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Lee Cossey speed ascent of Nose

gfdonc

24-Jun-2008
2:16:40 PM

From supertopo.com, 20 June:

Nose: Nice stuff to see today. Lee Cossey and his partner Jake, from Australia, threw down a 6:45 on sight of the route. Pretty impressive for climbers who have never been on the route. They were off the top by 12:15pm and had lunch here at the bridge!


Phil Box

24-Jun-2008
3:03:49 PM

Link?

24-Jun-2008
3:32:16 PM

he gave you everything but the www !

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=618814&tn=0

lots more news of them plus great pics if you search supertopo.com. eg:

"Zodiac: The free climbing Aussey brothers Lee and Ben Cossey were seen this day climbing the first 5 pitches of the Free Zodiac variation. Nothing fixed, nothing previewed, no rapping in, no jugging out, no preplaced gear. High standards these guys bring to the Valley from their native Australia... sort of puts our locals to shame and serves notice things could be different if the local talent adopted that style. Which BTW was taken from the early climbers in this valley. The Ausseys didn't invent it you know."


IdratherbeclimbingM9

24-Jun-2008
4:22:33 PM

Careful watching that site you lot, because you might end up motivated to try aid climbing after seeing such magnificent rock architecture if your grades are below that required to free climb such stuff.

Excellent effort by the Aussie Cosseys!

Amanda

25-Jun-2008
8:27:20 AM

If you are interested in any other valley adventures from team AUS..we had a blog
www.teamtigermonkey.blogspot.com


manacubus

25-Jun-2008
9:33:01 AM

Boohoo, wish I had known about the blog at the time - would have liked to follow it as it happened. Must have missed it somehow...


IdratherbeclimbingM9

25-Jun-2008
10:05:16 AM

Just finished reading the blogspot.
Good reading.
Awesome effort. You certainly packed a lot of climbing into a short period. I think many people would have been content with only getting a couple of major lines done in that time.
Thanks for posting the link.

Post edit:
Quotes from that source.
>Lee took the first block lead (they were leading the route in 4 blocks of approx. 8 pitches each, with the second jugging. During the blocks of leading they would only meet up as little as once for the second to give some gear back to the leader).

(snip)

>they were short fixing.....so basically at each belay the leader would pull up the extra slack, tie it off to the belay and start leading again on a PDL (Pakistani death loop)

I find it interesting technique that only one PDL was used instead of shortening the slack lead line into more than one loop, and dropping them off successively as one arrives at each, to minimise potential fall distance.
I am guessing this was bc the free climbing was of a difficult std combined with distance off deck/clean fall potential? ... that it was speedier (easier?), to just go bold and run it out?


manacubus

25-Jun-2008
3:20:02 PM

Because you're not going to put yourself into a situation where you're going to fall until you're properly on belay?


IdratherbeclimbingM9

25-Jun-2008
3:41:37 PM

On 25/06/2008 manacubus wrote:
>Because you're not going to put yourself into a situation where you're
>going to fall until you're properly on belay?

From what I have heard of these speed ascents the people who do them run to much different safety tolerances than 'normal' ascents.

If it was me, I would be shortening the potential fall distance, but the time it takes to make a few more loops would add time to my ascent. Note that even this action is not considered to be a 'proper' belay.

From what I have read, these folk are confident in their ability and don't expect to fall. They pay token safety recognition to the fall possibility by staying attached to the rope, but are often prepared to take massive whippers if they come unstuck.
By short fixing and running out on one loop (potentially a very long one if the second is following a short traverse for example on the previous pitch), the potential fall could be massive if gear is spaced due to running things out, or if it pulls during such a fall.

I strongly suspect they often put themselves in situations where they could take a considerable fall while NOT on belay.

A PDL is still a safer option than 'free-aiding' ie nil backrope, or straight free-solo like Dean Potter carrying the rope on his back during the final pitch/s of the Nose-in-a-day, as depicted in a yank mag a while back!

