Internet Blind Date
August 9-13, 2001
Summary: Sport climbing at Easter Rock in Boulder Canyon, Slideshow, Triple Link-up of Boulder Area Crack Testpieces (Naked Edge, Country Club Crack, and Death and Transfiguration), Yellow Wall on the Diamond, Outer Space in Eldorado Springs Canyon.
In the late 70’s and early 80’s, there was a concentration on freeing ultra-hard short routes in Yosemite. While Astroman had been freed in 1975, most of the top climbers weren’t concentrating on freeing the big walls as they were considered beyond reach. Mark Hudon and Max Jones saw things differently. They wrote a very influential article titled “Long, Hard, and Free” (Mountain #79 May/June 1981) and took that attitude to the big walls of Yosemite.
Photo
1: Mark Hudon
(Oregon, 2000) Photo
2: Mark Hudon (left)
and Eric Sanford (Yosemite, 1974)
(both photos by Eric Sanford)
Hudon and Jones were amongst the best crack climbers in the world at this time and, in fact, traveled the country to climb every single 5.12 crack. They did the 5th free ascent of Astroman, 2nd free ascent of 5.12b (M.H.: at the time we rated it 5.12c) finish to the Rostrum (Ray Jardine did the first free ascent), 2nd free ascent of the West Face of El Cap (in 7 hours with the first two pitches already freed and fixed, once again Jardine freed it first, just 4 days before them), etc. They aren't more famous because they made a number of NEARLY free ascents that were way ahead of their time including Mt. Watkin's South Face (in '79, freed a year or two ago by Brooke Sandahl), the Crucifix in '79 (freed by Croft in '85), and all but about 300’ of the Salathé Wall in 1979! Skinner and Piana freed the entire route in 1988.
Mark contacted me via Email after he found and read my trip report on climbing the North Face of Quarter Dome in Yosemite Valley. Mark and Max had done the first free ascent of this route and renamed it Pegasus (5.12). This first email led to a long, friendly correspondence and I suggested he make a trip to Boulder to put on a slideshow at Neptune Mountaineering and do some climbing with me. Due to the dim bulb events coordinator at Neptune, we moved the slideshow to my house and combined it with a BBQ party. I invited some of the local luminaries (Gerry Roach, Jim Erickson, Roger Briggs, Steve Levin, Timmy O’Neill) to hobnob with Mark, but none showed up. I’m not close to any of these guys so it’s understandable and Gerry was out of town and Roger and Steve were informed late. Mark would have to be content to with my circle of climbing partners.
Photo 3: Max Jones (left) and Mark Hudon on the top of the Salathé Wall (1979)
Thursday: Sport Climbing and Slide Show
Mark flew into Denver midday on Thursday and took an Airporter to Boulder – directly to my office. My first impression upon meeting Mark was his height – or lack there of. Mark is 5’2” tall. Sure, he had the lean, hard body of a seasoned climber, but this guy was a giant in my mind. The things he had done were of mythic proportions. I had envisioned a guy of intimidating size. Mark is a giant, but not physically. He has a friend that calls him “the worlds littlest giant”. He has a quite self-assurance, a quick wit, and an easygoing demeanor.
It’s abundantly clear why I’m so far behind these top climbers. While I’m not fat or even chubby, I don’t possess a climber’s body. At 5’11” and 170 pounds, I’m big for a climber (gargantuan for a runner). I know, Klem Loskot is the same height and even heavier, but he has muscles on top of muscles. Most climbers carry their weight in their chest, back, and arms. Mine is concentrated in my belly. This isn’t as bad as it sounds, as it lowers my center of gravity...
I left work early and we made a quick dash up Boulder Canyon for some sport climbing before heading home for the party/show. Unfortunately it had been raining steadily all day, very unusual for Boulder this time of year, and most everything was wet.
With little time before the party, we headed up to some sport climbs for a quick burn at Easter Rock. The rain left few options, as most everything was wet. Curiously, the less overhanging climbs at the top of the crag were the only routes dry. The latest guidebook shows a single route up here that is traditionally protected. We found four new bolted climbs.
Mark led up into the unknown and soon got to a rappel anchor. He continued to the top of the wall where he found a second anchor. As I lowered him back to the ground, I asked how difficult he thought the route was. When he answered “11b”, I decided to pull the rope and lead it also. I barely made it up to the first anchors, thinking this might have been 11a, but above here the climbing was truly desperate and very continuous. I fell numerous times trying to turn a bulge. Even pulling on the quickdraw wasn’t enough to get me by this section.
