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overlord
Feb 17, 2003, 9:41 PM
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why do you dub this topic "a topic of the week" if you complain that it has ben discussed before????
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twrock
Feb 18, 2003, 8:20 AM
Post #27 of 100
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Chapter 14 of Largo's Close Calls is one of my more stupid stories (Ass-Dragged in Wisconsin).
Another is on Antihill Direct in Eldo.
After an all night drive from Chicago, I was pumped for my first multi-pitch lead. My father-in-law was my partner. We noticed there weren't any climbers on "that" side of the canyon (hmm...why would people avoid the south facing wall of the canyon on a nice sunny summer day?). We grabbed the gear and a quart of water each and we were off on the first pitch.
Many hours later, I find myself dehydrated and out of rope on what I had assumed was the last pitch. The top still looks a long way off, and I'm "sitting" on a tiny and very sloping ledge with two horribly placed cams in the crack at the back edge (I'm out of gear). I'm dying of thirst. I haven't a clue where I am. I can't see Andy, and he doesn't respond to my yells. I decide that if he gets up to me and sees the condition of the belay, he'll kill me (if we both don't die first when it pulls out). So I decide to downclimb.
As I reach the top of the crux (a very long way back from my high point, I lean over and see Andy climbing up while I'm climbing down! My rope, which I assumed was being taken in, is neatly piling on a small ledge between us. I scream down to get his attention, and he quickly climbs the few feet back down to re-establish the belay. After he takes in the slack, I promptly fall down the crux. I do eventually make it back to the belay without further incident.
Andy had felt my tugs on the rope and then noticed it had stopped moving for quite some time. Since we couldn't communicate, he assumed that the tugs meant the belay was set, and he could start climbing. Also, the first section was quite easy, and the resulting slack didn't bother him. He kept climbing up only to be surprised by me leaning over the top edge of the crux only a short distance above.
A few raps and we were back down on the canyon floor feeling like a couple of whipped puppies. We nursed our egos and our sunburns that evening. But the next day we headed back to Eldo to climb the classic Bastille, which truly did go without incident.
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wildtrail
Feb 18, 2003, 3:11 PM
Post #28 of 100
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Refer to my blizzard/lightning storm on Mt. Of The Holy Cross.
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gypsy
Feb 18, 2003, 3:58 PM
Post #29 of 100
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I was climbing at Big Rock at Lake Paris with two climbers less experiencedc than myself. I have hiked on top of the rocks up there in Tevas withoug much problem. I went up to set up a TR for Rat Crack, adn brought my friend with me to show him how to set up a TR. I was being overconfident and was still wearing my Tevas, although I had never been to the top of this particular climb and didn't know what to expect. This part happened to be a lot steeper than other parts of the rock I had been on. Me, still being over-confident and stupid, continue towards the bolts at the top of the climb. Then I started to slip, and I realize there is nothinging but flat, sloping rock between me and the edge of the climb. Nothing to grab and stop myself, and my Tevas were about to give out. I yelled "Josh, Help, I'm falling" and I waited what the eternity of a second until I feel a hand on my harness and he pulled me to himself (he wasn't holding anything either, but had enough traction with climbing shoes on)...scariest moment of my life, and unfortunately now I have a much greater fear of heights.
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rockhound71
Feb 18, 2003, 5:14 PM
Post #30 of 100
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I didn't actually see this, but I spoke with a couple of French-Canadian climbers in Skaha who did.
On the day in question, a lead climber was on a 5.10 route. After he toped out, he asked to be lowered. Part of the way down, there was a tearing sound that made the French-Canadian (and imagine any other climbers in the area) look up. One of the climbers told the guy that was being lowered to grab on to the rope. He did so with panic written all over his face.
According the French-Canadian climber, this guy did not tie into his harness fully (and obviously his partner did not check his rig!) When he put all of his weight into the harness it tore (lucky, it did not tear completely before he decked!)
Casey
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dingus
Feb 18, 2003, 8:27 PM
Post #31 of 100
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I've told this story on the internet before, but I get all my lies confused
after awhile. So if you've heard it, please forgive me.
