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survival
Big Wall climber
arlington, va
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Topic Author's Original Post - Dec 13, 2007 - 12:21pm PT
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Share a personal beginner epic with me! I have a slew of them myself, but I will start with my first...
I would love to hear from some of the old heads on this.
C'mon Pat A., Largo, Werner, Bachar, Maysho, Tar, Fish...and all the rest of you who I know or don't know. Tell me a CLIMBING story!
1975- I had been reading some old school climbing books and decided I HAD to try this. One day after school I rode my bike out of Bend Oregon and headed for Mt. Bachelor where I knew there were cliffs next to the Deschutes river. I ended up near a place where there is a hotel now called Bachelor Village.
The water was pretty high and the river was quite loud so it seemed a little intimidating just being next to it. I picked a spot that was semi-blocky and had some cracks so it looked like I could get up it. I had my old hiking boots on...period.
I climbed the bottom 3/4 easily and thought I had it in the bag! Suddenly I found myself in the steepest spot, the crack flared and I had trouble seeing what was above me. This happened about the time that I had a sinking feeling that I couldn't reverse the moves I had just done.
Can't go up, can't go down....luckily there's a lot of big boulders to land on down there. I could see a sizeable jug above this flare and I remember thinking "If I could just get my hands on that I'd have it!" Unfortunately, panic was about to set in.
I stayed there hoping for a revelation until my strength was failing. Somehow I made the choice that going for that hold was better than falling off without trying and managed to get my feet up under me to make the grab. It seemed like a slow motion Wile E. Coyote cartoon moment, all arms and legs spinning at once. It seemed like I was just kind of hovering there not really going up, but not quite surrendering to gravity yet either. My fingers wrapped into the jug hold and my foot went into the flare out of sheer luck it seemed. I realized that for a split second that the jug was the only thing I could see and that I couldn't hear the river either. It was my last dyno move for a long time!!!
Help me out guys and gals-tell me a tale, make me smile. I can't be the only one who almost soiled myself first time out!
(I make no claim to historical accuracy here. It was a long time ago and the candle of memory flickers, but that's about the way I remember it.) It's just a tale after all.
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TradIsGood
Recently unshackled climber
the Gunks end of the country
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Dec 13, 2007 - 12:25pm PT
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How'd ya git down? :-)
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jewedlaw
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Dec 13, 2007 - 12:31pm PT
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I had just bought a set of Metolius cams, and was practicing building anchors at the base of this crag. My cocky friend, with no trad experience, offers to lead this lieback/fist crack, since it should be easy, he's TRed it twice already! He somehow cajoles me into belaying him, even though I knew better..
Anyway, he starts off, and we have no slings or quick draws (just some cord), so he's clipping the rope directly into the racking biner on the cam (can you tell where this is going?). About 4 or 5 placements up, maybe 15 feet, the crack changes angles and he switches from lieback to straight in jams, but the rope shifts and all but the bottom placement rotate and slip out of the crack (tipped out much?). I've never seen my friend so scared--that showed him. I switched to spotter mode and he down climbed safely, but I don't think he's "led" since then.
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survival
Big Wall climber
arlington, va
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 13, 2007 - 12:40pm PT
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Getting down is easy along the deschutes, you just walk away through the woods. "Getting down" to the river is harder in places, but there are lots of breaks in this rim rock.
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WBraun
climber
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Dec 13, 2007 - 12:48pm PT
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Near Death Epic Tales?
I've had to many.
The most scared to death I've ever been was when I was in Hawaii, north shore of Molokai filming a IMAX flick with Kauk and Shultz.
They haven't arrived yet and we were scouting shooting locations by helicopter. The boss, Bev Johnson's husband, decides he wants to try a location on one of those waterfalls a 1000 feet off the deck.
The chopper's rotors are whirling in the water and the north shores winds which cause horrendous updrafts bounce the tail of the ship around in a rocky motion. The boss says jump to that ledge over there through the water. I leap over there at the same time grabbing some hanging vines on the slick sloper ledge.
If I had missed, well you know the outcome, hee hee.
So I'm hanging around over there watching the chopper bobbing around wondering "now how the fuk am I going to get back to the ship?" I have nothing, no rope, no gear, just nothing, Hahaha.