In earlier email discussions Mark made it clear that he had no desire to repeat any climbs on such a short trip. Yet, now I’d be forcing him to repeat his very first climb. We needed the gear back from the top of this route and I couldn’t get it. This wouldn’t be the last time on the trip where I failed to retrieve his gear.
Mark lowered me to the first rappel station and I belayed him up to me. Mark re-led the top section and I lowered him back down to my intermediate station. Now, with the help of a toprope, I was able to climb up to the anchors, albeit with a lot of dangling on the rope. This climb is at least 11d – at least by Easter Rock ratings.
After rapping back to the ground, it was time to head home for the slideshow. We arrived about 5:45 p.m. and the rest of the guests started arriving at 6 p.m. When Mark walked in the door, Derek was immediately attached to him. Within a few seconds, Derek was saying, “Come on, Mawk. I want to show you what I made.” Derek would later give Mark a hug and a kiss good-bye. Derek makes friends easily.
We had about 25 people total for this party and everyone seemed to have a good time. After food and drink, we started the entertainment by showing the raw video footage shot by the Wild Survival camera crew of me climbing Death and Transfiguration. Everyone laughed at how I climbed the route with one cam stuck against the gear sling just over my right shoulder. It looked ridiculous. I wondered why no one mentioned this to me while I was climbing the route, but apparently they couldn’t see that far. Good thing I didn’t need this piece, as I wouldn’t have found it in the usual location.
Next up was the main event: Mark’s slide show. Mark showed slides from his heyday years: 1975-1979. Most of the shots were of Yosemite, but there were some from Colorado and the Gunks. Mark’s friend Drew was also present at the party and he frequently threw in his comments on the slides. Mark stressed that almost all of his cutting edge climbing was done with nuts and not with camming devices. In their later years, he did possess a set of Friends but that consisted of only about five total units.
Mark and Max were the first to suggest to Ray Jardine that he needed half sizes in his Friends. Jardine personally produced the first half-sized versions and handed them to Mark and Max a week later. Despite all their achievements on the rock, Mark, and Drew, seemed most excited about their innovations in chalk bag design. Mark went on and on about the materials used in construction of the chalk bags and about how they were the first to use dual chalk bags – one on either side for easier dipping. These chalk bags were not your prissy little sport bags that we see today. These bags were huge so that you could dip your arm up to your elbow. While trying to free the big walls of Yosemite, a significant portion of the weight they hauled up the route was their chalk supply, hauled in a separate haul bag because of its volume and for easier access.
Now to a guy who doesn’t even use chalk and has cringed at the ugly marks it leaves behind, this entire discussion wasn’t as inspiring to me as to Mark and Drew. Of course, it wasn’t as inspiring to anyone as much as these two. I’ve never seen such excitement over chalk bags before and I hope never again. It was absolutely hilarious and we had a great time ribbing them both about it.
The slideshow lasted well past 10 p.m. and we finally had to start throwing people out. No one wanted to leave, as the discussion was lively.
Boulder is blessed with three very distinct climbing areas: Eldorado Springs Canyon, a traditional stronghold, has towering sandstone walls that yield a multitude of face and crack climbs; the Flatirons are a 7-mile stretch of sandstone slabs and spires that run from Eldorado to Boulder’s Chautauqua Park; and Boulder Canyon is the home of granite trad and sport climbs. Each of these areas hosts a classic, testpiece crack climb. I had long thought it would be cool to link-up these three legendary climbs and now I had the rope gun required to do it.
Mark hadn’t done any trad climbing in over five years. He didn’t bring any lead gear with him, so he’d also be leading with an unfamiliar rack. He had never used Aliens before, but by the end of the trip he was a convert.
Photo 4: Mark on the second ascent of the Phoenix (5.13a) in Yosemite (1978)
Naked Edge
We left the car in Eldo at 8:30 a.m. and headed for the Edge. I was hoping to do Touch and Go (two pitch 5.9) as an approach to the Edge, but it had a party already on it. We hiked right to the base of the Redguard Route and found John Krakauer belaying there. I said “Hi” to John and introduced Mark (after re-introducing myself – I’ve bouldered with John at the local gym). John asks, “What are you two heading for? Not the Edge, I hope.” I smiled, “Yes, why?” John said, “We’re headed there also and so are those guys on Touch and Go.” I was surprised to see the Edge so popular on a Friday morning.
