[轉錄]Climbing Free--The Shield on El Cap (Lynn Hill)

[sometimes (sometimes)]

轉載自 grigri 俊奇的網頁:
http://www.climber.idv.tw/~ballki/rock/article/lynnhill_2.htm


Quoted from R&I magazine, July 2002


        這期的Rock&Ice雜誌作了一個女性的特集, 介紹女性在攀登歷史
中所佔的地位, 第一篇當然是 Lynn Hill的文章. 看了這篇以後讓我有很
深的感觸, 倒也不是性別的差異所突顯出來特別, 而是它讓我想起在優勝
美地的日子, 以及對這種真正大岩壁攀登的憧憬. 在今日或許於人工岩場
訓練就可能可以爬到5.13以上, 一些比賽型的選手也盡量待在 gym訓練比
較有效率, 因為比賽的場地本身都是人工岩場, 但是在這樣追求級數的迷
思之中, 也許會少了一些攀岩本身更為吸引人的體驗, 光是在gym 爬的很
厲害並不足以在攀岩歷史中留下名字, 所以我並不會特別去注意現在世界
盃冠軍是什麼人, 因為那已經完全變成運動層次的競賽, 而世界上頂尖的
高手會走出戶外去挑戰一些不可能的路線, 那樣才能真正留下什麼東西來

        Lynn Hill 是我蠻崇拜的一位攀岩者, 從她的眼神就可以看出一
股堅毅的決心, 她的決心是全方面的, 她並不被定位為某一種攀登型式的
攀岩者, 不管是 sport climbing, competition, big wall climbing or
aid-climbing, 她都能勇於去嚐試, 並且有著傲人的成績. 耐心的看完這
篇之後, 你將會了解她之所以會被很多攀岩的人崇拜的特質.


Ps: 翻的很爛, 請多多包含, 因為中文造詣不好而且在極短的時間內完成
    這篇翻譯的, 還是盡量看原文吧! ....................... grigri


==========================================================================
　
From her early days as a 16-year-old climbing gypsy in Camp4, to
her years as a Hollywood stunt double, to her still unrepeated
free ascent of the Nose in a day, Lynn Hill is unquestionably
the world's most colorful and influential female climber.

This spring, Hill released her memoir, Climbing Free: My Life i
the Vertical world, which presents a vivid portrait of life as
a woman in a largely male-dominated sport.
　

十六歲的她就已經在優勝美地的 camp 4 過著吉普賽式的野營生活, 她的經歷比
好萊屋電影更加地驚險刺激, 以及她至今還沒有任何人能完成的壯舉: 在一天之
內以自由攀登上 El Cap的 Nose, Lynn Hill 無疑是世界上最具色彩, 也最具影
響力的女性攀岩者, 今年春天她出版了她的自傳, Climbing Free: My Life in
the Vertical World, 內容描繪了她多采多姿的攀岩歷程, 在這以男性為主的運
動中佔了一個很重要的地位.


In the summer of 1979, Lynn Hill made her first-ever ascent of The
Nose on El Cap with Dean Fidleman, a Joshua Tree regular, and Mari
Gingery, a research biologist from L.A. and frequent weekend partner
fro Hill. Shortly thereafter, Gingery and Hill decide to try their
luck on a more intimidating climb, Th Shield on El Cap.


1979年的夏天, Lynn Hill 生平第一次爬上了 El Capitan (酋長岩) 的Nose,
與Dean Fidleman (Joshua Tree 國家公園的管理者) 和 Mari Gingery (一位
生物學家, 也是Hill平常週末爬岩的繩伴). 不久之後, Gingery 和 Hill 決定
再去嚐試更困難, 更具威脅性的攀登: --The Shield on El Capitan.


(Written by Lynn Hill)

The Nose introduced Mari and me to the cult of El Capitan. Back then,
on the cusp of the ‘70s and ‘80’s, climbers viewed the experience
of living for days on end on a gigantic cliff as a mystical pilgrimage.
These were heady times. We indulged in these “vertical retreats”as
a means of reaffirming ou belief in the virtue of abandoning material
comforts in favor of the kind of character-building experiences that
inevitably occur on these  big-wal journeys. Through such intense
experiences, you get to know your partner’s true nature without
pretense. Mari and I were good friends,  and we worked together well.


Nose 這條路線引領著我和 Mary 兩個虔誠的膜拜者走進 El Capitan(酋長岩)
的殿堂, 在那個時代, 從七零年代末期到八零年代之間, 攀岩者把為時數日的大
岩壁攀登經驗當成是一種神秘的朝聖. 我們會沉浸於這種 "垂直世界的退隱" ,
來重新肯定我們的信念, 對於遠離物質的享受以及所培養的人格特質, 而這些都
會在大岩壁的攀登過程中顯現出來. 經過這種極度的考驗, 你將會知道你繩伴最
自然而不經過矯飾的本性. Mary和我是很好的朋友, 而我們在一起共事的經驗也
十分愉快


    The Nose had provided a good challenge for Mari and me, and we
want more, so we planned another El Cap route. The Shield is a
big-wall experience altogether different from the Nose. While the
Nose is steep, especially in the upper third of the route in the
huge corners, the Shield is so overhangin that a drop of water
falling from top of the route would land in the forest 200 feet out
from the base. The last chunk of the climb – a  1,000-foot featur
known as the Headwall – just over the floor of the valley so
dramatically that the first time I watched a party climbing up it,
I  was  reminded of two flie crawling around the underside of a giant
hot-air balloon. The only way to climb this overhanging wall is by
slow and methodical aid-climbing tactics. Thoug I was more
enthusiastic about the natural movement of free climbing, the
dramatic,  wildly exposed position that we'd get ourselves into on
the Shield mad the labor of aid-climbing – which I have no interest
in if taken as a  style on its own – seem worth the  effort. We were
entering he arena of hard-cor big-wall climbing.


