Work Of The Devil (M7+/Man-2)

[Admin Al]

On January 29th, 2006 Jim Ewing did the FA of new mixed route in the Cathedral Cave. The route is named "Work Of The Devil" and follows the general line of an existing rock climb, "The Devil Made Me Dog It". It was rated M7+/Man-2 by Jim and Eric McCallister who assisted in the FA and has attempted the route himself. The M7+ is on the 'New England Mixed' scale, aka. the Freddie Wilkinson scale and the Man scale is one suggested by Doug Madara. The NEM scale is capped at M7+ while the Man scale is open ended.

Jim Ewing is the rope designer for Sterling Rope, located in Scarborough, Maine.

[emac]

Just to clarify, "Work of the Devil" climbs "Devil Made Me Dog It" to the sloping ledge, then climbs new terrain directly above before connecting to the old aid line, which it follows out the lip of the 35' roof.

Also, that is NEM7+, not to be confused by "traditional" M7+. The NEM scale gets capped at 7+ because, let's face it, there is nothing harder that M7 in New England, right??? :-)

[punxnotdead]

Pls explain the MAN rating?

[Laprade]

Please explain how this is a new ice route, and how torquing on an established rock route with significant mechanical advantage is acceptable.  I know it is only "the cave" but jesus, this just doesn't seem right.

[tradmanclimbz]

Because the harder you send the more you can bend the ruze that which is totaly discracefull for the 5.10 climber is accepted procedure for the 5.14 climber. the M rateing seems to take this principle to even lower levels of degeneracy

[wyoclimber]

I dont know, I have seen the climb when it was getting worked and if you ask me it is a hell of a mixed route.  I give credit to anyone that can do it and pull through that stuff.  I dont know that bashing a route and knit picking whether it is a true "new" route or first ascent is worth the energy put into it really.  I grew up on the east coast and moved out west a couple years ago and in areas out here it is hard to pick a "new" line.  Are lines that start on an existing route and diverge 3 bolts from the start and have 4 new bolts to a new anchor a "New Route"??  Who knows and really who cares.  The Devil is a route that is plum line up the center and asthetically pleasing.  It gives people something to work on now in a different season.  If you want to be technical, heck, every time an existing ice route gets climbed it is a new route since it is never the same, at the minimum, each year it is different, forms different, more/less ice... and in NE that can be 3-4 times a season.

All in All you have to give the guy credit, he did something no one else has yet and likely not many people will be able to, that with worth an applause in my book.
KM

[tradmanclimbz]

Never said it wasen't hard. It just looks from the pictuer an afull lot like a rock climb. If it dosent have any ice on it and it is a summer rock climb then hooking up it with tools is going to scratch the heck out of the rock and  not prove anything other than a summer rock climb can be climbed with ice tools? Heck i can climb the damn thing with aiders, hooks, pins, my trusty Chiounard hammer and a few other old fasioned toys but that would just make me a gumby trashing the rock by not climbing clean.  If you crank hard it's ok though

[emac]

I know what you mean...

I was at Cathedral last season, and on multiple days I saw climbers ascending a left facing corner/crack in between the Cave and the North End. When I asked, they said it was called Remission, or something like that. I could not believe what I was seeing, and that it was OK for a 5.8 climber to do this, but would be certainly frowned upon if it it is was a 5.4 climber. Even more surprising, I understand climbers have been scratching their way up this corner since 1976, and that an ascent of this 'rock climb' is even coveted by ice climbers... And they do it just to reach the ice on the face above. I've never heard of such a thing? Have you?

Go figure... :-)

[tradmanclimbz]

Funy thing is that ecery pictuer of remission that i have ever seen shows a significant ammout of ice. Fron the photo, your climb looks as though it has no ice? Granted i am talking out my butt here as I have not seen your climb in the winter. But heck this is the internet

[dogboy]

Hey Eric-
I was the one who was climbing Machine with my partner last weekend...guess I spoke too soon about there being no controversy regarding the Cave.  Oh well...although I challenge anyone to distinguish between the pick and crampon scratches and the drilled pockets, chipped and glued holds, and pin scars up on that roof...

I also think we should all stop using passive pro in the summer, since nuts, tricams, etc, clearly scar the rock and are running climbing for me.

[emac]

Funy thing is that ecery pictuer of remission that i have ever seen shows a significant ammout of ice.

I know, in this photo of Remission there is a lot of ice on the right-hand side of the crack :-)

http://www.neclimbs.com/PhotoPost/data/501/20050120.jpg

[Jim_Ewing]

Did any of you see the Super Bowl on Sunday?  I didn,t but I sure heard about it on Monday.  Everyone was talking about how they would have done things differently.

