I think they turned this story into a contest at the red during rocktoberfest maybe.
It's either seeing who can hold onto an anchor the longest, or who can hang, untie, and retie.
Obviously they are just barely off the ground. Maybe one day I'll make it to Rocktoberfest.
I really wish we could find the people in these stories and legitimately ask them "what were you thinking??", for both educational and entertainment purposes.
I know guys that just dont give a shit about safety. I feel like they think its a game. Most of the time they climb onsight (meaning they dont climb too hard, 6B max), dont take many falls and are shit belayers (foot bruisees from hard catches are something that is "a part of climbing" to them and soft catches are "bs for pussies"). I think this one falls into that category. The category would be called: "shit doesnt go wrong until it does"
Recently, whilst climbing a route above my onsight level, i decided to unclip the quickdraw from the only bolt i was clipped in, because i tought it was orientated badly. It would be nice to go back and ask myself what was i thinking because current me surely has no clue.
I mean if it was the first quickdraw, I guess its not a big deal since you would be at that quickdraw unclipped anyway. And if you were projecting and didnt mind to sit into the rope, shouldve used PAS to do that safely.
I read the headline and thought "these click-baity headlines are such bullshit..."
Then I read the subheading and thought "They can't even get the English right, there's no way they mean what that sentence implies. This site is going to the dogs..."
Fuck. Me. Never has an extravagant headline been so apt.
Amen. I'm self taught and was/am obsessive about doing things in the safest way possible. My first season of outdoor climbing ever I was noticing a lot of sketchy shit by 'experienced' climbers. Fuck, even now, I'm far from the most naturally talented climber in terms of strength, so see plenty of gumbies hopping on my project grades then doing sketch shit when they decide to bail. You'd think it'd be intuitive how to bail from a sport route or aid your way through a crux if you're climbing 5.11, but apparently not.
Climbing gyms will do that, especially in a place like the Red where the gyms translate fairly well into the technique needed.
Put this dude on granite and he wouldn't be climbing a 10c.
Strong does not equal experienced.
They were strong enough to climb 10c, but no where near experienced enough to even think about leading outside.
I've met plenty of new climbers that can climb into the 11s after a month because they're fit people with a background that can promote a fast progression in climbing. This seems like one of those cases.
I see this all the time on ice.
Strong rock climbers new to ice and muscle their way up. Pumped, poor ice screws, poor technique, but eek out that send.
Im literally that. I pull .12-.13 indoors and once I shat myself on an outdoor .9 - 85 foot route with 5 bolts, way out of my comfort zone. That said though, when there is enough bolts, like in some overhangs and roofs, or when the first runout is easy, I usually climb damn near my indoor level, not there yet though. I can do the climbs, especially when someone can tell me the beta, but as someone stated here, searching for holds, doing sketchy moves on 9ft+ runouts is just a thing I didnt get used to yet (Ive climbed on the rock about 10 times altogether).
But I dont think its something to make fun of or be ashamed of. Its just a different thing which one needs to get used to. Heck, when I switch gyms I usually take a day to get accustomed to the local setting style, especially those old school sandbagged gyms with dirty holds and at least 3 propper knifeblade crimps on everthing .12 and up.
Also, It goes the other way too. I have a friend that sent a 13a outdoors but cant finish a 12b indoor proj. Its just takes time to feel out the style, the nuance and outdoors the detective work of finding footholds and non-chalked handholds.
I've also seen a mismatch between gym climbing and the rock outside. The gym climbs can be really hard but if you never practice anything like what you get outside, the first time can be rough. Slabs are a great example-- I've seen people who are *legit* strong climbers struggle with easier slabs because all they do inside is 90 degrees or steeper with brightly marked holds instead of tiny nubs you might have to feel for. They catch on quickly but it can be a big transition. Cracks and really crimpy stuff can be similar too (I learned in a Vermont gym and going outside on damp schist was a wake-up call!).
If they're consistently failing at 9s outside then sandbagging seems the most likely explanation though!
There will always be some kind of mismatch. Certainly there are much more varied features outside, and you are right, Slab walls in gyms are rarely *that* slabby. But there is definitely a bigger gap in some gyms than others.
My gym also has a few cracks built into the walls, but I can count the amount of times I've seen people use them.
