Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
froodish
Social climber
Portland, Oregon
|
|
|
Nov 24, 2012 - 08:36pm PT
|
(Raises hand)
Worst fall I've ever taken was on EBGBs. Blew it right at the top. Was pretty unnerved by the time I got there from the insecure (for me at least) smearing on the way up. Did the classic mistake and leaned in too far searching for handholds and, poof! I was off. The toe of my right foot caught something as I swung through the bit of a pendulum that fall entails and wrenched my ankle badly. Ended up somewhere near the first bolt on the main slab facing outwards.
There was a family hiking around there when I fell, and I fear I traumatized the little boy with them for life. He saw the fall (I'm quite sure anyone within about a mile heard me yell when I came off ;-) and was crying when I passed them limping back to the car. Tried to reassure him that I was OK, but he didn't seem to buy it.
Took about a year for my ankle to heal (mostly, it's still only about 90% and is always the one I injure) and about 2 for my lead head to recover.
Oh, and this was post-fires and that thing didn't seem easy to me. I've never been back up on it. Every time I pass it, it gives me, well, the EBGBs.
|
|
GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 24, 2012 - 08:41pm PT
|
I saw this guy take a chilling whipper on the last pitch of the Royal Arches
Prime example of the fall never to take.
Chilling!
|
|
BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
|
|
|
Nov 24, 2012 - 08:45pm PT
|
I took a hundred footer off of a .10b slab route when I was 18 or something. It is one of those routes without a crux. Every move is .10b. I smoked the hardest part and was pulling over the top when I skated a foot and went for the ride. There was only one bolt on the pitch about 20 feet off the belay.
It was rough granite like much of Josh.
Injuries: Loss of all skin on the pads of my hands. Any raised part of my hands was ripped clean.
Lost one ass cheek and various large sections of other body parts.
The worst was laying on a bed with my shorts around my ankle while Duane Raleigh's mom spent three hours picking lichen out of the wounds.
I healed up very nicely on the outside. On the inside I suffered from PTSD for years.
It would have been truly severe or death if Duane hadn't realed in armloads of slack as I was falling. He caught me after I was well past the first pitch belay.
It is a famous story around here that is still told. Not many people have done that route to this day. The horror story shuts down the v12 gym kids.
Come on. It only takes one draw. You don't even need a rack.
|
|
GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 24, 2012 - 08:46pm PT
|
yikes... whats the route? Not that I'll be getting on it any time soon, lol.
|
|
GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 24, 2012 - 08:46pm PT
|
Heard Clark fell on Hair Lip during a photo op or sumthin????? confirm/deny????
|
|
Eggstele
Trad climber
Kings Beach, Lake Tahoe
|
|
|
Nov 24, 2012 - 08:49pm PT
|
Always wondered if someone has actually pitched over the roof on
Fiddler on the roof at red rocks. I followed the traverse above the roof pitch and my partner was not courteous enough to place pro after the crux. I would have definitely pitched over the roof! It took me a good 15 minutes to commit to the fairly moderate moves. Next time I will try to make that pitch my lead.
|
|
StahlBro
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
|
|
|
Nov 24, 2012 - 09:25pm PT
|
Shakey Flakes is the Sh*t
EBGB's will make you clinch
|
|
Rolfr
Social climber
North Vancouver BC
|
|
|
Nov 24, 2012 - 10:41pm PT
|
25 feet out from the last bolt on the 5.10D traverse pitch of Dream On at Squamish and I made a nooby mistake and stretched for the anchours!
Back then I knew how to run downhill on slabs and had a great partner who could suck in rope with a body belay, thanks Ivan!
I managed to flash the harder crux pitch but got schooled for having a big ego on the traverse pitch.
Reminds me of what my dad always used to say " there are no accidents, just stupid decisions"
|
|
bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
|
|
|
Nov 24, 2012 - 11:01pm PT
|
I gotta give EBGB's a ride in this life!
