UKC

The first article in a series of three, Olly Tippett provides an introduction to his Big Wall Skills series, including an introduction to the discipline, the logistics of climbing in Yosemite, and the extra gear that you'll need to get started.

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Excellent knowledge from The Master. Almost all of my aid climbing has been on the Colorado Plateau, specifically the Fisher Towers, Valley of the Gods and towers/faces around Moab. I've learnt to love beaks for the soft rock of the Fishers, and a bolt kit is essential as many of the old bolts there are sticking out half an inch or more, or have simply fallen out from the sandstone eroding away around them.

Aid climbing, and hard aid (A3 and above) in particular, is a real artform.

Oliver - will you be attempting to explain the nonsense of aid climbing grades in any of your next articles? I've failed on C3 and found A4 easier. But then bailed from A2+ several days later. None of it makes any sense to me!

Thanks Olly - Really enjoyed this piece, especially the theme of demystifying the "art" of Big Wall climbing - it genuinely is within the compass of most experienced trad climbers with a few basic tips, a bit of practice and a tonne of sheer bloody-mindedness. 

My own "apprenticeship" took place over a couple of hours in  Hobson Moor Quarry (UK's answer to  El Capitan) and I've taken great delight in passing on the learning to a bunch of people since, a number of whom have gone on to summit the Big Stone. A few hints and tips of my own here:

https://rockaroundtheworld.co.uk/2022/10/02/big-wall-apprenticeship-where-b...

Great to maintain the proud tradition of British Big Walling. Looking forward to Parts 2 and 3.

Cheers, Dom 

Brilliant - this is exactly the kind of article I love to see, looking forward to the next installment.

Before I first went out to Yosemite my friend Alex and I did The Big Overhang (A3) at Gogarth, which turned out to be significantly more tenuous and sketchy than any of the aid we subsequently did on The Shield (A3). Perhaps unsurprisingly, clipping rotting pegs on a decomposing sea cliff was a slightly different experience to placing gear into pristine granite!! Either way, it was good practise - albeit in a weird sort of way...

I haven’t tried to explain aid grades as it would probably take up most of an article and I don’t think I really understand them myself. They vaguely work on popular routes in the lower grades as a comparison between routes in the same area. I think by the time they have no real meaning in the upper grades, that kind of adds to the adventure!

Hopefully I’ll get back to the Fishers later this year!

For those interested, there are a couple of Millstone-(Peak district)-based circuit / ticklists for aspiring Big Wallers on ukc here: 

mostly HVS

https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/ticklists/the_quarrymen_big_wall_trainin...

HVS-E2

https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/ticklists/millstone_hvs-e2_niad_prep_cir...

and there's a nice article about 2 UK climbers training / preparing / attempting / bailing from a big wall here:

https://www.beyondtheedge.co.uk/bailing-off-a-big-wall/

Though those ticklists do look like good fun and great preparation for being able to free climb more pitches on routes like The Nose and The Salathe, it's probably good to reiterate that getting shut down on a HVS hand crack doesn't mean that you can't climb El Cap. Indeed, when I soloed the Nose in a day I didn't bring free shoes and aided all the 5.8 glory hand cracks!

People shouldn't really be starting-out practicing aiding on major gritstone classics. There are plenty of routes out there (including much of the one and no star climbs on that list) that are much better choices. There is too much  damage (especially from weighted cams grinding away the surface layer) from classic grit trad as it is.

Absolutely Rob - I'd say the same about the (lack of) comparison between The Scoop (E7 6b) and Sunkist (A3+) Both A3+/4 but that's all they have in common!

Cheers, Dom 

Only beaks for pegs?  Is everything lost arrow or wider cammable nowadays?

I've only ever used beaks. For slightly wider cracks normally the smallest cam or a camhook fits. The recommended rack for Disorderly Conduct included nearly 50 arrows, angles, blades and RURPS all together and we still only used beaks. I don't even bring any other peg anymore.

I saw a fun article in (I think) Climbing recently that also failed to explain aid ratings in an entertaining way. May I be so bold as to suggest Death of American Democracy (A5) when you get back to the Fishers. It's a beautiful line, and seemingly blank - but it goes!

Have you repeated many of Jim Beyers' lines? Some of those in the Fishers are borderline invisible, especially those on River Tower.

