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keese
Oct 12, 2009, 1:54 PM
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12 Climbers on route. First group reportedly blew their anchor (with no injuries) and dropped a couple refrigerator sized blocks onto the belay ledge for the pipe pitch. (The ledge with the 5 inch knee catcher off width and finger crack). Which took out more rock at the top of the 5.6 portion of P2/3. Dust up to 60m in the air . No one hurt again. But the 5.6 side opposite the 5.8 variant is not what it was before. Maybe harder or not, only one climber went through the new section. (They were leading when the rockfall took out the ledge 20ft above and 15ft to their left. Probably not 5.6 anymore if it was since the last rockfall. Welded pink Clog in that section now. Its good if you want to clip it.) Someone from the party of 3 that dropped the rock please post and tell us what happened. And how you cut your ropes in 6 places, blew an anchor, how you didnt get hurt, and why you decided to keep going? -one of the 9 who bailed from below
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wonderwoman
Oct 12, 2009, 2:21 PM
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Moved from general to east cost by WW. So glad to hear that everyone is okay! It's scary how Cannon seems to be in a perpetual state of exfoliation. WGR was the first time I ever seconded multi pitch. It was memorable not only from the hundreds of black fly bites that covered my body, but during that climb I witnessed a table sized chunk of rock fell on a climb over to the left. Sounded like thunder! Everyone was okay, thank god! I would be interested in hearing the epic tale, too. It may be more likely that the climbers involved may see your post in this forum or neclimbs. Maybe the continued because they were past all the rap stations?
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notapplicable
Oct 12, 2009, 2:23 PM
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keese wrote: 12 Climbers on route. First group reportedly blew their anchor (with no injuries) and dropped a couple refrigerator sized blocks onto the belay ledge for the pipe pitch. (The ledge with the 5 inch knee catcher off width and finger crack). Which took out more rock at the top of the 5.6 portion of P2/3. Dust up to 60m in the air . No one hurt again. But the 5.6 side opposite the 5.8 variant is not what it was before. Maybe harder or not, only one climber went through the new section. (They were leading when the rockfall took out the ledge 20ft above and 15ft to their left. Probably not 5.6 anymore if it was since the last rockfall. Welded pink Clog in that section now. Its good if you want to clip it.) Someone from the party of 3 that dropped the rock please post and tell us what happened. And how you cut your ropes in 6 places, blew an anchor, how you didnt get hurt, and why you decided to keep going? -one of the 9 who bailed from below
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skelterjohn
Oct 12, 2009, 2:30 PM
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wonderwoman wrote: Moved from general to east cost by WW. So glad to hear that everyone is okay! It's scary how Cannon seems to be in a perpetual state of exfoliation. WGR was the first time I ever seconded multi pitch. It was memorable not only from the hundreds of black fly bites that covered my body, but during that climb I witnessed a table sized chunk of rock fell on a climb over to the left. Sounded like thunder! Everyone was okay, thank god! I would be interested in hearing the epic tale, too. It may be more likely that the climbers involved may see your post in this forum or neclimbs. Maybe the continued because they were past all the rap stations? There are rap stations on the Whitney-G? And yeah - the time I climbed it (my first lead more than 3 pitches), I saw a person-sized piece of cliff get pushed out by someone in a chimney, missing his belayer and the party below by scant feet.
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keese
Oct 12, 2009, 2:36 PM
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?? At least two parties offered to bring them clean ropes. 2 hours later the party was moving slow and still had at least 1.5 full pitches to go, as the rest walked off. I've posted around diff. forums and will link if anything comes up.
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wonderwoman
Oct 12, 2009, 2:44 PM
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Last time I was on WGR, there was a slung boulder & evidence of places where people chose to bail. But no bolts, of course.
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epoch
Moderator
Oct 12, 2009, 2:53 PM
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Whoa. That is scary indeed. It goes to further reinforce the reliability of Cannon granite. Glad that no one was hurt.
