Trip Report
Disco Inferno, Zion: An ongoing saga
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Tuesday March 14, 2006 1:39am
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It was my last day in Zion and Chris and I had one more route before I left for some Nevada mining. The Legendary Joe French suggested Disco Inferno as our final bigwall crag’n route. Joe is a talented and very adventurous climber with a wealth of information about the local faces and peaks.
It’s a good route and goes clean easily. Except for the holes on the headwall (for future ascents they will get blown out) I hooked them. It's a worthy first ascent by John Middendorf, Josh Cannon & Calder Stratford climbed in January of 1995.
We awoke….. well, I awoke around 8:00am, Chris had been up for a few hours shopping around on the internet, buying some wings. After some Pioneer grub we headed to the base. The weather was looking a bit dubious but we were going for it.
Here’s a picture of me looking at the only ascenders we ended up with on this climb. Yep, two rights… what THE!!
I am VERY confused.
Chris, help me out...
Ammon
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About the Author
Ammon is a big wall climber from Capo Beach. |
Comments
Ouch!
climber
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Mar 14, 2006 - 02:02am PT
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Looks like that's not your only problem.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Mar 14, 2006 - 02:06am PT
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LOL
refinedouch!pics.com
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Ammon
Big Wall climber
Capo Beach
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Author's Reply
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Mar 14, 2006 - 02:10am PT
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"Hey, Chris.. where is the yella' jug bro? Hmm, can't find the yella' jumar. I just need the yella' one.
We were at the base in no time all, you got to love the road side approaches in Zion. It was official, Chris and I had a record starting time in Zion, we started before noon, 10:05am, in fact.
Haa ha, these one sided reports. Let’s get some input Chris!!!
OOooooaahhhh!!!
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
sawatch choss
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Mar 14, 2006 - 10:59am PT
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I watched you guys for a bit, finishing up the free and then getting on the headwall. Looked cold.
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bringmeshelter
Social climber
la la land
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Mar 14, 2006 - 12:30pm PT
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Oh god... D now stands for Darn instead of DAMN
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Ammon
Big Wall climber
Capo Beach
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Author's Reply
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Mar 14, 2006 - 01:40pm PT
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Whoops, sorry. I don't have time to continue the story but will tonight.
The Birth Canal looked really fun and awesome. Pretty wild to get to the belay and see Chris way up in there without any gear in.
I think it took him one hour and five minutes to lead his four pitch block.
More, later....
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yo
climber
Mudcat Spire
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Mar 14, 2006 - 03:33pm PT
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Will the sickness ever end?!
I will tune in tonight for the next chapter of the Monkey Pirate Show.
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Ammon
Big Wall climber
Capo Beach
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Author's Reply
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Mar 14, 2006 - 10:35pm PT
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So, Chris leads the first four pitches lightning fast and I have to admit that is sucked the wind right out of me trying to keep up and get to the anchors so I can get him on belay.
It’s a tough job and I got a glimpse of some of the pain and frustration that I enjoy applying on a few of my partners like Ivo, Ben V. and Cedar. Not that I like watching them suffer…. well, ok maybe a little. But, when I see them struggling to keep up it solidifies that I’m doing my job well. Now, it was my turn to struggle.
One hour and five minutes after Chris left the base I gladly handed over the two blue ascenders over to him. I was just happy we didn’t end up with two yellow ones. “Here you go Chris, it wasn’t as bad as I imagined.”
I started my four pitch block at the headwall which was a hole ladder with a bolt about every third or fourth hole. The bottom of the holes were blown out from them being stacked with beaks and slowly the sandstone wears out. Eventually these holes will be useless and a new hole, drilled angles or bolts will have to be installed.
I hooked through the holes with a grappling hook. I was just clipping a bolt when a hook blew. Luckily I had already clipped the bolt and was holding on to the aider. I fell onto the aider, grabbed it with my hand, got a foot in and stepped up. Whooaa, that was a close one.
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Gabe
climber
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Mar 15, 2006 - 12:01am PT
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....I got a glimpse of some of the pain and frustration that I enjoy applying on a few of my partners like Ivo, Ben V. and Cedar. Not that I like watching them suffer…well, ok maybe a little. ........
Like that would surprise me somehow brotha! Ha! heh.
Chris the birth canal looks stellar! Nice job again guys. Two true Blue Jumars, too! cheers to yah. Gabe
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More Air
Trad climber
S.L.C.
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Mar 15, 2006 - 01:04am PT
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Hey guys, so did the chimney(birth canal), have any pro? How was the roof? Love your trip reports!
