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alpinelynx
Feb 16, 2003, 3:41 AM
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Registered: Aug 11, 2002
Posts: 280
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Okay, it was more like an epic-light. I was leading a climb at Pat and Jack's this last weekend and get up past the first bolt a ways. Since I keep my draws on my harness, clipping it was no prob. I get up to a ledge and decide now is a good time to put in a piece and I reach down to my rack and.. well, it's not there. Not just the piece, but the whole darn rack! After calmly communicating this fact to my partner, I send down some rope to which he clips the rack (after taking me off belay). Luckily, I was camped out on a nice ledge on an easy climb. Yes, I learned from this and felt like a total dork until some of my friends all had some kind of similar story about leaving the rack or something vital on the ground when they first started leading (I just started leading..) I think the one thing that didn't turn this experience into a nightmare was the fact that I didn't freak out. It could have been much worse!
anyone else want to share minor or major oversights and things they did when they first started leading?
Thanks, and don't leave the ground with out it!
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camhead
Feb 16, 2003, 3:47 AM
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Registered: Sep 10, 2001
Posts: 20939
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hehe...
I got to the top of what would have been my first 5.10 (No Name Crack, Indian Creek), totally pumped out from 100 feet of jamming, and as I was staring at the anchors, completely hosed, I realized that I had neglected to bring anything to thread the rope through! not only that, I had used every single piece of gear on the pitch! I had nothing!!!!
I fell.
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caughtinside
Feb 16, 2003, 4:04 AM
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Registered: Jan 8, 2003
Posts: 30603
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Umm, on my second trad lead, bears reach 5.7 at lovers leap, I was cruising the third and final pitch, and didn't think to put in a piece at the beginning of a traverse to protect my second.
So, he pulls out the last piece, and the rope goes sideways. He's about 20 feet below me, looking really annoyed, while I'm sitting at the anchor, congratulating myself.
Ordinarily, this wouldn't have been a huge problem. Sure, he's facing an ugly looking pendulum across some granite, but it the remaining section couldn't have been more than 5.6, and he's a much better climber than me.
Trouble is, he'd just gotten out of a body cast 2 DAYS earlier, the result of a BASE jumping incident that fractured a few vertibra, so he wasn't in good shape, after 3 MONTHS of lying on his stomach.
Protect your second, if you want to keep your partner!
Cheers,
Dave
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dirko
Feb 16, 2003, 4:39 AM
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Registered: Dec 5, 2002
Posts: 374
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Big wall? Yeah, I can solo a big wall. Well no, I've never done a big wall before. But the Column is the easiest wall in the Valley. How bad can it be?
Eight at night? I doesn't matter that it's eight at night. That means I still have almost an hour of daylight left. Hey, do you know how to self-belay with a gri-gri? No? Well I'm sure I can figure it out.
No, I'm not soloing this wall because I am upset about that girl Kirsten. I was planning to do this for, um, weeks. I bet this Clif Bar and this apple will be enough food for the whole thing. It's only ten pitches, right?
Hmm, it sure got dark out quick. I bet it's midnight now. Too bad I am only 4 pitches off the ground. Hmm, this hanging belay is comfy, maybe I'll just nap for a few hours.
Yikes, it' still dark out. I wonder how long I have been asleep. Well, this is the crux pitch. Oh $#!&! I'm falling! And my fi-fi is caught on the handle of the gri-gri. No backup knot! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Whew, it locked up.
Hmmm, the forecast didn't say it was going to rain this morning. Only four pitches to go. Oh $#!&, I don't want to get stuck in a storm. I'd better bail.
There goes the gri-gri. Wow, I'm lucky it hit dinner ledge and stopped. John's probably not going to want it back now. Oh $#!&. How am I going to rap now? How do I make that carabiner brake thingie again?
It was the 4th of July, 2001. Luckily, I lived to tell the tale. I actually went on to suceed on (and bail off of) other big walls. Just goes to show that the most dangerous partner can be yourself.
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stevematthys
Feb 17, 2003, 3:17 AM
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Registered: Sep 13, 2000
Posts: 1248
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epic, every time i go climbing it becomes a new mini epic. i think i just have bad luck.
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vegastradguy
Feb 21, 2003, 1:34 AM
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Registered: Aug 28, 2002
Posts: 5919
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join the club. i only have one multipitch under my belt that WASNT an epic.
the best, though was...Solar Slab. Easy climb, sure. But they dont tell you what the DESCENT is like from the summit. We started at 8:00am, Summit around 2:00pm (there were 4 of us). That's 14 pitches of sandstone fun, we even got snowed on! Then we think, let's head down.
7 hours, eight 1 or 2 rope rappels, and several scary sections of downclimbing later we emerged about 400 yards east of our packs. that's right, 6 hours to get up, 7 to get down. for the record, the sun set around 4:30pm (winter time), so, we got to spend several hours in the dark. And, half of our party left their headlamps on the deck, so they got to do over 1000 feet of rappelling in the dark. with no headlamp.
we managed to get home alright, and no injuries, amazingly. nothing like creeping up to a ledge in the dark, peering over and thinking "gee, is this the right way, should we rap this? this gully is supposed to be easy! 5.6 downclimbing my a$$!"
this is why i always tell anyone who wants to climb Solar Slab to rap off the 7th pitch, because you dont ever want to do what we did. rumor has it there is a second descent that heads west off the summit, but if it's anything like the one that headed east, ugh, i don't recommend it.
i also, would like to state for the record, that i have yet to go on a multipitch and walk out in the daylight. my BD headlamps get alot of use. :)
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cdb1386
Feb 21, 2003, 2:31 PM
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Registered: May 1, 2001
Posts: 391
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So, I guess I'll add a little story to the list of min-epics. We drive 29 hours straight to Tuolomne Meadows/Yosemite. Camp and get up the next morning. Decide on some climbs on one of the nearby domes (Tuolumne).
Take a look at the guidebook, and it appears the first pitch is all bolted. So my friend hands me the rack and just keeps the draws. Half-way through the slabby pitch the bolts run out. He had 2 choices, 1 to try and down-climb and probably slip and cheese-grade his face and knees...or.... to finish the pitch with no-pro. He sucked it up and finished the pitch, probably 40 ft. I was super proud, but he was a little sketched out for the rest of the climb.
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