Thanks J. Yes, more long routes than one can count. I climbed the longest limestone sport route north of Mexico this trip, Sysiphus Summits, 5.10d, 21 pitches long. Unfortuantly we erased the photos from this day, thus will have to climb it again if I am going to ever get the beta up. A great route on Ha Ling. Cheers.
Hi Dow, great description. I am not strangely reticent on the first ascent. In short, Eric's hubris resulted in him pitching 100ft (bouncing and screaming the whole way down until he launched past me and over the ledge into a glorious Freefall) while we were attempting a direct finish to a line somewhat left of the Generosity variation. The guidebook writers came up with the name "Freefall" which I love. It reminds me, Eric and the world of the monumental whipper he took and the deep burn marks I suffered to my hands for two weeks after our ascent.
After his whipper we traversed right along the ledge to meet with Guides Route and thence to the top of EEOR. I called for a rescue and Eric was heli-evacuated the next morning due to abdominal discomfort -- which as it turns out was probably a result of the fact that he nearly shit himself during the fall -- and I walked down in the dark at 3am with very sore hands. Eric was released from the hospital after a few hours, miraculously with no injuries.
A few days later while my hands were healing, unbeknownst to me, he and Paul Norrie went back and retrofitted the route with bolts at the anchors and the crux on the lower half of the route. They also redirected the route to merge directly in three pitches with Guides' Route. So the so-called "Generosity" route is in essence a 3-pitch variation of Freefall which merges with Guides' Route at the top. EDIT: after repeating the route yesterday I see that they've weaved a line in and out of Guides Route at the top to create a fairly unique but very close neighbour of Guides' Route at the top.
Eric has not been particularly reticent either. He wrote up his version of the story in the 1999 CAJ (as I recall it was a reasonably accurate account) but since then he has modified details spectacularly to make it somehow sound like my fault that he fell.
... and by the way: the FA of Freefall was September 1998, Eric & Paul did the Generosity Var about a week later. This was when the bolts were put in (Sept 1998), not 2008. To my knowledge nobody has ever gone to fix up Freefall's upper pitches.
Dow Williams - Aug 13, 2011 10:41 am - Hasn't voted
thanks for the
comments Tom...funny how, even at my age, one can easily take things for granted. Yesterday, after soloing the east ridge of Kitchener, on return to the Sunwapta...I swore I was going for a swim, and with no helmet or life vest (I am a paddler and have plenty at home, yet never occured to me) figured it might be a 50/50 prop that I make it out before hitting my head and drowning...tourist had started accumulating on the road as though I were a bear...not worried for my welfare or offering assistance as much as curious what it would be like to watch a grown man drown I suppose...I completely put off Bill Corbett's warning about the river on return as I had crossed it so many times down stream during hot days (Mount Alberta, etc)....but following the Snow Glacier melt rapid down the hill...I knew I would be in for a tough go....took me three tries and my legs are spent...but ponder what a 50yr old man is doing crossing a raging Sunwapta by himself...suppose I will never grow up completely...cheers
Exciting. I think I might have called for a helicopter :)
Dow Williams - Aug 14, 2011 11:21 am - Hasn't voted
Re: thanks for the
if I ever thought I could have lived it down, that might have been an option....I think spending the night and letting the water level get reasonable would have been the much quieter more reasonable option...amazing the motive of sleeping next to one's wife vs the hard cold ground has on a man...ever want to get out and swap stories Tom, I will be out and about until the end of Sept when I head back to the desert...cheers
Dow Williams - Sep 2, 2008 2:41 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: I need...Thanks J. Yes, more long routes than one can count. I climbed the longest limestone sport route north of Mexico this trip, Sysiphus Summits, 5.10d, 21 pitches long. Unfortuantly we erased the photos from this day, thus will have to climb it again if I am going to ever get the beta up. A great route on Ha Ling. Cheers.
sawback - Aug 12, 2011 2:33 pm - Voted 10/10
Strangley ReticentHi Dow, great description. I am not strangely reticent on the first ascent. In short, Eric's hubris resulted in him pitching 100ft (bouncing and screaming the whole way down until he launched past me and over the ledge into a glorious Freefall) while we were attempting a direct finish to a line somewhat left of the Generosity variation. The guidebook writers came up with the name "Freefall" which I love. It reminds me, Eric and the world of the monumental whipper he took and the deep burn marks I suffered to my hands for two weeks after our ascent.
After his whipper we traversed right along the ledge to meet with Guides Route and thence to the top of EEOR. I called for a rescue and Eric was heli-evacuated the next morning due to abdominal discomfort -- which as it turns out was probably a result of the fact that he nearly shit himself during the fall -- and I walked down in the dark at 3am with very sore hands. Eric was released from the hospital after a few hours, miraculously with no injuries.
A few days later while my hands were healing, unbeknownst to me, he and Paul Norrie went back and retrofitted the route with bolts at the anchors and the crux on the lower half of the route. They also redirected the route to merge directly in three pitches with Guides' Route. So the so-called "Generosity" route is in essence a 3-pitch variation of Freefall which merges with Guides' Route at the top. EDIT: after repeating the route yesterday I see that they've weaved a line in and out of Guides Route at the top to create a fairly unique but very close neighbour of Guides' Route at the top.
Eric has not been particularly reticent either. He wrote up his version of the story in the 1999 CAJ (as I recall it was a reasonably accurate account) but since then he has modified details spectacularly to make it somehow sound like my fault that he fell.
sawback - Aug 12, 2011 11:06 pm - Voted 10/10
Dates... and by the way: the FA of Freefall was September 1998, Eric & Paul did the Generosity Var about a week later. This was when the bolts were put in (Sept 1998), not 2008. To my knowledge nobody has ever gone to fix up Freefall's upper pitches.
Dow Williams - Aug 13, 2011 10:41 am - Hasn't voted
thanks for thecomments Tom...funny how, even at my age, one can easily take things for granted. Yesterday, after soloing the east ridge of Kitchener, on return to the Sunwapta...I swore I was going for a swim, and with no helmet or life vest (I am a paddler and have plenty at home, yet never occured to me) figured it might be a 50/50 prop that I make it out before hitting my head and drowning...tourist had started accumulating on the road as though I were a bear...not worried for my welfare or offering assistance as much as curious what it would be like to watch a grown man drown I suppose...I completely put off Bill Corbett's warning about the river on return as I had crossed it so many times down stream during hot days (Mount Alberta, etc)....but following the Snow Glacier melt rapid down the hill...I knew I would be in for a tough go....took me three tries and my legs are spent...but ponder what a 50yr old man is doing crossing a raging Sunwapta by himself...suppose I will never grow up completely...cheers
sawback - Aug 14, 2011 10:37 am - Voted 10/10
Re: thanks for theExciting. I think I might have called for a helicopter :)
Dow Williams - Aug 14, 2011 11:21 am - Hasn't voted
Re: thanks for theif I ever thought I could have lived it down, that might have been an option....I think spending the night and letting the water level get reasonable would have been the much quieter more reasonable option...amazing the motive of sleeping next to one's wife vs the hard cold ground has on a man...ever want to get out and swap stories Tom, I will be out and about until the end of Sept when I head back to the desert...cheers