| Messages 1 - 115 of total 115 in this topic |
Jim Brennan
Trad climber
Vancouver Canada
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 3, 2010 - 06:15pm PT
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One day in the dark ages, Daryl, Joe, Craig and myself were walking around at the top of the Squamish Chief's 2nd summit. We came upon a refrigerator sized block sitting on a slab, aimed at the incredible overhanging notch separating 2nd from 3rd summit.
Hey man, lets push this thing off! says Daryl. Midweek, no one around, so we try. Damned if the thing is too big for all of us to push so every one except Daryl loses interest. 5 minutes later Hatten exclaims, I GOT IT MOVING ! We crawled to the edge as this INCREDIBLE chunk slides off.
It free falls silently for 5 full seconds........then..........
KA - BOOM ! ! !
Contact with the 2000' rubble gulley causing a torrent of trees,rocks and dirt. The noise was deafening. What now ? Craig, the voice of reason says, "we should go".
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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good one Jim. I was hoping that Anders might be also implicated. You know Mighty Anders, always in a pickle. How cool you were friends with Daryl!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Also Dark Ages atop a lesser frequented peak in Olympic Mts we
ejected a Frigidaire over a face of only about 1000' but it did
produce impressive results. The most impressive result was the
verbal response from far below! After our initial shock we realized
they were unseen hikers who were in no danger. We couldn't determine if
they were shouts of admiration or admonition. We knew there couldn't
have been anybody on the chossy face as nobody was doing anything
like that in the Olympics back then, or since, for the most part.
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Tami
Social climber
Canada
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Top of Rexford, summer of 1980 or whenever it was David ( Ghost ) got us mixed up in doing that tellyvision commercial for Canadian unity.
Took six of us to get the Volkswagen going but finally it shifted and then.........actually teetered on the edge of the abyss. Like Jim's above, it free fell.
Someone suggested we yell rock.
Rock.
The boulder shattered into beer fridges & television sets & microwave ovens and poured down the gully on the S side of the mtn. The peppery stench of blown granite assaulted our snouts. The debris fanned out on the old summer snow below.
We said WOO a lot .
ANDERS IMPLICATED???? Oh, Peter, you got the wrong Ourom. That would be his bubba Peder.
Who was the prime mover for that stone on Rexford.
BIG GRIN. The Canadians will get the double-entendre there........
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Not sure if the mid-80s counts as the dark ages, but around then six of us (Tami, Peder, Peter, John, Ryan and I) found a Volkswagen-size block sitting right near the edge of a ledge on Mt. Rexford, with over a thousand feet of air just waiting. It didn't have any give at all when we tried to push it, but there was a wall behind, so we all scrunched in and gave it a six-person leg press. That budged it, so we really dug in and gave everything we had.
The block then achieved maximum entropy in minimum time.
Edit: I see Tami was busy writing at the same time...
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Tami
Social climber
Canada
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SICK !!!! IT REALLY IS TRUE THAT GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE !!!!
OR wuz that FOOLS SELDOM DIFFER???
David ?!?! You should be HERE ! We could DRINK !
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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David ?!?! You should be HERE ! We could DRINK !
If we did that, the block would soon grow to truck size, then house size. And we'd be posting about how the other four were to scared to get near it, while you and I simply sat cross-legged on either side of it and willed it to move.
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Tami
Social climber
Canada
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It was the size of a BLOCK OF FLATS. After trundling the chthonian monstrosity the mtn was 20' shorter then previously. Peter was lobbed over the edge as the stone vaccilated then dropped but he was able to crimp on a pair of dimes and , feet totally free, clung for all the mercy of his very soul, swung left, returned with a heel hook right and mantled to the ledge to receive a congratchyoolatory reefer.
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drljefe
climber
Old Pueblo, AZ
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Granite Mountain Wilderness. BFE.
In attempting to let loose a big TV sized block at the staging area, we started a chain reaction.
We watched in disbelief as a Smart Car sized block
took off down the steep apprach gulley, mowing down pinyons and thowin' sparks.
Looked slow~mo and sounded like a dinosaur snapping trees and kicking stones.
We got to inspect the damage all the way down, too.
That day F.O.E. was born...
Friends Of Erosion.
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WBraun
climber
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Me and Shipley trundled Dolt hole to the base ....
Then there was that huge trundle at the base of Half Dome, with Russ da Fish doing the color commentator on it's journey down the Half Dome slabs.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Tammi & Ghost: I am always impressed, when 30 year old memories are similar.
Tami: Took six of us to get the Volkswagen going but finally it shifted and then
Ghost: six of us (Tami, Peder, Peter, John, Ryan and I) found a Volkswagen-size block sitting right near the edge of a ledge on Mt. Rexford,
Impressive----but then I never trundled something that big on purpose. There was the Cadillac-size chunk of what we thought was bedrock on 3-4 Couloir on Mt. Fay: that rolled out from under me and cleaned the couilor---but that was really an accident.
I am glad to see boulder-trundling mentioned. I Thought it was one of those "taboo subjects."
It is really "rock stabilizing."
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
SoCal
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Back home Papa would entertain us by trundling 200 pounders into the Snake River Canyon near Lewiston. They'd bounce real sweet on the steep dirt hillsides.
Years on us kids learned to surf the basalt talus fields.
Mt Baldy here in SoCal get's a little smaller when I descend the bowl in summer. Surfing rock slides is a major kick in the butt. However as I am older the guilty feeling keeps me from doing as much as I'd like.
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Tami
Social climber
Canada
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Fritz - 30 yr old memories - Me & Dave we did all the same drugs. Well, mostly. He's not here tonight :-D hahahahahah
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Some notable examples of boulder trundling and its exalted history:
1. Whymper and party, from the top of the Matterhorn in July 1865, to let the world know they'd made it. (OK, didn't work out so well in the end.)
2. Amunden's base party in 1911, trundling from a nunatak they got to on the east coast of the Ross Ice Shelf, the first land they'd seen for 18 months. "The mere sight of the naked rock was, however, only an anticipatory pleasure. It is possible that we behaved rather like children on first reaching bare land. One of us, in any case [possibly Kristian Prestrud], found immense enjoyment in rolling one big block after another down the steep slopes of the nunatak."
3. Apollo astronauts, who gleefully adopted the boulder-trundling habits of their geologist teachers.
I confess to a really good one off the southwest peak of Mount Hozomeen, in 1977. And maybe others, some accomplished by pushing with legs. My piece de resistance, however, was to combine boulder trundling with route cleaning - if you can get above a climb you're tidying up, and drop rocks, with a little care you can do a good job of taking out stumps and other annoyances, plus clean potentially hazardous rocks from the ledges. We did that with the stump on Seasoned in the Sun, in about 1983.