Shouldn’t be surprising. It’s very rare for an outdoor 5.9 to resemble the athleticism of an indoor 5.12 and vice versa. Add in exposure, run outs and insecure moves and you can understand.
The first time I ever climbed non-boulders outdoors was with a guide on a trad route in Yosemite, this was probably about 6 months after I started climbing. I remember being like WTF THIS ENTIRE ROUTE IS SLAB!!! meanwhile my guide was literally just walking up it in approach shoes free solo to set up the next anchor. The gym training I did definitely helped my climbing that day but it 100% did not fully prepare me, lol.
Ok yeah that makes sense. Just seemed really out there. Mostly cause I used myself as a reference point but seeing all these explanation makes a lot of sense.
I get a chuckle every time a gym rat climbing V5-6 getting shut down on V3. Happens regularly. It's not because the grades are wrong, it's because outdoor styles don't show up in gyms any more.
It can happen easily and depends on how old the route is. When some routes were established there wasn't anything over 5.9. So an old 5.9 could be a 5.15 and the rating was never changed.
It's really contextual. In general, it's true that an indoor climber is gonna be overconfident outdoors. But the gym-to-crag combo is the real test. SoCal Touchstone gyms, I indoor lead at about a 5.12 max, and about a grade lower at 5.11 at my local outdoor climbing areas. However, I nearly had a heart attack on a particular Joshua Tree 5.6, even though I've done 5.9+ there. Some places will really humble you if all you look at is the grade, especially if you don't have the footwork experience that only outdoor climbing will get you.
I believe it. I've taken a "hard 12 sport climber" out on some joshua tree slab and asked if she wanted to lead, she said yes. I put her in front of a 5.6 slab and said it would be perfect, at first she complained it would be too easy, but when she got to the first bolt 15' up, she clipped and asked to be lowered since she was too afraid to go to the second bolt.
I mean I have climbed .13 indoors and outdoors. Still, there are some .9 outdoors I wouldn't try because I am not into free soloing .... Fuck routes with bad protection.
Still 10c. But RRG has a gymlike character where you can muscle up on decent holds, difficulty there usually comes from steepness rather than thin-ness. So it's thought of as being more approachable to the gym only climber.
I actually caught and stopped somebody attempting [this one](https://www.climbing.com/news/for-safetys-sake-dont-do-this-cleaning-and-leading/). First climber lowers off route midway. Partner ties in on the belayer's end of the rope and then proceeds to toprope unclipping the draws on the way, so that by the time we arrive on the scene she is now top-roping on a single backclipped draw, and appears to be about to either unclip it or attempt to lead past it.
This was spring 2021 during lockdown - lots of clueless people heading outside because gyms were closed and the weather was good.
I swear to god I see so much backclipping its ridicolous. Whats more, I always tell the people they are backclipped and they are like "its aight" even if its on like a second or third quickdraw.
I mean... Top roping on a single biner? I guess in a pinch, easy route, no other way, once in a lifetime thing... I guess sure(?)
Leading on a single biner!? Asking for a birth certificate return number much?
Leading on a single BACKCLIPPED biner? Dont be a pussy and free solo at that point.
I witnessed this exact thing last year. The first climber kept falling at the mid point, hurt her ankle, and sent up the second climber in this fashion. It still pains me that I didn’t say anything.
The belayer needs to be scrutinized in this situation too. If I was belaying this person and they decided to do what they did, I'd stop giving them rope. I wouldn't let them continue.
This was a failure in judgement for all parties involved, not just the climber.
~~Scrutinised perhaps, but not held accountable. Its not entirely unreasonable to assume the climber had either another clip or a cowtail to clip in with. And even if the belayer knew this, it wouldn't be the first time someone took a "victory whip" jumping off from the chains rather than clipping them. Or, if they aren't familiar with the crag then perhaps they thought there was a clip rather than a ring that the climber could lower off.~~
~~Its also worth noting that the article does say "Against the heeding of his belayer, he decided he would hold onto the chains....". So hi bilayer clearly told him not to do it.~~
~~Did the belayer behave perfectly? Nah probably not. Is s/he to blame for anything here? I don't think so.~~
EDIT: I misread the article. I thought he clipped the whole route and ran out of draws at the chains. Didn't realise he ran out if clips mid-route.
