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blackmountaineer
Sep 29, 2003, 9:08 PM
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Gorilla goes AWOL at Boston Zoo
BOSTON, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- A usually well-behaved gorilla went AWOL for a short time this week, casually strolling about Boston's Franklin Park Zoo while calmly inspecting exhibits.
The Boston Herald said Lil' Joe, a 300-pound gorilla with "unusually long arms," scaled a 20-foot high rock wall that had been judged insurmountable by professional climbers.
Zoo spokeswoman Melissa Grossenbacher told the Herald: "We'll probably never know why he did it. It's not like we can ask him, `Hey Joe, why'd you do it?'"
After his 10 minutes of freedom, workers led Lil' Joe back to his indoor tropical forest exhibit, where he meekly rejoined his fellow gorillas.
"He's a very gentle gorilla," Grossenbacher said. "He's feeling very sad about the whole thing."
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karmaklimber
Sep 29, 2003, 9:37 PM
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And it didn't even use chalk....
...badass
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sid_rock
Sep 29, 2003, 9:41 PM
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I checked the Boston Herald article. Nowhere does it say that the 20' wall was deemed insurmountable by professional climbers.
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tenn_dawg
Sep 29, 2003, 9:41 PM
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Or shoes. Sheesh, .14+ onsight with no chalk or shoes???
Word...
Travis
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calliope
Sep 29, 2003, 9:46 PM
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He broke out again and threw quite the temper tantrum this time injuring a two year old and her 18 year old baby sitter.
Bad Joe.
The original breakout was sometime in August.
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cthcrockclimber
Sep 29, 2003, 9:51 PM
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haha, i was there 2 weekends ago doing volunteer work and was looking at all the rocks thinking how great it would be to climb. i'd say they are 5.9ish
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cnyclimber
Sep 29, 2003, 10:23 PM
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Anybody have a picture of the wall?
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wv5ten
Sep 29, 2003, 10:31 PM
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In reply to: haha, i was there 2 weekends ago doing volunteer work and was looking at all the rocks thinking how great it would be to climb. i'd say they are 5.9ish
hmmm. 5.9 and "insurmountable" are pretty far apart. :?:
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xanx
Sep 29, 2003, 10:41 PM
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i kinda doubt it.
first off, let's assume the wall was vertical (as most man-made walls are). So, if we take it that "professional climbers" had deemed the wall insurmountable, it would probably have to be over 5.14c, probably even harder if these climbers had ever seen a video of Dave or Sharma. Now who can tell me what 20' of vertical 5.14d looks like? something like this:
http://www.udini.de/...ages/intermezzo_.jpg
and keep in mind that this is slightly overhung, so the holds on this 20' 4.14d would be even worse.
i would like to see a gorilla onsight this with no chalk or shoes. remember, gorillas don't have opposable thumbs, so that pinch Klem's right hand is on would be virtually impossible for the gorilla to hold onto.
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blackmountaineer
Sep 29, 2003, 10:41 PM
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In reply to: i'd say they are 5.9ish
Edited note (disclaimer): NOT that I'm suggesting that anyone try this. Climbing is dangerous. :D
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peas
Sep 29, 2003, 10:49 PM
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This gorilla was obviously bouldering. We should be using the V grading system. 20 feet is getting into the highball range too. Not bad.
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cthcrockclimber
Sep 29, 2003, 10:59 PM
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just to let everyone know, the 5.9 thing was a joke, I was just poking fun at the fact that a newspaper supposedly stated the walls grade.
neverimind, i re-read, the paper didnt say that, my bad
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tenn_dawg
Sep 29, 2003, 11:00 PM
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In reply to: This gorilla was obviously bouldering. We should be using the V grading system. 20 feet is getting into the highball range too. Not bad.
Hahahahaha..
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rrrADAM
Sep 29, 2003, 11:04 PM
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Hello... Gorillas aren 't great climbers. They are too big and bulky, and just sit around on misty mountain tops eating greenery.
Monkies or even any of the other Apes would climb circles around a Gorilla. I would even bet money that a Gorilla could not climb anything harder than a 5.7.
So "Gorilla climbs 5.15...", is a T1 in itself, but I'll give you T4+ for the replies. :wink:
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bumpkin
Sep 29, 2003, 11:13 PM
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Hmm... I live two blocks from the zoo. I thought I saw the gorilla, but just assumed it was one of the kids in one of the neighbourhood gangs that hang out around the Y.
