Discussion Topic |
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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 7, 2013 - 10:31pm PT
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Looks like one to me.
Scary!
Ken
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Salamanizer
Trad climber
The land of Fruits & Nuts!
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Just think, you could do the First and Last accent!
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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 7, 2013 - 11:07pm PT
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Intriguing isn't it? It is all yours Salamanizer. Really nice shot Snowhazed.
Ken
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Salamanizer
Trad climber
The land of Fruits & Nuts!
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Oh dude!!!
I've been on both ends of that photo... Yikes!
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
bouldering
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Scary!
Even the tree died of fright.
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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I think I just shart myself.
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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the Gong Flake that fell off from Lower Cathedral Rock after Kor and I climbed the second ascent and Eric Beck and Bridwell did the third ascent...not to mention the pile of rocks that Layton knocked down on me in the chimney behind the flake
and the El Cap Tree Direct route that fell off after Sacherer and i climbed the third (?) ascent (Erick Beck also made a subsequent ascent before it fell off)
and The Gendarme at Seneca that fell down a week or two after our ascent
and the Robbins/Taylor route on Middle Teton that fell off
and the car-sized block that fell down near me from the top of the Grand Teton North Face
and the house-sized boulder that fell down the Middle Teton West Face
and the large boulder that started rolling downhill from my weight as I started climbing up it while soloing Pigeon Spire in the Bugaboos...Margaret Young and Jim Richardson had a ringside seat from Bugaboo Spire as I managed to scramble over the top of the rolling boulder, which then went crashing on down to the glacier
and the loose flake that blocked Kim Schmitz and me from the FA of the route just left of the Steck/Salathe
and the big rappel block that Kim Schmitz and i pulled off the first pitch of Rixon's South Face Route
and the car-sized block pulled off past me by Joe Faint's belay anchors, while catching my 100+ plus lead fall on Tepee's Pillar East Face
and the several tons of rocks that fell down past Claire Mearnz and me while sitting atop Dolt Tower in 1985
and the big rock fall down the Grand Teton North Face that chased Julie Tull and me running off down the upper glacier
and the December avalanche that scoured the North Face of Mt Temple in the Wind Rivers during the night following Margaret Young, Jim Richardson and i escaping it
oh, and there was this frozen waterfall in Connecticut that fell down while I was about a pitch up it soloing in the middle of the night...managed to leap from the falling ice onto a snow covered ledge off to the side
and this other frozen waterfall in the Delaware Gap, that melted and fell off not long after John Mattox and I made it to the summit
you may post to the religion thread any speculations as to why i am still alive
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Did anyone else besides me have issues with death blocks directly above Camp 4 on the Nose? Between Camp 4 and the base of the Great Roof?
Seems to me that black diorite had a lot of loose blocks. I used half of my runners tying off blocks to protect my belayer, and I was afraid to put in any protection for fear of dislodging something!
That was ~30 years ago, maybe all the loose stuff has been trundled.
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couchmaster
climber
pdx
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Didn't one of Werners entire FA climbs fall off the wall and dissappear? I forget the name, above Mirror Lake?
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Salamanizer speaks truly.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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This one is BIG! But, luckily, off route.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Wow, Tom. I just made a mental note: Do not attempt to climb a route after Tom does!
I think the El Cap Tree Direct route's disappearance is the one that truly surprised me. We had a refrigerator-sized block come crashing between us on the A4 traverse pitch on Koko Continuation, but the rockfall possibilities on that face were well known. Despite the talus field and lack of vegetaion under the SE face of El Cap, I never expected to lose, in essence, the whole route!
I still miss the Rotten Log on the Arches and the "Killer Death Flake" above the Hog Trough on Overhang Bypass.
John
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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For all the talk of the death block in the Monster ow, I'm surprised no one else was freaked out by these guys poised over the Alcove. At lease by the time we saw them, our bacon was behind them. I would have loved to have moved them, but without being able to trundle them, I worried that I might make matters worse. If they sat there that long...
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nutjob
Gym climber
Berkeley, CA
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I don't know about the killer death flake on hog trough, but about a pitch up there is a VW-bug sized boulder that leaned out about a foot when le_bruce stemmed onto it a few years ago. And somewhere in no-man's land between Return to Stone Age and Overhang Bypass there is a stack of three rocks that you must climb over and they all teeter back and forth as you climb them... definitely pull-down-not-out climbing style there.
Tom Cochrane, even if you were a cat you've used up your lives!
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Nutjob, I think that VW-sized block was what I was referring to as the killer death flake. When I said "above the Hog Trough," I was meaning on the next pitch.
