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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 23, 2009 - 12:38pm PT
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Ok, I know this will post will open me up to some good jokes and humiliation but what the heck. Has anyone else besides me ever gotten their foot stuck when pulling onto Sickle Ledge?
Fourth pitch, you do the traverse right and up to Sickle. Where you pull yourself onto the flake that is basically the start of the ledge, as I pulled myself over the crack that separates the wall from the ledge, my foot slid in and wedged there. The ledge or flake is very narrow right there, only maybe 2 feet wide, and there I am kneeling on hands and knees and my foot is buried in the crack up to my ankle and won't come out. I was trying to reach back and pull it out and wiggle it, nothing worked. I was a little worried about falling over sideways as I worked on it as could go right off the block and it would have snapped my leg in two. My partner could not figure out what the problem was. I was stuck there for sometime, and getting weary, when after pounding on it for 15 minutes it finally slid free. Man, I was thinking Yosar was going to have a field day with that one. I had on a pair of Tradmasters which I am not used to climbing in, much thicker then my normal shoes. I was feeling pretty embarrassed when my partner asked what took so long....
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Jan 23, 2009 - 01:14pm PT
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If you opened our closets....skeletons would come tumbling out all over the place.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Jan 23, 2009 - 03:14pm PT
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That happened to a partner of mine many years ago. Not in Yosemite, but in much the same fashion. Wide crack ends with a mantle onto a block, foot in a big boot gets stuck in crack, much laughter, and then... Hey, this thing really is stuck! I had to descend until I was below her, and help pull her foot out of her boot.
The all-time winner in the stuck-in-the-crack category though, is Martin Boysen on Trango Tower. High up on what was then probably the hardest technical route ever done at high altitude, 90 feet above his belay, knee jammed in an offwidth... I think it took him several hours to get free, all the while knowing that if he was still there when the sun set he was dead.
D
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zip
Trad climber
pacific beach, ca
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Jan 23, 2009 - 03:29pm PT
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Nope, never got my foot stuck in sickle, but have gotten it stuck in my mouth on numerous ocassions.
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GhoulweJ
Trad climber
Sacramento, CA
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Jan 23, 2009 - 04:30pm PT
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No, not on Silckle but I did... Ahhh nevermind.
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
North of the Owyhees
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Jan 23, 2009 - 10:51pm PT
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Knott very "Studly", is it?
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 24, 2009 - 12:19am PT
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Captain Skully, you have got to be one of the funniest guys at the Tacostand. If I ever climbed with ya, I would probably break a rib from laughing so much. Are you one of the historic figures of the Valley, or just another dirtbag wannabes like me?
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
North of the Owyhees
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Jan 24, 2009 - 12:20am PT
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Well, there's dirt in MY bag, sir.
And if we meet near a fair stone, then we'll climb!
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 24, 2009 - 12:28am PT
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Ay Ay Captain!
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dmalloy
Trad climber
eastside
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Jan 24, 2009 - 12:40am PT
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First off, the most badass thing about the Fissure Boysen where his leg got stuck, is not that he managed to free himself and then they all descended safely - it is that he went back a few years later and led the same damn crack. That takes cojones the likes of which few of us can imagine fitting into our boxers. Some of those working class Brits were, just like the Old Dads who post occasionally on the Taco, much more badass than my cam-placin' merino-wool wearin' ass can imagine being.
Second, just about anyone who has climbed much trad has had their foot stuck in a crack, me included. The key is to RELAX....which is hard to do when you think your foot/leg is never going to come out. But you have to take a deep breath, relax all those foot/calf muscles, and it will usually pop right back out.
Last, getting your foot stuck in the first place is always a sign of desperation. When you are calm and climbing well, it doesn't happen.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Jan 24, 2009 - 01:29am PT
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I've know a person or two who had to leave their shoe in a crack and clean it on rap.
For any noobs reading this, the best way to knott get your feet stuck is to rotate your knee out somewhat when you put your foot in a crack. When you feel contact with the stone, you rotate your knee to vertical, camming your foot in the crack.
When you need to remove your foot, it's just a matter of untwisting the foot a bit.
