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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 8, 2013 - 09:09pm PT
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Seriously.
There are some good stories for a Friday night, right?
I saw my life flash before my eyes one time. I was riding shotgun in my buddies truck, heading back to town from a backcountry lake.
We rounded a corner, there was a newly fallen tree with a two inch thick branch pointed just so...
The branch broke the window, grazed my cheek, and passed through the rear window of the truck, as well as the front window of the camper shell behind me.
A couple of seconds passed, then my buddy let out a 'What the f*#k dude!!! Woah!!!'
I was still a little in shock, having had an actual life flash before your eyes moment (seriously, it happened), just a few seconds prior..
We composed ourselves, and backed the pickup off of the deadly spear.
I was seriously close to death at that moment. I've had many more close calls, mostly skiing in difficult terrain, but that moment sticks with me as the point where I could have been randomly taken out.
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kennyt
climber
Woodfords,California
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I,was most scared for my wife when she married me. oh you said life.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Concerned is probably a better word, you should be too busy dealing to be scared. Although, i guess, it's possible to be scared after the fact.
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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 8, 2013 - 09:15pm PT
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Yes, scared is something you realize after the fact.
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WBraun
climber
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No not concerned .... scared!!!
Most scared I've ever been was filming in Hawaii.
We were doing some location scouting by helicopter a couple of days before the actual crew arrived.
1000 feet off the deck I had to jump from the helo to a waterfall covered sloping ledge grabbing wet vegetation for anchor.
The helo is bouncing all over the place from the updraft.
The blades are hitting the waterfall.
Then I'm over there and they decide it's too stupid and risky of a location.
Now I have to jump back over to the ship that's bouncing around in the heavy wind to outstretched arms to grab me and pull me into the ship.
If I miss I die.
It doesn't sound bad writing here but I was scared to death because there was no room for error ......
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SalNichols
Big Wall climber
Richmond, CA
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To me, scared climbing was something that happened quickly, then went away. The only time I've ever had enough time to think about it was about 1100 miles off of SF in 2005. Full on storm conditions, 50 kts gusting to 63 for nearly 80 hours...waves 45' unless they were bigger. FREEZING horizontal rain and hail for hours upon end. I just considered that we were screwed, so you might as well drink the beer and sail the damn boat. When the sun finally came out and we knew that we had it knocked, we just giggled like fools. I probably aged 5 years.
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LilaBiene
Trad climber
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Mid-teens skiing with the guys all day and working on building up this awesome jump right in the middle of the trail with a huge drop...last run of the day and we're all flying over it one after the other. I'm hanging in mid-air, psyched and I hear/turn to see one of my buds waving frantically and shouting that we have to cut over to the other basin because the bus is over there. I turn before I land and make this fluid, fast-as-Hell carve back up the hill to the side trail and UH? Tree?! BAM!
Shoulda died. But by the grace of who knows what, I skied UP the tree. I see my boots first -- they're resting on the trunk like I'm catching some rays. My tail is right smack up against the tree. I wonder where my skis are...and I realize that my arms are straight out, still holding my poles, and as I turn my head because it's really cold, I realize that my hat is in the snow a few feet above it. One of my skis is farther back, and it dawns on me that the ski went over my head, backwards...which I find HILARIOUS and start laughing my a&& off. The last guy over the jump is skiing over with my other ski and all of a sudden everybody is there and totally freaked out, which I find even funnier. Or maybe I was just trying to breathe after having the wind knocked out of me and losing consciousness. But missing the bus back to Mass. wasn't funny, so in the careless way only a teenager can think, I snapped back into my skis and off we went to catch the bus...laughing all the way.
Man, I wish I was up there now. There's going to be some beautiful skiing next couple of days!
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Most scared?
Middle of nowhere in a U.S. national park
Two REALLY PISSED OFF park service rangers with guns were going to execute me
I cried
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Nohea
Trad climber
Living Outside the Statist Quo
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Getting the phone call that after 3 days the jury had reached a decision.
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zBrown
Ice climber
chingadero de chula vista
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I mentioned this somewhere here before. Episode of vaso-vagal syncope in the middle of the night. I wasn't afraid I was dying, I figured I actually was. Before I hit the floor my last thought was - there's so much that I still wanted to do.
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gonzo chemist
climber
Fort Collins, CO
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April last year. My friend and I left IC half a day early to try to beat the impending blizzard that's about to materialize over Vail Pass. I drive a piece of sh#t 2003 Ford Focus, with SoCal-style Z-rated performance tires. They've been on there since I moved from CA to CO. Too poor/busy to get decent snow tires and new rims for the winters here.
In Vail, the sh#t hits early. Bad. Its really bad. We're east of Vail now when we pull over to the side of the road. Snow is accumulating faster than I can even believe. We look behind us and a 4Runner careens off the road. 4x4s are losing control all around us. Literally, cars flying all over. Spinning off the road. I grew up in New England, and I've seen some sh#t...but nothing quite like this.
