How To Wiggle In The Wide - Video

[Ed Hartouni]

ok, been mulling this around a bit... but what do y'all think about a "how to climb wide" video, we must have most of the "active" old fart wide climbers posting here, and we've hit a lot of the old skool test pieces...

I see three interwoven "plots:"

1) how to climb wide

2) climbing classic wide pitches

3) a bunch of old guys still having fun climbing in their "sunshine" years


we might get some of the really old guys to do "talking head" interviews... forget about the silly staged stuff, my guess we are funny enough just trying to send those rigs....


anyway, just post coffee morning musing...
waddaya tink?

[RussWalling]

Might be good for personal consumption......  probably worth about .40cents to the masses.

Dinosaurs in the Wide  (working title)

[AlexC]

That would be cool! I was thinking of doing just that, but haven't made any progress on it so far. I'd be happy to help out and now that I'm almost recovered from a finger injury, hopefully I can start climbing more

Alex

[mungeclimber]

can we use the trademarked "where glory starts at 4 inches?" in it?  maybe a t-shirt camio?


I'll be the gumbie that has no skill that progresses as you get to better climbs thru the video.

[Jaybro]

Jilli is neither old nor a guy, but she is videogenic, does illustrate an important  lesson about staying calm, and we do have some footage...

[dickcilley]

Make the flic. It´ll sell .

[Jaybro]

Do they have DVD palyers in those caves? (have to make some in that euro format) Electricity?

[excap]

Maybe get the Shanti in there.
That gal's a rockstar.

[Jaybro]

Shanti Who?

[excap]

Riggghhht. 
Oh, I couldn't say.

[Jaybro]

"Make the flic. It´ll sell"

from the back of a Cadillac?

[excap]

That'd be a cool way to get it out there.
"Hey, Man........Do YOU like it Wyde?......Check THIS out."

It's like Pulp Fiction.....There's enough blood, eh?
Oh, yeah!

[Ed Hartouni]

so, this project has been languishing, mostly due to a pain in the lower back, but I was thinking it should be resurrected, I've got some video, but I have to get organized to get more video...

since the Elders of the Wyde are all knowing:

1) what climbs are best to illustrate wide technique from elementary to advanced to modern? In particular, certain climbs got done because of breakthroughs in technique

what's the list?

2) what famous off widths are there, and infamous

there are the well known ones, and then there are those shrouded in mystery (e.g. Elephant's Eliminate which Bullwinkle shot Potter on, but I've only ever seen that one B&W)

3) who are the "offwidth" masters of climbing history, yesterday, today and tomorrow?

4) what is the brief history of offwidth?

I'll try to flesh this stuff out a bit, your opinions, input, etc, would be helpful, and I expect you all to join in with the fun of actually doing it!

[Jaybro]

Categories 1 or 4; like landmarks? One I can think of; paisano ('73?)might be the first mandatory inversion ow, and Squat (.11+, ~83?)is prolly the second. Though in between there area bunch that are easier if done that way; B.a.m., mother superior, others.

First stacking/leavitaion, mother superior.

What other significant points are there?

3) Pratt
     Haan
     Dr Andrew embick md
     Dunn
     Dale bard....
     

[Ed Hartouni]

2) what famous off widths are there, and infamous

Rixon's Pinnacle - East Chimney 5.10a (1960, Royal Robbins & Dave Rearick)
Crack of Doom 5.10a (1961 Chuck Pratt & Mort Hempel)

Crack of Fear 5.10d (1963 Layton Kor & Paul Mayrose)

Moby Dick - Ahab 5.10b (1964 Frank Sacherer & Jim Bridwell)

The Slack - Left 5.10b (1965 Chuck Pratt & Royal Robbins)

Twilight Zone 5.10c (1965 Chuck Pratt & Chris Fredericks)

Cream 5.11a (1971 Mark Klemens)

Basket Case 5.11b (1972 Mark Klemens & Jim Bridwell)

Paisano Overhang 5.12c (1973 John Long, Rick Accomazzo & Richard Harrison)

Eighth Voyage 5.12a (1975 Jimmy Dunn & Dean Tschappat)

Elephant's Eliminate 5.12d (1978 Ray Jardine & John Lackey)

Lucille 5.13a (1988 Jay Anderson & Mike Friedrichs)

Squat 5.12c (198? Bob Scarpelli & ?)

Excalibur 5.12d ow (1992 Steve Schneider, Bill Price & Jeff Schoen)

Trench Warfare 5.12d (199? Jonny Woodward & Scott Carson)

Ralph 5.12b (199? Craig Luebben, Kennan Harvey & Dave Anderson)

Belly Full of Bad Berries 5.13a/b (200? Brad Jackson & Bob Scarpelli)

Sorcerer's Crossing 5.12a (1993 Jeff Achey & Craig Luebben)

that gets to the early 2000's only a decade+ ago

but missing JT, for instance...




3) who are the "offwidth" masters of climbing history, yesterday, today and tomorrow?

Chuck Pratt
Frank Sacherer
Royal Robbins
Mark Klemens
Peter Haan

Dale Bard
Jimmy Dunn
Craig Luebben
Jay Anderson
Bob Scarpelli
Craig Luebben

[Jaybro]

Do you have 'eighth voyage' data, beta?

The crux of Ralph is either the reachy traverse, or the baggy purple camalots, not the offwidth.

[Ed Hartouni]

just what was in the Luebben article posted here:

http://widefetish.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=715.msg7392#msg7392

[Jaybro]

Oh yeah, that 8th voyage, got it!