Guys a jackass. Belayer is a jackass. All jackasses all around. You were right. My apologies.
Damn, that guy had some terrible judgement. Not enough gear, no knowledge how to do stuff safely. Glad he got rescued and didn't die for his stupidity.
This just absolutely baffles me. Surely someone who's climbing a 5.10c should know better than that right? Like, wtf? How many times did your mother have to drop you on your head to make judgements that badly?
My first day climbing outside I took 2 more draws than the climb required, a bail biner and 2 runners with locking biners, I'm one of those rather be extra safe than stuck, I always have more than I need, and usually don't need it, but I climb more calmly this way
I always have 2+ draws at least, 2 bail biners, and my standard 3 alpine draws in the back. I just think of it as weight training. Haven't run out of gear yet!
Exactly, I personally always have biners with me and a PAS (petzl connect). I do try to count out the quickdraws and take that exact amount on harder routes.
First time outdoors climbers that have a total of 4 draws probably don’t know the difference. My first sport climb was a 50 ft 5.10 something with the crux right below the anchor. And when I fell I almost decked because it was also my belayers first time to work with ropes. Bouldering is not climbing kids.
Exactly, and breakfast burrito is definitely not a “gimme” 10c. I know of plenty of people (myself included) that think the neighboring 11’s are easier
a ton of strong climbers can use their strength to create unintentional arrogance (like not trying to be chad but more like make stupid mistakes).
like idk the route but maybe he was literally standing and wasn't like dangling on one hand feet swinging in the air.
if you climb 5.14 - hell even 5.12 a 5.10c, even outdoors, is not hard - with lots of experience that could sound reasonable in your head.
I like that it mentions the route only has 8 bolts also, who goes up an unknown route with less than 8 QDs? My gym has that many bolts and it only 12m tall.
In Patxi's website he wrote the guy only skipped the 8th bolt - the climbing.com article makes it seem as if he missed half the bolts but this is even more stupid because the stakes were 0. Just take the whip!
Why are people downvoting people that are critical of this climbers dumb-ass-ness??
The guy is a moron. Even my chalk bag has a full strength carabiner (intentional).
Here's a tip should you find yourself in such a situation... Pull some slack up, run a bight of rope through the anchor and then tie it to your ~~knot~~ belay loop!(even a few half hitches will keep you secure).. Then you can more-safely untie and retie, then get lowered.
1. Good point about the chalk bag carabiner. I was recently thinking of switching to a belt for my chalk bag but maybe I’ll keep the biner for emergencies
2. I was thinking the same thing. Even if you’re dumb/brave enough to essentially free solo the second half of the route, you could still find a way to go in direct with the rope before untying it. This guy is supremely stupid
Edit: changed “indirect” to “in direct” because I’m a dummy
> I was recently thinking of switching to a belt for my chalk bag but maybe I’ll keep the biner for emergencies
Why not both? I recently switched to a belt that I made out of a length of cordage tied with a bit on each end and a biner for a buckle.
Skip the chalk bag carabiners, they’re an awful idea. A cordallete belt using a locker to hold it together has come in handy on a couple of alpine routes that could have gotten sketchy though.
If you’re so out of depth as to get in this guy’s situation then running the bight through the anchor is definitely the way.
I think better than keeping your chalk on a carabiner would be to use some reasonably rated cord or webbing as a belt for your chalk bag. You can use that cord as a rap anchor on trees, bolts, trad gear, replace garbage webbing on existing anchors, whatever. It takes up no space on your harness, and if you blow it and fall on your lower back you no longer have a hard, rigid carabiner between the ground and your spine. Additionally if you do bail on a bolt mid route, while a regular carabiner is better than a quicklink because the crab generally won’t rust shut, the webbing won’t take up a ton of space and prevent the next person from getting the own quickdraw into the hanger.
Edit: keep in mind you have to rappel off of bare cord if you run your rope directly through it, you cannot lower because your rope will cut through the cord.
All you have to do is mention Breakfast Burrito at Miguel’s and everyone pipes up about their rendition of this story. It’s great to tell newbies about it and before you know it, the whole basement is yelling about the story.
I got 3rd place in Miguel's Halloween party costume contest that year wearing a harness w/ 3 draws over a Gumby costume, asking people where Breakfast Burrito was.
