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Climbers in Yosemite Valley, until recently engrossed in the complexities of aid-climbing on the big walls, are now concentrating on short free climbs, and working hard to limit the use of pitons. Here Jim Bridwell, a leading figure in this free-climbing renaissance, reports on the new mood that grips the valley.
The general concept of climbing in Yosemite is centred on the mystique of Big Walls. However, the glorious sweeping plains of sunlit granite that capture the imagination of the primary climbing urge have lost their lustrous aura. Advancements in equipment and, more precisely, in knowledge have stripped the mystery shrouding the \'Big Walls\', laying bare the boring and laborious logistics and the stifling repetition and tendency of placing one gadget after another into begrudging cracks. In more recent years an ever-growing vanguard of imaginative and progressive young climbers has been fostering a fast-moving renaissance of Yosemite free-climbing. Refined techniques, strength training, equipment improvements have led to amazing new routes. Yesterday\'s aid climb is today\'s standard free climb. The pressure of the ever-evolving spirit within has started to be felt and is now expressing itself in the idealism of imaginative new routes, in the beauty of control of mind, and the precision of movement which is required for the execution of these route.
Originally, free-climbing in Yosemite was not as important as aid-climbing technology, for the major walls were unclimbed. The evolution of climbing marched onward to the first prize and, once the walls were mastered, the goal moved on toward refinement. Free-climbing was primarily a display of virtuosity. A master of free-climbing was not held captive by the ball and chain of mechanical reliance. The urge was to excel oneself and due to that consequent free-climbing began to evolve.
What could be more exhilarating than climbing steep rock uninhibited by aid gadgetry? Bouldering developed as a separate pastime with its own unique challenges. Some climbers stopped climbing and took up bouldering exclusively, while others used it to develop techniques for harder free-climbing. Short, hard free climbs began to be made and names such as Chuck Pratt, Frank Sacherer, Mark Powell, Bob Kamps, Dave Rearick, and Royal Robbins soon moved into the limelight. Climbs like Crack of Doom and Split Pinnacle Lieback had as much prestige as The Nose or Half Dome ... interest started to grow. Another, not so distinct, generation began to appear. 1964 started a new era, with Frank Sacherer and Chuck Pratt leading the way. Routes previously done with aid went free. One route after another fell to the bold imagination of Sacherer and Pratt. Ethics started to change, ideas and attitudes underwent reconsideration. More and more possibilities were opened. After the ascent of Dihardral, with its uncanny reaches round blind corners and its fingertip liebacks, the word \'impossible\' was used cautiously. A bold style evolved, where aid slings and an extra rope were left in the camp. This involved an attitude of commitment which increased the determination of the attempt. A few younger climbers began to emerge after serving an apprenticeship with the masters of the art. Their energy was added and the brew thickened. Tom Higgins and Chris Fredricks were among the young energy. They brought a few touches of their own to the free-climbing boom. Higgins, a protégé of Bob Kamps, quickly became a genius with tiny holds. Along with Kamps, he put up several tense climbs on Glacier Point Apron, as well as eliminating the aid on the Powell/Reed route on Middle Cathedral Rock.
At about this time physical training poked its magical head into the Yosemite Scene. Frank Sacherer and Eric Beck started it by circuit training in Berkeley and climbing at weekends. With this system they turned out two masterpieces: the West Face of Sentinel (in one day, and without Jumars), and the Direct North Buttress of Middle Cathedral Rock - all free. On the latter they knocked out eighty aid pins by intricate route-finding and masterful climbing. This demonstrated the usefulness of strength training and opened doors into the future. At this point Sacherer left the climbing scene and bequeathed the raising of the standard to the younger breed of fast developing disciples. This achievement, along with Chuck Pratt\'s, marked the era between 1963 and 1965. Chuck\'s poise, natural ability and control, along with Frank\'s brilliance, daring and vision, earmarked climbing styles for those who followed.
Big walls were still foremost on the agenda for the majority of climbers. Such routes as the Sacherer Cracker, Left Side of the Slack, Bridal veil East, Right Side of the Hourglass and the strenuous, poorly protected Twilight Zone were left neglected while the young gained the climbers confidence.
From 1966 to 1968 the free-climbing symphony had a few movements added to it. Chris Fredrick\'s fierce route English Breakfast Crack, repelled several attempts, while Lloyd Price added the Vendetta, with its bold, unprotected off-width problem on the second pitch. Pat Ament, a sensitive young climber from Boulder, made an appearance and started some waves in the free-climbing sea. His contributions included the Left Side of the Remnant and the Centre of the Slack - all free - as well as the freeing of Limbo Ledge. These were certainly demonstrations of expertise.
In 1968 Frank Sacherer\'s premonition that the Stove Legs on the Nose of El Capitan would go free was realized by Jim Bridwell and Jim Stanton. The Legs section is now done as a climb in itself. This bit of the Nose is today one of the most sustained free climbs in the country. The vertical lines of the cracks make it a most exhilarating route to look at, as well as to climb. Every sort of problem is encountered, from finger cracks to off-widths, with lie backs and chimneys and a pendulum now and then for spice. The Legs are a true challenge, even for the best free climbers.
