Machete Direct Route, 2nd Pitch?

[JoelFrederico]

Hey all! My climbing partner Amanda and I tried to go up Machete Direct yesterday, and we're not sure where the second pitch goes.  Does anybody know the route after the first pitch??

Here's how it went.  We found the tree which was the old start.  It was pretty polished, so we ended up aiding up the 5.10b part.  The bottom two screws are hangerless.  We got to the first hanger and aided from that point, through the tree.  After a move or two, it got a lot easier.  Maybe I'm a stronger climber now, but I don't know if I'd call it 5.8.  I finally found two hangers with chains, with a third bolt down and centered.  There was a pretty large hole up and to the right from the anchor.  Amanda came up eventually and she set out to the left, to the obvious first bolt.  The second bolt is right over a bulge, out of sight from the anchor but visible from the first bolt, and then we lost the trail.  The way up seemed to be 5.7 (as expected) to Amanda, but it was very dirty and the rock immediately underneath crumbled a lot.  She tried slinging a knob (tensioned with a cam, see photo/video).

But it was just too dirty to commit, and the two bolts didn't match the topo.  The topo shows a line between bolt one and two.  I would've imagined that was a crack, or possibly a headwall - not a bulge between the two bolts. It's supposed to be a 130' pitch (I think?), very runout 5.7 with only 3 bolts, and Amanda's only 20-30 ft. max from the anchor.  So continuing without knowledge would've meant quite a bit of wandering, possibly way off route, and knob-slinging and/or finding creative placements.  I was personally happy with getting up close and personal with etriers, and we called it a day and rapped off, through the tree.

So questions:  Does anybody know the route?  The spacing between bolts?  Are there good photos of the second pitch anywhere?  Does anybody know where we were?

Sidenote:  Amanda and I really want to get this route ticked.  If we've really found the right route, we're willing to clean.  To what level does Pinns ethos allow/expect us to clean?

Another sidenote:  The bolts probably could use a bit of an upgrade on this route.  There are two bolts right next to one another in the "5.8" section that confused me, I didn't see the point.  I have no idea how popular it is though - it may just be climbed really rarely.

[mungeclimber]

p2? I haven't done MDirect, but that looks high for the start of p2.

[Brad Young]

The topo shows a line between bolt one and two.

Not sure that I've seen a topo of that route that shows a line between the first and second bolts?

Which topo are you using?

From your description, is sounds like you/she were on route or nearly on route (did she make it to the second bolt?). It's a matter of finding the "line of least resistance" going up and a little left. And yes, it's a long way between bolts.

I don't know of any photos that show the pitch (and I think trees would make it difficult to get such photos). If you really want to be sure, the route Tiburcio's Ambush (route # 781) is 5.2 and is an easy way to get to the top of Machete Direct's second pitch. You could go check out the pitch by rappelling over it. (Use the approach descriptions on page 314 to get to the start of Tiburcio's Ambush.)

EDIT: What is the photo from? It isn't of anything on Machete Direct as far as I can tell. That photo is from right of Daedalus, looking west.

[Brad Young]

And if you were on Machete Direct, it's fairly "clean" already - from hundreds of ascents. I wouldn't recommend any more cleaning on that route or that pitch.

[Brad Young]

Alright, now I watched your video.

As far as I can tell, if that video is of what you thought was Machete Direct, then you were way, way off (100 yards too far to the south/climber's right). You weren't on Machete Direct at all. (So, looking on the bright side - you weren't lost on that route's second pitch at all either!).

What you called the anchor looks to me like the anchor atop Lucky Thirteen and Alias Bandits Bench, and your partner was leading the second pitch of that route. As far as I can tell, the "crack" you were looking at in the video is under the huge roof above that anchor (see the topo on page 322).

You may have been starting up the route Drop Zone, but it's hard to see in the video. Was there a chimney to your partner's right (from where she's standing in the photo)?

[mungeclimber]

Brad, look at the tree in the background. That's Drop Zone over there. They are moving up and left after having done Lucky 13 via the tree?

Is she clipped into a bolt?

[Brad Young]

Brad, look at the tree in the background. That's Drop Zone over there. They are moving up and left after having done Lucky 13 via the tree?

Is she clipped into a bolt?

I think you're right - maybe she's gone straight up from partway along Alias Bandits Bench' second pitch? If she's clipped to a bolt in that photo, it may be just a stray bolt?

The bent pine in the background has to be the tree where Daedalus starts, there aren't other bent trees up there.

They must have started from the ground by way of the tree over/in front of Trident and then switched over to and climbed Lucky 13, thinking it was the "5.10b" variation start to Machete Direct.

Joel, are you still out there?

[JoelFrederico]

Hey all! So many responses, it's awesome. I'm really grateful! I've had meetings at work and I have to rustle some food at the moment, but I'll get back to you guys ASAP tonight. It just might be an hour or two.

[squiddo]

Certainly not machete 2nd.....