I last did the route while it was there in 1976, so my memory of it faded a bit. I just remember an easy fifth class move or two. I did the route again in 2000, with the block gone, and the move was in the 5.10 range for me (my partner thought it was reachy 5.8, but I couldn't make the reach, so it was much harder for me).
John
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Hey, Tom Cochrane is a rabbit's foot. Whaddya mean UNlucky?
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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I am KNOTT climbing with Tom Cochrane!
.... then again, he might be the luckiest bastard around here! He might even be incredibly GOOD luck!
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snowhazed
Trad climber
Oaksterdam, CA
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The pic I posted is the Dragway on the Dragtooth. Great route, just need to alpine ninja tiptoe in a few places.....
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labrat
Trad climber
Nevada City, CA
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Ditto on "Tom Cochrane, even if you were a cat you've used up your lives!"
Wow!
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland, CA
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There's a massive, katana-shaped plane of rock that hangs lightly wedged over and just right of Hawkman's first pitch. Looked menacing both times I motored past it. I'd bet Lower Bro has plenty of loose teeth like that.
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Ihateplastic
Trad climber
It ain't El Cap, Oregon
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Didn't one of Werners entire FA climbs fall off the wall and dissappear? I forget the name, above Mirror Lake?
Werner's Crack. That and the Prude went bye-bye! (At least I think the Prude vanished also...)
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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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How about what I call the Wing that you see when descending from the Hulk?
Has anyone even climbed on this wall?
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steveA
Trad climber
bedford,massachusetts
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Back in 1970, on the Prow, in Yosemite, there was a block about 6 feet high, perfectly square, about 1 foot thick, standing on end. It was one or 2 pitches up, perfectly balanced, but I hesitated to push it off, as I nervously climbed passed it. Anyone remember it?
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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Jan 10, 2013 - 12:42am PT
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one i had forgotten about:
during the years in the 1950s when i was teaching myself to climb in Boise, there didn't seem to be any other climbers in the state and my only options were to recruit a classmate or solo
one day i managed to persuade a classmate to join me on a first ascent
i led the first pitch up a chimney with no pro and banged in a piton for a belay
as i banged in the piton, the 'ledge' that was really a pile of rocks where the chimney flared out into a face, started making crunchy sounds
i called out to my partner on the ground below to quickly untie the rope from his waist and run off to one side
i pulled up the rope and then jumped up and down on the ledge a few times and a ton or so of rocks let loose down the chimney, down the hill, and demolished a wooden power pole next to the dirt road up the canyon, leaving me hanging from the single soft iron piton
my partner had now lost his interest in rock climbing and i lowered myself down
i did go back later and finish the climb and another one on the face of the chimney that became a favorite...
i think there used to be a lot more of this loose stuff on what are now popular routes, before so many people were crawling all over the rocks
there was another time when i was soloing Mt Hood at night and decided i was tired of snow and transitioned over to the ridge to the right of the usual snow slog above Timberline Lodge
this was fine until the sun came up and started melting the ice that was holding together this frozen choss pile...having to hold the rock together onto the mountain in order to ascend, particularly since the sun hit the rocks above me first...i am sure there was a greater weight of loose rock falling down for each move, than my weight moving up...
this turned into one of several instances
particularly on Mt Edith Cavell and Mt Rundell in the Canadian Rockies
Chouinard made an elegant description in the Alpine Journal of his similar experience on Mt. Edith Cavell North Face
a lot of mountains that used to be glued together with ice are now turning into a very different sort of challenge
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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 10, 2013 - 12:49am PT
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SteveA,
I remember it and it was scary. I believe it was near the start of the 3rd pitch. I have a picture of it somewhere. After I did the route Bob "Berzerko Bob" Williams did the Prow and trundled it.
Ken
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Jan 10, 2013 - 01:09am PT
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I have a confession.
I was doing a new route in Yosemite many years ago. It was fine line up a double-overhanging corner, just barely past vertical.
But half way up there was a death block leaning out of the crack, directly above my belayer. I liked my belayer.
So I placed a bolt out on the face to go around it. Does that make me a bad person?
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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Jan 10, 2013 - 01:21am PT
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Sierra, was that the route on Sentinel North Face that Kim Schmitz and i backed off of?
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Jan 10, 2013 - 01:24am PT
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^^^
No, but I ain't saying where.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jan 10, 2013 - 01:31am PT
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Now how hard was that? All that shame for all those years and the block's probably history by now anyway. No bad peeps around here. Trundling is necessary on occasion. So is a bolt.
