Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
|
|
|
May 25, 2011 - 07:50pm PT
|
And let's not forget Boot Flake, while we're tidying things up.
|
|
kev
climber
A pile of dirt.
|
|
|
May 25, 2011 - 07:55pm PT
|
Trundled a similar block but only 300ish feet up a few years back - big fun!
|
|
Pass the Chongo, Chongo
Social climber
love, trust, and T*Rs nuts!
|
|
|
May 25, 2011 - 07:56pm PT
|
pass the chongo chong aint light werner!!!!! im as heavy as they come and redy to send the dunes and all thsoe routes on that side, out of toms scope. rock on!
ptcc
|
|
Roger Brown
climber
Oceano, California
|
|
|
May 25, 2011 - 08:04pm PT
|
I was going to just shove that one off above the Snake Dike approach last summer but at the last minute I chickened out. Just too many what if's.
|
|
HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
|
|
|
May 25, 2011 - 08:22pm PT
|
If it's not about to fall on it's own, why trundle it? Might've been there happily basking in the sun for 500 years. Might be there another 500 if not molested.
|
|
j-tree
Big Wall climber
Classroom to crag to summer camp
|
|
|
May 25, 2011 - 08:28pm PT
|
Quoting HighTraverse:The reason this one is so concerning is that geological mechanics is NOT holding it on. Just slings. they WILL fail at some point, probably unexpectedly.
I'm guessing it's about 10 cubic feet of granite. At 170#/cubic foot, that's about 1700lbs.
I'm not sure how high up it is. So guess 1000 feet. 1,700,000 ft-lbs of energy released in its fall which is approx 2,300,000 joules. About 1 lb of TNT energy released when it has all come to rest on the ground. 2 sticks of dynamite exploding.
Quoting HighTraverse:If it's not about to fall on it's own, why trundle it? Might've been there happily basking in the sun for 500 years. Might be there another 500 if not molested.
Edit: Ah I get it. Cool, thought I missed something... because I did. My bad.
|
|
matty
Trad climber
under the sea
|
|
|
May 25, 2011 - 08:32pm PT
|
Put a sling around it and rappel with it to the ground.
^^Werner's^^ onto something...just have the guys who rappel the captain each year take it down.
|
|
Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
|
|
|
May 25, 2011 - 08:40pm PT
|
Somebody just needs to coordinate with a ground crew to clear the base for ten minutes and cut that sucker loose. Nothing but a frozen cobweb holding it in place.
JL
|
|
mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
|
|
|
May 25, 2011 - 08:46pm PT
|
If it's not about to fall on it's own, why trundle it? Might've been there happily basking in the sun for 500 years. Might be there another 500 if not molested.
I believe HT was referring to the block on HD with the above statement.
|
|
HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
|
|
|
May 25, 2011 - 09:08pm PT
|
mucci ^^^^^ thanks for the clarification.
It's clear to me the Freerider Monster needs to be dealt with. See Largo's comment. Frozen cobweb indeed. Always clever with words that chap.
|
|
Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
|
|
|
May 25, 2011 - 09:13pm PT
|
Doesn't spider's web have great tensile strenth than steel cable, in proportion to its dimensions?
|
|
TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
|
|
|
May 25, 2011 - 09:41pm PT
|
four of us were sitting on top of dolt tower on the nose in 1985 when a huge rock fall came down all around us; seemed like a dump truck load of rocks from high above
none of us were hurt
i wouldn't recommend the experience
|
|
JesseM
Social climber
Yosemite
|
|
|
May 26, 2011 - 02:31am PT
|
Best if YOSAR works it out with NPS and drops it deliberately, taking due precautions to secure the landing zone. If it's done by a pirate, there'll be all hell to pay.
Minor Correction:
YOSAR is a part of NPS-EMS operations. They are not separate organizations.
Hmmmm...If any visitor/tourist snuck through a closure and was hit by a piece of the fall out from that bomb...We can't allow that to happen so how to deal with this safely?
We've been thinking of this block for well over a year. Yes, there are liability issues with cutting a block free. Yet, look at Roger Brown's photo and think of all the blocks that are teetering in Yosemite. We all can think of several. It's tough to establish this precedent...but actually we've done it before.
I admit, this one is different given its location and likelihood to fall. A mid-(hot)summer or mid-winter mission would be best when less climbers would want to come to the base. My plan would be to climb to the alcove with Jake one day in mid-August and stay there that night. That week we would need to monitor the wall to make sure no one was starting a Big Wall route. We tell climbers ahead of time that we will be closing that area for this operation. The evening before with help from other Rangers/SAR we would sweep the base to ensure no one was sleeping there or staring a wall route. Then we would temporarily close the base with several trail blocks. At dawn personnel does one more sweep of the base and then one of us rappels down the Monster Offwidth and cuts the block loose.
It's been difficult to arrange this mission, and I wish we had already taken care of it. Just let me emphasize that this is not a standard operation, and please don't just tell the pirates to deal with this one. There are lots of folks down there often...a little different than trundling in a remote canyon.
Jesse McGahey
Yos. Climbing Ranger
|
|
pieter
Mountain climber
Belgium
|
|
|
May 26, 2011 - 03:05am PT
|
|
|
Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
|
|
|
May 26, 2011 - 07:23am PT
|
YOSAR and NPS already had a practice run for this sort of thing in 2004. There was a "piano sized" block high on the Nose that someone's cam had shifted, and it apparently was REALLY ready to go.
There was a day-long cordon/patrol of the area, from Aquarian to Zodiac, making sure nobody was at the base, on route, etc. A phalanx of yellow-clad sentries guarded the roadside, keeping people in the meadow.
There was twenty seconds of excitement, and it was all over.
That thing in the Monster will probably hit Hollow Flake Ledge on the way down, and turn into a cluster bomb spraying shards from Muir to Dihedral. How are you going to ensure that nobody's on the first ten pitches of any route in that area? Or, how are you going to enforce a No Climb Zone for a few days?
Werner should have gone up there last winter, taken his 11 rappels like a man, and chucked that thing off. What is he? Light in the loafers?
|
|
Captain...or Skully
climber
or some such
|
|
|
May 26, 2011 - 08:48am PT
|
Thread title says it all. "Lose block on the Monster".
Lose it.
|
|
Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
|
|
|
May 26, 2011 - 11:54am PT
|
Trundling was fun, when it was an amateur sport.
|
|
HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
|
|
|
May 26, 2011 - 06:32pm PT
|
consider
If the dimensions of the block were known, its weight would be known. 170# per cubic foot.
I guesstimated 1700 lbs.
It might actually be possible to safely lower it. Looks like you could get a strong cargo net beneath it to take its weight before cutting it free. How far above the deck is it?
A good rigger would have some ideas.
Could it be lowered to Hollow Flake Ledge and stay safely perched there?
|
|
JLP
Social climber
The internet
|
|
|
May 26, 2011 - 06:50pm PT
|
This is getting pitiful. It's a ~100# block that's been sitting in that exact position for several years. Browse a few of Tom's older reports. This is nothing near the order of the Nose's well known death blocks from the last 10-20 yrs.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!