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kimgraves
Nov 3, 2006, 7:43 PM
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Registered: Jan 13, 2003
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Hi Gang,
A couple of weeks ago two good climbers found themselves benighted at the top of the cliff after finishing up “Carbs and Caffeine” (5.11a) at the Gunks. Reported on Gunks.com, the two came in for a lot of criticism because they couldn’t get themselves safely down without the rescue squad coming to their aid – they had no headlamps, thought they couldn’t rap without two ropes, and were justifiably afraid to walk around at the top of the cliff without a light trying to find their way down. Clearly the skills needed to lead 5.11 trad are different than those needed to avoid the serious predicament of finding themselves benighted in 30 degree weather without protection and unable to move. I was one of those that said that even though the two climbers were in a situation of their own making, calling the rescue squad was probably their best option given their situation and all things considered. To their enormous credit the party admitted their mistakes and offered up their experience so that we could all learn from it.
I’ve never been on Carbs and Caffeine (it’s beyond my ability) but I have been on the climb right next to it Airy Aria (5.8). I had a “self-rescue” situation on that climb described in this post. Unlike Airy Aria where you traverse right to avoid the roofs on the second pitch, Carbs & Caffeine goes through them – several of them. The first pitch is about 40’ leading to a big ledge with chains. The second pitch, through the roofs, is 130’ so if you’re out more than 100’ you can’t lower – you won’t make it back to the belay. Retreat is further complicated by the fact that it’s overhanging. A lower would leave the leader hanging in space.
So I ask myself, “could I have done any better?” My honest answer to myself was “probably/maybe not.” Especially given the time constraints of falling darkness and falling temperatures. The obvious solutions of carrying a headlamp UP the climb (I always leave mine in my pack at the base) and to leaving yourself enough time to get up AND out before darkness were not available to the party.
When I though about it, my problem was that I didn’t have any organized way to think about the problem much less the technical skillset. When I first came back to climbing I read David Fasulo’s book “Self Rescue”. Though the diagrams in the book are very good the multiple steps to get from step one to step two are hard to describe in words. Faced with a couple of days jury duty last week I picked up the new book “Climbing Self-Rescue: Improvised solutions for serious situations” by Tyson and Loomis. This book is better written and better organized than the Fasulo book but uses photographs instead of drawings. With so many knots and so many ropes involved, it’s hard to see what’s going on in a black and white photo.
It wasn’t until I found Alan Jolley’s DVD “Avoiding the Touch: Self-Rescue Part1” that I found the teaching tool that made the most sense for me – I’m better learning visually rather than reading about something. The color in the DVD allowed me to distinguish one rope from another and the real time progression allowed me to follow the steps.
Jolly starts out with a simple premise: There are only three configurations for belaying: 1) you belay directly off your harness to the climber; 2) you redirect the belay off the anchor and back to your harness; 3) you belay off the anchor. From any one of these three configurations you transition to a common configuration Jolly calls “the baseline.” From the baseline you either 1) raise, 2) lower, 3) counter-weight rappel, or 4) escape the belay. It’s actually very simple.
You need to know just a couple of knots: the Munter/Mule and some friction hitches. You need to have a minimum of gear: 6 biners (he says two locking/ I think 4 is better); a couple of slings; a belay device; a knife. Stuff the leader would carry anyway, but the second should always have as well.
Since this is a trip report, it should be about going from one place to another. And it needs pictures. I started my trip by watching the video. Notice our cat being helpful with the remote.
After watching the video, I set up a practice session in my home gym. I went through all the “transitions to baseline” until I felt comfortable with them. Then I went through all the “transitions from baseline.” Here I am doing a 2:1 haul using a one pood kettlebell to simulate the weight of a partner. I’m using a Gri as my haul point and a Shunt in place of a friction hitch (because I carry them anyway). Any high point you can attach a sling to would work as an anchor. A gallon jug filled with water would work as a weight.
At the end of the day – it took about five hours to go through the tape and try all the transitions – I felt very comfortable that I could do these transition out in the field. The books also make more sense. So I can pick up the additional subtleties from the books that the tape didn’t have time to go into.
So how does all the above practice help with the original problem of finding one’s self benighted? It gives me a larger vocabulary of possible actions by making the rope an active part of the climbing process. For example: I don’t know this for sure, but I surmise that the party didn’t feel they could back off from the second pitch because of the overhangs and the hard climbing involved. I think they even ended up aiding to get up the pitch before dark. But the leader could have build an anchor and been lowered off by the second attaching a sling to the rope going up so as to follow the rope back through the overhangs cleaning gear as they went to the top of the first pitch. Then both climbers could have rapped from the top of the first pitch. Or if the leader was at the chains (130’ out) they could have fixed the rope and rapped it cleaning it as they went back to the belay. They could have then done a “pick-off” of the second and rapped to the ground. The second didn’t have to climb the second pitch in order for the party to get off. Alternatively, if the party was both at the top of the climb, the party could have fixed one rope from the top chains and rapped the single line back to the ground. They would have had to either abandon the rope or come back for it later, but that’s a cheap price to pay to keep from endangering the rescue party. Or they could have simply lowered the one rope (they had friends on the ground who they were communicating with) and brought up a second line and a light. But without spending some time to learn and practice what can be done with the rope, you just don’t think about these sort of obvious solutions.