My friend looks at me and shouts, "we have to get the hell out of here! I have experience driving is this sh#t...I'll drive!" We jump out of the car to switch places...then a Mack truck loses it and jack knifes at 50 mph. Time slows down as this hulking mass of steel--now a harbinger of death--slides by a mere 48 inches from me. There just wasn't time to think. We get back in the car and manage, just barely, to make it out of the mountains. We drove at a steady 3 MPH for hour after white-knuckled hour desperately inching our way back to Denver.
We were hair's breadth away from total annihilation. We would have been scraped off the pavement with a spatula. It was all I could do not to puke my guts out the entire drive back.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Close proximity to several B-52 strikes at night - think forests of light appearing out of nowhere.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Wrong place at the wrong time. Enjoying myself at the Waikiki Yacht Club after an evening race. Old time feud between Jap-Hawaiian and a retired Air Force guy. Started when the Jap raised a white spinnaker with a Rising Sun emblazoned in the center as he passed the Arizona Memorial in a race.
Arguments got pretty hot and nasty. Air Force guy disappears for a spell, comes back and blasts the Jap in the balls and femur with a 9mm hollowpoint. Then he sprays the place; one guy in the ass, one in the head and catches me diving over a concrete wall and blows away my popliteal artery. Opened up the floodgate so to speak. I wake up in the hospital several days later with Hennek standing beside me. Oh oh, this doesn't look good.
Jap was a prick actually and I probably would have shot him myself if I had that mentality. Guy that shot me claimed insanity and said he was allergic to the additives in white wine. Spent two nights in jail and years in litigation. Ah, the legal system in Hawaii! Never had an affinity for white wine myself.
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hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
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Come on Rat--tell the rest of the story
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SCseagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Labor Day...Ocean City New Jersey, 1972 and our last romp at The Shore before returning to college. I swam competitively through high school and college so I'm a good, strong swimmer. About 4 of us romping around in waist deep water and suddenly an undertow takes my feet right out from under me and I feel myself being pulled under and out. I'm trying to grab the bottom and feel the sand going through my fingers. Eventually the 4 of us are able to link up and pull/swim ourselves to safety. It was amazing to feel yourself being pulled so strongly and know you were only in waist deep water and couldn't control what was happening. The feel of that sand going through my hands is as vivid today as it was then.
Susan
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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I spent a while thinking about my “risky-memories” from the last 50 years.
My worst and most persistent fear was climbing W. Face of Leaning Tower in 1975.
After two days of gut-tearing fear on that climb, everything since has been "OK."
Only reason we climbed Leaning Tower was Gary’s infectious enthusiasm. The only reason we got up it was Gary’s skills and enthusiasm.
I had never climbed overhanging aid, had never jumared, and had never led a pitch with more than a few points of aid.
From the moment we first climbed the dead tree and started the wildly overhanging first pitch, with instantly 600 feet or more of exposure: I was gripped for two days.
Fritz Jumaring first lead above tree. Note rope showing how overhanging this all is.
In below photo of Gary, note the upper rope showing vertical.
So-----on the second hot day we ran out of water about 2 or 3 PM. I remember being very hot & thirsty for a long, long time. Gary finished the last lead in the dark and dozed on the summit while I cleaned. I beat on the last pin, which seemed to be wedged at the tip for about 5 minutes, before figuring out by Braille that it was a bolt and hanger.
We needed water badly, and a full moon was just rising to give us light off the back-side. But as we started down-climbing toward Bridal Veil Creek, the moon seemed to start dimming, then rapidly passed into shadow.
It was a full-eclipse of the moon!
As we started down-climbing toward Bridal Veil Creek, the moon seemed to start dimming, then rapidly passed into shadow.
We did down-climbing by Braille; pushed by our desperate thirst. As the backside of Leaning Tower steepened near its base: we tied both ropes together and used them as a hand-line to descend steeper slabs.
The ropes ended in the dark, touching the tops of some bushes. Gary then down-climbed free-solo, slipped off with a little yelp, and found terra-firma was only a three-foot drop away.
The muddy run-off waters of Bridal Veil Creek were extremely delicious.
Here's Gary the next morning after we staggered back up to the summit to recover our gear.
Unfortunately, I kept at climbing.
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Don Paul
Big Wall climber
Colombia, South America
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Feb 2002, negotiations between government of Colombia and FARC guerrillas fall through, the air force bombs San Vicente del Caguan, which was their capital. Army takes over town center, converts 2x2 square blocks in the middle of the town into a military base, building walls across the intersections with sandbags. I head down there with Jeremy Bigwood a combat photographer who covered the wars in central america for years, also by the way he traveled a few weeks with the Sendero Luminoso in Peru, took awesome shots of them for Caretas.
We traveled around the region to see what was up, went through a number of FARC roadblocks, they still controlled everywhere except the center of town. At one roadblock the guerrillas invited us for breakfast so how can we refuse. The food is white rice, boiled yucas and something they called a chicharron, but it was really an uncooked piece of bacon fat. Served with orange soda. While we're eating this and talking about imperialism and the CIA, these two women about 4' 6" high are butchering a hog on the kitchen table, must have been over a hundred lbs. Everyone is wearing camoflage except us. Chop chop chop, what started as a big animal was divided into hundreds of small pieces. It had the intended effect, we were definitely scared. But of course they let us go after giving us the economics lesson, just wanted to check us out and radio back to HQ who we were.
