I haven't been dropped, but there was one close call in the Ramsey Center Gym at UGA.
I was climbing a slabby route that was hard for me, and I'd managed about the first half without any trouble. Then an employee yelled "Hey, Stephen, got a stance?"
I didn't at the time, but that kind of question made me get one with a quickness. I looked around, and Dirk (the employee) had put me on a backup belay and was telling my belayer to unlock his gri-gri, turn it around, and put me back on.
I was some mix of petrified and pissed. I'm really glad I hadn't gotten to the top or fallen unexpectedly before Dirk caught the error.
So uhhhhhh...... do you douple chech everything before you leave the ground/belay now?
I thought I had double checked. I usually belay with a gri-gri indoors (and what with grad school, that's about all I manage to get up to these days), and I always gave the rope a good solid tug to see the gri-gri lock before I left the ground, whether I was climbing or belaying.
I think that was my sixth route that day, and I forgot to pull the rope to check. My belayer had loaded the thing fine for the other climbs, as my check and continued survival both showed. It's easy to get complacent after a while.
This was about five years ago, and I've not failed to check since.
definitly, I went with a deaf kid once=disaster I didn't get dropped but I was constantly checking him on everything. I say "falling" response "what?" needless to say I never had him belay me again.
That's a pretty fucking pansy move on your part, asshole. Way to work with someone's disabilities.
I got dropped. Once. The first day I ever climbed. My girlfriend was introducing me to climbing at a gym, she was (supposedly) experienced. I decked from the top bar and couldn't sit up for about a half hour, took another six weeks to get over the whiplash.
I don't let people who don't understand what belaying is belay me. So...I'm not going to get an "oops, I didn't know" drop. If I get dropped it will be the other kind - "knew better and they fuckin' dropped me anyway".
Interestingly, the very first time I went climbing(in a gm) it was on a blind date. The guy had asked what I liked to do, and I mentioned that I had been wanting to learn to climb. He went "Hey! I know how! That's what we'll do on our date!"
Unfortunately....the guy was icky. And he was very touhvy/feelie on top of that. I tried to let him off easy, with body language. Didn't get it. he kept getting more and more aggressive, and so of course did my resistance.
Apparently, he didn't like the rejection, because toward the end of the night(last climb, actually....), as he was lowering me, he let the rope go when I was a few feet from the ground. Not a real "drop" drop. But the kind where you aren't ready, and so you sort of crumble to the ground.
I was pretty pissed off, thinking "What a fucker - He did that on purpose." Having no real idea as to just how bad his behavior actually was.
You have no idea who this kid is, so don't go making assumptions. Regardless of hearing aids he still has trouble hearing and sometimes he's out of it, sometimes he's crazy as in he'd jump up and or jerk the rope and let me free fall for a bit before arresting the rope. no I didn't Bitch I double checked everything and anyone who wouldn't is a dipweed. Regardless of all that crap though, I'm still great friends and we still hang out, I just choose not to engage in such activities where my saftey is in his hands!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You have no idea who this kid is, so don't go making assumptions. Regardless of hearing aids he still has trouble hearing and sometimes he's out of it, sometimes he's crazy as in he'd jump up and or jerk the rope and let me free fall for a bit before arresting the rope. no I didn't Bitch I double checked everything and anyone who wouldn't is a dipweed. Regardless of all that crap though, I'm still great friends and we still hang out, I just choose not to engage in such activities where my saftey is in his hands!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I understand that, but I make a life of climbing with deaf, blind, one limbed no limbed people and all it takes is an ounce of effort to learn how to do things a little different. Some of the safest climbers I know are ones who are blind and deaf. So maybe you should try again.
i got dropped and hit the talus from about 60 feet about 13 years ago. i had climbed all over with my partner and we had done a lot of great routes together, everything from pushing our single pitch sport and trad to long alpine routes.
i was leading a single pitch trad route that had a runout 5.9 section. i had climbed up and down several times scoping it out. finally i said, 'watch me', he said 'yeah, you got it', and i committed into it. about that time, a semi-attractive young lady walked up and started talking to him. i was about 10 feet above my last piece and went for a long reach. the hold broke and off i came.
i just remember seeing one, two, three, pieces go by. i remember thinking that i wanted to have pizza for dinner. then i saw the fourth piece and felt instant terror. i started slowing down, but i still landed on a slab of rock that was leaning against the wall. i tumbled down it.
my partner was going ape shit. i couldn't breath and was on the verge of blacking out. after a few minutes, a couple of our friends who were climbing close by heard the commotion and came over. they wanted to call SAR but I insisted that I was ok. it slowly got dark while i was laying there. i was really scared because i didn't know if i was hurt or not. my partner's hands and legs were torched. the rope had burnt his hands nearly to the bone. luckily, he was a lazy motherfvcker and hadn't flaked the rope, so when i came off, between him falling on the pile of rope and the clusterfvck jamming in his belay device, it slowed me down just as i hit the ground.