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R.B.
climber
..
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I dropped a microwave oven off the last A4 pitch of Never Never Land, El Cap. in June 1987 ... glad my belay partner was about 20 feet to the right of the bombing run!
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corniss chopper
Mountain climber
san jose, ca
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Who has not been tempted here? Many possibilities.
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TwistedCrank
climber
Ideeho-dee-do-dah-day boom-chicka-boom-chicka-boom
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No one trundles at the Gunks. I did.
It wasn't mega - more like kilo - but it left a nice divot and more than a few people were bamboozled by it.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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So------what is the odor from a freshly trundled boulder after impact???
We always thought it was ozone???
Fresh, sharp, and stimulating------and it is not sulphur.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Minerals newly exposed to the air, oxidization, and the friction/energy of the fall? Minerals? Tricouni?
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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So------what is the odor from a freshly trundled boulder after impact???
Always reminded me of cordite. There's a lot of sparks (gazillions, when a big boulder hits) involved.
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R.B.
climber
..
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Most probably "flint" from the quartz and feldspar from the granite.
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Fletcher
Trad climber
Just me and three kids
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OK, since we're all getting confessional here...
Does trundling your cat in a suitcase down the back stairs count? I must have been about 8 and co-perps were my brothers.
Yes, the cat was fine (though big time freaked out) and I've always felt terrible about it. Boys on the loose!
And this was back in the dark ages in the early 70's when I was just a wee naughty lad.
Oh shite, I just remembered we also somehow got her into a pillow case and swung her around in the air a few times... something about space travel training.
That kitty went on to lead a very long life, maybe another 12 or 15 years.
Zoinks! What were we thinking? Ah... we weren't.
Eric
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Tami
Social climber
Canada
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Eric do you ever get a ghastly feeling that cats are.......out to getchya?
:-D "cos if you do.........now you know where that juju came from.
Kidding.
Interesting that SMELL accompanying big bad trundles. Then again all the trundles I've done were GRANITE. I'm so parochial, yeah, I know. But THAT SMELL.
WHAT IS IT !?!?!
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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We used to put our cat under an upturned laundry basket, to see what would happen. He was a giant ginger cat named Marmaduke McCavity, and quickly figured it out. I can't imagine trundling him, although once or twice I've spun dogs or cats around on a smooth floor. Doesn't do much for their ability to walk, or their temper.
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Since everyone is fessing up.....
Three of us trundled a fair sized boulder in the Fry Creek Conservancy, a few years ago. What was different about this one was how far it went. At first it bounced down some granite slabs, then went from side to side in a narrow gully a bunch of times, before flying over the side and taking out a number of trees. Yes, we did feel guilty, at least for a few minutes. Well, it was in a conservancy. After that we changed the name of this activity from 'trundling' to 'bowling for goats'. Way more fun! Cheers H.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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The cordite reference made me think of my truck... Actually, that smell is the same stuff that is in my Corbomite device on my truck.
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Nice thread. I was exploring a large cliff band down in a canyon below Castle Rock. This was years ago when there was a lot of private property around Castle and caretakers with guns and we had to cross a section of private property to get to these cliffs. Anyway, on our initial foray, we found a nice 5X10X3 foot chunk teetering atop the only real crack on the whole face. It was about 300 feet of air and then about two solid minutes of all the pieces and various destruction rumbling down the steep hillside.
Another fun trundling story but not because of size was a time with Dave Yerian and Bruce Morris coming off of Daff. We were screwing around trying to put up some dumb new route. We weren't to the point of pulling out a drill yet, though. On the way down , Yerian cuts loose a basketball size chunk and it is not going in a favorable direction. A few hundred feet down the slope we encounter a couple of British climbers coming up to climb something. Yerian is the first to meet them and in his typical friendly manner greets them. They proceed to get a bit snippy about the trundle and tell Dave not to bother visiting The British Isles to climb. Yerian just shrugs and smiles and says,"that's O.K., we don't need your dinky little routes." I think we were looking for those guys the rest of the day. Not to mess with them again, just to avoid them.
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NoRushNoMore
climber
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Biggest one I had a chance to trundle was about the size of the big two door commercial refrigerator, about 600', all slightly overhanging.
Let me just say it was a bad idea.
It exploded much louder than we anticipated, way louder. I could not hear my buddy for a couple of minutes. It pretty much evaporated into dust as it hit the ground, granite on granite.
Shock wave stripped all leaves bare from some five trees in the 40 feet radius. Dust mushroom went up in the air reaching us in some 10-15 sec covering everything in the fine grayish silt choking us up for a minute or two. We both looked like we just came out of the chimney.
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Tobia
Social climber
GA
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This probably won't count as a legitimate trundle but the above posts revived this repressed memory...
1975 from my 6th floor dormitory window at Loyola University in N.O. in a seemingly innocuous idea I tossed a Motorola TV set to the empty parking lot below. A brilliant flash of blue light resulted, entertaining those who witnessed.
One of several considerations I failed to have was that I was the last room on the hallway so Campus Security eventually surmised that it came from 1 of 6 rooms and with a little further thought narrowed it down to 2 of 6 due to the state of the Motorola. Of those 2 rooms one was vacant....
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Bruce Kay
Gym climber
BC
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the best trundle i witnessed had more to do with style than mass. Fish spotted it from afar, recognized the potential and soloed a sideways new route to approach. he secured himself with a solid hand jam belay then did the totally commiting back and foot human car jack. sure enough it kept rocking mostly the right way (not squishing him on the rebound) and away she went (a double size frig) down the 2k osuth face of Gilbert.
my personal best had to be the big snowball i got going up on sky pilot. it would roll and stop gaining mass with each effort. finally at about volkswagon bug size it couldn't stop and took off down a gully wiping out a couple of big xmas trees. Morraine crests are pretty good too. and there's always that giant festering turd garibaldi. lots of ammo there.
jim - stepping out the door to meet WR for a tour. drop that coffee and get your gear on pronto - the skiing is best yet for the season!
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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and there's always that giant festering turd garibaldi. lots of ammo there.
Don Serl and I spent considerable time one day trundling on the ridge below Atwell (the pointy bit on Garibaldi). The problem there is that while you can trundle anything (the entire place is a turdpile, as Bruce says), nothing ends up being too spectacular because everything is so fragile it breaks up right away. I don't think there's anything you could call real rock on the whole peak.
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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It must have been 35 years ago, back in High School, I was out on Catalina Island. We'd hike up to the nearby "peak" on the weekends. Atop was a stone outcropping. Some fool, one day, decided to bring a couple of crowbars, a six pack, and 6 or 7 buddies.