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Nohea
Trad climber
Living Outside the Statist Quo
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Enjoying myself at the Waikiki Yacht Club
Damn dood, have a few stories that start like that but never ending in the hospital.....ok wait, that's not true .... But never ending with gun fire.
Aloha,
Will
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SalNichols
Big Wall climber
Richmond, CA
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Spent the summer at the WYC, they've really toned things down guido.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Guido! Sorry that I did not read your scared-shooting repy before I posted my Leaning Tower scared story.
May I say?
YowwwwL!
Did you have time to be scared before he shot you?
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Roughster
Sport climber
Vacaville, CA
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1995. In the back room of a music store after being forced back inside via gun point around midnight as myself and another employee were trying to leave after locking up. No joke, I was told, "Put your head down, it is time to die" as he was pushing the gun against my temple.
He left the gun pressed against my head for a few seconds, then took off. I can only imagine the thought process that was going on in his. I looked up after I heard the door slam, and my employee who was with me was bawling his eyes out, and he didn't even ever have a gun against his head!
The only equivalent adrenaline rush I have ever had is when I went into anaphylaxis after eating some shrimp and they stuck my twice with epinephrine, one in the shoulder and one straight into the stomach.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Well, I'd tell ya but then yer life would more than flash before yer eyes.
Can you pronounce 'Kalashnikov'?
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Risk
Mountain climber
Olympia, WA
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Once I was on an ill-fated attempt at Darwin with Sonegere when he forgot his boots. We opted to try Haekel instead and swung around to the west side from the north. No guidebook. We decided to take an aręte instead of a gully. Great 3rd and 4th class climbing for quite a ways when it got steeper. We had some 60' cord "just in case." Things got spooky but all was certainly doable. We were literally within 75 feet of the summit ridge where we would be home free to make the summit. A really easy-looking and fairly low angle open book lieback ascended to the next decent perch, so I went for it. It was easy and solid - except, when I got toward the top, the crack that was my primary gripping crack started getting sharper and sharper. The gap of the open book got wider and wider, and then, peering through the crack, I realized I was ascending on a wafer thin flake that was overhanging the gully we had opted out of. My view vertically downward was hundreds of feet onto broken talus at the bottom of the gully. I realized that I had climbed up a flake that certainly could break under my weight, sending me down to my demise. Way freaky, suddenly.
I've never regretted retreating and traversing back to an easy pass to head back to camp. I was basically in shock and scared sh-tless for the rest of the day. I had similar experiences on the north side of Shepherd Crest, the south side of Lyell/McClure saddle and in Yosemite Valley, but none quite as scary as Haekel.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Most scared and probably most scarred would be appropriate here for me.
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Crackslayer
Trad climber
Eldo
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The most scared I have ever been climbing was actually on an approach. Me and my buddies tried to climb the curacanti needle in the winter. The reservoir was frozen but we didn't know where the water level was at. Anyways, after a warm february day of watching huge sections of rock fall onto the ice when and after getting about a pitch from the summit, we bailed. The walk back across the ice to the other side of the canyon to hoke out was a terror fest. I kept waiting to watch my friends plunge through the ice. Never happened! A year later they went back and did it in the winter. Party of 3 isn't too ideal for that stuff and I opted out of doing that sketchy crossing.
The most scared I should have been climbing was when we were simuling n chimney on the diamond and I was leading about 15 ft from broadway when my 2nd ate it. Damn near pulled me off. I didn't really know what was going on so I wasn't scared but just very confused.
The most scared I have ever been not climbing is when I rolled my car 300 ft. off of hw 50 in sw colorado. I thought we were going to roll straight off of a cliff but got super lucky and came to a stop. Tow truck driver said he had never seen a car go that far off of the road. Cost a fortune to get my totaled car out. I am just lucky I was sober and didn't kill my passenger.
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BBA
climber
OF
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Something made me take a voice/singing class once, and thinking about getting up in front of an uncaring audience and singing Handel arias was scary, much worse than public speaking or climbing. Thinking about things is the problem, both before and after the event. I still relive one part of one climb in 1962 where we were on the thin edge, but at the time I was focussed on getting on with what needed to be done. A mind is a terrible thing...
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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If you’re rock climbing I think that there are many times you are just a breath from death and don’t know it. Maybe we’ve all been there.
Closest I came - with time to digest it - was going through the springtime lake ice on skis. Buddy went through first. I tried to get close enough to throw him a rope. Mistake - broke through. Got the skis off and laid up on the ice. Tried to mantle onto them. Ice was candled - like slush - always collapsed. After while I tried to get the pack off - it was taking water. Hands were numb - couldn’t feel the buckle. Stuck with it. Kept mantling around looking for firm ice, the hole getting bigger, the strength draining. Finally, water at lip level, thought I might as well let go. No way out. But I remembered what a guy looked like we fished out of a lake, and that pissed me off.
