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scrapedape
Jan 28, 2005, 8:18 PM
Post #101 of 171
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In reply to: Young couple climbing... She had not tied in. He had not noticed. :(
I'm not clear on how this failed - if she had him on belay, and he was tied in, shouldn't they both have just hung on opposite ends of the rope?
Nonetheless, a horrible thing to happen, and to have witnessed.
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adamwvt
Jan 28, 2005, 8:22 PM
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I was racking up for Funhouse, and I put my water bag in a steaming pile of fresh shit, right at the base of the crack. I'd love to find that SOB and beat the shit back in him.
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markc
Jan 28, 2005, 8:40 PM
Post #104 of 171
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In reply to: My wife and I were setting up a toprope when she was almost attacked by a dog (no leash of course). She did nothing to provoke the animal, which luckily turned an ran when I stepped between them and started yelling at it. I proceeded to yell at the woman who owned the dog, and told her I almost had to kick the animal to get it to back down. She then yelled back and warned my wife that if I would kick a dog, then I would also beat my wife.
I had almost the opposite of that experience. I was out toproping with my wife and a friend. We brought the dogs along, and had them secured to a tree. They were on short tethers, and away from the path. This guy with tape gloves (in an area dominated by face climbs) comes over to say hello. I tell him he can pet one dog (Jill), but that the other is afraid of strangers and should be left alone (Tuey). Young kids have grasped this concept, but not Mr. Gloves. He proceeds to tell me how much dogs love him as he reaches towards Tuey. My dog growls, backs up, then shows a bit of teeth. Classic warning signs. The idiot ignores them, and ignores me repeatedly telling him to back off. My dog is finally backed into the tree and decides to have a go at Mr. Gloves. Dispite ample warnings, he's angry my dog tried to deliver a warning nip. I told him to deal with it.
Another time, I watched as a group of four or five n00bs approached the area we were in. Some of them had helmets with headlamps strapped on tight, and it was barely after noon in the middle of summer. I almost asked if they expected to get benighted in an area with 30 - 40' climbs, but I let it go. One of them climbs the access climb and rigs a route. They start climbing, and I don't think much of it. When I eventually top out to change our set-up, I see that they're anchored to a loose block with one piece of accessory cord. Goofing off earlier that day, I lifted one end of it off the ground. I wouldn't use it as a limb for an anchor, and it was all they had. While I was standing there slack-jawed, one of them topped out. I politely told him the anchor was crap, and offered to help fix it. He got really confused, then muttered something about his friend rigging the anchor before lowering off. They had lowered off several times, so I left them to divine providence and moved to another area.
We saw the same group climbing in another spot later that day (thankfully anchored to a large tree). The only problem was one of their anchor biners was crossloaded and oddly jammed against the other biner. We told them to fix it so both biners were oriented properly and not creating unneeded stress. They just ignored us, so we once again packed our stuff and moved away.
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jpdreamer
Jan 28, 2005, 8:59 PM
Post #105 of 171
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In reply to: In reply to: Young couple climbing... She had not tied in. He had not noticed. I'm not clear on how this failed - if she had him on belay, and he was tied in, shouldn't they both have just hung on opposite ends of the rope?
It took me a while to make sense of this, but I think this is what happened. Guy cleaning piece is tied in to one end of rope. The other end of the rope is tied / hooked into the anchor. The girl has the guy on belay off of her harness, BUT is not tied in to the anchor (and apparentlly not at a good stance). So when the guy weights the rope, the girl is pulled over the ledge, and the rope finally catches them when IT goes taught, as the rope is attached to the anchor. But of course that's not soon enough for either of them. She's left suspended after the fall because the guy's bodyweight essentially has her on a fireman's belay.
Is that correct billcoe_ ?
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erisspirit
Jan 28, 2005, 9:55 PM
Post #106 of 171
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In reply to: I had one draw too few so I get to the last bolt and I yell down in a panicked voice, "Hey, I'm short a draw! What do I do?" He yells up, "I don't know, but page 8 here says you were supposed to tie into the rope BEFORE climbing." I yell, "Oh s---!" This big group up at Touch and Go all ran over to the edge to look down and see what was going on.
The only way this could have been any funnier is if one of the onlookers had posted here :lol:
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scrapedape
Jan 28, 2005, 10:14 PM
Post #107 of 171
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In reply to: In reply to: In reply to: Young couple climbing... She had not tied in. He had not noticed. I'm not clear on how this failed - if she had him on belay, and he was tied in, shouldn't they both have just hung on opposite ends of the rope? It took me a while to make sense of this, but I think this is what happened. Guy cleaning piece is tied in to one end of rope. The other end of the rope is tied / hooked into the anchor. The girl has the guy on belay off of her harness, BUT is not tied in to the anchor (and apparentlly not at a good stance). So when the guy weights the rope, the girl is pulled over the ledge, and the rope finally catches them when IT goes taught, as the rope is attached to the anchor. But of course that's not soon enough for either of them. She's left suspended after the fall because the guy's bodyweight essentially has her on a fireman's belay. Is that correct billcoe_ ?
