Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
| Messages 1 - 58 of total 58 in this topic |
philo
Trad climber
Is that light the end of the tunnel or a train?
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 25, 2013 - 10:50am PT
|
Who's got stories? Post em up.
This is my almost finished entry for the "Life Event" poster challenge at the upcoming American Alpine Club Front Range regional dinner. First place prize is a new climbing rope. The competition won't know what hit them. My display is 3 dimensional and lights up.
And man oh man could I use a new rope.
|
|
10b4me
Boulder climber
Somewhere on 395
|
|
|
Feb 25, 2013 - 11:54am PT
|
Climbed the north ridge of Conness in a t & l storm back in '97. Liked it so much did again on Little Lakes peak a couple of years ago
|
|
drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
|
|
|
Feb 25, 2013 - 11:58am PT
|
Philo- a while back you posted a photo of Falling Ross at Granite Mountain.
That is the site of my scariest ever lightning experience.
As locals, we used to climb up there whenever, heat didn't deter us. I think the falcon closure had been lifted so we were stoked to climb, even in August, monsoon season.
We had been rained off the day before, as had some visiting climbers from New Hampshire. In the parking lot they told us they had to bail and leave a bunch of gear. They were NOT going back up and it was all ours.
The lure of booty was strong, so knowing that the monsoon cycle was in full swing, we got an early start and retrieved the out-of-towner's gear. We still had plenty of time, or so we thought, before the storms, so we thought we'd run up Falling Ross, a pretty demanding GM 5.10.
The aspect of the cliff at GM obscures half the sky. The half above us was beautiful blue but as Matty started the second pitch some thunderheads started peaking out from the other half of the sky we couldn't see.
By the time he was through the meat it was raining. Just like that.
Those were the kind of thunderheads that grow like time-lapse photography, but right before your eyes.
We bailed and by the time we got to the ground it was hailing and thunder and lightning were getting closer.
Hiking out in the rain, granny marble sized hail, and lightning was not enticing so we hunkered down in a little cave at the base with our dogs, thinking it'd be over quickly.
The lightning was getting closer and closer, then instantaneous with the thunder. Strikes were hitting very close. I felt like I was in a fox hole in the war and the next bomb drop would kill us.
Trees were steaming, or smoking. Sulfur was in the air.
I knew from my training that a wet dank granite cave is not the safest place to be in a lightning storm but the alternatives felt more dangerous and hateful.
So we sat on our packs, in the crouching lightning safety approved position and waited for each next flash crack and boom.
Matty's dog Kinta had bailed as soon as the strikes got close, he was over it. But my dog Kaya was sticking it out with us, trembling and scared.
At one point her legs got wobbly, my feet were on the ground too at that point. I felt the ground current. The electrical currents were running through the rock and everything was energized. Our hair was standing up and even faint "halos" around our heads. Scary sh#t.
Some dudes were running down the trail and we invited them to join us and get out of the hail for a sec. The next strike hit and I watched one dude get lifted off the ground and hit the back of his neck on the roof of the cave. They split too, panicking.
The storm was parked right above us and the strikes continued. We felt paralyzed with fear.
Matty, who is Jewish but not religious, says "Jefe, I think this is a pretty f*#king good time to have a cigarette and start praying".
"God, whoever you are, BAM!!!, please take care of Kinta and Kaya when we die BAM!!!..."
Well, we didn't die and the assault finally stopped.
We were worried for some friends that had topped out in the storm and wondered what they went through.
We got back to the car to find Kinta trembling underneath, and we waited for all the parties to reconvene and debrief.
Our buddies who had topped out were caught on the exposed summit and experienced strong ground currents, enough to get thrown around.
"like god picked us up and dropped us ten feet away" they said. CRAZY!!!
Some out of towners were caught on Waterstreak Delight, obviously not a good place to be. Hanging on ancient bolts in two inches of running water, a few hundred feet off the ground.
One of those guys had burns on his hands from grabbing charged up gear.
That was some babble right there, sorry. But that lightning storm definitely stands out as my scariest. My dog Kaya was never the same, and neither was the 4th of July or New Years, or any other holiday with fireworks or loud noises.
|
|
rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
|
|
|
Feb 25, 2013 - 11:59am PT
|
Ron....Grounded chairs , blammo...? This explains much....
|
|
rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
|
|
|
Feb 25, 2013 - 12:02pm PT
|
That hair is so big that it creates its' own weather...