I used to tie into TR's with a single locking biner. I was quite satisfied
that the equipment was strong enough for the task at hand, regardless of what
axis was loaded. I remain convinced. However, I no longer use this tie in
method and here's why...
Angus and I were repeating a climb called Stu-pendous at Sonora Pass. It's a
one pitch granite climb up above Deadman's Creek (an appropriate name for
this story) that currently goes at 5.10c, A0. Stu and I bolted the FA on the
lead with a bosch a couple of years earlier in a tag team effort. A one bolt
aid move bypasses a likely hard 5.12 (or harder?) move to gain a
dead-vertical black water streak dotted with knobs. There are two separate
5.10 cruxes and several hard 5.9 + moves on this very cool route. Angus and I
were attempting to free it.
I tried first and repeatedly attempted to boulder out the opening moves. I
just couldn't do it and spent myself in the attempt. Angus tried once and
conceded it was hopeless. I had already led the remainder of the route, so I
told him to finish it if he wanted. He did, falling at the 10c crux, then
climbing through to the top.
I started to follow, but Angus asked me to bring some water up. The packs
were out of reach, so I untied. When I tied back in, I just did a quick
figure-eight on a bight and clipped it to the locking biner on my harness. I
was using a big BD pear shaped biner with a screw-lock sleeve. Not sure if
they make it anymore. I was also using a BD Bod Harness at the time. The
screw lock biner I was using had a bug in it that I knew about and will
describe shortly.
I got back on the route and simply aided past the bolt. Then up a short 85
degree ramp with some thin 5.9 moves. Then into the vertical water streak,
past the first (or 2nd, counting the un-freed aid move) crux at 10 a or b.
The 2nd crux is a difficult mantle onto a knob with almost no overhead holds
for assistance. It is really a hard move on the brink of nothingness, one of
those classic granite-type moves. As I pressed the mantle, my foot popped off
the knob. Somehow I caught myself on the very same knob as I fell (about 60 -
80 feet above large talus, or there abouts), nearly pulled my shoulder out of
the socket to hang on, then repressed the mantle with what little energy
remained and stood up. There was no resting here, but 2 moves higher a wide
5.9 stem offered the opportunity to at least let go with one hand at a time.
When I got there, and I remember this exchange as if it were yesterday and
not several years ago, Angus said...
"Dingus, is that your KNOT?"
I looked down in confusion and my heart froze.
The knot I tied into the end of the rope was completely disconnected from the
biner and was hanging in free space at about chest height. The biner was
stuck open and hanging from my harness by the notch in the gate. This being a
bod harness, without a biner to hold it together, the piece that comes up
through the legs was dangling down between my legs (knee height). The biner
was hanging off this piece of webbing. The buckle was intact (no Stallone
movies here) and properly doubled back. I instantly realized what had
happened. I looked up at Angus.
"Lock it off." I said with urgency. I grabbed the knot. Angus thought I
wanted to pull it back down to clip it in again, but I had other things in
mind. He began to give me slack, which I wasn't ready for. I almost fell
again.
"LOCK IT OFF!" He locked it. I quickly wrapped the rope around my wrist twice
and weighted it. I figured I could at least hang on like this should
everyting else fail. I then (and here was an act of trust and faith like no
other) let go with my other hand, reached down, grabbed the biner, pulled it
back up and reassembled the harness. With it back where it belonged, I
regrabbed the rock, asked for a little slack and then reclipped the knot into
the biner (wrist still wrapped up tight). Finally, I untwisted my wrist from
the rope and regrabbed the rock with the other hand. All of this took only a
few seconds (and nearly an eternity for me). I finally looked at Angus again.
His eyes lasered into mine...
"I love you Dingus."
"I love you too man. Now I'm gonna get the hell outta here"
(or words to that affect). I climbed the last few feet of rock to the belay
with a loud buzz in my brain. I was through for the day, needless to say.
Here's what happened...