More importantly though, just knowing that self rescue is a possibility might make you think about what you need to keep from needing to do a rescue. Rescue is time consuming, potentially expensive, potentially dangerous. So if you think about it before hand you might not put yourself in a position where it might be needed.
I leaned a lot from this little exercise. This is a trip I can recommend to everyone. And actually, I found it a lot of fun.
Best, Kim
EDITED to add: The DVD also includes things like ascending the rope; what to do if the ropes hang up when you pull them after a rappel; what "personal" gear every member of the party should carry, etc.
Edit to add embedded images after styem migration.
(This post was edited by kimgraves on Dec 31, 2006, 5:34 PM)
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bill413
Nov 3, 2006, 8:14 PM
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Registered: Oct 19, 2004
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Kim - a great trip report!
I like the idea of abstracting all problems to a few scenarios (belay off harness, redirect, belay off anchor) and getting to a comon point (getting to the baseline). It's how I approach the problems when teaching. Not necessarily those specific abstractions - one of mine is "how can I go hands free?" - but that process of saying how can I get to a known point.
This video is now definitely on my tick list.
Thanks!
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j_ung
Nov 3, 2006, 9:35 PM
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Registered: Nov 21, 2003
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Would the skill set in each of those books/DVDs have allowed the aforementioned Gunks climbers to get down in the dark?
That's an excellent post, BTW. You ought to put it in the gear guide under all three items. :)
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bill413
Nov 3, 2006, 9:47 PM
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J -
My take on what Kim wrote is not that the skill sets would have necessarily enabled them to get down, but that the ways of thinking presented might have enabled them to discover other solutions.
Most of us have heard the saying "to a man with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail." And, many of us are wise enough to know that not every solution should be a nail. So, if all you have is a hammer, you're stuck. If you have other tools, you may be able to look at the problem as having solutions that could work.
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j_ung
Nov 3, 2006, 10:02 PM
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Registered: Nov 21, 2003
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I couldn't agree more! :)
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sspssp
Nov 3, 2006, 10:16 PM
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Registered: Jan 2, 2003
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In reply to: A couple of weeks ago two good climbers found themselves benighted at the top of the cliff after finishing up “Carbs and Caffeine” (5.11a) at the Gunks....their aid – they had no headlamps, thought they couldn’t rap without two ropes, and were justifiably afraid to walk around at the top of the cliff without a light trying to find their way down. So I ask myself, “could I have done any better?” My honest answer to myself was “probably/maybe not.”...The obvious solutions of carrying a headlamp UP the climb (I always leave mine in my pack at the base) and to leaving yourself enough time to get up AND out before darkness were not available to the party.
Well good job practicing self-rescue and bringing this to others attention.
I'm not familiar with Carbs and Caffeine. If it is only 130 from the top to the ground, then I agree it is a little lame they couldn't rap a single line. Even if they weren't sure, if there were people on the ground who could have told them whether their rope made it to the ground...., pretty lame. However, being lame is much better than being dead.
Concerning headlamps, I carry a small knife and led key chain style light on a cord around my neck whenever climbing. I wouldn't want to do a complicated walk-off with it, but it is more than enough light to build an anchor and set up a rap. Actually, I carry two key chain led lights. These things weigh almost nothing. There is no excuse for not having any light at all...
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gymbo
Nov 3, 2006, 10:22 PM
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Registered: Dec 19, 2005
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Truly a fantastic post, wish I had a trophy to give today. I think the DVD will make it on my must buy list.
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afreeclimber
Nov 3, 2006, 11:18 PM
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Registered: Aug 18, 2006
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A trick that's worked well for me when trying to decipher the photos/drawings in climbing books is to treat them like coloring books. Coloring the gear helps you study the material first time around and really helps when you go back later to refresh.
Obviously, hands-on practice is key.
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whoa
Nov 4, 2006, 5:20 AM
Post #9 of 11
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Registered: Dec 19, 2005
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Dude! You are now certified with the expertise to tackle just about any situation you're likely to encounter in the average closet.
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majid_sabet
Nov 4, 2006, 8:52 AM
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Registered: Dec 13, 2002
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Some of the professional climbers become the worse n00b during self-rescue, they make more mistakes than ever. They become so panic that they forget how to rig a simple lowering or rising system even due they done it for millions of times, they freeze to death on rope for not been able to undo their knots or drop gears while trying to self rescue.
The list of their screw ups are so long that I do not where to start, however those who know what they are doing, always walk away and make it alive.
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