John was climbing with Bill Briggs (holder of the Third Flatiron Speed Record and brother to local climbing legend Roger). They’d be quite fast, much faster than us. This was mainly due to Mark. Apparently he hasn’t fully mastered the Z-pulley partner hauling system. What a rookie! He claims never having to use this technique when climbing with Max.
Mark and I simul-climbed the Ramp Route to the Cave Pitch (5.8) with me leading. John arrived at the base of the Edge first, then me, then Bill, being belayed by John, and then Mark. We were far ahead of the third team and there were no worries about anyone being bothered by the other parties. I got to watch John practically run up the first two pitches of the Naked Edge. Further up, he’d also combine the 4th and 5th pitches (both 5.11). John is obviously climbing very well these days.
I had only climbed the Naked Edge once before and I was pretty much guided up it by Dr. Offwidth. This ascent was pretty much identical. For each ascent, I only led the 5.8+ third pitch. Previously, I had fallen off every pitch but the third.
Mark also combined the first two pitches. He did it quickly and easily and it was soon my turn. I climbed through what most consider the crux, making the transition from grabbing the arête on the left back into the finger crack, without falling, but I soon grew pumped. I fell off and hung on the rope. The angle is not quite vertical here, but the fingerlocks in this crack are just horrible. You have to use your feet well here and there are edges for the feet, but they are technical and I spent too long figuring out how to make everything work together. I got back on and found a neat solution to my problem and continued upwards to the second pitch.
The second pitch is rated 10b and it involves a short, very tricky section. Once again I was completely stumped here for quite awhile. This is just below the belay and Mark could watch my consternation. Finally, I noticed an obvious face hold near the horrible finger crack. I had been so intent on the horrible crack that I failed to notice this hold. It was just enough for me to climb to the belay. Alright! This was progress. I had now climbed two pitches of the Edge without falling.
Photo 5: Mark Hudon starting up the first pitch on the Naked Edge
I led up the third pitch to the sloping ramp belay below the fourth pitch and Mark soon joined me. Some people consider this fourth pitch the crux of the route. These people are horribly wrong, despite the fact that Mark came the closest to falling off on this short, tricky pitch.
The last pitch of the Naked Edge is difficult. Maybe I just really, really suck at the 5th pitch. It does have the highest technique rating of 5.11b, though I find it more difficult than Boulder Canyon sport 5.12a’s. I can’t do those either, mind you, but I have less of an epic in Boulder Canyon.
The pitch starts out with off balance, overhanging, 5.11 face climbing. My last time up here I was so intimidated by the prospect of falling off that I didn’t even try the moves, but grabbed gear. This time I tried the moves and fell off twice. Each time I fell into free space and struggled to get back on the route. With Mark running everything out so far, it was very important that I not fall off just after pulling a piece of gear. With no prussiks or Tiblocs, I would be stuck with no way to ascend the rope, get back on the route, or be lowered to the rock. This route has at least a hundred feet of overhanging space at this belay.
I grabbed gear some gear to move by this section and up to the “duck-around move.” Intimidated again, I just reached around the corner and grabbed a fixed sling. I was now faced with the hardest part, at least for me. This is disappointing because now it is crack climbing and I thought I could sort of climb cracks. The biggest problem is the angle. It is so overhanging here that the neighboring Diving Board (11a, which I have also climbed) is a slab by comparison.
Country Club Crack
This would be my eighth ascent of CCC. Who would have thought I’d climb it this much? I used to never repeat routes. I’ve climbed this route with Homie, Trashy, Kenny Rotten, Hardly, Bowling Ball, BTO, and now Mark, so at least my partners aren’t getting bored of it. I’ve redpointed the first, crux pitch, but still haven’t redpointed the second pitch.
Mark fell off the opening move of this climb a couple of times. I then gave him the key, shoulder-rolling beta and he made it look easy. “Hey, that’s a cool trick,” he said. Despite his stature, Mark had no trouble with the very reachy 5.10+ move above here and was quickly at the belay. I tried a couple of times to do the opening move, but it was too much for me and I pulled on the draw to get by. I followed the rest clean to the belay and Mark headed out on the next pitch.
Mark cruised this long, endurance pitch and even backcleaned some gear out of the crux since he thought it might make my ascent tougher. He didn’t bother with the knee-hook rest. Following, I was dismayed to find the crack wet and sandy. This must have been a remnant of the recent raining. I had never seen the crack in such ugly conditions. There was even bird shit in the crack down low. Once I got near the roof the crack was back to its old clean self.
