Biggest block or flake you've trundled in the Valley...?

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sling512

Trad climber

Chicago

Jan 17, 2007 - 10:27am PT

Dang Gunkie! that's a great story!!

Levy

Big Wall climber

So Cal

Jan 17, 2007 - 12:48pm PT

I was doing Space on El Cap in '96 and on the "Pillar of the Community" pitch, there was a 8' x 4' flake about 3 inches thick that was bypassed by a rivet move. I accidently caught the flake with my aiders or my hammer, which was dangling down. The flake came loose and was just barely perched there, so I sent off.

You know how a playing card dropped from a height can flutter far away from the plumb-line? Well this flake dropped for perhaps 300 feet and then began to spin & flutter and started curving into the ampitheater. It hit way in the back near where South Seas begins and sent a bunch of folks near the start of Mescalito running for their lives. Scary stuff! I used to feel safe in the ampitheater but no longer. No place is safe, when it's your time to check out, it's your time. Deal with it or stay home.

In 2001, E E & I were blasting on Born Under A Bad Sign and several blocks, each the size of a Dodge cargo van came roaring down the wall. I thought it was a jet fighter at first until I saw the falling blocks. They hit about 100 yds away and the ground shook like mad. Smelled that Ozone smell that Blinney referred to earlier. Kind of made for some serious apprehension as we climbed towards the Devil's Brow area where the blocks had come from.

Levy

dirtineye

Trad climber

the south

Jan 17, 2007 - 01:36pm PT

Well not in the vally again, but in the BSF in Tennessee, there have been several garage sized rocks fall in the roads there, one was dynamited, the other was left there to close a trail. It is truly as big or bigger than a two car garage.

Noffsinger and I were in the fork once and heard one of these things fall, snapping and crushing trees as it went. We were really happy to be far away from the action.

As to why trundling is so much fun, I dunno, it just is. Nothing is better when you get right down to it. What else can put such a smile on your face?

Sadly, the best trundles go to the second. You just can't go dropping really big heavy things on your second. Besides, you might screw up your rope that way.

My favorite trundle of all time though was a tree, that must have weighed about a ton. it was gigantic, dead, and as things turned out, hanging by almost nothing. It really should have killed us both when I touched it and the whole thing moved. After some debate, it was decided that we would climb carefully around it, which was a good thing, after all. Later, a visit to the top of the cliff with nobody below revealed that a couple of light taps with a foot was all it took to send the whole thing crashing down, in a glorious loud shattering and smashing and splintering and exploding of wood.

'Pass the Pitons' Pete

Big Wall climber

like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?

Jan 17, 2007 - 01:53pm PT

Hey y'all,

I'm on Grand Cayman Island right now, just checking in. I have rather limited time on the www, but I was wondering, could someone please email this link to Tom [that's his user name here] - we trundled a HUGE ASS flake off of Cosmos this year!

We found rap slings all the way up to this thing, and a brand new bolt right next to it from where the freaked leader bailed. It was shown as a head and rurp crack on the topo - we scarfed a #3 1/2 Camalot from behind it, that's how far it was hangin' out!

I riveted around it with three holes, then we very very carefully hauled our pigs past it. When I came up after hauling, I swung over to the thing and trundled it, with Tom taking the pictures! It was an icosoles triangle about ten feet high by one foot thick by about three-four feet wide at its base. We were only about 600' up, so could shout to the base to make sure nobody was there.

When it exploded, grenade-sized hunks of granite shot all the way down to Sacherer Cracker and beyond. Man, you coulda taken out a whole platoon of Iraquis with that single salvo of granite shrapnel.

Well, cheers and beers. American beers. Can you believe the local brewery - Stringray Beer - is closed right now for maintenance, and I have to drink Merrican stuff??? Life is 'ard, mates.

Well, off to the beach for snorkelling, then back onto the ship with smuggled beers for $2 so I don't have to pay six bucks on the ship! Sheesh.

Off to Jamaica and Dunn's River Falls tomorrow, man.

Irie, mon - irie.

Pete