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Mark Rodell
Trad climber
Bangkok
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Dec 14, 2007 - 09:42pm PT
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Now I wish I'd a pseudonym. Grade six ambitions in '72 so worked through the 3s and into 4s, nailing bongs but no hauling. Spring of 73, it springs in my partner's head - Leaning Tower. Pack a pig, drive, meet up in C4. It's dark, thank God, didn't see the walls. Dawn, walk up the cold, mossy talus to the base and set off, late. Partner say's should have dasiy chains. What's them? Wasted arms, way slow and it's getting cold. Last pitch of the day, cleaned in the dark. "Isn't some big ledge supposed to be round here?" Heck, we'd bought new hamocks. Had to try 'em. Now wind is coming up right into us, now snow? Can't get wet on the Tower, it's overhung, man. Tuna out of the can, fish oil on my new N.F. bag, I'm a hard man. Dawn, clouds but no snow, so up, only still slow and clumsy and really dumb. I drop a pin, then an aider and it is getting colder. I look down at my partner, blue lips, shaken, shaking. "We got to get out of here," he says. "What?" I say thinking about raps ending twenty feet from the wall. Then came the blizzard. Retreat. Left a lot behind, think even a shoelace tied through an eye of a hanger. Dusk, last rap ending in laughter as ten feet off the deck my ass gets poked on the tip of that snag at the base. But more...there's dang near two feet of snow and the talus slope was as scary as the raps. At the road we dig out the seats of the TR3. Village is closed so we eat from the vending machines, then in a C4 john while wringing out gear Chapman enters. "You came off the Tower? Man." And more, we drove to the Bay, running away from...Fell asleep at the wheel three times on the way even though the ragtop of the TR held no heat.
Temps in the valley dropped through the floor those two days. What stayed frozen in me was respect, respect for being better prepared in all ways before getting on a route.
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survival
Big Wall climber
arlington, va
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 15, 2007 - 03:23pm PT
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Great Leaning Tower story!
Follow up tower tale, a mean stunt by my partner. Summer of 79-80 two of us took a nice west german kid up Leaning Tower. The guy had come all the way from Germany to do El-Cap but never quite got to that level, so we offered to give him the jumar ride, which of course he accepted!
We were kindly and safely lowering this guy out from every station. Until I led the evil tree pitch... My other partner decided that Hans needed a carnival ride or something. He lowers Hans far enough from the anchor that he can't reach back in and says..."bye" and unclips the lower out biner and sends him for the horrendous swinger. Poor Hans shyte himself.
Luckily he forgave the guy!
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Nostrodomas
Trad climber
Visalia, Ca.
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Dec 16, 2007 - 02:08am PT
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Hey Survival, wanst it you guys who used to try to get as many people on Lost arrow Spire as you could even asking near by hikers to come out and hang with you? I remember hearing a story of horror when one year one of the most prized possessions of the bong crew was set down on the rock, only to be blown off by a strong gust of wind into a void of no return?
Oh the horror.....
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Anastasia
Trad climber
California
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Dec 16, 2007 - 02:20am PT
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I remember bouldering on a rock somewhere in Ojai, I didn't even have climbing shoes yet but was too excited to care...
I reached the top only to slip. Coming down I hit a tree branch and then landed my forty foot fall right on my ass.
The branch did good for it slowed me down, but I still have back problems where I struck up against it.
Plus, I now hate climbing high without a rope.
AF
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survival
Big Wall climber
arlington, va
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 16, 2007 - 02:21am PT
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Nostrodomas,
Yeah man that was us!! How cool....the things we find in here. We crammed 26 on top one year, 22 another time. I got about 8 buddies from the military up there once too.
The horror indeed, HA!! It's ok, I'm all better now......
Bruce
How did you make the connection?
Anastasia- you should have kept a piece of that branch and framed it for the "golden spotter" award! That branch had good karma stored in it.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Dec 16, 2007 - 07:49pm PT
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hey there ron... say as to your quote:
"OUTCOME:
The ranger later warned me not to say anything in the way of telling a parent how to raise his kid.
Sheesh."
the better outcome was, your conciouse is clean, toward doing an "intervention", so to speak.... you did good...