I turned the roof and got into the rest. I thought I was fine when I left the rest, but the crux thin hand jams felt horrible and I fell off. I rested but a moment on the rope and then barely struggled up the final section. We rappelled off and head for Chautauqua Park.
Death and Transfiguration – “I’m gonna die up here!”
I’ve climbed D&T four times before this ascent. Twice with Loobster: the first time breaking my back and the second time being filmed for a TV show about breaking my back. I led both times with Looby and I’ve followed it with Bruce and Hardly.
On the arduous hike up to the rock, Mark shed his T-shirt. I should have since the shirt became totally soaked by the time we arrived. As Mark started up the route, the weather immediately changed character and we could tell a storm was moving in. Mark said, “I’m going to freeze up there, aren’t I?” “Yup,” I said. I borrowed Mark’s dry sweatshirt to belay.
Mark cruised the pitch easily, running it out considerably between placements as usual. He loved the climbing though and had no trouble deciphering the crux. He hung from one hand on the jug at the crux. A pure poser shot, but I had no camera with me. Clearly he wasn’t very stressed.
Starting up, I knew it was going to be a race against the rain. I was sheltered under the enormous overhang, but Mark was sitting on top of the spire. I raced through the first 5.10+ crack and rested only briefly at the stance. It was already raining and I was trying to hurry. I took tension at the last piece before turning the big roof to increase my chances of making it to the next piece. If I didn’t make it to the next piece, I’d swing out into space and have to be lowered to the ground – without completing the route.
I didn’t make it. This move is hard 5.10 and very burly and I just didn’t have it left in my arms. I swung out and dangled in the rain. After confirming I couldn’t get back on the route and hearing Mark’s cry of “I’m going to die up here!” as the lightning started to hit, I asked to be lowered to the ground. Once there I furiously tried to untie while Mark kept yanking up the rope. He needed my end to set up the rappel and he was in mortal danger up there.
I yanked the rope free and Mark pulled it up as the rain came down fast and furious. I pulled off Mark’s sweatshirt and stuffed it in his pack so that he’d have something dry to put on. I started packing up the gear and stripping off shoes and harness. I was completely soaked when Mark arrived. We coiled the ropes, he offered me his dry shirt, and we made a hasty, slippery descent out of there. We left behind three pieces of gear on the route, planning to come back the next day.
Of course, the rain stopped by the time we got to the car and it was nice again, but we were in no mood to hike back up there for the gear. Perhaps we should have, but we didn’t. We headed home to a great dinner with the family. Sheri had all the fixings ready to go when we arrived. At least our dinner timing was good.
Saturday: Gear Retrieval and Rest
Once again, we got a lackadaisical start. I wasn’t used to such a casual pace, but relished it. I knew the next day would be long and hard. Taking today easy would certainly help. We read the paper and relaxed on the back deck while waiting for the sun to dry out our gear from yesterday. We left the house around 10 a.m. – not a great time to be heading to Chautauqua Park. We had to return to D&T to get our abandoned gear.
After parking down the street, we did the long hike back up to the climb. We didn’t carry much weight in our packs, though. Once there, we soloed through the Green Mountain Chimney and onto the 4th class East Face and then to the summit. Mark lowered me down from the top and I placed a directional piece so that I’d go straight down the route. Even then it was difficult to swing into each piece and clip the rope to it.
Once I got to the last piece, I removed it and started to climb back up. I forgot the crux sequence and soon fell off. On my second try, I knew what to do and struggled to the top. We rappelled off and hiked out. Whew, after all that climbing it was time for lunch!
After another stop at Arby’s we headed for Eldo. We parked just inside the park and then walked out of it and up the Old Mesa Trail. We were headed to climb the notorious and scary West Face of the Maiden. I had climbed this a month or so earlier with Dave Mackey, but I had pretty much aided the crux. I was nervous about even following the first pitch, but I wanted another crack at the crux pitch with a comfortable toprope.
Halfway to the Maiden, the skies darkened considerably and it started to rain lightly. We could hear thunder and see some lightning. After yesterday’s experience, we were a bit gun shy about climbing into another storm. Retreat and gear retrieval on the Maiden would be even more difficult. We sat down on our packs to consider the situation. I knew it was quite possible for the storm to dissipate by the time we got to the Maiden, so I was happy to continue at least to the base of the route. I let Mark make the call, since he had come so far. He decided to return home, shower, relax, and concentrate on the main objective of the trip: the Yellow Wall on the Diamond.
