Pitons and free climbing

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bmacd

Trad climber

100% Canadian

Dec 18, 2012 - 06:06pm PT

huh MH ... you mailed the Metolious unit ?

Ya lost me, I need anothe rglass of wine I guess

Captain...or Skully

climber

Dec 18, 2012 - 06:08pm PT

The baggie's in the post box, bmacd. Not the Unit.

More Wine!!!6!!

bmacd

Trad climber

100% Canadian

Dec 18, 2012 - 06:10pm PT

Santa Clause in town

Scole

Trad climber

Joshua Tree

Dec 28, 2012 - 08:42pm PT

Did I ever tell you the story about the time I was 40m out, on a wet 5.9 slab on the solo FA of a Patagonian wall?

Anyway,there I was, the 100m 9mm stretched to the max, with a frozen #2 friend stuffed in a flare 40 m below me. Five feet out of my reach was a knifeblade crack but the rope was tight to the anchor, and there was no one down there to give me the couple of feet I needed.

I fumbled for my axe and managed to hook it onto a small edge and gain a few inches, but I still could not reach the crack, so I rigged a prusik on the rope and attached it to the wrist loop of the axe. Carefully, so as not to rotate the axe off it's edge, I tensioned the rope,easing the weight off of me and gaining a foot or two of slack.

Once the tension was off my harness I could reach just far enough to place the tip of a bugaboo in the crack. I pulled my n.w. hammer from it's holster and drove that sucker till it rang like a bell. Finally, with a one solid piece of gear I was able to tie off the rope and search for a real anchor.

Without that pin I would have been toast; No way up, no way down, alone on a Patagonian big wall with no rescue available; I left it there for the next team to find and to wonder about, the only fixed piece of gear on a 2500' climb.

To me, there is nothing so reassuring as the rising pitch of a well driven piton. It is the essence of climbing for many of those who climbed when bolts were an evil necessity to be used only when nothing else was available, and the skillful use of nuts and pins was considered part of being a climber.

Many of my finest climbing memories involve the use of pins. In my opinion, the artful use of pitons is an essential skill for anyone who wants to venture off the trade routes into the unknown.