Think, dammit! Can’t get on top. Can’t swim under it. Gotta go through it!
Hung onto the skis with one hand, broke the fragile ice with the other arm all the way to shallow water. Slipped off the ski grip once, went down. Muddy bottom clung like a dead hand. But I pushed up, kept going, maybe 100 feet. Barely able to move. Finally crawled ashore. So did my buddy. There was a drift of dead aspen leaves under a south facing sunny cutbank. Gnawed the matchbox open (couldn’t use fingers), got a fire going. Stumbled up and down the beach area collecting wood. We thawed for four hours. It hurt. The pain felt good.
There’s more to it - another even closer call which still horrifies me - but we got back across the 5 miles of lake next day, by helicopter, after building 3 signal fires. Pretty dumb then, learned a helluva lot since.
There was plenty of time to feel the warmth and life being inexorably pulled out of me. They say dying of hypothermia is easy. Don’t believe it.
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Jeez Ron - you sound like you've lived your life at gunpoint!
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
Panorama City, California & living in Seattle
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Mid 70s me and a friend had just soloed a small waterfall (waterice) in the Snake River Canyon. We were traversing up the slope above the waterfall to get to the next section of ice when I heard a loud crack and looked up to see the whole upper wall of ice coming off. It was probably 50-100 feet high and it was in the air coming at me. I dove into a very shallow depression in the slope and somehow the ice just washed over and past me. My friend was far enough behind me to be OK. We were glad there was no rope to help drag us off. The worst part after that we had to downclimb a rotten hollow wall of ice to get to the ground 100 to 200' feet below. I don't remember being that terrified but the elation later sure meant I was at some level. It was one of those situations were we should have climbed earlier in the week when it was colder!
I got pretty scared once when I lost control of my Corvair coming down From Castle Rock in San Jose. The car was leaping wildly from one side of itself to the other (just like it was supposed to) and I just missed that big tree..............
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
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one time i was sitting on the beach at new zealand, and all of a sudden the tide starts going out, like a frickin tsunami is gonna come in, so i ran up the trail and scaled the nearest pali when all of a sudden a 100 foot wave of purple winged maggots came crashing ashore, once they landed, they turned into jungle chipmunks, which headed up the cliff to eat us, then an F-14 dropped a load of tear gas and leaflets asking for the support of jimmy hoffa for the international teamsters union,
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the kid
Trad climber
fayetteville, wv
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Most scared climbing.
space babble with Cosgrove in 1984- that route is bold..
solo ascent of ZM. couple of pitches up there sent me for a loop for sure.
burning down the house..
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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I did once go both end-for-end and rolled several times as a passenger in a Toyota MR-2 after locking rear bumpers with a car going the other way at high speeds. Oddly enough I wasn't scared, but rather was just staring at the glove compartment button marveling at how comfortable the seat belts were.
When it came to a stop the glass was all gone and there was pretty much nothing left of the thing except for the cage we were sitting in but we were both completely unhurt - kudos to Toyota engineers.
Another time I stopped at a stop light turning yellow only I never actually slowed down. I distinctly remember looking in the rearview mirror and seeing this:
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Come on Rat--tell the rest of the story
Only told a few people.
Decades ago, I was hiking in a remote area in the days before cell phones. I was doing contract investigations for the park service, and had made arrangements with the park superintendent to do some detailed exploring of the area. The area was remote, but was serviced by a 4x4 road.
There were a lot of Anasazi structures in the area, and evidence of a lot of pot hunting. The floors were all dug up, screens, shovels, buckets, etc. This was not careful archeological excavation, this was pot hunting. And it appeared to be recent.
I saw an old cairn near the trail and went over to take a look. That was my job. Below the cairn I found some pristine Anasazi pots in plain sight. The pots were probably more than 1,000 years old.
Unbeknownst to me, the park service already knew about the pots and had installed motion detectors at the site. The pots were in a several-month process of being repatriated to the local Native American tribe. The superintendent knew that I would be doing detailed exploration in that area but had not warned me of what I would find, and had not told what to do in case I found something like that.
I didn't know what to do, either, so I did what I thought was best. I was concerned that someone would steal the pottery, and it would be a few days before I got back into civilization, so I moved the pots about 2 feet so they weren't in plain sight anymore.
Later that day, two park service law enforcement officers, who were also Native Americans of the local tribe, caught up to me. I had set off the motion detectors and they thought that I had stolen the pots, so they took me back to the spot to see if the pottery was still there.
When they saw that I had moved the pottery, they were furious that I had "defiled" their sacred items. I explained to them my concerns and why I had moved the pots. I asked why the park service hadn't warned me of what I would find, and why the superintendent hadn't instructed me what to do if I found such items. Of course, I apologized profusely and told them that I did what I thought was right.
None of that mattered. The park rangers were so furious that they had their guns and they were going to execute me. Can you imagine what it's like to be sitting on your knees while two people with guns argue about who gets to shoot you?