We managed to wedge loose this block that was about the size of a bathroom stall.
We all pushed with our feet, and the thing went. Pretty steep at first, it really got going. When it got down to the trees, it instantly turned the first oak into a load of toothpicks. It then split in two, and you could see each half tearing through the forest for about 100' in each direction.
Bud Talls, crowbars, and High School buddies. Nothing like it.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Bud Talls, crowbars, and High School buddies. Nothing like it.
And the great thing about it is that it's still just as good decades later. Doesn't matter if you're 15 or 30 or 45 or 60 or 75...
The block on the right was about 6 x 3 x 1. Getting it off the wall not only made the climb safer, but saved us a lot of work trail clearing.
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TwistedCrank
climber
Ideeho-dee-do-dah-day boom-chicka-boom-chicka-boom
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Wasn't there an article is one of the Brit rags - subsequently reprinted in "Games Climbers Play" called "The Joys of Trundling" or some such?
They always tells us not to trundle and we always do. It's one of the true joys of going into the hills.
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Chief
climber
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Two trundle fests stand out.
Steinbock during the filming of K2.
The top of the 2000' north face slopes a bit at the top and was littered with nuggets up to VW size. We had a crew of 8-10 FX guys and "Safety" riggers including Weis, Sibley, Lane, Corbin, Dean and I think Flavelle and Berntsen. We had crowbars and bodies to spare and it was awesome!
Parrot's Beak during our 1980 trip to the Cirque.
Our route ended up on a huge ledge near the top of the bell shaped buttress.
I had led the pitch and was the first human on the ledge as far as I know.
I tied the rope off so Dave could jug, unroped and started trundling. In the space of a few minutes I had an artillery barrage of household appliance size nuggets exploding into dust. Soon Dave had joined me leaving Scott and Phil to follow with the bags and our efforts became frenzied and manic.
We could hear Scott and Phil hollering from below, "Save some for us!".
Honorable mention goes to Schultz and McDougall (maybe Brooke as well) for trundling a huge limestone gendarme near Strone de Formin during Cliffhanger. It was apparently twenty or thirty feet tall and measured in numbers of tons.
I also recall working with Lane and Flavelle using hydraulic jacks to dislodge a twenty ton "Hazard" while filming Ace Ventura south of the Bugs.
Now that was a beauty!
PB
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Gagner
climber
Boulder
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Early '80's with Shipley from El Cap Tree ... lots of shrapnel.
Mid 90's White Rim Trail Utah with my friend Lee - I've got the video of this one, which is hilarious - us, slightly inebriated, big block, pushing it over, only to have it not go over the edge and instead shatter at the very edge - I guess you've got to see the video.
Paul
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pip the dog
Mountain climber
planet dogboy
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for me, a flake almost precisely the size of just a standard home refrigerator door. though, alas, with me attached. this on an east coast (US) cliff where climbing was, then, "illegal"(ish?). as such i had to crawl my own broken butt out, as i was solo and it cost me a compound fracture of my right tib/fib combo, a broken wrist, & etc. sheesh.
~~~
though "Trundle" - as i understand the word -- means an intentional and controlled 'cleaning' of obvious disaster for you and those who might later follow. as such, my highball gone unintentionally and suddenly much amiss doesn't qualify. so, uh, never mind.
~~~
fun thread, though. replete with some truly fine photos.
me, i'd trade (one of _your_) significant body parts to climb with Michael Hjorth. that dude is clearly tuned into some outstanding rock not yet known to the unwashed masses (ok, me). oh, happy Chiloe -- Hjorth's pal and our clan's very own International Man of Mystery. i want Chiloe's job -- well, actually, what i really want is just his frequent flyer miles and his local contacts. i'm rather certain that his actual job duties would give me _such_ a brain cramp.
~~~
BITD, when my pals were doing odd stuff in the outer bitterroots (rock almost great, but alas usually with a band or two of undercooked stuff - at least on the long and really pretty lines) those who seconded those undercooked bands were called "rock goalies” -- and for good reason. we'd flip a coin at the base, then trade leads -- as no one wanted to play rock goalie in the EasyBakeOven stuff. far better to lead (even with the lame pro therein), then be tied in on a short leash in the target zone below.
it was there i learned to give myself at least 5 or 8 feet of 'play' beneath the hanging belays -- as it gave me at least the hope of avoiding the "AH FOOK! -- INCOMING!" far bigger than any helmet could ever handle.
~~~
people wonder why, to this day, i often tie off oddly (and admittedly, foolishly) long below most belays, even on solid stuff like Tuolumne. hard to translate "INCOMING!" -- or that special smell of rocks sparking nearby. yeah, kinda like the smell of lightning’s ozone or elmo's fire (i myself have never smelled cordite) -- but i believe it simply doesn't translate into ascii. that said, a smell you'd definitely remember if you ever smelled it, all up close and personal.
~~~
i’m much digging this thread. keep it coming.
^,,^
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Tami
Social climber
Canada
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First THAT SMELL and then the taste of adrenaline in yer mouth.
Yep.
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medusa
Trad climber
culver city
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ec
climber
ca
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From: http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=614850&msg=615652
Jun 16, 2008 - 09:10am PT
Hopelessly waiting for the heat to subside, Richard Leversee and I lay in the parking area with haulbag and pack packed. We arrived to do an FA on North Dome at Cedar Grove in Kings Canyon NP. Then this guy comes up to us, asking if we were going to climb. In the following conversation we discovered that 'Mike' had minimal experience, but was 'volunteering' to sign-up. Lever and I looked to each other with the, "are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Sure, someone to help with the load (haul slave). Mike was an employee in the park and we drove back to his place to pick-up his gear. Soon after that we were humping to the base in the summer heat.
The route followed this crack system to the left of TM's route (a huge corner), diagonaling out left towards the center of the face. Mike, being the last off of the belay had to do a big lower-out on this one pitch, "Hey, there's this huge loose block out here, what should I do?" We looked down at Mike and his new friend, a one-foot thick, fifteen-foot high and four-foot wide block literally teetering on its end. We had Mike get just above the obelisk and gather up any spare rope that may be dangling around it. Then we screamed, "ROCK!" for about five minutes to the tourists below and warnings for them to clear out.
Then with a gentle kick, Mike sent this thing down! First, it fell outward, hinging at its base falling down the face like a huge surf board. The sound of it pushing air was unnerving. The block hit the slab below and exploded into gazillions of pieces, sending many large chunks rifling through the forest. Lucky, no touroids were injured in the making of this FA.