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
|
Feb 25, 2013 - 12:03pm PT
|
One of my Scottish partners got caught on the N Face of the Piz Badile. The
storms come up from the northern Italian plains to the south and you can't
see them coming very well. The full fury broke as they were heading up into
the exit chimneys which funnel everything that falls on the summit slopes.
Think fifth class chimneys with avalanches every few minutes, if you're lucky.
If you're unlucky you're in a waterfall. Alan was lucky, until the lightning
started. Then he reached for a hold and the world exploded. The bolt hit
his outstretched hand but he managed to hang on even though it went numb
immediately. He had to keep leading as they were simul-climbing and couldn't
afford to stop and switch leaders. He just dragged his limp arm dangling at
his side. They made it onto the summit slopes and survived the subsequent
lightning as they made it down the ridge to the hut. An hour or so later
the feeling returned to his arm.
|
|
philo
Trad climber
Is that light the end of the tunnel or a train?
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Feb 25, 2013 - 12:05pm PT
|
LOL LOLocker.
Dreljefe, damn I could smell the fear.
Grim story, glad you all survived.
Take a moment or ten and read the linked 5280 article.
|
|
drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
|
|
|
Feb 25, 2013 - 12:55pm PT
|
Philo, I read the linked article.
I remember your lightning story but didn't know about the lasting effects.
How's that going? Still to this day?
"If the thunder don't get you than the lightning will!"
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
|
Feb 25, 2013 - 01:16pm PT
|
Philo, I just read yer story. Glad you've pulled through. I bet you're a
very safe electrician now. :-)
|
|
Heyzeus
climber
Hollywood,Ca
|
|
|
Feb 25, 2013 - 01:27pm PT
|
Saw a cool Nova the other night. It had a piece on lightening. Apparantly there are 40 strikes per second around the globe and lightening strikes provide some important element or nutrient, that is only created via the lightening. Was also cool to see our world as energy expressed.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/earth-from-space.html
|
|
crunch
Social climber
CO
|
|
|
Feb 25, 2013 - 01:41pm PT
|
Wow, I don't think I'd heard or read that story before. I have heard tales of unpleasant, strange, long-term effects from others. The lightning can play weird tricks with the nervous system, and nerves repair themselves very slowly. Plus it must be utterly traumatizing.
I've had my ears buzzing on three occasions. Close-by explosions of thunder are up there with the loud buzz of an almost-underfoot rattler for provoking primal terror.
|
|
enjoimx
Trad climber
Yosemite, ca
|
|
|
Feb 25, 2013 - 03:22pm PT
|
Last late summer / early fall I was heading down Tioga pass heading for some hot tubs. The lightning was bad enough in the valley that we decided it wouldn't be safe to hot tub. So we start driving back up the pass and the storm intensifies with elevation. Really really intense hail rain and lightning everywhere. It was the first time I saw horizontal lightning right in front of my car, and I saw that multiple times. It was really cool and I suppose safe enough since. Was in a car.
|
|
deschamps
Trad climber
Out and about
|
|
|
Feb 25, 2013 - 03:41pm PT
|
I am living proof that the lightening position works. Out of a group of 6 only me and my ex were in the lightening position. We barely felt anything. The other 4 experienced burns, temporary paralysis, trouble breathing, and the loss of an eye.
Too long of a story to tell here, but the lightening position works.
|
|
philo
Trad climber
Is that light the end of the tunnel or a train?
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Feb 25, 2013 - 06:15pm PT
|
Shocking but true. The Lightning stance works. And it looks cool too. About a year after my lightning strike I was at the grocery store. Minding my own business shopping for vegetables. Unbeknownst to me this grocery store had a unusual alarm system To let people know they were about to water the vegetables. Lights would flash and thunder would sound. When it happened to me I hit the deck at free fall speed and assumed the Lightning Stance position. Other shoppers thought I was crazed but I certainly felt safer. Later on I suggested to management That playing Singing in the Rain would be much better.
|
|
ROtotheC
Trad climber
Denver, CO
|
|
|
Feb 25, 2013 - 06:30pm PT
|
I've never been hit, but had a few close calls. I was tramatized for a while. Even if I was in my apartment during a thunderstorm I would sit/sleep on the floor, somehow feeling safer there. Been working through it, but I still HATE being outside when there is lightning in the area. I also thought that I should read up on it and maybe that would help me be less fearful. I watched a documentary that was saying that scientists still don't know what actually triggers a strike to occur. They obviously understand the charges aligning and that stuff, but the specific moment when the strike initiates is a mystery. Scary stuff!
