Mescalito E - Pauligk Pillar

SUMMARY HAIKU

Benighted damn it!
What the Fuck-er to the T
Series of errors...

This image of Mescalito (Pine Creek Canyon) is actually from the day before (Day 22 - Too Many Tantrums) when we got an early start. On this day, se got a late start (mistake) and it was cold and grey.

DATE OF CLIMB: DECEMBER 21, 2019
(Shortest day of the year - sunset 4:30 p.m.)

WALLS HIT TODAY: 1 (Mescalito - E Face)
NUMBER OF CLIMBS TODAY: 1
NUMBER OF PITCHES TODAY: 3
VERTICAL 5.7 FEET CLIMBED TODAY: 290'
NUMBER OF FALLS TODAY: 0
NUMBER OF TAKES TODAY: 1

Stef on a very blank and particularly arduous section of pitch 2

DIRTY UNDERWEAR ENCOUNTERED TODAY: 0

TOTAL CLIMBS SO FAR: 75
TOTAL PITCHES SO FAR: 93
TOTAL 5.7 VERTICAL FEET ON THE TOUR SO FAR: 7,275'
NUMBER OF CLIMBS REMAINING: 175
VERTICAL FEET REMAINING: ~43,082
FALLS SO FAR: 0
TAKES ON LEAD SO FAR:

Stef – several (on the three WTF climbs she has lead so far - Miniwanka, Lean & Languid, and now Pauligk Pillar)
Rick - 1 - (On Too Many Tantrums)

DIRTY UNDERWEAR ENCOUNTERED TO DATE: 3

START & END TIMES:

Arrived Parking Lot: 10:45 a.m.
Arrived at Mescalito E Face: 11:45 a.m.
Began Climbing: 12:00 p.m. (Mistake #1!)
Sunset: 4:30 p.m. (winter solstice!)
Back at Base of Climb: 6 p.m. (a series of problems and errors added up!)
Back at Car: 7:00 p.m.

Climb: Pauligk Pillar (Trad) (5.7)(3 pitches - 290 feet)
Wall: Mescalito E Face

Conclusion WTF? What the FUCK!

The aesthetics of the rock on this climb are visually incredibly beautiful - probably one of the most visually stunning rock we've experienced yet (and that says a lot since Red Rock is gorgeous). It is hard not be mesmerized. And, it is an impressive climb to boot, But it is not easy. This is a quintessential old school climb, where a good chunk of the climb is 5.7, and enough chunks are not. This climb is NOT for the new trad leader! In fact, I'd say to truly appreciate the climb, to merrily cruise through what it has to offer, you need to be comfortably leading 5.10s.
We got benighted on this climb as a result of a series of errors. One of the goals of this WTF 5.7 Tour is to be frank about our experiences climbing - I'm not trying to sugar-coat shit or play down what happened. We fucked up in several ways - and for as long as we've been climbing, I have to say "we know better" and we just got complacent.

Here's how we fucked up:

We started too late on the shortest day of the year. We had some business errands to run (to mail off some maps) and got off to a late start.
We assumed that a 290' climb would go pretty fast. I have a rule of thumb of about 1 hour per pitch, so hypothetically we should've been down in around three hours. We also knew there were bolted anchors, which should make rappelling "easy." Wrong.
Harder climbs take more time. After experiencing a WTF'r the day before (Too Many Tantrums) you'd think we would've assumed this older climb might have been even more challenging and built in more time. We didn't.

We fucked up on the rappel. One of the Mountain Project comments said you can do three rappels with a 60m rope. Comments also said this climb was a rope eater. Even though we had twin 60s, we decided to be conservative and do shorter rappels, to reduce the risk of rope snag, and, if one rope got caught, we'd have the second rope to get us down. When Rick was leading the third pitch, I was watching the half way point, which he went considerably past (which means a single rope would not make it down between anchors.) But, at the top of the climb Rick went out onto the upper face then back to the bolted anchor. When Rick suggested we rap with one rope, I expressed concern about the length, but then commented that maybe his going out onto the face used a lot of rope, so the direct line down would reach. Recalling the MP comment, we also thought the rope would reach. WRONG! Rick rappelled first and discovered he would not reach anchor! (BTW we ALWAYS tie knots on the ends of our rope and, if there is high risk of ropes getting stuck, we saddle bag them down.)
When doing multi-pitch climbs we use walkie talkies (shout out - we just recently picked up some of the new Rocky Talkies made for climbers) to be able to deal with unexpected shit like this that requires a conversation. Rick radioed me and informed me the rope doesn't reach, he was building anchor and going to hang from that. Since I had the second rope I needed to tie the two ropes together and rappel down to the next anchor, which I did. Then Rick got on and rappelled down to me. With the sun setting at 4:30 p.m., it was now already dark and getting quite cold. We had water, one head lamp, and one goo that we shared between us (we were both bonking.) We had to go slow, and carefully check and double check everything, We knew that being tired, cold, hungry, and stressed is where fatal mistakes happen. There was no rushing through this.
With dark upon us, we recalled that the other two pitches were shorter and we thought that the two ropes would get us to the ground. By this point we just wanted to be on the ground and didn't give a shit if our rope got caught in the crack - we could come back the next day and get it. Fortunately the two 60s reached the ground and fortunately the ropes did not get stuck when we pulled them. Then, it was an hour hike out in the dark (we did have more food, head lamps, and clothing layers in our bags at the base.)

Pitch-by-Pitch

Pitch 1

Rick on pitch 1.

The beginning of this climb is not easy (not even close to 5.7!) and is difficult to protect - decking potential is real. Rick's 6'1" height was helpful here, but still challenging.

I was not able to reach that hole in the middle of the wall, which is a key hold. Instead I had to crunch up under the lower roof and then reach around to a single hold on the corner.

The rest of the pitch is a sustained 5.7 and ends at a bolted anchor.

Pitch 2

Pitch 2 has a complexity of moves that require thinking. It also has a quite-blank section that is non-trivial (read NOT a 5.7!)

I (Stef) ended up taking on that blank section and I also yelled lots of different variations of "fuck!" (Fortunately it was a chilly and not-particularly busy day, otherwise mom and dad would need to explain to the kiddos the foul language echoing through the canyon...)

Also, fortunately, most everything is protectable.

Ends at a bolted anchor.

Pitch 3

Pitch 3 is the easiest pitch but a bit heady because of limited places for good pro. Rick didn't grab the #6 from Stef, and this is where that piece would've been used on the climb.

At the top you can either go straight up to the anchors (looks unprotectable) or go out onto the left face, then back over to the anchors. Going out onto the face is the original climb because the belay was at the tree on top of the pillar. This does have protection and is a nicely featured face.

As noted in the summary above a single 60m rope does NOT reach the next set of anchors!