Squamishrock

Uncle Ben's: 5.10, A3+, Grade V. July 26-29 1996

Team Members

• Adrian Burke: Rope Gun, Editor, Grumpy Guy, Suzie Doll (don't ask)
• Lee Purvis: Leader (sort of), Instigator, Reporter
• Jackie Purvis: Clean Queen, Queen of Tears

The Story (mosty by Lee)

So... there I was dreaming of the big walls of Yosemite, Zion, Baffin Island, and even (gasp) the Karakoram. The problem? I had never even completed a single big wall. ;-)

It has been a long standing joke that whenever I take a haulbag on a climb, I never complete. The truth of the matter was that I wasn't really a good enough climber, with enough experience, to complete a big wall. In short... I was lame (the only "real" excuse in climbing). So... after an abortive attempt on Uncle Ben's last year (which had been preying on my mind for almost the entire year), I was comitted to nailing (no pun intended) the bastard. I felt I now had the experience and skill to get the job done. I just needed a good team.

So... of course, I turned to my trusty climbing pal, Adrian. (Hey... if Adrian won't lead it... who will?) The only problem was that he had even less aiding experience than me. But not to worry... like me, Adrian often has more balls than brains... so I figured it would work out somehow. Adrian had lead one A2 pitch, one A1 pitch, and an A3 hooking pitch (protected by bolts). Sounded good enough to me. Besides, he had taken an aid climbing course with me... so we were well matched. And we free climb together all the time... and make really good climbing partners. I had led a couple A1's, a few A2's and and maybe two A3's. All single pitch... and all mostly near the ground. Again... should be good enough. Hell... how hard can A3+ be? And once you're more than 50 feet off the ground, what difference does it make if you're doing it 500 feet off the ground? Right? Uh... yeah. Right.

When Jackie (my sister and Adrian's girlfriend) heard about our little planned attempt on good ol' Uncle Ben's, she wanted in on the action. Now she hasn't had much in the way of big exposure, etc., experience... but she was willing to come along for the ride, help with the hauling, etc. It sounded good to me... since a well organized three man aid team can actually be faster than a two man team. (It turned out that we were probably a little slower due to the fact that we were not as organized as we should have been).

Since my failed attempt at Uncle Ben's last year... I had spent most of the winter devising a strategy for getting the job done as easily and quickly as possible. The first thing was to take no extra gear... just the required minimum... making the hauling easier. Next... start by fixing lines to the end of pitch three (all free) the first night, then get going the next morning. Kind of a jump start. Then I figured we only had seven more pitches to the top... so we should be able to finish it with one night on the wall, two days of climbing. (Alas... this was not to be, as it turned out). So... we had our team in place... and we had our objective... and we had a plan. Now we just needed a weekend to do it.

We were supposed to be climbing Slesse this weekend, but due to horrendous conditions on the pocket glacier, Slesse was postponed... and Uncle Ben's seemed like the next best thing. Oh boy... let's swap 20 perfect pitches of free climbing for 10 pitches of knarly aiding & hauling. Sounds like a perfectly reasonable trade!? Sometimes I wonder at my sanity...!

So... on Friday night after work, Jackie and I met at my place and packed the bags and sorted the gear. We were brutal on the weight and threw out anything we didn't need, including rain gear, the rain fly, extra clothes, everything. In the true spirit of our climbing heroes, we were going to go as light weight as possible. So... we loaded the car and drove to Squamish to meet Adrian, who was already there after spending the day climbing with Alistair. We arrived in Squamish at about 8:30pm, and were hiking to the Grand Wall by 9:00pm. I started Merci Me (5.7, 5.8) in twilight and finished pitch two in the dark. Adrian was tired after a full day of hard climbing... so graciously allowed me to lead all the pitches that night. The only problem with leading Merci Me in the dark... is that every bolt counts (since there are so few of them) and I couldn't see the damn things. I was quite paranoid about skipping a bolt! Anyway... I then kicked into French free mode and quickly finished the 10c traverse pitch (wet & ugly she was) to the tree belay below the first A2 pitch. Adrian and I then fixed the static line and rapped to the ground. By now it was almost 11:30pm, so after a quick stop at 7-11 for food & drink, we crashed for the night.

The next morning, we got up a little late, had a little McDonald's for breakfast, a little coffee for energy, and headed to the Grand Wall parking lot. After spreading our gear all over the parking lot, and then packing it all into two haul bags and one back pack, we shouldered the whole damn load and headed up the trail. Needless to say, even after our great attempt on trying to save weight, our bags were brutally heavy. So... after about 40 mins, we arrived at our fixed lines.