after a couple hours my friends helped me hobble the 2 miles out. my ankles, feet, back, ribs, and one of my arms were hurting pretty bad. i was out of commission for a couple weeks. my back still has a noticeable crooked spot and when you look at me straight on, my body isn't lined up correctly.
this day changed my life forever. my friend and former best climbing partner quit climbing and had to go to extensive counseling because he wanted to commit suicide. it wrecked our friendship. it also wrecked his friendships with a lot of our climbing friends who felt that he had let me down in the ultimate way. it also had long lasting effects that spilled over into many other aspects of my life. i hate letting other people drive. when my wife is driving i am super critical about her decisions. i pretty much don't trust anybody belaying me, and i get pissed when they aren't paying attention. i get nervous flying. all sorts of random shit. i still have dreams that are related to it about once a month.
my philosophy now is, if it happens again and i live, i am going to jam a gun in my belayer's mouth and keep pulling the trigger until it goes click.
there was a kid from gunnison (CO) that was killed in yosemite from massive rockfall a few years back. he was belaying, and when they uncovered him, he still had the rope clenched tightly in his hand. we should all aspire to be this kind of belayer.
Yeah, he's really not impaired except hearing, he just isn't or wasn't interested in climbing therfore he didn't take it seriously and didn't care. So there are alternate activities. More power to ya for introducing others to the sport like that, I totally agree anyone can accel if pointed in the right direction.
Have you ever heard or read the story with Joe Simpson and his partner in the Andes? If not you really should, it's incredible, I thinl its called"Touching the Void" I highly recommend it to all.
I posted recently about being dropped. Actually, I was lowered rapidly to the ground as my belayer slowed the rope with his non-break hand. I was completely unharmed, he suffered rope burn. Even so, both of us were shaken badly.
He had about three years of climbing experience. We climbed together three times a week for that whole period. He had personally caught me hundreds if not thousands of times without the slightest hint of trouble.
So what happened? Two things contributed to the failure.
#1) He wasn't paying proper attention to the belay. There was a cute girl climbing the route just to the right of us. I had fallen on the crux move and was hanging on the rope. He started watching her climb and giving her beta. When I started to climb again, he didn't shift his attention back to me. I was focused on the route and hadn't realized he was no longer paying attention to me. When I fell again, I just kept going.
#2) He was taking in slack when I fell, using the palm up, pinch and slide method. He couldn't tell me afterward exactly what happened, but after reading cracklover's post (http://www.rockclimbing.com/...post=1537562#1537562), I wonder if, having the two threads pinched in his left hand, he might have clamped down on both of them when they started to run. This would prevent him from locking off and be consistent with him lowering me with his non-brake hand.
I've heard that your third year of climbing can be a dangerous time. You've rehearsed the techniques enough that they've become second nature. You've done enough climbing, taken enough falls, that it's easy to become a little blasé about it.
We were in the gym. I was on top rope. I think the perceived safety of the situation made it easier for him to drop his guard.
So does my belayer SUCK and have no business climbing? I think that's an over-simplification of the situation.
I still climb with him and trust him to belay me. We both got a wake up call that day, and I like to think we both learned from it. We got off easy.
I posted recently about being dropped. Actually, I was lowered rapidly to the ground...
Not dropped, but rather "lowered rapidly to the ground." I like that. It's like my software rep said, "That's not actually a bug; it's more of an 'undocumented limitation'."
About 6 months ago, I was belaying at a comp and got assigned to the mens -18yr group. It was a good day, I guess, I was feeling good and ready for anything. Unfortunately, the head judge at the comp, this 4 eyed fat 50yr old coddger (sp), had it out for me nearly from the get-go, and when I accidentally short roped a guy on a clip (he was some 30 ft up by then; he stepped on a bolt and the judge wasn´t paying fucking attention), he took it upong himself to instruct me on how to belay: "looser" he told me, to give ´em more slack. . .
After 2 rounds and about 30 belays, it came time to belay this one particularly tall chap, probably weighing at least some 15 lbs more than me. The route looked something like this: ----------------/ ---------------/ -----------__ / ----------/ -15ft-__/ <---- * ---/ -/ /belay
He ties in, we chat a little and off he goes. He clip 1, 2 bolts, things seem to be going along smoothly. He clip bolt #3 at the lip of the 1st roof section, hauls over the roof, steps up and I imagine proceeds to clip bolt #4. Now, you can´t really tell from the image above, but when you belay on that route, you can´t see bolt #4, even if you stand out away from under bolt #1 all you can see is the clmbers feet.
I told the head judge that I didn´t want to give them slack at the that point because they might nearly deck. I even told the fucker to not let people pass beneath the climbers on that section because they might fall on them. . . But fuck, don´t listen to me, Im just the belayer.