I mean it's only 5,10 what?
|
|
bob
climber
|
|
|
Nov 24, 2012 - 11:01pm PT
|
Nope, no rides... :)
|
|
skywalker
climber
|
|
|
Nov 24, 2012 - 11:07pm PT
|
Rosy Crucifixion,
Its not run-out if you do it the correct way but first time on it I linked P.1 and 2 and after the exposed first pitch I had dropped half my wires and half my brain. Heading up the second pitch (second half of my first pitch) I was about toast physically AND mentally. Not able to stop to place a bomber cam cause it would have taken all my strength to do it I gunned for the ledge. The ledge is sloppy and in classic feet "bicycling" I pitch. Flew 40ft to just below the anchor of the 1st pitch. You could probably hear my scream on the first flat iron! My sort of new partner as wide eyed as I was saw a guy peek his head around the corner and ask' "is everything O.K.?" he said "yeah, did you see that?" He said "no but I heard it!"
It was all clean and funny as hell!
S...
|
|
bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
|
|
|
Nov 24, 2012 - 11:14pm PT
|
I hear ya, Dean. I aint' stupid. But EBGB's is a such a beautiful line and position.
The problem is if you miss that 2nd clip. Bad fall.
|
|
Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
|
|
|
Nov 24, 2012 - 11:15pm PT
|
splitter, I just about blew the beer out onto my iPad LMFAO...you'd be welcomed around my campfire. My dark humor I suppose but what is it about someone about to take the ride, like hey lets get the belt sander out and knock down some of those extremities.
|
|
BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
|
|
|
Nov 24, 2012 - 11:19pm PT
|
The route I took the hundred footer from is "The Big Bite." It was named after the name of an ice cream sandwich that was a favorite if you had any money.
At Quartz Mountain in Oklahoma. There are quite a few other routes there that are super crazy runout.
Nowadays few people do those routes. They TR them or do one of the five or so no pro routes that were retrobolted by broad concensus 15 years or so back.
Some of the hard men to that route. They walk right up it. I was in EB's. It dropped big time in difficulty when Fire's came out.
I had no idea of risk at 18. Duane would just hand me the rope and tell me to get after it. Sure!!! Boy did I get sandbagged. In the EB days it had spit off some really good climbers. I think that would have been the 2nd ascent if I had made it five more feet.
|
|
splitter
Trad climber
Cali Hodad, surfing the galactic plane
|
|
|
Nov 24, 2012 - 11:21pm PT
|
BASE104 - I took a one hundred footer off a 10b slab route when I was 18 or sumpthing.
Dang dood, talk bout "chilling". And on the LAST move, YIKES!
I had a very similar experience in TM ('76/'77?). We were climbing in two ropes of two. It was a 5.10c route that I forget the name of on the far right side of Stately Pleasure Dome or maybe the next dome over, that I don't recall the name of.
My two friends, Kevin L & Art H were on the first rope and ended up on a narrow ledge on a steep face. My partner, Rick L, took the lead up to them. I was the last person to get there and the three of them are clipped into one manky looking 1/4" bolt that was protruding and angled down and the hanger was a spinner/twirler. The ledge was about a 12-18" wide and Rick, who was belaying me up, was being braced/griped around the chest and shoulders by Kevin & Art who were on either sides of him to support him.
Grim situation since the sketchy looking bolt probably wouldn't even hold all four of our combined static weight, let alone should I fall and pull them off the the narrow stance applying a dynamic force upon it! So, I simply led on through to avoid the possible complications that could arise while switching belayers, etc!
There was a bolt at what we presumed was the crux about 15-20 ft above on the nearly vertical (very steep) face. I went up clipped it and climbed on through the 5.10 moves without much difficulty (as far as I recall). About 10-15 ft above the crux the steepness eased off and it became easy to moderate 5th class. It was up, up and away. No more bolts as far as I could see. No big deal, fairly customary for the TM at the time. It never got harder than maybe 5.5 or 5.6, just nice clean stone with an occasional slight bulge. That is until I got to about 100+ ft out past the one and only bolt I had clipped. I was sure I hadn't passed any bolts. Then, I suddenly came to this steep bulge with a stud and no hanger on it.
YIKES! I could tell the thin face moves were in the 5.10 category since i had done a fair amount of climbing in that range in TM and at Tahq/Suicide in the past. I quickley searched the rack we had thrown together looking for a small wired Chouinard stopper that could have been used as a hanger by slipping down the stopper so part of the cable protruded, then slipping it over the stud and sinching it back up tight and clipping into it. Better than nothing and hopefully it would hold at least a short fall.
