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madbolter1
Big Wall climber
Denver, CO
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Jul 15, 2016 - 03:48pm PT
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It should also be noted that this is the exact same method Jeff had been using to rappel with the dropped haul bag
Good thing that no part of Pete got even slightly unweighted by any ledge during the descent. Wouldn't want to see that magic trick get repeated with a living soul.
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overwatch
climber
Arizona
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Jul 15, 2016 - 04:10pm PT
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The road kill T-shirts girl on my sidebar right now, oh man!
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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That guy was lucky that bag didn't hit him square on the head. That ledge at the top of Little John is only about five feet wide, but about twenty feet long. With a long tether, he might have been able to dodge the bag. If he was clipped in short to the bolts, he wouldn't have had any ability to move out of the way.
The two climbers who dropped the haul bag were safety experts: a Wilderness First Responder and an EMT. But, the guy with the haul bag was rappelling above the other guy. I would think the first guy down should always take the bag.
As long as PTPP has somehow become entangled in this horrific story, I will mention that PTPP suggests attaching the rappel rig to the haul bag, and then attaching yourself to that with your daisies. The back-up prusik knot above the rappel device is clipped to the haul bag, too. That way, you don't have the stupid thing hanging off of your harness, limiting your range of motion. And it's nearly impossible for the pig to get loose from the rappel rope. Also, you can unclip from the haul bag, and leave it dangling on the rope.
PTPP also suggests using big, heavy-duty auto-lockers for haul bags.
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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Social climber
SLO, Ca
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I don't like hanging around the bottom of El Cap and have never done any cragging there for fear of falling objects. I'm not the paranoid overly cautious type, but a lot of stuff comes off of those walls..
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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I hope Pissed Off at the Haulbag Pete recovers well.
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Lambone
Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
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Ironically enough, Pass the Piton Pete has dropped his haulbag off El Cap on numerous occasions. Including one time by accident where it "magically" unclipped itself from the anchors...
The other times it was just kicked off the top. In his defense I think he has abandoned this practice after being called out on it for over a decade. ;)
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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I was thinking about PTPP this week, since I finally saw some Boeger Wines in a Boise wineshop.
Pete has repeatedly said that he has visited the winery, bought some bottles and thinks his Boegers are a good pick.
I picked a couple Boegers and look forward to trying them.
Pick some Boegers & give them a try like PTPP!
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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I don't like hanging around the bottom of El Cap and have never done any cragging there for fear of falling objects.
Agreed. A dangerous place to be.
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Ironically enough, Pass the Piton Pete has dropped his haulbag off El Cap on numerous occasions. Including one time by accident where it "magically" unclipped itself from the anchors...
There was no magic when that haul bag accidentally was dropped. I was there, five feet from PTPP when it happened.
We were leaving he Poison Pill bivy ledge about one third of the way up on Scorched Earth. I had gone up to the belay above, to get ready to haul. PTPP was cleaning gear from behind the long, thin horizontal flake, and his ratty old #4 rigid Friend got stuck.
Since I had put it in the night before, PTPP insisted that I come down and get it out. Well, I knew there had been some play in the cam when I put it in, but now the heat-expando Poison Pill had closed up on it overnight. So, it wasn't going to come out.
This irritated PTPP, and he became distracted. His haul bag was connected to a haul rope, ready to be untied and lowered out. But, his clouded mind was consumed with that #4 Friend, and he absent-mindedly untied MY haul bag that was not clipped to any rope at all. I was doing something else, and looked up, then down, when I heard a strange noise:
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH
BOOOOOOOOOOM
The entire SE face of El Cap went silent for a very, very long moment as climnbers on Mescalito, Sea of Dreams, Zodiac, etc. tried to figure out, "What the hell was THAT???"
The haul bag never touched the wall after the first five or ten feet. It hit the trees about forty feet from the base of the cliff and disappeared from view. Other climbers started yelling back and forth, wanting to know if anybody saw anything.
PTPP, in a loud voice, assured everybody that it was a pig, not a person, that had cratered from 700 feet up. He then apologized for creating a ruckus. I was laughing my ass off, not at PTPP, but at the idea of trundling a bag, right there, in front of everyone. I was jealous that I didn't get to do it.
