Discussion Topic |
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Sam
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 14, 2002 - 01:34pm PT
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I just got off the phone w/ a friend who is up in the valley! I guess it was a spectacular crashing sound (that much would be obvious) really early this morning as it slid down and broke up, crashing onto the apron and then the talus below.
I don't know anything about injuries or anything like that, I hope no one was bivey'd over there! I guess the NPS has blocked access to the whole area, and there is a massive amount of dust and crap in the air in that area. You can't even go to El Cap meadow, and they have traffic going two ways on the other side of the Valley.
Does anyone know of a web cab shot of the Captain?
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garyd
Novice climber
humboldt
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2002 - 02:30pm PT
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here is a web cam link (though not much help)
http://www.yosemite.org/vryos/
this is probably a troll anyway ...
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Sam
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2002 - 02:36pm PT
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Sure!
Fine!
Whatever!
It must take practice to troll well.
It just seems so serious around here all of a sudden...
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Largo
Advanced climber
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Nov 14, 2002 - 02:48pm PT
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Boot flake fell off?
I'll bet you a dollar this is a silly rumor--not that there was much more than frozen cobwebs hoding the Boot on the wall, but this simply sounds too grand to be true, with the road closures and all.
JL
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Jim Bob
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2002 - 03:19pm PT
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Yea, the Valley looks really torn up... Maybe someone should have put bolts spaced every two feet around boot flake and clipped it in.
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novice
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2002 - 03:33pm PT
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did any routes use the boot flake?
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Lynn
Intermediate climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Nov 14, 2002 - 04:02pm PT
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The Nose -
There is a free SuperTopo for it that you can download to study if you interested
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news update
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2002 - 04:28pm PT
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In a landmark decision, the NPS has decided to remove the boot flake this winter. Four cranes will be lowered in by heli and secured to the top of El Captain. Several climbers will be employed to attach the cables and place small explosives to fully detach the flake. Contact www.NPS.Gov/~ElCapDemolition for more information.
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Hammer
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2002 - 04:32pm PT
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Great photo of Boot Flake by William Zittrich in the gallery.
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DS
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2002 - 04:35pm PT
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Here's a good photo taken just a few hours after the big event.
<a href="http://www.safanda.com/bootflake.jpg"><img src="http://www.safanda.com/bootfake.jpg" width="272" height="448" border="0"></a>
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garyd
Novice climber
humboldt
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2002 - 04:52pm PT
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too much DS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that was great!!!!!!!!!!!
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Bob
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2002 - 04:53pm PT
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Photoshop strikes again. Weak troll David.
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DS
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2002 - 04:59pm PT
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Just felt like jumping on the band wagon. You're right, it is a weak troll. Sort of fun to imagine what it might look like though.
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?
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2002 - 04:59pm PT
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Can you photoshop it in there behind Texas flake?
Now that would be cool.
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Bob
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2002 - 05:19pm PT
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Actually the picture is pretty cool, it was the original troll that was week.
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Sam
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2002 - 07:51pm PT
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Yeah Bob-
All I did was get Chris Mac and John Long to at least laugh, weak huh? Guess next time I should pretend to be a racist idiot, then it would be "gold, gold I tell you!".
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F*#kin' Idiot
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2002 - 08:22pm PT
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Nice. Yep. And thanks to me, you have officially trolled TWO websites (rockclimbing.com). I should have waited to see how this washed out before opening my damn yapper. I've got to get job that requires I put some effort the whole "work" thingy, instead of sitting around surfing the web all day...
GOT ME!!
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P/D
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2002 - 11:17pm PT
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Hey Sam..idiot maybe....but racist no. I managed to troll a pack of idiot racists...but that was just by chance. I never started, nor participated in racism. Now idiocy...sure, plenty. Some folks are so dumb it IS funny.
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Nor Cal
Intermediate climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 15, 2002 - 10:54am PT
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Its true, I was in the Valley yesterday, saw the boot and I wore it home, the best Booty I've ever scored!
oh that is really bad...
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it
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 15, 2002 - 01:37pm PT
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Best troll on this thread: "did any routes use the boot flake?" Nice.