[JoelFrederico]

Munge: Ah okay, yeah, it doesn't say how high pitch 2 is.  I think we were up maybe... 90ft?  I don't know.

Brad:  You're right, the first two bolts are below the line, the third is above it.  I think that was a miscommunication when we were climbing.  The photo is looking left facing Machete Ridge.  I'm almost certain you were right about it being Lucky Thirteen/Alias Bandits Bench.  The crucial bit we must have missed would be the "streambed" part on the topo on 318.  She made the first two bolts of 795 pitch 2 and was about to go up Badman Mezzanine, just left of the arete that meets the headwall there.  So I'm glad we turned around now.  I was at the first bolt, self-belayed with a grigri.  Honestly, we didn't try very hard on what was the 5.9, because it wouldn't surprise either of us if a Pinns 5.10b was a little to a lot out of reach.  We just moved straight to aiding.

Squiddo:  Yeah, for sure.  See above.

Well, we ended up way off-route.  I saw the tree and thought it was perfect.  I must have mistaken Badman Mezzanine for the arch.  Thanks so much for the help, everybody!

[Brad Young]

Joel, I think your description is right on.

But, on the plus side:

1. Yesterday was a brilliant day and you weren't in the office;

2. You're both uninjured;

3. You now know much more about climbs on The Machete than you did at this time last week.

For what it's worth, Machete Direct is a step or two harder than what you did yesterday - that second pitch is much more run-out than anything you were on at Bandit's Bench (but it really is only 5.7). It's a great route, I hope you get on it and get it done.

P.S. Did you by chance hear Kevin and I up and right of you replacing bolts on Icarus?

[JoelFrederico]

Brad:  Absolutely, on all 3 points.     I've been on some runouts at Pinns, and I was expecting much more, both difficulty-wise and runout-wise.  I actually freed pretty quickly and skipped a few bolts on Lucky Thirteen, I was running out of draws and it was starting to feel like a bit much compared to what I was expecting.

We totally did hear you!  And saw you, actually.  (One of you, I think in mostly khaki?)  We were thinking of coming and saying hi, but we decided to go over to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and make use of our passes.  We actually were starting right when we heard some pretty scary rockfall in that direction.  I was wondering if we should go check, but before I said anything I heard tapping, so we assumed somebody was rebolting and did it on purpose?

[F4?]

The 1st pitch of Muchshitty has a memorable 10a or c (it's been 20yrs) start from in the creek.

You then get to either the free bolts or the aid ones.

Mr Mud should have some glory shots of the 1st pitch from his Bachlor climbing day.

[Brad Young]

Kevin was in khaki and I had on an orange shirt and shorts. And yeah, to my knowledge, that route hasn't seen a second ascent, and, although we were careful, there's only so much one can do to avoid rockfall when ropes are pulled after rappelling (we rapped four pitches altogether).

[cobbledik]

Yup, you guys must have been the team I saw chilling at the Badman Mazzenine for quite some time while we were working on Icarus.

It was a good choice to stay away from the base below us. I was sitting in a mud and rock shower for much of the day (until we changed positions and I got my revenge, ha! take THAT Brad!). The route was shedding like a cat in April.

If nothing else, being 1 of only 2 parties I could see or hear on a clear sunday on the West side is a treat in itself.

[JoelFrederico]

Brad:  Ah, yeah, that makes sense.

Cobbledik (Kevin?):  Yup, we were definitely lost.  We hung out there for a long while trying to figure out what was going on.  It was kinda nice though.  I think being lost sometimes is exactly what I need to get out of ruts.  It was a 1-pitch breakthrough kind of day for me.  And that's exactly why we seem to like the West side, being a little more isolated and on your own can be really good for you.  We did see another party on The Flumes for a few minutes, and another team going up something on the North side when we were at the caves.  Where would we find info on that, btw?  It looked like an amazing face multipitch route to us, maybe 10a/b judging by how they were climbing?

[cobbledik]

A party on the north side above the caves climbing 10ish would most likely be on Cuidado.

Not a route to do on a weekend though because of the rockfall over the trail.

[JoelFrederico]

Cobbledik:  Yep, we were using that one and Brad's book in combination.  I'm pretty sure the line's in the same place, and we just had a miscommunication/topo error moment.  Lol, I'm pretty sure it was my fault, I can't count apparently.  It goes Bolt Zero, Bolt One, and Bolt Two, right?? 

[JoelFrederico]

Ah, okay, thanks for the route info.  Yeah, we were wondering about rockfall potential since the book mentioned that.  And there were a bunch of people on the caves trail too, so that could've been not-great.  Pretty sure it was a man and a woman, but I don't have any more info than that.

[Brad Young]

…I was sitting in a mud and rock shower for much of the day (until we changed positions and I got my revenge, ha! take THAT Brad!). The route was shedding like a cat in April.

That does it Kevin: I'm bringing a plywood "shield" when we go up there for real!! That and my brain bucket