Mark took the whole family out to Red Robin that night and we gorged ourselves on burgers, fries, and pasta, knowing we’d be working it off and more the next day.
Normally climbing the Diamond is a very stressful affair for me. Especially when headed for an unfamiliar 5.11 route, but I wasn’t that stressed today. I had a major rope gun with me and, though I wanted to do my share of the leading, I knew he could take over at any moment and zip us to the top. That makes for an entirely different state of mind.
Today, I felt like a lead-out man on the Tour de France. My job was to protect the leader, Mark, and get him safely to the base of the wall, maybe lead a few pitches of the climb before dropping back, completely spent, while the G.C. contender attacked the final difficulties.
The night before, we packed our packs, laid out our clothes, and even put breakfast and extra water in the car for the drive up. Mark went so far as to lay out all his coffee fixings right by the maker. This guy was prepared. Mark got up at 1:45 a.m. as he had to brew the coffee before leaving the house. I was up at 2:10 a.m. and we were out the door by 2:15.
Photo 6: Diamond from Chasm View (photo by Ken Leiden)
We were in the parking lot by 3:20 and thankfully found a few open spots. After a bathroom stop and signing in at the register, where we noticed no other teams headed for the Diamond that day, we headed up the trail at 3:30 a.m.
On the hike up, we noticed some curious activity. First, we saw a huge group of hikers coming from the Jim’s Grove trail. We wondered if they had made a wrong turn lower down. They were hiking quite fast and a couple of them soon caught us, but before we could ask what they were doing, they stopped and were never seen again.
Next, we saw a number hikers coming down the trail. At this time, this is quite unusual. Hikers would come by usually in groups of two or three. I started asking them questions, but they just said they’d been hiking for a long time. Eventually, we found out that it was a big adventure racing training session and that they had been hiking since 4 p.m. the previous day. Curiously, they did not go to the summit, which just reinforces my thinking about these adventure races: which is they aren’t nearly as adventurous as alpine climbing. They are really just endurance/sleep-deprivation contests with relatively little real adventure. This is understandable as real adventure is dangerous.
We made our way to the base of the wall and geared up. I insisted on simul-climbing the North Chimney this time. I’ve been up this thing four times before and always soloed it, but after each time I swore I wouldn’t solo it again. This is a four pitch 5.6 route that is mostly easier, but there is lots of loose rock and we had a party above us, which greatly increased the chances of rockfall. I was surprised to notice that Mark didn’t bring a helmet. I led to Broadway in one long pitch. We doubled the rope so that we didn’t have too much rope out.
As we neared the top of the Chimney, we noticed a party traversing in from the Chasm View rappels (roped up also). It worked out perfectly as the other party in the North Chimney was headed for Pervertical Sanctuary and the Chasm View team (Laurie and Kevin) was headed for the Casual Route. The biggest horror of the day occurred here when I found out we had the fewest electronic gadgets of all the teams. Kevin carried a digital video camera and one of the team members on Pervertical led with a CD player! The guy was very adamant that he would not listen to it while belaying or following - only while he was leading. Maybe he needed to psyche himself up for the tough leading, like I do when running. They hung all over both 5.10 pitches anyway so apparently he didn't pick the right tunes.
Can you believe it? Three parties on the wall and I had the fewest electronic gadgets?! In fact, our team would have had none if it weren’t for Mark and his cell phone. He was our saving grace. Mark even made a call on it while in the middle of the wall. I didn’t even have an altimeter watch. I’m a disgrace to nerd climbers everywhere…
Looking up at the first pitch, I was concerned. The climbing starts in a small, left-facing dihedral with minimal holds and is rated 5.11a. Above the dihedral ends and the walls tilts back further with only a thin crack piercing the beautiful yellow granite. I knew there was a 5.7/8 variation around this start, but I also knew that was out of the question for Mark. I told Mark to keep me on a tight rope as this pitch could waste me for the entire climb.
I was particularly encouraged to see Mark struggle a bit with the opening moves. Further up, when he got to a good stance, he left an extra long runner for me to use as a handhold if necessary. He then cruised up the upper section with surprising ease.
I put Mark’s haulbag-type pack inside my haulbag pack and Mark hauled them up using a Wall Hauler. This system worked great and allowed us to climb without so much weight on our backs. The hauling went easily and quickly. Now, it was my turn to climb.