Backed off from, Tom. I guess Schmitz didn't think you were a Rabbit's Foot, eh?
Have we ever seen a photo of the mythical Psyche Flake on NWFHD?
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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Jan 10, 2013 - 01:48am PT
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i made two secretive solo attempts on it and then told Kim and he wanted a go at it
my part of the deal was to stay up all night guarding his food bag from the bears...which is another exciting story all by itself...
i think it was his first time on a big wall...the major trauma of the day was that his sleeping bag slipped out of his pack straps and fell down the wall, never to be seen again...
i heard years later that someone went and finished the route, but never heard the details
it goes up the right edge of the big overhang-topped alcove dominating the left side of the North Face...to the right of Robbins Direct and to the left of the Chouinard/Herbert
i always thought it would be a fun climb to do, basically a straight up crack all the way, with the big overhangs in the middle
the nemesis block was a few feet above the overhang and obviously loose
does anyone know more about this?
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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Tom Cochrane, even if you were a cat you've used up your lives!
perhaps it is helpful to consider the circumstances of Schrodinger's cat...what if the cat intervenes in the progression of the outcome??
it's all about the opportunity for influencing circumstances towards a preferred parallel universe at each junction point
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
extraordinaire
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Death Block - What death block?
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Tom,
i heard years later that someone went and finished the route, but never heard the details
it goes up the right edge of the big overhang-topped alcove dominating the left side of the North Face...to the right of Robbins Direct and to the left of the Chouinard/Herbert
i always thought it would be a fun climb to do, basically a straight up crack all the way, with the big overhangs in the middle
the nemesis block was a few feet above the overhang and obviously loose
does anyone know more about this? Actually that corner was not done (as far as I know) until 9/2001 as "Early Times", by Coiler and Josh Thompson.
The only other route between the Direct North Face and the Chouinard-Herbert (besides a free version of Early Times) was the Gobi Wall in 1969. The Gobi is much closer to the Chouinard-Herbert, as you can see in the modified overlay from the 1987 Meyers/Reid guidebook.
I don't know if the loose block was still there when Coiler did it, but I could ask him....
There's no mention of a loose block on the topo, so it's probably not there anymore.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Couldn't we say that the whole Bonatti Pillar was a giant death block?
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Bob Plumb has a good story about eating lunch on a giant chockstone (shown in the guidebook description of the route) while doing an early ascent of the Backbone Ridge on Dragontail Peak (near Mt. Stuart, Washington state). After lunch they headed up the upper part of the route.
When the second person stepped off the chockstone and onto the rock,
the whole thing moved and cut loose, laying waste to the gully below.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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How a propos, on a different day I almost lost a leg to a death block
within view of the one Clint describes.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Some of 'em are big!
But this one is safely tucked away in the mountains of Nevada.
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dave729
Trad climber
Western America
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This kind of thread gives me the chills. Like rifle shots getting
closer and closer the boulder fell into view, does one more wall shaking
ricochet and spins by showering gravel and dust.
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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That big pillar that marks the junction of Hawkman's Escape and Ramblin' Rose is another one... it's even a waypoint on the Meyers/Reid topo. The thing is about 20-30 feet tall, and groans and rocks back and forth when the wind comes up and you're chimneying behind it.
Plus a bump with a pic from the no-man's land between Return to Stone Age and Hog Trough on Lower Cathedral Rock:
No pics of the business from below, but it was similar to this stuff but vertical. Actually I think le_bruce is pulling over the topmost of 3 vertically stacked blocks about the same size rocking back and forth.
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Bad Climber
climber
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Then, of course, there was that big loose flake on the pendulum pitch on NW Face of Half Dome. Scared us pretty good. Does anyone know the story of how it came off? I always imagined some doofus yarding it off with some stoopid laybacking.
BAd
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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Yes, overhang bypass has a reachy move now 5.9? where the flake-pillar was on the pith after the hog trough. Gabe Carrillo, who we call the Yeti, because he is big, very strong and resembles one, shifted the thing while two of us were right below. I went back up with my brother 2 years later and it was gone. Update the topo, the 5.4 section is now a lot harder.
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Roger Brown
climber
Oceano, California
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Above the trail over from the top of the brush field to the start of Snake Dike.
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John Duffield
Mountain climber
New York
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Main Trail out of Devils Tombstone
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lucaskrajnik
Trad climber
Anchorage, AK
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This is an awesome thread!
Unfortunately some of the worst ones I never hung around long enough to get a picture.
Repelling Royal tower come to mind.