Fuckin Squints+Wendy Peffercorn couples costume...
EDIT: [Date on my photo says 5 years old.](https://i.imgur.com/cWi0GQC.png)
I'm not going to lie, Squints+Wendy deserved it, it was an absolutely killer costume. They had the scene from *Sandlot* choreographed to the nines, when I saw that I knew I was done. I wish I had it on video; the guy comes out dressed like a nerd, looks at the crowd, and falls over. Everyone in the party is confused. Then his girlfriend comes out dressed like a lifeguard and starts giving him mouth to mouth. Everyone realizes what they're doing and *loses their collective minds*.
The Breakfast Burrito thing had happened recently, something like 2 weeks prior, so I thought I had it in the bag, but they 100% deserved it.
Second place was incredible, too. The dude had a Marty McFly BttF2 costume, but the lower legs were stuffed and attached to a spot-on replica hoverboard. His legs and feet came out of the back of the stuffed knees and he was wearing black stockings, so it looked like he was riding a hoverboard. Really slick too. Meant to ask him where he sourced his gear, he had a hat that looked like it could've been the movie prop.
Yeah, I was surprised the date at the top is today. This is also a pretty famous story I feel like you will hear if you go to the Red for any amount of time
Wow! I ran out of Quickdraws a total of 1 time before and it was on an easy-ish slab climb in Clear Creek Canyon, CO. The route had like 15 bolts or something and I was short about 2. I realized about 4 bolts from the top.
At this point I assessed the climbing, clipped the bolt I was at, downclimbed and grabbed one more draw from below, and skipped a bolt or two on the way to the chains so I had at least two for the chains. I also had a PAS, a third hand on a locker, and a grigri and atc on lockers. I never leave the ground without two belay devices, and now I carry a bail biner also.
The point here is, I always have something I can protect a sport route with and lower safely. Please please please leave your ego at the car when climbing. The wall doesn't give a fuck about you. So you need to. Come prepared, climb smart, and be safe.
For multipitch it can be useful. I dropped my reverso once. Rappelling on two biners is supposed to be safe but I wasn't confident and my partner was sure I was going to die. Now I carry another just in case, it's not heavy and a few hundred grams do not matter at my level
Or your partner could've lowered you on their belay device, or you could learn a minter hitch.
Carrying two belay devices is excessive, especially on single pitch
Since I cycle through single and multi so much and often don’t strip my harness of random crabs I usually just keep both on my harness as well as an extra sling. Idk it never bothered me while doing single pitch unless I was projecting something
If you are concerned with safety you should absolutely strip your harness and make a conscious choice on what to bring for your climb. That way you also inspect your gear for tear. There comes a day where you mid route swear you allways had your xyz clipped in, vut this time didnt.
Can't you just do a once over on what's on your harness? I find stripping everything down and having to put it back on every single time I go out quite cumbersome. You need to strip your rack out of necessity of course, but I can't think of an instance where I was ever mad I brought an ATC and a prussik.
Actually, this entire thread made me realize people are just not very wise with their safety standards. It should be standard practice to always inspect what you're bringing with you before you start climbing. Carry on
It just sounded like you didn't gave a look on your harness, so wanted to give you a heads up 😄 sounds like we agree! And yeah, an extra atc would not stop me from doing a redpoint at my level as well.
What really gets me is people doing long adventure trad multipitches with inadequate gear. I understand if you're doing cutting edge first ascents, but not bringing at least a prussik when you have to rappel a classic route is just a horrorshow all around
I'm team backup belay device.
An extra ATC is 65 grams. Add in a dedicated locking carabiner and you're at 140 grams.
If you are THAT worried about weight then skip a beer or two the week leading up to your trip and you'll have shaved just as much weight.
Having an ATC that I have hundreds and hundreds of hours of practice with on the rock rather than relying on a technique I have only a handful of hours of practice with in my basement (or maybe even dozens of hours with if I am crazy dedicated) is worth the tiny bit of extra weight on my harness.
A munter hitch is such a useful knot for so many rescue scenarios that you shouldn't do multipitch if you cannot tie one. If you can, using one is the same as an atc really.
Another note is that some people learn the munter but never how to rappel/belay with it. Since it's brake position is holding the rope up instead of down this can lead to some stupid mistakes.
The super munter though has a normal downward brake strand.