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HiAzTy
climber
Cayucos
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Mar 15, 2006 - 02:13am PT
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So ammon what are we supposed to do about the holes? It sucks there isnt just a sliding ball nut thingamajig to slide in there to eleminate the beaks and hooks and whatnot. Good send though fo sho! Does the line stand a chance against the desert shield or no?
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jack herer
Big Wall climber
Veneta, Oregon
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Mar 15, 2006 - 05:44am PT
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There is such a thingamajig, called an RB or removable bolt. Though I think the holes might have to be deeper than your average bat hook hole for it to set properly?
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California, now Ireland
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Mar 15, 2006 - 10:47am PT
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LOL Ouch.
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Mar 15, 2006 - 12:44pm PT
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There is such a thingamajig, called an RB or removable bolt. Though I think the holes might have to be deeper than your average bat hook hole for it to set properly?
Yeah, RB's require a deep enough hole, and the hole has to be pretty perfect.
Another issue with them is, once placed and weighted (as on a bolt/hole ladder), you can't just pop them back out again. They are REALLY hard to clean. Makes them unpractical.
Best are "more air"'s custom ground hooks for shallow drilled holes. Bomber!
Great pics and sends you guys. Makin' short work of a bunch of stuff in Zion. Pretty proud climbing. Inspiring!
-Brian in SLC
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Ammon
Big Wall climber
Capo Beach
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Author's Reply
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Mar 15, 2006 - 05:22pm PT
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Where’d you go Chris?
So, I got through the bolt/hole ladder at the beginning of the headwall and came to a pretty soft and chossy roof. Here’s were Joe told me that you needed a #5 Camelot, or your screwed. Someone had even written those words on the topo we found in the visitor center.
The placement wasn’t exactly straight forward but within a few minutes I saw what must be done. I got on the cam and fiddled around with the next placement, meanwhile sending loose sand down on Chris. A couple of more nut placements got me into a crack system above the roof.
The next two pitches were the longest and most time consuming, on the route. It was all C1 placements but they were not obvious and had to think about the moves. It would have really helped if we would have had off-set HB’s. We had none.
I was leading the second to the last pitch and I heard some yelling from Chris. “Oh sh#t, oh shit”.
“What’s going on down there”, I asked kind of startled by the excitement in his voice.
“Uhh, nothing. Do you care if I leave this #1 Cam,” he asked?
“YES, I care. Why what’s going on.”
“Hold on, never mind they can’t fly, haa haa haa”, was Chris’ response.
I was a little confused about what was going on down there but I continued to make upward progress.
Later, Chris told me some wasps came crawling out of the crack and was guarding the cam so he couldn’t retrieve it. He meant, leave it for now and get it back on the rappel.
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Ammon
Big Wall climber
Capo Beach
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Author's Reply
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Mar 15, 2006 - 05:36pm PT
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HiAzTy,
Yes, it's a great route. Maybe not as clean and stellar as DS but that's because it hasn't seen the traffic that DS has seen. The lower pitches might be of finer quality which makes up for the soft rock on the headwall.
Maybe Middendorf will give his opinion on what should be done about the holes. I like the spiciness of it but it just won't hold up to repeated ascents. Brian has the same opinion that I have on the RB's, they are a PITA.
Maybe the holes should be drilled out, angles should be put in and removed by a couple of parties and then you should only need two baby angles to hand place.
I'm not sure but it's a worthy route that needs some love.
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Ammon
Big Wall climber
Capo Beach
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Author's Reply
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Mar 16, 2006 - 11:20pm PT
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We forgot to mention the false belay, I think it was on the 5th pitch. It seemed like a short one and sure enough we ended up doing the route in nine pitches. Not a bad idea when short-fixing but no good if climbing traditionally.
So, we hit the rim in 3 hours 42 minutes, exactly 45 minutes longer than we did Desert Shield in. The extra time could be chocked up to the placements on the headwall being more tedious, not having ANY HB off-sets (Haa haa), or maybe a better excuse could be, we were still feeling the numbing effects from the Streaked Wall.
Haa haa, sound familiar?
Either way, we dun good and it was an excellent way to spend my last day in Zion.
The topo said to bring a drill because the bolts on the summit “are flexing hard”. We, of course, didn’t bring a drill kit. We checked them out and they didn’t seem bad to us, they must have been replaced. I did notice the webbing and cord on the raps weren’t looking that great.
We descended and were back at the car in no time.
