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mastadon
Trad climber
quaking has-been
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 31, 2010 - 06:45pm PT
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Back in the 50's, 60's, and 70's it was pretty much "anything goes" for bigwall pooping. You just dropped trow' and let her fly. We all did it. Things got pretty ugly on the more popular routes. The chimney below Big Sandy on the NW Direct was a sewer. The ledges on the upper Nose-ugly.
The 80's brought in the brown paper bag method. It saved the ledges but the base of El Cap looked like a brown paper poop bag battleground. Anywhere you walked were exploded paper bags of poop. How many people really went back to pick up their mess?
Somewhere in the last 20 years the poop-tube method was introduced. More hassle for those involved but much better for the environment. It's actually illegal to throw stuff, including human waste, off El Cap.
For the past week, a party on Mescalito or some nearby route has been throwing off garbage and brown poop bags every day. The base is littered with exploded poop bags, used water bottles, cans, and plastic bags full of garbage. They waited till after dark to huck their trash. You could hear it make it's way down. They were only climbing at night. They'd hole up during the day.
Do you think they'll go back up and pick up their trash? Does anyone care??
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Radish
Trad climber
SeKi, California
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Jul 31, 2010 - 07:09pm PT
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This is just sick! The worst kind of climbers giving all us others a lumped up bad name. I hope we catch their names.........Thanks for posting!! If we don't police ourselves its gonna be the permit thing and this is just the stuff that gets it going.......
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Gene
Social climber
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Jul 31, 2010 - 07:17pm PT
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Since they topped out yesterday, they are probably at the EC bridge or meadow tossing empty beer cans into the Merced.
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
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Jul 31, 2010 - 07:54pm PT
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what, no sh#t eating bears in the park anymore?
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TripL7
Trad climber
san diego
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Jul 31, 2010 - 08:15pm PT
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Disgraceful indeed!
Somebody needs to work them over.
Yes, 70's we just dropped our trow and let go. I recall one of my partners barely was able to finish his lead. Got me, and the guys about five pitch's below us so bad that they rapped off. Disgusting memory, but it was just the way it was done then.
We always carried our other trash down in the pig though. Even slow biodegradable, like banana peels & orange peels. At least the guy's I rolled with did. I believe there was a closer connection to the environment/nature back then than now. Now it's more of a PC thing etc., not as aesthetic/harmonious/intimate a relationship with the environment...stone included. Just my take on it.
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TripL7
Trad climber
san diego
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"What's the latest poop?"
Wear your hip waders on the approach to the Nose/E Face.
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rich sims
Trad climber
co
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I think the worst I came across was tampons hanging (used) on sickle ledge.
It was a party of fours high and low point.
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bestill
Trad climber
s. ca.
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OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.......SH........................IT. say, i am a supertopian newbie and this discusion makes me feel shi.....ty.
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TripL7
Trad climber
san diego
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bestill,
REPENT DUDE!
And the next orange you eat, eat the peeling(smoke the banana peel).
BITD, the guys I "rolled with" woulda...
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Unbelievable in this day and age! Had this been during the spring or fall wall season, the culprits would have been caught because so many people are around the wall. Too bad Tom Evans wasn't around with his telescope.
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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lame
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karodrinker
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
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why would people want to ruin such a proud ascent with this kind of behavior? who did this? can we confiscate their gear and sell it for yosemite fund?
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Yikes!
Talk about putting the "mess" in Mescalito...
Pigs!
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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f*#king dirtbags!
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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It sounds like they bottomed out, not topped out.
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TripL7
Trad climber
san diego
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All the bongs(both kind)that you find/found are mine. I have a habit of cleaning any fixed bongs and tossing them to pick up at a later date(that's where the other "bong" comes in)I left a couple of those "bongs" stashed in various sundry locations along the base, don't ask why(because I can't remember). I am awesome in the wide's, and rarely if ever place any pro. We're talkin Excalibur, SoH, Horse Chute... So I want them all back, or else I'll have a word with WB and there won't be no "pluckin" ya next time!
Edit: Woe dude, "contacted the police"? Definately unwise, and I don't inhale anyway, so...
And I have been wondering, how could ya smell mary with all the poop?
Dude, I think you're a troll...
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JakeW
Big Wall climber
CA
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I picked up all the trash I could find along the base of El Cap today, including this stuff. It took me ever-so-slightly longer than reading this thread and writing this reply...and was much more scenic and enjoyable....
Even though these folks made an error in judgement by bumbling and dropping this stuff, I was encouraged to learn that they were staying extremely well hydrated with large numbers of our favorite malt beverages, the cans of which were interspersed with their "lunch bags".