As for gorillas climbing, I always thought that humans were among the worst primates when it came to climbing. I seem to recall a story a few years back about Stefan Glowacz or some other bad eurodude putting up routes in Thailand. There were monkeys around, and, as a joke they put a bunch of bananas high up on one of their projects. The monkeys had no trouble on-sight solo-ing it, thus sobering our lycra-clad heros.
OK, so that's not about gorillas but...
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neadamthal
Sep 29, 2003, 11:20 PM
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In reply to: remember, gorillas don't have opposable thumbs
er... what national enquirer textbook text did you pull that gem out of?
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cthcrockclimber
Sep 29, 2003, 11:39 PM
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maybe he meant tails
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andypro
Sep 30, 2003, 12:49 AM
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In reply to: i would like to see a gorilla onsight this with no chalk or shoes. remember, gorillas don't have opposable thumbs, so that pinch Klem's right hand is on would be virtually impossible for the gorilla to hold onto.
Uhm..Gorillas certainly do have opposable thumbs. And the sure can climb. The gorilla exhibit at my local zoo (buffalo zoo) has the simulated rock walls and tropical feel kinda thing, and when they first built it there were no wires around the top of it. There are now for a reason :wink: I would guess the walls are probably in the 10's or so, but definitely climbable.
Hell...bears have been known to climb as hard as 5.9 to get to food. And they certianly dont have opposable thumbs.
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oldeclimber
Sep 30, 2003, 12:59 AM
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cthcrockclimber,
In reply to: Tom- Next an in-depth story on the clitor ous... Natures' rubix cube.
Not fair, cthcrockclimber went back and corrected his spelling...after I posted this.
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pixelguru
Sep 30, 2003, 2:27 AM
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5.15??? Until it is repeated, I don't buy it...
Maybe several gorillas formed a primate pyramid to aid the escape? They are very social animals after all.
...or the gorillas placed a board over a big rock. The escapee stood on one side of the board and another gorilla pushed an elephant onto the other side of the board - propelling the gorilla Road Runner & Coyote style over the wall?
Maybe a zookeeper accidently left a 15' aluminum ladder in the cage and this wall climbing thing is a hastily fabricated story to cover his/her butt?
Maybe the gorilla used aid? They can use simple tools right? A hammer lifted from the toolbelt of a maintenance worker... a few pitons that fell out of the pocket of a bigwall climber who happened to visit the zoo... a dog leash or two cleverly tied together to make aiders... IT COULD HAPPEN!!!!
Maybe the gorilla made some crude friction-enhancing substance out of banana mush and monkey poop.
...or the gorilla spent years digging an escape tunnel, carefully hidden by a large poster of a scantily clad Jane Goodall?
I'm going to bed now.
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coldclimb
Sep 30, 2003, 2:44 AM
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In reply to: 5.15??? Until it is repeated, I don't buy it... Maybe several gorillas formed a primate pyramid to aid the escape? They are very social animals after all. ...or the gorillas placed a board over a big rock. The escapee stood on one side of the board and another gorilla pushed an elephant onto the other side of the board - propelling the gorilla Road Runner & Coyote style over the wall? Maybe a zookeeper accidently left a 15' aluminum ladder in the cage and this wall climbing thing is a hastily fabricated story to cover his/her butt? Maybe the gorilla used aid? They can use simple tools right? A hammer lifted from the toolbelt of a maintenance worker... a few pitons that fell out of the pocket of a bigwall climber who happened to visit the zoo... a dog leash or two cleverly tied together to make aiders... IT COULD HAPPEN!!!! Maybe the gorilla made some crude friction-enhancing substance out of banana mush and monkey poop. ...or the gorilla spent years digging an escape tunnel, carefully hidden by a large poster of a scantily clad Jane Goodall? I'm going to bed now.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Go to bed! :lol:
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boulderpaul
Sep 30, 2003, 6:28 PM
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the route is intermezzo
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godsmybelayer
Sep 30, 2003, 6:35 PM
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I think your all missing the point, didn't someone in hte beginning of this thread say they checked the article and that it didn't say anything about the wall being judged by professional climbers to be impossible?
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edge
Sep 30, 2003, 6:39 PM
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Check out the response from olderic:
http://www.newenglandbouldering.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=601
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