The only Beyer route I've tried has been the first pitch of World's End. I'm definitely keen to go back for that.

No love for the Metolius nose cone? In my extremely limited experience (lurking fear without nose cone, and the nose with nose cone) it almost completely eliminated hang ups and made the hauling experience so much better, and I still don't know why it hasn't really become common to see.

I would also be interested to hear your thoughts on the merits of different hauling systems, hopefully that's coming in part 2 or 3?

Fairly sure the idea is to try and free climb those lists rather than aid them. 

As a relative beginner compared to Olly, I find a very useful thing to do on the captain is to build belays using a long PAS. Hang it between two bolts from the second and second to last loops. A PAS and two smaller screw gates weighs less than two big screw gates, and means I have twelve "bolts" to clip stuff to. The best bit I find is that unlike metal bolts these can be pulled away from the wall when I trap stuff. I'm sure the skilled can do without, but in the first few confusing walls I found it really helped reduce the number of belay shit shows and made solving almost any problem a lot easier. 

For some reason I find it difficult to really bounce test if clipped into the lower piece with a fifi of any form--I think I'm going to fall off the wall with all the moving around. Silly no doubt, but I still worry. Adjustable laynards just slow things down. I solve this fifi worry on vertical rock with a short  adjustable draw. Same buckle as an Alfifi, but with a snap gate not hook, and draw not daisy in length. As it is so short, it forces one to get near the top of the ladder ASAP (as only then can one clip in), but still allows top stepping and fine adjustment. Maybe Skot should make it for beginners, as there is a lot going on on your first few walls. 

Thanks for the great article Olly.

One of the biggest logistical headaches for climbing in Yosemite now is where to stay, and how to work around the regulations and red tape.

Can you give some upto date info on at least the legal tricks climbers use to work around these challenges,  I appreciate you don't want to go into some of the shadier practices. 

Thanks

Yet some people here have recommend aiding or 'French freeing' Millstone crack classics from time to time, which I'd argue is unethical, especially when enough obscure lines there are more suitable.

I also think the idea implied in that list introduction needs modifying. Climbing those routes indicates the fitness level for doing the easier free sections of a popular big wall quickly (in particular The Nose or NW face of Half Dome), but other necessary big walling skills are important to learn as well.

I also hope Oliver covers 'other factors' in this series. Climbing in Yosemite many times (mainly trad) means I know how weather can change and being prepared for things like that is complex: especially choices of moving fast and light vs better equipment to deal with bad weather, with more weight and slower movement. Alpine thunderstorms can be serious. The old Dill report indicates how complacency of experienced climbers leads to most deaths and serious accidents in the park. It's all a complex issue of judgement before anyone sets off and reading the Dill link explains why.

http://www.bluebison.net/yosar/alive.htm

I’ve never used a nose cone so didn’t think to include it in the article. I don’t find my bags often get stuck, so I haven’t felt the need to get one. I guess for routes like Lurking Fear with the sections of difficult hauling there may be a place for them, though I’d probably keep the £100 and have the second free the bags!

Hauling is in part 3!

Good shout on the PAS. I normally go with a slightly cheaper option and use a pre tied quad instead. If you combine that with locker draws then you have loads of places to clip to. 

I’d say Yosemite accommodation is much more daunting to plan than it is when you’re actually there.

The trick I used my first couple years going to the valley in a big group was to each book a week in one of the Pines campgrounds. The rangers only check the person who booked it so everyone else isn’t recorded as being there and it doesn’t count to their days limit. We had to be refreshing the booking page 5 months in advance to get a site though, and with Pines you book the specific site, not a place in the campsite. That meant we had to move camp every week, which wasn’t great for when you wanted to be on a wall.

Camp 4 is often not too busy in early Spring or Late Autumn. I’ve never spent a whole season there so don’t really know the tricks. If you hang around there it’s pretty easy to find partners and make friends, who might let you stay at their site in their “gear tent” (The rangers let you have a separate tent for gear if you ask)

Honestly I’d say the least stressful camping is to just carry around a roll mat and sleeping bag with you and sleep in the woods/boulders wherever you end up at the end of the day. The rangers are more worried about catching people in vans than they are people leaving no trace in the woods, you never have to worry about moving camp whilst you’re on the wall, and it’s much cheaper! If it rains then camp 4 normally empties and you can get a spot there.

