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Dapper Dan
climber
The OC
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 7, 2005 - 01:55pm PT
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if you didn't hit anything along the way couldn't you potentially fall 400 + feet? anyone ever hear of a fall this size. i wonder how much slack an attentive belayer could pull in that time......
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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well....he's not here to speak, but Dano has.
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ricardo
Gym climber
San Francisco, CA
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i remember reading about a 100+ whipper that someone took in one of largo's books.. (it was also repeated in lynn hill's book) .. i forget if it was yabo or someone else who took it ..
they were running it out on el cap having had placed no gear (or close to it), and a miracle horm managed to snag the rope and avoid a most likely fatal fall
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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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ricardo, you're refering to Yabo's fall off of Mammoth Terraces when he and Mike Lechlinski were trying to do a fast ascent of the Shield. It was dark, he was in tennies and running it out for about 100 feet with no pro in-between him and the ledge. Out of nowhere he pitches, screams and plummets toward to deck. Somehow the rope snags in the crack or on something and stops Yabo within feet of ledging out. Mike flips the rope and it comes snaking down with no problem. Mo shines his headlamp up to see what caught Yabo's rope but couldn't see anything that would qualify. Just another Yabo miracle survival story.
An old wall buddy of mine was doing the PO a number years back and ripped one of the rivet ladders and went for 150'. After he topped out he quit climbing and lives quitely in Sonora today.
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yes
Trad climber
the inside
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You know,
I think someone records this data actually....
I remember reading an EXCELLENT first hand account article written in one of the mags.....
It was a so. cal climber? who knew a person, who knew someone in hollywood. They needed someone to take the whipper of all whippers for that one silly Stalone movie filmed in the dolomites...
Anywas, she/he? agreed and a few months later found herself in a Italy, strung over a canyon on a high tension wire, thousand feet up. Cameras rolling and she took a full lenth rope fall, over 100m.
Great artilce she writes about it. Can't place the name, sorry for lack of details.....
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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heard a rummor that ammon took a purposfull 60 meter fall from the 2nd or 3rd pitch of south seas just for fun.
ammon?
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Trashman
Trad climber
SLC
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i believe the cliffhanger one was Gea Phipps(sp?)-Franklin
seems like a set up stunt fall might be a little easier/less scary than zippering a pitch
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WBraun
climber
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270 feet...don't ever recall one that far. But if you like to hear about these I'll give you one more.
The first call came in somebody is injured at the base of the Salathe wall. Rock fall or something. We get there and the leader had droped the haul bag on the belayers head. Lol!
We finish up that one and start driving back around the loop when the next call comes in "climber fall on Mescalito". Back we go. The guy's at the base when I get there seeing stars big time, blood drippin down his forehead....kinda looking goofy. I ask him if he's all right. Says he's ok I guess and that he's taken a 100 plus footer. We pack him up and cary him out. They flew him to Modesto for cat scans and the usual stuff they do for head injuries. They stiched him up good on that long nasty gash he got on his nuggin. He turned out fine with no problems other than a big bill.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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70 0r 71 around easter break there was a hubub in camp four and we all trapsed over to the SAR site to check out a rope that someone took a 200+/- footer on. It was reduced from 11mm to about 9mm or so and felt square thru the sheath. Anybody remember the details on that one? Evidently it was an injury free fall.
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mudimba
climber
Baria
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Werner, are you talking about Captain Kirk? He told me he backcleaned most of a pitch on Mescalito and then pitched off right at the end. Guess he even had a locker hanging on the anchor, but hadn't clipped himself in yet.
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Latitute 33
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The most amazing fall I ever witnessed was the near ground fall by the infamous "Acapulco Bill" at Suicide Rock. He was off route, terribly run out, crying, and shaking like a leaf on Guillotine [a 5.8 route on the shorter North side of the rock].
Bill was already famous for having taken and survived several other longish falls in Yosemite, Joshua Tree and Tahquitz [hence the moniker "Acapulco" -- being a famous cliff diver]. I was sitting next to the belayer, atop a flake, some 25 feet off the ground.
Oddly enough, as the drama unfolds, the Riverside Mountain Rescue arrives at the base (for a practice session), litter and all. One particulalry callous spectator yells up to Bill "You couldn't a better day to die in complete safety." After a few more terrifying minutes of whining and attempts to climb up or down, Bill pitches off.
On the way down, Bill pulls at least one piece of gear (which probably kept him from swinging into the flake and instantly splicing him). Bill lets out a blood curdling scream. After catching his breath (and realizing he was still falling) he screams a second time.
He flys by the belayer (and me) barely skimming the less than vertical face. After the rope stretches, he comes to a stop. With rope stretch, Bill is about 3 or 4 feet off the deck. In total, Bill falls about 125 feet.