* So the guy pulls up past the lip. I ask one of the other belayers to tell me what´s going on because I can´t see for myself. Then it happens. . . Best as I can figure, the dude pulled slack to clip bolt #4, got the rope behind his right leg, and and peeled, twisting and tumbling down from 15ft up, but even so he just barely managed to hit his right ankle on the ground (but his midair spinning gave it some extra force).
Though that was one of the low points of my climbing carreer, looking back i´m rather pleased with my response. I managed to pull in some slack (grigri) and dropped my ass onto the ground the moment I saw him falling (not much time to react). When I caught his fall, i was sitting in my harness legs oustretched hovering maybe 2 inches above the ground. No warning, no nothing, it was all I could do to react given the circumstances (stupid fuck head judge, other belayers dídn´t say a word, 0 visibilty, he fell during THE crucial clip on that climb. . .).
And that´s my tragic tale. I dunno. . . I was and still kind of am very angry at the old judge man and myself for listening to him, but all considered things could´ve been a lot worse quite easily.
I posted recently about being dropped. Actually, I was lowered rapidly to the ground...
Not dropped, but rather "lowered rapidly to the ground." I like that. It's like my software rep said, "That's not actually a bug; it's more of an 'undocumented limitation'."
Jay
Yeah, that didn't come out very clearly. I'm not saying I wasn't dropped. If I hit the floor from 20 feet up on a top rope, I consider myself dropped. I'm simply being specific about the nature of the fall.
Go check out Three Easy Pieces at Upper Darth Vader and the one next to it. It's not too difficult to hit the ground there if you don't have a very attentive belay. I've seen people almost deck on many climbs at Rumney, usually because they're clipping too low, which the belayer can do little about.
three easy pieces is more than one pitch and its a 5.3.most 5.3 slabs have a little bit more space in between the bolts than other, harder routes. that could have something to do with why the bolts are a little bit further apart. if you hit the ground because of an unatentave belayer then thats the belayers fault not the fact that the bolts are far apart. im not saying that every single climb in rumney is completly safe and bolted perfectly. im just saying that most of the routes there were bolted to clip at good stances and have safe falls. unless you clip at your waste and take out more slack tna needed. but then most falls are still safe.
(This post was edited by vaness on Feb 16, 2007, 1:58 PM)
I was dropped once, and only once. It was from about 12 feet by my wife onto a rock pile. Sprained both ankles I did. Totally ruined the trust thing when it came to climbing.
I was dropped once, and only once. It was from about 12 feet by my wife onto a rock pile. Sprained both ankles I did. Totally ruined the trust thing when it came to climbing.
Worst person to be dropped by EVA! And she must have felt like a pile of poop too.
I've never been dropped, but I also never made it a habit to fall on lead. Most of my lead falls have been caught by the same few people, and most of them were in the gym.
You have no idea who this kid is, so don't go making assumptions. Regardless of hearing aids he still has trouble hearing and sometimes he's out of it, sometimes he's crazy as in he'd jump up and or jerk the rope and let me free fall for a bit before arresting the rope. no I didn't Bitch I double checked everything and anyone who wouldn't is a dipweed. Regardless of all that crap though, I'm still great friends and we still hang out, I just choose not to engage in such activities where my saftey is in his hands!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not being able to hear doesn't make you a horrible climber, or belayer. Trust me. There are plenty of people climbing without any hearing at all (regardless of hearing aids). If the issue is a lack of climbing interest, or an understanding (or desire) how to be safe while belaying/climbing...then you should word it that way, and leave out the bit about hearing. By your description, "jerking the rope, being out of it," he may not be the best climbing partner for you...but... be mindful of how you present that. When you first posted, you chose to do just describe climbing "with some deaf kid"...and made it sound like just because he couldn't hear he wasn't a safe partner. You should really be more careful with your words. I'm surprised you spoke as you do if you guys are friends.
I haven't been dropped, but there was one close call in the Ramsey Center Gym at UGA.
I was climbing a slabby route that was hard for me, and I'd managed about the first half without any trouble. Then an employee yelled "Hey, Stephen, got a stance?"
I didn't at the time, but that kind of question made me get one with a quickness. I looked around, and Dirk (the employee) had put me on a backup belay and was telling my belayer to unlock his gri-gri, turn it around, and put me back on.
I was some mix of petrified and pissed. I'm really glad I hadn't gotten to the top or fallen unexpectedly before Dirk caught the error.
So uhhhhhh...... do you douple chech everything before you leave the ground/belay now?
I thought I had double checked. I usually belay with a gri-gri indoors (and what with grad school, that's about all I manage to get up to these days), and I always gave the rope a good solid tug to see the gri-gri lock before I left the ground, whether I was climbing or belaying.