Not that this thread should be about technique, but I haven't made myself useful in awhile
PEace
Karl
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Jan 24, 2009 - 09:44am PT
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Studly asks of Skully,
"Are you one of the historic figures of the Valley, or just another dirtbag wannabe like me?
Studly, let me assure you that the climber formerly known as Captain Kirk has indeed left his mark on El Cap. The good news is that it has mostly been washed off by now.
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
North of the Owyhees
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Jan 24, 2009 - 12:07pm PT
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Aye, but it was a proud stain in its day, eh?
Kept monkeys off Mescalito all season...
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wildone
climber
GHOST TOWN
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Jan 24, 2009 - 12:20pm PT
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Sorry Dmalloy, the most studly part of boysen getting his knee out of "fissure boysen" was that he freed his stuck knee with a POCKETKNIFE. Slashed his clothes all away, cut the sh#t out of his leg, and the blood all over the place proved to be the lubricant.
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rockermike
Mountain climber
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Jan 24, 2009 - 02:23pm PT
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I got my knuckle stuck in a bomber v slot once. Scarred the sh#t out of me as my feet were greasing off these little rounded nubs at the time and my other hand was desperately cramming into some slippery off hand thingy. Probably took all of 30 seconds to work it free but felt like 30 minutes as my mind's eye saw the digit getting yanked out by the roots.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Jan 24, 2009 - 02:35pm PT
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Sorry Dmalloy, the most studly part of boysen getting his knee out of "fissure boysen" was that he freed his stuck knee with a POCKETKNIFE. Slashed his clothes all away, cut the sh#t out of his leg, and the blood all over the place proved to be the lubricant.
Sorry Wildone, the most studly part was that he used a knifeblade piton to try to cut his pants, not a pocketknife. At least if my memory is still serving me. Anyway, the guy was a total stud (although he looked like a total nerd).
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Ihateplastic
Trad climber
Lake Oswego, Oregon
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Jan 24, 2009 - 02:50pm PT
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Not Sickle, but a stuck story...
A few eons ago I did a new route (Routa de Fruita; named after the roadside fruit stand Casa de Fruita) south of Yosemite with Mark Blanchard, Jeff Panetta, Fremont Bainbridge and Conrad Van Bruggen once and the descent turned into an epic for me.
From the top, we did a quick rap into a notch and then decided we could down-climb the steep gully. Mark, Fremont and Conrad went first and I followed. At one point it was necessary to down-climb around a huge chockstone. I stemmed between the walls until at the lower lip of the stone. At that point it seemed a handjam was the smart thing to do. However, as I continued to walk my feet down the walls opened up so I just relied more on my jam. I reached a point where a four-foot drop would put me onto the flore of the gully.
Executing the drop was anything but elegant and I was left hanging at full arms length off of the world's best jam with a sizable crystal, sharpened to an accountant's point, drilling through the backside of my hand. Legs fluttered akimbo as I attempted to gain purchase. Each thrash only locked the hand more and more. Blood flow. Tears flowed. Words flowed.
Mark climbed back under me and attempted to provide support for my legs but it was not a major help. I had no strength left for a one-arm (hey... I used to be able to do 'em!) Jeff was above and he was able to lower down his swammi (all the gear was below with the others and this was the day of 2" swammi belts.) Between Jeff pulling and Mark pushing and me crying I was eventually able to get my fully-gored hand free. I felt like a baby and vowed never to climb again. Didn't work.
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Jan 24, 2009 - 03:15pm PT
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Has anyone ever ripped a body part off by falling on a stuck finger, foot, etc.
Yeah, we've seen the degloved photo (bleck!) but can one really rip of something else?
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wildone
climber
GHOST TOWN
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Jan 24, 2009 - 06:14pm PT
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Yeah, I was the first party on Matthes Crest after that dude got his foot stuck behind a chockstone in a wide crack, fell out and around the chockstone and, um...ripped his foot off.
There was blood EVERYWHERE. They choppered him to mammoth to try and re-attach the foot.
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Jan 24, 2009 - 06:19pm PT
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gack.
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