The biner (a pearbiner, now I remember, one of the first big pear shaped
biners) had a screw gate that was reversed, you tightened it
counter-clockwise. BD adevertised this was intended to be used with a munter
hitch, which would tend to unscrew normal screw sleeves. This particular
biner (mine, not the model in general) had a bug, probably due to wear. If
you unscrewed it all the way and a little more, the gate would not close
properly because the sleeve jammed the gate on the hinge end. I knew this
biner had the problem and just dealt with it. Welllllllll
When I reattached to the TR I obviously forgot to lock the biner. I had
unscrewed it too far and the gate jammed open (that's the condition I found
it in on the route). It was NEVER attached correctly in the first place! I
assume the knot had only just completelely fallen off the biner when Angus
noticed it. Ialso assume that it would have failed if needed. Remember, I
fell on that friggin route! I caught myself with a miracle save. I am a
walking dead man in a manner of speaking. This is the absolute closest call I
have ever endured in the mountains!
Of couse, it was all my fault; several small errors.
1. I was knowingly using faulty equipment.
2. I failed to lock the biner.
3. I failed to safety check my harness one last time before I started
climbing.
I almost died. I had a newborn child and her mother waiting for me at home
when this happened. In the subsequent weeks I went through a lot of
soul-searching about the incident, climbing, my family, my future and how I
wanted to die. I firmly decided I was still a climber, I was still willing to
test myself on hard routes, I was still willing to do alpine climbs,
simul-climb in select circumstances, even solo from time to time on very easy
routes, ice climb, etc. But I was not and am not willing to die while
climbing (but I still have insurance just in case). I also undertook an
almost religious-like ritual of safety checking myself and everything around
me. For a few years (the urge has only recently left me) I would recheck my
harness several times mid-pitch on almost every climb.
And I never, I repeat, never, tie in with a biner anymore. I don't blame the
tie-in method at all. Rather, I recognize that this method has more potential
failure or screwup points than a straight tie in method. It's so quick that
it's easy to get complacent about it, as I did. By tying in directly, the
climber is forced to look at things directly. Sure, as Lynn Hill and others
have since demonstrated, it's possible to screw this up as well, with dire
consequences. But I decided to use one tie in method for rock climbing and
thereby reduce my exposure.
I would still use the biner method for glacier travel and might use 2 biners
to switch ends of the rope if speed climbing and doing all the leading (bit I
haven't).
DMT
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addiroids
Feb 19, 2003, 7:24 AM
Post #32 of 100
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Well, I'm sure I have done some stupid crap, but only one story really comes to mind.
This is about a guy on this site. A guy who was very instrumental in setting up the 2nd Joshua Tree Gathering. I'll leave it at that.
I was climbing at Tahquitz with Cragchica, and Pranaguy and the aforementioned were a team. Andria and I were on Consolation on the big slab, and the dude in question had just lead the "Mummy Pitch" pitch 2 of the Wong/Long Climb and pulled onto our slab. It was the first 5.8 he had lead, and it was a strenuous squeeze chimney with some blocky crap for the final 30' of climbing. He finally pulled onto this big (5'x15') downward sloping slab and just sat down and belayed right there. 10-20 degree sloping ledge, no gear (there was a nice crack there), and nothing to brace the feet on, and his but was above his feet. Scared the sh!t out of me. Fortunately Pranaguy is a prodigy and didn't fall, or it would have pulled both off. How's that for a second day of following trad climbing (for Pranaguy).
I now call him Butt-Friction for that. He is more safe now and I would share a rope with him anytime. And I would have him on a "Real Body Belay" but be anchored with some hexes or chocks.
TRADitionally yours,
Cali Dirtbag
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sc_climber
Feb 19, 2003, 7:20 PM
Post #33 of 100
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I also had a close call at Tahquitz... I was my first climbing the Edge. It was a hot summer day and was about 30' past the first bolt. All of a sudden I remember we had forgotten to buy ice to keep our Sierra Nevada's cold back at camp! :shock: Luckily, we found a liquor store on the way back to camp & restocked w/ some frosties, but boy was that ever close! :lol:
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khundala
Feb 20, 2003, 3:38 AM
Post #34 of 100
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Registered: Apr 17, 2002
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Last summer I watched a father take his little boy, who was probably between 7-9 years old, out to a little crag where I live (only about 50ft tall) and proceed to hand him a rack and say: "Here son, this is a cam--you squeeze this and put it in the crack..." When he finished his two-minute speal about how 'all you have to do is toss gear into the crack and you're fine' he let his son go!! We were in horror (compounded by the fact that the dad was still using a hip belay) At one point when the child got scared the dad dropped the belay and started trying to climb up to his kid...and the dad was huge in the mid-section......Anyways a few months later the dad caught it back when he himself fell off the top of the cliff and only broke an ankle. I havn't seen them there since.