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Sam
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 15, 2002 - 01:45pm PT
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FI-
re: rockclimbing.com
I love it!
A virus troll...
You can't stop it, you can only hope to contain it.
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stinkfist
Advanced climber
yosemite
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 16, 2002 - 12:35pm PT
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The boot flake did not fall off!!!!!... Heres a real question for you sprayers out there.. I was in the meadow a few days ago and this guy noticed a serious difference in the nipple on zodiac. He was like holy sh#t it fell off. Having done the route about a week before I thought I'd give him some insight through some binos and sure enought it looked alot different,,,,, anyone got ant info on this???????????????
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Nor Cal
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 16, 2002 - 11:26pm PT
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sure, try and re-troll
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...
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 18, 2002 - 12:18pm PT
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If the leader does that pitch just right, the nipple swells and gets all excited and stuff... maybe you have never seen a nipple look like that, so you didn't realize what you were looking at?
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gr
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 18, 2002 - 06:01pm PT
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what's with people and exclamation points? Maybe I don't use exclamation points as haphazardly as everyone else!!!!!!!
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kl
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 18, 2002 - 06:48pm PT
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good point gr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! whats the deal???????
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?
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 18, 2002 - 08:10pm PT
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You talkin to me?
Are you talkin to me?
You talkin to me?
What?
You talkin to me?
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Sam
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 12, 2002 - 06:38pm PT
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Hey "reality"-
This is how you troll, take some notes.
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reality
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 12, 2002 - 06:54pm PT
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you thought this was funny? or that it actually hooked anyone? at least I'm asking important questions to which everyone has an opinion.
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james
Novice climber
TX
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 12, 2002 - 07:13pm PT
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Are you SERIOUS???!!! Boot Flake fell off the captain? I can't believe it. I guess I'll have to climb something else when I go to the Valley next summer.
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?
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 12, 2002 - 08:47pm PT
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so did it fall of or is this all a buch of bull sh#t
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?
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 13, 2002 - 01:01am PT
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who is this really poor speller posting under my punctuation mark?
get your own slimey rock to sleep under, dude!
homey don't play dat...
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Duh
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 13, 2002 - 10:43am PT
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"Poor speller"? I beleive you moniker is a question mark.
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Duh
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 13, 2002 - 10:43am PT
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"Poor speller"? I believe you moniker is a question mark.
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Duh
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 13, 2002 - 10:44am PT
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"Poor speller"? I believe your moniker is a question mark.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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now there is a van's retro checkered slip-on in it's place..
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jfailing
Trad climber
A trailer park in the Sierras
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The thread title totally got me - near the top of the page and early in the morning too...
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Where's Werner's take on this?????
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MisterE
Social climber
Across Town From Easy Street
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"Hey, Sexy thing! Why don't you kick off your boot and come over here..."
;-P
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altieboo
Boulder climber
Livermore, Ca
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Good god. Almost freaked out. Good one.
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Binks
Social climber
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OMG! Is this really true?
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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time for a bump, given the conditions up on the cap these days :)
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Matt
Trad climber
primordial soup
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Ha HA, this is pretty funny-
I think I have confessed to this before, but I posted this troll, all those years back. I used to think I was pretty funny...
=)
Cheers!
Hey what's the other 2002-2010 connection?!?!?
Go Giants!
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avid
Trad climber
sacramento, ca
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OMG!!!
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BASE104
climber
An Oil Field
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Hah! I tried to start a boot flake lottery a couple of years ago only to be informed that it had been tried before.
I tell ya, I dunno what is holding that thing on. And it will fall off, as sure as the Sierra Batholith will turn to eroded sandstone someday.
That is the cool thing about working subsurface geology. There are all of these buried river channels and delta systems. Even old mountain remnants that have come and gone and been buried.
Nothing lasts forever except for human stupidity.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there matt, say... oh my... as always.... very interesting times, here at ol' supertopo...
also, interesing sandstone note, base104, thanks for the share...
:)
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Boot Flake is my ultimate dining table - seating for forty.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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I've got dibs on 12/21/12
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thedogfather
climber
Somewhere near Red Rocks
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I like the fact that the original poster's background color is light pink on my browser and all the fake id's that are trying to pump up the thread are also pink showing that it is the same joker. Half the posts on the thread are from the same computer but with different user names. I had never seen that before but it sure does make it easy to catch a scam.
