Most memorable climbs?

Someone started this thread over on Supertopo, and I thought it might be nice to see what memorable climbs people have experienced over here.

Not necessarily "favorite" climbs, just most memorable ones....

Some of mine...

• First trad lead ever, at Mission Gorge, and forgetting to tie my gear sling together and having all the pieces drop off about halfway through. Woops
• Dreamer in Darrington, WA about 15 years ago - before it was popular. We forgot our water AND accidently topped out (you were supposed to rap well below the summit). A many houred epic descent was the result, sans water. 24 hours car-to-car with zero hydration. We were so thirsty upon returning that we were sucking the juice out of tuna cans and drinking pure cambell soups (didn't have water to add)
• Leading EBGBs - seared into my brain forever

hi Ron.....hi andy
heres a memorable climb. You guys ever stopped at the Glacier Gorge junction parking lot in RMNP ? Theres a little buttress thing easily seen from the parking lot. I went up there, to impress some babe, back in the early 70's. She was belaying me, up a dihedral , and I was headed into a detached flake /overhang. I was wearing a buco motor cycle helmet, and as I started thrashing, though the overhanging flake, the helmet got stuck!!!!!! It made a great # 25 friend / nut / chockstone ?, except I couldnt get my head loose, and was hanging from the chin strap!!!! FLAILING !!!!
I finally cranked the darn thing loose , by doing a side to side motion?....It probably looked like, I was shaken my head , NO NO NO.
I finally got through to the top, tied to a tree, and asked if she wanted o give the thing a go......her reply was " Do I have to do It like you did"?......I rapped off and we split back t Denver

NICE!!!

Only thing I have close to that was climbing some forgettable JTree trad climb (whaddya mean there's no walkoff?!). I was in an off-width and got my whole body stuck. Knee, leg, other leg, torso. I was a good 18 feet over my last piece and had nothing big to fit in the off-width. So I took a nice 10-minute break with my self being my piece of pro. De-pumped and finished the climb.

As far as memorable, it by far is Ruth Mtn in the Cascades. My wife's first glacier, beautiful day out with nobody to be seen, great blueberry picking. Oh, and did I mention it was Sept. 11, 2001. Had no idea what was going on until that evening when we came across a lone hiker near Hannegan Pass.

Using kite-string to get up Corrugation Corner at Lover's Leap. You may ask, "why even bother, you may as well solo?" Well, the situation was thus, I was climbing in a group of three, but we somehow ended up bringing only one rope. Fortunately there was some kite-string in the car, so we devised a system whereas the third climber would let out the kite-string which was attached to the second. When the second got to the belay, he would tie it to the end of the rope. The rope would then slowly be lowered and the third would reel it in using the kite string.

The image of looking down at the third with nothing but a tiny kite-string between us was hilarious.

IN hindsight, there are probably better ways of climbing in a group of three with only one rope (tying the second into the middle comes to mind), but at the time we thought we had a pretty good solution.

My second or third trad lead ; Hop Route in Ice Box Canyon, Red Rock. An after work climbing adventure I'll never forget!

I stupidly ran out the beginning wide crack section, but finally placed one cam by throwing it into something, and clipping my rope directly to it, out of pure desperation. My legs were shaking violently, and my hands were sweating, and slipping off the rock. I remember looking at my shitty cam placement, which was walking (more like running) out of the crack, and rocking back, and forth from all my shaking. I started whining, and crying like a little girl, and I was breathing hard. My male partner calmly said, "Put in another piece" but I couldn't because I was shaking so bad, and barely clinging to the slick rock with my partner's massive rack weighing me down; all cluster fu#ked around my body. I looked down between my legs (quite a ways down!) at my shocked, quiet partners looking up at me with their big eyes. My female partner said in a sweet, concerned motherly voice, "You can come down sweetie" (she didn't know about my really bad placement). My male partner said, "I'm not lowering her off of one piece" and called up to me, in a calm, professional manner, for a second time to get another piece in. At that point I was looking terribly sketchy; my body tipped out sideways a bit, and my male partner calmly yelled, "Okay, look at where and what you are going to fall into." I saw a big tree that wasn't close enough for a Tarzan jump move, and the hard ground below me which was a more realistic option. Nothing else! I let out a bigger cry, and instead of falling I suddenly blew through the wide crack section, making it to a stance with more doable hands, and feet.It felt so good to be finally standing upright where I could get a good piece in. I let out a quiet insane laugh, and yelled down to my partners, "Whew, I feel much better now!" I finished out the lead smiling the rest of the way, intermittently yelling down to them, "This is fun!" But swore to myself that I'd never do that F-ing Hop route ever again.