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sunsation
Feb 20, 2003, 4:51 AM
Post #35 of 100
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It's my first multi-pitch climb. We're in Check Canyon on an easy, bolted two pitch climb that tops out on a spot with a great view. My partner leads the first pitch and I lead the second. We're done and we contentedly munch down on some food while enjoying the view. I'm first on the rappel down and he says to me, "Just rap straight down, the rope will reach, I've done this climb before." I question this because we did it in two pitches that seemed pretty full to me. He insists. To his irritation, I tie knots in the end of the rope. The close proximity of the tree line to the climb make it impossible to tell if the rope's reaching the ground. So over the edge I go. Once I reach the hanging belay station midpoint, I stop for another look. Sure enough, the rope's nowhere near the ground. I anchor off, he raps down to me, and we end up doing a second rappel. He's stumped as he swears he's done this climb before and rapped straight down. I'm stumped because I've climbed with him for 4 years now and never seen him do something like this.
Moral of the story... Even the most solid and trustworthy climbing partners can have blonde moments.
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c_kryll
Feb 20, 2003, 6:08 PM
Post #36 of 100
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Posts: 146
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Last March a group of friends and I made a trip down to the Red River Gorge in KY. For my climbing partner it was his first time outside sport climbing so I spent most of the 4 days hounding him about safety and to ALWAYS double check his system after cleaning a route. I prefer to set up a rappel to clean a route instead of being lowered on the anchor bolts for ethic reasons. So on the last day, last climb of the trip I'm cleaning Ro Shampo (5.12a), get to the anchors and set up to rap down. I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I've done this a hundred times before. I double check that , yes, both ropes are through my ATC, yes, the rope is through the anchors, ok...I'm all set to speed down to my waiting friends.
A thought flashes through my mind that, ok, maybe speed rapping down is a bad idea, so as I start to rap down I notice that both ends of the rope are NOT touching the ground, warning lights flash in my mind "F@#K!!". I'm 50' above the ground, 7' away from the wall due to the overhanging nature of the climb and one end of the rope is 6' below me. After wrapping both ropes around my leg 3 times I pull up the short end, tie a huge stopper knot and begin to lower myself, all the while my eyes riveted to that knot knowing that's the only thing stopping me from a looong fall. I was more angry at myself for forgeting what I had been preaching for the entire trip then I was for almost dying. Everyone makes mistakes, it's those of us that learn from them and make the fewest that will live the longest.
Climbing is unforgiving to those that make mistakes, so double check everything, and if your sure you've got it perfect, check it again.
Chris
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chuck
Feb 20, 2003, 8:03 PM
Post #37 of 100
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This happened last time I went out.
I already posted to another BBoard (cascadeclimbers.com), but since it seemed so weird that I would see this topic right after I had this mishap I thought it'd be worth it to repost this story. If you already read it at CC.com, there's almost nothing new here.
--------------------
Went up and tried to the climb Mt. Index by the East route yesterday. Though I didn't summit, the day was a fun exploration with some challenging climbing. Unfortunately it's tough right now focusing on the good stuff because of one bit where I nearly got really f*cked up or dead.
Due to constantly changing days that I could get out I ended up heading out Sunday without a partner. The avalanche forecast was nearly saying "go for it, conditions are the safest they've ever been", so I decided to give Mt. Index a try.
Things went well up past Lake Serene then up the ridge out on the East shoulder of Index. It was steep and fun cramponing with lots of yarding on bushes. I was stymied at a particulary exposed spot for quite a while then finally figured out the problem using mossy rocks and large tree branches. I ran the scenic ridge and then slogged across the huge powder bowl East of Mt. Index to the "obvious gully". Halfway up the gully it started to look like the time I took figuring out the ridge and the increasingly deep snow was gonna keep me from the summit. Between not being confident I would summit in time and nerves about what lurked around the corner up the giant couloir I was ready to turn around. Down climbing the trickier part of the ridge was weighing on me too.