On my way out I noticed some handsome and interesting characters heading that way, and I believe they may have been the clumsy climbers who accidentally dropped the stuff, going back to pick it up. So they might be only half guilty.
For those of us regularly picking up these curiosities, the compostable "brown" paper bags aren't nearly as intriguing as the sliced open then duct taped closed gallon jugs, with "something" inside. What do you do with these? What happens to the ones not found? Though similar in construct to a ship-in-a-bottle, they aren't very pleasing on the mantel shelf.
-Jake Whittaker
NPS Wilderness/Climbing Ranger
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mastadon
Trad climber
quaking has-been
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 1, 2010 - 06:50pm PT
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Thank you Jake. Thank you very much.
I picked up a few things but, unfortunately, I had a 110-lb demon on my back at the time.....
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Thanks, Jake.
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Captain...or Skully
Big Wall climber
Transporter Room 2
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Very tongue in cheek, Jake.
Appreciate you seein' to the Big Stone.
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TripL7
Trad climber
san diego
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And all the bong's belong to me!
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TripL7
Trad climber
san diego
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Skip!
You remind me of the guy who, after accidentlly dropping $5 in the shitter/outhouse, wouldn't go in for that little an amount. So he pulls $20 bill out of his pocket, tosses it in and say's "But I'll go in for $25."
Except...
Sounds like you would go in for the $5...ya dirtbag!
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Thanks, Jake. Much appreciated. I occasionally have to carry down other people's garbage that I find at the base of the wall, but fortunately this happens very infrequently.
Do I take it then that these guys didn't really toss very much stuff, that they were returning to pick it up, and accordingly you didn't write them a ticket?
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Judging from Don's OP, the party threw off a lot of stuff, which must have taken quite an effort to clean up. I suspect that Jake's post rather understated the situation.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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If the above is true, then why no ticket? I am certainly more in favour of we climbers policing ourselves, which surely would have been the case during regular Wall Season when the base is normally crawling with wall rats. But in situations like this, at this time of year, would something like a ticket be a more effective deterrent?
Thoughts?
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Catching them in the act may be the challenge. The circumstantial evidence seems strong, but you have to see them throwing stuff off, which is then found at the base, or have some way to tie what is found at the bottom to identified individuals. Plus there is the challenge of apprehending them, i.e. as they top out or on the descent, remembering that there are several ways to get back to the Valley.
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Captain...or Skully
Big Wall climber
Transporter Room 2
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Speeding tickets don't seem to have much of an effect, Pete.
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TripL7
Trad climber
san diego
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"some way to tie what is found at the bottom to identified individuals."
DNA...'poop smears' are the cheapest way to go! Suspected climbers could volunteer a sample.
or...if necessary/worse case scenario, you could pry it out of them.
"Catching them in the act may be the challenge."
Night time particularly.
Night vision scopes and swat/commando teams that could drop in at a moments notice.
Ground support crew(pooper scoopers)with full body armour(never know what those scoundrals will toss)!
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ElCapPirate
Big Wall climber
California
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It was me on Mescalito and I will not be taking the blame for the poop bags.
On day one of fixing, we saw two water bottles come from The Nose, which I carried out. Day two, one bottle and a poop bag, we blasted that day so I left it alone. Our 2nd or 3rd night up there our garbage bag malfunctioned and littered the base, which I was none too happy about.
That’s it. I picked up garbage on the summit and along the way, as I always do. I went back and picked up the base the same day Jake was out and came back with two packs full (we dug deep) of garbage, half of which wasn’t ours.
Take care and play safe, Ammon
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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OK, good - problem solved. Wall [and summit] both cleaner afterwards than before.
Yaaaaaar!
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mastadon
Trad climber
quaking has-been
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 4, 2010 - 09:54am PT
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Nuff said......
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Well done, Ammon, Thanks.
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Roxy
Trad climber
CA Central Coast
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right on, a happy ending to a trashy story.
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karodrinker
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
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I couldnt believe it that people who had the skills to climb Mescalito would treat the captain so poorly on purpose. Thanks Ammon for the clear up.
Kalen
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nature
climber
Whereverland....
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well that explains all those beer cans....
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Captain...or Skully
Big Wall climber
Transporter Room 2
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Why would he want to climb it again?
I thought we did pretty good the 1st time.
Research? Hmmmm.
I dunno....Don't repeat Walls, myself. Yet.
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| Messages 1 - 36 of total 36 in this topic |
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