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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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May 31, 2006 - 12:41pm PT
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Now perhaps a little hijacking here:
Tony Yaniro once used at a raft to get over to Jaws, things got a bit out of hand and I think that constituted potentially the fine art of screwing the whole team!
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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Topic Author's Reply - May 31, 2006 - 02:01pm PT
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Anders, OUTSTANDING!!!!!!
I have JUST the place to d othat one too, getting to the pinc creek wall in the BSF, you have t ocross, ahem, pine creek, LOL, and if the water is up, your trick will work great!!!
Tar-baby!!! Not a hijack at all, you must give details!
So far Piton ROn is the big winner though. it wil lbe hard to surpass the head hole.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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May 31, 2006 - 07:16pm PT
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Yes, Dale thought he was pretty clever. Smirked a little. Though to give him credit, he did the boulder hop, plus led most of the route. We couldn't tighten the rope at our end for some reason, once the first crossed and we found out what was happening. (There were five of us.) I asked Dale about this last year, and he didn't remember anything.
I was once Eric Weinstein's belay slave, in Squamish in the 1970s. Which usually meant belaying him for hours on "mixed" routes - part aid, part free, part pitons, part nuts (hexes, stoppers) - while he cleaned them out and then freed them. He counted on his seconds to provide gear, as he went through it pretty fast. Eric's specialty was to fix the second's gear, to ensure there was protection at key spots when he tried a free ascent. He was good at it - some of my pins still decorate a few routes. He would hammer the crap out of them, despite howls of concern from the belayer, who knew exactly what was going on. When following, you knew not to even bother trying to get them out. And you knew that even though Eric had contributed some gear to the enterprise, it was always yours that got fixed.
A day out with Eric usually resulted in fixing a few pins, plus the odd nut, plus anything we dropped. Not exactly a trick - you knew what you were in for. But it was a costly business - I was 15 then, and my part time job income was about $30/month. At $2/piton, it added up pretty fast.
Anders
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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Topic Author's Reply - May 31, 2006 - 07:51pm PT
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fantastic, if somewhat dated for pins, but still, these days you make sure your partner will either contribute pins of his own at a later date, or pay you back, if he decimates your pin rack. at least, taht is how it goes if yo uare on equal or near equal footing.
One way to get 'revenge' for fixed, lost or dropped gear, is to just toss a piece of your partner's gear off at random. of course this must lok like an acident, so you shout a solid curseword adn you'drop' the gear, and act disguested with yoruself and say, "I'm sorry.". UNfortunately the last time I did this, unbelieveably the guy FOUND his stupid cam and biners and sling, much to my disamay!!!
It's not every day you can find a piece dropped from three pitches up past ledges and trees and into brush, but the lucky SOB managed somehow.
And meanwhile, my precious DMM wirelock that he wantonly threw off whitesides with reckless and casual abandon, is still gone. And he refuses to admit he did anything wrong!
I repeat: The second must be screwed.
Anders what a worthy addition you are to ST!
This thread will instruct the future generation in the arcane arts!
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
St. Louis
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May 31, 2006 - 07:57pm PT
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This thread will instruct the future generation in methane farts!
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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May 31, 2006 - 08:24pm PT
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Dirt,
I believe you should use the term rope thread as a "head hole" is an aperture found somewhere else entirely (and likely not as wide either...)lol
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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Topic Author's Reply - May 31, 2006 - 10:06pm PT
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RONBO!!!! LOL!
Good point, I shall change my thinking on that subject immediately!
Crimpestuous one!!!!! This bread is braining future mentruations for propane tarts!
You know how I love to play with and make up words, oh callipygious ornothoptric penalista!
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Flattery will get you nowhere. Nor will philately, perhaps.
Climbing with Eric did get one in the guidebook, plus he had a car and I didn't. He made reparations when he could.
I can't say that I've ever tried any of the tactics so far described in real life, or even thought about it. One or two sound promising, albeit a bit anti-social. It's fun to fantasize, but also worth remembering that seconds may have their own views on this subject. And leaders are much more vulnerable. Hoary maxims about the unity of rope teams also come to mind.
Miscommunication may be another tactic. You're belaying the second, providing some (poor) beta. "Umm, try the jug out to the right. It's sort of hidden, below the chalk mark. I (describe absurd body contorting maneuver) to get past it." (Second dynos for non-existent hold, and pops.) Feigning poor memory (pitch too stressful, too much beer, too many concussions...) provides a handy alibi. Sufficiently advanced age also - presumptive Alzheimer's. Or confusion as to where the second actually is on the pitch, especially if the second is out of sight. "Oh, I thought you were at the (generic feature)." It helps if the second didn't see you climb the part you're describing.
A variant is to describe how others supposedly did the crux sequence: "I was talking with someone in Camp 4, and he/she did (plausible but unworkable move) there." Identifying "someone" as star X will lend this tactic credibility, although if your cover is blown you may be in trouble.
Sadly, this kind of stuff happens every day, in real life - inadvertently. Too many climbing accidents are rooted in poor communication.
Anders
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Phantom Fugitive
Trad climber
Misery
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One of my favorite things to do when a partner can't clean a piece on follow is to tell them to "Leave it! I'll get it on the way down!" They never refuse, of course. The trick is to be sure they are watching as you clean it and don't even so much as stop when you rappell by- cleaning it on the fly with zero effort.