Uh, and I'll never do any of those slab routes down there now, either!
- ec
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Yes, trundling is a very dangerous sport. "Look out below!"...
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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I believe that the Scots version of "look out below" is "gardyloo!".
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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That has a nice ring to it. I wonder what that warning might sound like in other languages. Anyone else out there know how someone in another realm might express this?
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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In Norwegian, they say "stein!". And they're not referring to beer.
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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On Venus they just laugh. So if you hear chuckling from above you better duck.
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Jeremy
Social climber
Albuquerque, NM
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All,
As I am a fan of trundling...I have to share this with you.
This is an "Open Trundle"...much like an "Open Project"...but you didn't hear it from me...:-)
On top of River Tower (North of the Fisher Towers a bit) is a HUGE (Volkswagen size?? Van size?) round boulder perched right on the edge!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you had a small car jack it would TOTALLY go!
Might be a good idea to stop traffic on the River Road as you might get a good roll and get that f*#ker all the way to the river!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am NOT JOKING HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WOO F*#KING HOO!!!!!!!!!!
Enjoy.
Jeremy
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Blinky
Trad climber
North Carolina
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Never trundled anything big, had to fall some trees off a 300' bluff once.
I DO know who trundled 'the bomb' from The Legendary Nuclear Bomb route on Looking Glass... but it's classified.
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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I was on a geology field trip in Northern New Mexico. We stopped at the bridge on HWY 74 where it crosses the Rio Grande river. I think it's about a 1,000 feet above the river there. 3 of us carried a 150 lb rock out to the middle of the bridge and dropped it into the river.
I'd rafted that section 3 times and so we were really careful to make sure that no one was down there. It hit right in the middle of the river and splashed water on both banks, pretty amazing sound also. I'd probably be the old fart trying to talk the kids out of doing that nowadays, but it was sure fun back then.
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clode
Trad climber
portland, or
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My best trundle ever was in 1973 (Tami, I got you beat, that's 37 years ago!). My friend and I were at the summit of Little Annapurna, in Washington's Enchantment Lakes region. The summit elevation is about 8,400 feet. Some 4,000 feet below, to the south, is Ingalls Creek.
We started rolling boulders over the edge, you know, the ones that strong, teenage kids can move, say microwave oven size. There were some other people in the area, and one woman yelled, "Stop that, you're hurting my stomach!"
So we moved on to a side canyon, and by that time the other people, including the one with the boulder-induced apendectomy, left. So off we went, to the vertical bowling alley. Suddenly, I noticed one of my boulders, on its way down, hit a LARGE boulder(Volkswagen Beetle-size), and it moved an inch! Exceitedly, I kept rolling bouilders down that way, and finally, ever so slowly, it started to move, and did not stop moving.
At that point I yelled, no screamed, over to my freind, across the canyon, who was lost in his own cordite-producing activities. The monster boulder parted ways with the moutainside, and slowly lumbered down the thousands of feet, taking with it many more. The noise and dust rose for at least five full minutes.
After it was over, my friend said when he heard me scream and saw that monster boulder slip off the cliff, he thought I was going with it to my doom. Like the woman, I too had a gut-ache, but only from laughing uncontrollably for at least an hour! Needless to say, I recovered, and felt good for having helped Mother Nature's process of erosion!
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bmacd
Trad climber
Beautiful, BC
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I sent a 4x8 pancake sliding down Slab Alley on the apron late one night, long ago, I was sure it wiped out all the bolts on the route. A few microwaves off the North walls with Dean and Randy. Got something huge off of Squamish buttress once too.
Another wierd slow motion trundle off a new route in penticton called Leaner which kinda chased poor Randy on the ground, it was not a high trundle.
The best was a round double volkswagon at Place Glacier which went all the way thru the alpine zone into the subalpine blasting out trees like toothpicks. A giant bowling ball I was able to get moving with not much effort.
Jim I remember trundling into that gully you speak of as well.
Nowadays trundling in Squish is out of the question, but I am glad we got all the big shyte down before the place got so popular
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Jingy
Social climber
Nowhere
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That's classic..
"Contact with the 2000' rubble gulley causing a torrent of trees,rocks and dirt. The noise was deafening. What now ? Craig, the voice of reason says, "we should go"
bwahahhaaaaaahhaah
isn't that a pretty common experience when pushing rocks/boulders off the top of anything?
too funny.
All my trundle experiences were duds..
Had one in the Gorge, Bishop, that a buddy pushed, we watched, then heard the voice from below "Hey"..
let's get outta here!!!
Another in Buttermilk Country, got a freezer sized boulder to start moving, then it slid for about 5 feet, exploded into a million pieces, theh rained down the familiar oatmeal grains over the boulder we were standing on...
Total dud!!!
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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I heard somewhere that the Army Corps of Engineers used dynamite to remove a bunch of glacial erratics from the tops of many domes in Tuolumne because they were thought to be a danger. Ten thousand years or so up there, a danger? Maybe they were anticipating some trundlers.
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Pate
Trad climber
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The more common trundles end up in a minboggling explosion of dust, sparks and cordite smoke. I've always been amazed at how fast a rock gains terminal velocity, and the finality of the plummet.
Rarer are soft landings.I was on a dinky 90 foot basalt crack in a chossy little canyon in AZ when I pulled up to a good six inch ledge stance. Standing on it I pulled out a green camalot and placed it behind a fridge sized block/flake thing that was sitting on the ledge. It was about 4 feet wide and about 8 feet tall, a little layback section. I tugged the cam once as I set it and a little shower of grit flowed out of the base of the block and it shifted downwards a couple of inches before stopping. I was too afraid to even move. I didn't clip the piece, and moved out onto the face and ran it out on pockets to the top. I rigged a rap and headed diagonally. When I got to to top of the block I nudged it with my foot and it went like it was on grease. It did a front flip and then fell clean about 70 feet before it hit the soft dirt with a huge resounding bass thud that echoed against the far wall. It teetered for a second before sliding down through the scrub clearing out a 6 footpath, and thudded again in the dirt at the bottom. The crater it left at the base of the climb was huge. The thud sounds are something I'll never forget.
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mazamarick
Trad climber
WA
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A memorable trundle year ago off Midnight Rock almost made it to Hwy 2. Mastadon might have the foto of the alleged trundlers turned danglers after their footrest left the station.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Clode mentions an extremely useful technique, the "chain reaction" boulder. Often the larger boulders are stuck precariously and inaccessibly below the locus operandi. But artfully aimed smaller stones can sometimes dislodge the larger.
I wonder if any of the Apollo astronauts did any trundling on the Moon?
