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Re: [billwright510] Fall while simul-climbing Eldorado:
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onrockandice
Jul 2, 2010, 4:30 AM
Views: 10346
Registered: Nov 16, 2009
Posts: 355
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Bill I've read about 50 or so posts from your blog and loved every one. No self-promotion. A very good read. Keep it up. I've bookmarked it and I check it daily.
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Back to the, "What would you do?" discussion.
While climbing with my long-time climbing partner recently a miscommunication and my failure to follow up on the details due to implicit trust lead to us being stranded after dark 1100 feet off the ground. Before we had set out on this multi-pitch farewell climb (my partner was moving to Hood River, OR) we agreed that we would be in no hurry. We would not have watches on nor would we look at clocks or directions. We were experienced, tough, and we were going to have fun all day and well into the night. To that end I gathered headlamps, spare batteries, maps, compass, GPS, purification tablets, matches, whistles and beta. I wrapped them in a waxed butcher paper, stuffed them into a very small bag, cinched them up and handed it to my partner with the casual statement, "Forget this and we die." He took it, set it on the seat and when a construction worker pulled up 30 miles from nowhere asking us to move our car a bit more he forgot to pack it. The construction worker wanted us to hurry off so he could safely use the area for turn-arounds and we did. Neither of us any the wiser that we had no watch, no nothing that we would need to survive if something went wrong. We were out to have fun.
We screwed off and being the cocky *MEN* that we were we paid no heed to light, directions or time. We knew we had all we need packed away so we didn't worry at all. Eventually we found our climb (neither of us having been there before) and though we both were now out of water we opted to fire the pitch in 2 hours and then get some water in the creek and purify it. No worries, we were prepared.
We got to the top and realized that there didn't appear to be a walk off at all. Seemed like we were stuck up pretty high and would be doing 18 full length rappels in the dark. No worries I announced, "Bust out the lamps." That was when I heard a low whistle and a heavy thump of a pack being hurled into a rock. He had forgotten the critical package and now it was time to die. Overnight lows were still going below freezing and neither of us had much more than summer weight climbing pants and shirts. Dehydrated we, stuck at 1100 feet and starting to get a chill we tossed ropes and went down like bandits. 5 pitches later we were cloaked in darkness. I could not see my hand in front of my face. 7 hours later and loads of luck used we were down. Rapping more than a dozen times from a single hanger and praying to God it would hold. Pucker factor was unreal. Panic was really starting to gather momentum but we were down and lost.
Eventually we got back to our car about 14 hours later than we expected to but we were alive because those full length rappels on a single hanger were solid.
--- On the topic of self-rescue I kicked around our situation for a about a week now. I've come around to a bit of stock kit that I will never do a multi-pitch without ever again.
• A medium sized zipper pouch with baffles that let you unzip to get more storage if needed. ----| To stow all of this in.
• Bic lighter and a book of matches. ----|For warmth and signal fires.
• 4 cloth strips manufactured from a t-shirt. ----| To build a torch with, make tourniquet or to use as fasteners.
• Small pocket mirror. ----|To signal.
• Small pocket watch with luminous hands (wind-up). ----| Critical to know the time to log events.
• 20 or so 10" pieces of 1" mil spec tubular webbing. ----| Better than bail biners. We left more than $100 of gear on that cliff.
• 200 feet of 6mm cord rated at 1800 pounds break strength. (tag line) ----|Multi-purpose but also for full-length rappels. I can wrap this around the bag in such a way I don't notice it as it compresses the bag.
• Sports whistle. ----| We saw search and rescue on the road. The were out standing in front of their headlights. Whistles might have reached them.
• Smallest LED head lamp with 2 power modes (PETZL T2) I could find and spare batteries. ----| If you regular headlamp fails or if you forget it.
• Disposable plastic poncho. ----| Stay dry or catch rain.
• 20 purification tablets. ----| Stay alive and healthy if you find water.
• Very small single blade pocket knife. ----| To cut up webbing, clothing, stuck rope, etc...
• 10 feet of small diameter and extremely strong wire for binding. ----| This can be used for many things. You can manufacture a stick-clip for up or down-climbing.
• 2 bic disposable pens 10 sheets of folded up notepaper. ----| So you can write notes, keep a journal, write hate letters to your dumb partner that got you stranded.
• 1 roll of that thin plastic tape that is bright orange and surveyors use it to mark wooden stakes. ----| To attach at least two long streamers to the bag below that can be lobbed off the cliff to rescuers or in hopes it will be found.
• 1 small bag with a heavy machine bolt and a piece of paper that has our names, emergency contact info, medical emergency info, age, etc… ----| Let's you get critical info to rescuers who cannot talk to you. Drop in hopes it will be found by passers by.
The above list would have helped Bill and Tom a little bit. 200 feet of 1800 pound cord might have been real handy. Anyhow it would have been amazing for us. In every survival situation I could think of this stuff would make the difference and you can pack it into a very small pouch. From now on when I climb remotely I'll have this bag with me. Too easy for something to go wrong.
Bill would you add to this or do you think it's about right? Would you remove anything from it? What other thoughts have come to mind when you consider your rescue situations?
(This post was edited by onrockandice on Jul 2, 2010, 4:40 AM)
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