Trip Report
Dunn-Westbay SOLO end of July/ first of August. BIG plan. (The 411 later)

by Solo far-end haul
Friday July 13, 2012 8:08pm

  Trip Report Views: 2,164
Solo far-end haul 		About the Author
Solo far-end haul is a big wall climber from Northern CoLoRaDo.

Comments
Ezra Ellis

Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
  Jul 13, 2012 - 08:24pm PT
Best TR EVER,
Thanks!

Just kidding, we await the TR eagerly!!!!
nature

climber
Boulder, CO
  Jul 13, 2012 - 08:26pm PT
YER GONNA DIE!!!!


TFPU!!!111111
karodrinker

Trad climber
San Jose, CA
  Jul 13, 2012 - 09:08pm PT
Wow, nice pre spray! lol
BASE104

Social climber
An Oil Field
  Jul 13, 2012 - 09:25pm PT
That is one of the steps to doing a wall. You tell people you are gonna do it and then you have to do it or be heckled..
johntp

Trad climber
Punter, Little Rock
  Jul 13, 2012 - 09:52pm PT
needles and pins..

without pics it did not happen...)
Toker Villain

Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
  Jul 13, 2012 - 11:47pm PT
Been 30 years, but is that a 2" bong in Castle Rock?

Big jump to solo the D-W,..
Crump

Social climber
Canyon Lake, Texas
  Jul 14, 2012 - 01:23am PT
Billy Westbay and Jim Dunn are important people to me, and folks from Texas who never met either. Just saying and giving respect to forefathers.

Have you ever seen Billy Westbay smile? I have. And I will hold that smile for the cast of future days and memories.
Crump

Social climber
Canyon Lake, Texas
  Jul 14, 2012 - 02:13am PT
Ok, so I should give a TR..

It was the summer of '74. As a 14 year old, two years earlier I had that Forrest catalog, you know, that one with the Diamond...

Well. I set out to climb it. 2 years later, with a 16 year old partner, Teddy Joe Staub, we set out from Austin Texas, driven by my folks, with Teddie's folks too, to go climb the Diamond of Longs Peak. Teddy and I, We had just done Philmont and we were hard... 5.9 A4... We had FAs at Enchanted Rock, and we knew everything.... I was 14.

Our parents decided that we should go to the Diamond by way of Durango, and trains... And thus we ended up in the Black Canyon of the Gunison...

As parents do, they look skeptically at their kids and ask, "you guys are really going to carry all that up that Longs Peak Mountain?"

And of course we said yes and set out to prove we could carry our packs. Etc, by hiking the Canyon Rim Trail.

Well teddy Joe and I had hiked about 4 miles with our full Diamond packs with ropes, etc.. And this dusky old Pontiac drove by on the rrim. They past us and pulled back, a smiling face stuck his head out... Billy of course... And asked us, two kids... What we were setting out to climb.... We said the Diamond, of course! And he replied that it was a few miles east of here, but they would give us a ride up the road....

We declined since we were in "training" they drove on, we hike on, and right when we were spent, we saw their Pontiac, the one with Lost Arrow painted on its tail. We ditched our packs and walked out to the overlook. And there Daniel McClure and Billy Westbay were perched watching Jim Dunn drill bolts across the canyon on their binocs.

Dunn, hanging in an overhanging off width, drilling in space, and us hearIng the hammer after he already holstered it. I was 14.

It was really fun when I was 18 and we put the whole story together over at Larry Bruce and Molly Higgans place in Boulder winter of '78, when I was touring as Daniel's protogegy ... I had been hanging with Dan for a year and we had not connected our Black Canyon meeting."

Teddy Joe and I made our '74 attempt on the Diamond and survived our retreat, but what blew our minds was meeting Molly Higgans and crew after the first all womens ascent of D7. The scene of the three ladies in the Boulder Field.... Topless... Bottomless, women of glory... A boy of 14... Naked women, ... The Diamond... Things dreams are made out of...

Billy Westbay!!!!!

I will never forget. So when you talk about Bill Westbay... Just saying..
kent

Trad climber
SLC, Ut
  Jul 14, 2012 - 02:49am PT
Awesome route. Don't bring a hammer. Good Luck.
steveA

Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
  Jul 14, 2012 - 06:15am PT
Just thought I would add that Jimmy Dunn is alive and well. He never lurks on S.T., since his wife won't let him use her computer.
Probably a good thing.
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
  Jul 14, 2012 - 09:13am PT
Billy was a great climber and a greater personality.....friendly, energetic and always enthusiastic.
Jimmy....there is only one Jimmy Dunn (the mold got thrown away a long time ago) he could probably still do the Scenic Cruise car to car in under three hours.

Note: Could still do....lot of talk on ST about yesterdays, when it comes to climbing only today and tomorrow are really important.
hoipolloi

climber
A friends backyard with the neighbors wifi
  Jul 14, 2012 - 10:11am PT
OH MY GOD YOU ARE SO RAD AND BAD ASS. AND YOU WERE SOLO?! NO F*#KING WAY!!



Oh... Wait... YOU DIDNT EVEN F*#KING DO IT YET.
Solo far-end haul

Big Wall climber
Northern CoLoRaDo
Author's Reply  Jul 16, 2012 - 11:10pm PT
Piton Ron... you are correct my friend. That bong is atop Country Club Crack. Good eye! Cheers
ms55401

Trad climber
minneapolis, mn
  Jul 16, 2012 - 11:15pm PT
can't wait to read the TR!
BrentA

Gym climber
Roca Rojo
  Jul 16, 2012 - 11:34pm PT
I've always found the hike IN to be the crux.

Hike out is autopilot?
bullfrog

Trad climber
  Jul 16, 2012 - 11:57pm PT
So I guess there are a couple of categories on this forum, "trip reports" and "everything else". Just when everybody seems to have recovered from the lack of a "lost and found" category we get the pre-trip report.





Why must the world be so complicated? ;-)



Looking forward to the final TR though.
Toker Villain

Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
  Jul 17, 2012 - 12:27am PT
Yeah, I can't even remember how many times I soloed Country Club (used to mess with the bats with my nut tool).


But my one attempt to solo the Diamond (38 years ago) failed less than 2 pitches above Broadway.
Go
Recent Trip Reports