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Scrubber
climber
Straight outta Squampton
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Call for a RES-Q Anders!!!!
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MH2
climber
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I recall most of my pins falling out except, of course, the one I was at on my jumars.
Even when, "...there really isn't any story," there is. I'm working hard to imagine any boring climbing Hamish may have done. Nope, can't do it. He sure tells it well.
On the yellow jackets, thanks for the explanation, Scrubber. I blame my imagination for not coming to the aid of my curiosity. Your description of your encounter reminds me of the old days getting to know the wasps at the Gunks. As a climber approached a nest the wasps would be coming and going about their business but as you got closer they would start to sit on the nest. A little closer and all the ones on the nest would point their heads at you. Then when they started to raise up their rear ends and vibrate their wings, it was the last warning.
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bmacd
Boulder climber
100% Canadian
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Hamish didn't mention the death flake on Humpty Dumpty that was poised above the first belay over the roof which fell out into his lap while he was cleaning the hooking pitch. Should that flake or even whats left of it now break off again it will slice and dice your partner and belay station 60 feet directly below. Its the type of feature that expands, but never contracts back to it's orignal position.
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Timmc
climber
BC
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Hamish, I think Peder had that yellow golf shirt for photos. I think I wore it once on Exasperator for him. (with rope!) My pants were purple MEC RAD pants IIR. So eighties.
Keep the stories rolling! So good.
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Timmc
climber
BC
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Haha Bruce!
No man or sled left behind on our watch. Wait till we get the 800's!
Wx: S-1, OC, L from the SW, Zero degrees
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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So there we were, in the niche just below the top of Big Daddy. (Not sure why it's called Big Daddy - Hamie? FA Jim Baldwin and Big Jim, 1962.) We were wet and miserable, and had just survived a bit of trauma. We didn't know how to finish the climb - I believe there are now bolts there, which begs the question. We had one 150' rope, and weren't sure whether it would reach the ground, doubled. Our niche featured a flake/horn, which offered a good anchor for rappelling. It wasn't particularly late, which was good, in that we didn't have a light, and no one knew we were there. The first part of any rappel would be down the crack, but then into free space. This was before the days of diaper slings let alone harnesses, so we could only body rappel. What to do?
And no, Kris, rescue wasn't an option. The Mountain Rescue Group could not have been there in any realistic time, and nobody else was climbing that day. It was raining, eh? Even if it'd been sunny, there'd have been few other climbers around. Plus who'd want to be rescued, in such a situation?
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bmacd
Boulder climber
100% Canadian
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So for Hamish F. the main issue of concern on Humpty Dumpty was being under age and then handed a celebratory beer at the summit ?? hmmmm ... ok
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bmacd
Boulder climber
100% Canadian
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yes right from the dangling deadly expando razor frisbee flake poised 60 ft. over the belay is a hook throw for the next move to the humpty dumpty feature itself. really nasty situation for both climbers
fall from the hook toss you separate the razor flake, it kills your belayer, and chops the station, then you die.
I would not be surprised if the Nostradamus prediction, regarding a subsequent ascent in 2012 triggers a cataclysmic chain of events initiated by the demise of the precarious HUmty DUmpty block itself which results in the end of the world as we know it, and ultimately the destruction of the entire known universe, is true.
Very black HU-DU magic.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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A three way conversation - some talking about Humpty Dumpty (named for a flake, which sat on the wall), some about Cerberus (named for the hellhound guarding the gates of the underworld), and some about our little fiasco on Big Daddy. Which isn't much more than a one pitch climb, by the highway just north of Murrin Park.
Despite their experience with expando horrors on Up from the Skies, Daryl and Eric were convinced that the upper part of what became Cerberus had long grooves. So they went to Kits Marine, and had a bunch of copperheads made up - at least 50. A huge wad, which Daryl was quite proud of. Some of them were double, as he thought that the more metal that was in contact with the rock, the better. Then they discovered the big upper flake where yes, Daryl did some cowboy stuff. I'm not sure if they used any copperheads at all. Thinking back, it surprises me that Eric didn't try to free some of it.