On Cathedral (for starters):
Diedre
Black Crack
Three Birches
Dresden
Diagonal
Standard Route
Thin Air
Remission
Repentance
And many routes on the upper left wall of Cathedral that are tr,d in very thin conditions on a regular basis, so thin in fact that picks and crampons actually touch rock!  Nutcracker, Double Vee, and Chicken Delight to name a few.  The list could easily go on and not a single one of them was an ice or mixed route before it was a rock route.

Let,s face it, we,re talking about an aid route that has been retro-bolted (from a ladder in fact), chipped, scraped, hammered, and basically carved out of kitty litter.  It has little if anything in common with most of the classics listed above.  I,ve also climbed ‘The Devil Made Me Dog It, as a ‘rock, sport route and broken holds off with my fingers unintentionally.  I thought hard about the ethical issue and the potential for controversy.  I talked with several people, both local and not, about this route.  Not a single one had any objection, and in fact several encouraged me and now others have begun trying the route themselves.

As for the existence of ice on the route, well, there was none the day I completed the roof.  However, I went above the roof to the point where there had been ice two weeks prior.  Also, there often is ice flowing out of the cracks in several places throughout the entire route.  I intend to return as soon as there is sufficient ice (which I hope happens in my lifetime) and connect the route to Cathedral Direct for the full ascent.

And the grade?  Well, I truly and honestly don,t know which is why we have decided to have a bit of fun and use the two new grading systems outlined by the long time local hardmen of the area.

[wyoclimber]

Perhaps it is because I am becoming more use to the practices of out west here but it makes me chuckle to hear so much "controversy" over this route.  I guess the idea of mixed and harder mixed is that it is a lot of rock with little ice.  The last time I was at the Ouray Ice fest, the men,s (and women,s I think) final mixed route, which was a hard one everyone was trying while it lasted, was up 6-7 bolts, all rock, traverse out the bridge span to 8' of ice that was created hanging off chains from the bridge.  If that is what is what the pros call a good hard mixed route...

I climbed a route (and I forget the name) in Hyalite a couple winters ago, classic M4 easier line with little approach that was 4 bolts to about 7 feet of vert pillar and then walk up the drainage 10 feet to slings.  Ask anyone around here and it is a nice easier route if noting else for people to warm up on or give their first mixed try.  Sure it was mostly rock but...

Than again I think I recall talking to some people who climbed with that strange freakishly odd pair that call themselves ice/rock/mixed climbers that climbed the Black Canyon in CO with ice tools to free the aid section.  So I guess we could all just say he "free aided" the climb, aided it with his hooks and hammer (that newer version of Chiounard called Black Diamond I think) and free aided it since he didn,t hang from daisy's or aiders, but holding onto the little hook, the freakishly strong fingers that must take!!!  Then again lets not create another new form of climbing that would be silly.

I wonder what those Scots would say since many of their climbs of Nevis are "ice" but yet 80% rock, or ice but the type that forms on your beard when it is cold with snot running down it and Styrofoam .

I wonder if we should stop climbing the high peaks in the winter because man, those crampon scratches on the rock to the tops distracts from my connection to the ancient granite of millenniums past.  Ok now I am just rambling.
.

[punxnotdead]

Certainly Work of the Devil is quite an accomplishment!  I assume it goes out to the ice that hangs off of Cathedral Direct at the anchor (over the lip).  This sort of climbing is being done every where- geesh look at the stuff that is being profiled in the popular climbing mags.....

As long as the climbing stays on the $hit rock and not widen any of the piton scars on the good cracks (oh yeah, those lockers we all enjoy were made by pitons....oops).  Still, I would err on good judgement and preservation of the "good" climbs. 

Keep up the hard work.

BTW----what is the Man rating?

[tradmanclimbz]

I have no problem with this rt. I am just trying to cause some discussion on the whole concept of climbing completly dry rock with ice tools. My point about how hardness writes it own rules seems pretty well founded as several people pointed out that this is how the hard guys and gals do it. My opinion is that being hard does not nessicarly make you right.  About 5 or six years ago one of your local guides suited up and dry Tool  top roped one of the cleanest and most classic  5.10 face climbs in the state of VT. Monkey Direct at Deer Leap. This Climb has NEVER had ANy ice on it and it certainly did NOT have ice on it in october comfortable rock climbing temps. This kid was pretty strong and precise so the climb was not dammaged. There is absolutly no doubt in my mind though that the climb would have been trashed if his posse of hero worshipers had attempted to do laps on the same climb. There was enough grumbiling from the other rock climbers there that that did not happen. My point is where do you draw the line??