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chill
climber
between the flat part and the blue wobbly thing
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No one has mentioned the Mother of All Death Blocks. (Pic stolen from Interweb)
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LEG
climber
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Near the top of Better with Bacon, I believe :-)
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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No one has mentioned the Mother of All Death Blocks. (Pic stolen from Interweb)
I was wondering when boot flake would come up. It's all fun and games until they come down.
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eagle
Trad climber
new paltz, ny
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THERE IS ONE ON THE MAIN CLIFF AT POCO MOONSHINE IN THE ADIRONDACS THAT IS THE SIZE OF 3 GRAYHOUND BUSSES. IT'S IS JUST HANGING THERE, IT'S NOT SITTING ON A LEDGE. WORD IS SOME OF THE LOCALS TRIED TO TOPPLE USING JACKS AND CROW BARS AND ELBO GREASE. I BELIEVE IT IS STILL THERE TO THIS DAY
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climber007
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
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death block on the Nose.. moved about 4 inches on me last year on a NIAP run when my partner inadvertently stepped on it while setting off from the belay
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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You can't take that piece of the JENGA tower out!!!
Or you will LOSE!
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kev
climber
A pile of dirt.
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Anyone got a picture of the jigsaw puzzle pieces on Phantom Pinnacle?
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docsavage
Trad climber
Albuquerque, NM
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Knock down them hoodoos! F**k the Park Service, you're saving lives ... Boy Scout lives!
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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Mar 14, 2014 - 05:30pm PT
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Way to go Charles! The death block is in the area where the King Swing finishes. I think the one up higher is gone (trundled).
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whitemeat
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo, CA
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Mar 14, 2014 - 11:08pm PT
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this video of cheyne removing the death block on the monster offwitdth is pretty damn cool, I cant seem to watch it enough times!!!!!
https://vimeo.com/52653452
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philo
Trad climber
Is that light the end of the tunnel or a train?
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Mar 14, 2014 - 11:21pm PT
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gstock
climber
Yosemite Valley
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Apr 12, 2014 - 12:23pm PT
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"Maybe Greg Stock will chime in to confirm or deny, but a friend claims to have heard Greg say Boot will be off in just a couple years... "
Deny. I do not and cannot make predictions like that. But if all goes as planned I'll be making a first-hand assessment soon.
Greg
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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Apr 12, 2014 - 05:47pm PT
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Have you figured out how much Boot Flake actually weighs?
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whitemeat
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo, CA
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Apr 12, 2014 - 06:30pm PT
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this is from the top of the king swing pitch on that sloping ledge! same one as the pic with a big red arrow...
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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Apr 14, 2014 - 11:37am PT
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This one moved 4" on the leader.
Have to use this one later on in the pitch.
It complains a bit.
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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Apr 14, 2014 - 12:13pm PT
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Former death block. R.I.P.
Nether Region, Pinnacles
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gstock
climber
Yosemite Valley
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Apr 14, 2014 - 12:54pm PT
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"Have you figured out how much Boot Flake actually weighs?"
Boot Flake has a volume of about 30 cubic meters, as measured from ground-based lidar. Assuming a density of granite of 2,700 kilograms per cubic meter, that yields a weight (choose your unit) of:
81,000 kilograms
81.0 metric tons
89.3 short tons
178,574 pounds
18,857,184 ounces
3.437e+8 pennyweights
etc.
That is actually pretty lightweight by Yosemite standards. For reference, there is a rockfall somewhere in Yosemite Valley of about 80 metric tons every few months on average.
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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Apr 14, 2014 - 02:05pm PT
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Came across some scary stuff on the 1st pitch of the Kor/Beck route, to the left of the Central Pillar of Frenzy, last week. J.Donini remarked on it as well.
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Apr 14, 2014 - 02:16pm PT
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Pt Mugu
this thing came down during el nino year 1996.
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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Jun 23, 2014 - 09:31pm PT
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Clint: Actually that corner was not done (as far as I know) until 9/2001 as "Early Times", by Coiler and Josh Thompson.
Thank you, Clint, once again, for filling-in pieces of the history puzzle. Yes, 'Early Times' follows the line I was attempting to solo back in the early '60s. I thought the route would be direct all the way, ala Comici. At the time I hadn't realized the line would cross the Robbins direct route. That loose block above the overhang must have been long gone when the crack was finally climbed, as I couldn't imagine anyone getting past it without first rappelling from the top to kick it off. It is also hard to imagine that rock maintaining its poise for four decades...
On the other hand much of what passes for rock climbing these days is beyond what I could have imagined back then.
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| Messages 1 - 72 of total 72 in this topic |
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