I love your descriptions Gigette. That sounds like a classic early trad leading story.

Anyone ever do the White icicle, little cottonwood canyon?
I went up to solo, thinking I could haul ass, and be back downtown in time for beers.. Got about 25 feet from the top, and met up with two dudes, preparing for the little traverse, ending the route. I talked them into letting me go ahead, while they were goofing with their gear. As I stepped up , I was positioned right above them.I had antique gear. A stubi, short axe, and a nut tool hammer!!!I smashed the hammer into position, and then the axe. The axe popped out the perfect dinner plate, but I was holding it in place with my shoulder.
I suggested, to them , they outta , lock their arms into the axe straps, and stand close against the belay. I yanked out the axe, and in so doing , the dinner plate slid right down and across the leaders fore arm.The kid he was with had NEVER been climbing.Turns out the leaders arm was now broken. I retreated, roped up, and belayed the both of them to the top. Then, belayed the Leader,down the descent back to the ground.
After ???? hours,
I called the poor guy after he'd been to emergency, and he seemed to be in pretty good spirits......after I heard that confimation,It was miller time..........

Taking my partner up Baxters Pinnacle in the Tetons back in the late seventies.
I topped out and had to pee, so I tied the rope off to a little tree so that I could go whiz before bringing up my partner.
In my haste, I did not secure the cord to the tree very well and it came undone and dropped into my second's lap.
My partner did not have the necessary skills to descend and go around to the backside where one might be able to ascend the scree gulley and climb the short pitch to the top, so I was stuck and looking at spending the night up there by myself without adequate clothing, as it was all down below in the pack.
Then I heard this zipping noise and realized that someone who had topped out just before us was pulling a rope down. I ran over and caught their cord just as the end came flying off of their anchor.
I humbly called down to them and explained my situation.
They let me pull up their rope and use it to bring up my parter before I tossed it back down to them. (as if I would have waited for their permission to use their cord anyway, as I had tied off the end to my harness before asking).
Oh gosh, a ton of stories come to mind when I recall "most memorable climbs"
For now I'll just contribute the one above.

hahahaha....good job Tom.........
I went up to do gordons over hang. I got t the belay, and my partner started up. He must have gotten to the layback, and got the rope stuck!!!!I told him to hang on, and I removed my climbing shoes first, then hauliing like hell on the rope. Over and over...pulling
.....with zero success. I yelled back down, and asked if he could climb to a position, and free the rope, if I gave him a little slack.
He yelled up again, in a muffled garb....which I couldnt really understand, $%%^^ STUCK !!!!!!!!! SO I began attempting to haul the guy up, hand over hand....with zero success......This yelling exchange went on for about an hour, and so did the "zero" hauling method. I finally gave him slack, but the rope was always taut, as if I was lowering him. When he got to a position, where we could actually communicate, what he was yelling the whole time was
" The rope isnt stuck........ I am !!!!".......DOE !!!!!!!!!!

I begged my next door neighbor, to go up to Boulder /Flagstaff Mtn, and do some TR's on the rock. He finally gave up and figured if he went, I'd stop the badgering.We headed right to the Alamo rock ? has killer bolts up top, and the face might be 5.7 ? ( 1974 )After a 5 minute chalk talk session, I tied in and hauled to the bolts, tied in and did the "on-belay" yodel. He said he was ready, and I started hauling in rope, but was sure to give him enough slack, to make sure he was doing the climbing. He was wearing converse tennies, army boots? He seemed to be moving right up, and had a couple minor slips, but I didnt need to lock the belay. When he was within "seeing distance", I noticed he had tied a figure 8, but didnt clip into the loop. He had incircled the rope, with the locking biner, an the figure 8, was down between his feet..........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was sweat'n blood man. When he was within reach, I grabed the collar of his shirt, and ask him what the hell he was thinking.
He replied, "you told me to tie a figure 8, and clip into it...so I did"