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Concerned citizen
Big Wall climber
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Not as a trundler, but as a trundlee, I think back to Seneca Rocks in the 1970's. I was bushwhacking across on the hillside below the rocks on the west, and I was about to leave the brush and step into the talus under the notch between the South and North rocks when some climbers chose to trundle a large block. I recall one of them calling to the other about the wisdom of doing so, and the response being that no one would ever be hiking down there. I stepped into view at that very instant, just as the block started its descent. I had no difficulty in moving to safety, but apologies were yelled down anyway.
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Silver
Big Wall climber
Nor Nev
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Ok this ones for the records and i'm talking some serious distance on this one.
I took my dad to hike Boundary Peak in the Whites. It is the highest point in Nevada and as Nevadans we should do the right thing and see what it is like on top of Nevada.
Once above tree line which is interesting as the only trees around are the oldest trees on earth we get to the top. Once on top I notice there are some big rocks just sitting there waiting for a trundle. The circe below is huge and goes for many thousand feet down. I see this rock that is about as big as a big truck tire and shaped like a tire. So my dad knows nothing about trundle and I am not a huge fan as i always worry there is someone below out of sight but in the path, and of course if you have trundled they can be visious on nature.
I see this rock and I have to trundle it. It is too perfect of shape and size not to trundle. I walk over and give it the slightest push, and low and behold the thing just takes off. My dad asks WTF are you doing and I explain that this is just a one time shot and he just stands there shaking his head. i tell him to watch this rock go.
Open circe bowl with a morain in the middle. The rock takes off and it is rolling like a tire and it is now doing about 100 mph I assume as it has now gone well over 1500 feet down the mountain. I am now scared seeing the speed and distance it has traveled in a short time. The thing is just flying and at the bottom it hits the moraine. I think it caught about 500 feet of air and lands on the uphill side of the opposite side of the circe and just keeps going. It is now almost out of view and still going when it hits a huge bump and then goes airborne again. gets all out of center and finally crashes. It had to have gone close to a mile. Scared the sh#t out of me. I then spent the next half of the day telling my dad to stop trying to trundle every rock he saw.
I do not trundle any more but that one really opened my eyes as to how far a rock can go with the slightest push.
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Latitute 33
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1982, Jonny Woodward, myself, Maria(may have participated) and a couple other Brits trundled a very large (refrigerator++) size boulder at Gogarth. It sat perched on the steep grassy slopes directly above Wen Zawn (home of Dream of White Horses, T-Rex, etc.) We were participating in a "Climber Exchange" at the time and discovered a kindred joy of trundling with the Brits.
The boulder required only moderate coaxing before it tumbled and then free fell directly into the sea below. Given the grassy slope, we had to be extra careful not to join the downward trajectory. A climber got a photo of it from across the way, but I have no idea what ever happened to the picture.
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pyrosis
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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May 14, 2010 - 10:32pm PT
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posted up on top of Olancha Peak as a fire lookout, summer of 03. Getting bored, nothing to see.. my bossman and i took to trundling rocks down the 8000 foot east face of olancha peak. He got some big blocks going, I got some big blocks going, it was in great fun. Then I spied a refridgerator sized rock poised just so at the edge. I was able to worm behind it and brace my back against another rock. With all of my leg strength, I got this thing to budge. Then begin to tilt, and slide, and off the edge it went. I immediately jumped to my feet to see my fridge dropping through the air, aimed right at another ledge where lay in wait an even larger block, volkswagen sized this one was. Well so my refridgerator missile did strike its target with sufficient force, and low and behold the volkswagen sized block tipped, slid, and went over the edge too. I couldnt f*#king believe my eyes. It bounced once, twice, covering more hundreds of yards with each bounce, before it exploded into thousands of tiny rocks, The whole east face of Olancha was sliding, gravel, stones, boulders of all shapes and sizes raining thousands of feet down towards the owens valley.
This was the day that I quit trundling.
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hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
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Apr 23, 2011 - 06:07pm PT
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Bump on a cloudy day
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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Trad climber
San Francisco, Ca
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Apr 23, 2011 - 06:29pm PT
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So funny, missed this one the first time around.
I was on a fire in Idaho, we were mopping up way up above one of the forks of the Salmon. We came across a massive snag, teetering right on the edge of a long steep slope. So I fired up the saw and dropped the thing. It hit the ground and all the limbs broke off. The tree slid like a missle, flying off a cliff and just destroying everything in its path. All the way to the river. Freaking terrified me- I thought for sure it would kill someone.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Apr 23, 2011 - 06:48pm PT
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Circa 1960 ......
"Climbed this with Roper and Baldinger, who was a ranger at the time. Got in a bit of trouble with the Park Service on this one. Appears there were major complaints about "excessive and prolonged rock fall emanating from the area".
With our backs against the wall, the three of us were able to launch a VW Bus size block into the canyon.
Having clambered over numerous terrains with Roper on many occasions I can well appreciate your fascination with the remote and obscure. I remember one hilarious time when we were lost in an area we had been numerous times. He wrote the friggin guide and we were lost."
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Chinchen
climber
Way out there....
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Apr 23, 2011 - 06:50pm PT
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This one time...I killed 4 mountain goats, a gopher and a field biologist with one VW sized trundle. It was sooooo raaaad!
Drunk, will stop posting now....
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Pennsylenvy
Gym climber
A dingy corner in your refrigerator
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Apr 23, 2011 - 06:55pm PT
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Silver, that's funny about your Dad. A recent memorable trundling session was off a ridge down a prickly pear forested slope. Without thinking I launched a washing machined sized bowling ball. It proceded to blast to smitherines about four extra large prickly pear clumps. These things exploded and blew up in a thirty foot skyward show! I kind of felt guilty about the success, until a couple weeks later a scientist friend does invasive species mapping told me those prickly pears were cause by over grazing.......
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Apr 23, 2011 - 07:00pm PT
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Finishing the first pitch (the slab) on the South Face of the Column, my first attempt BITD. Belayed my partner up and suddenly there was a lot of rockfall coming down around us. We ducked against the wall, breathing rock smoke. Fortunately none of the chunks was bigger than a dinner plate. After the dust clears and my partner's about ready to lead, down come rapp ropes and three Brits arrive on the sloping ledge. "Right-O, now it's safe!" We told him we weren't amused. If it had been 5 minutes later, my partner would have been leading the steep jamcrack in the rockfall. They didn't even apologize. Why I've never trundled since.
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Jim Brennan
Trad climber
Vancouver Canada
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 11, 2012 - 07:26pm PT
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In the spirit of late, to reconcile bad behavior on the internet as opposed to the good in climbing, here's another trundle:
DS, JW and I were on a mission to Winter climb the West Lion. We were shut down early by leering, smirking crap snow. Back down the trail we went. Huh, these things just present themselves every year opined DS.