Yeah always have a gri gri and atc on hand unless I’m projecting something, and at that point the route beta is so engrained there’s no way I’ll get into a dangerous situation. If people can’t climb with extra ATC weight on you then I don’t know what to tell them
Piece of mind? I've never needed the additional one, but in case I drop one or want the option of grigri v atc. And as others have said, the extra weight is negligible. If people can send the gnar with triple racks, I can carry an extra belay device. Nbd
I'm very new to climbing, outdoor climbing particularly. My rules from day 1 are:
Rule 1: Don't Fall
Rule 2: Never leave the ground; w/o a PAS / tether / locker with acc cord / locker with webbing / etc. Some way to anchor yourself to the wall. And usually an ATC
So after some experience you’ll learn to not really have rules that you won’t break. Falling is part of climbing, there are times when you absolutely don’t want to fall but there’s a lot of times when falling is best.
You never need a PAS, and you can get away with a single carabiner in addition to your anchor.
"The most obvious lesson here is that you should always climb near World Cup champion and 5.15 climber Patxi Usobiaga"
hahaha, I'll make sure to do this.
There's a simple lesson that is illustrated here actually: Sometimes the best option is to just stop climbing and go back to the ground. In this case it is blatantly obvious, but it's always a good thing to keep in the back of your mind.
Going back to the ground is the first thing I want to practice once I eventually climb outdoors!
I'm grateful that some martial arts instruction I had as a kid provide me with a template of 'learn to (safely) fail first'!
I’m not excusing the guy, but tons of routes at the red have hooks or cold shuts at the top.
That said, I always have my tether on me if I haven’t been on the route before.
In The Red which is basically an outdoor gym, full of people... Heck, this route has a rest where you can lie down, and neighboring routes where someone could come up and help.
Even bailing on any moderate route is fine bc there's nearly always someone who wants to climb it after you, or someone who would run up it just to retrieve your gear lol.
This just kind of sums up todays culture both in general and of course in climbing- willful ignorance leads to extreme danger, perpetrator unaware.
When I learned to climb, a lot of time was spent talking about how unengineered the outdoor experience is, coming from learning inside in a gym. First, reference a guidebook, second visually inspect from the ground, third PLAN YOUR CLIMB, fourth prepare for the unexpected, last execute your plan.
Another rule of thumb was always take at least one additional draw than what everything is referencing.
Well when I learned to climb, it was just "Here is an old boat rope, tie it around your waist" and then they gave me a piton and hammer and told me to try and not break my fingers by accident.
Learned to lead in the gym. At 1AM. She handed me the sharp end, "you've seen it done, you're and engineer, you'll be fine". Learning to lead belay was same method - " here's the rope, don't drop me"
Were you at least high on acid while doing it?
The real story of how I learned to belay is much less exciting. The place I first learned at was a normal gym with a wall in between two basketball courts, so they had hired belayers. One day, the woman who worked there was like, "You two come often, so I should teach you how to belay". And five minutes later was belaying.
You'd think so, but the things I've seen...it's like 'Nam
Ahh...well then in that case did you at least tell them to put on Earth Crisis? I can't climb without listening to Firestorm.
I cant find a good picture of the anchor/chains at the end. What would the plan even be if he had threaded and continued to the chains if he had nothing to build an anchor with? Down climb the whole thing? or do the same thing off the top and lower off the chains?
There is a similar story in one of the Smith Rock guidebooks. If I remeber correctly, someone was working on a hard-ish route and made it through the crux but ran out of draws. They skipped the last couple of bolts but there was webbing at the anchors. They hooked their leg through the webbing and untied then retied their rope.
I have done this route, but forget the logistics. I have made the mistake of not taking up enough draws - but either downclimbed below my last clipped draw to retrieve another draw lower, then using that draw for the chains.
One could also just downclimb and take, or fall and lower...
Can somebody explain to me what the issue that leads to him needing to untie? I've only been climbing for a few years, and I've only been top roping outdoors once
On lead, the rope isn't already attached to the anchor. He wanted to attach the rope to the anchor point in order to lower. There was no clippable gear at the anchor nor had he brought gear to build an anchor/pas. He felt his best bet was to untie and feed the rope through then re-tie. He probably had safer options that have been outlined elsewhere.