d.reed wrote:I begged my next door neighbor

d.reed wrote:Anyone ever do the White icicle, little cottonwood canyon? I went up to solo, thinking I could haul ass, and be back downtown in time for beers.. Got about 25 feet from the top, and met up with two dudes, preparing for the little traverse, ending the route. I talked them into letting me go ahead, while they were goofing with their gear. As I stepped up , I was positioned right above them.I had antique gear. A stubi, short axe, and a nut tool hammer!!!I smashed the hammer into position, and then the axe. The axe popped out the perfect dinner plate, but I was holding it in place with my shoulder. I suggested, to them , they outta , lock their arms into the axe straps, and stand close against the belay. I yanked out the axe, and in so doing , the dinner plate slid right down and across the leaders fore arm.The kid he was with had NEVER been climbing.Turns out the leaders arm was now broken. I retreated, roped up, and belayed the both of them to the top. Then, belayed the Leader,down the descent back to the ground. After ???? hours, I called the poor guy after he'd been to emergency, and he seemed to be in pretty good spirits......after I heard that confimation,It was miller time..........

Oh and a few memorable climbs:
Waiting at the entrance to Red Rocks for my partner to get there and conning the rangers into letting us in after hours so we could get in and hike into do Levitation in the dark. Then waking up to the mountain goats around our bivy then doing the climb and coming back down just at dark. And having perfect weather the whole time we were on the climb but crappy just before and after.

Doing Iron Messiah the day before 9/11

Climbing Epinephrine with a stranger and leading all of it. Oh - and it wouldda been way nice to have two sets of hand sized pieces instead of just one. They aren't that heavy after all.

Having the bootyquake before and after climbing Prince of Darkness.

Finally sending Burning Embers

These are all great "memorable" stories!
I've gotten in over my head so many damn times it's hard to think of the "worst". . . I've recently matured a bit and don't push myself so foolishly hard as I use to.
Maybe my most memorable was a free solo trip/climb (onsight) up the Ellingwood Arete at Crestone Needle (CO). The guide (which I didn't bring) showed a few pitches of 5.7 climbing, so I figured I could handle it, and summit Crestone (14'r) in a half-day (I was able to negotiate my old Montero to the upper parking area just after dawn). The 3rd/4th class pitches (3 or 4?) went easy enough and I was feeling confident and strong; i.e., foolish. When I came to the first technical crux of "5.7" crack/face climbing storm clouds had enveloped the entire sky and portions of the top peaks. Rain began and quickly turned to snow! I pulled my heavy fleece from my pack and hunkered down on the ledge. . . about 10 minutes later it passed, of course a lot of the rock was already wet. Most likely I was off-route, as the crack/face I started to climb felt like 5.8+.
I won't bother you with all the details, but I finally summited around 6:30 pm (about 9 hrs!), after all the downclimbing and route finding and "hanging out" to gather my nerves etc. I returned to my truck and beer and advil just after dark, promising myself that I would never do something so foolish again - truly, I can't hardly wait to go back. . . with a rope and partner.

cam man,
I talked some newbie into doing a late fall ascent of the north face of Mt olympus, Salt lake.
We started, early, but of course the sun went down, right when we made the summit.(5pm ish) The face can be done in 2 hours , and might be 5.6, at the toughest parts. Move 10 feet to the right or left, and it might be a trail!! Very forgiving.
Anyway, sun down....clouds move in and it starts raining!!! This blocks out any possible light from the city. So its essentially a black out. No head lamps.....
We finally got back to the car around 10pm, almost stepped off a couple 50 foot rock faces. It was the blind leading the blind, for 5 hours.......
moral of this story...., more flyfishing, and beer drinking........

unfortunately..I have thousands of these messed up stories

I would have to say that it was an attempt on the Grand via the Owen Spalding route in 2004. My partner had tweaked his ankle a few days before, but still insisted that he could go. We attempted the route in a day from the valley floor...this was our first attempt on the Grand and (really) our first long alpine route without someone more experienced. We made slow but steady progress up to the upper saddle, I lead the technical pitches. I was going over to look for the raps (just so we knew where they were), by this time, is was 2 PM. Looking to the West, the clouds looked ominous...so I decided that we were going down. We had a bit of a discussion about it, I told my partner he could continue, but the rope was mine, and I was descending with it. We rapped, and got to the lower saddle, with no bad weather rolling in. Still, it was a good decision, and experience for a monster day (~18 miles and 7000' up and down in a day) Can't wait to go back and try the Exum Ridge next year...