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Or maybe 8,000 years, since the river of ice last tickled its toes...
Time: depends on how you look at it.
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happiegrrrl
Trad climber
New York, NY
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hahahah - This thread could get bumped every 3 months and still get people's attention!
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mooser
Trad climber
seattle
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Got mine. I hadn't seen the first thread, but I still kind of hold my breath every time I look at that flake.
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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Mar 28, 2012 - 09:57pm PT
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never seen an op talk to himself so much
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Michelle
Social climber
SH60091
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Mar 28, 2012 - 11:33pm PT
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I wonder who'll climb the area first.
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Matt
Trad climber
it's all turtles, all the way dooowwwwwnn!!!!!
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bump!
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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No, really, this time it did!!!!!
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Leaving sock pinnacle, 5.11a sole climb.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Every day was 1 April for Juan de Fuca.
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tithaf
Trad climber
Sierra Madre, CA
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May 31, 2012 - 10:07pm PT
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OK, so has anyone done a structural/geomorphological analysis on Boot Flake? Some sort of vibration analysis? Sumpthin' at all?? or is it just serious low-hanging scientific fruit (high-hanging rock)?
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High Fructose Corn Spirit
Gym climber
-A race of corn eaters
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May 31, 2012 - 10:15pm PT
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Any degree of measuring would affect the rock and therefore corrupt the experiment.
Leave the calipers at home, their employment would be fruitless. Confirm with Largo.
Just remember: "you cannot kiss your own lips."
Experience is the thing - the Holy Grail - on Boot Flake. (Not to mention a positive attitude.) And this experience is really not something "we can clasp with calipers or jam into a test tube."
Also, it's open-ended, really, whether Boot Flake is, in and of itself, traditional "material."
How am I doing? :)
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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May 31, 2012 - 10:17pm PT
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"Boot Flake socks it to Nose. Suspected stocking."
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LilaBiene
Trad climber
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May 31, 2012 - 10:19pm PT
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HA! MH! LMAO!!!!!!!!!!
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tithaf
Trad climber
Sierra Madre, CA
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May 31, 2012 - 10:32pm PT
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I know, I know - I was looking at those photos and it made me do a little taco search then a little written a-wonderin'.
I fell asleep sitting next to the flake on Jackson-Johnson on Hallett Peak in RMNP, had a dream that I ate a rock, and woke to find the flake was gone.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
merced, california
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"I Get a Kick Out of You"
Cole not Charlie
My story is much too sad to be told,
But practically everything leaves me cold.
The exception I know is the case
When I'm out on a quiet spree,
Fighting vainly the old ennui,
And I suddenly turn and see your fabulous face.
I get no kick from champagne.
Mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all.
So tell me why should it be true
That I get a kick out of you?
Some, they may go for cocaine.
I'm sure that if I took even one sniff
It would bore me terrifically, too.
Yet I get a kick out of you.
I get a kick every time
I see you standing there before me.
I get a kick though it's clear to see
You obviously do not adore me.
I get no kick in a plane.
Flying too high with some gal in the sky
Is my idea of nothing to do,
Yet I get a kick--um you give me a boot--I get a kick out of you.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
merced, california
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But if it were not a troll looking to get someone's goat, then the dirtbags would have gotten gainful employment, much like this gang.
I would like to see Bear Grylls as the gang boss in this clip from Blazing Saddle Shoes.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
The NPS might have had to think about massive Viagara* shots for El Cap Spire.
Stop taking Viagara if you experience erections that last longer than 20,000 years and see your doctor.
*Viagara is a new drug designed to put the pizazz back in scenic wonder.
Alternative to Camp Town Races~Camp 4 Ladies.
Run with it...
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nature
climber
Boulder, CO
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Oct 13, 2012 - 05:45pm PT
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that's it... i'm tired of this thread. I'm going up there with a crow bar and finishing the deal once and for all.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Oct 13, 2012 - 05:48pm PT
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Hey, don't knock off the Boot until Audrey has had a chance to visit Dolt Tower! Domino effect and all that, eh?