I think I understand now - do you think billcoe meant 20" (inches) above him or 20' (feet)? 20' would make more sense... It sounds like he was on one end of the rope and the opposite end was tied to the anchor. She was belaying him without being connected to the anchor - he downclimbs (presumably about 20'), pulls her off, he hits the ground, she hits a ledge on the way down, and ends up still 20' above him.
That's horrible.
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coloredchalker
Jan 28, 2005, 10:43 PM
Post #108 of 171
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In reply to: Dumbest thing? Me not wearing a helmet to toprope one day when I was visiting a friend in North Carolina. We went to a spot that is very accessable to tourons, and that day the place was overflowing with them oohing and aahing at the views. One of their dumb kids then proceeding to pelt rocks down on the group of us at the bottom of the climb. Yeah, that was pretty dumb on my part. K.
K,
This must have been at Pilot Mnt..?
I've seen it twice there myself. Once it was redneck family pickniking on top of the rock (no big deal, happens all the time). This family was eating fried chicken. I guess they didn't have anything better to do with the bones so they were chucking them over the side of the cliff on to us climbing below. I topped out and gave them a peice of my mind. They could have at least left some meat on the bones.
The second time was by a bunch of BoyScouts. I was climbing with my brothers and we had just met this new guy, who was by himself, when we got there. So the 4 of us were sendin' and having fun. Untill... These rocks come flying over the edge and barely miss us on the groud. And lots of rocks. Then they emptied there cooler off the top. The new guy we had just met get enraged and takes off for the nearby gully to catch up with the group and teach them proper cliff side ettiquette.
We reported this insident to the park rangers because the BS's frequent the locale.
AS
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kimmyt
Jan 28, 2005, 11:20 PM
Post #109 of 171
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Yep.
And, you didn't by any chance name that 5.6 route called Chicken Bone? I heard that's the reason it was named that...cuz of tourists chucking chicken bones off the top.
K.
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chalked4dyno
Jan 28, 2005, 11:21 PM
Post #110 of 171
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In reply to: I hope with all these stories that people are speaking up to prevent someone from getting hurt. I was climbing at Mt. Nemo in Canada one time and some people started throwing rocks down from the top. They were wizzing right past me and I was belaying somone. So not only would I get hurt but my climber might too. I bought a helmet the next day.
In most cities, kids hang out downtown with their skateboards and their pants down below their @$$... In milton, kids go to the crag and throw rocks.
This has happenned to me at least twice at Nemo.
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coldclimb
Jan 29, 2005, 12:50 AM
Post #111 of 171
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In reply to: Don't feel too bad Joe, we have probably all done that one at least once. That's why we should always be vigilant, and do our double checks.
I know I've done that. :oops: We set up the belay, double checked everything, and I was making the first clip when my buddy goes "uhhh...." :lol: That one turned out ok.
I've made the occasional ADT and rigged some really lame setups that I'd be embarrassed of today. Everybody plays the n00b. :lol:
The one that got me the worst was when a friend (I won't say your name, but I know you're out there! :twisted: :twisted: ) left my webollette and cordallette BOTH on a two pitch route an hour before I was to head back on a long hike for a few days of climbing, and after I had repeatedly said to grab them when the two guys left the belays. Got back to camp after the climb, found them missing, and I had to run back to the top of the route to get my cordellette, since I was going to need it. :lol: *sigh*... Good times, no grudges, and only one scar from slipping while racing up that sucky walkoff. :lol:
Like I said though, I've done my share. ;)
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joneiche
Jan 29, 2005, 12:59 AM
Post #112 of 171
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Registered: Oct 25, 2002
Posts: 55
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1) Ran into a couple of guys at the base of the Direct Route of the 1st Flatiron with a rack of q-draws. They asked how many bolts there were and how many draws they should take. I reluctantly told them 2.
2) Sat at the base of the North Chimney @ Castleton for three hours waiting for the first party to get past the first pitch. Of course we bailed...but after the approach the three hour rest was nice
3) Was out doing some solo TRing and some people showed up. Two guys were teaching a girl to rap. They set up an anchor off of 2 bomber bolts, and with another 100' of webbing and 11mil static line backed it up. When the girl finally was about to rap I looked over and saw her uclipping the rats nest of webbing and biners from her harness. When she was down to the last biner (that both she was attached to and the rope ran through) I had to intervene. Not only was she unclipping both th rope and herself from the anchor, but she didn't have the rope through her rap deviceto start with!! The guys she was with were obviously put off that I stopped her, but I let the whole mess go as long as I could w/o someone dying..