Glissading down the bowl was great. I was basically skiing with my boots on the hard crust a foot deep in the powder. Skis would've been excellent. I tried to avoid the steeper part of the ridge on the way down, but no dice. Downclimbing the cruxy parts all ended up going well though, just with a lot more trepidation than on the way up.
I passed the crux and had now met another pair of tracks that I left behind at the first tricky spot. I definitely let my guard down as I didn't remember anything scary below that part.
I pushed through a tree and just noticed I was off route as I saw my tracks out on the other side of a little gully. I don't remember exactly what happened next but as I turned to figure out how to get back on path I started sliding. I remember thinking, that it wasn't too bad. I was not in an exposed position, but you never know. So I concentrated on quickly arresting and I did. When I got my wits back about me I had my arm wrapped around a little bollard of snow that I must have made by thrusting down my hands in an attempt to arrest. I looked down and my feet were both hanging over the top of a steep dihedral, coated on each wall with ice. It was probably 30 feet down the ice to the next snow, which was not much less steep which carried over another bulge before the steepness ran out. "Holy f*cking sh*t!" went through my mind a few times as I got myself composed.
There was a half a brown tree, probably about 20 pounds on top of me. Either it broke and caused the fall or I broke it off on the way down. It was now hung up on my pack and in my face. I dug out the bollard and held on as best I could, praying it didn't give way. I kept my right leg still, as it was apparently holding some of my weight, but I couldn't get a look at it. My left leg was dangling.
I found a marginal purchase with my pick then carefully pulled up on the bollard. When I got a little better situated I made sure the tree was not tangled with anything then heaved it off. Finally in reach of some sorta live looking alder I had two independent handholds and I pulled the left leg up to a spot that would hold some weight. A bit more careful maneuverings and I was standing back up and out of immediate danger.
When I found the trail I had taken up I was surprised that it traversed on a fairly thin ribbon of snow right above the ice-covered slab I almost took a ride on. There were no tool placements above. Purely trust your feet territory. I guess I hadn't given it much thought on the way up since I was following someone else's tracks. I was giving it a lot of thought now!
My tracks wound around below and I met up with the bush that I had tossed off my backpack. It had come to rest probably 100 feet downslope. The fall probably wouldn't have killed me but with a 30 foot start down very steep ice, with crampons and an ice axe attached to me and no helmet, I'll bet I would've been pretty f*cked up. Not having a partner that day could have sucked big time.
I took some pictures of the spot. I don't know if that was a good idea. It'll probably make me wanna puke every time I look at them.
That's my story Mr. Reporter. Think there's any chance it'll come out before that ol' warden appears?
Have fun out there. Be safe.
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pranaguy
Feb 20, 2003, 9:24 PM
Post #38 of 100
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In reply to: He finally pulled onto this big (5'x15') downward sloping slab and just sat down and belayed right there. 10-20 degree sloping ledge, no gear (there was a nice crack there), and nothing to brace the feet on, and his but was above his feet. Scared the sh!t out of me.
Not to mention me too!!! The first thing I did was grab a handful of cams off his rack and plug them in right there, nice and bomber. Sheesh. Its all good now though! :mrgreen:
So last weekend I was in Joshua Tree climbing Dappled Mare. I'm about halfway up the second pitch, and running it kinda out cause its easy climbing here, and up ahead it looks like it gets harder, and there isnt much for pro. So I slot a solid number 10 nut and climb past the tough spot to a belay ledge. When my second gets there he asks me, "Dude, how come you didn't clip into that nut back there?" Heh, turns out I set it fine and dandy, but failed to clip the rope to it. Doh! yeah, good thing I didn't fall, cause I would have been whipping past that nut wondering why I was still falling. yup, lessons learned alright.
-matt
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maculated
Feb 21, 2003, 8:16 PM
Post #39 of 100
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Registered: Dec 23, 2001
Posts: 6179
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The last time I saw a climber do anything ridiculously stupid is mispell the main topic on the front page!
