Article 200605 of rec.climbing: From: clint@leland.Stanford.EDU (Clint Cummins) Newsgroups: rec.climbing Subject: Re: first Yosemite 5.11 Date: 21 Aug 1999 02:55:51 -0700 [postscript comments are mostly based on details provided by Peter Haan in a later post] >>> For example, what was the first 5.11 route, who >>> first climbed it and what year did it happen? I wrote earlier: > It's a somewhat complicated question, because some >ratings have changed. For example, Serenity Crack and Slack Center >are given 5.11 in one of the Roper guides (1971?), but they are 1971. >considered 5.10d and 5.10c today. They were downrated to these ratings by 1973, when they appeared in Bridwell's "Brave New World" (BNW). The original FFA dates were both 1967. It's possible that enlarged pin scars between 1967/1971 and 1973 could have made them truly easier. [postscript/PH: Slack Center has not gotten any easier since 1971 due to any pin scars, etc.] [postscript/CC: Imagine doing Serenity or Slack Center in Kronhofer shoes with pins in 1967 -- it could well have been a 5.11 effort. Maybe they got downgraded when EB shoes became available?] [postscript/2001: Pat Ament stated in an online article: When I led the first 5.11 in Yosemite in '66, a resentful local went up and later pried a loose block from the crack so that a handjam was created where there had been space only for the tips of fingers. The route could then be downrated to 5.10c or d. This sometimes was how an outsider was welcomed. http://www.camp4.com/sections.php?op=printpage&artid=120 [Note: Ament makes other claims in the article which are somewhat wild, so I am not sure if the above is believable. Also, the current crux is in the thin section, well below any handjams.]] [postscript/PA 4/29/2007: In a post on supertopo.com, Pat Ament explains: ------------- Sadly we will never know how difficult Serenity Crack was. After Tom Higgins led it, in later fall 1967, the aiders for the next several years hammered those knife-blade cracks into bong-tip and boot holes. Likewise when I did the first free ascent of the Center Route on the Slack, someone later went up and pulled out a slightly loose but mostly solid block at the crux move. Whereas one had to use finger-tip lieback jams on either side of the block, now there is a big, open, bomber handjam. John Long, being the man of integrity he is, later told me he felt it still was 5.11 without the block. But people said at the time someone wasn't comfortable with a Coloradan doing the first 5.11. Without the block, the route could be downrated to 5.10 c or d. Even Roper, in Camp 4, simply states that the route was later downrated, without futher elaboration, implying that the original rating never was correct. It was. And I'm certain Serenity Crack was originally solid 5.11. Several of the best in the Valley had tried Center Slack, and Pratt told me it would be the first 5.11 if done. It was never people such as Pratt or Kamps or Higgins...or any of the bigger lights... who could fail to give credit where credit was due. That's one reason I admired those men so much. Within the bounds of a meausre of human imperfection, they had total integrity. Pat ------------- http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=369249&msg=369878#msg369878 ------------- [postscript/CC 4/30/2007: I can't find the above camp4.com article now, and I don't remember the parts I didn't believe. I just did the Slack Center start (crux) yesterday on toprope, and I can see the spot Pat describes about the handjam above the thin pin scars; certainly a block could have been pried out of there. The pin scars themselves are OK for my small fingers but well spaced. Leading it with TCUs might be fairly tough, not to mention the long ow and squeeze above the crux start. Unfortunately it is mislabelled as "Slack Left" in the supertopo guide; they rate it 5.10d. > I know there were Yosemite climbs done free in the 60s >which are currently rated 5.11. I'll list them in a later post. The only one is Swan Slab (5.11a in 1982 guide, 5.11b in 1987 guide), FFA by Lloyd Price et al in 1967. It's listed as 5.10D in BNW. Maybe it keeps getting harder, or people changed their mind.... It's not easy to rate a route that is hard right off the ground and gets a lot of attempts. > Also, there is a route currently rated 5.10 which has an >earlier FFA date than the widely known "Crack of Doom". It is >"Rixon's Pinnacle, East Chimney variation", freed by Robbins >as I recall. More later. Freed by Robbins and Rearick, 1960, and in the 1971 Roper guide as 5.10. [postscript: Rixon's East was freed by Robbins and McCracken, and rated 5.9 in the 1964 Roper guide.] Crack of Doom was done in 10/1961. Roper's 1971 guide states (apparently erroneously) Crack of Doom "was the first 5.10 lead to be done in the Valley". Not that it is any less of a classic testpiece. I don't know what year Split Pinnacle Lieback (5.10c currently; 5.10D in BNW) was done; possibly also 1960. [postscript: it was done in 7/1961 by Dave Rearick and Mort Hempel] But maybe it was hard to count as a lead in those days since it had a rap bolt. [postscript: also it is only 40' high, on crummy rock, etc. so it does not compare well to Crack of Doom as a landmark climb] >Scott Presho wrote: >>According to Gary Arce in Defying Gravity: High Adventure on >>Yosemite's Walls New Dimensions (5.11) on Arch Rock >>Bridwell and Klemens 1970 > This sounds close, but not quite right. In the Brave >New World article, Bridwell discusses a 1971/72 ascent of New D, >and says it was "originally done free by Barry Bates and >Steve Wunsch". Bridwell also mentions that the FA was >done by Klemens (perhaps with Bridwell), but the implication >is that they used some aid originally. After casual research (looking in various guidebooks), maybe Arce is right. The 1971 Roper guide has the 5/1970 version of New Dimensions (Klemens and Bridwell) as 5.11 A1. And the current guides show the FFA (5.11a) by Bates and Wunsch in 1972. Roper's 1971 description is strange. The first pitch is "A short, very difficult pitch" (actually I agree it's tough, although given a semi-moderate 5.10b in the current guide). This just echoes what Peter already posted. Roper's description also indicates it might have been considered the 5.11 pitch. [postscript/2001: Dave Altman said that this first pitch was originally rated 5.11, but Bridwell decided to downrate it to 5.10 after Bev Johnson followed it with no falls!] The final pitch (now 5.11a) was given in 1971 "The 4th pitch continues straight up to a fixed pin where a pendulum right leads to easier climbing." This seems weird. The pitch leads continuously upwards, straight to the top. It's hard, and the last few moves are tougher than those below, but I think they could be aided. So it seems weird that Klemens and Bridwell pendulumed. Maybe they hadn't fully cleaned it yet? [postscript: it was clean; they just got defeated, one move from the top, partly due to poor protection. They swung 10' over to "Slyline/The Voyage".] >Perhaps Peter can fill us in on the chronology. He did a nice job, off the top of his head. As he indicated, the year of 5.11 was 1971. The 1971 route currently given the highest letter grade is Abstract Corner (5.11d) by Bridwell et al. Clint Cummins