Trip Report
Hotline - 9.8.12
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Sunday September 9, 2012 2:34pm
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Chase and I had a great outing on Hotline yesterday. Even in the shade, we were surprised it was so warm and humid feeling. For the first pitch, we used the intermediate belay that shows in the topo. Next time I would run the first two pitches together. The crack crux on the second pitch felt pretty reasonable until I reached the traverse rail itself. As soon as my fingers felt that rail I knew I was screwed for the onsight. After a few tries I ended up tensioning across. I'm still wondering if I should have just tried to "walk the plank" on that rail. Chase looked like he was going to float the traverse and then his foot popped and he was off as well. It's hard! We took the left hand variation for the last pitch to avoid the bombay chimney. We both ended up pulling on some gear on that one as well. All in all a great outing on the elephant though !
David Wilson
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About the Author
David Wilson is a climber from CA. |
Comments
Ezra Ellis
Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
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Looks like a Stellar line, Thanks for sharing!!
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
On the road.
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Awesome route, thanks for the photos.
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phylp
Trad climber
Upland, CA
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I still remember how awesome that route was, despite it being so long ago. I have Clint to thank for leading every pitch so that I could enjoy a great line that was beyond what I could have gotten the rope on. Thanks for the memories!
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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woo hoo, nice work on a classic!
Wheels and I climbed that in the mid eighties, stellar memories!
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msiddens
Trad climber
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Such an incredible line
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Dirka
Trad climber
Hustle City
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Looks awesome!!
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Alexey
climber
San Jose, CA
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David, thanks for report.
please tell more about 11d small roof variation. Did not try it but we did 10d flare original route instead. It was so hard and bloody painful- that I think you made a good choice.
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland, CA
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"What dreams are made of..."
Speechless. What an amazing crack.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
Wyoming
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Thanks David and Chase. Terrific climb. I bet you two do it again also.
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WBraun
climber
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This pitch is called the Cozgrovell variation as Coz was kind of grovelling following me over that roof on the FA. (wicked bad jams)
It's much harder I think to follow than lead.
In this photo below the crack on the left is the finger crack variation me and Merry did.
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mctwisted
Trad climber
e.p.
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great pics guys! stoked
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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wow, looks great
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kaholatingtong
Trad climber
The fake McCoy from nevernever land.
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quality, well done.
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Reeotch
climber
4 Corners Area
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God, I love Yosemite cracks!
Werner, what does that finger crack variation go at???
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Way to get after it you guys . . . nice photos.
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Ihateplastic
Trad climber
It ain't El Cap, Oregon
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Sep 10, 2012 - 12:22am PT
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This route is about as fantastic as they get. I mean, look at this crack!
When Ron and John nailed the FFA it was a turning point in the Valley.
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WBraun
climber
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Sep 10, 2012 - 12:26am PT
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Easy free solo too ....
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Sep 10, 2012 - 12:59am PT
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Cool. Always lusted at that thing from afar but never got around to it and now might be too old for her. THanks for showing it up close
Fatal Mistake always looked delicious from the Cookie but found it a little disappointing at close range
Peace
Karl
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Salamanizer
Trad climber
The land of Fruits & Nuts!
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Sep 10, 2012 - 02:20am PT
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Yeah, that 5.12 traverse is a total sandbag. More like solid .12+ IMO.
The sandbag rating pales in comparison to the sandbag of the .10d flare. The 5.11d hands variation seems like the easier way to go.
Nice TR.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Sep 10, 2012 - 03:01am PT
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Third pitch sans dudes. (Shout out to jsb!!!)
Photo from Mike M's thread on the longest pure hands cracks.
Good pix!
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tarek
climber
berkeley
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Sep 10, 2012 - 04:19am PT
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Nice one David and Chase.
Yeah, that 5.12 traverse is a total sandbag. More like solid .12+ IMO. The sandbag rating pales in comparison to the sandbag of the .10d flare.
Here's a classic "but":
12a traverse didn't feel so bad...after hanging just before it.
Sloping crystals in the heat--could seem 12+ after leading the 11d.
1 long first pitch is the way to go. Kinda a pita setting that belay and then sharing it when you could just recover there and continue.
Yeah, the 10d flare sandbag. I'd followed it and fallen a few years before I lead it. That made it worse. Didn't fall, but it was a full-on bear-down scare fest for me. Small steps, pro too far left from where you are chimneying, bad flake below you. Small steps, as back foot feels like it will blow off overhanging wall.
