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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Oregon
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 4, 2014 - 05:08pm PT
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Just got the sad news that Geoff Farrar, aka " Carderock Jeff" died at Carderock, apparently as the result of a fall near the base of Cripple's Crack. He was 69.
http://www.therandolphfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/Randol1/obit.cgi?user=1204192DFarrar
He has been as much of a fixture at Carderock as the climbs themselves for at least 40 years, when I first started climbing there.
I moved away 20 years ago and when I came back for a visit a couple years ago, he was sitting on the same rock doing the same problems and telling the same stories.
The place won't be the same...
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nita
Social climber
chica de chico, I don't claim to be a daisy.
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Lorenzo, I did not know Geoff Farrar, but would like to pay my respect ....
Condolences to Geoff's family and friends...
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kmm
climber
Los Angeles, CA
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RIP Geoff. You were a fixture indeed. Your love of climbing and Carderock will always inspire me. Thank you for being there, and being willing to share your experience with climbers of all stripes.
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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Best wishes to Geoff's family and friends. I did not know Geoff, but from a bit of searching sounds like he was quite a character and someone I wish I'd met!
Am posting this photo (stolen from the net) and the captions that accompanied it.
"This guy (check them out...no rope!) tried to coach me when I got stuck, but wanted me to use the crack! When he found out I had rules, he realized I had to go where he is, so he got down."
"That guy is Carderock Jeff."
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rick d
climber
ol pueblo, az
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Jan 14, 2014 - 08:08am PT
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Geoff, is gone. In 34 years (most living out of state) I never once missed Geoff out at carderock on any visit. Monday midday, Wednesday afternoon, or Sunday morning, Geoff would eventually make it out and tell stories and show non locals problems he had so brutally wired.
Now, little Dave (not piano/broke leg Dave Rockwell) had been arrested for killing him with a claw hammer Dec 28.
http://dccrimestories.com/2014/01/13/bethesda-area-rock-climber-accused-of-killing-friend-with-claw-hammer/
What the hell is this world coming to.
Shiat, now I will have to listen to the mayor.
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couchmaster
climber
pdx
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Jan 14, 2014 - 09:43am PT
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That's crazy...saved the story for posterity. Hope this wasn't another bolting war saga. They don't say what caused this. Best to Geoffs family and friends. Wow.
"Rock-climber accused of killing friend with claw-hammer under Bethesda cliffs
January 13, 2014 by D.C. Crime Stories
Carderock Park near Bethesda has some of the most popular cliffs to climb on the eastern seaboard. (Photo: Wikipedia)
Carderock Park near Bethesda has some of the most popular cliffs to climb on the eastern seaboard. (Photo: Wikipedia)
A Virginia rock-climber has been accused of using a claw hammer to kill a fellow climber during a fight at Carderock Park near Bethesda.
David DiPaolo, 31, also known as David Jennings, was charged with manslaughter after U.S. Park Police detectives caught up to him in upstate New York on Thursday.
DiPaolo could not be immediately reached for comment. He remains in New York and awaits extradition to Maryland, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesperson.
The victim has been identified Monday as 69-year-old Geoffrey D. Farrar of Arlington.
According to charging documents, on the afternoon of Dec. 28, DiPaolo and three rock-climbing friends went to climb the cliffs at Carderock Park, one of the most popular urban climbing areas in the eastern United States. It sits within the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park.
While DiPaolo, of Bristow, Va., and Farrar stayed down below, two of the climbers walked to the top of a cliff to anchor their ropes at the highpoint. The two then threw their lines down and peered over the cliff, but did not see anyone below, and walked back down to check on their friends.
The rock-climbers told police that they saw DiPaolo run down the trail and called his name, but he did not answer and kept running. When the two climbers round the bend, they found Farrar laying on the trail with his head against a wooden beam, bleeding profusely around his skull. Farrar was taken by helicopter to Suburban Hospital where he died later that day.