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Big Kahuna
Ice climber
Hell Hardest climb I did was getting out of bed.
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Dec 17, 2007 - 09:31pm PT
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This was written many years ago but it gives me quite laugh every time I read it. Sorry for all the profanity but the dialog is as accurate as I could remember. It was fairly sporty due to the nature of the sandy grainy rock.
The Breakfast Club
So there we were, at the "breakfast club" (a table full of SAR GUYS, SAR = Yosemite search and rescue) some of them (SARS) are "GROVELING"(eating left over food that the tourist don't throw away) and my wife asks "What are you doing?" A SAR boy looks up and replies "groveling what else!"
My friend "MONKEY BOY" tells me I should go get on Selagenilla a 5 pitch 5.8. He said "take the Commitment a 3 pitch 5.9 to get to the start of it, ending in a total of eight pitchs altogether. Take the Yosemite Falls trail back down to the valley and we'll have some beers tonight !
A tourist looks over in disgust at another SAR BOY groveling some leftovers from yet another table. "JIM I" comes over with his girlfriend, an employee from the cafeteria. The SAR boys start to drool as she leaves them 4 big pancakes, bacon & eggs. They all dig in and feast. Another one grabs a coffee cup from a recently vacated table and gets a free refill. Another tourist leaves a danish half eaten and it's desert for the "club".
Kelle' & I leave to start our day of climbing. After a short walk we find the base of our route. We fire off the first route no problem. We are rewarded with a scenic view of the Lost Arrow Spire. Three fantastic pitches with no crowds and a nice little roof move just to make it a little fun. What more could we have asked for!
At the breakfast club Kelle' had got most of the beta on how to find Selaginella from "MONKEY BOY", (a.k.a "THE COILER") when I went to the bath room so I didn't hear much of it first hand. After topping out on the Commitment we were to head up and right, find a 3rd class ramp, traverse it, then head up 5.8 crack.
We found a ramp as we gazed at the wall in awe, belays and slings were everywhere (not a good sign). Routes seemed to be all over the place. We rejoiced after climbing three wonderful pitches, and were rewarded with this beautiful place all to ourselves, away from the crowds of people and the hordes of climbers monopolizing the standard classic routes, forcing long lines and lots of sitting on your @ss.
I set up a belay for Kelle' on a tree. We were being attacked by a army of fire ants, I tell my wife to fire the first pitch off and head for the tree. I start killing the ants but they just keep coming. They are biteing me. Hundreds at a time I kill them. I belay my wife. The ants keep coming like some creepy sci-fi movie, I'm being eaten alive. I keep killing them, ten, twenty at a time.
Kelle' disapears around the corner. She screams "oh' sh#t, - F*#k, - F*#k, - AHHH, - uhg, - Ahh"! I asked "Are you ok ?" She replies "The rock is rotten & sandy, and to make matters worse the crack is filled with dirt!" "God I made it, off belay" she yells.
I follow up the traverse, there were no places for her to put in any pro, so if I fell it would have been a "king swing". I hit the traverse, do a small down climb and see Kelle' at the belay, I climb up towards her, "Sh#t this is bad! Man this sucks! Dam how did you? F*#k this sucks, it's so insipid."
I make the belay "Nice lead hon' you did a good job on that one." (It was one of those pitches that you're secretely glad that you weren't on the sharp end) "Thanks" she said. I thought our belay was somewhat dubious and expressed my feelings. Kelle' pipes "You said "head for the tree!" "That's not a tree thats a rotten log, let's back it up with something."
She places a cam in and hands me the rack. The next pitch starts out a ramp that turns into a chimney. The ramp is straight foreward but no place for any pro (again). I get into the crack and get a peice in. It gets steep, real steep, I'm "way" overhang'n. I get a double shoulder lock, this a cool chimney I think to myself. I back step off the back wall and get a funky knee bar. I'm now completely inverted in this large man eating crack. I'm now to the point that my back is pointed to the ground. I'm almost horizontal in this thing.
