It's Not Rocket Science: Week 22

Another week and the end of another month that I survived. At the end of the day when things are not as rosy as had been planned my friends and I say something to the effect of, "we survived." Not entirely a week like that but it is always a good thing.

El Capitan, featuring The Nose in the center of the photograph

Halfdome Summit Picture

Sunday started with an off day. After spending two days and getting torn up on The Nose (the center ridge above) I needed a day of no climbing. So I turned to my other hobby, running. In 2000 when my family had vacationed in Yosemite I remember seeing Halfdome from Glacier Point and thinking how amazing it appeared. I wanted to come back and climb it someday. At the time that simply meant getting to the top. So I decided I would run Halfdome. From the Happy Isles bus stop to the top of the rock was two hours and 13 minutes. Thats 4800 feet of elevation rise over about 8.5 miles. All things considered it was an easy run. The maximum elevation was less than 9000 feet which allowed easier breathing. After a short break on the top I ran back down in about two hours.

The View from Halfdome of Halfdome and down Yosemite Valley

Bobcat with 30 feet of me that simply didn't care I was on the trail

Monday I decided to give the big walls another go. The South Face of Washington Column is known as the easiest big wall in Yosemite Valley, perhaps the world. It goes at 5.8 C1 and 11 pitches. That is to say well within my capabilities. However, after the approach hike, roping up, and starting up I was only 40 feet up the first pitch and I scared myself. I decided to get off the wall and that I just was not ready to climb big walls. It is so hard alone. The rope work is more complicated. There is no one there for conversation. There is no one to watch your back. There is no one to double check your work. There is no one to share the work load. So I headed down, had a pizza at Curry Village, and headed out via Camp 4...

I wanted to stop by and see my friend Andrew and let him know that unless he wanted to climb something I was leaving the valley. Strangely enough, he was there. He was also interested in climbing Halfdome, the steep way. I was very excited so we set plans to leave early Tuesday and do some climbing.

Tuesday we obtained the backcountry permit and bought the remaining supplies. Soon enough we were headed up the trail around the back of Halfdome to the base of the wall. At about 3 PM we arrived at the bottom of the very large wall. The spring of water was running, fortunately, so we purified water to supplement our supplies. About this time I had a funny experience. Andrew my climbing partner had long hair and wore a headband. He was wearing a dark shirt and light pants. I was looking at him and talking to him then I bent down to reach into my backpack. When I stood up I was facing the opposite direction and standing 200 feet away appeared to be Andrew. I quickly looked back at the real Andrew before returning my gaze to the new Andrew. He was just standing there staring at me. I was terrified that I was halucinating. The few times in the mountains I have seen things have been when I have been very tired and dehydrated. They have also never been clear things. For example, tree branches seem to be as strait as two by fours and part of a picnic area, versus simply tree branches. It is similar to seeing shadows in the dark and being afraid it is something more than shadows. However, this halucination was clear and real. Fortunately, about two seconds later I saw his climbing partner. He moved and then we started talking. They were planning to do the same route we were (The Regular Northwest Face) but they had a bit more experience.

We fixed the first two pitches and then they fixed the third pitch and then we went to sleep with half of our view of the stars obstructed by the immense piece of granite next to us. Both teams were attempting their first big wall and we agreed that working together would probably benefit the both of us.

Wednesday began at 3:00 AM or 3:25 AM by the time I actually woke up. We put together our gear and started ascending the ropes we fixed yesterday. Andrew was in the lead and I was behind. His headlamp died that morning and I proceeded to knock mine off of my helmet at the first belay ledge. He then clipped one of his ascenders to the other accidently. Add to all of this it was 5 AM and very dark and he had never used ascenders until the day before. Needless to say between the two of us we were not feeling the best about going a whole lot higher on the wall. So we rappelled down. We ate breakfast while we watched the more skilled team flail around on the fourth pitch and drop a #3 Camalot before calling it quits. It was a long dusty hike nine miles down to the valley. We marched in defeat, yet very satisfied to have tried such a climb.

That evening I headed to San Francisco to see a college friend. I arrived late, but with free parking. One comment on driving in the Bay Area is that it is really not a problem to find free parking and navigate. Compared to Boston driving was no trouble at all. The next day I woke up and as he headed to work I headed to Sausalito to spend my day reading, running, and having the best sushi I have ever had. That evening I hung out with my friend and his friends and had a small introduction to the social scene that makes San Fransisco famous...

Friday I went to my friend's house in Redwood City. We had been together in Pakistan and spent many hours together. I was interested in talking to him about how his transition back to normal life was. There was a long transition to normal life after the trauma of Pakistan. Since that was my first major trip it was especially difficult to return to normal life. Talking to others that through that experience allows me to process what happened.

Saturday I spent the day reading and sitting at the Apple store in Palo Alto (a close walk to Stanford). When I returned to my friend's house he called me on the phone. His wife had gone into labor and they wouldn't be home that night! I knew she was ready to give birth but it was supposed to be several weeks. I visit my friends and they have a baby. What is next?