Nose雖然對Mary和我來說是很大的挑戰, 但我們還想要更多, 於是我們就著手開
始計畫另外一條酋長岩的路線. The Shield 和 Nose是兩個完全不同的大岩壁經
驗,  Nose很陡峭, 特別是路線上面約三分之一的部分, 而 The Shield則是完全
的懸出, 從頂端丟一瓶水下來可能會落在離酋長岩底部約 200呎外的森林裡. 路
線後面一大段—約1000呎的完整岩壁部分被稱為the Headwall – 是那麼地懸出
於谷地之上, 以至於當我第一次在地面看到一組繩隊在爬它的時候, 那個畫面讓
我聯想到兩隻蒼蠅匍伏在一個巨大的熱氣球下方慢慢爬升著. 唯一能爬上這段大
懸岩的方法只有靠緩慢而實際的人工攀登. 儘管我對強調肢體動作的自由攀登有
更大的熱忱, 而且也沒有興趣把人工攀登當成是一種爬岩風格, 但我們是那麼熱
切地想要完成這條路線, 即使是淪為做苦功的人工攀登者, 那也是很值得的付出
. 我們即將進入真正大岩壁攀登的精髓.
　

    To say we were apprehensive about doing a climb as wild as the
Shield was an understatement. But once the work began, there was no
more time to be nervous. At that stage in our climbing, every
experience was new, so we were used to finding new ways to adapt to
whatever situation we were in. We alway seemed to find new ways to
make it work. On the Shield, however, we would have to find a way.
Once we climbed onto the Headwall, we would have  no choic about
backing off; rappelling back down such an overhang becomes nearly
impossible. So once we passed this landmark,  we knew we would be
committed.  Mor common to mountaineering, this aspect of the sport
is all about the mental space you occupy when  you know there's no
turning back.


若說我們已經完全做好準備, 要去攀爬像 The Shield 那麼狂野的路線, 那是有
點言過其實了, 但一旦這決心下定之後, 我們沒有多餘的時間去緊張和憂慮. 到
了這種階段的攀登, 所有的體驗都是新的, 我們也不斷地試著找尋新的方法來適
應或克服可能會遭遇到的狀況. 事實上, 在攀登the Shield時, 我們也必須找到
新的方式, 因為一旦我們爬到Headwall上面, 我們將沒有撤退的選擇: 從那麼大
的懸岩上垂降下來將是件不太可能的事. 所以當我們爬過這個地標時, 我知道我
們將形同被通緝. 這情況在真正的登山運動中是很普遍的, 到了這種層次的攀登
, 全都在考驗你心智的表現佔了多少份量, 特別是當你知道: 沒有回頭路可選擇
時.


The Shield

    Prior to setting off on the shield, we learned that two other
teams wanted to jump on the route, too – Randy Leavitt and Gary
Zachar, both californians, and one team from Arizona. Both teams
had a wealth of big-wall experience under their belts. We agreed
to let these all-male parties step in line ahead o us, and we stalled
our departure for a couple of days. We figured that letting the
faster, wall-hardened climbers go first was  the “gantlemanly”
thing t do. On our first day on the wall, we were surprised to see
both teams rappel past us on their way down.  First Randy and Gary
came down because Randy ha gotten a splinter of metal in his eye.
Then the team from Arizona followed.


在開始攀登The Shield之前, 我們得知同一時間將有兩支隊伍要去爬它 –
Randy Leavitt 和 Gary Zachar, 兩個加洲人的隊伍; 還有另外一隊來自亞利桑
那, 這兩支隊伍都擁有比我們更豐富的大牆攀登經驗. 我們都同意讓這兩支純男
性的隊伍先攀登, 並把出發的時間往後延個一兩天, 我們感到讓這些快速的, 硬
底子的隊伍先走是很”紳士”的行為. 但是當我們開始攀登的第一天, 我們很驚
訝地看到這兩支隊伍紛紛撤退垂降下來. 先經過我們的是 Randy 和 Gary 兩人組
因為Randy在敲岩釘時被金屬小碎片擊中他的眼睛, 接著那個亞利桑那的隊伍也下
來了

     “What’s wrong? Why are you retreating? “
 I shouted up to one of the Arizona climbers above me.
 I wondered if the storm of the century was bearing down on Yosemite.
Yet the sky was blue.

     “We heard someone take one hell of a fall earlier this morning.
There was a terrible scream He must be way fucked up, or dead.
It kinda freaked us out, so we decided to bail,” came the reply.


“你們怎麼了? 為什麼撤退?” 我叫著他們問道, 並且懷疑是否世紀的風暴即將
降臨優勝美地山谷. 可是天空還很晴朗.

“ 稍早之前, 我們聽到一聲驚人的慘叫聲回盪整個山谷, 一定是有人墜落了很
長的距離, 我們猜測他一定掛了或什麼的, 那聲音真有點嚇人, 讓我們無心戀戰
, 所以我們就決定撤退", 他們回答道.