I figured out a really cool stemming/mantling/high-stepping solution to the start and then slapped up the arête for a good hold. I ignored the sling Mark left and followed the pitch cleanly. I was delighted to find an abundance of great face holds further up on the face and this, in fact, characterizes the Yellow Wall. This route is much more of a face-climbing route than a crack-climbing route. There are an abundance of very positive face holds on this climb. The crux climbing is quite difficult, but never very sustained – at least until you get a good hold or a slight resting stance. The climbing is incredibly fun they entire way. There isn’t a bad pitch on the route.
The route really doesn’t have any ledges until you get to the Yellow Wall Bivy Ledge, so all belays are either completely hanging or semi-hanging. Because of this, it was much easier to just swing leads. Mark had originally mentioned that he’d like to lead every pitch. I was a bit disappointed to hear this because I wanted to climb the route as a team and not feel like I was being guided up the route. Apparently, I had proved myself safe enough and fast enough, and I swung into the lead.
The Yellow Wall is set up perfectly for swinging leads between a strong leader and a weaker leader, as all the harder pitches are the odd pitches. I led up for 130’ of 5.9 crack and face climbing to a hanging belay and Mark soon joined me, raving about the quality of the climbing. Mark took the next pitch, which is mostly 5.9 climbing, but involves a step-across move at the end of the pitch to reach the Cross-Over Ledge (not much of a ledge and you belay below it). This pitch was about 180 feet long. The move step-across move is rated between 10c and 10a depending upon your height. It was 10c for Mark, 10a for me. This move is extremely well protected for both follower and leader and is an interesting problem to solve.
As Mark was leading this pitch, one of the guys on Pervertical Sanctuary asks, “Are you guys doing the A4 traverse?”
Mark was confused by this and responded, “We’re not planning on doing any aid…”
The guy clarified his question, “It’s rated 5.11 R as a free climb.”
Now Mark knew what he was talking about and said, “Oh, yeah, we’re going to do that.”
“Cool!” The guy was jazzed that we were doing the scarier finish. Many parties avoid this serious pitch by finishing either on Black Dagger or the Forrest Finish – both 5.10+ crack routes. Many parties don’t have Mark Hudon to lead 5.11 R. We did!
Kevin also asked us about doing this pitch, probably because he knew if we did it, our routes would merge. The crux pitch on the Casual Route is actually one of the easier pitches on the Yellow Wall route.
Photo 7: Pitch 4 on the Yellow Wall (photo by Ken Leiden)
I led the next, short 5.9 pitch up and right. It follows a series of corners, cracks, and small ledges across the starts of Black Dagger and Forrest Finish, setting up a hanging, gear belay just where the Forrest Finish heads straight up. This is a short pitch of probably 90 feet. I used the #3.5 Camalot at the belay – the only time we used this piece, I believe. We also carried a #3 Camalot, but Mark never carried it on lead.
Mark launched up the crux pitch, climbing a steep, left-facing corner to a small ledge that led right, to another small corner. At this point he looks down at me and says, “Is this the 5.11 R traverse?” “I think so,” I responded, “How does it look?” “It looks easy,” he says. Indeed, the climbing across this ledge was easy except for the delicate balance required at the start. The traverse was protected by a RURP and a bashie and from this gear derives the “R” rating. At the far end of the ledge, Mark climbed an unprotected dihedral. The moves here are probably 5.10- and a fall is definitely not recommended. Above here and before any 5.11 climbing, Mark got in good protection. The crux is fingertip liebacking but doesn’t last that long. Above is more hard climbing, but interspersed with good rests. Mark ran out about 170 feet of rope to reach the ledge just below the Yellow Wall Bivy Ledge.
I was elated to follow this entire pitch free. Mark encouraged me that it “wasn’t that bad.” It would have been a very exciting lead for me, but on a toprope I had the confidence to free climb it. This would be my first time climbing the Diamond completely free. Even when I did the Casual Route long ago, I hung on gear. Granted it was snowing at the time, but nevertheless I had not free climbed the Diamond. I used aiders extensively on D7 and on Pervertical Sanctuary, I hung on gear leading both 5.10 pitches.
At the YW Bivy Ledge, we waited 40 minutes for Kevin to lead the crux pitch of the Casual Route. We relaxed, ate, made a call on the phone to Mark’s wife (not home), and fretted about the clouds coming in. If we had looked closely at our topo, we’d have figured out that we could have done the last pitch of the Forrest Finish, off the left side of the Yellow Wall Bivy Ledge, to avoid waiting. Bill Briggs pointed this out to me a couple of weeks later and I’ll have to keep it in mind if the weather is really moving in.
