The Crux
The Crux is the Mountaineering Committee's snail mail newsletter
only that is mailed out quarterly. It's free, but a donation is requested
when you get on the "climber's mailing list." To get on the list email
Matt Harris at
[mail].
Below are some articles that have appeared in The Crux.
To remain on the mailing list contact Matt Harris, 9 Bellis Circle
#6, Cambridge MA 02140 or via email at [mail] (include "crux" in
the subject line); or call Richard Doucette at 781.620.1223.
Online Articles
WMCC Secures Access to Farley Ledge by Paul Dale
The Curse of the Sideways Biner by Richard Doucette
Ken Henderson: An Appreciation of a Life Well-Lived by William Clack
Cognac and Marlboros by Richard Doucette
WMCC Secures Access to Farley Ledge by Paul Dale
Western Massachusetts Climbers’ Coalition (WMCC) secures access to Farley Ledge in Erving, MA.
The WMCC successfully raised over $65,000 and purchased a 9 acre parcel at the base of Farley Ledge. This will allow the WMCC to restrict non-climbing development at the base of the crag and provide the New England climbing community with sustainable access to the greatest climbing and bouldering resource outside of the White Mountains or Rumney, NH.
One of the next steps is to build a permanent parking area. In the past, Farley has been closed four times due to growing crowds and abutting landowner concerns. The new parking area and trailhead will replace the existing small lot now located at the end of a busy residential neighborhood.
Farley Ledge is largely owned by Northeast Utilities, but their site license contains a recreational stipulation requiring that they provide recreational opportunities. As a result, access issues have always been over the parking and approach trails.
Only 1.5 hours from downtown Boston, the rock quality is unrivaled, comparable to English grit in its best moments, and offers the only true multi-pitch experience in Massachusetts. Farley Ledge contains some of the states best traditional leads as well as many previously bolted sport climbs up to 5.13b. The placement of top anchors and re-establishing the sport climbs at Farley will be an important step in securing the crag as one of states’ best. The recent bouldering explosion yielded some of the most impressive and hardest problems in the state (V12/V13). While being riddled with several test pieces, Farley Ledge also contains several moderate climbs and problems that are well worth the visit.
The rock at Farley, like much of rock in the area, is gneiss. It is characterized by big sloping horizontals, small edges and sweeping features.The climbing is best when friction is the highest. This translates generally into ideal spring and fall conditions though the heavily forested area provides ample shade for those hot summer days.
In addition to Farley Ledge’s potential as a primary rock-climbing destination in New England, it includes one of the most impressive sections of the nationally recognized Metacomet-Monadnock Trail, maintained by the AMC Berkshire Chapter. The area is used by hikers, hunters, bird watchers, bikers, rock-climbers, spelunkers, cross-country skiers, outdoor education groups, schools, and other outdoor enthusiasts.
The Town of Erving has recognized the value of this resource. The Town’s Open Space and Recreation Plan adopted in June 2002 considers Farley Ledge an “unprotected . . . scenic resource . . . [of] … high recreational value”. The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife BioMap and Living Waters delineate Farley Ledges as a Core Wildlife Habitat.
As climbers, please join me in expressing our deep gratitude to the WMCC and especially to Jeff Squire, the WMCC president, for his many years of dedication to this project. The land purchase marks a major milestone in six years of effort to date.
The AMC Boston Chapter Mountaineering Committee fully supports the WMCC and provided $6,000 toward the land acquisition. Also, the AMC Boston Chapter Executive Committee provided a $5,000 grant and a $5,000 no interest loan.
The 9 acre parcel contains a house. In addition to raising $65,000, the WMCC took out a $240,000 mortgage. The plan is to subdivide the property, sell the house and 2 acres to repay the mortgage, and keep the remaining 7 acres to provide access to the climbing and to build the parking area. The house went on the market in May, 2007.