      “Mari and I eyed each other, then explained the story behind
this blood-curdling scream. Mari’s boyfriend, Mike Lechlinski, and
Yabo (the late John Yablonski) had set off at midnight to climb the
3,000-foot-long Triple Direct route on El Cap in a day. When Mari and
I arrived at the parking area below E Cap early that morning and saw
the two of them standing by their car, we knew something had gone
wrong. Mike was arranging their gear  while Yabo leane against the
fender, smoking a cigarette, staring into the forest.


Mari 與我不約而同地互看了一眼, 然後開始解釋這血腥的慘叫聲背後的故事.
Mari的男朋友, Mike Lechlinski 和他朋友Yabo (已故的John Yablonski) 兩
個人於這天午夜出發, 想要在一天之內爬上3000英呎高的El Capitan的路線:
Triple Direct, 當稍早之前我和Mari抵達El Cap下面的停車場時, 卻看到他
們兩個人站在車子旁邊, 我們就知道一定是有什麼事不對勁了. Mike在整理他
們的裝備, 而Yabo則斜倚在車子的保險桿旁抽煙, 雙眼凝視著森林的深處.


    “What happened?” Mari asked

    “Yabo took an 80-footer!” Mike shot back.

    At this Yabo uttered one of the staccato sniggers he was known to
emit whenever nervous or unsure himself.

    “Yabo, are you okay?” I asked, looking him up and down from head
to toe, searching for blood or bruises. He appeared unscathed.

    “Yeah, I’m fine. I was climbing in my tennis shoes since it was
easy up there. I was climbing with a pack and a full rack of gear, but
I didn't bother to put in any protection. It was 4:30 in the morning,
so it was a bit hard to see. I was cruising fast until I was nearly at
the top of the pitch and suddenly I realized that I messed up my hand
sequence. Just then my foot popped off the face and I took a huge
whipper, “ came his sheepish  admission


    “ 你們怎麼了? “ ,Mari問.

    “ Yabo 他剛墜落了80呎! “, Mike叫道. 在這同時Yabo發出幾聲乾笑,
似乎在抒洩他內心的緊張和不安.

    “Yabo, 你還好吧!?” 我對著他全身上下打量著, 想要找出任何流血或淤
青的地方, 然而他似乎毫髮無傷.

    “Yeah, I'm fine. 當時我穿著我的網球鞋在爬, 因為那段繩距還蠻簡單的
, 我身上雖然掛著一堆雞絲和裝備, 可是我並沒有想到要放任何固定點. 那時是
凌晨四點半, 視線還有點模糊, 我爬的很快, 但就在快到達繩距頂端之前, 我突
然發現我手的順序錯了, 接著在那一瞬間我的腳就滑掉了, 然後我的身體就騰空
了起來….”他有點不好意思地回答道.
　

    “He was 100 feet up, on the 10th pitch!” exclaimed Mike. “When
I saw him flying through the air, I reeled in slack through the belay
device, but I could see he had no pro between me and him. I thought
for sure we’d be dead, he’s gonna rip us off the wall. Strawberry
jam, here we come. But then hi rope hooked around a mysterious knob
or feature just barely big enough to catch his fall. If he had fallen
10 feet farther, he would have come  crashing dow onto Mammoth Terraces.
As soon as Yabo scrambled back down the last few feet onto the ledge,
I flipped the rope and it came  tumbling back down!  I don’ know how
the rope snagged on that chunk of rock, but if it hadn’t, Yabo would
have gone another 80 feet! I  knew Yabo was not  badly hurt when he
said “Let’s go for it. We can do it.”


    “他那時離我約100呎高, 在第10個pitch上 !” , Mike嚷道. “ 我看到他
騰空的墜落, 然後又瞥見他和我之間沒有任何的固定點, 我想我們死定了, 他將
把我們倆扯下岩壁. 草莓醬! 我們來了!!  但是接著他的繩子奇蹟似地勾到一個
岩壁上的突起特徵, 剛好那突起大到足以勾住繩子並停止他的墜落. 如果他再多
墜落個10呎 他將會撞到 Mammoth Terraces的小平台. 就在他回到岩壁並上攀幾
呎到一個小岩階的當時,  我把繩子抖了一下, 就看到繩子從岩壁上滾落下來,
我們並不曉得繩子是如何勾住岩壁上的那塊突起的, 如果沒有的話, Yabo至少會
再多墜落個80呎, 到時候可能連我們的確保固定點都不保了. 我知道Yabo並沒有
過度地受到驚嚇  因為聽到他接著說道 “讓我們再試一次吧! 我們可以成功的!”


    Yabo laughed again in a quavering, shell-shocked way, then he lit
another cigarette. I looked him in the eye and shook me head, half in
disgust at his recklessness, half out of concern. This brush with
death was just the latest in a slew of near misses for Yabo. In a
world where people slip on the ice o their front doorstep and die,
Yabo lived like a cat with nine lives, defying the consequence of
gravity, doing everything the dangerous way,  falling wit impunity.

    The Shield was still there, though, awaiting Mari and me, so after
hugging the boys and saying good-bye, we started jumaring up our ropes
to Heat Ledge, where we had fixed them a few days earlier. As Mari
started jumaring the ropes, she said to herself, “Someday Yabo’s not
gonna walk away from his craz ways.” It would take a few years, but
she would prove to be right.