"Go Lon your a wild man thats cool, crank it" she yells "you can do it!". I find a deep fingerlock inside, I pull up and find a small ledge that I can stem up. I'm run out from my last pro. The chimney widens again and I get another double shoulder lock this time I find a place for pro but I can't get to my rack, I'm screwed. Gotta run it. I go for it, another back step, a knee lock with a pull up and the angle eazes up finally, the route becomes manageable.
I get to the top and find some rotted slings, I look over and see a hangen' belay with two prehistoric rusty old bolts. The line heads up to a tree high on the wall. Kelle' takes the next pitch. It starts out a short 20 ft crack, then traverses on a sloping dike.
She starts the pitch "I don't know about this pro". "What do you mean you don't know? Just back it up then." "F*#k Lon this rock is rotten!" "Just cross the dike and grab that horn" I yelled to her. "F*#k Lon it's bad" she yelled. "Just grab the Horn". "I can't make it" she insisted. "Come on baby you can do it". "F*#k man, I don't, F*#k, I'm sh#t, I'm coming down YOU can have this one". "Ok, I'll lower you". "NO!! I'LL DOWN CLIMB. I don't like the pro" she screamed. "Ok" and down she climbed.
She gave me the rack. I look up, no problem. I cruised up the crack, hit the dike and immediately broke off part of the dike (yikes). I hit a sheild like flake, it's fractured. I thought to myself "I'd like to take that rotten peice of rock for a Tae Kown Do demo, one front punch and I would turn that peice of granite into sand. God, how I could impress people with my technique and power. "Jeez, this crap is holden' my pro" I laugh to myself.
I blindly place a zero TCU. This damn thing isn't going to do dick in a fall I think to myself. Oh' well, its' psychological at least. I'm crankin' hard on a small sloping dike, my right foot is placed up high and to the right in a stretched out fashion on a very small edge. My left is smeared on a small sloper way down and out to my left. I'm completely streched out.
"Go Lon. Come on baby you can do this" she screams. F*#k! the flake is rotten. "I know it's bad up there. Don't fall" she states. The dike was breaking off on me. "Come on, you can make it" she encourages me. I shift my weight, more pressure on my right foot, a little more on the dike. How much can the dike hold before it breaks, I wonder? Suddenly I wish I was a wippit thin 185 lb sport climber.
I shift again crimping hard. My arm is fully extended. I reach under the rotten flake, it's to F*#KING BIG for a fist jam, I'll have to do a straight arm bar and prie into it. I get deeper and deeper. My feet are slipping, I let go of the crumbling dike with my left hand (finally), I lean back on my arm bar, the horn is near. Sweat is dripping down my face.
I start to have that talk with God, the one I always have with him. It's always the same I tell him that I'll quit climbing if he only lets me make this move and live. He knows I'm lying to him but he always gives me a break and let me do the move.
I reach my left arm up and over, then around my head to my right side to grab the horn. My left hand hits it. I might live. I pull out my right arm from the undercling arm bar jam. I throw for the knob, my feet pop, I'm 25 ft off the belay on a one hander (gee, what fun). I grab the horn, my heart beats like a herd of Rhinos, hang on I think to myself, I want to live! I'm getting pumped, way pumped.
My wife yelled "come on LON". I get a solid hold of it with my right hand, my feet smeared on the rock. I'm gripped. I let go with my left and grab a runner off my neck. I sling the horn. CLIP, ...OH' F*#K ME, that was close! I pull up myself up to nothing, blank, zip, notta ...just 5.10 plus smearing, no pro on dirty rotten grainy rock, not my idea of fun climbing.
"Screw this! Let's see if this horn will hold me and I'll lower off." I hollered. After all I already had one conversation with God that day and I did'nt wish to press my luck.
Kelle' lowers me down while I clean the route. We flip the line to get the sling back (I set it up so it could be retreived). I down climb the other side of the chimney to a small tree with rapel slings on it. I lower Kelle' off the slings from the top. We make a few more raps and we are back on the main ledge ALIVE and in ONE piece. God its good to be alive!
By Lon Harter
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survival
Big Wall climber
arlington, va
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 18, 2007 - 12:31am PT
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Kahuna,
That's a good one! I was laughing, thinking "I've been there". or one just like it......there seem to be a lot of places to get off route up there.