They come back a while later to get me. I have to jump back to that bobbing chopper to out reached hands.
It's a leap of faith. If you don't make it you're a goner.
I miss those days ....... and sorry it's not a beginner epic.
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purplesage
Trad climber
Bend, OR
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Dec 13, 2007 - 12:57pm PT
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Like you survival I got psyched about climbing from library books at school. I decided to start with rapelling on a choss pile just out of town and according to the books the Dulfersitz was obviously the technique to use. My hands and other body parts got so trashed on the way down that at about the halfway point I abandoned the rope and in fear of my imminent death desperately climbed back to the top of the cliff. That's when I found out that climbing was good and rapelling sucked.
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survival
Big Wall climber
arlington, va
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 13, 2007 - 01:02pm PT
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Right on Werner, that's what I'm talking about!! HA HA indeed.
I miss those days too. Thanks for the advice on the copperheads in 1980 (I think) when Rob L., Lepton and I did the 3rd on Tribal Rite.
Bruce
Hey Pat-you old hang dog! Great stuff man. My computer is so slow I can't get back and forth fast enough! Someday I'll get a new one....or replace these EBs!
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scooter
climber
Moss Landing CA
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Dec 13, 2007 - 01:12pm PT
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How is it that when you are just starting out you somehow forget to look at the whole climb. I had been climbing about a year and was down in the S.Platte. My pard' and I saw saw a beuatiful hand crack. Started up it then whoa' where did that 6 foot roof come from 90 feet up. I gave it a few tries whipped on my new #3 camalot a few times. Then deicided I couldn't do it. What would be the obvious cousre of action for a dumb newb? Well of course it would be to place one of my dorky bonging huge hexes into the roof crack and get lowered to clean my gear. Then, not scary, now HOLY CRAP!!!When I was about 2 feet from the ground I got dopped off the end of the rope to boot. 50 meter rope. I don't know how I managed to get that Hex to stick. I think I was only about 16 at that time also, so probably not really grasping what was going on. HA.
Patrick
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lemon_boy
climber
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Dec 13, 2007 - 01:18pm PT
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hey patrick, where in the platte?
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survival
Big Wall climber
arlington, va
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 13, 2007 - 01:27pm PT
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Scooter, yeah man! The stuff we used to come up with for solutions were sometimes worse than the original decision!
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WanderlustMD
Trad climber
Lanham MD
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Dec 13, 2007 - 01:52pm PT
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Largo has already written tons of epic-style pieces. My fav is the shorter one about belaying on the Shield headwall off a 1/4" spinner. That must have been a scary, scary thing...
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survival
Big Wall climber
arlington, va
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 13, 2007 - 02:13pm PT
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Wanderlust,
It won't hurt him to write something new, he's got 'em in there somewhere.
What's yours?
I'll tell you about descending from a 1,000 ft. volcanic plug in the dark.........
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the Fet
Knackered climber
A bivy sack in the secret campground
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Dec 13, 2007 - 02:26pm PT
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I climbed Ozone on TR at Mt. Diablo. It was the end of the day so I went off belay to rap off. Then I realized I didn't have my belay device. No problem, I'd seen a Munter Hitch in books. About 1/3 of the way down all of a sudden my hand is burning. Luckily my survival instinct over-rode my pain reaction and I didn't let go. My "munter" was really a single biner rap. I had to hang on really tight to lower with almost no friction, with a hand that was already rope burned. Ouch! We stopped at a store on the way out and I got some ice, as long as I kept it iced it was ok, but as soon as I took the ice off it would start burning again, that lasted for hours. I learned to double check everything after that :-).
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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Trad climber
San Francisco, Ca
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Dec 13, 2007 - 02:33pm PT
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Anxious to get on some multi-pitch action circa 1988, my pards and I launched up the obscure Elysian Buttress east of Flag. Gear list for the THREE of us: some wires, some hexes and ONE rope. The route has several traverses, one of them major. I would lead a pitch, bring up the second and then we would have to somehow get the rope back to the third. Many dangerous "solutions" to our problem ensued, including having the third use his rap device to "belay" himself across the long skyline traverse. We got back to the car at about midnight, no water, etc.