As soon as Laurie started to follow the pitch, I was on her tail. I had to wait more while following her up, but everyone was in good spirits. Laurie was psyched to be doing such a committing route and didn’t mind me following so close. I explained that I wouldn’t normally do that, but we were concerned about the weather.
Photo 8: Bill on the ledge just below the Yellow Wall Bivy Ledge
Laurie was making these “girl grunts” on most every hard move and doing some whimpering in the 5.8+ squeeze chimney. She wasn’t well versed in the art of chimney climbing and pulled on as much gear as she could. I was glad for any upward movement she made.
I found the crux 10a section pretty casual. There were a couple of fixed pieces protecting this section and I went from a reasonable fingerlock to a reasonable hand jam and it was over before I knew it. This section is quite short, less than five feet, and some, like Laurie, will find the chimney more of a challenge. I thought the 5.9+ section early in the pitch was more challenging.
I set up a hanging belay from gear just below the fixed belay occupied by Kevin and Laurie. After hauling the bag, Mark zipped up the pitch. We contemplated continuing up the last two pitches of the Yellow Wall and in retrospect we should have. It was an ideal opportunity for me to complete the entire Diamond. The next pitch was 10c and Mark’s lead. Then I’d have a 5.9 pitch to finish things off. The lure of easy ground one 5.8 pitch to our left was too much though, and we traversed off a la the Casual Route.
I lowered out the bag by tying it in short and soon joined Mark over on Table Ledge. It was 1:15 p.m. We unroped, packed, ate, and did upper Kiener’s Route. Most parties avoid the summit and head straight down the rappels from here, as Kevin and Laurie did, but we wanted to bag the summit. We arrived at 2:10 p.m. and chatted with a couple of older guys who had climbed Kiener’s route. They had never climbed Longs before and didn’t want to do the North Face descent – they would descend the Keyhole Route.
Photo 9: Final Traverse Pitch (photo by Ken Leiden)
We descended the North Face to the rappels and met Kevin and Laurie there. They let us rappel down their lines so we didn’t have to dig out our rope. This was nice. They said it was the least they could do after making us wait on them. What friendly folks.
We stripped off harnesses, long pants, shirts, etc. and changed back into shorts and short sleeves for the hike out. We came down the rest of the way at a rather quick pace and Mark was right with me the entire time. With 30 minutes to go, Mark announced, “I’m crashing hard, back here.” His main problem was the pain in his toes, but it had been a long day and we were both glad to stop hiking.
Photo 10: Mark and Bill on the summit of Longs
We got back to the car at 4:49 for a roundtrip time of 13:19 – my fastest car-to-car time on the Diamond yet. Each time I’ve done it things have gone faster. Certainly this time was due mainly to having a rope gun like Mark to lead the hard pitches so quickly and easily. Signing out of the register at the trailhead, they ask you to fill in whether you have succeeded or not. I thought of a story Mark told me about climbing in the Gunks in the spring of 1975. People weren’t too friendly to outsiders back then and Mark was tearing things up. In the bar one night someone asked him what he was going to do tomorrow. Mark said, “I’m going to onsight Persistence (5.11c testpiece at the time).” The interrogator said, “You can’t say that. You can’t say you’re going to do that.” The next day Mark is back in the bar (did he have a drinking problem back then?) and everyone is dying to hear about it, but hesitant to ask. Finally someone says, “Well, did you do it?” Mark responds, “I told you yesterday what I was going to do. Of course, I did it. Did you think I was lying?” When I marked the register as a successful ascent, I thought about writing something like, “Duh, you already asked that question when you asked what route we were headed for?” but I know better. Despite my lucky successes on the Diamond, I know it to be a fickle maiden and thank her each time for safe passage. I’ve never failed on the Diamond. I seem to have good luck there. I’m 4 for 4, but up until this ascent I had also never climbed the Diamond without it snowing or hailing on me while on the face. That was a nice streak to break…
Table 1: Diamond Ascents
|
Year |
Partner |
Route |
Car-to-car time |
|
August 1990 |
Steve Shostek |
Casual Route |
18 hours |
|
August 1994 |
George Bell |
D7 |
16 hours |
|
July 1996 |
George Bell |
Pervertical Sanctuary |
13:59; third ascent of east face two months. |
|
August 12, 2001 |
Mark Hudon |
Yellow Wall |
13:19 |
I’ve now climbed Longs 14 times via 11 different routes (or combinations of routes). The only full route I’ve repeated is the Keyhole, which I did twice as speed/running ascents and once with Sheri when she was pregnant with Derek. Of those 14, eight were up the East Face and two were winter ascents. I’ve climbed Longs in seven different months. Do you think I’m fond of this mountain?