In the early days, we tried to get on a lot of stuff in the moderate grades even though that often equaled old, manky, off route, sketchy, skanky.....Hell, we were mud climbers from Oregon, we could handle it!
The locals even called us "the approach masters" for awhile, because we were always stumbling back into camp with tales of these out there crags that people didn't hike to.
Good one.
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Daphne
Trad climber
San Rafael, CA
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Dec 20, 2007 - 01:21am PT
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Ferretlegger, thanks for the laughs. Angels on all your shoulders for sure!
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 12, 2008 - 03:55pm PT
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Bump for beginners luck....
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Dec 12, 2008 - 06:29pm PT
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When I think of my first year in the Valley, I find Tom Patey's definition of a beginner apt: "someone (often dead) who should be kept away from the mountains at all cost." Another climber also put it nicely: "Great training, if you survive."
I'd been climbing in the Sierra for two years, doing a lot of old-fashioned "Class-4" (which I found out later, could be unprotected 5.7.) I didn't feel competent to climb in the Valley until I got out of high school in 1969.
One of our first routes -- and my first failure -- was the East Face of Glacier Point (II, 5.6.) done in the 1930's. Unfortunately, we forgot the guidebook, and started out at the top of the wrong talus pile, closer to the Calf. The first couple of pitches were moderate fifth class, but the third had a tension traverse, and all kinds of difficulty. I was following, and didn't want to lose one of my precious Lost Arrows, so I decided I could free the tension traverse, pulled the pin, traversed free for a few feet, and fell, starting about a 15-foot pendulum.
When I got to the belay spot, I discovered my partner's anchor consisted of a long thin Lost Arrow, in about a half-inch, and clipped into the eye rather than tied off. It had a rather noticeable bend at that half-inch point. How it held us I'll never know. After exploring all the other options, we ended up rappeling from that same pin (but tied off.)
We were so ashamed we felt compelled to go back the next year and and do the proper climb, just to prove to ourselves that we'd progressed.
John
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Phil_B
Social climber
Hercules, CA
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Dec 12, 2008 - 06:48pm PT
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OK, here's mine.
Years ago on a Boy Scout backpacking trip, we decided to climb one of the peaks near our camp on a rest day. Most of the slog is uneventful, but I'm gripped because I'm scared of heights.
We get to the top and then start walking down. However, it's not as easy to walk down something that steep so we kick steps and face into the snow. After a while, my fingers are getting cold so I decided to face away from the snow. Besides, it's quicker. What could go wrong?
After a few feet of slow crab walking, I thought I could go a little faster if I didn't dig my feet in so deeply. It works! In fact, it works so well that I start sliding my way down the increasingly steep slope. One of my friends jumps to the side to avoid me. Uh oh, this isn't what I had in mind. Besides, there is a bunch of rocks coming up quick.
I somehow managed to flip onto my belly and dig my fingers into the snow, stopping just short of the rocks.
After catching my breath, I started kicking again, facing into the snow this time. Soon the slope lessens again and we do the plunge step thing back to camp.
A couple of days later, we found another way to nearly die while trundling rocks off a cliff into a river. We're pushing bigger and bigger rocks until we find one that we can't push. One of my friends decides to pull on the rock. It works! After the rock starts moving it on its own though, he realizes that he is in the way. In a burst of imagination, he climbs over the very large boulder before it falls over the cliff.
Fun times. . .