PTPP then set about getting ready to retreat off the wall. I reminded him that we had just crossed severely overhanging terrain, including a giant roof. I pointed up to the fixed ropes leading up the next pitch, and that was the way we went. We finished the route on half rations. I used dirty clothes, storm gear, ropes, whatever in lieu of a sleeping bag. I still had my portaledge.
PTPP would lead and short-fix and I would haul and clean and we got off the wall in a rather short time (two-three days), considering how difficult the route was. PTPP says that he can climb fast when he wants to, he just normally doesn't want to climb fast. And that was true.
PTPP had dropped my bag of big cams, so we had to divert around the wide Leavittator Crack and go up a copperhead seam on Aurora. That was my only disappointment on that wall. I really, really wanted the Leavittator.
Those other times that PTPP dropped his bags it was from the ZMDZ down to the ZMLZ. Using radios to coordinate to ensure the LZ was clear, and to ensure there was no wind, we would FEDEX a pig package using a rainfly as a parachute. The package would be delivered to the ZMLZ, the steep talus and scree field about 200 feet from the base of Zenyatta Mendatta. The launch window was typically 2am to 4 am.
It was part of a bygone era. PTPP was just the last to cling to that age-old practice. Many, many climbers before him had chucked their bags off the Mescalito Diving Board (bad place to do that) or off the ZMDZ (better place). I learned how to properly use water bottles with their caps just barely on, as cushioning, from Walt Shipley.
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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and a post by beatrix kiddo!
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Wow, thanks everyone for all your concern, but it wasn't me - you'll never catch me free climbing, that's for sure.
Best wishes to the other Pete for a full recovery.
I was indeed away fishing up in northern Ontario in the Chapleau - Missinaibi area. We paddled and portaged for six days and caught some great lake trout, walleye and northern pike.
In spite of it being the middle of July, the lake trout were amazingly easy to catch, down fifteen or twenty feet. I had my portable depth finder with me, which allowed me to troll along the dropoffs without losing any lures to snags. This laker hit my brand new lure, my "Missinaibi Special" - a silver #8 Shad Rap deep diver. The silver/blue deep diving Reef Runner was the other killer lure.
This was the first laker I caught, and he went on the stringer and ultimately into the frying pan. About 3 lb 8 oz x 22"
Here's a couple walleye from the next lake we stayed in, a mere 200m portage from the lake trout lake, but completely different - shallower and warmer. The fish are 20" x 3 lb 6 oz, and the smaller one is about 18". The little guy got live released, and the big guy was supper in a delicious beer batter.
Cheers to all who messaged me and asked how I am! I'm having fun hanging out with Anita in Montreal this week.
And never forget Boeger wine - Boeger is a great pick!
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Lake trout and walleye; yum yum.
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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Nice looking fish, Pete. Am glad you are ok, and wishing the other Pete a quick recovery.
Tom, great story! Am wondering how your "bag of big cams" fared upon landing?
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there say... prayers for the hurt-pete... and happy to see the fish-pete...
you are both, wished the best, and--
a happy good eve...
:)
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GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
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Glad you're alright, was worried there for a minute until I, like many, read that he was free climbing and deduced it was not our beloved PTPP.
<3
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Aw, shucks, you guys .....
Tom's big bag of cams lay splattered at the base of the wall - in the trees below Scorched Earth just left of the Trip - unmolested for days. There were six or eight Valley Giants just lying there, I think maybe even Tom's plywood 16" cam was there, too.
I remember when we went to collect them afterwards, that some of the canned food had exploded all over everything, but I don't think the bears had dug in.
Maybe Tom can come up with a link to a photo of the carnage?
After the pig went flying, I was truly horrified. I was beating myself up all over the place, but Tom really took it in stride. I am not sure I would have been so compassionate had the roles been reversed! Still, we hauled ass to the summit.