    Yabo 又再度笑了, 以顫抖和驚魂未定的聲音, 接著他燃起了另一支煙. 我
看著他的眼睛並搖了搖頭, 一半是怪他太過於粗心大意, 一半也是出於關心. 這
次與死亡擦身而過的經歷只是他一連串與性命交關的經驗其中之一. 在這個人們
於自家門前掃雪都可能滑倒而喪命的世界, Yabo像是一隻有九條命的貓, 藐視地
心引力的後果以危險的行徑來做任何事情, 但他都能夠全身而退.

而The Shield依舊矗立在那裡, 等待著我和Mari, 在跟 Mike 和 Yabo 擁抱和道
別過後, 我們開始推jumar上攀到Heat Ledge,  那固定繩是我們幾天前就架好的
當 Mari 開始推 jumar 時她說道:“我想Yabo永遠不會離開他的瘋狂行徑.” 不
出幾年的時間, 事實將證明了她這句話是對的.


Now that the last of the men had retreated, we had the wall to ourselves.
It humored us to know that despite the more impressive range of
experience that these teams had over us, we remained the determined
ones, going to the top.

    “A wall without balls,” I jokingly said to Mari, referring to
the term Bev Johnson and Sybille Hechtel had coined when they did the
first all-female ascent of the Triple Direct on El Cap in 1973. The
Shield, which loomed frighteningly steep over our heads, was now the
sole domain of two women


    現在最後的男生隊伍已經撤退了, 只剩下我們面對整座岩壁. 很幽默地, 這
告訴我們儘管那些隊伍的經驗比我們多出很多, 我們仍然是最有決心的一隊 –
going to the top!

    “A wall without balls,” 我開玩笑地對著 Mari 說. 這是在1973年 Bev
Johnson 和 Sybille Hechtel 第一支純女性的隊伍爬上 El Cap 的 Triple Direct
時所用的詞. The Shield陡峭的岩壁在我們的頭上呈現令人畏懼的景象, 現在全然
是兩個女人獨占的領域.


    For the first two days of the climb we inched up El Cap’s
glacier-cut face, slowly gaining height by the unfamiliar mode of
aid-climbing, and even more slowly dragging up our haulbag. Our bag
was loaded with so much equipment, water and food that it outweighed
both of us combine. So on the first few hundre feet of the wall, Mari
and I rigged a two-person hauling system. We each pulled out backward
with all our might on the haul line,  winching the bag’s weigh through
a small pulley. Our pig crawled up the wall in small surges. Our skin
was rubbed raw from pulling  on the rope. Sweat  poured out of us


       前兩個攀登天我們緩慢地爬升於El Capitan的冰河侵蝕面, 以不熟悉的
人工攀登方式一吋一吋地增加高度, 背包拖吊的速度甚至還更緩慢. 我們的大牆
背包裝了許多的裝備, 還有這幾天大岩壁生活所需的食物和水, 一開始的重量超
過我們兩個的體重加起來, 所以在前幾百英呎我們採用兩人的背包拖吊系統, 背
包的重量纏繞於一個小滑輪上, 我們每一個人盡最大的力氣往後拉著拖吊繩, 我
們的那隻豬(大牆背包)慢慢地一點一滴的在岩壁上爬升著, 在拉繩子的過程中我
們的皮膚都磨破了皮, 汗如泉水般湧下.


    After two days on the wall, we became accustomed to living in a
reality where survival required us to concentrate on each move and to
evaluate the consequences of every action, whether it was hammering
in a piton or clipping ourselves into our batlike hanging bivouacs.
During those intense moments o total engagement, I would become
acutely aware of that little voice of intuition that is so often
obscured by the clutter and command of our  day-to-da thinking on the
ground. On the 16th pitch, while bashing a piton into an expanding
crack, the thought occurred to me that perhaps  I should have
hammere this piton a little harder. In the next instant, after I
clipped my aider and stood up in it, the piton  ripped out with a
loud ping.  I flew 30 feet  backwar before a well-placed piece of
gear caught me on the rope. The fall was over in less  than a breath,
but  the memory of the need to  listen to the quiet internal voice of
warning was never forgotten.


      在岩壁上待了兩天之後, 我們漸漸習慣了岩壁上的生活, 在垂直的世界裡
, 為了生存, 你必須要集中所有的注意力於每一步動作, 並評估每一個舉動所帶
來的後果, 不管是敲入一根岩釘, 或是把自己扣入過夜用的懸吊式吊床. 在這種
需要極度專注的環境下, 我變的更為敏銳地能察覺到內心潛意識的直覺所發出的
小小聲音, 而那些很容易在我們平地嘈雜的日常生活裡被忽略. 在第十六個繩距
, 我正把一根岩釘敲進一個膨脹的裂隙, 我的腦中突然閃過一個念頭: 我應該把
這根岩釘敲深一點, 就在下一刻, 當我把馬凳扣進去並站上它, 那根岩釘突然”
乒”一大聲被扯出來了, 我向下飛了將近30呎, 直到一個放的很好的固定點才把
我吊住. 那次的墜落雖在呼吸間就結束了, 可是所學到的教訓卻是一輩子也無法
忘懷的: 要去仔細聆聽內心深處所發出的警告聲音.