Rope Soloing instruction of the week: Tethers

Often when free climbing I use a dedicated runner to attach myself to the anchor at the belays so that the entire rope can be used for belaying and I do not have to attach myself to the anchor with a clove hitch on the lead rope. Rope soloing does, in general, not twist the rope as much as typical pitched climbing with ATCs or other belay plates so the need for a separate tether (runner, daisy chain) to the anchor so that you can untie and get the twists out (like on long routes) is not necessary. Rope soloing is heavy and awkward enough that any mess on the front of your harness you can safely avoid is worth avoiding. 

Recap: At the anchors clove hitch yourself to the anchor instead of a tether.

Rope Soloing instruction of the week: Continuous loop

The continuous loop method of solo climbing is not continuous but it might involve a loop depending on how you set it up. No pictures but I'll summarize it. 

1. Fix the rope at the bottom like for any typical lead soloing.

2. Tie the other end of the rope to a haul/rappel rope, and tie the end of that rope to the anchor or attach it to a haul bag.

3. Attach your leading device to the lead rope like you would to lead any pitch.

4. Stack the rope so that the rope goes from the anchor, to your harness, to the stacked rope, to the end of the haul/rappel rope.

5. Lead the pitch like any solo lead. At the beginning the weight will be very low but at the end of the pitch you will have the entire weight of the second rope on your harness as well. 

6. Rappel the haul/rappel rope to the first anchor.

7. Second the pitch however it is you second pitches. The advantage of this for free climbing is that you can set up a system for seconding similar to what is described in the Silent Partner manual using the lead rope as your main belay rope with your SP, minitraxion, whatever and the other rope you can tie into the end of leaving some weight on the lead rope so your self belay device will feed easier. Of course if you have bolts at the belay you can set up a fixed line by passing the tied together ropes through the bolts as long as both ends at tied at the above anchor. When you finish seconding the pitch pull the rope through like a rappel. 

Writing a Book about Rope Soloing

Occasionally I get frustrated with everything productive I'm trying to do and work on my rope soloing book. As of today it's 30 pages of single spaced 8.5 x 11 with no pictures. I've made some drawings and taken some pictures of anchors but I really have not spent the time to put any of them into the document. In part because I'm using Google Documents to write my guide. I've used it in the past and it is very good for large amounts of text because you can edit it anywhere there is internet (baring my iPhone) and if there are multiple contributors they can edit it and everyone else can see their edits in seconds. 

So why am I writing a book about rope soloing? The problem with rope soloing is that it is almost entirely trial and error. Jared Ogden tried to describe rope soling in his book (featured on the right) but devotes only six pages to the subject. Hans Florine ups the ante with an entire chapter devoted to the subject but it is a relatively short chapter and he talks about free soloing which really requires little in the way of technical rope skills. My Silent Partner manual has a few more pointers in it. There is also forum posts and $200 per day instruction, but besides that there is really not much else out there. So I'm writing the book. Am I qualified? Yes, I've done more rope soloing (as far as I know) than anyone else I know (that includes full time sponsored athletes and guides). Am I the most qualified? Probably not, but then I can always come out with a second edition and incorporate anything I may have missed. But seriously, I was writing about rope solo seconding hard (no free hands) free climbing traverses with and without fixed anchors earlier this week, so I'm not too worried about missing anything.

Rope Soloing instruction of the week: Screamers

Belaying in roped solo climbing is very static. Wether you are using clove hitches or a Silent Partner the stop is very sudden. Many people use load limiting runners at the belay stations so that if they take a fall the force on the anchor will be reduced. For multipitch climbing It is very convenient to have two of them so that there is one at the lower belay and one at the higher belay. That way when you are setting up the anchor you can clip the Screamer (Yates brand load limiting runner) into the anchor and rappel directly off of that. A typical rappel will not generate enough force to tear a Screamer (unless you are using Scream Aids). The only disadvantage is that a screamer with a carabiner on each end is fairly long on the harness. I clip one of the carabiners directly to my harness to save the extra three inches.

Rope Soloing instruction of the week: Anchors

When building an anchor for rope soloing, specifically a natural anchor (chocks, cams, nuts, hexs whatever) you have a lot of freedom. The anchor has to, in general, be able to hold a rappel or downward pull as you second the pitch but it also has to be able to hold an upward pull as you climb the pitch above. Opposing pieces can be very effective however if they are directional it is important to make sure they are not pulled in the wrong direction. Pulling a chock backwards will most likely take it out of the rock and then you could get hurt. 

To ensure that your anchor is stable in the direction it is pulled use clove hitches to keep tension between two or more pieces, use load limiting runners to reduce the force on a piece or in a direction of pull, use a haul bag as a damping weight against a leader fall, or use multidirectional pieces such as bolts or natural gear (cams mostly) in horizontal cracks.