If you want to visit Farley Ledge before the house sells and before the parking area is constructed, please be very sensitive to the current restrictive parking and access situation. Contact the WMCC in advance of your visit and get the current recommendations. You can reach them at [mail] or visit their web site at http://www.westernmacc.com
Finally, I want to personally thank WMCC and Jeff Squire for this excellent outcome to a grass roots access project, (as well as for much of the text that I used in this article). I am very pleased that the volunteer run AMC BCMC and the Boston Chapter provided some assistance. We owe them our thanks and continuing support. Part of the crag is privately owned. Future plans may involve further land acquisitions.
-Paul Dale
Chair, AMC Boston Chapter Mountaineering Committee
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The Curse of the Sideways Biner by Richard Doucette
This past year I noticed a lot of people attaching biners to their harnesses in a manner
that I thought was incorrect. I spoke with an experienced mountain guide, and then looked
around for other opinions on this topic. I found an article in the UIAA (International
Union of Mountaineering Associations) Journal that presented this same story. I noticed
that article has recently been posted on the wall of the Boston Rock Gym. There is room
for a lot of opinion, but very few rules, in climbing technique. But this may be one of
those areas where one view is clearly better. Here is the story of the sideways biner.
In the days of yore harnesses had did not have a belay loop – that loop of sling right
in front that is perpendicular to the waist belt. But for several years, the climbing equipment
industry has been making harnesses with this feature. The loop is “captured” so it doesn’t press
up against the buckle, which could open the buckle under stress. You connect the locking biner
and then belay/rappel right from there. But some people are still in the habit of connecting the
waist belt and leg loops with a locking biner, right next to this loop. Then they have the belay
loop and a biner parallel to each other. The trouble with this set up is: First, the biner tends
to stay parallel to the loop, with the side of the biner facing out. The biner is under some
lengthwise tension and may not rotate freely. So the force on the biner (while rappelling or belaying)
is on the short axis - sideways. This is about 1/3 as strong as the long axis (7kN vs. 20kN, it says
so right on your biner). Second, when belaying or rappelling with this “sideways” biner, the screwgate
is likely to come into contact with the rope. The rope moves when you rappel or belay, and that can
unlock the biner. Third, the screw gate is the only place on the biner that might have a sharp edge,
and that’s not good for the rope. Finally, the length of the belay loop gives you about 6 inches of
distance from your rappel device while rappelling. This gives you a bit more room, so that you can get
a sharper angle on the rope coming out of the device. This makes for a rappel that is easier to control.
(Many guides extend the device a full 24 inches between the harness and the device, to give new climbers
even more control.)
The belay loop is specifically designed to be used as the clip-in point for the biner, and there
just isn’t any good reason to ignore it and clip into the harness next to it. Why do people use
the biner in the old setup? It’s probably a matter of habit, and a belief that the biner
next to the loop is safer, since the loop alone looks rather scrawny. Good point, but the loop
is double thickness and stronger than any of the slings you are using elsewhere in the system.
If you have some weird harness with a scrawny belay loop, then perhaps its time to replace it
with a good one. Ditto if the loop appears worn. Want an even more secure tie in? Just clip the
locking biner through the belay loop AND the rope tie-in. The rope tied into your harness is right
next to the belay loop; clip them both. Ultimately, it’s your decision. If you have a reason for
doing certain things, and want to keep doing it that way, then by all means do what you want. But
when teaching newcomers in the Rock and Ice Programs, I think it’s incumbent upon us to teach the
students to follow the manufacturers instructions; and all manufacturers say clip into the captured loop.
There you have it - my thoughts on proper binerage.
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Ken Henderson: An appreciation of a life well-lived by William Clack
Mount Rainier, Pinnacle Peak, Unicorn Peak, and Castle Rock in the
Cascades. Yukness, Odaray, Huber, Victoria, Lefroy, Mumm, Whyte,
Thompson, and The Mitre in the Canadian Rockies. In Chamonix: Aiguille
de l'M by the face, Aiguille des Petits Charmoz, a traverse of the Mont
Blanc massif, including an ascent of Mont Blanc du Tacul and a forced
descent in bad weather to the Grands Mulets Hut. In the Zermatt
district: the Matterhorn, Zinal Rothorn, Unter Gabelhorn, Monte Rosa
traverse via the Dufourspitze and the Zumsteinspitze, a traverse of the
Liskamm from the Lisjoch to the Felikjoch, the Dent Blanche by the
Wandfluh, and the Tête Blanche. The Jungfrau from the Concordia Hut, and
the Mönch from the Bergli Hut in the Bernese Oberland. Explorations in
the Wind River Range.