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
|
|
|
Feb 25, 2013 - 08:54pm PT
|
Hoh man! Ed's crack is not at benign as it looks!!
.....and you're an electrician?
|
|
paul roehl
Boulder climber
california
|
|
|
Feb 25, 2013 - 09:15pm PT
|
Thunderstorms can be mighty scary. Was up on Mt. Dade one year in a T. S. that was incredibly intense with strikes everywhere and anywhere in unbelievably quick succession. Seen lots of storms but nothing quite like that. No place to hide, nothing to do but scream back at the sky and hope you're not too unlucky. After that experience I felt like I'd gained lots of lightning antibodies.
|
|
Psilocyborg
climber
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2013 - 12:23am PT
|
I was caught in a bad spot in Humphreys Basin. I also realized the granite boulder I was hiding in was a death trap, but there was little I could do. I was pinned down for a good 30 minutes probably, it actually seemed like hours. Half of that I was in a cloud and couldnt see exactly where the strikes were because the whole cloud lit up with each strike. Like being in a fog machine with strobe lights that will kill you.
Another time I was trapped in a bad spot near the sphinx in SEKI, but there was cover semi close.
The building arc does create some strange sensations, but actually lifted in the air?!?
|
|
skywalker
climber
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2013 - 12:57am PT
|
Well I got hit once. Myself and two friends hiked up 4th of July trail. We reached the saddle between South Arapahoe and ??? Peak. We were looking down into I think Tabernash or at least toward Frasier Valley (you can see my geography isn't that great). We didn't have much ambition that day, just a stroll. It was calm but cloudy but no typical sign of "Thunderstorm". I snapped a few photos and was still gazing when suddenly an orange "ball" appeared in front of me and suddenly I felt I was in an intense electric field. It was difficult to recognize what was really happening because there was nothing to put us on alert. But it sort of forced me to duck as if under a helecopter and I began reaching for a boulder or something to kinda keep balance and "snap"! Think over the course of a second or so but in slow motion.
I saw the brightest white flash of light you can't ever imagine! At the same time my arm was blown back as if I touched a "force" for a lack of better words and at the same time my muscles flexed and I was now on my back while hearing the most deafening "Bang" I've ever heard. My friends were also blown off their feet and on their backs.
Sort of still in a fog I tried to get up but the electric field kept me "under the helecopter". At that point I just ran, and ran, and ran down hill faster than I could at sea level much less at 12,000ft.
The kicker was that when the adrenalin wore off and I stopped I had left my pack (camera and all) at the saddle. Yes I sheepishly went and got it all.
I used to walk around like the surf lovin captian in Apocolypse Now. But now I run at the sight of a thunderstorm.
Never will forget that!
S...
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2013 - 01:04am PT
|
There are no atheists in foxholes or electrical storms.
|
|
limpingcrab
Trad climber
the middle of CA
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2013 - 01:30am PT
|
Does getting electrocuted trying to climb a radio tower count? Sorta like a 10 inch lightning bolt.
|
|
rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2013 - 01:30am PT
|
Lightning and Jesus are not to be taken lightly...I have had the devil scared out of me one too many times and don't think twice about running for it before the clouds start swirling....I was skiing one night on the local trail system when a freak electrical storm appeared...I looked at my carbon poles and quickly decided to head for lower ground....
|
|
skywalker
climber
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2013 - 01:32am PT
|
Amen, hallelujah, and all that good sh&t. Damn scary!
S...
well said reilly!
|
|
Gary
Social climber
Right outside of Delacroix
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2013 - 08:40am PT
|
From an old post:
I don't know. If I was struck by lightning, or not. Sure seemed like it, but I didn't die or anything.
I was descending a ridge in early afternoon last weekend. A storm had moved in. It was raining, and some hail. There was some thunder, but not a lot, or continuous or anything. Mostly it seemed up in the clouds, never saw a flash.
