Team America Gritstone Sending Videos

are the yanks going to catch hell for having pre-placed gear? in any event, the climbing on “the promise” looks classic… if only it had a flat grassy landing so it could just be a dope highball rather than a lead.

Couple of things……
The Promise: Why place the piece then down climb? Didn’t look like that was cruxy right there. That’s a pink point. Apparently it’s VERY hard, very nice send but placing the gear on lead would have one-uped the FA.
Parthian Shot: Ground up? Has was on top rope through the gear with a safe whipper. Seb FA’d this Headpoint and proper, yes, pink point, but at least he clipped the gear.
End Of The Affair: Couldn’t tell ,what the gear pre-placed? But definitely death fall, impressive.
There are Brits downing beers and laughing at our expense right now. If a yank is going to go over there, take video and put on a show they ought to at least match if not one-up the FA. Otherwise pat yourself on the back and keep it private.

i belive the gear on Parthian was preplaced and clipped the first time up but then was left clipped – ground up with the gear clipped is an improvement in style from the usual headpoint ascent – especially as the crux is at the top.

it seems that KJ would prefer to send this stuff as a highball or what i call a deathball anyway. bulldoze! it will even provide more grass for sheep and such. or whatever. win-win.

Rhoads – placing gear on lead and then down climbing is still considered a redpoint/onsight, as long as you never rest on use the gear. You placed the gear on lead. Same thing if you were to make a move 50′ up, place a piece, and then step down to a stance. Surely all of us have done this a ton of times. Also, those two guys place the gear with the left hand on a certain hold, down climb, and then use that hold with the right hand instead on the send – totally different sequence.
I think with Parthian Shot is it was done ground-up, with pre-placed gear, but he worked it out as he went up and I believe fell a number of times. Still ground-up – but deserves the caveat with pre-placed gear, and probably yo-yo, too.
EOTA – the gear is right off the ground, easy to place and step down, nothing is placed after that. The gear is only used cuz your belayer jumping off a ledge may keep you off the ground for some moves.
And from what I have heard/read the Brits are much more dumbstruck by how these guys raged on the grit and downgraded everything as they went. Didn’t one of these guys flash EOTA?

Huston, agreed on the down climbing. But for PS to be a true ground up he would have had to pull the rope off the gear and start from the bottom again with a pink point. TWO STYLE POINT DEDUCTION with the yo-yo and pink point! Putting it below a headpoint pink point.
I am preparing a manifesto on ethics and I will post it somewhere soon, should be a riot!

by bathroom reading do you mean you’ll be wiping your ass with it? please clarify…

hahaha love it

what happend on routesetter.com?

No no, the “Manifesto” will not be totally in your face like a lot of my things but I don’t think I can help it not being inflammatory. It seems I see things a bit differently. So, yes not “overly inflammatory”.
I can send the original routesetter.com article to anyone who wants it. I also have the whole story of the deal and the aftermath. Funny stuff!!!
Email me.

Rhoads PS starts up an HVS crack that takes gear – in Hard Grit Seb had gear in this and a side runner to the left to stop him from swinging into the sidewall on the traverse. He had this gear on two separate ropes which he unclipped when he got to the gear in the flake and had clipped this gear into a third rope, so at no point was he ‘soloing’.

I would call that the purest of all styles and the purest send possible. I wouldn’t say it is the best, because personally, my capabilities do not allow me to do that safely, but I would still vote True, because it is the purest in my opinion.

Sorry for the long explanation, but I figure the nature of the question warranted clarification on my part.

Rhoads: Have you ever been on Parthian Shot? Clipping the gear behind the flake is the least of your worries. Leading the start (which I did before) is casual. Three of the four wires either ripped or fell out (due to the expanding nature of the flake) on various occasions while working the route and a fall from the precarious upper slab crux would result in a ground fall for sure. The fact is, I never rehearsed the route and had no idea what those upper moves were going to feel like. I was very straight forward with the style in which I made my ascent and I suggest you read it before criticizing while uninformed: http://www.kevinjorgeson.com/Travels.pdf
Also, ground up is ground up, regardless of whether or not the rope was pre-clipped. The question is not what gear is clipped, it is where you choose to try the route from: a top rope or the ground. I never claimed the style of this ascent to be perfect, but if nothing else, an improvement upon previous ascents. The flake is still there….The conditions at Burbage South are primo right now….A ground up onsight awaits….

kevin: how do you feel about the idea of bulldozing the landing flat and doing it as a boulder problem? in my ethical manifesto, this will be the purest form of climbing, right after flooding everything to allow for deep water solo climbing at all cliffs in america.

in an event, i’m glad you’re marching through grit so quickly so we can get back to media of your bouldering deathball problems instead of all these funky cords and junk all over the place.

Kevin, I have not been on PS.
-If the bottom is casual why was it not led on the send?
-I respectfully disagree that “ground up” is the true name of that style when the rope is clipped in.
-In the Hard Grit (and your video? or is that from HG?) there is a fall from the upper-lower slab crux and Seb (and you?) ends up well off the ground while also pulling the climber up in the air. Doesn’t look like a ground fall possibility. But I wasn’t there……
-I have obviously not seen the flake but if it’s that fragile (I read your trip report) I would have defected to the Headpoint at first. Best not risk breaking it? But….I wasn’t there. Hard call for sure.

Here’s my point:
My personal convictions are that if I can’t put the gear in on lead I won’t do the route until I can. That way no one can give me any crap!

Nothing personal Kevin, just consider this a challenge to motivate you further and next time you get on PS place the gear on lead and stuff it in the face of people like me. I have lots of good leads for you at Devils Lake, WI if you like this kind of stuff! A free bedroom too. Winter isn’t a good time though without the ice axes

Cannud, placing the gear on lead on The Promise and then down climbing is perfectly legit but it would have been cooler if he did kept going. That’s a no hands rest!

TimS, sorry I still have not re-checked Hard Grit for the soloing. Soon!