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Re: [weekendclimber] scary rap:
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dingus
Mar 22, 2007, 11:07 PM
Views: 1379
Registered: Dec 16, 2002
Posts: 17398
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Once climbed Coonyard to Oasis on Glacier Point with Angus and rapped back down. Long time ago. Anyway, the 2nd to last rap we (meaning I) got off route and ended up below and way way off to the side of the I guess normal last rap station.
This being Glacier Point in the late 80s most of the widely spaced bolts were 1/4 inch split shaft rawls. We'd climbed some 10 pitches of smooth slab that day, 3-4 bolts per pitch the norm for those routes with the occasional piece here and there.
So we were somewhat innured to the horrors of bad pro and we were somewhat jilted at the angle of the dangle so to speak. After a while that slab can start looking like a sidewalk.
So anyway I missed the correct anchor by a mile and ended up with 3 feet of rope left, standing on a very sloped 'ledge' (it was just a ripple but due to the slabby naure of GP it meant you could stand on it wearing sticky rubber). There was a single bolt there, a 1/4 inch spinner with a rusty hanger.
FUCK! I was still 150 feet off the ground. Now there were other climbers about on adjecent routes and I could have called for help. But I didn't.
Angus rapped about half way down before I told him the deal. He stopped and we considered the predicament. He tried to swing over to the other anchor but it was no good. Apparently we'd gotten off the descent route on the previous rap too. He shrugged and said,
"Guess we gotta use that one Dingus." I shrugged too but I distinctly remeber thinking ,'well yeah but you haven't seen this bolt yet dude.'
So he joins me, we both 'anchor' into our sole spinner and pull the ropes. By god we're committed now!
Oh, there were two slings and a single rap ring; the reason I was drawn to it. Some other fools had done what we were about to do. There are a lot of Damn Fool Rappel Stations in Yosemite like that, spread around the valley in famously notorious places like North Dome Gully or the East Ledges.
We pondered our fate and paper, rock sissored a few times to no avail. Angus went first because it was his turn, he was much lighter than me and well, I can be yellow as a democratic dog sometimes.
But staying behind didn't offer much solace, if the only bolt pulled I'd either go with it or be left standing ropeless in a sea of crackless and holdless granite.
As Angus rapped off that scary motherfucker I stood there eyes wide open. I anchored in daisy style with a sling girthed to my harness and a biner on the other hand.
That biner was connected through the eye of the bolt. I held the biner gate OPEN and the nose aligned so that if the bolt actually pulled it would be stripped off the biner! Sorta like holding the trigger pulled on a revolver but also thumbing the hammer so it won't drop... a blink and BAM! Anchor goes, Angus craters and I'm left standing there with a biner in my hand.
We were a lot younger then. We just laughed and told each other we'd chat on the other side. Down he went... all the way down, no prob.
Damn but that was a scary rap! The frigging bolt actually moved in the hole. But it held and we both got down.
I took a lot more care during raps after that near miss. That was bloody stupid of us!
DMT
(This post was edited by dingus on Mar 22, 2007, 11:14 PM)
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Edit Log:
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Post edited by dingus
() on Mar 22, 2007, 11:11 PM
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Post edited by dingus
() on Mar 22, 2007, 11:14 PM
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