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nature
climber
Boulder, CO
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Oct 13, 2012 - 06:29pm PT
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I'll give her the crow bar. two birds with one stone....
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Michelle
Trad climber
Toshi's Station, picking up power converters.
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Oct 13, 2012 - 08:39pm PT
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I was thinking explosives.
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LilaBiene
Trad climber
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Oct 17, 2012 - 10:43pm PT
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Nature, I suspect there would be some serious karmic payback if I went up there with a crowbar... too funny! :D
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jfailing
Trad climber
PDX, North Slope, The Open Road
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It's about that time of year, isn't it?
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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Ya got me! Not. Seen this last time.. Worked then.. Kinda..
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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No, really, this time it did!
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Crackslayer
Trad climber
Eldo
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This reminds me of the one a few years back about the cobra. I had been gone for a few weeks and I didn't put together the date. I was like damn. I never climbed that friggin' thing and now it fell over! I should get on top of that thing before it really does fall.
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Edge
Trad climber
New Durham, NH
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Boot Flake fell off again? Oh noes!
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Gene
climber
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Damn thing won't stay put.
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Gene! LOL!!!!
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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Here is what has happened, Pilgrims. The damn flake DID detach, but slid down to Texas Flake with an unanchored guy riding it down while sitting on top; his party was still attached to the anchors above and one was way below, starting the King Swing. Take a look. This has to be the most amazing experience ever in rock climbing for all four of these climbers!! Shot this morning!!
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Gene
climber
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Peter,
Thanks for the photographic evidence. Appreciated.
This means we have to rename the King Swing since the original version has gone south, right? Any suggestions?
g
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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Absolutely, Gene. And people probably STILL won't believe this and are plain stuck on the April Fool's Day business. Yawn. This is a huge-A deal!!
Now we can see there was virtually nothing holding the flake on the wall, too. What? Velcro? Amazing.
Imagine the ride down for the unanchored guy. It looks from here he is thoroughly blown out and can hardly hang on any more.
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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I can still see their rope attached to the Boot Flake! They better not take it off belay!
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Gene
climber
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Do you see his sh#t streaks on the former Boot Flake to his right and below? He must have let go when the flake let go. OMG!
PowerBar diet?
g
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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I have been predicting this for four decades. We are going to have to thru-bolt the sucker all the way from Hetch-Hetchy now; we can't have this take place ever again. Getting in back in place prior to thru-bolting: I don't know. Since they won't let us stage a crane on the rim there, maybe successive air pods and blocks??? Any ideas, crew?
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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El Cap's giving Texas the boot!
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briham89
Big Wall climber
san jose, ca
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Apr 11, 2013 - 11:20am PT
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And Half Dome exploded this morning!!!
...
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WBraun
climber
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Apr 11, 2013 - 11:25am PT
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Big rockfall right behind Camp 4 yesterday afternoon.
I could see the granite dust from the sar cache yard.
This is NOT bullsh!t either ......
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Gene
climber
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It's-that-day bump!
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MAD BOLTER
Trad climber
CARLSBAD,NM
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OBVIOUSLY AN APRIL-FOOL'S-DAY ITEM. IT WAS 12 YRS AGO THAT THIS STUFF WAS POSTED.
EVERYBODY WHO HAS BEEN IN THE VALLEY HAS SEEN THE "BOOT" SINCE THEN.
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MAD BOLTER
Trad climber
CARLSBAD,NM
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WHO KEEPS REPLACING IT ON FOOL'S DAY EACH YEAR?
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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I woulda bumped it but someone beat me to it this morning.
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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Warren has risen and the Merced River is flowing with wine.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Haven't those crag administrators heard of shoe goo?
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kaholatingtong
Trad climber
Nevada City
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shoe goee? pssh. simple super glue works wonders. fact.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Knott again??????
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MisterE
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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Just look at that filthy sock under where the boot fell off.
Disgusting!
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Craig Fry
Trad climber
So Cal.