Witnesses told police that DiPaolo had fled in a minivan. Police traced a call from a pay phone at a gas station in upstate New York to his father’s home nearby. On Thursday, a New York State Trooper pulled DiPaolo over near Great Falls, N.Y., and he was taken into the police station where he waited to be questioned by U.S. Park Police detectives.
DiPaolo admitted that he and the victim had an argument at the park, and the next thing he knew Farrar was choking him, charging documents said. He and Farrar fell to the ground, and as DiPaolo began to lose consciousness, he found a claw hammer on the ground, he told police.
DiPaolo struck Farrar with the claw hammer until the victim let go of DiPaolo, charging documents state.
Police said DiPaolo then provided a written statement insisting that Farrar had his hands around his neck during entire struggle, ”I’m sorry this happened. I didn’t want it to happen. I didn’t know it was going to happen.”"
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Jan 14, 2014 - 10:05am PT
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Wow. I often went to Carderock alone. Many times, mid-week, especially if it was cold, I would have the place almost entirely to myself.
Sometimes Geoff would be the only climber I saw. He would sometimes strike up a conversation, but I wasn't into it. He had the place so wired, I didn't. I was into just looking for easy to moderate things where I could relax, so I didn't get to know him.
So sad. RIP Geoff.
What could have happened at the base of that cliff? Weird.
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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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Jan 14, 2014 - 10:09am PT
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Sad sad story...
RIP fellow lifer
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David Lewis
Trad climber
North Conway,New Hampshire
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Jan 14, 2014 - 10:16am PT
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May Jeff be off to better climbing times in the next world. RIP my brother climber. Simply a horrible turn of events.
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Climberdude
Trad climber
Fresno, CA
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Jan 14, 2014 - 01:10pm PT
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Wow, this is very shocking and sad. Carderock was my local crag for several years until last year. I knew both of the people involved and they were always helpful and nice. Both of them had all of the moves memorized. A very sad day in climbing.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Jan 14, 2014 - 01:22pm PT
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A claw hammer? What was a claw hammer doing out there? There was no need for any hammers at all, except a sledge to replace wood at the base of something.
How did a claw hammer just happen to be within reach when the alleged choking took place?
I don't get it.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Jan 14, 2014 - 05:52pm PT
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hey there say, lorenzo and all...
very sad, the whole story, :(
my condolences to family, and prayers for all concerned... :(
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olie
Boulder climber
arlington virginia
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Jan 14, 2014 - 06:15pm PT
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Jeff did not fall, he was killed at Carderock by one of his friends. I am a neighbor of his and he was a great man. Al-tho im 16 i still loved talking to him.
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Christopher Paik
Trad climber
md
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Jan 14, 2014 - 07:08pm PT
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The assailant -- LIttle Dave -- whom some of us remember since he was a high school kid who wired a 13b (Silver Spot, for those who know the area) and then used to solo it -- has had his share of problems over the years. This is an awful event all around.
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Christopher Paik
Trad climber
md
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Jan 14, 2014 - 08:51pm PT
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A new low in reporting about rock climbing -- the Washington Post article states that a claw hammer is "an instrument commonly used in rock climbing."
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Oplopanax
Mountain climber
The Deep Woods
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Jan 14, 2014 - 09:44pm PT
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well, you can use it to place a bolt, and you can use it to chop a bolt.
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Jan 16, 2014 - 09:50am PT
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That was a good article, thanks. Condolences to friends and family, Geoff sounds like he was a real cool guy. What a loss for the climbing community.