And my favorite
Two guys fresh from REI drive up in a BMW SUV loaded to the gills with an enourmous shiny new rack!! They show up to practice placing gear so they can climb el cap. One of them places a #4 tcu in a tapering crack and starts yarding on it to make sure its bomber which it was while being over cammed to beat hell!! The other guy goes to clean it and pulls on the trigger and starts pull downward to get it out. After fifteen minutes pulling down on an over cammed tcu in a constricting crack they give up. As they are leaving I ask if they want the new biner off of the new cam. They say "no f#ck it" and drive off. After pulling on the trigger bar and giving the piece a very slight upward push I am now the proud owner of a brand new tcu & biner!!!:D
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vballlady3
Jan 29, 2005, 8:22 PM
Post #113 of 171
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well not at the crag... in the gym, but still pretty dumb... today i saw this woman belaying, but she kept taking her brake hand off and switching all over the place; i walked up and asked if she knew how to belay. she apparently did a long time ago and thought it something seemed wrong... hmmmmmmmm i wonder...
then 10 minutes later they had a 5 yr old kid and one of those full body harnesses for him, but put it on upside down so that his arms were through the leg loops and legs through the arm loops... good times
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dino
Jan 29, 2005, 10:43 PM
Post #114 of 171
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-six people bogarting the top of the Third Flatiron while they teach a noobie how to rap. Of course, they want to single 100', mostly free, rap to the ground. To do that somebody has to untie their rope. So, they ask one of the eight other people waiting to use they anchors to help them out by doing that.
-at JTree; Joe Cool, no shirt, headband/ear warmer over his ears, is standing in the alcove belaying so he is out of the wind and getting some sun. His leader is stressing out yelling down to watch him because he thinks he's going to peel. Joe Cool asks 3rd party who is watching what his leader is saying because he cannot hear him. 3rd party is standing where Joe Cool should be standing. I am watching this because I am pretty sure the leader is going to pitch off. Leader yells he is falling and does. Joe Cool genuflects and grabs the rope with both hands-above the brake. He yells at third party to help him which he does. Luckily, the leader slid onto a ledge and stopped falling pretty much on his own. 3rd party takes over the belay.
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tnchief
Jan 30, 2005, 7:04 AM
Post #115 of 171
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Posts: 100
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I didn't think we were including gyms, but here are two of my favorites.
I was running a small wall at a fitness center and had to fire one of the climbing instructors because he was repeatedly unclipping from the belay (gri-gris anchored to the floor) and free-soloing up the wall (20-30 ft) to give beta (always to a girl). Two warnings apparently weren't enough.
At another gym, (Lafayette, LA?) I watched a guy TRing an overhanging route where the rope was clipped trough a draw at about 15 ft. He climbed past the draw without unclipping it and proceeded to the top. Not realizing his predicament, we yelled at him enough to convince him he needed to downclimb the route. He barely was able to do so, and would have surely decked if we had not noticed it. The staff shortly thereafter ejected him.
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far_east_climber
Jan 30, 2005, 8:28 AM
Post #116 of 171
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Probably last week when some kids were throwing off fist sized rocks 60ft above me on a climb. Other than that they were kicking off stones and pebbles, causing alot of loose material to rain down on climbers. What was worse is that they were throwing trash off the top (coke bottles, oranges and candy wrappers). After nearly being hit I screamed maniacally up towards the culprits - didn't seem to do anything. Went up to the top to find out their parents were sitting back and laughing as they cheered their kids on to continue littering the crag and cause rock fall. They were young, having fun and didn't know any better... but the parents certainly did.
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p_grandbois
Jan 30, 2005, 9:23 AM
Post #117 of 171
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Posts: 328
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Horizontal roof, supposed professional climber with pro belayer, takes a whip, belayer dosen't dynamic.....pro climber slams into flake.....in fromt of his whole class.... :?
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too_far_gone
Jan 30, 2005, 11:13 AM
Post #118 of 171
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One incident I remember, is when my partner and I were going to climb Jim Dandy (5.4) at Table Rock in Linville Gorge. The route gets a little crowded on weekend and we had to wait. The party in front of us look like that had less experience that I did, which was only a few months of leading at the time. Their gear looked like it had never been used and it all matched. Anyway, the belayer took the rope out of the pack gave one end to the climber and threw it on te ground without flaking it out. I mentioned to him that it might be a good idea to flake the rope out, and he said that it was his coil and it was good. Well, the climber was about 3/4 of the way up the route and the belayer yelled at him to hold on, because the rope was tangled. At least he did keep his hand brake hand on the rope while he untangled it. It took a minute to untagle it. It was just like I told you so. I just looked at my partner and smiled.
I haven't seen anything dumb enough for someone to get seriously injured, but I have only been climbing a few years.