We set to.
Yet another rubble filled steep creek was set in motion by the offending boulders at our feet. Trees shook and broke, big rocks flew whizzing into who knows where.
We laughed robustly...
Good thing the expensive houses on the hill were built later !
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wore
climber
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Feb 11, 2012 - 07:33pm PT
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was exploring the canyons north of rattlesnake
saw this block just begging to go
it was about 3 feet in diameter and 20 feet long,
and was attached by a thread
looked like a bomb hanging from a nacelle
put my back to the opposing wall and gave it one shove
it and its perch were choss
the drop was short, but the pieces ran down the canyon several hundred yards
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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Feb 11, 2012 - 09:18pm PT
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Hiking down from Thunder and Lighting Peak in the Baker Creek drainage years ago we found a great slope with some huge blocks just asking for it. My buddy and I started off with what we could move by hand and were having a great time watching the sparks and dust fly when we saw a VW Bug jutting out of the side of the hill that looked like it was just asking for a little help to be free. I climbed on top to survey the situation and come up with a incident action plan while my friend began prying on the block with his ice axe. I gave a few good hops just to get a feel for it and on the third hop the bug let loose. I felt like a cartoon character running uphill but not going anywhere. Realizing that heading up was not working I dove off the side of it into a jumble of nasty and cut the crap out of my leg and hand. I didnt give rip, it was beautiful, bloodied hands in the air like I just didnt care. That bug got wheels and rolled. It was awesome.
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Dr. F.
Ice climber
SoCal
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Feb 11, 2012 - 09:21pm PT
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Bleeding heart Liberal here
Trundling should be Illegal!!
It certainly is immoral, IMO
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Bruce Kay
Gym climber
BC
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Feb 11, 2012 - 09:39pm PT
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immoral perhaps
but fun none the less
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 11, 2012 - 10:14pm PT
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I've discovered that one's trundling activity is directly related to one's
testosterone level and inversely proportional to the CSI - Common Sense Index.
The reason I don't do it any more is I'm a pacifist now.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
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nick farley
climber
bishop
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Feb 11, 2012 - 10:16pm PT
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Me and my friend Don Holmes (actual name) were trying to climb the D.N.B. This is where I launched a giant trundle without really wanting or trying to.
At pitch nine or ten, I was leading and got way off-route, or in over my head, or just lost it. The result was a pretty decent lead fall for me. I fell a long, slabby, pendulum type of survivable but messed up fall.
I regain myself, yell up to Don, (I am now directly below the belay) " you need to help me bro, I am hurt!" He states," get the HE// up here NOW! Your fall ripped out the belay!"
Don was just barely, with only his newly broken foot, holding a big block against the wall. His belay was exceptional, complete with heroic effort. My screamer of a lead fall had caused the anchor to rip a T.V. sized block clean off the wall.
Although hurt, I made it back up to the belay surprisingly quickly. We did not know what to do with this big as/ block! We finally figure that there is no other option but to release it. We yell and scream repeatedly to anyone below, "Death from Above"! "Look Out Below! Run Away Now and you might Live!"
After a seemingly never ending period of a few minutes, we cast off the block of a 1/2 ton or so. Seemed like it fell down that big slabby face for days.
This trundle finally made contact with the wall some 600-800 feet below. It looked like a thousand baseballs made of granite were shot out of a cannon againat the wall. It smelled like the forth of July at the tri-county times 100.
Well, after that, there's nothing much left to do besides rap off, survey the damage, and hope for the best. Lucky for everyone, there was nobody below.
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KabalaArch
Trad climber
Starlite, California
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Feb 11, 2012 - 10:37pm PT
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Trundling should be Illegal!!
It certainly is immoral, IMO
That's why all these references are "BITD" postdated.
Today, we do it Green.
Spent most of a week down on the White Rim, mostly checking out Monument Basin towers. Traveling over that kind of country with a family, gear, and plenty of water (since the nearest is a full day's jeep ride away) in a Cherokee can get to feeling crowded fast. And I have no idea why my wife insisted we pack a full watermelon with us to boot.
And so boot it we did...hucked it right off the Rim into the abyss. Very satisfying sound and deep atmospheric sensation, sort of like chucking off a live pig.
'whizzz z z.... ( ( ( (splat) ) )'
Speaking of WBITD, (and/or "splat") I remember perusing some early Valley literature (at Berkeley's Barcroft Library, to cite my sources). Evidently, 19th century tourists, usually lodging at Hutching's, commonly made great sport of carrying chickens up to Glacier Point and setting fowl to wing off the lip.
According to the read, most of them actually made it down the Apron in fine fettle, although I did not discover whether bets made, nor book kept. Victorian morals, then.
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
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Feb 11, 2012 - 10:47pm PT
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nothing wrong with a good trundle as long as you are cool about the run out,
kids with the play stations nowdays, pencil necks, limp wrists,
they should be out trundling the landscape, doing what is gonna happen in a few million years anyway,
way back when we used to trundle for kicks, builds muscles, increases reaction time,
heck, there is a trundling club in norway, or was that back in 1850?
take away the firefall, whats next? the holy trundle?
just put me in a wheelchair i wanna be sedated in sedonn~a
Louis Prima used to be a trundler, so wtf, over?
there should be a law, no trundling while drunk,
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 11, 2012 - 11:12pm PT
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I have my eyes on Ancient Art. Looks like it's about ready to go.
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
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Feb 11, 2012 - 11:14pm PT
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i'm gonna crow bar the texas flake this weekend with PTPP,
stay away from the el cap bridge if ya know whats...
finish the sentence yourself unless your too drunk.
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Bruce Kay
Gym climber
BC
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Feb 12, 2012 - 12:12am PT
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nothing wrong with a good trundle as long as you are cool about the run out,
speaking of which, I'm not sure if this technically is a "trundle" but....
We were descendling the west Buttress of Denali, just below motorcycle hill, on skiis and towing those stupid little kid T-boggans which were of course bashing into our heels in the most annoying way. At one point Paul and I looked at each other and said "Damn these things - lets just cut em loose!" The coast appeared to be clear of potential targets for a good kilometer or so to the big bend so.... why not? The second we set them loose they acelerated alarmingly and soon disappeared from sight. Gleefully, we skiied after them and it soon became clear that they had attained terminal velocity as judging by the tracks they were often completely air borne for up to 20 meters between skips. All seemed well until it became clear that they were plotting a perfect arcing trajectory for the only crevasse on the whole glacier! Sure enough in they went to what was thankfully a perfect wind cirque where they had both settled to an upright landing after a couple of half pipe moves.
we strapped them back on and continued down cursing again to the top of the final hill. Here we sat for a while debating the merits of another missile launch but due to the inability to spot the runout over the hump of the long convex roll we regretfully continued to wrestle the sleds down, the whole time cursing the wasted good skiing. soon it looked like we could finally see the runout where at last we could.....