I was moving along a contour line, 150 feet or so below the ridge itself, so figured everything was OK. Then the contour intercepted the descending ridge. I crossed the resulting saddle to continue to descend.
As soon as I stepped onto the saddle, all in the briefest part of a second and simultaneously, I hear a crash, a thin, plumb, straight as an arrow bright white-blue light appears in front of me, and something slaps me on top of the head, knocking me right on my ass.
I sat there for a second to see what might develop, decided it was not the best place to be, got up and hiked on out.
On the way down I took stock. All senses working, nothing hurt. Examination later showed no burn marks, no lightning shaped scars, and no super powers.
So it might have been just a compression wave, but why the slap on the head.
So, was it a case of struck by lightning, or just a lightning related event?
|
|
10b4me
Boulder climber
Somewhere on 395
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2013 - 12:05pm PT
|
Crunch, that video is very cool
|
|
Don Paul
Big Wall climber
Colombia, South America
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2013 - 01:50pm PT
|
I never experienced any of this, closest thing was hearing thunder all around me in a whiteout snowstorm on Longs Peak. Before then I had never experienced a snowstorm with lightening but they often go together there.
Heard a story second hand from Craig Smith, British sport climber I knew in Boston, who described a time when his partner was struck by lightening and killed while leading a pitch. Craig was around a corner and couldn't tell what happened. After a long time of nothing happening, and in the middle of a storm, he just followed the pitch up to his dead partner, grabbed the rope, and escaped. I believe that's a true story but don't remember more details, would have been like 25 years ago.
|
|
skywalker
climber
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2013 - 02:08pm PT
|
Don,
I believe the same may have happened on the Casual Route maybe 10 years ago? Partner had to leave his buddy hagging and get out of there. How grim is that??? I know that something happened but can't remember if it was confirmed lightning. That jacket at the trail head ranger station is also a sobering reminder.
I also remember climbing Chasm View wall and topping out right when a storm beared down. We ran for the Camel's Descent and got to our bivy cave just as all hell broke loose. There was a party high on Jack of Diamonds who we'd been watching all day (well all morning). They disapeared in the clouds and lightning went richter, the most incredible/ terrifying display I had ever seen! An hour later someone yelled from Chasm view to the climbers (rangers?) if they were O.K. (still couldn't see them). We heard a very scared, childish reply, yeesss...
Oddly I told that story at Camp 4 at a picknic table and one of the guys on that climb was one of my listeners! He had a lot more to add about THAT experience!
It is a fascinating topic.
S...
|
|
Snowmassguy
Trad climber
Calirado
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2013 - 03:36pm PT
|
Multiple encounters with lightning but the scariest was probably on Lumpy ridge in RMNP. Started early to avoid the t storms. Storm came out of nowhere at about 10AM. Huddled in the cave on near the top of Pear Buttress thinking we were relatively safe. Lightning was obviously striking the water soaked formation. Felt that repeated buzz from a lightning strikes. Huddled on the balls of our feet trying to touch as little of the rock as possible. Felt totally helpless. Of all places, I likely thought I was going to fry on a moderate outing on a popular 5.8 route.
|
|
neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2013 - 03:43pm PT
|
hey there say, crunch...
yes, as to your quote, i've seen and heard some folks'
stories, as well,.... whewww:
Wow, I don't think I'd heard or read that story before. I have heard tales of unpleasant, strange, long-term effects from others
thanks for all the share, folks...
powerful scary stuff, no matter where or how you view or experience it...
as kids, we'd all watch from 'hopeful safety'...
*did not of a 'stance'... curious about that now...
will read, later...
thanks again, all...
|
|
Gary
Social climber
Right outside of Delacroix
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2013 - 04:00pm PT
|
Found out once how Thunderbolt Peak got its name. Not cool.
Last year on the JMT, there was some thunder and lightning going on, and I was terrified to walk across Bighorn Plateau.
|
|
StahlBro
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2013 - 04:24pm PT
|
Topped out on Catheral Peak in a cloud with Tom Burke. We were standing there looking at each other and our hair (which was pretty long at the time) was standing straight up (for those who knew Tom, this was now mean feat ;-). Then the air started to buzz. Then the gear we had on started making these really awesome humming noises.