Big Daddy. I volunteered to rappel first. We put a sling around the flake, and carefully let our 150' (= 75' rappel) rope down. We might even have tied the ends together. It was my first rope, of which I was quite proud. The centre wasn't marked (cheapo Penberthy), and so, based perhaps on Freedom of the Hills, I put a bit of tape at the middle. Thinking it would be handy to have more markers, I also marked the 1/4 and 3/4 points. Nerdy over-achievement. So off I went on body rappel, with a prussik to my swami. (As I'd just prussiked up the rope, the idea was that if the rope didn't reach the ground, I'd come back up.) Then, swinging in midair maybe 10 m above the ground, and well away from any rock, the prussik jammed on the tape. (No knife, probably.) Luckily, the previous year I'd solved a similar predicament in the Adamants. I got prussiks on the rope, clipped etriers into them, stood up, loosened the jammed prussik, and was soon down to terra firma.
The incident in the Adamants was rather more dramatic, and Leif was sure I was going to kill myself.
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bmacd
Boulder climber
100% Canadian
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Better yur dotter locked up under key and chain drinking home brew than out at night with her friends. Good parenting Tami one cannot be too overprotective in the 21st century urban environment
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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I forgot to mention that my prussiks were made of webbing. I only had one bit of perlon, which was the one to my swami. So I wrapped slings around the rope, as many times as I could, and clipped etriers to them. Although the rope was wet, it was doubled, and they gripped OK, although they slipped a bit when I weighted them. (I was a bit lighter then. Daryl said I was.)
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Hey Anders
Sorry, can't help you with the name. Big Daddy just sounded right. It would likely be called Big Mutha, or somesuch if first climbed today.
I have attached a photo of me leading the 2nd asc. The crux was at the lip, where I used a soft Simond knifeblade, which went in about 1/4 of an inch, and necessitated a tie-off loop, and great care. I don't remember anything about the anchor or rap point. My very able partner was Nails' brother, Bob. If the photo looks familiar, it was used in Dick's Coast Range guide.
Not sure what you mean by a 'body rappel'?Photo by Bob Woodsworth.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Umm, Dulfersitz, in German? You know, rope down the hole, around the tree, and back? Or is that the "guides' knot"? Something like that, anyway.
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bmacd
Boulder climber
100% Canadian
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Hamish F., remember when you did a free ascent of Big Daddy, the funky double rope technique you used, which made for a scary follow for me as the second ? Nice onsight ... & also amazing that I was even able to follow it.
Sonnie freed the undercut arete and called it Sugar Daddy - there is a video somewhere ...
Trotter in action below:
^^^http://sonnietrotter.com/2010/05/25/joshua-tree/^^^
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Thanks, Bruce - is that your photo? Where are you - en route somewhere?
So when I fell, I was about 2 m up and right from Sonnie's position, and could reach the rock. When I got stuck on the rappel, I was well behind and somewhat below him.
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Mighty
Maybe I missed something, but why not use a 6 carabiner system, or even a sling with a single carabiner and shoulder friction?
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Sorry for the thread-drift here, but I can't resist.
Body wrap, dulfersitz, whatever. Reminds me of the time Arnold Shives & I rappelled off the Granville Street Bridge in broad daylight our first longins free rappel .... I've still got the crotch-burn scar as a memento of that.
On the other hand, also reminds me of a time when 4 of us were escaping from a 10,000-foot first ascent in the Coast Mtns. We'd tied a 120-foot climbing rope onto a 200-foot 1/4" line so we could do raps approaching 160 feet (time was of the essence). Anyways, Dick and another were down the first rap and setting up the anchor for the next. The 3rd person was trying to get his carabiner brake-bar system set up, and taking lots of time about it. I said, "you know, there's going to be a knot down there and your system is going to get hung up on it, and you are going to die there because you won't be able to unjam things. Then I'll die because I can't downclimb this stuff. Put that junk away and just do a body wrap."
He looked at me and said, "What's a body wrap?"
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 4, 2012 - 02:25am PT
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Wow too much to comment on. Thank god for my ATC, rappelling is much more fun these days :)
Hamie- Awesome picture. Thanks!
Anders- Big daddy left you hanging eh? Nice Stooooooorrrryy. Excellent dramatic effect. Please continue with the Adamants epic post haste :)
Hamish- HAHAHAHAHA.. halarious! I was saved a similar epic on Merci Me when a girl told us we needed two ropes to rappel, before we left flake ledge. She lent us her rope (she was decending) so we could climb the dyke.
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Body wrap?
or
Body rap?
or
Body wrap rap?
Ashlyn or Arnie?
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hamish f
Social climber
squamish
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thanks, glad you like those stories. Pretty much the same 30 words each time, just tangled up and strewn over different locations.
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