Moral of the story: the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Have you heard that before?
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steveA
Trad climber
bedford,massachusetts
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All good tales here:
I counted up how many times I have been VERY close to death, and the total is 9 times. In most cases, I wasn't scared for long, since it was over in less than a minute, in all but one case.
I've been shocked by lightning twice; wounded in Vietnam twice, a bullet grazed my head, and a load of shrapnel in my leg, the second time.
Fell in a crevase while my dumb-ass was soloing Mt. Blanc in Feb.
My multiple epic solo of the Prow, in 1970; including a 100 foot fall, and getting caught in a raging hail/lightning storm on the last pitch.
Getting grazed by a grapefruit sized rock, while attempting a new route on HCR with Phil Gleason.
Taking a bad leader fall 8 years ago, on halfdome, climbing with my son. I got pretty banged up on that one.
I think the fear factor escalates when you have more time to think about it, and my scariest moment was on the last pitch of the Walker Spur, belaying John Bouchard up, trying to beat an approaching thunderstorm.
We didn't make it in time, and the storm was on top of us. Hail, snow and continuous lightning strikes, in close proximity.
We met up with legendary Voytek Kurtyka and partner, who were following us, in a hurry as well.
Voytek took of leading and Bouchard soon after. It was blowing snow so hard, I really couldn't see very far, but there was this huge lightning stike, and a large rock came flying by.
I expected to see John's body fly buy as well, and I knew I wouldn't be able to hold him, since I had no anchor.
Voytek belayed me up 1st, before his partner, since John took a pretty bad hit from the lightning.
Years later, Voytek, in an interview said that was his scariest moment in the mountains; as well as mine.
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mcreel
climber
Barcelona
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To get really scared, you need some time to appreciate the problem you're in. I guess the most scared I ever was was early in my leading career, wandering around somewhere on Seneca Rocks, off route, in terrain that was too difficult for me, and which didn't take pro. Arms pumping, hands sweating, not sure when it will end, and no way to go down, except by falling off.
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Wow Rat.. You got the MOTHER of all tooling.
Great stories everyone.
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east side underground
climber
Hilton crk,ca
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doing 90mph down 395 while my daughter's throat is constricting due to some unknown virus, thinking I might have to do a emergency tractiotomy.
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hossjulia
Trad climber
Where the Hoback and the mighty Snake River meet
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Took a header at the top of Hangmans in Mammoth and had plenty of time to think I was gunna die as I watched the rocks in the dog leg coming at my head fast. I was screaming F*#K NO as loudly as I could and somehow that momentum got me spun around enough to hit the rocks with my ass, well not really, just below the hip joint really, just barley missed smashing that up.
2 guys watching me said I kinda flipped over the rocks at the last minute. They were a little afraid I wasn't going to make it, but a lot of people fall down that thing.
Helped me pick up my yard sale, which was huge since it stretched a few hundred feet up hill. (I slid all the way to St. Anton)
Ended up un-hurt, but the blow to my confidence has never healed.
Degree-phobia, much over 40 and I can't do it unless it's deep.
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Close proximity to several B-52 strikes at night
I cannot think of anything that could or would be more terrifying than this. I think this one wins by a long shot.
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Gobi
Trad climber
Orange CA
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1. Watching Steven Kings "IT" when I was ten.
2. Getting busted for shoplifting.
3. Not being able to down climb and thinking I was for sure going fall in the "no fall zone" on The Lion in Eldo.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Yes, scared is something you realize after the fact.
I'm familiar enough with that concept. During the intensity of the moment the fear does not sink in, but after...
On the other hand there was the time when I stood face to face with three Puerto Ricans in a parking lot in NYC, one had a knife, one a bat and one a gun under his jacket. They had taken everything I had including my clothing. It was a good haul for them, a nice case with three trumpets, a sizable bag of weed and several hundred dollars cash. Now they were to decide my fate, and time came to a standstill as the ringleader, the one with the knife, stood face to face with me and stabbed me, kind of gently in a weird way, in the right side of my groin. He was poking around with the knife looking for my femoral artery (he missed, but I still have the scars.)
In my mind I left the scene. I was standing there but I was gone, staring into space. Finally they just walked away and left me standing there. I am certain to this day that had I flinched or begged or shown any sign of fear I would have been cut up. I never knew if the gun was real, he kept his distance and it did not matter anyway. I wrapped myself in some cardboard which was handy and walked the three blocks home.
It was St. Patrick's day, 1977.
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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I've had quite a few, but nothing comes close to working in Entebbe, Uganda in 1983. Idi Amin had been kicked out a few years earlier and the new guy, Obote, was doing equally bad things, just not bragging about it. Every day we had to drive through a stretch of road (the one between Entebbe and Kampala) where there would be numerous bandits setting up "roadblocks" to rob people.
Almost twice a day, for a month, we would get pulled over by guys in fatigues and carrying AK-47s. They'd make us get out, hands on the top of the car, guns to our heads and look at our papers. They were not official, just locals, but who was going question them? The only thing that saved us was that we had official papers stating that we were working for the government. Those guys WERE afraid of the government and wanted no part of having to deal with Obote's men.
