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GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
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Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 29, 2012 - 06:54pm PT
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IT WAS RAGING 50-75 MILE AN HOUR WINDS!!!!!
How many times have you heard that?
Listen, we all like to make our stories sound amazing, and there is an art form to it. But if you make up a wind speed, and there's no societal price for fabrication, no longer will ACTUALLY KNOWING THE WINDSPEED mean anything in conversation.
Climbing in 25MPH gusts is f*#king impossible, and it sounds pathetic because asshats claim to climb in 60mph gusts at josh every tuesday.
Unless you got instruments, it just blew 'really hard.'
:) end rant!
(not directed at Cragman, haha I bet he actually DID measure it in that other thread, or knows what it feels like :D but you get my drift...)
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Nov 29, 2012 - 06:58pm PT
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I agree. Hear it all the time. Especially 70-80mph. You have to really hold yourself to stay standing during gusts like that and people casually mention it like it aint sh#t.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 29, 2012 - 07:00pm PT
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Haven't ya noticed that guys and girls often have a much different
description of how hard it blows?
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GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 29, 2012 - 07:02pm PT
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Yeah a friend of mine remarked getting blown off the top of a peak but I guess I should have asked some follow-up questions... that can be interpreted a number of ways....
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Rudder
Trad climber
Costa Mesa, CA
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Nov 29, 2012 - 07:07pm PT
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Unless you got instruments, it just blew 'really hard.'
Yes. I was out at Moffett Field totally miserable, the winds were blowing so hard, they were about as hard as the worst winter days I've been out at Josh... maybe a little harder. The pilots and officials brought out the measuring equipment and declared 15mph with gusts to 25mph. Anymore than that, which does happen, and you can't stand up. :)
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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Nov 29, 2012 - 07:07pm PT
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Use the Beaufort Scale, if you brought your tidebook to Josh.
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StahlBro
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Nov 29, 2012 - 07:16pm PT
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Why guess?
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GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 29, 2012 - 07:16pm PT
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Warning: contains people quoting wind speeds.
If they are honest, then more power to them!
I've had sex with several small animals including a ground squirrel.
-QITNL
This is an example of a lie. gets annoying when people lie, I think.
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GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 29, 2012 - 07:24pm PT
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You know, that iPhone app is pretty bad-ass. But its like knowing the temperature.
It's just a number, and a number doesn't mean anything. 20mph in a T shirt in the desert in july, and 40mph in a down coat in winter, ya know? Same with temperate - doesn't matter what it says, I know when I'm cold and I know when I'm not. If it's fuggin freezing but the temperature is "only 65" I'll throw a coat on.
We're so attached to numbers, attached to quantifying... 10D or 10C... lol.
I'm probably the most guilty.
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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Nov 29, 2012 - 07:33pm PT
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I'm pretty sure that 45 knot wind @ sea level, on the beach, packs a bigger punch than 45 knots at say 10,000 ft. More mass there, MV is bigger.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Nov 29, 2012 - 07:39pm PT
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And wind speed isn't the relevant issue anyway. 10mph, 20, whatever, as long as it's constant, it's usually not a problem. The problem is changes in wind speed. Gusts. Lean hard into a 45mph wind and you can walk. Let that wind suddenly drop to 30mph and you're on your face on the ground.
Likewise for climbing. Up to a certain point, as long as the wind is constant, you can deal with it relatively easily. But let it suddenly gust, and you're flying.
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dave goodwin
climber
carson city, nv
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Nov 29, 2012 - 07:41pm PT
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Last year we had a windstorm that was 80mph. It was the same day the big fire was blazing in Reno. I live on the east side of the Carson Valley facing directly west.
I let my dog out around 6am and the wind was blowing so hard that when I shut the door a vacuum went through the house and blew out the window in our bedroom.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Nov 29, 2012 - 07:46pm PT
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A friend of mine has an interesting account of a descent off Fitzroy. He was leading the rappels, as his partner had broken an ankle in a fall. A storm was breaking too. He said that repeatedly he would be rapping and get blown back up the wall by a gust and then dropped. Utterly wild.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 29, 2012 - 07:56pm PT
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Kneevada might blow but you have to live in Alaska or Tierra del Fuego/Patagonia
to know wind. Trust me.
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sempervirens
climber
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Nov 29, 2012 - 08:01pm PT
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It gets damn windy on those politard threads, using the bloviator scale.
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dave goodwin
climber
carson city, nv
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Nov 29, 2012 - 08:06pm PT
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I've lived in both Nevada and Alaska, and they both can have some mean winds. The worst winds I have experienced have been a North Taku wind coming of the Juneau Ice Cap. BRRRRRR!!
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zBrown
Ice climber
chingadero de chula vista
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Nov 29, 2012 - 08:06pm PT
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Hey wait a minute.
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
Corollary:
You don't need a weather gauge to know how hard the wind blows.
If you tilt and turn your head into the wind so's that it rushes across the tympanic membrane you can get a very accurate reading, though some might call it a hearing, of how hard the wind is blowing.
-Joe Blow
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Nov 29, 2012 - 08:10pm PT
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As a pilot, I have a pretty good knowledge of wind speeds. I get to the airport, then get what's called the AWOS (Aviation Weather Observing Station) on my cell phone while standing outside. I simply won't fly in 36 knots, and only because of takeoff and taxi problems. The flight school cancels all student flying as soon as there are GUSTS to 35 knots. It's possible to flip a Cessna over on it's back with a high crosswind component. I've landed many times in 33-34 knots straight down the runway, but taxiing afterwards is a real pain in the a$$.
But, since we're talking climbing here: over 40 mph (35 knots), blowing dust and grit become a real hazard for vision. I've been blown around in Eldorado Canyon BITD, and simply avoid climbing on those blustry days any more. In the Colorado canyons, the wind tunnel-venturi effect is extreme.
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limpingcrab
Trad climber
the middle of CA
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Nov 29, 2012 - 08:14pm PT
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Sounds like Ron's had a boring life.
Tried riding a bicycle home from Colorado two summers ago and got caught in 60mph winds in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Coming from the side on a ridge. We couldn't even walk our bikes, just had to lay on the ground behind cover to hide from flying rocks until a ranger picked us up.
Notice the car pulled over cause they were scared to drive in it.
Anyone who says they climb, or even hike, in 60mph winds is full of it.
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