesday, Sept. 21st. They were his 59th and 60th ascents of the route, mostly in a day. He completed both ascents within 72 hours.

Burrell and Bakwin link three Northwest Volancoes

On June 9th and 10th Buzz Burrell and Peter Bakwin, both of Boulder, Colorado, linked Mt. Rainier (14,411'), Mt. Adams (12,276'), and Mt. Hood (11,239') in just over 28 hours, including driving time. They started at 2:42 a.m. on Rainier (9000 vertical feet), doing the roundtrip in 9.5 hours. They did the very direct and well-tracked Ingraham Direct route. Next was Adams (6700 vertical feet) and that went smoothly and easily in 6 hours, roundtrip. They finished just before dark and headed south to Mt. Hood (5300 vertical feet), which they started up at 12:35 a.m. on the 10th. They finished at 6:43 a.m. for a total time of 28m01m. This is 35 miles with 21,000 feet of gain. And lots of driving.

Peter posted a short report here at SummitPost.com.