At that point we dropped everything and bailed as Thor started tuning up his hammer. We tried to find a spot to minimize our attractiveness as a discharge facilitator, but it wasn't easy. After a half hour we were almost deaf and our nerves were petty much shot. We eventually got back up and grapped our stuff, but it took several hours of heavy drinking to finally restore some amount of calm.
|
|
Don Paul
Big Wall climber
Colombia, South America
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2013 - 04:27pm PT
|
Suddenly everyone from Colorado comes out of the woodwork, lol.
|
|
deschamps
Trad climber
Out and about
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2013 - 06:05pm PT
|
Yup, same here, still terrified of lightening to this day. I was on a crosswalk a couple of years ago with about 20 cars facing me. A bolt came down miles and miles in the distance behind the cars but still scared the bajesus out of me. I pretty much hit the pavement and all of the drivers must of thought I was nuts.
Even in a house I am still terrified.
|
|
BrassNuts
Trad climber
Save your a_s, reach for the brass...
|
|
|
Feb 27, 2013 - 03:19pm PT
|
Some scary stories here for sure... In November of 2004 I was climbing at Cochise for a week. While camped on the west side, a nasty storm rolled in one afternoon. As the storm gathered ferocity the lightning was coming down all around, we sat on the sofa of my pop up camper away from the walls just in case. Sure as she-ite, a few minutes later a bolt of lightning hit (or partially hit) the roof of the camper and a large blue arc jumped from the roof perimeter frame to the main frame of the camper. It's about a 30" gap and I believe it takes about 40,000 volts of potential to jump an inch of air, so maybe 1.2 million volts and about an inch thick as I recall... Scared the burritos right out of us. We figured we were safe since lightning never strikes twice, right? Just to be sure, we stayed frozen in place. Well, 2 more strikes with similar results in the next 15 minutes proved that theory wrong! It was quite scary. A little later the storm abated and I was amazed that there was no visible damage to the camper... pretty wild.
|
|
philo
Trad climber
Is that light the end of the tunnel or a train?
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 7, 2013 - 04:12pm PT
|
|
|
Snowmassguy
Trad climber
Calirado
|
|
I learned long ago to hide or bail if lightning is in the air. The Colorado " Alpine" start of just never going to bed and starting any alpine'ish climb at 11pm or 12am became my main way to deal with lightning fear. Up and down .....EARLY. The number of times I have turned around driving to RMNP in the middle night is numerous. When you see the lightning still cracking in the middle of the night, it is time to go back to bed.
I had a massive bolt strike my yard while watching out of a large window "safely" inside. Thought it was all good until about 2 week later I realized most of my yard was wilting in the dry summer heat. The bolt totally fried my irrigation system...more specifically the wires that run from the valves to the main control box. Kinda a big problem when all of those wires are buried under a couple feet of dirt.
|
|
crankenstein
Trad climber
Louisville, CO
|
|
June 1988. My ex and I on our honeymoon from Austin to Colorado. Early start hiking to Petit Grepon in RMNP. We waited out a gentle rain for an hour on the big ledge below the crux and then went for the top. Thunder was nearing as I topped out and set the belay a few feet below the summit. As I belayed, the rope was crackling with static and the summit started to hum. The humming got louder and our hair started standing up. We were moving as fast as we could to set the rappel and get off the summit but in our haste we didn't manage the knot properly and the rope got stuck as I pulled from below.
Fortunately, we had both ends so I tied off one and started prussiking up as the hail and lightning and wind battered me. I got to the top and had to move the knot about 6 inches over the edge to get us going again.
That was the same day that some fellow Austinites got hit on the Naked Edge in Eldo with a much less happy ending.