There at the bottom of the hill scattered across the fall line was a veritable tent city. We stood gawking first down the hill then at each other as we silently pondered what the out come could have been if we had been a bit more reckless in our decision making back at the top of the hill.
down we went and seeing no need to inform the residents of their close call with armegeddon, carried on to the airstrip.
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Feb 12, 2012 - 01:43am PT
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Gawd, I love this thread.
"I don't post to Supertopo for the climbing content alone. Trundling is a big part of my outdoor conceptualizations."
Fleem Quidmire
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
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Feb 12, 2012 - 01:51am PT
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has anybody nailed a PG and E truck?
i nailed a freight train one time along the feather river corridor,
but that whole canyon is loose cheese so how do they know it was me?
have you ever broke into a new pickup truck that was on a rail car?
now thats freight hoppin in style, radio, heater,
they have to drive em off so the keys are in them already, gassed up and ready to go,
the only thing is if you happen to be facing backwards, you start to puke after a while,
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Feb 12, 2012 - 01:59am PT
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^^^
I'm going to have weird dreams tonight. Thanks, Sprock.
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jaaan
Trad climber
Chamonix, France
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Feb 12, 2012 - 02:18am PT
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Craig, the voice of reason says,
Just as an aside, that wouldn't be a reference to Craig Reason, would it?
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
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Feb 12, 2012 - 02:39am PT
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seems like a reasonable guess,
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Social climber
Retired to Appalachia
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Feb 12, 2012 - 05:01am PT
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So------what is the odor from a freshly trundled boulder after impact???
We always thought it was ozone???
Fresh, sharp, and stimulating------and it is not sulphur.
I call it the smell of death.
My wildest trundle:
We were sitting on a kife-edge ridge composed of very large flakes, all heaped on top of one-another in a big jumble.
We kicked off a big rock and as it fell it struck another flake that was sticking out from the ridge.
Apparently this flake was the key to holding the entire ridge together, because when this flake was hit and knocked out, the entire mass of jumbled rocks that we were sitting upon started falling away beneath us in a massive avalanche.
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Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
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Feb 12, 2012 - 05:28am PT
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"The zenith of Boulder Trundling is attained if it now meets solid rock in full force: the crash does one good to hear; the rock breaks into shivers, while part of it is ground absolutely into smoke. Favourable winds bring the scent of this smoke to you... and what an indescribably beautiful scent it is. Cherterson must have known of this delectable odour when he wrote of:
'The brilliant smell of water, the brave smell of stone.' "
From Games Climbs Play, Boulder Trundling by S. F. Forrester
Is there a statute of limitations on trundling? Leave it to say I and my fellow boy scouts of the early sixties likely caused some 10,000 or more years of geologic ware in places I best not mention.
Great fun, the smell of flint still makes me smile.
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Social climber
Retired to Appalachia
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Feb 12, 2012 - 05:30am PT
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Hey, you can't tell half a story!! :-)
What happened next? Anyone hurt bad or were you all lucky?
We were sitting on our butts and kicking off rocks. So when the ridge started collapsing, we scrambled backwards on our butts to solid ground. We were in quite a panic, I might add.
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wore
climber
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Feb 12, 2012 - 05:55am PT
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pryed a 4 foot square flake off the local quarry and it cartwheeled down the skree and hit my trucks bumper
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Feb 12, 2012 - 09:02am PT
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I recently witnessed a HUGE one down at Potrero Chico. Some guys cleaning up around the 3rd pitch of a new route. First they trundled a fridge-sized block which stopped at the base, then they kicked off a couple of enormous round plates. They hit the slope below, picked up velocity and kept going for-ev-er. Those whirling giganto- frisbees o' death bounced right across the climbers trail and almost made it to the valley floor below (1/4 mile?) Red = trundle line, White = climber trail.
Fortunately, most of the sport-ies are too lazy to walk up hill, so no one was on the trail.
This thread is worthless without a nod to Tucker BTW:
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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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Feb 12, 2012 - 09:10am PT
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Scared the sh#t out of me. I then spent the next half of the day telling my dad to stop trying to trundle every rock he saw.
Priceless.
I got a motorcycle sized block going while traversing the Palisade ridge at Sugar Bowl. That sucker took out (vaporized) a couple of small trees before self destructing about 1k feet below me.
Gotta love the smell.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 12, 2012 - 09:28am PT
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Tucker's using bad form. He needs to get lower and keep his back straighter.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
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Feb 12, 2012 - 09:33am PT
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A hooligan friend and i were riding single track 200 feet above a narrow road next to the owens where it exits the crowley dam...We stopped to do some trail clearing which then turned into a frenzied trundle session as we tried to out do each other...The stove sized boulders were landing on the narrow road below ..The fun came to a screeching halt we saw a Fish and Game truck approaching from the dead-end side of the river road...Like a couple of scared kids , we hopped on our bikes and sprinted for the safety of home wondering how the fish and game officer was going to escape the landslide...
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finbrain
Boulder climber
Clearwater
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Nov 17, 2012 - 10:27am PT
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Back in 1972 I was climbing with a partner in Applecross Scotland on the Cioch Nose(Skoor a koorichan). This was a tall(about 1200 feet) remote granite climb with little use by the locals. At about an 800 foot height I was leading up a crack to a long ledge jutting out over vertical about three feet wide and as I began to mantle up on it it moved under my weight....very frightening! I had my left fist jammed in a crack and I yelled, "ROCK" to my partner below that there was a large ledge coming his way. This thing(about 31/2 feet wide, 2 feet thick and thirty feet long was just sitting there waiting for someone or thing to give it a little shove. My partner swung to my left with his and my weight on my left jammed fist as this 'ledge' passed him just missing him and exploding on a buttress near the bottom of the face.The indentation that the 'ledge' fell from gave me ample room to move up and place anchor protection immediately as there wasn't any time to catch my breath. My partner on his swing had anchored himself as well so I didn't have to bear both our weights for too long. Fortunately my fist jam was with my fist facing out so the scrapes were on the sides of my hand and not the fingers. A "WHEW" moment for the both of us.
We finished out that day higher up on the mountain goat paths that actually had well placed fence posts and barbed wire. The Scots goat herders placed these posts without even a thought of being properly roped in we found out later. These guys were true highlanders with balls of granite!