    Night was a precious time when we could relax, eat, drink and gaze
up at the stars – but only after an hour of fiddling with our bunks.
Mari had it good – she owned one of the first portaledges ever made.
This newfangled gadget was a six-pound collapsible cot consisting of
an aluminum frame strung wit a nylon sheet. It hung from six webbing
straps all sewn together into a single loop, into which she clipped
the anchor. It made a comfortable  sailor-styl bunk. My bed wasn't
so deluxe. It was a banana-shaped hammock in which I slumped like a
caterpillar in a cocoon. My first night  in this was  dire. In th
corner of a dihedral, I hung in a bent position all night long,
shifting from side to side in discomfort.


        晚上的時間是很珍貴且難忘的, 我們可以放鬆緊張的心情來吃東西, 喝
水, 以及仰望天上的星星 – 在我們花了一小時的時間來架設我們睡覺用的吊床
之後 – 而Mari在這方面很行, 因為她擁有第一個專門設計給大岩壁攀登用的吊
床, 這種新型的玩意兒是個重約六磅的可摺疊式吊床, 以鋁作為骨架, 尼龍布作
為底, 由邊緣六條平均受力的帶環縫在一個單一的環上, 固定點只要扣入那個環
就好了, 張開來是一個很舒適的、平坦的帆船式吊床. 而我的床就沒有那麼奢侈
了, 它只是一個香蕉狀的傳統式吊床, 躺在上面時會陷下去被裹在裡面, 像是隻
包在蛹裡面的毛毛蟲. 我在岩壁上睡覺的第一晚是很悲慘的, 那個位置是在一個
內角裡面, 我彎著身體裹在吊床內掛了一整個晚上, 而且身體必須不停變換方向
, 十分的不舒服.


    On the fourth day, Mari led us up to the Headwall. The pitch she
followed to get us there was dubbed the Shield Roof, and it was
indeed a giant of a root. Hanging upside down under the root to place
each piece of gear, she dangled in her aiders, whacking in pitons and
placing nuts whenever possible

    Hour passed while Mari led to the end of the Shield Roof. Finally
, shouting down through the afternoon wind that blew our hanging loops
of rope in a swirling dance, she let me know that she was off belay.
I jumared up while removing a few precarious-looking copperhead
placements she had hammered in. Whe I pulled around from underside of
the ceiling and joined Mari at the start of the Headwall, I found that
we were poised in an outrageous  position. Under ou feet, there was
nothing but air. Above us rose 1,000 feet of smooth, overhanging orange
granite. To either side of us,  the walls curved  around out of sight
We seemed to be suspended on the edge of the world, and the two of us
and our pig hung from three  steel botls the  length, yet not quite
the thickness, of  half-smoked. Feeling vulnerable, I instinctively
checked the knot at my waist, the  only thing  securing me to the
anchor. I could see now  why this climb ha been named the Shield:
The feature we were on resembled the  curving battle shield  of a
warrior.


        在第四天的時候, Mari引領我們爬到了 the Headwall 的下面, 這段繩
距一開始是鼎鼎大名的 the Shield Roof, 那的確是一個很巨大的天花板. 掛在
上面彷彿整個世界都顛倒了過來般, 頭上面是地, 腳下面是天空. Mari正懸掛在
固定點上, 盡她最大的可能來把岩釘敲進裂隙

    幾個小時過去了, 她終於爬到了the Shield天花板外面, 她的叫聲透過午後
把我們的帶環吹得翩翩起舞的微風傳了下來, 她讓我知道可以解除確保了. 我推
著jumar上攀, 一邊移除幾個她所敲進的, 看起來很恐怖的coppperhead (註: 人
工固定點的一種, 一端是具延展性的金屬, 隨著大力的敲入, 可以適應不規則的
小裂隙形狀). 當我推過這段大天花板, 在the Headwall 開始處與Mari會合, 我
發現我們處在一個無法想像的地方 – 在我們的腳下, 除了空氣之外什麼都沒有
, 在我們的頭上聳立著一千多呎高, 光滑的, 橙黃色的花崗岩大懸岩. 不管是我
們上下任何一邊的岩壁, 都以漂亮的彎曲弧度延伸出我們的視線之外. 我們好像
是懸掛在世界的邊緣!!  我和Mari, 和我們那隻日漸消瘦的豬, 就掛在三顆被敲
入不到半根煙長度的 bolts上. 身處在這種極度脆弱的環境之下, 我直覺地檢查
了吊帶上的每一個繩結, 這是讓我連在固定點上的唯一確保. 現在我終於知道為
什麼這條路線叫做 "the Shiled" , 從我們所處的位置看起來, 整個岩壁就像是
戰士所拿的圓弧狀盾牌.


Shield Roof

    We had reached the point of no return. It would be impossible to
rappel down from here. It was now summit or bust. But we grew
accustomed to the exposure of our perch, and once we set up our
portaledge and hammock for another bivouac, the calm of twilight
descended, and Mari and I were finally abl to rest. A distant strip
of clouds in the west, over the plains of the San Joaguin Valley,
glowed with brilliant colors. Hanging side by  side in our bivoua
cocoons, we munched bagels and crunched M&Ms. We had no fear of the
height, only an enhanced sense of intimacy  between us. Up here in
this giddy place,  felt as if we were the last people left on earth
and secrets were of the rare times  when we could speak  woman-to-woman
without a bunch of  guys hangin around, the topic of our conversation
revolved around our relationships  with men. I  gazed down to the
snake-like curve of the Merced River and  the gree crescent of El Cap
Meadow.


