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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Jul 20, 2009 - 03:22pm PT
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hinky is a technical term
nice save - good story to relate so others wear helmuts.
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Howie
Trad climber
Calgary, Alberta
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Jul 20, 2009 - 03:27pm PT
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Fluoride, surprised the rock did not do any other damage based on the wrecked helmet.
I have the old HB style carbon fibre/dyneema from the UK.
The mould was taken over by a company called Point Five I believe after the demise of HB. Now I thing they have gone too (web site gone). Not cheap but extremely light and very strong. Right or wrong I always wear a helmet but must admit being of a dark colour (carbon fibre) it is very hot at times (J.Tree and the like). When the Point Five site was going I did see the stlye of helmet you had, still offered.
I'm off back home to the UK for a couple of weeks on Thursday and I will try and check out if these are available and at what cost.
H.
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Jingy
Social climber
Flatland, Ca
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Jul 20, 2009 - 03:29pm PT
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Flouride - Glad to hear you're ok.
That must have been one hell of a rock that hit that helmet....
Tell me that shot of you in the helmet from above was taken while on or near the end of East Butt of El Cap? LOL
And when it comes to looks.. while in the helmet you are just as beautiful as without.. anyone tells you different... they ain't-cha'friend!
Cheers
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hooblie
climber
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Jul 20, 2009 - 03:29pm PT
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i'm sorry to hear about the demise of your helmet, but i'm more than relieved to know your ok and not have to go through another trauma. i guess that thing is your burden but all of our gain so thank you!
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Jul 20, 2009 - 03:32pm PT
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Whoa. Happy the story has a happy ending!
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KathyS
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Jul 20, 2009 - 03:35pm PT
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"My doc told me the radiologist had gone running round the hospital with my x-rays shouting "Look at this! Look at this! I've never seen this before!" "
High on the list of things you don't want to hear your doctor say. =:^o
Glad Flouride is none the worse for wear. May her trusty lid rest in pieces in a place of honor.
Kathy
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CM3
Trad climber
port hueneme, CA
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Jul 20, 2009 - 03:40pm PT
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i wish i had pics of my last helmet but it was a petzl ecrin and i was at snakes den in NC about 7 years ago. some other climber on top pushed off allot of small rocks but there was one about the size of a very large pancake that hit my helmet and my shoulder blade. it left me with a helmet pretty much split in two a concussion and 25 stitches on my shoulder.
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Dick_Lugar
Trad climber
Indiana (the other Mideast)
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Jul 20, 2009 - 03:51pm PT
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Just curious, how old was your helmet Fluoride?
I did a quick look-up and saw that helmets have a 10 yr. lifespan give or take depending on how often it's out in the sun. I did not know that and since my helmet is +10 yrs. old, I'm retiring it.
Glad you were wearing yours!
Edit: Anyone: Are those cracks "Typical" of a helmet absorbing a direct rock hit?
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tom woods
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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Jul 20, 2009 - 03:54pm PT
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Close calls are pretty common on temple crag. My buddy almost lost his head the last time we did it. My rope had dislodged a bowling ball as he was peeking his head around a corner. He ducked back around as the rock hit where he was headed.
It's a bummer because those routes are pretty fun, and even better, not that far back there.
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Fluoride
Trad climber
Hollywood, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 20, 2009 - 03:55pm PT
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Dick it's pretty old. I actually got it for canyoneering, have had it before I started rock climbing so it's probably coming up on about 10 years now.
Dammit, I've been looking online to find one like this so I can replace it and I guess they no longer make 'em.
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Michael D
Big Wall climber
Napoli, Italy
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Jul 20, 2009 - 03:58pm PT
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It's good to hear your head and neck are OK.
I'm a big fan of the HB Carbon/Kevlar cover. The slight delam is from a giant slab of ice that clubbed me at speed. I literally saw stars floating around for a minute.