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It's tragic,
Thank God no one got hurt
Quite a mess at the base though, maybe old booty
Peter Haan got a Photo
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Jones in LA
Mountain climber
Tarzana, California
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Tom Evans just posted this image on El Cap Pics and it looks like Boot Flake has slipped down the left edge of Texas Flake (where it got stuck in 2013), got its toe hooked on the end of Texas, and flipped over. It looks really tenuous now, maybe on its last leg so to speak.
(Tom apologizes for the low quality of the image -- he said he was shaking with excitement when he snapped the photo)
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Its a seasonal thing...
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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It does it every 4/1
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Barbarian
climber
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My April 1st is now complete.
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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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Holy Crap!
Someone needs to put a stop to this.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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The thread topic is very confusing to the Gaels as they would read it as an
unfinished sentence:
Boot Flake Upland Moor of El Cap This Morning did what?
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, or In What Time Zone Am I?
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Damn rock stackers.
Susan
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xbow
Trad climber
TWENTYNIN PLM
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Feb 10, 2016 - 09:34pm PT
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I stole Boot Flake and for my next heist I plan on stealing Texas Flake.
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
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Feb 10, 2016 - 10:12pm PT
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... to be sold for millions a dollars to an undisclosed Chinese buyer.
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BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
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Feb 10, 2016 - 10:29pm PT
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Glenn Denny told me this story that happened on the third ascent of the Nose. On the second ascent, Robbins didn't think Boot Flake was going to stay put so he placed a bolt while he was leading it. On the 3rd ascent Roper really wanted to lead Boot Flake so he could climb it without using Robbins' bolt. Which is what he did.
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rbord
Boulder climber
atlanta
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Feb 11, 2016 - 07:58am PT
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I trademarked the name Boot Flake. Expect a letter from my lawyer.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Feb 11, 2016 - 08:15am PT
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Back then they were hardly old men; but they were young firebrands who set their world on fire during the Pentecost of climbing history.
When it does finally fall off, may Boot Flake rest in pieces.
Bow your heads and pray that you're nowhere in the area, sinners!
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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Come on.. No one bumped this?? ;)
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Last year I could have said that the Robbins Traverse fell off, but three months later I would have spoken the truth.
John
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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You're laughing today, but Yosemite Valley has been sloughing off its skin for a very, very long time. Robbins Traverse, the Chandelier, Atlantic Ocean Wall . . . really, too many to list . . . have all fallen to the march of Father Time and the pressure of Mother Thermal Expansion.
Boot Flake is just standing in line, waiting for its turn to take the Big Ride.
Pulling that thing off the wall while laybacking it would be the all-time epic whipper, but the traversing ladder of belay bolts above Texas would save you.
If it cut loose during your King Swing, you could just run right across as it accelerated downwards, like swimming in a snow avalanche. As long as you remembered to clip your haul bag in on top, there'd be no problem at all.
Russ the Fish most eloquently said this, regarding another notorious piece of choss that was high on the Nose:
I wish somebody would just rifle up there and after checking with the lookout on the ground, honk this thing off.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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It will be interesting when it does come off.
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Yosemite's granite cliffs are 'breathing,' and heat can make them fall - Los Angeles Times
El Capitan is a living, breathing entity. Evidence of its internal circulatory system can be seen at the Tangerine Drip, and the grassy oasis just above the Heart Roof (Poorly Protected California Wetlands).
El Capitan is ALIVE.
Do not turn your back on El Capitan.
Do not run from El Capitan.
Do not underestimate the power of El Capitan.
Do not taunt, tease or otherwise annoy El Capitan.
El Capitan: You like it, it likes you.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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I suspect that this should have been posted on a different date, such as 1 April?
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rmuir
Social climber
From the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
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Again?
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i-b-goB
Social climber
Wise Acres
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Flake fake!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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That thang must be on a bungee!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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God knows what's still holding it on there.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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You got that right. Royal thought the thing was spooky enough to place a bolt before nailing up it on the second ascent.
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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^^^^^
That is really saying something about how tenuous that block is. If Robbins, who had done the lower choss third of Half Dome, was spooked, then that THING is scary.
The rumor, back in the day, was that nobody was slower on the bolt-gun draw than Chuck Pratt. Royal Robbins was right there. And maybe even slower. Adding a bolt to the Nose Route would have tortured RR, and he would not have done that lightly.
