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Telemachus

cruze

27-Apr-2010
9:05:22 AM

Apologies to all those in the general vicinity of Telemachus on Saturday. They were my childish whimperings. You see after riding out two passing showers anchored to the wall I found myself in a position of extreme rope drag on the upper red wall traverse of Telemachus which meant that reaching the right hand arete and continuing on was, as a French friend of mine once described it, "like dragging an elephant". It wasn't until I compared the old and new guides that I noticed that the new guide shows it finishing up Electra rather than traversing the red wall. Simey, or anyone else, is this because of rope drag or is Electra where the original line finished? I thought that I had managed drag well to that point. Anyway fantastic route and the red wall traverse is definitely a highlight. All up it felt like two Lemmingtons with a nice steep juggy arete finish.

kieranl

27-Apr-2010
10:06:22 AM

So that was you Cruze. I didn't see the lead, just the second traversing the red wall.
Yes the original route traversed the red wall but the climb was done in two pitches, belaying where the route joins Electra. I'm not surprised you had horrendous rope-drag if you did it in a single pitch.
I don't know why Simey and Glenn omitted the red wall finish; just one of the vagaries of the Select guide genre.
Well done, it's a solid climb. I got badly spanked on the route many years ago but have never been back to it for some reason. Must try it if I ever get back to those grades again.

cruze

27-Apr-2010
10:31:45 AM

Thanks for the clarification. I actually had two seconds that day and found that the possible belay was probably a little small for a party of three... Definitely a double rope climb or split it as two pitches.

prb

27-Apr-2010
10:41:58 AM

The heaviest of those showers Saturday morning hit as my mate was pulling the very last move onto the ledge at the end of the Orestes traverse. He thinks a foot slipped. Should have had a cam in the traverse, his last piece was a green cam at the top of the corner. I'd probably given him some slack as well for topping out. He had time to yell "take" about four times on the way down and ended up near the second bolt on the L wall, not too far above me. He hit the wall surprisingly gently, no damage done except to me when I was dragged across some rock. It was the biggest catch I've had to hold in 20 years. Next try, he fired in a good small cam half way across the traverse.

gfdonc

27-Apr-2010
11:30:58 AM

Nice one. I did the route recently and can imagine what happened.
I'm too chicken for that sort of stuff, I placed two cams on the traverse. Good to hear there were no nasty consequences.

sticky

27-Apr-2010
5:06:27 PM

I have only seconded the route - Cheesehead led it when I did it.

It was stunning - burly start, then graceful and thought provoking climbing. We did it in one pitch, but using doubles, and including the red wall traverse. The rope drag was not too bad.

I felt that it was a much better route than Lemmington - despite not having led it.

kieranl

27-Apr-2010
9:41:56 PM

Anyone care to provide a better description for the route for the ACA guide?

cruze

28-Apr-2010
1:21:31 PM

done.

cruze

28-Apr-2010
5:16:40 PM

4 things: referred to small stance (belay possible). traverse through (rather than below) red wall. double ropes recommended. finish straight up arete.
Feel free to change. I did.

There are 9 messages in this topic.