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Gmburns2000
Oct 12, 2009, 3:34 PM
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keese wrote: 12 Climbers on route. First group reportedly blew their anchor (with no injuries) and dropped a couple refrigerator sized blocks onto the belay ledge for the pipe pitch. (The ledge with the 5 inch knee catcher off width and finger crack). Which took out more rock at the top of the 5.6 portion of P2/3. Dust up to 60m in the air . No one hurt again. But the 5.6 side opposite the 5.8 variant is not what it was before. Maybe harder or not, only one climber went through the new section. ( They were leading when the rockfall took out the ledge 20ft above and 15ft to their left. Probably not 5.6 anymore if it was since the last rockfall. Welded pink Clog in that section now. Its good if you want to clip it.) Someone from the party of 3 that dropped the rock please post and tell us what happened. And how you cut your ropes in 6 places, blew an anchor, how you didnt get hurt, and why you decided to keep going? -one of the 9 who bailed from below Whoa! Glad everyone is OK. Just one question on the bolded above: which ledge got "taken" out? Are you saying that one of the lower belay ledges no longer exists? Just trying to visualize this and I can't. I always thought the smaller belay stations were above the pipe pitch, and that the ones at the bottom were huge.
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cracklover
Oct 12, 2009, 3:35 PM
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Holy shit! So, I'm still not clear - where did the rockfall originate? Somewhere above the crux pipe pitch, I understand. GO
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keese
Oct 12, 2009, 4:17 PM
Post #10 of 22
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the ledge with the knee eater offwidth and finger crack is still there just not as long as before.
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cracklover
Oct 12, 2009, 5:03 PM
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Okay, I see what you're saying. But where did the rockfall originate? Was it on the pipe pitch, or higher? GO
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cracklover
Oct 12, 2009, 5:11 PM
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For those trying to picture what he's saying, I think he means the ledge I was standing on when I took this pic looking up at the start of the Pipe Pitch: ... and looking down at the previous pitch: GO
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keese
Oct 12, 2009, 5:29 PM
Post #13 of 22
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Yes exactly right on the photos. As to where it started and how I'd like to know that too. We heard it was a blown anchor so I would like to say at least a pitch above where the photos were taken. Basically all the rock came down on where the climber looking up in the 2nd photo is or a little to the left. Not sure how much came off to begin with and what it just picked up on the way down. Not sure exactly from your pictures but I might guess that the rock with the lichen on it is gone in pic 2 . |
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wanderlustmd
Oct 12, 2009, 5:29 PM
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Glad to hear no one got hurt, especially with that many people around. I'd also be interested in the blown anchor/rope chop/zero injuries story. I was just thinking last night about trying to get to Cannon again before the season ends...I'm thinking a non-weekend day...
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ClimbClimb
Oct 13, 2009, 3:55 AM
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So on (another site), some ... skepticism ... was expressed about whether this actually happened this weekend, since various people who should have known allegedly have not heard about it. Harsh words like "troll" were brought forth, even. OP? anyone else?
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TJGoSurf
Oct 13, 2009, 11:53 AM
Post #16 of 22
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Interesting point. I always bring my camera for those pictures I need to take. We need proof!
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keese
Oct 13, 2009, 12:27 PM
Post #17 of 22
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All I have are pictures taken from the base, (Ill post when I get off of work tonight or tomorrow morning) sorry but I dont usually snap photos on lead, while watching the climb fall down around me. As to who should have heard??? I dunno who should have heard? The parties were a pair from VT (us) a 3 some from DC, pair from NYC, 2 from Boston and 2 from Montreal plus the group of the three up top. Plus a dude and his sister from ??? And honestly I couldnt care less what you think, sole reasons for posting are to hear what happened from the group of three that caused hence why this is on other sites.
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keese
Oct 13, 2009, 6:18 PM
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necimbs.com
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jakedatc
Oct 13, 2009, 6:25 PM
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Yep, you're making shit up.. and double accounting on NEclimbs as the supposed top party.. :yawn:
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notapplicable
Oct 14, 2009, 2:54 AM
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You might be speaking a bit too soon. Admin says they are not the same person and more and more people are chiming in to say that the block reported to have fallen, was in fact suspect and ready to crash.
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wonderwoman
Oct 14, 2009, 2:02 PM
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If you doubt a large rock can fall off Cannon, all your evidence can be found by looking at the size of the talus field below. It would be some serious big wall climbing if we swept all that debris away!
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dudemanbu
Oct 21, 2009, 5:29 PM
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wonderwoman wrote: If you doubt a large rock can fall off Cannon, all your evidence can be found by looking at the size of the talus field below. It would be some serious big wall climbing if we swept all that debris away! Indeed.. it'd be about twice the height. And the Approach would be super. Not to mention making it sooo much easier to bail. Hm. I think you present a great idea.
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