climbergirl blog

The Victors of White Punks on Dope (5.9)

On Thursday night, we left Inyokern around 8pm. The drive to the Needles wasn’t bad, we listened to music on my shuffle and Walter was wide awake giving me directions. We got to the pullout at 10pm and quickly got to sorting gear for the next day. With the packs all set for the next morning, I ate a snack, braided my hair, and got my outfit all set for the early morning wake-up at 4:40am.

I was super excited about the climb the next day, so I read a little to calm my nerves.

It was on the warm side in the camper, so Walter elected to sleep outside on the ground (with a camp pad) – what a traditional California climber! I was a little nervous about him being out there because we had seen a skunk hauling roadkill off the road for his dinner only about half a mile from where we were!

I heard the croaking of my cell phone at 4:40am, and decided to sleep in until 5:15. By that time, it was already light outside, and there was a light smattering of clouds across the sky. We hoped for the best weather-wise, and began eating breakfast. I am not a huge fan of eating before 9am, but for climbing I will do just about anything! I downed 16 oz of OJ and packed the rest of the morning’s feast in my bag. We left Charlie (my pickup) at 6am.

The approach hike (well rehersed by now!) went fine. We both noticed how muggy it was-like good ole Kentucky. We only made one wrong turn, but it only cost us 5 minutes. Minor inconvenience, but no drama. We got to the climb around 7am and I had my morning feast; a hardboiled egg, a fruitstick, and some string cheese. Yum!

Walter placing pro on pitch 1.

Walter, a little higher up on pitch 1.

Walter started up the first pitch around 7:30am. Like a cannon being shot, he fired up the route! If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought he was running on a full nights sleep-not a measly 5 hours!

I was happy to see him plugging away, but suddenly a very large bee approached me. It was an aggressive bee, I could feel the wings flapping as it flew around me. I tried not to move or provoke it, but how could I do this and still belay Walter! It was nerve wracking in the extreme.

About when I took the second picture, above, the bee flew away, only to come back with a buddy! The two of them flew at my face and darted around my helmet. I was hoping the rest of the hive was not going to join them.

I have had a hive attack me before, in Alaska. Yellowjackets are quite aggressive, and after that experience, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. For a week following the event, my entire face was swollen and I couldn’t see or breath through my nose from all the stings!

When Walter said, “Belay On”, I was stoked because I could finally leave the bees!

Unfortunately, though, they followed me up the entire pitch! It’s like they wanted to see if Walter’s placements were okay or not! It took me close to 45 minutes to clean that friggin pitch, as a result. The bees were lurking in a bad way.

Looking Down at Pitch 1 from the Start of Pitch 2.

2nd Pitch Crux Move, heading to the left.

Or…alternatively…one could go right!

I reached the first belay (pictured above) and the bees hung out for a little bit. I was scared of those bees, and I desperately wanted to get moving up pitch 2. So, our gear exchange at the anchor may have set a record for speed! The bees hung around until I pulled the crux (2nd picture above), and then they took off. I guess they were wondering how to do the move!!! Anyways, the second pitch after the crux (5.8), goes at easy 5.6 and ends in an alcove before the chimney pitch.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get any pictures of the chimney. We climbed the chimney, since the last time Walter was on it, he had done the face. The chimney had some fun moves, but it was mossy inside. The challenge was keeping the shoes dry. If it was earlier in the year, I definitely would rather take the face route, because the chimney is probably even wetter! Anyways, Walter did a great job protecting the chimney moves and the pitch went really quick.

Leading the 4th pitch

Higher up on the 4th pitch

Looking back at the top of the 4th pitch!

It was my turn to lead and it was the moment I had been waiting for! A beautiful finger crack, lieback with delicate little edges for feet. The stuff of legends and rightfully the best pitch of the route!

We had taken a standard rack, plus a set and a half of Aliens, a few HBs, and a number 4 BD Camelot. On this pitch, I used 10 cams and 2 nuts. Lots of pro for the first 150 feet, but it’s sparse for the last 50 feet! At the end, the route backs off in terms of steepness and finishes with a 20 foot run out of 5.6 liebacking.

Yay, I led the 4th pitch!