Amanda

25-Jun-2008
4:50:18 PM

p.s. .hans and yuji are attempting to break the speed record within the next week so keep an eye on
super topo if you are interested.

devlin66

25-Jun-2008
6:23:29 PM

any links to show the PDL. all i get when i search google is stuff about terrorists and hangings!

-deano-

25-Jun-2008
7:40:31 PM

On 25/06/2008 manacubus wrote:
>Boohoo, wish I had known about the blog at the time - would have liked
>to follow it as it happened. Must have missed it somehow...

yes me too! grrr, bad panda.
good reading now though! well done.
cheers,
dean.

Amanda

25-Jun-2008
8:48:25 PM

"bad panda"....well there were heaps of other bears in Yosemite so I was a bit distracted!


IdratherbeclimbingM9

27-Jun-2008
10:29:19 AM

On 25/06/2008 devlin66 wrote:
>any links to show the PDL. all i get when i search google is stuff about
>terrorists and hangings!

Does not surprise me!, as that term is not common usage here.
Read the bit about 'short-fixing' in a post above and it will make more sense.
... but if it doesn't ~>
Basically while the second ascends the 'fixed' part of the pitch, (most likely on jumars and cleaning it of gear); the leader leads off again, but because the rope is 'fixed' between leader and belayer, it essentially means the leader is leading on a loop of rope from where they are tied in at harness, back to the fixed point. They are not on belay, but they are tied in. A 'static' belay if you will, ... but on a dynamic rope!! ... Roped-solo in a sort of fashion.
The potential distance the leader can fall while doing this depends entirely on how much slack rope is in the loop and how much gear they place/clip into along their new lead-out, in order not to FF2 back onto the fixed point.
When the second arrives at the fixed point they put the leader back on belay.

In roped-solo climbing, leaders using this technique often have a running loop with a clove hitch, or take up all the slack into a number* of loops often individually tied off to a separate harness krab/s.
*The number depends on what they feel comfortable running out on lead, but having more = less potential distance fallen on any given loop.

Depending on the climbing involved, there may not be a potential FF2. If the short-fixed (rebelay) point is done at a ledge for example, then one could easily deck out on the ledge ...

Clear as mud?
:)

devlin66

27-Jun-2008
12:09:42 PM

Cool. I actually understand your explaination. I also get the idea of the PDL name. I wonder, if after the fixed part at the 'belay' if you ran the rope through a rapel rack, or similar. Have it set that you could still pull the rope through with out 'too much' extra effort, would depend on the climbing, then in the event of a fall you would not end up with full force on the anchor as you would have a mild braking force on the remainder of the rope. That's if you had much rope left to go through the rack. Does that make sense?


IdratherbeclimbingM9

27-Jun-2008
12:23:05 PM

Keeping the device oriented correctly would be an issue.
Pulling hard moves while trying to obtain slack would be an issue.
For these and other reasons, devices like Silent Partners are popular.

Your idea has some* merit though, as it is not dis-similar to the zyper concept.

(*Btw; I once did an 'out of control' fast abseil. The speed that I decked out at, does not enthuse me for deliberately setting a safety feature that relies on such a thing, as the speed of free-falling is not much different!)


sliamese

27-Jun-2008
10:55:51 PM

the whole idea is speed at the cost of safety, if you were worried about falling you wouldnt be there!!!

devlin66

28-Jun-2008
7:59:21 PM

or as fast.

simey

29-Jun-2008
11:03:29 AM

I really love reading what Ben, Lee, Jake and Amanda have been climbing in the Valley. You simply can't beat going to the big wall capital of the world and then launching up the hardest and most classic routes in the best style possible. When you look at a list of attributes that make up truly great climbers (skill, strength, stamina, judgement, commitment, imagination, versatility) this team is really something.

gfdonc

29-Jun-2008
3:31:18 PM

In case you didn't hear, Hans (Florine) and Yuji (wotsisname) are rumoured to be going to try and break the Huber Brothers speed record on The Nose, on Sunday (tonight Melbourne time). They held the previous record before the "Huberbuam" (Bavarian slang for brothers) broke it (twice) last year, the subject of the film "To The Limit".

Chance to steal it back!

There are 24 messages in this topic.