Pro: You can take a .22 round to the gourd
Con: Hotter than the suns upper layers
As a shoutout ;), I have 6 new in plastic Cassin Rock helmets, the solid polycarbonate type. I guide with them, and they work well. I'll sell them for 20 bucks each if there's any interest.
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Splater
climber
Grey Matter
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Jul 20, 2009 - 04:00pm PT
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you could always look at kayaking or skateboard helmets.
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caughtinside
Social climber
Davis, CA
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Jul 20, 2009 - 04:03pm PT
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Glad to hear you're ok! Lucky to walk away from that with just a headache and a busted helment.
Slob and I saw the party hike halfway up saturday morning then turn around. Wasn't the worst call in the world, we got nailed by 10 minutes of ugly hail 12 pitches up, good times.
Really a ton of loose stuff on Sun Ribbon. Slob and I did Venusian last summer, and thought it in generally was a lot more solid than Sun Ribbon. The 4th class on sun ribbon went pretty slow for us because of the picking around the loose blocks. 9 hours on route, 12 hours camp to camp.
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Fluoride
Trad climber
Hollywood, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 20, 2009 - 04:19pm PT
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caughtinside, yep that was probably them.
Congrats on sending that thing. Nice job! Drop me an e-mail and let me know all the fun details. Would uplift my spirits.
Yeah, that route has some serious choss. Even the 3rd & 4th class to the base was so loose and dirty. On the way down my partner put me on belay and lowered me through some of it cause my equilibrium was way bonked. At least the snowfield was nice and cush by that point in the day.
Good times.
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caughtinside
Social climber
Davis, CA
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Jul 20, 2009 - 04:28pm PT
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yeah, it was good times up there.
Maybe you were the person we saw passed out under that tarp in the camp by 3rd lake when we strolled through friday?
We were pretty surprised by the number of climbers camped up and around there, and then having only one other party on Temple saturday.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Jul 20, 2009 - 04:29pm PT
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Lucky you are ok! The impact looks like it was at about the limits of what the helmet could handle.
I once took a 2"X2"X 12" Chunk of metal to the head with a Joe Brown helmet back in the day (industrial setting) No damage other than a stiff neck for a day or two. Nobody makes 'em like that anymore. They also came down fairly low in the back.
Most climbing helmets don't give you any protection at all to the back of the head, and what do you reflexively do when you duck but expose the back of your head? For that reason, I've never had much faith in the lighter climbing helmets and had a bike/skateboard helmet from Big Five that was light and relatively cool that I used for years till it rotted.
I've been using a Pro helmet now. They are hot and only available in Desert Tan and Olive Drab in the large adult sizes. (the military buys a lot of them) I couldn't find a white one. that would make a huge difference in comfort.
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sbwyliedog
Trad climber
Santa Barbara, CA
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Jul 20, 2009 - 04:31pm PT
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Fluoride,
Definitely glad you had your helmet on. An alpine rescue is something I do not want to add to my resume.
Caughtinside - that could've been us you saw turn around. We stopped around 6:00am in the sandy gully not too far from scree field to watch the weather. Decided to bail... enjoyed the scenery and good conditioning all the same.
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caughtinside
Social climber
Davis, CA
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Jul 20, 2009 - 04:34pm PT
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Yeah, we were in the orange tent on Temple Beach. Saw you guys hang out halfway up that hill for a bit, then head down. You saved yourselves some ugly hail around 2pm.
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tolman_paul
Trad climber
Anchorage, AK
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Jul 20, 2009 - 04:34pm PT
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Glad to hear you're ok! I started out climbing somewhat old school, i.e. people don't wear helmuts rock climbing. Then I was tr'ing a a somewhat chossy pile and had a football sized rock come whizzing by my mellon, so that gave me an appreciation for helmuts. I don't always wear one, shame on me, but most of the time.
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couchmaster
climber
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Jul 20, 2009 - 04:41pm PT
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Damn, that worked out better for you than the helmet for sure. btw, heads up - you look great with or without that helmet.
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