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i-b-goB
Social climber
Wise Acres
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The Boot laced in place!
secret adhesive for added strength!
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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when that boot falls off there's gunna be one stinky sock hanging around😬
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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When the boot drops nobody is going to believe it.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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The thing about Boot Flake is that there aren't any chockstones lodged behind it levering it off so it seems to stay put. I never got to ask Royal about that bolt when I was around him. Placing another one with a ladder below always seemed like a strange decision to me but the safety-oriented mentality of the time is hard to relate to these days. There was a line of decision on risk to the party that the leader had to consider.
I have asked Tom Frost about this but not Joe Fitschen.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Joe writes this about that:
Royal nailed up the right side of the Boot, but as he got higher he thought more and more about the true nature of Book Flake, that it was simply resting against the main wall like a drunk against a light pole.
Simple mechanics prompted him to conclude that the pitons he was driving were small wedges such as one might use to split a large round of oak. How many such wedges would it take to move the Boot even the fraction of an inch necessary to allow the lower pitons to fall out of the crack?
And if the flake could be moved that much, how much more would it need to be moved before gravity would take over and hurl the boot downward as if God were aiming at some miscreant cat? Such thoughts are both prudent and dangerous.
A prudent climber nurses just enough fear to promote an appropriate degree of caution, but too much fear can lead to impulsive and rash acts or, ultimately, paralysis.
Halfway up the flake, Royal decided to place a bolt where Harding had not found it necessary. Perhaps at that point, Harding was tired of drilling holes. Royal finished the lead and happily clipped into Harding's two bombproof bolts on top of Boot Flake.
--Going Up, p. 406
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aspendougy
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Based upon thickness and approximate length and width, maybe someone with a geology background could estimate the weight of the flake. If you know the approximate weight, and then see what a miniscule addition the weight of one climber is, might be reassuring, or make it more scary, depending upon the result. Any guess for the heaviest climber to ever stand on top of it? At some point, might have to put a weight limit; no climbers above 200 lbs. Then again, maybe each spring, get a bunch of big fat guys to get on top of it, and jump up and down a few times. If it holds, it's good for another climbing season.
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F10
Trad climber
Bishop
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The great thing about Boot Flake falling off every April 1st is that it reappears on the 2nd.
I'd hate to be up there during the time window that it's gone....
Maybe there's some easy 5.3 face behind it ??
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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If Boot Flake was in Josh, it would be just another ho-hum one-pitch climb.
If Boot Flake fell out of bed in the morning and no one was there to hear it, would his First Alert be enough to save him?
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looks easy from here
climber
Ben Lomond, CA
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what a miniscule addition the weight of one climber is
What about six climbers?
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Placing another one with a ladder below always seemed like a strange decision to me.
The bolt ladder to the Boot might have been tiny, poorly placed Zamacs, or worse, back in 1960. Loosing all your pins from behind the Mother of All Expandos and falling onto that ladder, back then, was probably a dangerous proposition.
The current ladder of big belay bolts is a more recent innovation.
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originalpmac
Mountain climber
Timbers of Fennario
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In case there is any one new here...
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Happiegrrrl2
Trad climber
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Every year it falls off around this time.... It's almost like a Mayan calendar, so accurate!
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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I hear the Park Service is starting a permit program for people who want to watch Boot Flake fall next year.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Trust me...the chewing gum holding it on is drying out.
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Bushman
climber
The state of quantum flux
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Last I heard is El Cap fell off but Boot Flake is still up there...
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looks easy from here
climber
Ben Lomond, CA
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I feel like a bit of a chump, but reading the title got me for a fraction of a second before I remembered how long this thread's existed.
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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If PTPP was up there with his junk show I would certainly believe it to be true...
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grover
climber
Castlegar BC
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Sad day, a piece of history gone forever......
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F10
Trad climber
Bishop
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I was thinking about this post yesterday
Glad it showed up again
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fragglerockjoe
Trad climber
space-man from outer space
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It must be really heavy to haul and reattach to the wall. I wonder who's done the rigging?
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skywalker1
Trad climber
co
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Didn't Locker resole that boot last year?
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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That’s why it bounced!
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| Messages 1 - 152 of total 152 in this topic |
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