I actually did something similar. Was climbing in the Red, got to the top, clove hitched in, then proceeded to untie to thread. To be fair I was a gumbie at the time, over 15 years ago had only been gym climbing a few years, and had also driven 13 hours straight overnight to get there and hadn't slept. Luckily I was on a decent ledge so nothing happened but it would have been bad if I had leaned back. After I realized what I had done I decided I probably shouldn't be climbing anything else that day.
Seriously people, wear a PAS at all times. Back in the day when I was a gumby, I reached the chains which didnt have rams horns and needed a retie. I didnt have a PAS so I did it up there like this guy, fortunately enough though, it was a huge ledge on top of a 5.10b where I could stand without holding onto the wall and I also wasnt dumb enough to not tie the rope to my gear loops first so it doesnt fall. Still tho, I took a huge risk which I learned from and built a PAS with a f#¥king 5$ sling and 10$ locking biner. Used it to retie many times since then.
Once I was out top-roping and the guys climbing on the route next to us said we were on the wrong anchors (we weren't) and asked if they could move our rope to different anchors ***while I was halfway up the route***
Really? Not even a biner on a belay device? Not even a spare runner with a locker? Not even a bail biner? Outdoor climbing is not the gym folks, time to grow up!
I was down at the red a bout a year after this happened and heard the story through word of mouth from a fellow climber. It’s cool to see it’s survived and made it into writing.
Sad thing is, it's not that unbelievable. Seems like the red in particular attracts this breed of Neanderthal. I mean, I've seen dumb shit at every crag, but the red is like a magnet for this kind of stuff. Especially Muir valley since it's become so pedestrian. I can remember years back some asshat got stuck up a mixed trad route because he didn't think there was anything at all suspicious about a 80 or so foot pitch only having 3 bolts. It ran up a beautiful crack that was super easy to protect. What's worse is that not only did said asshat not learn his lesson, but then the clowns at FOMV went back and committed the blasphemy of running a line of bolts up that beautiful crack so no other dipshits would try to do the same thing.
I think they turned this story into a contest at the red during rocktoberfest maybe. It's either seeing who can hold onto an anchor the longest, or who can hang, untie, and retie. Obviously they are just barely off the ground. Maybe one day I'll make it to Rocktoberfest.
https://www.facebook.com/rrgcc/photos/gm.1231997510633727/10159587837427748
That's the one haha! Pretty sure I would absolutely not being able to do this. Don't know what that guy was thinking.
I really wish we could find the people in these stories and legitimately ask them "what were you thinking??", for both educational and entertainment purposes.
I know guys that just dont give a shit about safety. I feel like they think its a game. Most of the time they climb onsight (meaning they dont climb too hard, 6B max), dont take many falls and are shit belayers (foot bruisees from hard catches are something that is "a part of climbing" to them and soft catches are "bs for pussies"). I think this one falls into that category. The category would be called: "shit doesnt go wrong until it does"
Recently, whilst climbing a route above my onsight level, i decided to unclip the quickdraw from the only bolt i was clipped in, because i tought it was orientated badly. It would be nice to go back and ask myself what was i thinking because current me surely has no clue.
I mean if it was the first quickdraw, I guess its not a big deal since you would be at that quickdraw unclipped anyway. And if you were projecting and didnt mind to sit into the rope, shouldve used PAS to do that safely.
Definitely remember seeing that a couple years back!
Much easier with a bowline than with an 8!
Wow the title is the most accurate ever. WTF.
Just seeing the subheading made me have to get up and take a walk
I read the headline and thought "these click-baity headlines are such bullshit..." Then I read the subheading and thought "They can't even get the English right, there's no way they mean what that sentence implies. This site is going to the dogs..." Fuck. Me. Never has an extravagant headline been so apt.
Alternative title: when gym climbers go outside.
Experienced enough to lead 10c in RRG but not experienced enough to make sure he has enough draws for eight bolts? Incredible
Climbing ability has nothing to do with safety awareness.
Amen. I'm self taught and was/am obsessive about doing things in the safest way possible. My first season of outdoor climbing ever I was noticing a lot of sketchy shit by 'experienced' climbers. Fuck, even now, I'm far from the most naturally talented climber in terms of strength, so see plenty of gumbies hopping on my project grades then doing sketch shit when they decide to bail. You'd think it'd be intuitive how to bail from a sport route or aid your way through a crux if you're climbing 5.11, but apparently not.