The day we left Entebbe, a public bus was pulled over at one of these roadblocks and someone on the bus got into an argument with one of the bandits. They sprayed the bus with gunfire and set it on fire, more than a dozen dead.
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mhay
climber
Reno, NV
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December 2000. Soloing Spaceshot in Zion. I had fixed to the top of the second aid pitch. Left the rack at the highpoint (bad idea), rapped to the ledge to spend the night. It rained most of the night. The next morning I decided to wait a few days to give the rock a chance to dry out, but wanted to retrieve my rack off the high point. I started jugging the ~180' to the highpoint anchor, which consisted of two drilled angles, and two TCUs in the crack to the right of the drilled angles. I get about halfway and the rope drops me a few inches. WTF? At this point the rain starts again. I'm trying to determine if it's a slipping rope sheath, or what. I continue jugging, several feet up again the rope drops me several inches. And it starts hailing. I'm trying to see through the rain and hail past the slight bulge that prevents me from seeing the upper section of the rope. Had the wind the previous night abraded the rope against the rock? I had tied it fairly loose at the bottom in hopes of avoiding that. Could the anchor be a problem? Four bomber pieces, two of which are drilled angles. At this point I'm just trying to convince myself that it will all be okay, and I'm being a pussy. Time to sack-up and go get that gear. I continued up, and after a few more gut-wrenching drops I reached the anchor. The two TCUS in the crack had been dragging down through the softened rock, and the master-point of the anchor had been equalizing, swinging over to weight the drilled angles. It was still hailing, so I went ahead and cleaned the anchor and rapped all the way to the ground. By the time I got to the ground I had shaken it off, and went back a few days later to complete the route.
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MisterE
Social climber
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Doing a boat rescue in Alaska in 40-foot seas (another boat was adrift, and we were the only operable boat even remotely close) - lashed to the rail and seeing a rouge wave: a wall of 45-degree green water over the top of the wheelhouse in front of me, coming straight for us.
Here we go.
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allapah
climber
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snow cave on McGinnis Peak, Alaska Range, February, two days up the NE Ridge- we're pinned down for days with no food and little fuel- the wind is dumping enormous loads of snow directly on top of the snow cave- the grains of snow in the cave walls are compressing and the cave is emitting these hideous squeaking sounds- i'm in my bag staring at the ceiling inches from my nose, waiting to be squished- now, you structural physicists, how does this work? is it possible for this cave, this little bubble deep inside the snowpack, to simply go "pwwth!" due to the weight of snow above, and cease to be a bubble, cease to be a cave? or does the force from the increased weight distribute into the walls of the cave, leaving the bubble intact? i convinced myself that according to physics, we would not be squished...
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
the crowd MUST BE MOCKED...Mocked I tell you.
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jeeperfukincreepers people. That's some sh#t.
The one that comes to mind for me is the one with GOMZ on El Cap. Had not had that much rock fall come that close to me. It's a visceral reaction.
The rock dust blowing back up the wall.
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Crackslayer
Trad climber
Eldo
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3. Not being able to down climb and thinking I was for sure going fall in the "no fall zone" on The Lion in Eldo.
Did you not clip the fixed mastercam? Is that on or off? Seems like it is 3 ft to the left below the crux. It might not be there anymore but it was prob 6 months ago. Only TR's this bad boy it is going to be a long term project for me.
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Sir Donald
Trad climber
Denver, CO
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Newbie paraglider pilot - I thought I was immortal. Freshman year at University of Utah - I paid my money at the point of the mountain - got my lessons - bought an old NorthSail glider I was to light for and away I went. I launched off anything and everything I could. Landed in school ball fields and back yards - many twisted ankles. No Brains :(
Then I moved to Jackson, WY for river guiding and launched off everything I could out Hoback Canyon - UNTIL - the day I quit. I was 1000 fett over canyon launch all on strong thermals and a low thunderhead came over the ridge and I was in it - cloud suck all the way - screaming up up up bashing around - no idea what to do - I was broke and flew without a reserve. I had to full stall the glider and fall out I knew, but I could'nt get the guts up to do it - but I was frozen, wet, and terrified. So the strom helped me out, and I wnt into a negative spin and then stall and dropped out the bottom of the clouds and saw the ground coming fast and I pumped my A lines to inflate the gider and spun into the ground at max speed with only half a chute - broken ankle, broken wrist, broken clavicle, 2 broken teeth, half bit off tongue, concussion. I haven't flown since. Terrified of it actually. Now the time squirt boating on the Snake and almost drowning is another story.
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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I don't get scared on the fast near death experiences. My brain just clears out and zones in. You know, that hyper-aware time dialation experience. I might notice a trembling finger or something after it is over, kind of like a fired up race horse.
I get scared shitless when things happen slower. We all have our strenghts and weaknesses.
Do any of you catch yourself wondering why you are even still alive? It is weird when you get old and look back. The older you get, the more dead guys you know. I know a whole bunch of dead guys.