The plan was for Jackie to lead the first A2 pitch... so she started jugging with Adrian following to belay her, while I finished the final packing of the pigs, then jugged up to rig the haul. Jackie started to lead the A2 pitch (or 5.12+ free and called The Golden Throat Charmer). However, a lack of aiding experience, combined with some dizzying exposure, convinced her that her true calling in life was to be the belayer. So... a quick switch and Adrian led the pitch. Meanwhile, I hauled the f**ing pigs up the Merci Me slab. The pigs were so heavy that I didn't have enough body weight to haul them... so I had to rig a 3 to 1 haul system and then use my full body weight running backwards down the slab to haul them up. It took almost 1.5hrs to haul them 1 pitch. Argh! Then Jackie babysat the pigs, while I cleaned Adrian's pitch. Last, but not least, Jackie jugged the haul line and helped Adrian to haul the pigs.

Cool. Now we were at the high point that Jackie and I made it to last year. The only problem? It was already 6:00pm! Shit! Where had all the time gone!? There wasn't enough time to lead the next pitch, and, besides, I was too tired. So we dealt with the massive CF (cluster f**k), set up the porta-ledge and spent the night. The cool part was that the porta-ledge hung below the big roof and it was, indeed, a cool position to hang out in. The bad part was that it was quite exposed, and the porta-ledge was hanging free so tended to swing and pivot; in short, it was a bit squirley. Which was fine by Adrian and I, but gave no end of terror to Jackie. She was as high as she had ever been, and as exposed as she had ever been. Rationally she knew there was no way four bolts and two leashes could ever fail, but her instinct was telling her she was gonna die a horrible death smeared across the Grand Wall. She started to feel very ill, and almost puked. Meanwhile, Adrian and I gave her some great support, by laughing like hell and insisting that she still had to sleep in the dreaded Wombat. Now the Wombat is a hammock that hooks below the porta-ledge, and gives a rather airy bivy. So... after dinner (of which Jackie ate none) we talked her into getting into the Wombat. I think the only reason she did it, was that she had already resigned herself to the fact that she was going to die anyway, so what difference did it make if she was to die in a Wombat or in a porta-ledge. But Jackie is plucky if nothing else, and she cowboyed up and got into the Wombat. Everytime Adrian and I would roll over in the night, the porta-ledge would swing a little and Jackie would freak out. I don't think she moved all night! Or slept much... either :-o

The next morning I got up early, racked up, and got ready to lead my first pitch. This pitch was supposed to be the crux at A3+. Needless to say I was feeling very nervous and my bowels were a little too relaxed for comfort. But I was comitted to going up, and I had Adrian belaying me from the ledge, while still in his sleeping bag. Should be "no problem" I kept telling myself (Adrian's Note: Luckily Lee didn't see how many times Jackie and I switched the Gri-Gri back and forth between us, so we could pack, eat, and pee!). So away I went... and it wasn't too bad. There were some bolts... so the farthest I could possibly fall was maybe 30-40ft at the worst. And the bolts were all new, as Luc had recently replaced them. The hooking wasn't too bad, and the pro was "ok". In the middle of the hooking section, I could see the area where my friend Eric, had ripped a flake off. (The flake had come down and punched a hole in Eric's "borrowed" porta-ledge right beside his belayer as he took a big fall. Yikes!). The missing flake made the hooking a little interesting. Sure I was scared half-to-death, but I finished the pitch in about 2.5 hrs with no falls. Yeah! If we had survived the hardest pitch... there was no stopping us now. While I was leading, Jackie and Adrian packed up the haul pigs. So... when I finished, Jackie immediately started cleaning as Adrian finished the packing. I think Jackie just wanted to get the hell out of the portaledge and do something so she wouldn't have to think about the exposure. While this was going on, some "bozo" down on Merci Me, yelled up, "Hey you guys on Uncle Ben's! You're talking too much and going too slow. I think you better take some lessons on aiding". This kinda pissed Adrian off and he replied, "Are you a smartass or are you just trying to be funny!?". It turns out the guy was Graham, the person who taught Adrian and I to aid climb. So after Adrian figured this out and calmed down, it was cool to talk with Graham. He was heading up the Grand Wall and we proposed a race to the top. The winner would buy the beer! ;-) Needless to say, Graham won and owes us a few beers.