I’ve been very lucky recently to get more into the valley community and don’t have to sleep in the woods as much anymore.

Tom Frost and Chounard invented Crack’n’ups, I believe. I’m still using these torque tools for thin granite cracks where pro is sparse and no wish to pin it………still relevant for re-invention?.

Are there any advantages to Crack’n’ups over modern beaks?

IIRC cracknups were a slim  ship anchor shape with a slight twist so if  clean aiding on a vertical crack would have a torquing effect. A lighter design than beaks so possibly not as strong and not designed for hammering, having a beak both sides.

A local told me in the 90s to park below El cap as if on a wall, then sleep in the woods below Salathe. Allegedly the rangers have IR drones to check out for dossers trying this trick .

I reckon the reason your bags never get stuck is because you climb a lot of hard routes on the right hand side of El Cap, which are really steep and therefore the bag spends a lot of time hanging free and therefore not snagging on stuff and getting stuck!

In my experience of 3 and 2 half trips up El Cap on mostly easier, relatively slabby routes (inc. Nose, Lurking Fear, Salathe, Muir) the bag getting snagged on stuff is a collosal pain. I reckon this is the experience that >90% of big wallers have, because they're mostly on the easy, not very steep routes, which have a lot of snag potential.

I'm psyched to borrow murray's nose cone for the first time this autumn, he's convinced me it'll be amazing. Though ironically I actually want to do a route on the right hand side this time, so it'll probably be pointless.

This is obviously a totally valid pov - I imagine you'd rather have another 6 beaks! It is annoyingly expensive.

However, if the nose cone is as effective as murray has lead me to believe I genuinely think it could be the difference between success and failure for a beginner team on a route like the Nose. Hauling hang ups are really annoying and if the second is not great at jumaring (quite common for beginners ime) it can be a real faff to get the bag free. Bail rates for beginners are really high and I think a lot of that is to do with the hauling.

I reckon it's not common because none of the famous big wall people use it, because they climb hard steep routes that wouldn't benefit from it.

In a similar vein there's quite a lot of advice out there from experienced big wallers about how to get two haul bags to hang side by side for hauling and docking. Various advantages inc. ease of access at the belay, potential for each bag's docking cord to back up the other. But, terrible for hauling on slabby snaggy routes.

Also, a nose cone is clearly not essential and quite expensive, so without a strong incentive it makes sense that people don't feel the need to get one.

Sorry for the rant, I just think haulbags are pretty crap and it's really annoying! They're uncomfy to carry, they snag all the time, they don't hold themselves open when hanging.

Thanks for engaging so much in the forum btw Ollie. Looking forwards to parts 2 and 3

Fair points. I'm still borrowing my university club's haul bag three years after leaving, maybe I could ask them to get a nose cone for it too! 

I'll be out in Yosemite this autumn too, maybe we'll bump into each other!

Great rant! I hope the nose cone lives up to expectations. Wings of steel is quite slabby isn’t it? Maybe the nose cone will get us up that..

But are you meant to aid them?

A long time ago I was going to try Yosemite, but in the end it never happened. I did though put my new etriers and daisy chains to good use making probably the slowest ascents ever, clean aiding Windjammer (HVS 5a) and Longbow (E1 5b) at Dumby. 

Digression: how long did you take? I may be able to challenge that . I probably took a shameful hour and a half to dog it on Thursday, that top section always beats me 

Ha ha! Did you "send" in the end in a glorious head point? I really should drop in some time I'm passing and see if the 30 years passed have given me the skills to do it normally not just standing in etriers! 😄 And I'm sure I took longer than 90 minutes, particularly as i was following instructions I think in an article in OTE! 

Loving the picture I have in my head of you reading the manual halfway up. Yes, got it in the end, need to work on my power and have another crack at it

Well me and murray have already been overtaken by someone setting a speed record once, so if you're out in the autumn I guess there's a chance of it happening again!

Great article!

Re: offset cams

I got a few small offset cams prior to going to the US for aid. I thought I'd sell them when I got back but these have become absolute musts on my UK trad harness and have sometimes offered bomber kit when a standard cam would be shonky!