Table 2: Other ascents up the East Face of Longs Peak
|
Year |
Partner |
Route |
Notes |
|
May 1996 |
George Bell |
Lambs Slide / North Couloir |
Came down the Loft – best glissade in the land! |
|
June 1996 |
George Bell |
Stettner’s Ledges / Kiener’s Route |
We did the 5.8 direct finish on Stettner’s Route. |
|
January 1, 2000 |
Hardly Manson, Homie, Mark Oveson |
Kiener’s Route |
Epic, 13-hour roundtrip in mixed conditions. First ascent of east face of millennium (3rd of Longs) |
|
July 29, 2001 |
Hardly Manson |
North Chimney / Broadway / Kiener’s Route (all unroped) |
Descended the Trough and linked up the North Ridge of Spearhead – all before noon. |
The drive home was easy and by 6:30 we had showered and sat down to a great dinner of spaghetti with the family.
The next day Mark was going to climb with his friend Drew, but he was busy. Instead we headed out to Eldo to reminisce. In one of Mark’s previous trips to Eldorado, he soloed Outer Space. He liked the route so much that he wanted to re-climb it, though with a rope.
Mark led the Northcutt Variation start (11a) and I fell once following – forgetting to stem my left foot up before trying to reach around the corner for the small edge. I did this the second time and made it clean. I led the 2nd pitch of the Bastille, following a slow couple from Texas, and set up a belay to the right of the normal location. Mark followed and led the first pitch of Outer Space, with a variation at the start. He went up the very thin, left facing dihedral on the small buttress that is normal passed by traversing around it. We felt the moves at the top of this dihedral were about 5.10d. I didn’t fall off following, but it involved a deadpoint move to a marginal hold. Mark also did the same deadpoint. I led the second pitch (10b/c) and hung on gear on the opening, crux moves. This is the second time I’ve done this. Despite following it clean twice, I still haven’t redpointed this pitch. The 10c rating in Eldo just gives me fits.
We descended and watched a roped soloist fix a toprope on the seldom-climbed Rain (5.10d R/X). This looks like a cool route. I’ll have to try and set-up a TR on it also, though this is non-trivial and involves climbing the first pitch of the West Buttress (5.9+).
We went out to lunch at Jose Muldoon’s, a local Mexican restaurant, and reminisced about the trip. Clearly the highlight was the fabulous Yellow Wall. Mark added this route to his Top Ten list, which now includes seventeen climbs (he counts about as well as Rossiter who designated twelve routes as Redgarden Top Ten routes). I’ve done or been on significant portions of eleven of these routes.
Table 3: Mark Hudon's "Top Ten" Routes
|
Route |
Location |
Number of pitches |
Rating at the time
of Mark’s ascent |
|
West Face of El Capitan |
Yosemite |
22 |
5.11d |
|
The Nose of El Capitan |
Yosemite |
34 |
5.11c A2 |
|
Salathé Wall |
Yosemite |
36 |
5.13a A1 |
|
South Face of Mt. Watkins |
Yosemite |
18 |
5.12a A1 |
|
Astroman |
Yosemite |
12 |
5.11c |
|
Crucifix |
Yosemite |
10? |
5.11d A0 |
|
D7 |
RMNP |
11 (w/ approach pitches) |
5.11c/d |
|
Yellow Wall |
RMNP |
11 (w/ approach pitches) |
5.11a |
|
Wunsch’s Dihedral |
South Platte, Colorado |
3 |
5.12a (Breashears Finger Crack start) |
|
Rostrum |
Yosemite |
11 |
5.11c A1 |
|
Nabisco Wall (Waverly Wafer / Wheat Thin / Butterfingers) |
Yosemite |
3 |
5.11a |
|
The Prow |
Cathedral Ledge, |
4? |
5.11d |
|
Mescalito |
Yosemite |
32 |
5.9 A4 |
|
Zodiac |
Yosemite |
16 |
5.9 A4 |
|
Freestone |
Yosemite |
11 |
5.11c |
|
Northwest Face of Half Dome |
Yosemite |
23 |
5.11d/A0 |
|
Naked Edge |
Eldorado Springs, Colorado |
7 (w/ approach pitches) |
5.11b |