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nextclimb
Feb 11, 2014, 6:47 PM
Post #1 of 19
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I've been arguing with friends and am interested in how other climbers define benighted. Webster says something like being overtaken by darkness.
From a climbing perspective are you benighted if:
#1 Unplanned - you are on the 5th pitch of a six pitch climb, when darkness hits. You top out with headlamps and in epic fashion, take two hours to scramble back to your gear and another two to find your car when it should have taken only an hour from the top out to the car? If not, how many hours do you have to be out in darkness to qualify for a benighting?
#2 You must, unplanned spend all night out and see the sun come up?
#3 You spend all night out and require rescue?
#4 All of the above
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lena_chita
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Feb 11, 2014, 7:29 PM
Post #2 of 19
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nextclimb wrote: I've been arguing with friends and am interested in how other climbers define benighted. Webster says something like being overtaken by darkness. From a climbing perspective are you benighted if: #1 Unplanned - you are on the 5th pitch of a six pitch climb, when darkness hits. You top out with headlamps and in epic fashion, take two hours to scramble back to your gear and another two to find your car when it should have taken only an hour from the top out to the car? If not, how many hours do you have to be out in darkness to qualify for a benighting? #2 You must, unplanned spend all night out and see the sun come up? #3 You spend all night out and require rescue? #4 All of the above
This is a case where creating a poll would have served you better.
I can't say that I have given it much thought, but I guess to me it means spending the entire (unplanned) night out.
Hiking out by the headlamp doesn't count, and rescue is not required, either.
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edge
Feb 11, 2014, 7:34 PM
Post #3 of 19
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I though it is when the Queen taps you on both shoulders with a sword ?
Or when you send the entire night out unexpectedly.
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csproul
Feb 11, 2014, 7:51 PM
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#1 no
#2 yes
#3 I guess so, but I'd probably not describe it as "benighted" since it turned out more serious than the typical use of the word.
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marc801
Feb 11, 2014, 9:53 PM
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The dictionary definition of "benighted" simply means being overtaken by night. There is nothing in the definition about it being unplanned, the duration, or spending the entire night out.
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csproul
Feb 11, 2014, 10:26 PM
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marc801 wrote: The dictionary definition of "benighted" simply means being overtaken by night. There is nothing in the definition about it being unplanned, the duration, or spending the entire night out.
(This post was edited by csproul on Feb 11, 2014, 11:41 PM)
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moose_droppings
Feb 12, 2014, 1:37 AM
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An all nighter for sure.
#2
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potreroed
Feb 12, 2014, 2:04 AM
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All of the above, and I should know--I've been benighted everywhere I've climbed, from Yosemite to Hueco Tanks. I think it has something to do with those lazy late starts.
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rocknice2
Feb 12, 2014, 5:15 PM
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#1 Unplanned, getting caught in the dark before you finish the climb and/or descent, plain and simple.
It can get more involved as in "It was Epic dude we got benighted and had to spend a night on a little ledge".
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sangoma2
Feb 12, 2014, 8:38 PM
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#1 = Epic 
#2 = Benighted 
#3 = (embarrassing ) = Rescue 
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dagibbs
Feb 12, 2014, 10:48 PM
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#4 -- all three are "benighted". #2 and #3 would, also, be epics. (Though, #2 might be a mini-epic.)
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Gmburns2000
Feb 13, 2014, 12:47 PM
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I thought it had something to do with either having sex on a portaledge or dropping your rope four pitches from the bottom.
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shimanilami
Feb 14, 2014, 8:43 PM
Post #13 of 19
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nextclimb wrote: I've been arguing with friends and am interested in how other climbers define benighted. Webster says something like being overtaken by darkness. From a climbing perspective are you benighted if: #1 Unplanned - you are on the 5th pitch of a six pitch climb, when darkness hits. You top out with headlamps and in epic fashion, take two hours to scramble back to your gear and another two to find your car when it should have taken only an hour from the top out to the car? If not, how many hours do you have to be out in darkness to qualify for a benighting? #2 You must, unplanned spend all night out and see the sun come up? #3 You spend all night out and require rescue? #4 All of the above
Wow. This site really has gone downhill.
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marc801
Feb 14, 2014, 10:25 PM
Post #14 of 19
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shimanilami wrote: Wow. This site really has gone downhill.
For every person who posts something like this, it should be a requirement that they start a new thread that is climbing relevant and interesting.
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csproul
Feb 15, 2014, 12:08 AM
Post #15 of 19
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shimanilami wrote: nextclimb wrote: I've been arguing with friends and am interested in how other climbers define benighted. Webster says something like being overtaken by darkness. From a climbing perspective are you benighted if: #1 Unplanned - you are on the 5th pitch of a six pitch climb, when darkness hits. You top out with headlamps and in epic fashion, take two hours to scramble back to your gear and another two to find your car when it should have taken only an hour from the top out to the car? If not, how many hours do you have to be out in darkness to qualify for a benighting? #2 You must, unplanned spend all night out and see the sun come up? #3 You spend all night out and require rescue? #4 All of the above Wow. This site really has gone downhill.
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timstich
Feb 15, 2014, 5:47 AM
Post #16 of 19
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I've always understood being benighted to mean simply that you climbed until the sun set and it became so dark that you were unable to find your way. Whether or not this made you stuck all night is just the degree of trouble it caused.
Benighted = night fell
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socalclimber
Feb 15, 2014, 8:27 AM
Post #17 of 19
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Registered: Nov 27, 2001
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The poll idea was a good one. Having been down that route one too many times, I'd have to say it's getting stuck on a route after dark. I have had a number of situations where we decided to keep climbing after dark to get to our bivy spot.
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olympicmtnboy
Mar 3, 2014, 2:44 AM
Post #18 of 19
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I would say #2. If my buddy said to me, "Dude, we got benighted on this route and had to set up the rappel by headlamp, we got back to town at 7 PM and missed happy hour." I would be laughing pretty hard and calling him a pansy. I always figured it meant spending the night out unplanned although that isn't the dictionary definition. It's a climbing term now though!
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cracklover
Mar 3, 2014, 7:57 PM
Post #19 of 19
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olympicmtnboy wrote: I would say #2. If my buddy said to me, "Dude, we got benighted on this route and had to set up the rappel by headlamp, we got back to town at 7 PM and missed happy hour." I would be laughing pretty hard and calling him a pansy. I always figured it meant spending the night out unplanned although that isn't the dictionary definition. It's a climbing term now though!
While I agree that it would be silly to use the term if you just happened to have the sun go down as you're wrapping up, I disagree with the idea that the term must imply you spent the whole night out.
I would definitely use the term any time you weren't planning on being out after dark, and all of the possible solutions left after the sun goes down pretty much suck.
I've been in both the situation where I was able to continue to climb, top out, and get down, and the situation where I was not, and had to spend the night on a ledge. Honestly, I feared for my life more in the first situation (one headlamp, off-route, super-sketchy several-hour downclimb) than the second.
GO
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