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RP3
Big Wall climber
Newbury Park
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Sep 10, 2012 - 09:49am PT
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Amazing stuff! Thanks for the psyche!
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em kn0t
Trad climber
isle of wyde
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Sep 10, 2012 - 10:39am PT
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Bold and proud! Your photos give a real feel for the moves and beautiful clean cracks. Is it just my chicken-geezer-wimp perspective or did you both do some pretty long runouts, by choice?
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Sep 10, 2012 - 10:38am PT
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Beautiful!
You guys are getting a lot of climbing in. Good to see.
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David Wilson
climber
CA
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Author's Reply
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Sep 10, 2012 - 12:51pm PT
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Alexey,
Werner's variation was glory hands up to under the roof where there's a huge jug. Then it was a few more good hands to some wide rattley hands at the lip. To turn the lip you need to burl up into some 1 1/4" ( green ) jambs with a few small feet on the arette to the right. It's kinda punchy. I think the fact that we both had missed the onsight on pitch 2 took a little steam off our efforts on this pitch. We both grabbed and pulled over the lip.
Funny that Werner says it's harder to follow. I think that's because the rope gets sucked into the jambs and is a bitch to move aside for the follower.
Next time I go for the bombay desperado. I was warned off that one, but it sounds like a character builder.
Em, definitely some run outs. That third hands pitch is like 130 feet of gold camelots. On and on it goes.
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bob
climber
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Sep 10, 2012 - 12:52pm PT
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I remember Jake Whittaker and Charlie B. went up there and they thought the 10d flare thingy you avoided was the crux of the route for them.
Maybe either of them will share their thoughts on this?
Thanks for posting!
Bob Jensen
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nutjob
Sport climber
Almost to Hollywood, Baby!
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Sep 10, 2012 - 12:54pm PT
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This looks glorious!
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Sep 10, 2012 - 01:42pm PT
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Next time I go for the bombay desperado
Though not as difficult as billed, that was my favorite lead on the climb! Glad it was my turn
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G Murphy
Trad climber
Oakland CA
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Sep 10, 2012 - 01:48pm PT
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An awesome route, for sure. Nice job up there.
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tarek
climber
berkeley
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Sep 11, 2012 - 02:11am PT
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yeah, I guess it's not a sandbag--that double flare. It's 10d chimney, enough said. The wider you go, the worse the pro because it's lateral to you. You squirm up and place a piece, go down and out and start chimneying. It's really short, measured in distance. Not so short measured by # of foot placements. You'll style it.
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Salamanizer
Trad climber
The land of Fruits & Nuts!
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Sep 11, 2012 - 02:48am PT
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No, it's sandbagged. .10d chimneys are easy, so are .10d offwidths and fist cracks for that matter. That .10d flare was hard.
I don't know, maybe its just weird or that it was in the high 80's. But we climbed Cream the day before and I felt it's probably the softest .11 in the valley.
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WBraun
climber
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Sep 11, 2012 - 11:09am PT
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Cream is only rated 10d and pretty straight forward.
The flared chimney on Hotline is a technical masterpiece.
One really needs to know how to free climb to do it.
You can't fake this one.
This goes to show that ratings are only a ballpark expression to give one a rudimentary idea of what one might encounter.
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Sep 11, 2012 - 11:30am PT
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Has anyone really walked across that hand traverse on pitch 1? For real? I mean the holds are good for the feet but it's steep as sh#t right there.
JL
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David Wilson
climber
CA
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Author's Reply
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Sep 11, 2012 - 01:24pm PT
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John, I stepped over onto the dike and I suspect it is walkable but a total shakey jake with no holds. I think Tarbuster said he walked it on another thread. So far everyone I know has crimped the rail.
I wish I'd taken a better pic of the bombay desperado. This is the best I have.
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland, CA
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Sep 11, 2012 - 02:52pm PT
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One day at the Cookie this spring I met a guy who caught me staring over admiringly as one will do from the Cookie, with that great view from there.
I asked him if he'd been on it, and it turns out that just the day before he'd dropped a 600 ft static down the Hotline and mini'd it! I think he maybe fixed a 70m from the top to an anchor, then fixed the 600 ft beast.
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Sep 15, 2012 - 11:48pm PT
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Thanks for the TR, its the first I've seen on this route and the photos bring it alive.