Then when you get up around 50 here, you start seeing friends die from natural causes more often. That sucks. That is awful.
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steve shea
climber
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Was in Vegas for the old SIA ski show. One night coming back from dinner walking through the hotel lobby some guy comes out of the elevator with two guns drawn. He fires off two shots into the lobby and started to run down the hall toward the front door. I was directly across from the elevator when he came out. After soiling my britches I ran as fast as I could and dove head first into the news stand door and cleared a magazine rack before landing on a number of people already hiding. Hotel security finally tackled him and got the weapons. All this right in front of us. We're talking scared! Meth crazed Vegas citizen out for a night on the town. I'll never forget it, I thought I was toast.
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go-B
climber
Hebrews 1:3
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I woke up this morning at 8, and could smell something was wrong. I got downstairs and found the wife face down on the kitchen floor, not breathing! I panicked. I didn’t know what to do. Then I remembered McDonald’s serves breakfast until 11:30.
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ruppell
climber
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When I was 15 I had a gun pulled on me at VERY close range. That's by far scariest thing that's ever happened to me. Makes car wrecks and being way run out on lead seem like a vacation. One day I'll tell the rest of the story.
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pud
climber
Sportbikeville & Yucca brevifolia
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My own life? I don't think I have ever been oddly enough.
Afraid of getting hurt maybe, but death, I can't remember even one time.
Holding my 3yr old asthmatic son in my arms while he gasped for air is the most frightened I have ever been, without exception.
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paul roehl
Boulder climber
california
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Have to agree with the child in danger/sick... had a similar experience with my son turning blue in my arms suffering from a seizure. He was only a year and a half and had a really high temp. Can't describe the feeling, beyond fear... He was fine but life never had quite the same ease/quality for me after that.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Base 104! Re your mention: I don't get scared on the fast near death experiences. My brain just clears out and zones in. You know, that hyper-aware time dialation experience. I might notice a trembling finger or something after it is over, kind of like a fired up race horse.
I get scared shitless when things happen slower. We all have our strenghts and weaknesses.
Do any of you catch yourself wondering why you are even still alive?
Yep! I'm with you all the way!
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Truthdweller
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Having a #7 stopper fall out, and looking at a 50' ground fall on Johnny Quest at Suicide, then climbing another ten feet to finally cram in a #3 Friend while totally pumped would of been my scariest moment until...
ELEVEN mortars hit FOB Hit, near simultaneously, in Iraq in a coordinated attack one afternoon in 2004. Only those that have experienced close proximity ordinance phenomenon can relate, I had never, until then. FOB Hit was the heaviest mortared and rocketed FOB in theater at that time. Otherwise, it was the most boring "campout" of my life...relatively speaking, thank God.
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GhoulweJ
Trad climber
El Dorado Hills, CA
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For me, I'm not afraid of dying. I don't want too, but I dig my life and will always have big future plans but I know one day, the lights will dim.
For me it's more like the day I saw the small child at beach near bodega bay get engulfed by a surprise wave. I threw myself into the ocean being sucked out to sea scrambling for the missing 4 year old. I couldn't find him...
There was no way I was going to fail alive so I dove deep. and got caught in a fast current. I extended my arms in front of me face in case I hit some thing. i had my hand open and suddenly my fingers snagged his clothes!
Thrashing my right arm in the water trying to swim to the surface with his shirt in left hand i drug us both to the surface..... He was crying (thank gawd!).
I look back toward shore and it's a long way away...
Well, as you all ready know, we made it back to the beach.
Parents never said thanks.
I was 15. My older buddies just said "You're f*#king stupid"... Maybe.
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Truthdweller
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Parents never said thanks.
That's okay, your initial motivation wasn't that you'd get a "thank you." Scripture calls that love, the willing sacrificial giving of oneself, for the benefit of another, without thought of return (ref John 3:16).
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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 9, 2013 - 07:50pm PT
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I'm kind of in the 'not fearing death' camp as well, but sometimes something so violent and unexpected happens.
I'm also in the 'not scared at the time, just reacting' camp. Fear is more of a reminiscence, unless...
You get violently jumped. It's happened to me, I didn't stand a chance, and I felt fear. However, I only feared for my health, not my life.
After the hospital visit, I was angry at my own fear. It's such a complex subject, fear.
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GhoulweJ
Trad climber
El Dorado Hills, CA
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Brandon, I hear ya 'bout fear being complexed and all.
One time I drew down face to face with a guy.
My jaw locked and determined. He just went away... Thank gawd!
EDIT: Truthdweller, Thanks ;)
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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 9, 2013 - 08:20pm PT
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I've feared what I may have to do many times. Be it at the top of a chute, below a certain runout section, or in a back alley.
It's the cognizance of risk that creates fear. When you either have to sh#t or get off the pot, so to speak.
I find that I feel fear briefly, then I'm fortunate enough to be able to compartmentalize said feelings. Fight or flight, I guess. I fight.
This topic intrigues me.