SPELL CHECK!
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daisuke
Feb 25, 2003, 1:52 PM
Post #40 of 100
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-I once came about 2 feet from decking out from 30 feet up, that was scary... but I´ve told that one too much
-yesterday I saw the dangers of the gri gri... a girl dropped her bf in the gym about 3 meters and it made quite the thud... fortunately no one was physically hurt altho they were both quite shocked... and they simply don´t know how the hell it happened!
-and I have this one friend never climb with after seeing him set up anchors once: he simply clipped a loop of rope between two bolts and put a locking biner on the loop (around both parts of the loop and not thru the loop) so that if a bolt, the rope or a biner were to fail the whole thing would come apart and drop the climber to the ground if he was hanging. I will never let him set up an anchor again! I actually redid that anchor myself when I saw the clusterf*k he´d managed to set up.
-One of my crazy too-young-for-his-good friends also did a free solo and had to jump off from about 4 meters up onto a scetchy landing because he couldn´t hack it...
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bandycoot
Feb 25, 2003, 7:20 PM
Post #41 of 100
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Registered: Nov 25, 2002
Posts: 2028
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I learned the hard way to NEVER trust new belayers. I taught a lady how to belay at a climbing gym during her kid's birthday. She belayed me just fine at the time, using a grigri. Then she went out and belayed kids for an hour. Since they are light, she was opening up the grigri all the way and lowering them with her belay hand I guess.... When one of her little brats pulled a rope end so I had to retrieve it from the ceiling I asker her if she would belay me. She did, and when I got to the top, I reached over reset the rope and started to sit back. I figured why not ask... "Do you have it locked off?" "yes." Dumb bitch... she had the grigri opened all the way! I sat back and plummeted all the way to the ground. She didn't even have a ropeburn on her hand, so that means that she just let go with her belay hand as well. If it weren't for PR and lawsuits I would have hit her right then and there as hard as I could. Granted I was stupid for trusting her, but I like to think that she was stupider for ignoring EVERYTHING I taught her about belaying! Thank god I work in a tiny short little gym and the small rocks on the ground are GREAT for absorbing impact! I landed standing with no injuries... but it was still a 20-25 ft fall!
Josh
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collegekid
Feb 25, 2003, 10:32 PM
Post #42 of 100
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Posts: 1852
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dang
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luke
Feb 26, 2003, 10:21 PM
Post #43 of 100
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Registered: Nov 27, 2002
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Climbed at the Cookie Cliff (Yosemite) with someone I met at Camp 4. He led Beverly and brought me up to the ledge, but then as I was about to do the little lean-over-and-grab-the-other-ledge trick to get us onto Wheat Thin he said "oh, wait a bit, this rope is messed up" and proceeded to take me off belay a hunded odd feet up on an eighteen inch wide ledge! Needless to say I found a different partner the next day.
Moral. Umm, know your partner?
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paulc
Feb 26, 2003, 11:46 PM
Post #44 of 100
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Registered: Jul 25, 2001
Posts: 464
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So one day four of us are up at Penny Lane in Squish. Just doing standard gak, Penny lane, Quarryman, TRing Crime of the Century.
Up walks a group (a dozen or so) people on some kind of outdoor leadership course. Seem like 5.10 trad leaders. So they get on some stuff.
Later.
Just finishing up on Crime of the Century and this one fellow decides to lead Penny Lane (5.9, 35m of hand jams). Now its a hot day and they have been a few people ahead of him, so the crack is a bit greasy. The start is the crux and is kinda bouldery moves to a small foot ledge at about 10'. He gets here no problem. Sets a mid sized nut. All good so far. Now from here the crack starts up and you stem on the face and this left facing edgle that peters out about 12 or 15' off the foot ledge. He of course doesn't do that.
He starts liebacking up the crack and using this other face that peters out for his feet. Makes good progress to 12 or so feet up from the ledge. And then stops. He's pumped, sweating, swearing.
So lets count this out. The first (only) piece is at about 14 or 15 feet up. He is now a dozen feet above that. Add any rope stretch and you get the idea this isn't good.