I haven't seen those cracks since Dale and I went up to try to free it before it went. Didn't get too far on the traverse that day, but damn, that whole thing is fantastic climb. I was never so glad for a top rope as when I followed Dale up that bombay chimney. Dale cruised it, of course.
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RyanD
climber
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Oct 29, 2012 - 08:20pm PT
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Bump an awesome TR if u see one! This climb looks incredible, thanks for sharing!
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rincon
climber
Coarsegold
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Oct 29, 2012 - 08:40pm PT
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Looks killer!
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
sawatch choss
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Oct 29, 2012 - 08:41pm PT
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One of the best! thanks for all the insights from the BITD crew.
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Zander
climber
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Oct 30, 2012 - 12:02am PT
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Yeah, great thread and TR.
Z
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Technogeekery
Trad climber
Sydney, Australia
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Oct 30, 2012 - 12:24am PT
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great looking route! thanks for the tr
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wee man
Trad climber
truckee ca
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Oct 30, 2012 - 11:57pm PT
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Great TR david and cool pics , thanks for posting
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snowhazed
Trad climber
Oaksterdam, CA
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Hotdamn!!
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland, CA
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Sep 26, 2014 - 11:07am PT
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Bump!
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hashbro
Trad climber
Mental Physics........
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Sep 26, 2014 - 11:34am PT
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Brilliant photos guys.....can't wait to do the route.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Sep 27, 2014 - 06:08am PT
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Maahaan, I wanna go do it again!!
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Norman Claude
climber
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Sep 27, 2014 - 07:13am PT
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David
I walked it, leading, with Vern in August '85. I watched Kauk and Bacher do the first free and they hand traversed. Of course they could do anything they pleased.
Dusting of snow last night starting at 10,000'. Time for the Gorge.
C
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peter croft
climber
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Sep 28, 2014 - 06:07am PT
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One of the Valley's very best! Some say the first 5.12 there - some say Fish Crack. Not sure which came first but I know Hotline could eat Fish Crack for breakfast. And Werner's got his name all over it, too. He also did the second pitch variation left of the handcrack. Another beauty. Did that one once linking the first into that with a 70 meter - had just enough rope to pull up stretch and clove hitch in. So good I haven't bought a 60 meter since.
First time I ever did the whole route, though, was with Walt Dembitzky. He's a famous heart surgeon who travels round the world lecturing on the latest way to do transplants and stuff like that. Anyway, he hadn't climbed in well over a year but apart from tensioning the face crux just cruises the thing. On the wild flare he follows in half the time I took which flabbergasts me. He shrugs and says it was probably easier for him cause he's shorter. Yeah, rub it in - he's making excuses for me being so slow!
Then, back at the parking lot Walt insists I take the wheel in his black Porsche and on the drive back keeps urging me to faster. On one tight turn he sees me easing up and leans over with his foot and stomps on the gas - man, we rode that hairpin on a rail! What a day, getting schooled by a guy who swaps hearts for a living.
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ryankelly
climber
Bhumi
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Sep 28, 2014 - 10:51pm PT
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f*#kin-A man. good stories.
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Sep 28, 2014 - 11:03pm PT
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This thread made my palms sweaty.
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ryankelly
climber
Bhumi
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Sep 29, 2014 - 09:09pm PT
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bump for "rock climbing" content
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dhayan
climber
culver city, ca
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Sep 29, 2014 - 10:12pm PT
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This is the best of supertopo right here, thanks for sharing everyone. What an amazing looking line...and you get rewarded with that glorious hand crack. Walking that dike looks crazy. I hope this tr is on the first page for a while with more info, stories and anecdotes...can't wait to try hotline!!
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Sep 30, 2014 - 08:20am PT
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bump
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CrackAddict
Trad climber
Canoga Park, CA
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Sep 30, 2014 - 04:34pm PT
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Haha "rail" is being extremely generous... that thing pretty much disappears for 4 feet! Someone told me a long time ago you could foot traverse it at 5.10d, it looked pretty improbable to me though!
Definitely some of the best crack pitches in the park!
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Touque
Trad climber
Santacruzcalif
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Thanks for the memories I did this with Ron before he and John freed it Great climb one of the .
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Norman Claude
climber
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Answer to Mister Long. Climbed this masterpiece with Mister Clevenger in August 1985 and I led/foot traversed the crux. I saw no way to make the "rapid fire traverse" as Mister Kauk called it. What a time! Before, during and after.
Thanks David!
Touque, is that you Tony L.?
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