    我們已經到達不能回頭的地方, 要從這裡垂降下去是十分不可能的事, 現在
開始只有登頂或是出事這兩個結果. 但我們已經逐漸地習慣於這種高度的暴露感
, 當我們架好過夜用的吊床時, 寧靜的薄暮籠罩下來, 也是一天之中可以放鬆的
時候, 遙遠的西邊一抹雲霞橫過San Joaquin 山谷平原的上方, 閃耀著輝煌的色
彩. 坐在緊靠著一起的吊床上, 我們啃著培果, 咀嚼著M&m巧克力, 我們沒有任
何的高度恐懼感, 只有彼此之間與日漸增的熟悉和親密感. 在這種令人暈眩的地
方, 我覺得我們像是地球上僅存的最後兩個人, 秘密已經沒有什麼用處, 或許這
也是我們很少機會能作女人之間單獨面對面地談話, 而沒有一群男生圍繞在身旁
. 但我們談話的主題卻也都圍繞在我們與男生之間的關係. 我凝視著腳下如蛇狀
般蜿蜒的 Merced河, 以及旁邊呈新月形的 El Capitan草原.


    The next morning, as we began up the five pitches of the Headwall
, we entered the realm of cutting-edge aid-climbing. When Charlie
Porter first climbed this intimidating part of El Cap with his partner
, Gary Bocarde, in 1972, they came away with a route that pushed aid
climbing into a new dimension, becaus never before had a climb been
created that was comprised of such tenuous features. They gave the
Shield the most difficult big-wall rating  of A5, thoug subsequent
ascents have hammered out the eroded crack so that today it accepts
larger pitons, and the rating is  easier, more like A3+. Porter,
however faced a seam in the wall that was the thickness of a strand
of hair and that was just millimeter deep. No  piton  fitted this
crack other than the  tinies type, called RURP. This hatchet-shaped
piton is the size and thickness of a  nickel, and its blade pokes
into  a  crack no more than a quarter inch. The inventor of the RURP,
Yvon Chouniard (the blacksmith climber who  went on to  found the
immensely successful  clothing  company Patagonia) dubbed his new
desig the Realized Ultimate Reality  Piton—RURP for short. He
figured that no  piton could be smaller and still  hold a  climber's
weight

    Porter climbed the Headwall on the Shield using scores of RURPs
– 35 of them in a row on one pitch. Porter was apparently quite
cavalier about launching off into the unknown on these micro-pitons,
but when Bocarde jumared up the rope and pulled most of the RURPS
out with his finger, the pair wer sobered, realized that a leader
fall would have probably ripped out every piece on the pitch.
According to Bocarde, he yelled up at Porter in a  fit of blac humor,
“Charlie, I am cutting the rope if you fall.” After the climb was
over, it created quite a stir as being the  hardest route on El Cap,
though Ji Bridwell soon superseded it with even more risky, technical
routes like Pacific Ocean Wall  and Sea of Dreams. But in its  heyday
, the Shield was  the ultimat wall. “Porter has gotten inside the
RURP and is looking out,”quipped the famous  climber Royal Robbins,
bestowing this  reclusive guru of  big-wall cultur the Realized
Ultimate Reality Compliment.


        隔天早晨, 我們開始攀登the Headwall 的五個繩距, 我們已經進入最
上乘的人工攀登境界. Charlie Porter和他的繩伴 Gary Bocarde 在1972年首次
攀登 El Cap的這一部分令人生畏的岩壁時, 他們把人工攀登的應用推向一個前
所未有的範疇, 因為之前從來沒有人爬過一面岩壁像這樣那麼少的破綻以及細微
的裂隙所構成. 他們給 th Shield 訂下最難的大牆攀登級數: A5, 儘管許多後
繼的攀登逐漸地把岩壁的裂隙越敲越大, 所以今日它已經可以接受較大的岩釘,
難度也被降為約A3+. 然而, 當年Porter在攀登時, 他所面對的是一條不過幾束
髮線寬, 僅有幾毫米深的裂縫, 沒有任何岩釘能適合這種裂隙, 除了最細微得一
型-- 稱為RURP. 這是一種斧狀的岩釘, 大小和厚度約和一枚鎳幣差不多, 它的
斧片戳入裂縫不到四分之一吋深.

RURP的發明者, Yvon Chouniard--黑史密斯區的攀岩者, 現在是知名休閒衣服品
牌 Patagonia的老闆--當初在推出這種最新設計的時候, 把它命名為
the Realized Ultimate Reality Piton (實現終極真實的岩釘), 簡稱RURP.
他覺的沒有任何岩釘可以比它更小又能撐住攀登者的重量.

      Porter在攀登the Headwall時用了許多的RURPs -- 在一個pitch內密集
地用了35個. 顯然的他那時對於這種新設計是相當滿意的, 但是當它的繩伴
Bocarde爬second推jumar上來, 並且用他的手指就能輕易地把所有的RURP移除,
這兩個人終於清醒了, 明白了先鋒的墜落很可能就會將它們全都扯出.