Anyway... Jackie finished cleaning the pitch, I rigged the haul and started doing the dirty work of moving the pigs up, and Adrian jugged up to the belay stance. By the time we were all at the belay, it was about noon. Not bad... one pitch by lunch. Cool. Since we only did one pitch the entire day yesterday... we were cruising almost twice as fast. So Adrian grabbed the rack and headed up his next pitch: A3 (plus?). It started off with some knarly nuts and cams (Adrian popped his #0 tcu while he stepped onto his next piece), then a stretch of hooking, and finished with 11 copperheads in a row (including one high step) to a bolt! Yikes! Can you say 60-80 foot fall if they zipper? I knew 'ya could! But Adrian kept his kaka together and finished the pitch. Jackie once again cleaned the pitch, I released the pigs and jugged the haul line to the belay.

By now it was 5:30pm. We knew this was a good bivy site, so we (once again) dealt with the CF and got our bivy ready. Then I spent the next 30mins trying to talk Adrian into leading the next pitch, since the first 30 ft go free, and he is supposed to be the free-climbing rope gun (Adrian's Note: It's only 5.8 you lamo! You don't need a rope gun for 5.8! Lee's Note: f**k you! I just don't want to lead it!) Of course, Adrian was having nothing doing with my wimpering, so I got psyched, put on my rock shoes and launched off around 8pm.

I had to climb up from the belay, and clip a shitty fixed hex, then traverse left for 8 ft and clip a shitty bolt, then climb up 20-25 more feet with two useless (but psychlogicaly helpful) tiny tcu placements to clip the next horrendously shitty bolt. This was the worst bolt I had every seen. And the only choice I had was to clip in with my daisy and go into aid mode. Yikes! So... I hung, took off my rock shoes & switched back to wall boots. Then Adrian & Jackie (who, by the way, were happily reclined in the porta-ledge) zipped up the aid rack to me. Next I moved onto another shitty bolt. Then I used a nut to tether a machine bolt, and did a tensioned pendulum onto hooks to my left. Hooking for 10-15 feet out to my left and 5 feet up brought me to a free move, followed by a new hook and back into the aiders. Crazy man! I just about peeled. Then I had to high step the hook to just barely reach another shitty bolt. But I was very happy to clip that shitty bolt. A shitty bolt is much better than a hook anyday. This was certainly the most scared I have ever been. Next onto another high step to two equalized shitty bolts, another high step to a fixed copper head and a final high step to a shitty #0 tcu. Note that at this point I hadn't bounce tested anything since I left the belay due to the fact that I had no pieces I believed in behind me. Can we say whipper of the century if anything blows? Luckily it didn't and I got a good cam in next. Phew! At that point I told Jackie and Adrian I was ready to start smoking (despite always insisting it's a filthy habit). Holy stress level, Batman! Anyway... by now it was getting dark... so I finished the pitch in the dark, fixed my lines and rapped back to the portaledge by 11pm. Another god-damn pitch down. That night, Jackie convinced Adrian to sleep in the Wombat by agreeing to give him a full one hour body massage. A pretty good deal for Adrian, I thought.

The next morning, Jackie got up at 6:00am, and started cleaning my pitch of the previous night. Of course, it was now Monday morning and Jackie and I were supposed to be at work, and Adrian was supposed to be at school, finishing his thesis. Anyway, Jackie cleaned the pitch, Adrian jugged up to her, and led the next pitch, a wanky A3 traverse. It went from a rusty bolt, to a manky copperhead, to a hook move, and then to a free move out of the aiders to grapple wildly for a bolt. Yikes! Adrian was stuck at the bolt for 15 mins, high stepping, popping hooks under weight, and babbling with fear. He decided to try a different path but couldn't find the moves there either, popping out and dropping a Lost Arrow (good placement huh?! Rock! Glad I wasn't below us leading Merci Me!). After a calming smoke (he always smokes when he climbs. Yuck!) and a helpful hint, he placed a horizontal RURP ("Do they work sideways?!"), followed by two #0 tcu's, and finally got to another bolt.

So, Adrian pulled through and finished the pitch without falling. While all this was going on, I packed everything away and eventually jugged the haul line to the end of Adrian's lead (that's right... we did not haul to the end of the pitch I lead last night, but directly to Adrian's pitch). Jackie cleaned the traverse pitch with aplomb. Note that her wimpering of the day before had calmed into a steely high angle aid cleaning machine. She had entered the arena and become a "big wall babe".