Another trick is the "finishing handcrack". This is very route dependent, as you need a steep finish and large ledge. Build your belay independent of your harness and strip down. Hang your backside over the lip at the right time and yell "There's a good hand jam just over the lip!"
Also- the "underwear on the chickenhead" trick. Prepare ahead of time for this one. A pair of whitey tighties wrapped around a good sized chickenhead, with a quickdraw clipped through the legholes. Even better with a beginner.
The most evil thing to do is not tell them of fixed gear that you have clipped en route, although it can be entertaining. And every once in a while the bugger actually gets the piece out...
"Boy that gold camalot was sure tough to get out". To which you reply "yeah, sorry about that, but I am glad you got it- it is one of my favorite pieces."
PF
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
St. Louis
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As a frequent second, I find it very satisfying to top out and announce to the leader that I couldn't get the (insert newest, most expensive piece of gear here) out. Tell them, no worries, we'll get it when we lower. Of course, the route MUST be a walk off.
Another fun trick when the leader can see you is to "fight" to remove another expensive piece of gear. Use the nut tool to bang the sh$t out of it, make many torquing motions, yank, pound, etc. Naturally the piece will easily come out, but the second must "fight" it enough to appear as though they are trashing the gear.
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TradIsGood
Trad climber
Gunks end of country
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It is important to keep track of time. Especially beginning on the second pitch. If you neck gets sore from belaying your leader too long...
Topping out. Oops. I forgot to clean the cordellette. Leader must lower you so you can reclimb. If he took really excessive time, shout "rock" (sometimes stoppers fall off and land on the ledge below) and you have to get lowered again. You should get at least 100% as much climbing by time, not distance.
Back on lead...
You pass a very blank runout section of a wall, as you traverse past a large bush on the ledge. After getting well above the bush (it was easy ground) you put in a piece, yard up a bunch of slack and flip it over the bush (since you do not want any rope drag - wink). Best if you partner asks for a tight belay, but if he doesn't it is ok to offer one, before he can think to ask for lots of slack.
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 1, 2006 - 10:07am PT
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FANTASTIC!!
I did not know some of these.
PF, I have to caution you, making stuff up for hte sake of looking like a master of screwing the second is not kosher, all teh valuable information in this thread MUST be valid and proved by actual field use.
Now tell the truth:
Did you or someone you know ACTUALLY put underwear on a chicken head and clip it?
IF so, I think you are in second palce, still lagging slightly behind Ronbo and his cleverly threaded rope. Bstill, assuming your trick is true, and has actually happened in teh wild, WOW! GOOD JOB!
Crimpestuous one, brillant work! you may hvae to start a counter thread, "Fvcking with the Leader's Head"!!!
Anders, what a great line, it should be recorded again for posterity.
"Climbing with Eric did get one in the guide book, and he had a car and I didn't."-- magnificent! Fine juxatposition of nonsequitorial thinking, and quite funny.
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
St. Louis
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Oh yeah, sure, I'll start a thread here called "Fvcking with the Leader's Head" and get in biiiiiiiigggg trouble just like I did at RC.com.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Crimpie,
you're leaving yourself wide open.
Most supertopans are guys, you know, they like the head before the fvcking.
(Hey, this IS "the fine art of screwing the second".
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 1, 2006 - 11:55am PT
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LOL, you two, what am I going to do with you???
Big trouble is relative, Crimperoni.
If Ronbo gets started, LOOK OUT!! Hehehehe!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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whew,
Yer a brave man Ronbo...
(ya know there's that fine line between boldness and insanity)
Hey Crimposter:
I say we stay put and include "the fine art of screwing the leader" right here, as the two concepts are so complementary.
So:
A favorite of mine, as it's been done to me many times and proved quite useful to my matriculation, is the time honored concept of handing the leader a diet rack.
This can serve two purposes: the first is to inculcate the leader with an adaptive and "go for it" skill set. The second is to twist their head and provide those at the belay with a wee bit of entertainment.
There I was at the base of the pea soup crack, voodoo dome, needles. Mike Liechlinski hands me a rack consisting of one of each friend, not including half sizes. Well, jeepers, this thing is a parallel sided number two friend crack. He also tells me it is 10C. More like 11B. I for sure ran out of gear and wound up fishing thin stoppers into an adjacent crack for the remainder of the pitch following my sparsely protected crux section.
Quick on the heels of this taunt we saw the converse: "messing with the belayer", because it took me forever to finish the lead.
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TradIsGood
Trad climber
Gunks end of country
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A friend of mine called up to a leader who was really struggling in one spot about 40 feet up.
"Screw this. You're taking too long. I'm out of here. I gotta go to the bathroom."
She had already quietly shifted the belay to the third member of the party.
Especially funny since it was at a heavily populated wall at the Gunks, and the leader looked down to see her leaving, and could not see his belayer close to the wall.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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I take it she assumed she would never climb near this leader again.
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Phantom Fugitive
Trad climber
Misery
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dirtineye-
yes, I have done all three of my examples.
Follower had a good sense of humor and wrapped the pro snugly around his helmet.
PF
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 1, 2006 - 03:04pm PT
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Author:
Phantom Fugitive
Trad climber
From: Misery
dirtineye-
yes, I have done all three of my examples.
Follower had a good sense of humor and wrapped the pro snugly around his helmet.
PF
LOL, PRICELESS!!!
YOU and Ronbo vie for top honors!!!!!!!!!
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