That's a pretty good climbing resume. Especially for a climber of the
1920s, when a trip to the Alps was a time-consuming affair, involving
ocean-going ships.
Of course it's even more impressive when you realize that this is
only a partial list of the climbs that Ken Henderson submitted on his
application to join the American Alpine Club. Ken was 22 at the time,
and many of his best climbs still lay in the future.
Kenneth A. Henderson passed away on September 13, at the age of 95,
in Lebanon, New Hampshire. He was a world-class climber, explorer, and
film-maker. He edited Appalachia, and wrote the first guidebook to the
Wind River Range. Henderson Peak (13,115') in the Winds is named after
him. The U.S. Army commissioned him to write a mountaineering textbook
that introduced the post-war generation of American climbers to modern
technical climbing techniques. I spoke with Ken in June of 2000 about
some of his favorite climbs.
In 1926, Ken went to Europe for his first alpine season. He and his
partner Percy Olton hired a guide - which was standard practice at the
time - arranging to meet in Zermatt. The guide was late in arriving,
however, and the two climbers, itching to get started, climbed the
Matterhorn guideless, as a sort of warm-up.
They did many routes that summer, but too soon Olton had to return to
the states. Ken stayed on, and decided to traverse Monte Rosa with the
guide. When they arrived at the hut, there was a group of Japanese
climbers and guides. "The Japanese of course were talking Japanese all
the time, so we couldn't understand them." Over dinner, everyone
conversed in their own versions of high German, and it turned out that
one of the Japanese was Prince Chichibu, the second son of the Emperor,
and the younger brother of the man who would soon become Emperor
Hirohito. "His father told him he had to have two guides." He also had
four retainers, and they each had two guides; so the hut was occupied by
two clients, four retainers, and eleven guides. That night, Ken had the
honor of sharing the top bunk with Prince Chichibu.
The next day, the whole party climbed together, and they feasted upon
fresh patisserie that the guides had hauled up from the valley. "The
nice thing about climbing with the Japanese was all that carrying
power."
From the late 1920s through the start of World War II, Ken
participated in the first ascents of a number of classic climbs here in
New England: Standard Route on the Eaglet, Northeast Ridge of the
Pinnacle, Standard Route on Whitehorse, and, of course, Henderson Ridge.
Together with longtime climbing partner and mentor Robert Underhill, he
made the third ascent of the Whitney-Gilman. Later, he went back and
installed the famous pipe, to protect leaders at that notoriously
exposed and precarious spot.
Ken also established routes out west, pioneering the East Ridge of
the Grand Teton with Underhill, and the Lower Exum with Jack Durrance.
He made the first ascent of Mount Owen, last of the Teton high peaks to
be climbed. Ken told me about that ascent of Owen. Several parties had
been close to success in the late 1920s. However, the final, smooth 100'
summit knob had turned back all attempts. In July of 1930, Ken, with
Underhill, Fritiof Fryxell, and Phil Smith, made it up to the previous
high point.
While his three companions discussed the difficult rock climb they
faced, Ken decided he needed a little privacy. "I had to take a crap, so
I went down on the North Side a little bit, and then came back up, and I
took a look over the ridge, and I could see a continuous grassy ledge.
So I went over there, walked on the grassy ledge, and there was a crack
in the dome, and I walked up onto the summit standing up. No climbing at
all." He stood on the summit, and looked down on his partners. "They
were getting ready to put on their sneakers." After his friends had
joined him on the summit, it was time for a lesson. "Then Bob Underhill
and I and the others roped down, and we climbed the face. Neither Phil
nor Fryxell had ever heard of or seen a rappel. So we introduced them to
the rappel. We rappelled down to where our packs were, and we climbed
the face, and made a second ascent. We did Owen up proud that day."