[Pellucid Wombat]

Ed, I like the idea of an OW history, classics, and 'how to' guide! You can do self-publishing through services like Google now, so the only real cost is your own time put into creating such a thing. You don't need a large market for these sort of things anymore.

For completeness sake, the Ruckmans' guide lists Trench Warfare's FA by Johnny Woodward in 1995.

What would be the widest thing you're thinking of? I've noticed an interesting continuum of technique between pure OW and squeeze chimneys & wider but I figure all of them lump nicely in this less intuitive category of techniques.

I've been making some videos here and there with just this sort of thing in mind - showing some of these famed OW, demonstrating some technique (or my lack of technique, and hopefully improvement as I revisit these things?). I've also started drawing some of the basic components of technique for the legs & arms and what is involved in joining the two with back & ab strength. I figured doing that and breaking it down into free body diagrams for forces could help me better figure out what to do and why and what I should train more for in terms of strength or isometric contraction endurance. As silly as this sounds, I may have been the first person to make a a free-body vector forces diagram for discussing the formation of crevasses for a mountaineering course and that was surprisingly helpful to some of the more analytical students in my class :-)

A few videos that at least show some technique or some well known OW:

Galen's Crack (5.10c): http://youtu.be/ceEpj9Q0Nuc
Moby Dick (5.10b): http://youtu.be/k5i5BawD9wY
Steck-Salathe Simulator: http://youtu.be/Ral5IJUAMU4
Knee Locks (is this the correct term for this?): http://youtu.be/SApe-5NMGk0

There are also the ones I put up of me climbing the PG Presidio OW that better show the feet, hands & body placements of the moves for the easier PG Presidio OW: http://youtu.be/OG3tHnkwuAQ

Perhaps if one of the OW gurus came to town I could get similar or better shots of them climing at PG Presidio or some of the OW cracks in the Valley? I'd be more than happy to act as camera man.

Another topic for consideration is pro placement. I've finally started doing leads where I slide cams and am thinking about how one places them when doing hand stacks.

Even a nice progression list would be helpful. For example I've never seen Inner Reaches mentioned anywhere but its an excellent 5.7 Pratt route that is a good starter climb for squeeze technique and getting used to the lack of pro in that sort of climbing. Same with The Remnant, Right (5.7), first pitch of Doggie Diversions (5.7), Churchbowl Terrace (5.8. Has good pro but seemed pretty committing to the technique), 2nd pitch of Stone Groove (5.8 ) etc.

[Ed Hartouni]

add your comments....

"How to Wiggle in the Wide"

Intro - unfocused wrestling in the dark, Amy vocalizing, pan back to focus Amy sending OW

What is wide?
narrator definition
quick cuts of different climbs with different "offwidth" sizes

What is wide?
talking head 1
talking head 2
random climber 1
random climber 2

How to learn wide?
talking head 3
talking head 4
random climber 3
random climber 4

Generator Crack scene
attempts
interviews with random climbers

The Yosemite Hardman Offwidth Circuit
talking head 5
talking head 6

Chingando scene

Reed's left scene

Reed's direct OW bailout (and interview)

Classic YV Offwidths

Crack of Doom

Ahab

Mental Block

Twilight Zone

Cream

Lost Arrow Chimney

OW farther afield

Pipeline

Modern technique
talking head 7
talking head 8
random climber 5
random climber 6

Piassano Overhang

Bad Ass Momma

JT?
Championship Wrestling

Rubberfact Syndrome

Comfortably Numb

Post modern OW

Vedauwoo OW

?

?

?

Training at home OW woodies and the gym scene

Obsession

Young guns and news

Campfire fade out to credits

[RussWalling]

So when can we buy it?

[Ed Hartouni]

still need to shoot many of those scenes...

what should we shoot in JT?

[RussWalling]

Im on a phone so watch for typos

Jt

Gristle
Centurion
Jumar of flesh or the one next to it
One armed giant
Comf numb
Between rock and hard place
Hobbit hole
Kamikazi
Thta thing out by barker dam a roof
Boot and rally
Dolphin

Hmmmmm

[Mike Friedrichs]

For your "how to" section perhaps you should consider showing some easier offwidths too. Maybe something like Upper Slot at Vedauwoo where many of us learned the techniques.

[Will]

"What is wide?
narrator definition
quick cuts of different climbs with different "offwidth" sizes"

After "what is wide", instead of straight to narrator definition, you have cuts of different folks answering...e.g.
Guy1 "What is wide? it's like a bar fight"
Guy2 "Wide cracks? It's just pure groveling"
Gal3 "What is wide? It's an elegant puzzle of how to combine body parts"
Gal4 "An addiction?"
Guy5 "Wide? It's like slaving on a jobsite, but with a gun to your head"

etc.

Some of the Josh stuff that is aesthetic may not be the first  things that come to mind. Like Toad Crack, for my money, is one of the best looking moderate wide cracks in the park..but I've never even done it, just looked at it when passing by a few times and thought, "that's such a good looking line". One of the best moderates for sure is High Strung, splitter and somewhat long and continuous for a JT route. Then there things that are specifically good for filming on, like the big boulder out past Echo Rock, because the crack splits the entire thing and you can film "from the inside" so to speak and see what is going on with someone's body parts inside the crack, I've got a photo of  Scuffy taken from that vantage somewhere.

Emotional Rescue is the roof out past barker dam.