Intro to Aid Climbing: South Face, Washington Column
Gabe and I recently started getting into aid climbing and wanted some practice on a big wall. We decided to head to Yosemite to work through the aid pitches of Washington Column’s South Face. Here’s a quick intro into aid climbing with a mini trip report of our first attempt up a big wall.
About Aid Climbing
Big wall aid climbing is a bit of a different beast…I came to the conclusion that if you can get that haul bag up the wall, you’ve gotten yourself there too. The haul bag, or ‘big pig’, seems to be the weakest link…it’s the heaviest thing on the climb and does nothing. Plus, you have to haul the monster up after all your aid climbing :\ It’s a bit of a daunting task but an essential one if you don’t want to die of thirst, starvation, and want a decent night’s sleep on the rock.
That said, there is some pretty awesome gear which helps you get up the wall.
I made a Big Wall Rock Climbing Gear list on Amazon…don’t forget the Metolius Waste Case (LMAO). As part of this ‘Intro to Aid Climbing’ series I plan on creating a blog post specifically about big wall gear as well as another mini trip report of a great intro big wall, Leaning Tower in Yosemite. Stay tuned!
For now, I’ll start with my South Face adventure…
Washington Column’s South Face: C1, 5.8 (*****)
We decided to test out our new aid climbing skills with the South Face of Washington Column. Why?
PROs:
- easy 1.5hr approach from the Ahwahnee Hotel (not bad)
- 10 pitches including the beginning 7 straightforward aid pitches and ending 3 free-able pitches
- the Dinner Ledge found after the 3rd pitch is huge, which could accommodate us without the need to haul up our own portaledge
CONs:
- it’s one of the most popular routes and a little congestion could occur (plan to share the route with friendly climbers!)
- HOT! during the summer months (as are most climbs in Yosemite)
Getting There
We parked at the Ahwahnee Hotel (with a nicely washed car so we wouldn’t look too sketchy leaving the car there for a few days). We hiked to the base twice, dropping out water/food off first then bringing all the gear. Slept near the base and started in the morning. There’s a bit of a scramble to the beginning of the climb.
Initial Pitches
We started out with Gabe leading the first pitch and I decided to free followed up. This was fun but took a bit longer to get the big pig up so we decided against free following after that. Another aid pitch later, I took the lead and free climbed the fun cracks until we hit Dinner Ledge. Here’s a pic of me appearing to be falling off but I’m really just at a belay anchor posing in a very Asian way, hehe…
Once we got to Dinner Ledge, we were pretty exhausted! Mainly we were learning through trial-and-error the best practices for hauling the freaking pig! It was really hard for me to haul by clipping into the pulley with a step ladder + jumar and trying to crank down with my foot on the ladder. What ended up working better was the full-body haul, where you basically clip an ascender directly into your harness loop and pull back with your whole body. Sometimes having a daisy attached to the anchor allows you to set a comfortable fixed distance for the body-haul / lean-back, which helps make things a bit more methodical and (only slightly) bearable.
Dinner Ledge
This is am amazing ledge as far as rock climbing ledges go. It’ hard to leave actually. Here, you have an incredible view of Half Dome (which is a great climb!), a nice breeze, and plenty of room for 4 climbers to sleep.
It’s a great place to enjoy a climber-friendly mean and get some beta on the upcoming pitches. As it turns out we stayed another day because the ledge was that comfortable and a little hard to leave, hehe. That’s us protecting ourselves from the blazing sun with our emergency blanket - it was glorious!
Pitches after Dinner Ledge
The pitch above the Dinner Ledge is the most classic one on the route, the Kor Roof. Take a look…it’s the most noticeable roof bolted by a 6″5′ dude. That didn’t stop me from leading this pitch, it just required some pretty far-reaching moves. Check it out my aid lead and Gabe’s jumar:
After the roof and along the crack traverse, I realized I was running out of gear so had stopped at the shorter anchors and we fixed out rope to be jumared the next morning.
Climbing Friends
We met some nice people on the ledge including Brendan of Yosemite Valley (who was soloing some of the climb) and a sweet Portuguese couple (who were spending a month in the valey, preparing for the Nose climb on El Capitan).
I should note that you should probably lead pitch 6 with climbing shoes as I had a bit of trouble trying to do the one free 5.7 traverse with my mountaineering boots. If I were to do it again, I would always wear my climbing shoes if I lead climbs that involve any sort of free moves - climbs feel much more exposed on big walls and trying to do any free moves without the gear/shoes you feel comfortable in can feel really sketchy!
The next day and after the aid pitches, we were beat…and headed back home with a dinner stop at Degnan’s Loft for their delicious Chef’s Salad, pizza, and lasagna.
Washington Column was a great introduction to aid climbing and I’d highly recommend it for anyone getting into the game.
More aid climbing adventures to come with the big pig!