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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Dec 12, 2008 - 09:43pm PT
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Was my first trip to Yosemite to climb, April 1977(dumb month to climb there, wet). I was young n dumb and had minimal gear and relied too much on my partner. We drive in about 10:00 in the morning and he claims "we're gonna go climb Royal Arches!" I hadn't a clue what this Royal Arches was and I was freaking out at the size of the cliffs. Only other climbing was at Josh and Tahquitz. So Off we go under partly cloudy skies to Royal Arches. I had No clue about weather in Yosemite and I lead up the first pitch chimney in a long sleeve shirt and painters paints. We are moving along at a good pace and it starts to get cloudier and we get to the traverse and I lead up the slab moves and as I reach the long ledge it starts to rain. Oh shitz. We have only one jacket between us and by now my partner doesn't want to lead anything, so he yards on the rope to get across the traverse. At the time the rotten log was still there and I lead across this and being it's wet it is slippery as snot and I'm gripping looking down at the exposure(for those that have done that pitch you know what I'm talking about)I almost fall off the log 2 or 3 times but manage to get us both across. We meet up with these 3 Brits that have stopped at a belay and don't want to move either. So by now the rain has slowed our pace and I'm watching the sun start to go down we're all soaking wet by now. We make the decision to start climbing in the rain and I'm aiding like 5.6 knobs and cracks with slings tied together to make progress. The Brits suggested putting socks over my EB's to help friction the last couple of pitches. We all manage to top out and by now we realize we're gonna be bivying somewhere on the top. We start to run to Washington's Column but get lost in the manzanita bush and by the time we get to Washington's it is dark. I mean black dark because of the cloud cover and we can't see a thing(no headlights).We get to this spot and can't see what's in front of us, so I decide to toss a rock and see how long it takes to hit something. Never heard anything after 4 rocks so we decide we're at the top of the Column. We stop and decide to bivy there, until we could see something in the morning. There is 5 of us, one jacket, no food, no water, no shelter. So we sit around and the rain turns to snow! We're freezing our collective arsses off, jogging in place, doing whatever we could to try to warm up. We had matches, but they got wet and were useless. We spent the night trying desperatly to build a fire, useless. We then start laying on top of each other to get warm and would switch when the guy on top couldn't stop shivering. We thought for sure we sure gonna die. I remember looking over at Half Dome throughout the night and periodically seeing a headlamp, thinking we're in bad shape...but those guys are screwed. About 3 in the morning the clouds cleared and then the temps really started dropping! We're all shivering, shaking, and trying so hard to see something that told us where the descent gully was, none of us had ever been down it. We were gonna die! About 5 o'clock you could barley make out some detail so we decided, good enough. let's get moving. On down the gully we descend in the mud and snow. We get down to Mirror Lake about 7 o'clock and find the road back to the Ahwahnee. Some tourist see us on the walk back and the look on their faces was priceless, they see 5 knuckleheads, covered in mud, dead tired, with climbing gear and they asked if we were ok. We just kept walking! The next day we drive up to this place my partner called Tuolumne and he suggest we climb this thing called South Crack, it's cloudy and windy, I tell him to Phuck off and die, I go back to the van, get my shoes and chalk bag and go bouldering! We didn't die, but it was an epic, a good lesson learned and fun in the end! Oh yeah we NEVER once thought about yelling for a rescue, didn't even cross our minds.
Peace
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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Dec 12, 2008 - 10:13pm PT
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Great story Ron. Glad you all made it! I hope I never have any great stories. : D
No details here, but yo Check Everything. It's up to you.
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Dr. Rock
Ice climber
http://tinyurl.com/4oa5br
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Dec 12, 2008 - 11:16pm PT
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Great thread, thanks for the bump, I only had to get up and puke three times.
Tried to quit reading, but it's like some kind of strange addiction to Death.
Do you realize that there is a tribe of island people who have no word for Time?
That means you live a quick life or a really really long life, depending on how you look at it.
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 12, 2008 - 11:47pm PT
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squishy, john, phil, chris, ron,
Thanks for the stories guys. They wouldn't be so damn entertaining if we couldn't relate to them so well!!
Dr Rock, I know EXACTLY what you mean...
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rich sims
Trad climber
co
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Dec 13, 2008 - 12:23am PT
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Ron G.
Two months makes a world of difference even stopped to get a drink back when you could drink the water.
For me the first really big scare was realizing my partner on RNWF HD was starting to lean back on the rope but was not tied in. I reached out and grabbed him just as he realized the rope was not getting tight.
M
I may have made my first harness in Foresta after that, with leg loops you could drop.
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Dec 13, 2008 - 12:41am PT
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I've been climbing for 47 years (and I didn't start until I was 29).
All my climbs, when you think of it, were near death epics.
If I started now it would take all night to merely list them.
The fact that I'm still alive is proof that luck has a lot to do with it.
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Dr. Rock
Ice climber
http://tinyurl.com/4oa5br
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Dec 13, 2008 - 12:49am PT
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C'mon Don, don't bait us like that, at least one!
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