I think that was my sixth route that day, and I forgot to pull the rope to check. My belayer had loaded the thing fine for the other climbs, as my check and continued survival both showed. It's easy to get complacent after a while.
This was about five years ago, and I've not failed to check since.
Do you mean that the rope was threaded improperly into the Grigri? If so, as long as your belayer kept a hand on the brake side of the rope, the device would have still worked like an ATC anyway. Just finishing the climb normally would have been safer then undoing the Grigri and fixing it.
If the Grigri was clipped to his belay loop upside down, the belay loop should have twisted enough to allow somewhat of a correct Grigri orientation. Probably better then trying to fix it mid-climb, at least for TR. If it was a lead, I would probably be much more concerned.
Hearing the question "you got a stance" is never a good thing!
Go check out Three Easy Pieces at Upper Darth Vader and the one next to it. It's not too difficult to hit the ground there if you don't have a very attentive belay. I've seen people almost deck on many climbs at Rumney, usually because they're clipping too low, which the belayer can do little about.
three easy pieces is more than one pitch and its a 5.3.most 5.3 slabs have a little bit more space in between the bolts than other, harder routes. that could have something to do with why the bolts are a little bit further apart. if you hit the ground because of an unatentave belayer then thats the belayers fault not the fact that the bolts are far apart. im not saying that every single climb in rumney is completly safe and bolted perfectly. im just saying that most of the routes there were bolted to clip at good stances and have safe falls. unless you clip at your waste and take out more slack tna needed. but then most falls are still safe.
WROOOONG.
You're not even remotely describing the right climb. Three Easy Pieces is an overhanging 11a arete, and at Upper Darth Vader.
Check it:
http://tinyurl.com/yu94o4
1 pitch, 3 bolts, hence the name. You have to go around the arete before you clip the 2nd bolt, so it will be messy if you fall before the clip. I would be more worried about whipping around the corner. You should not deck unless your belayer has too much slack out. Which I suppose its possible if you fall while clipping.
You're thinking of Clip A Dee Do Da (5.3), the 2 pitch slab at a completely different area of Rumney, Jimmy Cliff.
I got dropped once. I didn't deck full speed, so I was lucky, but I still consider it dropped. I just clipped the 4th or 5th clip on a gym climb, and my tie-in was at the bolt (i.e. should have been a 1ft fall). I went for a dicey move, and my belayer (on a grig) put his thumb on the catch to feed out some slack. Just then, he gets distracted by someone talking to him, but doesn't take his thumb off the catch. I blow the move, and rope starts zipping through. Fortunately, he realized what was happening in time to let go, but by then I was about 5ft off the deck. The grig caught and his counterweight slowed me enough by the time I touched down that I didn't get hurt.
Also, not to be nit picky, but Vaness...I think you are thinking of clippidy-doo-dah, the 2 pitch 5.3 slab. Three easy pieces is a short 11a arete at upper darth vadar.
dropped once on lead at mt. lemmon. it was on a slightly less than overhanging route so i kind of slid down about 30 feet and the rope went tight just as my feet touched ground. i got some good rock rash, blood. took me some months to get over it and back to leading. my belayer was talking to a climber next to him and feeding rope out while i was working a crux and not making upward progress. when i fell there was about 25 feet of extra rope out.
haha! here i am thinking to myself that this guy must not know what hes talking about. what a retard i am sometimes. ok sorry guys i was wrong. i know the dfference between the two clims. although ive never don that route, i know where its located.
sorry im having a stupid day
(This post was edited by vaness on Feb 16, 2007, 4:10 PM)
ok i was wrong. i dont know why i was thinking of clip a dee doo dah. maybe because of the three in three easy pieces. although ive never dont that route, i know where its located.
I am seeing more and more people who are admitting to being dropped and having a very lackadaisical attitude about it. If you ever drop a climber, then you SUCK have no business climbing. I have never been dropped. I have had one near drop but there is a big difference between the two. She suffered a rope burn and caught me. I have never even come close to dropping someone and don't ever plan on it. Is it me or are there a lot of careless climbers out there.
Never say never. Nobody plans on dropping their partner.
While dropping someone is inexcuseable, shit happens.
I didn't vote because none of the answers really fit. I've been dropped once. By a partner who I trusted completely. There were a number of things that contributed to me being dropped and had things not happened as they did mine would have been a near miss too.
Been dropped a couple of years back in a gym while being lowered. Belayer just took her hand off the rope and grabbed the ajacent rope for somereason. maybe 10 ft no biggie.
Closest ive ever come to dropping someone was in the Gym. 35 feet wall falls from above the first bolt, yanks me up into the first clip. He landed maybe 1 or 2 feet off the deck. I was shocked cause he only had like 20 lbs on me. I anchor in these days on short routes.
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