So everyone comes over and tries to get him to get a piece in, convert to the stem. He's quivering, chalking, feet slipping. He seems to hang on for minutes. And then all of a sudden, he's off.
Now the face isn't vertical it is steep slabish. So he doesn't get air as scraping down the face. All looks good until his feet hit the ledge and he flips over and is going head first for the ground. Now I'm thinking that this is a bad as this could possibly get, with the obvious exception of the single nut popping.
Fortunately for this fellow that doesn't happen and his belayer was superb in holding the belay tight, staying out of the way and keeping the leader from decking. There were no injuries, mainly due to the fact that the leader was wearing a helmet that prevented head injuries when he flipped. The belayer did a great job in keeping the leader off the ground and the woeful piece held.
Later
The leader then followed the pitch after the belayer led it.
Lessons.
Laybacks are quick but make it harder to place pieces while climbing. Reading a route is a learned skill and varies by region, if a given technique doesn't work or you get off route, being able to safely downclimb can keep you from falling further than safe. Leaders need to place more gear close to the ground to prevent ground fall. There should have been at least one and perhaps two pieces more (2-3 total) in before he got to his high point. An attentive belayer can save your ass. Helmets are a good thing.
Paul
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kman
Feb 27, 2003, 12:05 AM
Post #45 of 100
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Registered: Oct 16, 2001
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Got another one. On the first lead I ever did ( sport ) up in Skaha. I get up to the top of the climb, onto a ledge, after a bit of a run out and am reaching over to clip the ancors when I feel the rope go tight and I feel my self being forcefully pulled to the edge. I look down to see the girl belaying me taking in rope as hard as she friggin could :shock: I got pissed and started yelling at her to stop taking rope in. Apperantly as soon as I stepped up to the ledge and was out of sight she started taking rope in.
Lesson learned, don't let idiots belay you. When someone tells you they can lead belay it doesn't mean they can.
*d'oh... thought this was the worst belayer thread. Ah well.
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kman
Feb 27, 2003, 12:07 AM
Post #46 of 100
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ooops...wrong topic. I meant to post in the wost belayer thread. Ah well.
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crackbaby
Feb 27, 2003, 3:57 AM
Post #47 of 100
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Registered: Nov 15, 2001
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Well, I've been climbing two years and experienced four potential close calls.
1. I was climbing with a friend of mine. We set up a top rope on an easy climb to warm up. My friend belayed; I got to the top and gave her a top belay. THere was a 10a sport lead as a second pitch. It was a good time to teach my friend multi-pitch. THere was a huge ledge to belay from, and good, solid anchors-two bolts and a natural around a good sized tree. THe girl gets up to the ledge, climbing fine. SHe's climbed a year longer than me and I totally trust her belaying...
We set up with her anchored in, then I set out to lead. Forgot the chalk bag-she's got it. No worries I'm at the first move with a bomber handhold and good foothold. I say, toss me the chock bag. No problem. SHe takes both hands off the belay, and tosses me the bag. I just glare at her until she realizes her mistake. I also lost confidence in her that day, and we walked off the top of the first pitch instead of doing the 2nd pitch. I guess she was used to TR'ing, and thinking that there was no danger because I wasn't higher than she was, even though we were 60ft off the ground.
2. Same girl, another guy. 3 pitch climb. double rappel with two ropes. I'm the last one to rappel down. I know I know what I am doing, and the guy knows what's up. This way we can keep the inexperienced girl safe. She's climbed longer, but always with others who don't teach well and aren't too safe. OR she did climb with them. No longer.
Well, I rappel down, get to the ledge and they aren't there. My friend thought it'd be fun to stop at a higher ledge (with no anchor) and let me get down there and wonder what happened to them. Not to funny really, cause they had to free climb down about 15 feet of chossy, loose dirt unroped about 90 feet up. It could have been one fall, one bounce, and the ground. STUPID RISK! Plus they knocked down tons of loose rock on me.