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survival
Big Wall climber
arlington, va
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 13, 2007 - 02:52pm PT
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Ontheedge- That sounds VERY much like my early days! You had me laughing out loud! Thanks.
In my fever to be a "mixed ground" guy like the famous Scots, I talked two guys from high school into following me up a frozen up gulley near Tumalo Falls in Oregon. We had a goldline rope and about 3 pieces of gear, none of which I managed to get into the iced up cracks. I got up it because there was enough snow in there to grovel up. The second made it also, but the problem was that all the snow had been "swum" out of this chute by the time the third came up and there was nothing but ice in there! No tools, no gear, no technique....he was there a loooong time. It was getting dark as the two of us on top winched him up hand over hand on an iced up goldline rope. Much swearing slipping and sweating later, he looked me in the eye and said "I'll never do this with you again." He meant it! Lucky for me there were lots of other guppies in the sea.....
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TitaniumTendons
Sport climber
LA, CA
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Dec 13, 2007 - 04:18pm PT
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I get the impression there are quite a few socal climbers here, so a lot of you might be familiar with the Tree Crack on Sespe Wall in Ojai. That was my first multipitch. I'd been bouldering and top-roping for a few months, but all in all I wasn't too familiar with ropes. We got to the top of the climb (about 200ft), and my partner sent me to rap down first. I'd never rapelled before, and was pretty nervous about it. Of course I was giving myself the "you can do it" self-talk the whole time, and just when I was starting to feel comfortable I look down and see the end of the rope about ten feet from where I'm hanging. And about ten feet beneath the end of the rope are the anchors I'm supposed to be clipping into. Obviously I couldn't go down, and at that time I had no idea what a prussik was, so I couldn't go up, either. After shouting at my partner for about five minutes, he advises me to pendulum over to one of the tiny little trees growing out of the crack, and hitch myself to it with the single sling I have. I do, but I'm way too scared to weight the rope, so I spend the next 45 minutes crouching into the crack 100ft off the ground with that single sling for pro while he figures out an anchor. May not have been death defying, but it sure felt like it. Great first rapelling experience.
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sling512
Trad climber
Chicago
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Dec 13, 2007 - 05:05pm PT
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Back in the early days of my climbing, my partner and I decided to take a trip to the Needles, except it was in February... no matter! We got a map, a guide book and lots of food and started the drive from the bay. Not ever considering the roads might be closed, we came to some gates... and beyond that snow. Again, no matter!! The gates were unlocked and we kept on (1987 Toy 4x4, RIP). We had the place to ourselves the whole week! The second day of climbing we decided to try and get to the look-out tower, but the trail on the north side was all snowed/iced over... no matter!! We had left our approach shoes at the base of the climb so we hit the 'trail' in our rock shoes. Now, walking in snow and ice in climbing shoes is not a whole lot of fun as you can imagine. We managed to get most the way, but quickly found ourselves pawing up steep ice and snow sections by pulling on bushes and exposed sections of rock with a horrific fall potential. And yes, eventually found ourselves totally f-ed on this steep sloping face with the sun fading fast, far, far from camp. We decided to down climb, and at the exact moment I said out loud "This would be a very bad place to fall" my partner above me slipped- bowling me with him. We gained speed amazingly fast and were headed to some unknown fate toward a blind drop-off when I managed to two-hand grab a bush and stop us both literally on the edge of some 30 foot cliff. Holy &%#$! After a few moments to scoop the crap out of our pants we whimpered back to our gear and a death night scamper down loose gullies to camp. And of course, back at it the next day.
Ahhh, the good ol' days.
-sling
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survival
Big Wall climber
arlington, va
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 13, 2007 - 05:05pm PT
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Titanium,
Brrrrr...the things we have survived rapping off of. That could be a thread of it's own eh? Like getting gripped on the East ledges somewhere?
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Ferretlegger
Trad climber
san Jose, CA
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Dec 13, 2007 - 05:39pm PT
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In late November 1968, a bunch of members of the UCSB Mountaineering club went to Tahquitz for a weekend. Being a veteran leader (my only previous roped climbs were a first ascent on the North Face of Ragged Peak in Tuolomne and a 2 day ascent of the Royal Arches in late October, complete with snowy bivy) it was decreed that I would lead one group up Angel's Fright, a fairly long 5.4. We started under cloudy skies, with hints of rain, but being young and full of Walter Bonatti stories, we persevered anyway. Soon we were several pitches up, but we were not moving very quickly. I had, for protection, perhaps 6 pitons and a biner for each, a claw hammer on a string around my shoulder, Dunham's Tyrolean hiking boots, with a 3/8" Goldline rope and a waist swami. Old school!