As he grew older, Ken shifted from putting up first ascents to
mentoring younger climbers. William Putnam, who would go on to become
president of the AAC and write several guidebooks to the Canadian
Rockies, was an undergrad in the early 1940s. He said, "Ken was the
godfather of the Harvard Mountaineering Club. Between him and Henry
Hall, we had all the guidance we could use. Ken was more practical;
Henry, more theoretical. Ken took us on a number of good climbs -
inspired us, cajoled us, played with us." It was at this time that Ken
shot several 16mm films of rock and ice climbs in New England. In the
20s, he had purchased a Pathé 9.5mm camera in Europe, which he used to
shoot motion pictures of Zermatt. By 1938, however, he had moved up to
16mm, and he had a new idea: "I wanted to make a film which would tell a
coherent story from start to finish."
The films that Ken made in this era are not home movies; they are
well-edited professional films. He wasn't simply tagging along on a
climb, and documenting the results as best he could. He was staging
climbs for the camera, and getting the shots he needed to put his story
together.
A film called Straight Up, about an ascent of the Whitney-Gilman,
begins with four climbers getting into a car in front of Harvard, and
heading off to the mountains to climb. When he had finished editing the
film, he realized that he was missing a shot - the one where they arrive
in the car, and get out to fiddle around with their climbing gear.
Getting everything together to go back up to Franconia Notch and shoot
this would have been time consuming. But Ken was imaginative enough to
take the climbers and their car to an undeveloped stretch of road in
Belmont. The shot ends with them heading off into the woods, and, if Ken
hadn't shared this story, none of us would ever have guessed it wasn't
in the White Mountains.
At the beginning of World War II, the government needed a book "to
assist the United States Army in its plans for the training of mountain
troops." The result was what Putnam calls "Ken's greatest claim to
mountaineering fame: his Handbook of American Mountaineering." This
classic how-to book, published by the AAC in 1942, introduced American
climbers to rock climbing, ice climbing, rope techniques, and outdoor
survival. It even covered the Tyrolean traverse, the use of dog sledges,
and, of course, mountain photography.
Ken climbed in an era of adventure. The best available ropes were
made of Italian hemp. Putnam tells us, "There was very little stretch in
hemp. So if you fell, you stopped - clank. Or ... you didn't stop."
Protection consisted of stepping around trees and boulders, with the
occasional hammered-in piton - clipped directly to the rope with no
sling. Placing pro took time and energy, and created tremendous rope
drag. So the leader didn't place much protection. Ken said, "It was just
axiomatic that the leader didn't fall."
What was the confidence-inspiring footware they used? Many climbers
liked crepe-soled shoes, but these provided little purchase on wet rock.
Some preferred rope-soled shoes. Putnam says, "The beauty of rope-soled
shoes was they climbed just as well wet as they did dry." Of course,
unfortunately, they climbed just as well dry as they did wet. Ken said,
"Once on Mount Willard, on the upper friction slabs, we got hit by a
tornado-like storm. I was wearing crepe-soled golf shoes. I took them
off, tied them together, and gave them to my second, who carried them in
his teeth. I felt confident that I could lead the slabs in my stocking
feet."
Much has been made of Ken's elegant attire when climbing. He
generally wore a coat and tie, and often a fedora. Ken has said that in
those early days, no one had specialized athletic clothing - you simply
climbed in what he called "just ordinary old clothing." He was an
investment banker; hence, his old clothes were business suits. I asked
Putnam about this. He allowed that everyone just climbed in their old
clothes; however, he added, "I don't think I wore a tie. Didn't add a
great deal to warmth or water protection."
