diedre.. beta

[Anders Ourom]

J Mace's story is great - apparently the trick is not to climb with Elmer.

Usually three or four horizontals, and 6 - 8 pins from baby angles to 1.5", are enough for Diedre. A few nuts may also be useful. You shouldn't need any knifeblades or bongs, although a 2" may be placed.

I find Diedre rather tedious, and have only done it three or four times. That's even before it took on a python-like appearance. Other Apron climbs offer much more variety and fun, particularly Banana Peel. But then, I accept and relish the fact that Apron climbs require slab climbing. It's good for one's footwork, routefinding and mental acuity, but not always well protected - nor should it be.

I wonder whether having belay bolts on Diedre has the opposite effect to that intended. It seems to lead some to try it without having the skill to safely protect it, lured by 'easy' belays. And some have difficulty just tying onto two bombproof belay bolts.

There's a story behind there being belay bolts on a route with good natural anchors. Not normal for Squamish, unless a climb is frequently rappelled. For years, there was one bolt at each belay on Diedre. This was after hexes and stoppers appeared, about 1973. The idea was that having one bolt at each belay would deter piton use - climbers could build a decent belay out of a bolt and two or three nuts. At the same time, a minimum of extraneous bolts would be placed, and some challenge retained. It went back and forth - some objected to any bolts that weren't strictly necessary. Others thought it was a reasonable compromise, to reduce rock damage. (There were a few fixed pins in the route then, and even belay shrubs. Cedars, of course.) The current belays may have been placed in the late 1980s, and there's been a line up almost ever since.

1975 guide: This excellent route suffers from its popularity. Over piton use is scarring the rock so nuts are mandatory. Bolt stations have been placed, chopped, and replaced to facilitate clean ascents.

[Peter]

have not heard of anybody bailing on the route.

Really...oh I think people epic all the time on that thing...here is a true story?

Anyways its polished as crap, go do slab alley or vector or something

6:00 AM Myself and a first (and last) time climbing partner I'll call "Elmer" met up at the parking lot in Squamish to climb Diedre, a classic 5.7 on the Apron. He is a cc.com lurker who said he is a "safe, all around 5.10 leader" who's been dying to climb this route forever. I've climbed the route before and led all the pitches, so I agreed to let him do the leading.

7:00 AM We arrived at the base of Diedre. The approach took somewhat longer than usual because Elmer insisted we rope up for the steep approach through the trees. There was a festival-like atmosphere at the base of the climb, with people of all ages from around the world. We found ourselves waiting for the party ahead of us, which was waiting for the party ahead of them, who was waiting for the party above them, who was waiting for the party above them--who was apparently superglued to the rock. Or perhaps they were just a pair of immobile manniquins that some jokers hung from the anchors of the fifth pitch to create a traffic clusterfuck.

8:00 AM After an hour, nothing had changed, and I suggested we climb a different line up the Apron. "Hell no!" said Elmer, "I've wanted to climb this route forever!"

9:00 AM The top party showed some signs of movement, thus proving they were, in fact, not manniquins. Elmer started taping up (?) and racking his gear, which included a double set of nuts, a double set of cams to 4 inches, 4 tri-cams and 7 hexes.

10:00 AM The sun cleared the top of the Chief and the day turned HOT. Elmer set off on the first pitch up to the little tree.

11:00 AM Elmer arrived at the tree and put me on belay. I walked up to the tree.

1:00 PM We reached the belay at the base of the corner. Elmer was--as advertised--a very safe leader. I returned the 11 pieces of gear I cleaned on the pitch leading up to the corner where the fifth class climbing starts.

1:30 PM The parties ahead of us had moved up sufficiently that we were clear to climb with no one slowing us down. Elmer started up the dihedral. Judging by the severity of the sewing machine leg he had going, he appeared to be a little nervous. But he protected the pitch very well.

3:00 PM Elmer arrived at the belay. Shortly thereafter I arrived and handed him back the 19 (!) pieces of gear he placed on the pitch. The insufferably slow parties ahead of us had by now left us far behind. We had clear sailing ahead all the way up to Broadway! However, now we appeared to be slowing down the pack of anxious climbers below us.

4:00 PM The scorching day got hotter. We drunk all our water. Elmer was showing signs of physical and mental strain after leading the first three pitches of 5.6 or 5.7. A noticable tick has developed in his left eye. I offer to take a lead or two, but he responds with surprising vigor: "No F%$#$&^ way, I've wanted to climb this climb forever!"

5:00 PM Elmer is still within spitting distance of the belay, swearing and sweating as he tried to fiddle in an RP, his 6th placement on the pitch thus far. There were approximatly 8 frustrated parties jammed up beneath us now. I was starting to feel like the stubborn turd that's clogging the toilet.

6:00 PM Elmer arrived at the fourth belay. The climbing was taking its toll on him. Our water long since gone, I started to wonder how long it takes an average person to die of thirst. After resting for a half hour, his twitching had subsided somewhat and Elmer started up the next pitch.