Soon the skies opened and it started to rain, with a bit of snow for added spice. As I recall, there were 3 or 4 people (all even less "experienced" than me) climbing after my lead. I don't think it ever occurred to us to rap off: probably a good thing, since I doubt we knew how. As conditions worsened, there was great encouragement from the troops for me to lead faster, and thus take less time placing pro. Eventually I found myself perhaps 60 feet out from my last piece staring at a small ceiling in the corner we were climbing. A torrent of water was cascading down this trough, and firehosing into my face. To get over this little roof involved sticking my left foot in the crack as high as I could and then high stepping the right foot onto a small hold above the roof.
So I jammed my fingers into the firehose, stuck the left foot in the crack and high stepped. But as I did so, the claw hammer fell out of its holder and my overextended right leg relaxed just enough that the claws of the hammer stuck in the waffle stomper sole of my boot. I was now hanging desperately from my fingers, with my right leg cocked up at the maximum I could raise it, and no way to lower it! Imagine tying your foot to your neck and tightening the rope as much as your leg will allow. I was now a one legged screaming machine, desperately trying to dislodge the hammer without letting go with my hands, which were becoming numb and starting to peel out of the crack. Down below, the rest of the crew was starting to realize that I was about to come flying out of the sky and land on them or pull the anchors. They were not pleased! I was contorting my shoulders and trying to get the hammer lower, but my leg was cramping and kept tension on the cord. I thrashed and cried, and hopped around frantically, and eventually the hammer fell off my foot. The actual move over the roof was easy, as was the rest of the climb, as I had just released enough adrenaline to kill a horse.
The rain had now turned mostly to snow and lots of it, and we topped out just after dark. None of us had ever been to the top of Tahquitz, and had only a vague idea how to find the 3rd class friction descent. We also had no flashlights. We started wandering in what we hoped was the right direction, and ran into another group from UCSB who had had a similar epic. Our combined group, now totaling 14 people, eventually stumbled into a slot that one of the "experts" from the other group assured us was the famous friction descent. We slithered down the hideous thing using half-assed waist belays and half a lifetime's worth of good luck without anyone dying, and started back to the car. This involved a torturous fumble along the rocks at the base of Tahquitz in the pitch dark with the snow pouring down. Eventually, we found Lunch Rock and headed down the talus. This turned into a literal blind belly crawl and butt slide in the mud and over the boulders until we found the parking lot through the simple expedient of falling into the creek which led to it. The trail being invisible, and it being impossible to get any wetter, we waded up the creek to the car, getting there around midnight. There was only one car! We had come in three cars, but as the note on the windshield of my station wagon explained, the drivers of the other two cars (who did not climb) decided that we were all going to "bivouac" when it got dark and we had not returned, and had returned to UCSB. So there we were, 14 soaking wet, hypothermic, miserable, mud caked climbers and a single 1967 Chevelle station wagon. Somehow we all got into it and we started driving back to Santa Barbara in the snow and the rain. There was so much weight in the back that the front wheels were literally floating, and steering was more like skiing or surfing than driving. None-the-less, we made it, pulling into the dorm around 8 am. In retrospect, we cheated death in many ways that day, on the climb, the descent, and on the drive back. What a GRAND time we had!!!! Damn I miss the old days....
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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Dec 13, 2007 - 05:40pm PT
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near death beginner stuff?
we (Imperial Beach locals who were "into" rock climbing, all of 3 guys)used to use a semi-ratty piece of mil. suplus white 3/4" tubular webbing for rope...top-rope, but still...
we top-roped total garbage, near road-cut like rubble around Otay reservoir, east of Chula Vista.
it never broke - this guy had found the webbing in his garage, his dad was a SEAL in the Korean conflict - so the webbing (kinda stained) might have been from like the 50's.
it was a huge relief to get a real rope
we were oddball dorks
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