|
|
j-tree
Big Wall climber
Classroom to crag to summer camp
|
|
There's a great trip report of two guys climbing the shield and getting hit by lightning via a rain-waterfall at the top
http://trevorswezey.blogspot.com/2009/06/my-first-el-cap-route.html
When I started climbing again I noticed that bad weather was on the way, just like it had been every day between 11 and 4. The only difference is that every other day it only got windy and a little rainy. This time mother nature was not going to be so kind. Within a few minutes I was completely engulfed in a watercourse high up on El Cap. It actually felt like I was in a waterfall. I was just standing there with no where to go when all of a sudden I saw a bright light and got instantaneously shocked to hell. At first I couldn't believe it. I got shocked by lightning. It wasn't a direct hit. The lightning hit the top of El Cap and traveled down the water to me. I stood there in the waterfall tingling all over for around ten minutes waiting for it to finally calm down. When it did I called down to Charlie and asked if he was OK. He said that he was, but that he had been shocked by lightning. I quickly fixed the line now that I could move and rappeled down to Charlie where he told me that the blast threw him on his back and he blacked out. We just stood there tingling for around an hour in disbelief as to what had just happened. At this point we had to make a decision. Do we stay here and climb another day without food or do we go for the top and hope that the weather doesn't come back. Within an hour most of the big clouds over El Cap had dissipated and we decided to go for it and make it to the top. We quickly ascended the fixed line and started up the rest of the climb. Charlie led the first pitch after the storm and took a 30 foot fall, as if being struck by lighting wasn't enough. Once he finished up the pitch. We climbed one more aid pitch and then two 5.7 pitches and finally topped at 12PM after 6 full days on the wall.
|
|
BrassNuts
Trad climber
Save your a_s, reach for the brass...
|
|
Crank - I remember that day in June of '88 in Boulder. I was in the garage working on my motorcycle in South Boulder thinking what a crazy storm and hoping nobody was out on
anything real exposed. The next day I heard about the guys on the Edge - major bummer...
|
|
Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
|
|
Summit of Mount Rainier in July:
You can see what the weather was like. We traversed the peak Success Cleaver > Disappointment Cleaver in 3 days.
We were just off the summit crater rim on the descent, when all of a sudden I was stung by a swarm of bees across my head and back. I ran wildly and started swatting the bees away.... and then realized there are no bees on the summit of Mt. Rainier.
OMG - IT'S ELECTRICITY!
Our glasses, ice axes and pack frames start humming loudly and shocking us.
"Quick! Ditch the gear! Take cover!"
We dropped everything, moved away from the gear and lay in the snow a rope length apart.
BAM! A lightning bolt engulfed us. The thunder occurred at the same time. We didn't actually see a lightning bolt, it was so close that all we experienced was blinding light and a defeaning blast.
I sat up to see if my brother was okay. We gave each a "thumbs up," meaning, "I'm still alive, how about you?"
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
A full-on lighting storm was upon us. I thought to myself, "So this is what it's like to be at the receiving end of a B-52 bombing raid...." After every blast we sat up to give each other a "thumbs up."
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Then it started to snow so heavily that we couldn't see each other 100 feet away. We were shocked over and over from the lighting, and I was getting too scared to sit up anymore to look for my brother. In about 20 minutes I was covered with 6 inches of snow and the lighting continued.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Eventually the storm receded and we continued our descent.
= = = = = = = = = = =
On another note, I discovered on a High Sierra ski trip that metal ski poles make for a wonderful lighting warning device. I was carrying ski poles on my pack, and they would start to hum.
When the poles started to hum, I would take cover until the lightning struck, and then I would get on with my climb.
(:
|
|
Don Paul
Big Wall climber
Colombia, South America
|
|
Cool stories, on climbs I want to do someday too. (Shield and Rainier)
|
|
stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
|
|
Was on a Boy Scout backpacking trip to San Gorgonio. We got caught above treeline by a storm, while we were all wearing old school frame packs. I remember some discussion about ditching the packs, but in the end, we ended up running down the trail with the packs on and lightning coming down all around. Was fairly terrifying.
|
|
j-tree
Big Wall climber
Classroom to crag to summer camp
|
|
|
Mar 13, 2013 - 03:18am PT
|
Just reading the Queen of Spades FA and came across a lightning story in it.
"I started cleaning in a frenzy, terrified by the thunder and rain, until a bolt of lightning striking fifty feet away from me knocked me off my jumars with the ground current and deafened me with a heartstopping crack boom!"
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=417097&tn=40
|
|
neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
|
|
|
Sep 26, 2017 - 02:48am PT
|
hey there, say, T.hocking... say, as to this quote of yours:
Mar 7, 2013 - 09:11pm PT
yosemiteblog.com/2005/08/20/shattered-air-remembered-a-...