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John Ely
Trad climber
DC
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Jan 16, 2014 - 10:07am PT
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I met Geoff at Carderock while I was still climbing in sneakers before me and my school buddy had managed to buy pairs of 'PAs' (as Hermann's did not yet sell EBs). Geoff had been climbing for less then a year when we had showed up at Carderock in the Fall of 1976. Tall and lanky, he morphed into a boulderer who could do especially impossible face moves of various weird sorts. (And Carderock is a 30-60 foot set of faces and sloping buttresses of schist which has potential face climbing from easy to extremely difficult on virtually every square foot of this crag, combined with dirt landings, shade and easy anchors making it a country club or miniature golf style top roping area.) At his best, he claimed to have top roped Cripples Crack up and down three times with a foot tap on the dirt, and this would be a good test for anyone who wants to measure her or himself against Geoff, though no one with the possible exception of little Dave had the place more 'wired' than Geoff (and neither one was known particularly for climbing anywhere else, including the local gyms, which made them both ever so more idiosyncratic). Little Dave as someone has remarked above was a very good climber, though most of us locals didn't trust him to belay even on top rope; he could be seen on top rope or solo doing the very hardest routes at Carderock, and to my knowledge is the only one to have done the Silver Spot -- an ankle breaking 13a face problem -- without a rope. By Geoff's own reported remarks, they were friends up to day they seem to have argued....I'm sure we'll hear more about this but I am so sad. I was friendly with both of them, and even though they shared polar opposite world views in many respects, it is hard to fathom how this could have happened. It was impossible not to be friendly with them, in that small world in which they were the Socrates and the Diogenes of that little climber's public place....
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fluffy
Trad climber
Colorado
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Jan 16, 2014 - 10:51am PT
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Perhaps their relationship was not what it appeared to be?
I dunno, struggling to wrap my brain around it.
RIP Geoff
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knudeNoggin
climber
Falls Church, VA
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Jan 16, 2014 - 12:16pm PT
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This is tragic and sad. If you spent much of any time at Carderock, you were bound to at least HEAR Geoff's booming voice, typically giving advice. (Some such advice better fit his tall lanky frame than what you personally brought to the rocks. :o)
It's interesting to read the accounts and how odd they sound. E.g., there is a rather short, easy walk from the parking lot (70-100metres?) to the TOPs of the cliffs, which fall downwards to an arm of the Potomac --quite close (even over) at the downstream / southern /left-from-lot end, and more removed to the other, longer-extended end. I don't know the spot ... , but only recall any big wooden beams being downstream where bolstering is needed. Conceivably, the two above had climbed (class 4) down the roughly central access to the bottom and then saw the killer running away out to go (not even class 4) around the far upstream end and back to the lot)? --otherwise, it would be from the other end and the killer running away to the center access; but I don't think there are beams upstream?
Yeah, the claw hammer, a regular tool --esp. for TR !
So much for reporting ... .
*kN*
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fluffy
Trad climber
Colorado
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Jan 16, 2014 - 12:57pm PT
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If you spent much of any time at Carderock, you were bound to at least HEAR Geoff's booming voice, typically giving advice.
People talk about that like its a good thing. Maybe not everyone felt that way?
I know when I go climbing (or just about anywhere else) the last thing I'm looking for is someone else's booming unsolicited advice.
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knudeNoggin
climber
Falls Church, VA
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Jan 16, 2014 - 01:33pm PT
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Oh, no, I don't think that the booming Voice of Advice
was at all regarded as a joy; only that it was conspicuous.
Now, the R&Ice article's account 2nd hand from on-site
John Gregory (who wrote the Guide to the climbs, at least
at one vintage, IIRC?), is sooooooo damn different from
that other account : Geoff is alone but for coming upon
John --not jointly there as part of a quartet--,
there is no killer in sight (!),
and no mention of anyonElse --i.p., no mention of John's
joining anyone in making a grisly find?!
Now, for whom was John setting up TR --presumably
a belayer is intended (not auto-belay, but ... )?
Why is John not mentioned by those other two, who'd
gone ahead to set up TR and who walked around to
find Geoff after he didn't appear below for their climb?!
--damn strange trying to make sense of this all.