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Ammon
Big Wall climber
Capo Beach
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Author's Reply
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Mar 16, 2006 - 11:24pm PT
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Our rapping method went down like this:
I would fix the lead line to the anchor and go down on a single line to the next belay. Chris would re-rig it with the skinny line and double rap in. I could pull him in if needed. I take the other end of the lead line, fix and start rapping. Chris starts pulling and I get a head start off the belay and reduce the cluster. Just remember not to get too far off the anchor unless the rope gets stuck. The second guy has to pull all the ropes but the first guy has most of the weight and leads the descent, a good trade-off.
Oh yeah, does anyone know if this route has been done in a day before? Most of the locals seem to think it has but had been fixed from the day before.
Cheers!
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Ammon
Big Wall climber
Capo Beach
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Author's Reply
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Mar 16, 2006 - 11:38pm PT
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Here's one of me hooking the holes on the headwall - The hole above is the one that blew.
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Ammon
Big Wall climber
Capo Beach
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Author's Reply
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Mar 16, 2006 - 11:53pm PT
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Alright OUCH!! It's YOU and ME, after school... at the baseball field at three O'CLOCK.
Haa haa, we should put on a slideshow together. I could act all serious and you could be that guy who keeps crack'n jokes and switch'n the slides to your funny ones.
It would be a riot.
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Ouch!
climber
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Mar 17, 2006 - 12:01am PT
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LOL! OK, Ammon, but you gotta give me a headstart. I'm slow as molasses in wintertime. Really some nice pictures and a good climbing adventure. Well done..
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Mar 17, 2006 - 12:18am PT
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Seems like there would be some way to lower you on the lead line as it's being pulled and that would kill two birds at the same time.
Or maybe kill you anyway if it screwed up.
nice send as usual
Peace
Karl
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WBraun
climber
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Mar 17, 2006 - 12:47am PT
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Now this looks like a nice route us regular guys (mere mortals) can do.
But you guys still took it off into the stratospheric regions.
Back down here on earth, we love man.
It's a beautiful line.
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HiAzTy
climber
Cayucos
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Mar 17, 2006 - 12:56am PT
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What? Christ..... what the f*#k are you talking about!?
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Mar 17, 2006 - 01:00am PT
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Wow.
Climbing.
Good call.
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Ammon
Big Wall climber
Capo Beach
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Author's Reply
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Mar 17, 2006 - 01:46am PT
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Aiigh, I hate being lowered, Karl. It's worse than going down the skinniest of ALL lines.
Besides, you have to do a few tricky pendi's and scrambling traverses to get to some of the anchors. I think it’s easier if you have total control without yelling…. STOP!!
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Chris McNamara
SuperTopo staff member
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Sep 14, 2006 - 12:01pm PT
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just thought this should be archived here in case anyone wants to fix up the bolt ladder and wants to know how one of the fa feels
Just to give you a very brief history... Josh Cannon and I climbed the first three pitches and got snowed out. I came back two weeks later and soloed the 4th and 5th pitch. I left my ropes fixed at the top of the 5th and rapped down to get back to high school monday morning. When I came back to finish the route the next weekend, I stopped by John's place, he lived in Hurricane at the time, and we agreed to attempt to finish the route together. We jugged to the top of the 5th, I led the sixth pitch, and and John led the remainder of the route. As far as the holes go on pitch 5, I never intended on having empty wholes for hooking, I used a #3 copper head inserted by hand into the 3/4" deep hole. My thought was that I wouldn't blow the hole out by pounding a beak in there, but the if the route got repeated subsequent ascents could deepen the holes and place a bolt or baby angle. There was some natural hooking on the pitch, maybe five or six moves. I climbed the route about 6 years back and it looked like those hooking edges had blown out and holes or enhancements were put in there place. In retrospect, knowing how sandstone wears from repeated ascents, I would have taken the extra time and money to drill deeper and put something more permanent in the holes. I was 17, and that was my first time climbing a new route, live and learn I guess:)
 Calder
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Kartch
climber
belgrade, mt
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Sep 14, 2006 - 02:12pm PT
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Minerals,
There is a new geology book that came out by Zion Canyon Institute, written by Robert Eves (Prof at SUU) about Zions geology. The book has several pics of climbers including one of Joe French on the Disco Inferno headwall.
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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Sep 15, 2006 - 09:21am PT
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Just noticed this post.
I had completely forgotten (again) I was involved with Disco Inferno. Actually, it was really Calder's project. His previous partners had bailed on him and he came by my house asking if I would finish the route with him, which we did. But I only climbed the last three pitches, ropes were fixed to pitch 5. The only pitch I led was the second-to-last pitch (the pitch after the roof). My role in the FA was really one of support for Calder.