根據Bocarde的描述, 他以黑色幽默的口吻對Porter說 "Charlie, 你墜落的話
我會馬上切斷繩子.”當他們完攀the Shield後, 對於這條路線是El Cap最難
的路線的說法, 一時之間甚為流行, 雖然 Jim Bridwel 後來又完成其他更危
險或更技巧性的路線來取代 the shield, 如Pacific Wall 和 Sea of Dreams,
但在它的全盛期時, the Shield一直是終極不可侵犯的岩壁.

"Porte 已經到達 RURP的境界, 並且向外看" 著名的攀岩者 Royal Robbins 對
這位大岩壁攀登文化的隱逸者給了這樣的評價.


    Our progress slowed to a snail’s pace as we cope with difficulties
of Headwall. Poking out of the crack ahead of me were occasional RURPs
that had been hammered in so tightly by other ascents that they could
not be removed. Old and tattered bits of skinny webbing tied to these
fixed pieces flapped in th breeze. These little slings creaked like
ripping fabric when I hung from them. They felt ready to break, so I
hurried on to the next  placement. The onl thing in my favor was that
my weigh – around 100 pounds – exerted less force on the pins than
other climbers. Porter, or any  other guy  who had climbed th route
since him, likely weighed nearly twice as much as me.

    On the fifth day, we exited the Headwall, hauling onto a large,
sloping rock platform called Chickenhead Ledge, so named for the black
knobs of intrusive diorite that poke through the bed of white granite.
With only one day left before we topped out, we slept well here, knowing
we'd be on fla earth by the next afternoon. Some of our pitches had taken
us five hours to lead. I wondered if I would bother doing another big
nailing route ever  again It was so slow and tedious at times. We'd
later learn that in the time it took us to lead three pitches on the
Headwall, Mari's boyfriend Mike, with  Joh Bachar, Had climbed all 33
pitches of the Nose!


在面對困難的the Headwall時, 我們的進度慢到像蝸牛一樣, 在我面前細微的裂
隙上偶爾會出現幾根RURP, 那是被之前攀登的人非常用力的打進裡面, 以至於拆
不出來. 有一小段老舊而破損的帶環綁在上面, 在微風下拍動搖曳著, 這些小帶
環在我重量掛上去的時候發出喀吱喀吱的布料撕裂的聲音, 好像真的要裂開似的
, 所以我趕緊移到下一個支點上面. 我想對我而言最大優點是我的體重—大約
100磅左右— 所以施加較少的重量在於固定支點上, Porter 或是其他攀登這條
路線的男生, 很可能對固定點的施力是我的兩倍以上.

第五個攀登天, 我們終於通過了the Headwall, 來到一個大斜板的平台, 稱作
Chickenhead ledge, 這稱呼是因為突然有一塊大形的閃長岩插入花崗岩的岩壁
中. 離登頂只剩下一天的時間, 所以我們在這裡睡的特別好, 明天下午我們的雙
腳就可以站上平坦的土地上了. 回想前幾天的攀登, 有的繩距甚至花了我們五個
小時的時間leading, 我甚至懷疑以後會不會想再嚐試另一條蝸牛似的大岩壁路
線. 後來才知道, 在我們爬 the Headwall 其中三個繩距的時間, Mari的男朋友
Mike和 John Bachar 已經爬完了 th Nose 的全部三十三個繩距.


    The next day – our sixth since leaving the Valley floor – we
pulled over the edge of El Cap. Twenty- nine pitches lay behind us.
The relief of the climb being over and the elation of finally standing
on top was enhanced by the presence of John and Mike, who had hiked to
meet us on top, just as Mari an I had done when reached the top of the
Shield. In fact, that was when John had suggested that Mari and I climb
this route together. After  hearing about wha a sensational climb it was
, Mari and I had looked at each other and said, “Yeah, why not? Let's
go for it.” Though it  was a lot of  work, living in such  spectacular
vertical world had been well worth the effort. Weighed down by our
haulbag and by coils of ropes  and racks  of piton, we  wobbled our legs,
but w were grateful to be able to walk again and return to the comforts
of a hot shower and some  fresh food.


        再隔天, 也就是從我們離開地面後的第六天, 我們登上了酋長岩的頂端
, 總共29個繩距在我們的腳下. 攀登時的緊張心情已全部放鬆, 隨之而來的是滿
心的愉悅與興奮, 而 Mike 和 John 從下面徒步健行上來迎接我們, 更增添不少
歡騰的氣氛. 那也是之前當他們爬上the Shield 時, 我和 Mari所做的事. 事實
上, 是Mike和John 建議 Mary和我去攀登這條路線的, 在聽了這是條那麼地有強
烈感覺的路線, Mari和我互望了一眼並說道: “Yeah, why not? Let’s go for
it.” 儘管是付出了那麼多代價, 但能夠生活在這樣壯觀且垂直的世界裡, 所有
的辛苦與努力都是值得的. 放下我們的大牆背包, 捆好的繩子, 以及一大串沉重
的岩釘, 我們伸了伸腳,  覺得有點不太自然 但我們還是非常感激能夠再度用腳
行走, 並且回到有熱水澡和新鮮食物的舒適世界.


    Ours had been the first female ascent of the Shield. It was
something to be proud of, yet rather than feeling that we had done
something “apart” from men, we felt we had done something “equal”
to men. Before starting the Shield, I had read with some chagrin in
Galen Rowell's book The vertical world o Yosemite,
“Women are conspicuously absent from the climb in this book. I have
no apology to make here because it is not my place to  change history
. Ther simply were no major first ascents in Yosemite done by women
during the formative years of the sport.”