Ken left his mark on climbing. If you climb the Lower Exum on the
Grand Teton, you are following in Ken's footsteps. If you climb the
Eaglet, imagine leading the upper pitch without the bolt, in crepe-soled
golf shoes. If you venture to Zermatt, and climb the Matterhorn without
a guide, then you are simply repeating what the 20-year-old Ken
accomplished 75 years ago, in his second season of mountaineering. In
1997, Craigen Bowen and Bev Boynton climbed Sulphur Peak, in the Wind
River Range. Summitting on a beautiful day, they found, sitting on the
ground, between a couple of rocks, a small glass jar with a metal lid.
They unscrewed the lid, and out fell an engraved visiting card - with no
address, only a name: Kenneth A. Henderson. It had been there since
1932, when Ken made the first ascent of Sulphur Peak. As far as we know,
it's still there.
Thanks to Bill Atkinson for his archival materials.
This article originally appeared in The Crux, and is reprinted
with the permission of the author.
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Cognac and Marlboros by Richard Doucette
I had heard that the local hardmen (and women) can do all the gullies
in Mount Washington's Huntington Ravine in one day (up 4 down 4). I
figured I could try half of 'em (2 up 2 down)-- just to see if I had any
chance of doing them all. Tom B. and I hiked up to the Harvard High
Cabin Friday January 26, 2002. Next morning we slept through the alarm.
7 am forecast was pretty good so we headed up. It turned out to be a
full blizzard all day. It had snowed a bit the previous two days also.
We were trenching through deep snowdrifts. It was a lot of work. At one
point I looked up from the trench I was digging and the snow level was
at my eyeballs.
As we climbed, my eyes almost froze shut from all the wet blowing
snow. Forgot my goggles. Forgot my helmet too, the fleece hood on my
jacket was all the protection I had. Did I mention I forgot my windpants
too? I managed to borrow a pair from Tom B. As my mom used to say, I
would forget my head if it weren't attached. Looking back, I never
shoulda left the cabin without a helmet...somehow, we did two gullies
anyway.
We got up to the start of Pinnacle Gully, and found two parties
already on the route. Helmetless, we had to find another option. We
waded and trenched our way over to O'Dells. We climbed O'Dells left
(traversed at mid-height into South, then went down South). I coulda
been done then, the conditions were pretty bad and I figured the
avalanche danger was going up all day. Tom suggested we try another, as
it was only midday. Not wanting to be perceived as a weenie, I agreed.
We went back up to climb Pinnacle, through the roaring wind and
spindrift avalanches. At times you would hear this roar coming and you
just ducked your head, closed your eyes and held on. After the spindrift
avalanche passed, we would continue up.
On our way up we passed a Russian guy and Ukrainian woman who had
climbed the first ice pitch, and were now aiding a nondescript crack
through the overhanging wall on the left of Pinnacle Gully. I couldn't
believe it. There he is sipping cognac out of his platypus! "After
cognac, life is better." I tried some, and it was quite good. Then the
guy lights up a butt in the middle of the friggin blizzard! Just hanging
out casually while I'm wishing I had another rope so I could rappel out
of this frozen hurricane nightmare. He goes up the crack, singing in
Russian, pounding pins and hanging off bat hooks and a homemade hooking
device. His two gloves didn't even match. Un f--king believable.
Tom B. and I finished up, wading through snowdrifts at the top. Then
we stumbled and crawled through the 70 mph gusts, along the edge of the
alpine garden, to the top of South Gully. South is so nondescript at its
top we almost didn't find it, but it's quite large once you drop over
the edge. The upper reaches have high steep rock walls; very scenic. We
glissaded all the way to the bottom in seconds. It was like a luge run,
complete with S turns. I rode a small loose-snow avalanche to the bottom
of the gully. I was quite relieved to be down at that point. Back to the
High Cabin, grabbed our stuff. Got a hotel and dinner in town...it felt
good to be safe and in bed.
My interest in doing all the gullies in a day has pretty much been
driven out of me. I just don't see how it's possible unless I am way
more fit and the snow is hardpacked. Either that, or I'm gonna have to
turn Russian.
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