I remember someone talking to us on the bridge afterwards:
"We were watching you and Tom up there on Scorched Earth for days, enjoying your customary pace of a pitch a day. Then one day we looked up, and you were gone from the wall. 'They must have bailed,' we said. Then someone pointed high towards the top and said, 'They haven't bailed! They're gunning for the summit!' "
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Tom, great story! Am wondering how your "bag of big cams" fared upon landing?
All the big cams, including the plywood VG16, were in a separate haul bag, hanging on a catch line. That homemade oversized bag was the Blue Whale, and on the way down, it reached its catchline out and grabbed a tree branch.
When I got there, the Blue Whale, still full of cams, was about six feet off the ground, swaying in the breeze. It had probably bent the branch to rebound off the ground, but was otherwise intact. There was almost no damage to the cams. I think the plywood cam had to be repaired, and I later used it in the flared bombay chimney/offwidth on P7 of Bermuda Dunes.
The haul bag itself totally blew out the bottom seam and cans of clam chowder totally exploded all over the place. It didn't look like bears had been there, but the place was covered in ants. The haul bag was easily repaired, because the stitching, not the fabric, is what blew out. I just had to resew the seams using the old holes.
Watching PTPP go out fifty feet on hooks, while belaying from two rotten 1/4" rawl bolts, made me decide to repair belay bolts on our next obscure wall, which was Bermuda Dunes.
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Hope all is well Pete. Health and lots of walls for the future!
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eagletusk
Trad climber
Boulder, CO
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Mar 15, 2017 - 02:54pm PT
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An update on my progress so far:
Do to the bag falling so far and being a fully loaded haul bag it pretty much hit with the impact of a vehicle slamming into a wall at 60mph. My arm and hand were shattered, compound fractured. I was incredibly lucky, 4 inches over and it would have hit a my head, or a major organ and I would have only lasted a week or less.
I was helicopter evacuated to the closest trauma unit in Modesto, where it was confirmed I had compartment syndrome. Compartment syndrome causes extreme amount of swelling In my case it would also have been fatal if I was to have stayed on that ledge for ~ 50 hours.
Within 6 hours I was under the knife in Modesto.
The next day they mentioned it was 50/50% if they were going to have to amputate.
Undoubtedly, I owe my arm to YOSAR, who orchestrated the rescue and evacuation to whom I am extremely indebted to. Thank you guys, what you do is amazing, I believe no less than 10 people from YOSAR were involved in my rescue, amazing.
I proceeded to spend the next 35 consecutive days in the hospital, and the next 6 months in and out. As of last week I have had 8 surgeries on my arm, but there will be more. I currently have ~5 hours a week of physical therapy.
I have had an amazing amount of people come together to help me get back, thanks to all family and friends, nurses, doctors, pilots, and hand therapists. (and possibly secret service agents as this was the weekend that Obama was in Yosemite and the helicopter had to get permission to fly as the POTUS had a NO-FLY zone over Yosemite for the weekend.)
During the process I got involved with Paradox Sports, who have a mission to get people with disabilities out climbing. They are all fantastic people, and collectively have some of the most inspiring stories around, they have helped me get to where I am now.
I have made a significant recovery, and I can now type and have been working full time as an engineer. Climbing related, prior to my latest surgery I was able to lead a 5.8 climb over at Boulder Rock Club.
As of right now my wrist is basically fused with no extension. I have a pretty decent amount of hardware in my arm, There is still some hope things will continue to get better, time will tell.
And there are the medical bills ...
The person who dropped the haul bag has not contacted me and during the event offered no remorse.
This accident was written up in Rock and Ice which is great for awareness. If you are planning on doing some big wall climbing in Yosemite please remember it's more than you out there, get some training, and be careful.
There is some precedent for people to purposely droping their haul bags. In that very same issue of R&C the gear guy talks about doing just that back in the 80's. Please do not do this. Please try not to drop anything while climbing.
-Paul
Friends of YOSAR
https://www.friendsofyosar.org/
Paradox Sports
http://paradoxsports.org/
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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Mar 15, 2017 - 03:09pm PT
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wow Paul, what a story. Glad you are making it through this life-changing ordeal with a great attitude. Hope you continue to heal up.
Hats off to YOSAR and all the countless other personnel
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