    Back then, our sport was directed by a fraternity of men, and
there was little encouragement or, frankly, inclination for women
to participate. Yet women climbers were out there. True, there were
precious few of us, but it reassured me to know that we had a presence.
Though some people may have take note of our ascent of the Shield,
women had climbed big walls before us. The first all-female ascent
of El Capitan had been Beverly Johnson’s  and Sybill Hechtel's
ascent of the Triple Direct in 1973. Then, in 1977, Brab Eastman
and Molly Higgins made the first all-female  ascent of the Nose.
Self-taught an determined, Brab and Molly made a respectably fast
three-and-a-half-day ascent of their climb – the  same speed as
Mari,  Dean and me.


我們是第一支女生隊伍爬上 the Shield 的, 這算是蠻值的驕傲的事情, 我們
並非覺得我們做了什麼跟男生不一樣的事情, 而是覺得我們能做到跟男生一樣的
事情. 在開始攀登the Shield 之前, 我在 Galen Rowell 的書 “ The Vertical
World of Yosemite” 讀到一段讓我覺得有點無奈的話. “ 女生顯然的在這本書
所介紹的攀登中缺席, 但我不需要為此感到抱歉, 因為我並不能改變歷史. 那只
代表在攀岩發展的初期, 沒有一條路線的首攀是由女生完成的."

在那個時代, 攀岩的運動幾乎全由一票男生所主導, 而沒有一點鼓勵或, 坦白說
, 傾向能讓女性去參與. 但女性攀岩者始終是存在的. 也許真的, 像我們這樣的
人是很珍貴稀有的, 但這更讓我想要去確定: 我們是從不缺席的. 或許以後有人
會對我們 The Shield 的攀登記上一筆, 但在我們之前就有女生爬上大岩壁了,
第一支爬上酋長岩的純女性隊伍, 是由Beverly Johnson 和 Sybille Hechtel
在1973年所爬的 Triple Direct. 然後,  在1977年, Brad Eastman 和 Molly
Higgin 是第一支女生隊伍爬上 the Nose, 在嚴格的自我要求以及決心之下, 她
們以令人敬佩的速度, 三天半, 去完成, 那也是後來我, Dean, 和Mari所花的時
間.


   But if I had a role model or heroine during my formative years of
climbing, it was Beverly Johnson. She had been up El Cap many times
before me, on the first ascents with her boyfriend of the time, Charlie
Porter; with other women; and alone. While books about climbing touted
El Cap climbs like Nort America Wall, put up by Robbins, Chouinard and
others, as being landmark in climbing history, I personally found it
significant to know that Bev  had made  10-day solo ascent of Dihedral
Wall on El Capitan in 1978.

    Her effort is barely mentioned in the climbing books, but after
our climb of the shield, I appreciated Bev’s tenacity all the more.
All the gut-busting work that Mari and I had share – leading, hauling,
everything – had been done by Bev, as a team of one, on the Dihedral
Wall. I was awed, but not just b the know-how and hard work she’d put
into her ascent. It was the courage and confidence that it took to put
herself on the line, to do  something on th cutting edge – to climb
one of the world’s greatest big walls in the hardest possible ways:
solo. She had succeeded, and  she’d given  women climbers lik me
enormous confidence to be ourselves and not feel limited by being a
minority in a male-dominated sport.


如果說在我早期攀岩時有一個崇拜的對象或女英雄, 那一定是 Beverly Johnson.
在我之前, 她已經很多次爬上酋長岩了, 第一次是與她當時的男朋友, Charlie
Porter; 其他還有與別的女生; 或者甚至是, 自己一個人.  在幾本介紹攀登酋
長岩並標榜著優勝美地的攀登歷史的書如 ”North American Wall”, 由
Robbins, 和Chouinard等人出版時, 我私下發現一件有象徵性且意義重大的事情
: 在1978年, Beverly 曾經花了十天的時間獨攀上 El Capitan的Dihedral Wall
.

她的事蹟卻幾乎沒有被其他攀岩的書籍所提及, 但當我們完成 The Shield 的攀
登時, 我只有更能領會她的堅毅與固執. 我和Mari所分擔的所有叩心瀝血的事--
先鋒、拖吊背包等等, 她曾全部一個人承擔過, 以一個人的隊伍, 在Dihedral
Wall這條路線上.

       我感到非常的驚訝, 但不僅只欽佩於她的能力以及所付出的努力, 更重要
的是要有很大的勇氣和自信, 才能讓她下定決心, 做這麼前衛的事情: 以最困難
的方式攀登世界上最偉大的岩壁—獨攀. 她成功了, 她也給了像我這樣的女性攀
岩者非常大的自信, 而不再覺得自己只是在這種以男生為主的運動中的附屬物....


(摘自: Lynn Hill - Climbing Free : My Life in the Vertical World. )

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「我們都很努力地讓我們的動作看起來很優美、更流暢、控制力更強，
  在我們心中有一個理想的風格，成為我們追求的目標；
  光是登頂是不夠的，要達到這種完美的境界才重要」。

                                --Francois Legrand ,1995, for mag.R&C

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㊣Origin:《 成大計中 BBS 站 》[bbs.ncku.edu.tw] 來源:[140.112.40.50]