)-:
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Christopher Paik
Trad climber
md
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Jan 16, 2014 - 05:46pm PT
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John Gregory and another climber were with Geoff in the parking lot. Geoff mentioned that he and LIttle Dave had had an argument. All three climbers walked one hundred yards down to the top of the cliff. Geoff went down the 4th class descent, while the other two remained at the top to set up a top rope. After setting up the top rope, the two went down the descent, with John first. Dave came running past John and went up the descent to the parking lot, got in his car and left. John found Geoff on the ground.
At least this is my understanding, from conversations with some of the people who were there.
To forestall pointless and inaccurate speculation, allow me to state that it was no secret that Little Dave had had mental health problems; indeed, his father has said as much to a Washington Post reporter. In view of this, it may be the case that this awful event is a tragedy for all involved.
It is worth noting that the prosecutor has stated that the forensic evidence is inconsistent with LIttle Dave's claim of self-defense.
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knudeNoggin
climber
Falls Church, VA
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Jan 16, 2014 - 09:01pm PT
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It's impossible for people who have spent time at Carderock not to speculate ...
But it's not so much speculation as correction to what are obvious flaws in the reporting, sometimes hilariously so. In another thread on this site someone posted the URLink to an affidavit by an investigating officer, and that really puts the events in sharp relief in terms of timing --esp. if the view taken by John & partner from up high was assured of covering the ground soon thereafter (3mins) bloodied! And "running down the trail" when the fellow is going smack beside them and up class-4 rise to the parking-lot level of terrain.
<geesh>
Apparently, the 4 were not entirely alone. I surmise that there were some others to the upstream / N bigger half of the cliffs.
*kN*
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John Ely
Trad climber
DC
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Jan 17, 2014 - 09:52am PT
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Geoff's friend Dave Rockwell has posted a long but very fine photo essay about his long friendship with Geoff Farrar.
And my one big question regarding much of the speculation above. Where the f*** did the hammer come from, from whose car trunk, and who brought in down to the base of cripple's crack? A 'claw hammer' or even a Yosemite hammer lying there at any time of the day or night is about as likely as a porcupine found in my mother's living room. And: did anyone hear or have any idea about the nature or content of the earlier dispute between the two of them in the parking lot?
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jstan
climber
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Jan 17, 2014 - 12:28pm PT
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If there were other witnesses in the area, I would think it very important they not participate in discussions such as this.
If anyone feels they have information they might best contact the authorities and not discuss any of this with anyone nor follow these threads.
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RP3
Big Wall climber
Sonora
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Jan 17, 2014 - 01:07pm PT
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WOW. Such a tragedy. I climbed at Carderock once a couple of years ago while visiting family in the DC area. We met Geoff and he lined us out for the day of climbing. How sad...
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Oregon
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 17, 2014 - 06:37pm PT
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And my one big question regarding much of the speculation above. Where the f*** did the hammer come from, from whose car trunk, and who brought in down to the base of cripple's crack? A 'claw hammer' or even a Yosemite hammer lying there at any time of the day or night is about as likely as a porcupine found in my mother's living room.
Oh, I don't know. I helped put the original RR ties in the pictures you see, and that boardwalk above. I used a hammer then.
There are lots of reasons a hammer could be there.
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John Ely
Trad climber
DC
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On May 18, folks met for a memorial for Geoff Farrar in the parking lot of the Carderock top roping area. Some nice thoughts, good eats and lazy bouldering. Dave Rockwell didn't take any pictures, but made some excellent comments and came up with the right picture.
http://davefiddleswithcameras.blogspot.com/
Here are a couple of bad pictures I snapped just to prove what he describes nicely above happened.
We all still miss Geoff. I find violence of human against human so abhorrent. This all seems so sad and unnecessary, in some ways the very opposite of a climbing accident, which is as we all know a deliberate part of the game.....
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steve jones
Ice climber
Fairfax, VA
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Any further news on Dave and a trial etc? I see he was released from the Feds on Sept. 10th of 2015
Thanks
Steve
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