The next two pitches went free at 5.8 & 5.10c or A2 when aiding. I finally talked Adrian into free climbing and he smoked the first 5.8. The next pitch (10c) was a burly sandbag, so Adrian Frenched some of it, but did most of it free. I followed him up (some French, some free) to the top. Then we fixed the static line and I rapped back down to Jackie and the pigs, who were patiently waiting at the start of the 5.8. The plan was to haul directly from there to the top, so Jackie jugged up to Adrian and I got everything organized for the haul.

This is where the epic really started. Adrian and I goofed on rigging the haul and had the haul line running over the lip at the top of the cliff to the haul setup. The rope drag was immense and Adrian and Jackie could barely haul. I had to stay below (jugging on another line) to "help" the pigs over some roofs and overhangs. It was hell on the hauling. Once the pigs cleared the obstacles, I started jugging like crazy for the top. About 20 feet from the top (and 800 or so feet from the bottom) I heard Jackie and Adrian start yelling at me to get the hell off the my jug-line and onto the static haul line (this was the only time we had resorted to using Jackie's 9.8mil lead rope, since the other 11mil lead line was used in the anchor at the top).

They were mega freaked. So, I quickly moved my ascenders over to the static line. When I got to the top, I found out that the edge had completely severed the sheath on the jug line, and it had ripped a two foot gash where it ran over the edge. Yikes! The core was still intact, but I hate to think what would have happened if the core had been allowed to continue to abrade and Adrian & Jackie hadn't been so "on the ball".

[The moral of this little story: don't **ever** haul over an edge, don't **ever** jug over an unpadded edge, and always jug on 11mil not on a 9.8mil. Sermon over. ]

Then Adrian and I hauled the pigs up to Bellygood ledge. What a bullshit piece of work that was! No need to say any more except that it really sucked. Then we unpacked the pigs and re-packed to carry them down. By now it was 4:30pm. Oh no... we were running out of time again!

Now we just had to get accross Bellygood. Oh God. Bellygood! Shit. It's called Bellygood, because it's "good to be on your belly". And we had to carry 60-70lb pigs across. Would this climb never end? Imagine surviving A3+, and dying on a stupid descent. With that in mind, we rigged a static hand rail all that way across Bellygood (in three horizontal pitches) and used the handrail for balance and safety. In some spots we hung the pigs on the line and pushed them. It took us about 3hrs to get across the ledge and into the forest. By now it was 9:00pm, so we hauled ass down the descent trail and arrived at the car just after 10pm in the dark. We were **very** tired, but very elated at completing this difficult route. As Marc Twight is wont to say, "It doesn't have to be fun, to be fun". How true.

So... now each of us had completed our first Grade V and I had actually completed a route with a haul bag. The curse has been broken! Look out, Yosemite... Adrian and I are coming for you this fall...

Afterword(s)

When I first started free climbing it took me 6 hrs to do Diedre (5.8, 6p). Now I'm having a bad day if it takes 1 hr. I think the same kind of progression is possible in aiding. The first day we did 1 pitch. The next we did 2.5 pitches. The next we did 4.5 pitches plus 3 traverse/descent pitches with the pig and a hike out. So we got faster as the trip progressed and we learned to deal with the CF's better.

There are clearly multiple aspects to going fast. First it is important to be able to lead and clean fast. Jackie (the Clean Queen) got really fast at cleaning by the end. Since Adrian and I are still very new to hard aid climbing, we were pretty slow, but were getting faster on lead.

Organization, rope management, etc., is key on big walls. Always deal with CF's right away, try to anticipate problems, always be thinking ahead.

Bring a set of aiders and ascenders for all team members. We had to keep zipping aiders and ascenders up and down because we had three people and only two sets of aiders and ascenders.

From now on I am only taking 11mil ropes on aid climbs. More durable, more believable. And on a big wall you gotta believe in your gear.

Aid climbing is a f**king huge amount of work. Since our organization and technique got better as the climb progressed, the work load decreased as we finessed things more and used less "brute strength". Except that as we got faster, we tried to do more. So it was still a tremendous amount of hard work.

As a final note, I will say that Uncle Ben's is not for beginning aid climbers. We should have done something more straightforward, like University Wall, as our first big wall climb. Uncle Ben's is scary, comitting, high, exposed, and requires some pretty big kahoonas (or maybe no brains), at least IMHO. On the other hand... it is one helluva route and I'm damn proud of our team and very happy we bagged that son-of-a-bitch! :-)