A "rescue" is immediately mounted. In the blink of an eye, Bill is lowered a few feet, the rope cut off from the solid knot on Bill's swami belt, and he is quickly stabilized and placed into the waiting litter.
Within minutes he is headed down the hill to the parking area and a trip to the hospital.
As with Bill's prior cliff diving experiences, he is essentially unscathed and is actually back in Humber Park parking lot that evening, putting down some beers with the rest of us.
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WBraun
climber
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Yep, that was him.
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Sonora, California
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Can't Say, your "old wall buddy" now lives near LA. I held that fall, and it wasn't 150', it was right at 110'. We were on the South Seas in October 1989. He desintegrated the dowel ladder and pulled some heads on the pitch above the dihedral just above where South Seas joins the PO. From a move or two below the belay, he ended up hanging in space 20' below me. And he did it on my brand new rope. It was all air, no-one hurt, but it sure scared the sh#t out of both of us. It sounded like someone shooting off a .22 caliber rifle on semiautomatic as fast as they could. Near as we could tell, his wife was in El Cap Meadow watching just before he fell. The next day I had to lead the dowel ladder above there. I had to tell myself that I was probably going to die and just accept that it was so before I could make myself start. Also, he didn't so much give up climbing because of this fall, but instead because of fatherhood and due to a then-new interest in (I detest the very word) kayaking.
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bulgingpuke
Trad climber
cayucos california
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An unexpected 200 foot whipper is something ive never had happen to me. But i have had a four wave hold down on the biggest surf of my life i imagine it is the same puke in your mouth feeling.
~TY~
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T2
climber
Cardiff by the sea
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Here's a pic taking 200'+ off the Rostrum. Check the rope falling from my waist. Would I do it again? Probably not, but it was one helluva Buzz.
Hey BP I hate those hold downs, seconds seem like hours.
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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holy crap
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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I know a guy who took a factor 2 on a 150 foot rope, that's right, 300 feet in NC. Hurt his ribs a little. YOu'd recognize the name if you know NC climbing, so I won't give it. Gotta protect the guilty.
Maybe I can get another friend to post the details.
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T2
climber
Cardiff by the sea
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That is an increadable story Jody. Taking a whipper like that with the equipment of the day. Does the story say anything more about what happend to either climber after the fall? I wonder what is was like for Kamps to hold a fall of that magnitude with a hip belay? Ropeburn maybe? WOW!
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Clayman
Trad climber
CA
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Hey T2, when was that jump up on the Rostrum? Was that one of the ones that Dano rigged back in the day? We were highlining up there and a guy we met in the needles tops out and he was telling us about a 500 footer Dano rigged up there. So the guy, Steve, who just tops out tells us how he got all tied into it and went to the edge but couldnt bring himself to jump so his buddy pushes him off when he wasnt expecting it. Pretty wild. Hows was it rigged?
BP and T2-Big ocean beach in san fran, gets like tripple overhead beach break with nearly a half mile paddle through the indside. Its like being inside a washing machine. gotta love it though.
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Ammon
Big Wall climber
The Mountains
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One of the biggest whips I’ve taken while actually climbing was on Shortest Straw. I was on the “Sun & Steel” pitch nailing the expanding roof when the one I was on ripped. I nearly ripped every rivet hanger on the bolt ladder and ended up next to my belay. I was soloing with a Gri-gri and the added force knocked the wind right out of me. The Gri was so smashed against the rope that I was surprised that it didn’t cut it. I think it was around 90-100 feet.
The second biggest was another solo fall when putting up a route in Zion called Full Steam Ahead. I had a nest (I was new at the time) of pitons on my aiders when I fell and I was looking up while I was testing the piece. Those of you who know me can take one look at my grill and visualize where the pitons hit first.
Yep, I used to take intentional rides just for kicks but decided that it was probably not the best practice to be in. Bridges, cranes, gaps and building were all fair game. The last one I rigged was for Tom’s video Action Adept, I call it “The Alcove Drop”. It must have been over 200 feet and ended about 30 feet from hitting the slab below. If you’ve watched the video you see two different stunts. The first one is about half the size and the second one was so big that Tom lost me in the frame.
I climbed Mescalito with Captain Kirk the year after he whipped. Someone told him at the Deli that heads weren’t pro so he didn’t clip ANY of them on the second pitch. He told me that he had a beak buried into the top of a dead head while he was clipping the anchor. The beak blew and he went for the monster ride.
BTW- Those of you who are thinking about rope-jumping should get on some overhanging, hard aid. It’s just not worth the price that you will sooner or later, end up paying for.
Cheers, Ammon
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