Incidently, while I was doing the run out section, I was about 4 feet from the anchor and my left foot slid out from under me. I thought I was a gonner and I just about lost it. I was whimpering and screaming obsenities. Walter talked me through it in a calm and reassuring voice. If it weren’t for him, I don’t know what would have happened. In any case, I got up to the belay ledge and set an anchor and then let the adrenaline rush surge through my body. WOOO-HOOOO!

Fifth pitch. Extremely run out 5.8 slab fest!

Walter in a sea of granite.

Looking back at the nightmare.

The mental strength which barely got me through the 4th pitch would not have been nearly sufficient for leading the insanity that is…THE 5th PITCH!!! It is 200 feet of sustained 5.8 (maybe even 5.9) slab climbing with only 3 useful bolts.

There is a 4th bolt, added later to “help out”. But, it requires about 20 feet of diagonal traversing over tricky territory, and by the time you reach that bolt, the climbing eases off considerably. The follower could take a tremendous whipper, which would be way worse than a straight fall. We totally don’t understand the logic of that bolt placement.

The way Walter went seems vastly superior. 10 feet left of the third bolt, to an area with a plethora of little undulations and pockmarked slab, then about 50 feet up to the huge party ledge. There was a crux move about 5 feet before getting to the ledge and that was a challenge for me. Walter never voiced any concern at this section, to my amazement, probably because of his laser like focus.

We both survived pitch 5! Awesome lead for Walter.

The 4th pitch has a twin! The 6th pitch has an equally challenging finger crack, but not as long as it’s sister. It is a beauty of a crack, eats up those small cams, and after about 70 feet, it’s eases off. There are two ways to go at the split in the crack. To the left is pretty easy 5.5 ish and to the right is probably 5.6 or 5.7 (?).

If you have made it through the main course 5th pitch, you deserve this little fun crack as dessert!

I loved this finger crack!

It just eats gear…oh so good!

I was so happy to be at the top, the climb was fantastic.

Yay, I can relax now. Loving the view from the top of White Punks…

By the time Walter met me up at the top, we had been on the route for 5.5 hours. Decent time considering it was my first time up the route and Walter’s first time leading the odd pitches!

It took us a bit of searching to locate the Rap Rings. They did such a great job of painting them to blend into the rock that we couldn’t find them! Walter walked a half a rope length out, looking for them and spotted them on the way back. The rings ended up being 20 feet from where I was belaying!

Anyways, it took awhile for us to rap down (5 raps!). We got back to our packs around 3pm.

The rap rings on White Punks on Dope

Walter rappelling White Punks on Dope. You must have 2 ropes for the descent!

When we got back to the packs, an ant colony had decided to set up shop in my backpack!

I spent the next 30 minutes shaking those guys loose, de-racking, and eating an apple. We made it back to Charlie around 4pm. Walter downed some cold ones and I had a Reed’s Ginger Brew with some more OJ. We discussed possibilities for day 2.

It was still very muggy out and the sweat was covering me. I needed a towl to dry off! I was pretty exhausted and decided it would be best to just go home.

Walter had buggered his knee on the descent and I didn’t want to risk serious injury by going out the very next day. Not to mention I was really tired. I wasn’t sure my calves could handle another long slabby climb without a rest day. So, we decided to go to McNally’s for dinner and then head home.

If you are up in the Needles vacinity and get a chance, go to McNally’s! It’s a steak/burger place, but they have chicken & fish too. The food is served in ridiculous portions. And, a baked potato comes with all the fixins fresh on the side! Anyways, next time we go, we’ll split a dinner between the two of us.

The last 1.5 hours drive home went fine, I suffered through a pretty gnarly inner thigh cramp so Walter drove for a bit. Then I drove the final leg over Walker Pass. Walter was out of it by that time. When I dropped him off at his house around 9pm, he looked like he was ready to hit the hay. I felt the same way!

What a great adventure; a whole body, mind, and soul climbing effort. Can’t wait to get back up to the Needles!

Tags: Alpine, CA, Multi-Pitch, Rock Climbing, The Needles, Traditional, White Punks On Dope

This entry was posted on Friday, June 30th, 2006 at 8:10 pm and is filed under Mountaineering, Rock Climbing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.