Once we got back to Kyle we hoisted a couple of pints of Stout at the local pub to smooth out our 'frayed' experiences of the day.
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Nov 17, 2012 - 03:58pm PT
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Jesse Beck and I tossed more than a few while climbing Cirque Pk. in the southern Sierra. We were working our way up the long NE Ridge and pushed every single chunk we could. Most were in the micro-wave to television size range, one or two were 1/2 fridges. It was mid week and we just couldn't stop! We probably dislodged 40 or 50 by end of day.
In '75 on the way up to the East Face of Whitney, Angione and Sean Curtis and I watched a spontaneous piece the size of a mobile home cut loose off of the ridge below Day Needle. I've never seen anything like that since.
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hellcyon
climber
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Nov 17, 2012 - 07:19pm PT
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Nov 17, 2012 - 07:53pm PT
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Hickory dickory dock
The gremlin climbed the block
Let's hope it will stay
Or the climber will pay
For a less-than-reliable chock
Nice shot!
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hellcyon
climber
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Nov 18, 2012 - 06:11am PT
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lol, thanks Steve.
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Jim Brennan
Trad climber
Vancouver Canada
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 18, 2012 - 08:20am PT
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What happened next Hellcyon ? ? ? ! ! !
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grover
climber
Northern Mexico
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Nov 18, 2012 - 08:37am PT
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Ya really.....what happened next???
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Nov 18, 2012 - 08:42am PT
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I would suspect nothing happened.
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Bruce Kay
Gym climber
BC
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Nov 18, 2012 - 08:48am PT
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not one of my better ideas.
surely you're kidding. That has to be one of the finest ideas I've seen in a while!
Any luck?
Actually I'm kidding. I'd hate to be on the recieving end of that snapped cable! But still -we're dying to know if she went
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Nov 18, 2012 - 09:11am PT
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Tapped this with my foot and it moved. Jugged up a bit, pulled the rope up, and went back down and gave it a kick. Whooosh. 200 feet of air to the ground. Made an enormous divet.
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Bruce Kay
Gym climber
BC
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Nov 18, 2012 - 10:04am PT
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Rigging Eco challenge courses usually involved a fair bit of scaling. It actually gets a bit Ho Hum after a while!
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D'Wolf
climber
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Nov 18, 2012 - 10:21am PT
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Mid-seventies, high school. A bunch of us hiked up a very steep, very long hill above town; hiked probably a good half-mile or more. No trees on this mountain; barely even any scrub grass; basically nothing to stop a rolling stone except loss of momemtum. Found a HUGE boulder half buried in the earth. We decided to see if we could dig it up. Turned out it took all 5-6 of us over an hour to dig out the low side enough that it didn't take much to send it. Size of a small car.
Down it went, hopping left, right; tumbling; gaining momentum, catching BIG, knarly air. AWESOME! Wait. Holy crap it's not breaking up! We watched in horror as it cleared the embankment that was the edge of the parking lot for a local church. Actually, it was the driveway between the embankment and the church wall that led to the parking lot.
Probably 90% intact when it disappeared into the church. Made the front page of the local paper, pictures and all.
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Bruce Kay
Gym climber
BC
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Nov 18, 2012 - 10:34am PT
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Was it a Sunday?
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Nov 18, 2012 - 10:35am PT
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Not technically a trundle but pretty much the same experience. A few of us were up at Trapper Dome, Courtright Reservoir. There are a number of excellent climbs which start on a large ledge on the south side of this dome. One can walk up onto this ledge from either end, but in the middle it drops off vertically for about 60 feet into the woods below.
At this time a huge dead tree stood at the base of this little cliff, and this tree towered above the ledge. I had looked at this tree many times for several years, and it was becoming less stable over time. It was becoming a hazard. At it’s base this tree was more than 4 feet in diameter, at the level of the ledge about 3 1/2. It stood at least 80 feet above the ledge and if a good wind brought it down at the wrong time it would rain death on climbers below.
On this day we got up to the ledge and saw that the tree was leaning dangerously. I looked over the edge, down toward the base of the tree and was amazed to see that the tree was leaning against the cliff, supported by a 6 foot stub of a broken branch which was stuck against and grinding into the wall. The entire tree appeared to be balanced against this single branch which was about 10 inches thick.
I pointed this out to my friends who included McCollum, Keesee, Grigsby and a South African fellow who was travelling with Grigs. My proposal was to take out the branch by dropping a large stone on it and then run for our lives. Grigsby dug out his camera and removed himself to a safe distance to document our demise. I picked up a block the size of a small cooler a dropped it, scoring a direct hit on the branch. The whole tree groaned as the end of the branch gave a little but held. We each in turn bombed the branch and then it went. We ran to the far end of the ledge as the huge tree collapsed. At first it fell slowly but then suddenly it disintegrated violently.
It was one of the most awesome things I have ever seen. I used to carry around a trumpet in those days, and after the dust cleared I played “The Ride of The Valkyries” as a finishing touch. My friends played dead in the wreckage, some of which is still there...
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Jim Brennan
Trad climber
Vancouver Canada
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 18, 2012 - 10:39am PT
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D'Wolf - "We watched in horror"...
BWAA - HAHAHAHA ! ! !
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D'Wolf
climber
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Nov 18, 2012 - 10:59am PT
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Bruce - actually, it was a Saturday. They discovered it the next day.
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D'Wolf
climber
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Nov 18, 2012 - 11:06am PT
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Pictures showed a HUGE hole in the asphalt driveway. You could walk through the hole in the wall. Fortunately, there was never an investigation; it was just assumed that the boulder came loose and slid down the mountain. Had anyone gone up there, they would've seen that it had been clearly dug out.
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Ron Anderson
Trad climber
USA Moundhouse Nev. and land o da SLEDS!
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Nov 18, 2012 - 11:10am PT
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my bestest trundle was while doing an Fa on hogs back about 1978. No pics - but there was a flake of about ten feet across, six to seven feet in height and from two to five inches thick that i was approaching after a run out on a blank slab section. The left side butted into a small crack system which i planned to follow. the flake seemed solid as i friction-ed up the face of it angling for the crack> i felt WEIRDNESS at first. Then realized the flake was sliding of the muth-f8ckin face! As it slid i simply ran-frictioned IN PLACE as it began to hurtle downward, ending me up in the same basic place at the bottom of where the flake USED to be!
The flake began to topple then after about 200' of travel, hit a large pine about ten feet up its trunk exploding it into shrapnel that we could see going almost to the river..Luckily not one piece hit my buddies as they were off to the right quite aways,, we all laughed about it after the fact.
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