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sevrdhed
Jan 30, 2005, 1:31 PM
Post #119 of 171
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Hey, if we're adding gyms, then mine would be the time I let my step-sister belay me. We'd gone climbing a few times before, and she decided that she wanted to take the belay test at my gym so that she would be allowed to belay me. Keep in mind, this isn't even Lead belay, this is just on TR.
Since she's climbed with me before, and enjoys climbing, and talks about how she used to climb a lot, I assume that she knows how to belay using an ATC (the gym I go to doesn't allow GriGris). So, I grab one of my friends that works there, tie in, and start on up. Meanwhile, I can hear him explaining what's going on. I had to stop three times during this short 20 foot climb, so that he could point out what she was doing wrong. I get back down, and it turns out that she does not, in fact, know how to belay with an ATC. At all. She kept taking her hand off the brake, wasn't paying attention to me at all, and basically had no idea how an ATC worked at all.
I'm just glad that I found this out while being belayed 10 feet off the padded ground at the gym, not outside on an actual route, where a fall would have been possible.
Steve
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send513
Jan 30, 2005, 3:13 PM
Post #120 of 171
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Two guys a military who were TOTALLY over their heads on Tissue Tiger. The belayer was standing about 15 feet from the wall and every time his partner fell he got yanked into the wall... the last time, and the time I intervened the climber said to his partner ' I am going to let go' but the IDIOT had his leg behind the rope - he then proceeded to argue with me about his leg. I finally gave up and said fine... fall how you want, but I am NOT carrying your ass out of here. He moved his leg and took the fall safely (but almost got castrated because of the partner standing so far away, the angle of the rope between the belayer and the first draw, and the lenght of the fall).
My partner and I left shortly after that because our fear that the two climbers were going to do something REALLY dangerous was ruining our climbing.
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climbingkidd
Jan 30, 2005, 3:40 PM
Post #121 of 171
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Oh, I got one Me and my friend were out climbing on Mt. lemmon where we met some other climbers I saw this one guys belayer climbing right next to him WTF!? :?:
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chalked4dyno
Jan 30, 2005, 3:46 PM
Post #122 of 171
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In reply to: Oh, I got one Me and my friend were out climbing on Mt. lemmon where we met some other climbers I saw this one guys belayer climbing right next to him WTF!? :?:
Come on!?! Are you trying to tell us you've never simul-top-roped before?
It's all the rage.
edit: I guess if he was on lead then that's just ridculous: Leader falls, if his pro happens to resist the upward pull, belayer gets shot towards the ground. That'd be funny to watch (before the bloody mess).
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billcoe_
Jan 30, 2005, 4:28 PM
Post #123 of 171
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In reply to: In reply to: Young couple climbing... She had not tied in. He had not noticed. :( I'm not clear on how this failed - if she had him on belay, and he was tied in, shouldn't they both have just hung on opposite ends of the rope? Nonetheless, a horrible thing to happen, and to have witnessed.
Yeah, it was bad. But there was a worse one almost at the same time which I won't get into. It was just a tragedy from a simple error, not a dumb mistake like this one. I didn't go back to Smith for a while.
Further clarification: They got to the top and she untied from the end of the rope.
Imagine the 2 ends of rope. They tied the 1 end to the anchor. He is tied into the other end. She's sitting on the edge of the cliff, staring down 150-160' and is untied. She takes the rope he is tied into and runs it through her atc to put him on belay, but she still isn't tied into the anchor. No daisy chain, no runner, no rope, she is not anchored in any way. She's sitting there totally out of the system. When he fell, she went with him. The reason she was hanging @20 feet above him was that the rope did run correctly through her ATC. They both fell, but his massive weight had locked her belay off which is why she was hanging on the rope also.
I'm not sure my words have made it so clear as I can see it in my minds eye. Near as I can tell, that's what happened. I didn't witness the actual fall, others did and described it to us. We were the first to the anchor, and that is the story the gear told.
EDITED TO ADD:
Opps, just went back and started reading posts after your first one scrapdape. Yes, sorry, I meant to say 20', not 20". Dohhh. Jpdreamer has it right.
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androids
Jan 30, 2005, 5:00 PM
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the dumbest thing ive ever seen at a crag...is me.
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couchman
Jan 30, 2005, 5:40 PM
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since people are adding gym stuff.
I'm sitting on one of those skanky old sofa's that are in most gyms, just resting my feet and daydreaming. Across the gym, some girl is hangdoging on TR in the middle of the route. This gym use's locked in grigri's that are roped and bolted to the floor. So the belayer is not connected to the system.
Well, I guess her belayer got a little bored, or thirsty while she was think about the route. He left her hanging and walked across the gym to his bag and fished out a drink. Musta been a 50 feet away. I had one of those "huh, wha, , , " moments where the brain see but doesnt believe what its seeing. I pointed it out to the guy behind the desk.
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