No dice. There were three small wired stoppers, but they had all been epoxied/barge cemented into place so they would not slide around and be difficult to remove from a tight placement.
GREAT, I was pretty drained by that point. We had done a few different routes earlier in the day, I recall one being The Vision, and the whole fiasco we had just gotten ourselves into suddenly added an additional and significant burden. I was looking at a 200 ft plus fall. I was pretty certain their was little and most likely zero chance of me surviving it. There were ledges and flared dihedrals below the belay ledge which, itelf, was some 125 ft below.
Furthermore, I didn't have much faith in the single 1/4" bolt, that I had clipped into, being capable of holding both my fall and our combined weight (650+ lbs) once they were pulled off the ledge and their bolt most likely failed/pulled.
I made one move up past the stud, and checked out the scenario. It wasn't simply one 5.10 move, it was a sequence of moves. And there was more than one possible sequence, more than one way to solve the problem. I would have generally went up and felt out the most likely way to try it. Maybe tried the first move of the sequence and then backed off if I felt it was the best way, recouped my energy and then gone for it. Or, if it didn't feel quit right, maybe take a second close up look at it without totally committing. In other words, figure out the most likely sequence without totally committing, go back down and rest a few seconds and then go for it.
But not that day. I could literally feel my energy reserve draining like a thermometer slowly dropping on a cold winter evening. I new I had one, and only one shot at it. I thought of my three friends, fearfully gripping each other on the ledge far below, and new the were probably wondering why the rope had come to a sudden stop and was slowly rising and falling. I was certain they had figured out that I had encountered a sudden obstacle! And there wasn't anyway I could communicate with them, no voice communication because of the distance, and they were out of sight, and it was slightly windy.
I also new I couldn't hesitate any longer. I had to gather all I had, focus, and go for it. I did. I chose the right sequence out of a couple possibilities and pulled it off. It was a very close call. A classic TM runout, that, had I fallen, would have ended up in "the ride" of a lifetime. Without a doubt, it would have been my last ride!!
Btw, I was living on the eastside/Mammoth then. My climbing partner and friends still are.
And, if I had known then that I would have been posting to this thread I would have just gone ahead and taken THE BIG ride and won the contest for longest runout, longest ride! Wudda beat BASE104 even! AH SHUCKS!! ;)
Charlie D. - LOL,! it ( Fingertrip Traverse) is the calssic n00b tail of lack of forsight in that I waited tell it was to late to get some pro in safely and at the last moment I pull a classic YIKES move like in one of those old silent movies/comedy's, eh!! I learned a LOT that day! Glad ya got a chuckle out of it!!
|
|
GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 24, 2012 - 11:26pm PT
|
Damn you guys making me feel like a wanker...
Can't say I'll be doing EBGB's anytime soon, LOL! How is it compared to Decompensator of Lhasa?
|
|
GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 24, 2012 - 11:30pm PT
|
ahhh thanks. I love edges.
Splitter... Christ, man!
my palms....
|
|
Heyzeus
climber
Hollywood,Ca
|
|
|
Nov 24, 2012 - 11:52pm PT
|
I also fell off EBGB's above the last bolt.
Didn't Tucker break his leg/ankle on it BITD ?
|
|
froodish
Social climber
Portland, Oregon
|
|
|
Nov 25, 2012 - 12:34am PT
|
I don't remember a single edge on EBGBs after you 'round the corner onto the slab proper. Insecure smears in little dishes is all I remember.
IIRC, Vogel calls it 10d. 10c == sandbag IMHO.
|
|
Fogarty
climber
BITD
|
|
|
Nov 25, 2012 - 12:37am PT
|
EBGB,s BITD, I was told the crux was the start, WRONG it's at the top thats we're I fell on my first try in 1983. I took a wipper all the way to the bottom in the center of the face. I had a hip belay from one of my friends that had just started climbing weeks before. I climbed the route in EB'S and the new wave rubber I always thought the route to be 510D.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!