As some of you Zion dudes might know, most of my routes in the canyon don't have many drilled holes, but when they do, they are filled with a good solid bolt. So I say, fill 'em if you drill 'em.
By the way, Calder was quite the inspiring climber. I think he was only a teenager when he climbed Disco Inferno.
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nvrws
climber
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Sep 15, 2006 - 02:23pm PT
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Ammon,
OT: Whatever happened to Calder stabelford(sp). funny story, our friends knew him very well. Always talked of his climbing exploits. When it came time to name our son, we settled on Calder. Was just curious to see what happened with the other Calder. BTW ours just turned 7 and did his first outdoor bit of climbing a few wks back. Not sure he's gonna be a big wall climber but it sure was fun to watch.
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yo
climber
Mudcat Spire
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Sep 15, 2006 - 02:31pm PT
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He's a pilot. Skywest I think.
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clustiere
Trad climber
berkeley ca
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Jan 13, 2007 - 07:33pm PT
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researching zion routes and I came across this sweet description. How would this be for a slouch like me to solo ammon?? culd ya bivi on Boogie Ledge This looks to have trade status (ONCE the holes fill in) as it seems moderate and easier than cosmic trauma, DS, and lunar X..?? What happerns after p8 as it looks like there is a line a nd a bolt, does it top out???
Good send fellas looks llke a ton o fun.
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addiroid
Big Wall climber
Long Beach, CA
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Jan 13, 2007 - 08:16pm PT
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RE: Lunar X
I don't know but if Ammon/Chris say that DI had "tedious" placements, I don't think it is mellower than Lunar X. While I have not climbed DI, we did do LX about 2 years ago, and while the "Old A4 pitch" has a bit of spice to it, it went just fine with HB's and the odd offset alien as I remember. However the little "good bivy for 3" block at the anchor for the old A4 pitch requires a portaledge. We slept 1/2 pitch below that on a decent ledge because we didn't bring a ledge.
just my 2 sints
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clustiere
Trad climber
berkeley ca
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Jan 13, 2007 - 10:14pm PT
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Yeah I did Lunar X 6 years ago and it was awesome. We were dumb and used cam hooks, they were the cause of 2 30-35 ftrs. What was your trip like.
I am trying to find a good route to go solo, and would like to avoid the 7 routes I have done-Lunar x, sheer lunacy, moonlight, prodigal, spaceshot, touchstone, monkeyfinger.
I would like to stay in the realm of c2 if possible beacuse I am a weenie.
That said moonlight in a day could be great fun.
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clustiere
Trad climber
berkeley ca
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Jan 14, 2007 - 12:39am PT
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With some instruction and bolts I wouldn't mind fixing the drill ladder, now I have only placed bolts in granite, ssooooooooooooo.
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clustiere
Trad climber
berkeley ca
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Jan 16, 2007 - 05:10pm PT
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What no trust??..
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James
climber
My twin brother's laundry room
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Jan 16, 2007 - 05:39pm PT
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Rad trip report boys. Good to hear and see some monkies are getting after it.
James
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Yah00
Trad climber
CA
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Apr 30, 2007 - 11:41pm PT
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Hey all, I'm thinking about jumping on this route next week. Does anyone have an update on the blown out headwall? If we do decide on this route we will likely bring a bolt kit for any drilled holes that are completely blown out.
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Maura LaRiviere
climber
CA
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Hi -
I just got off Disco Inferno on 3/30/13, and thought I would add some more current info...
[] The drilled holes on the headwall pitch are now all filled with bolts. The mid-pitch section of nuts / offset cams is still flared and crumbly enough to be interesting.
[] I had a #6 that was pretty crucial to turning the first roof on the 6th pitch.
[] The couple drunken wasps that Chris mentions have now multiplied into an active hive of a thousand or so angry wasps that protect their territory quite fiercely. And somehow they have gotten the idea that the last thirty foot section of that pitch is their territory. The pitch was unclimbable above the second (smaller) roof, but at least the first roof is easier to down-aid than to up-aid. Do wasps have a season? Is fall any quieter in their lifecycle than spring?
[] The third pitch chimney is super fun! And, for now, totally wasp free.
[] The rap anchor tat was all looking pretty sun-faded, so we replaced what we could on pitches 2, 4, and 5.
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Johnny K.
climber
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Jul 16, 2013 - 07:13pm PT
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arghhhh
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