jim.....
heres another one. I was drinking beer in the lupine meadows parking lot, one morning. ( 10am)Playing jimi hendrix on monster speakers, out of the 1975 VW bus (of course)( not loud )
I saw some dude from Utah pull in way down at the end of the 2 rows of cars. Got out of his vehicle, looked at me, jumped back in his rig, and peeled out. ?????????????
15 minutes later, here rolls in 2 Park ranger outfits!!!!!!!!!
Mr ranger ask me for ID, ETC. I inquired what the heck?
He said the guy that peeled out figured I was watching cars, and the people packing out, so I could come back later and rob everyone!!!!!!!
( maybe it was the waist length hair/ beer /vw ????)
After a quik nap, I started bullshitting with some climber types in the parking lot about outrageous ascents, and time lines from parkin lot /summit /parking lot ?
WE were joking around about different techniques, like...the French Jam......( I better not go into that )This gave me an adventurous idea
Next morning I was up at 530am, ate a quik snack, packed 1 water /orange /1 wind breaker/ 25 feet 1" webbing crunched it all in ass pack.
6am :Headed up to solo grand via exum.Tennies /shorts /t-shirt....very light.
To get to the point...at wall street, I took off the tennies, and did a barefoot ascent from that point.I ran into a couple guys from Wisconsin dressed like they were doing everest.One of them commented about my attire, suggesting I looked like I was going to the beach?
I asked them, if I had missed a turn somewhere, and wasnt this the way to long beach calif ?At the summit, after 1/2 hour break, exum guides ask if I wanted to catch the raps on their ropes!!
I also did the enclosure barefoot. Back in the parking lot 2pm, drove out to Kelly's hot swamp for a dip, and beers.Then, over to Dornans, to finish the evening........
WAS THIS MEMORABLE? YA.THE PART ABOUT JOKIN WITH THE DUDES FROM WISCONSIN.
P.S. :a couple days later I saw those dudes in Dornans, and we had some chuckles over trading stories....

It is funny how many of our most memorable climbs are those epics that include near death experiences, which anyone who has climbed for any length of time has experienced.
One of my most memorable climbs was a day where everything went amazingly smooth. It was during our annual summer road trip from Minnesota out to The Tetons back in the late seventies.
My partner, Dave Halls, and I were at the Jenny Lake boat dock waiting to take the ride across the lake to the mouth of Cascade Canyon. Dave nudged me, pointing at a fellow who was also awaiting the ferry, and asked, "Is that who I think it is?" I looked to where Dave was pointing and said with a shaky voice, "Yeah, it's Chouinard."
We all got on the boat, Chouinard, the clients he was guiding that day, and Dave and I, the two teenagers from Minnesota.
The boat was not large and we were sitting knee to knee next to Yvon, who was a demigod to us. We were starstruck and amazed when he leaned over and asked us, "What are you guys climbing today?"
We proudly said, "Durrance Ridge on Symmetry Spire, how about you?"
He mentioned a route on Cube Point that he would be guiding his clients on, and gave us an approving nod.
Oh my god, this was our day in the sun. We had made it. We were real climbers, hanging with Yvon Chouinard, even if it was only for the duration of the boat ride.
We ended up cruising Durrance Ridge, only placing pro at the belays.
On top we had lunch with a spectacular view of the Cathedral group of Teewinot, Owen, and the Grand. We could see Crooked Thumb on the north side of Teewinot and recalled the story of Yvon's three hundred foot fall from that feature.
We experienced a strange occurrence. It must have been the effect of wind sweeping through some formation across the canyon, but it sounded like the Sirens of Titan. It was eerie and magical. We descended the north side of the spire into a hanging valley of snow where our piolets came in handy when I plunged though a crevasse up to my armpits. We continued down and rounded a switchback where we ran into a huge moose. The moose wasn't angry that day and let us pass. We made it back in time to catch the last boat back to the dock.
That day may have been the highlight of my climbing career. I went on to do much more difficult and dangerous routes, but I don't think that those wonderful early exploratory years, when I still viewed the mountains with childlike wonder, could ever be experienced in the same way again.

In the spirit of early climbing experiences and their impact...

My first time as a trip leader on a river trip in Grand Canyon I made the whole trip stop at Poncho in the hot sun for 1/2 hour just so I could show a couple of teenagers and this dairy farmer from Wisconson (with the strongest grip I've ever felt) a little bouldering. My friends thought I was such a douchebag for making all the tourists wait out there in the sun while I did something totally selfish, but ... well maybe I was.

But have you seen all the hueco's in that roof!!!