Shattered Air
Here is a good book/read about a group of hikers that got struck on top of Half Dome in 85 written by Redding local Bob Madgic. Published in 2007.
Some of you guys might know some of the yosar/rangers involved in the rescue/recovery.
Think I still have a copy layin around the house somewhere.
Closest I ever came was a bolt struck the ground about 20 ft. away from me
while I was heading south on I-5 near Red Bluff in my truck. Glad I was in the truck!
Tad
THIS BOOK just showed up, as i was looking for another book, at amazon...
i was not sure if it was a good or true account, so i thought i'd check it
out, here... and-- i see you HAVE shared about it...
thank you...
man oh man, :O
|
|
originalpmac
Mountain climber
Timbers of Fennario
|
|
|
Sep 26, 2017 - 10:01am PT
|
I was buzzed in the bugaboos three times in a row after climb the Northeast ridge of Bugaboo spire and descending the Kain route. Was so close to us where ice axes were ringing and our hair was standing up. We hunkered down on a Ledge about seven hundred feet off the glacier right near the gendarme and proceeded to get three different shocks through the splash effect of the current going through the rock. I was in between a boulder and the wall in somewhat of a channel in lightening drill position. the third blast actually knocked me off my ass my helmet into the rock and back on my tail on the ground. Clenched up and whited out, was scary as s***. After what felt like an eternity for probably 20 minutes we heard this rumbling getting louder and louder all of cringing expecting a bolt to come down and obliterate us. Realized it was rockfall and was beneath us, thankfully cause it was huge.
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
|
Sep 26, 2017 - 10:27am PT
|
Lightning has caused me to repent my sins, if not rue.
Sadly I must report that repentance is transitory.
Happily I can report that over the years I've seen fit
to lessen my exposure to repentance. I think I've
also lessened the need to repent, but an unbiased
jury might find that circumstantial.
|
|
Rollover
climber
Gross Vegas
|
|
|
Sep 26, 2017 - 11:01am PT
|
|
|
BigB
Trad climber
Red Rock
|
|
|
Sep 26, 2017 - 11:40am PT
|
Vegas last week
|
|
neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
|
|
|
Sep 27, 2017 - 11:05am PT
|
hey there say... just found this the other day...
does anyone in the bay area, remember this time?
i was flying in to the airport then... :O
it looked wild, :O not sure-- if we had to wait? before landing,
or not... was so long agao, can't remember... :)
*they said in this 2001 article, that last huge show, had been 1999...
has there been a 'lightning update' show... (thought someone might
have mentioned 2015??
|
|
Nick Danger
Ice climber
Arvada, CO
|
|
|
Sep 27, 2017 - 01:52pm PT
|
Once when I was climbing in the Sangre de Cristo Mtns of southern Colorado I had just come off Crestone Peak when the approaching thunder storm broke and lightning was hitting the peak a thousand feet above me. The problem was that I was on the wrong side of the ridge from my campsite. I endeavored to run up the ridge and glissade down the other side between lightning strikes. Just as I reached the top of the ridge a bolt of lightning flashed across my field of vision and struck the north face of Crestone Peak. Oddly, there was no clap of thunder, but instead a note as if from a Moog synthesizer occurred inside my head that started in mid-range for the human voice and then rose in pitch until it went out of range of human hearing frequency. I have no idea what this means, but I felt no charge nor apparently did I hear any other manifestation of the lightning bolt charge. Well, I jumped into the nearest snow-filled couloir and glissaded as fast as I could down the mountain. Made it safely back to my tent many thousands of feet lower too! To this day I have no idea what that sound was or why I heard no crash of thunder.
|
|
ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
|
|
|
Sep 27, 2017 - 05:29pm PT
|
Hey Nick, That place is a lightning rod.
I had just come down off of the Ellingwood arete with Jim Nigro and a climbing partner of his named Mickey something, on July 4 1976 (Bicentennial). One of those late storms hit and we dove into our tents (with Jon Ake, who missed the climb because of a turned ankle), dozens of bolts hitting the Needle and Peak every minute. Within 20 minutes there were waterfalls of hail coming off of that face everywhere. I was so glad that we got down quickly, there were several parties up there that didn't come down for 3 or 4 hours, white-faced, epic stories abounding.
Moss
|
|
| Messages 1 - 58 of total 58 in this topic |
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!