1969 saw few new hard free routes, but many of the existing hard problems were repeated. Beginning in 1970 the big boom of volcanic free-climbing erupted in the Valley. Several young stars started to shine: Mark Klemens, Barry Bates, Peter Haan, Jim Bridwell and Mead Hargis were among those shining most brightly. Mark Klemens returned to the Valley after a two year lay-off and like a lightning bolt became the main motivating force of the year. The fact that he began completely out of shape didn\'t seem to affect his smooth, controlled style. As an opener, he pioneered Absolutely Free, a respectable route with 5.10 fist and off-width jamming. New routes were his \'bag\', and he sacked New Dimensions as his next prize. The climb is very sustained and consistently thin, a real test of finger strength and technique. In the same season, Klemens mounted two more virgin crack systems on Absolutely Free, plus routes such as Gripper, Independence Pinnacle, and Henley Quits. All of these were aesthetic as well as difficult. Barry Bates was also developing quickly in 1970. After three years, his route on the Centre of Independence will still send a thrill even through those experienced at thin hand cracks.
At this stage the hydra of ethics and style began to show its many heads. Fine points normally overlooked assumed importance. The scruples of a first ascent have always been met either with criticism or praise, and unwritten laws have gradually been formulated over the years. But suddenly everything shifted into high gear. Good new routes were, and are, coveted and consequently kept secret from the waiting ambitions of eager climbers.
From 1971 to 1972 some appalling new routes were conceived. These initiated a new precedence in attitudes, techniques and equipment. The eye saw lines that were only possible after certain specialised strengths had been developed. A programme of progressively more difficult and specialised climbs was devised to prepare for a specific route. Esoteric exercises as well as unique boulder-ballet problems now elaborated the training tables of the climbing athlete. Using this system, many fine routes were composed on sight. Some of the great problems of the past two years epitomize the best in Yosemite climbing.
New Dimensions, originally done free by Barry Bates and Steve Wunsch, was the first of these routes. Persistently difficult and strenuous climbing leads to the final 5.11 finger-tip crack up a leaning corner.
The Left Side of the Hourglass, a work of genius by Peter Haan, remains one of the most respected leads of the day. One thinks of the potential fifty-foot fall while leading the overhanging, 5.10 off-width crack. This single lead, with its 5.10 hand crack to a 5.10 off-width, all without resting spots earmarks the accelerative pitch.
Cream is a fine demonstration of off-width art. The route was improvised on sight, at the first attempt, by Mark Klemens. Mark is known for his masterful control in off-width cracks. The climb is strenuous and hard to protect. The feeling of security flees from reach on this lead, and you know why when the rope hangs out eight feet at the bottom!
Several of the leads on Basket Case would constitute a crux on most routes. At present the route stands as the most difficult off-width problem in the country. Twenty-foot runouts on four-inch 5.11 cracks, and a 5.10, one-and-a-quarter-inch crack on the lower pitch accent the variety of this climb. The first free ascent was done by Mark Klemens and Jim Bridwell.
The 1973 season is continuing the acceleration of the standards. At present styles and ethics have become homogenized into Spartan austerities. The new ideals have left certain free-climbing ethics passé. All-nut ascents, and \'flashing\' a route (climbing on first try) are more desirable than using pitons. Today, few climbs (big walls excepted) are done initially as aid climbs. New ethics now regard top-roping, or placing protection on rappels, as highly undesirable. Unfortunately these styles and ethics form the basis of insidious competition which can prove quite abrasive to the psyche of the climbing community. Is it art or insanity? Will the Law of Diminishing Returns bring a halt to the present progress? How much working-out and how many self-inflicted morals is a section of stone worth? Or does the answer lie deeper, within the very soul of a man? Will the new disciples tend to purify the lust for perfection of the whole being? Maybe the competitive ego will be replaced with an open-minded appreciation of form; ethics may fuse with aesthetics, making practice rather than personality paramount.
The form is defined, the refinements infinite. The seeds are already sprouting in many devoted practitioners of the art. When art becomes a way of life, with religious significance to the individual, that art gains a useful position in the cosmic scene. Aleister Crowley, with his bold spiritualism, may have been a mutant prototype of a coming generation of climbers. There are many various speculations, but the future definitely holds exciting possibilities. The unusual situation presented by Yosemite has developed a unique life. The concentrated, difficult climbing and the easy-living environment are conducive to long periods of stay in the Valley. All this has given rise to an attitude of mind that believes nothing is impossible, and has made Yosemite a climber\'s Utopia: the Mecca of rock-climbing in America and maybe the world.
The Future
Yosemite is the home of most equipment advances in America and, for that matter, the world. Throughout the valley\'s history there has been a steady and rapid development of climbing regalia, from Salathe\'s hard steel piton to the present polycentric nut and the even more subtle nuances of chalk and tincture of benzoin. The farsighted and creative activists in Yosemite have constantly been seeking the paraphernalia manifesto. Ethics and aesthetics are an important feature of this development. As new vistas are opened, changes will inevitably occur. Moral decisions will have to be made about certain technological innovations, such as chalk and resin. I am not arguing either course, but if some development makes one route easier to climb, it will make another route possible, and for that route use of the innovation may be obligatory. That in turn may make a two-sided coin: a nuisance to climbers and a boon for manufacturers. As far as the consumption of products is concerned, creation will be the responsibility of the whole climbing community.
Ethics are also due for alterations. Top-roping will probably be used not only for physical conditioning and confidence building, where bouldering will not suffice, but also as a prerequisite in the case of dangerous unprotected leads by the climbing avant-garde. We may frown at these ideas, but they are likely to become selectively assimilated as part of the future norm.
Difficult face-climbing routes are now being done with the aid of a cliff-hanger in a shallow, which facilitates placement of a regulation anchor. Eventually, aluminium allow dowels may be used as protection, which would preclude the need for cliff-hanger and protection procedures. Siege tactics are being used and will continue to be used on new free routes. As ever more improbable rock is attempted, these practices may become more prevalent.
The decisions to be mad in this respect will be the responsibility of the new generation. These decisions will direct the future of the art and determine whether or not it is to remain an art.
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