7:30 PM Inexplicably, Elmer was building a gear belay 3/4 of the way up the pitch instead of continuing on another 40 feet to the bolted station. Gently, I queried him about his intentions. All I heard is a stream of angry profanity echoing across the valley and something about running out of gear. "I'm F%$#$&^ leading this F%$#$&^ climb...blah...gear...blah...F%$#$&^ forever blah...blah..." I wondered to myself how it would be physically possible to place all the gear he was carrying (enough to stock several small retail shops) on one 5.7 pitch. And as the sun cooked me like a worm on pavement, I wondered idly if he was afflicted with Tourette's or perhaps some sort of degenerative brain disorder like Mad Cow disease.

8:00 PM Elmer finishes building his anchor and brings me up. The tick in his eye has deteriorated noticably and his pupils are dialated in a worrisome way. I can't help myself and comment on his anchor, which is clearly a work of art--if you're a Celtic knotsmith or some sort of mad engineer. The anchor consisted of 4 cams and 3 nuts each qualized with double clove hitches and backed up with a secondary anchor composed of two tricams, a hex, two RPs, a cordellete and four slings. Granted, I'm a fan of bombproof anchors, but this one could have survived a direct napalm airstrike followed by a nuclear holocaust and still held a factor 5 fall. He didn't appreciate my kind comment. "Are you questioning my F%$#$&^ abilities you goddamn pissant?" Judged by his full-body spasms and the way he kept grinding his teeth, he was physiologically unstable and psychologically unbalanced.

8:30 PM After his outburst, Elmer calmed down a bit and started apologizing profusely, weeping and blubbering like a schizophrenic on a bad acid trip. I didn't want to say the wrong thing, so I just wrung out my sweaty shirt into our empty nalgene bottle, took a swig and offered him a drink, which he accepted gratefully.

9:00 PM We were still hanging awkwardly from his armageddon-proof anchor. Elmer had stopped crying and appeared to be in some sort of meditative state, perhaps visualizing the sequences or protection on the pitch above. An angry mob of climbers hoping to get off the Apron before nightfall had gathered below us, wondering what the delay was. (I'm sure they were also curious about all the yelling and wailing.) While we hung stationary at his gear belay, several parties simply climbed by us, including a grandmother in flip flops who was soloing with her grandchild in one of those kiddie backpacks, two hikers who apparently got lost on the Stawamus Chief trail, and a surprisingly speedy team of quadriplegics who were aiding the climb by placing gear with their mouths.

9:35 PM I was hesitant to disturb Elmer while he was concentrating on preparing mentally for the next pitch. However I was getting concerned about our pace--we were only about halfway up the 7 pitch climb, and I had to be back in Washington by tomorrow afternoon. I nudged him and once again I casually offered to lead a few pitches for the sake of efficiency. This threw the previously-peaceful Elmer into a blind fury: "No F%$#$&^ way, I've wanted to F%$#$&^ lead this goddamn climb for F%$#$&^ forever! What the f**k do you think I am, some sort of F%$#$&^ incompetent?! If you ever again try to take one of my F%$#$&^ leads on this F%$#$&^ climb I will take this F%$#$&^ knife (brandishing his Swiss Army knife), saw your F%$#$&^ ears off, then cut you loose to plummet to your death you F%$#$&^ miserable condescending piece of sh*t!!!!!!" He emphasizes each word by puching the rock until his knuckes bled. One of his eyes rolled eerily back in his head. He was foaming at the mouth.

9:36 PM Hmmm. Fight or flight? That was the question. I figured pacifying this maniac was perhaps the best approach to the situation--or at least preferable to brutal hand-to-hand combat while tied in to a common belay 500 feet off the ground.

9:37 PM I put on my most sincere smile and said "Sorry, Elmer--you're the leader, you're on belay, climb when ready!" I said as cheerily and nicely as possible. Meanwhile I casually repositioned my nut tool on my harness for easy access in case I needed to kill this raving lunatic before he killed me.

10:00 PM It was getting quite dark. Elmer was finally ready and headed up the next pitch of Dierdre. I breathed a sigh of relief as the rope ran out (very slowly) and he put some distance between us.

11:00 PM Elmer finally reached the next set of bolts. Once I saw he was safely anchored, I yelled up "You're off belay!"

11:01:30 PM In the fading twilight, I untied from the rope, tossed the free end into space, waved up at a perplexed Elmer, turned and ran down the Apron (roughly along the line of Sparrow) as fast as I could.

11:15 PM I reached the parking lot, quickly disabled the alternator on Elmer's car, gunned my van towards the border and never looked back.

[/quote]
Well, if that really is a true story.....amazing!

[Brendan]

hello,

so diedre.. how hard is it to lead? i can lead 5.7 trad and have been climbing outside for 2 years now, not done any multipitch though. i hear MP routes in squamish are generally grade...

LOL stfu
My mom can lead 5.7 trad and she's NEVER climbed in her life. You need to pick up the pace boy if you're only leading 5.7 after TWO years

This has gotta be a joke.