3. Same guy, same route. We rappel down. He pulls the rope. But, he forgot to untie the knot. Oh well, probably happens to the best of us. We have to climb the choss pile to get on route. THis time we really can't help free climbing. We ge to another ledge and he starts climbing. But the fool didn't bother building an anchor. Chances are if he would have fallen he would have hit the ledge, he only had 10 feet to the first bolt, but if he missed it, or slid off, he would have pulled us both off. I was worried, it was getting late and cold, so I didn't think things through. As it was we didn't get off the rock until it was almost too dark to see the trail to get back to the car. Once I realized what he was doing, I started building an anchor as best as I could, lest he fall, and bolts fail. Another stupid risk, makes me realize my safety is my responsibility, and the safety of anyone I climb with is my responsibility.
4. Ok, the last dumb thing I've done. I take a buddy out climbing. He wants to be in the marines; he's a tough, but smart kid. It was just the two of us, not a big deal...
He rappells off the cliff, does fine. I come down after him. No problem. I teach him to belay. He does fine. I climb up and jump off- he catches me every time. THen I decide to climb for real, but I'm tired. I get to the crux, and wimp out. I could pull through it, but I want to look for anothe way, so I tell him to lock me off (we've been throught this) and push off the rock. Well, somehow he messed up the belay, I fell 25 feet, cut up my knee, and got stopped 1 ft off the ground. He got a bad rope burn. I think my biggest mistake was taking just him out. I think another person would have been able to see what he was doing wrong and fix the problem, especially another climber. I'm just glad I didn't get to the crux at the top of the cliff and fall there. I could have died as there are a couple of ledges and a ramp to hit on the way down, plus trees to bounce off at the bottom... wow. fun stuff.
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macattack22
Feb 27, 2003, 4:26 AM
Post #48 of 100
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Registered: Oct 9, 2002
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I had my first real outdoor mishap last weekend, granted it wasn't really much compared to some stories I've heard (eep!) but it coulda been bad. I was belaying a second from the top of a 5.8 (Suzie's Wild Ride) at Mission Gorge. I was anchored in properly and all, but I had trouble keeping a solid stance on this funky little ledge I was on. Well, my second gets to the top and I decide to lower him because there's a third climber waiting at the bottom who wants to try this route. I tell the second this, and he assumes the position for being lowered, and I start letting the rope through my ATC. With one eye on him and one on my feet, I'm trying to get a good stance so I don't get pulled into the wall as he goes, since he's a bit heavier than me (I'm pretty tiny). I shoulda been watching him a little more carefully though, cuz he was holding onto one of the draws in the anchor I built! All of a sudden he let go, and his whole body weight hit the rope and yanked me right up into the face with the anchor, since I couldn't get my feet in place in time to stop. Fortunately, I've been belaying long enough by now that I've developed a reflex to lock off the belay the instant something is awry. So, the climber didn't deck, but we both wound up dangling from the bolt anchors, me with my harness pinned to the wall because the rope pulled all the way up to my ATC. The climber had to scramble back onto a ledge on the face so I could get my feet back down on the belay ledge. Again, thank god I knew to lock off the rope! I guess that's one way to know for sure that the bolts and your anchor are bomber, though. :P
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andy_lemon
Feb 27, 2003, 10:04 PM
Post #49 of 100
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Registered: Sep 7, 2001
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Close calls... lets see.
One time when I was being lowered on top rope, I stepped where there was no rock, the tension on the TR swung me around the arete corner, my tailbone colliding head on with a huge boulder. I screamed in pain. Lucky for me I was able to walk and had no broken bones.
Then, there was the time... one of my climbing partners led a climb to the top of a 60ft boulder. He then says, lets all come up here! So I say, set er up on top rope and I'll come up. When I was at the top, the boulder was very uneven at the top, sitting on a 60 degree angle or so, no grass, all slick mossy rock. I tied my friend in to a make shift anchor at the top, preparing to belay my partner up while I was anchored into the TR anchors on the climb. It didn't work, too much gear in the way, couldn't get things set properly so we decided to come down. We were just going to rappel down so I ran the rope through the TR anchors and threw the rope down... only thing was that I threw the damn rope in a tree. It took us a while to figure this one out but we got down safe. It was a freaky experience.
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andy_lemon
Feb 27, 2003, 10:06 PM
Post #50 of 100
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Registered: Sep 7, 2001
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Come to think about it, both those stories took place on the same route... maybe that is a sign? :idea:
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