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MisterE
Social climber
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It's funny, I never mentioned the Alaska rescue in my "Near Death Experiences" thread (linked above) because I trusted the "Sylvia" to make it through the rescue - and she did. It was just that staring at the ice-cold waves towering over us that struck the notes of fear for a moment...or a while.
As has been stated, when death is near, there is a calmness and focus to either avoid or accept what is coming, I have found - as well as others. Also (as mentioned) there is often no time to be afraid.
It was knowing I was going to go for the ride of my life and get the cold-water smack-down from the pacific that really frightened me. The sheer power of the storm before the rogue wave was the build-up...that feeling that you are just a small element of a force so much larger than you, and yet: here you are in a place you have no business being to save some stranded souls...Not one of us hesitated when the Skipper asked us if we would do it.
We towed that boat to safety in crazy following seas that tested our captain, the Sylvia and the tensile strength of our tow-line.
Watching a boat you are towing tower above you 40 feet and 100 behind you, then come rushing down while you take in line like a madman on the hydraulic hauler, then ease it out as you mount the next roller.
Mad exercises in the open seas.
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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I take back what I said earlier.
I did get insanely scared when I did my first BASE jump. This was almost 30 years ago and the gear was total cave man. The gear was just getting there for it to be possible. Now you go through a mentoring process, buy BASE specific gear, you name it. You can even go through a first jump school.
I jumped El Cap on my 24th jump. Back then you had to start with five static line jumps, then work your way up to longer and longer delays. I had been off of student status for only ten jumps or so.
I was up there with my buddies and Walt who tagged along. I tell ya. There was 3 feet of snow on top and I was standing there with my gear on ten feet from the edge waiting my turn. I was so scared that I thought I was going to vomit.
I went 3rd (last) and the microsecond that my feet left the exit, my entire mind became supercalm and hyper aware. That is one damn cool experience.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Feb 10, 2013 - 12:08am PT
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I'm kind of in the 'not fearing death' camp as well, but sometimes something so violent and unexpected happens.
I'll put it like this:
I'm not at all afraid of being dead. It is the transition which concerns me...
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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Feb 10, 2013 - 12:18am PT
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^^^Yeah. What he said. I just hope it doesn't hurt.^^^^
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MisterE
Social climber
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Feb 10, 2013 - 12:23am PT
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It really does come down to that Kris - well put...
although they have pretty good drugs and hospice to make even THAT part easier now.
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mechrist
Gym climber
South of Heaven
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Feb 10, 2013 - 01:10am PT
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I literally wet myself when my neighbor chased me out of his garden when I was 6. I was dared to steal some vegetables. I snuck over there and had just picked a tomato when the 6' tall dude came charging out of his house. Before I could even take a breath he was towering over me. I'm telling you all this in the strictest of confidence. I know we're all friends and this won't leave the Taco.
I'm happy to report I have not lost control of my bladder since.
I've been pretty scurd the 4 times I've found myself looking down the wrong end of a gun barrel, but I held my sh#t.
I was skurd when 5 of us got jumped by a group of 10+ high school kids, but I managed. Unfortunately Jeff didn't manage as well... lost 3 teeth, had 4 broken ribs, and had a fractured skull... pretty brutal for a 14 year old.
Most frightened I have ever been climbing was looking for the descent on East Butt of Middle. We had done the first 3 pitches of Central Pillar earlier that day. Finishing EButt around dark we convinced ourselves the rap was "just to the climber's L." We found some anchors and started rapping. After 2 raps I saw some fresh chalk on what I thought was a pretty cool looking climb... turns out it was the top of P8 on E Butt... so we climbed back up. It was exciting climbing up through them trees, but what really skurd me was when I put my hand on a 4' boulder to look over a sloping edge for some anchors. It slid about 6 inches and was less than that from going over the edge. It was at that time I learned to levitate. Sometimes, when I get really really really fuked up and start thinking of death, it is easy to convince myself that I actually died that day and this is the resulting dream/nightmare.
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MisterE
Social climber
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Feb 10, 2013 - 01:21am PT
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Sometimes, when I get really really really fuked up and start thinking of death, I imagine I actually died that day and this is the resulting dream.
You imagine or you believe? Why do you need to get really really fuked up to consider death?
As I mentioned, all living beings have a 100% mortality rate...except for the Tardigrade...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade
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mechrist
Gym climber
South of Heaven
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Feb 10, 2013 - 01:26am PT
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I consider death often... several times a day... but generally in a philosophical/intellectual/shallow sort of way. A common phrase I have repeated to myself far too often over the last couple decades is "there's nothing I HAVE to do, except die." I'm well aware of that aspect of my future.
The experience I was talking about is more transcendental.
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Bruce Morris
Social climber
Belmont, California
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Feb 10, 2013 - 01:46am PT
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There's fear, and then there's panic. Fear is of some external danger. Panic occurs when there's some internal threat to your existence. Fear is felt in the brain in the amygdala, they don't know yet where panic is experienced. But if a person does not have an amygdala, they don't register any fear, even if attacked with a knife or gun. They're fearless.
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| Messages 1 - 73 of total 73 in this topic |
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