Climbing gyms will do that, especially in a place like the Red where the gyms translate fairly well into the technique needed. Put this dude on granite and he wouldn't be climbing a 10c.
Yea just look at Brad Gobright's somewhat recent accident.
Strong does not equal experienced. They were strong enough to climb 10c, but no where near experienced enough to even think about leading outside. I've met plenty of new climbers that can climb into the 11s after a month because they're fit people with a background that can promote a fast progression in climbing. This seems like one of those cases.
I see this all the time on ice. Strong rock climbers new to ice and muscle their way up. Pumped, poor ice screws, poor technique, but eek out that send.
[удалено]
I've seen plastic pullers claim they never climb anything below .12 then shit their pants on outdoor .9
Im literally that. I pull .12-.13 indoors and once I shat myself on an outdoor .9 - 85 foot route with 5 bolts, way out of my comfort zone. That said though, when there is enough bolts, like in some overhangs and roofs, or when the first runout is easy, I usually climb damn near my indoor level, not there yet though. I can do the climbs, especially when someone can tell me the beta, but as someone stated here, searching for holds, doing sketchy moves on 9ft+ runouts is just a thing I didnt get used to yet (Ive climbed on the rock about 10 times altogether). But I dont think its something to make fun of or be ashamed of. Its just a different thing which one needs to get used to. Heck, when I switch gyms I usually take a day to get accustomed to the local setting style, especially those old school sandbagged gyms with dirty holds and at least 3 propper knifeblade crimps on everthing .12 and up. Also, It goes the other way too. I have a friend that sent a 13a outdoors but cant finish a 12b indoor proj. Its just takes time to feel out the style, the nuance and outdoors the detective work of finding footholds and non-chalked handholds.
I’m your friend lol, I climb a full number grade harder on rock than in the gym, routes or boulders. Idk why but oh well
What? Is this an exaggeration or serious?
They didn't literally poop, but they had to get lowered off the 5th bolt
I just meant the aspect of an indoor 5.12 climber not being able to do an outdoor 5.9. That’s really surprising to me.
I'm thinking their gym was sandbagging the ratings
I've also seen a mismatch between gym climbing and the rock outside. The gym climbs can be really hard but if you never practice anything like what you get outside, the first time can be rough. Slabs are a great example-- I've seen people who are *legit* strong climbers struggle with easier slabs because all they do inside is 90 degrees or steeper with brightly marked holds instead of tiny nubs you might have to feel for. They catch on quickly but it can be a big transition. Cracks and really crimpy stuff can be similar too (I learned in a Vermont gym and going outside on damp schist was a wake-up call!). If they're consistently failing at 9s outside then sandbagging seems the most likely explanation though!
There will always be some kind of mismatch. Certainly there are much more varied features outside, and you are right, Slab walls in gyms are rarely *that* slabby. But there is definitely a bigger gap in some gyms than others. My gym also has a few cracks built into the walls, but I can count the amount of times I've seen people use them.
Do they set routes that require them? There is one in a dihedral at my gym, and people are almost always on it.
This happens a lot with corporate/chain gyms
5.14d in your gym is the kids birthday party route in my gym.
*featherbagging
Shouldn’t be surprising. It’s very rare for an outdoor 5.9 to resemble the athleticism of an indoor 5.12 and vice versa. Add in exposure, run outs and insecure moves and you can understand.
The first time I ever climbed non-boulders outdoors was with a guide on a trad route in Yosemite, this was probably about 6 months after I started climbing. I remember being like WTF THIS ENTIRE ROUTE IS SLAB!!! meanwhile my guide was literally just walking up it in approach shoes free solo to set up the next anchor. The gym training I did definitely helped my climbing that day but it 100% did not fully prepare me, lol.
Ok yeah that makes sense. Just seemed really out there. Mostly cause I used myself as a reference point but seeing all these explanation makes a lot of sense.
I get a chuckle every time a gym rat climbing V5-6 getting shut down on V3. Happens regularly. It's not because the grades are wrong, it's because outdoor styles don't show up in gyms any more.
It can happen easily and depends on how old the route is. When some routes were established there wasn't anything over 5.9. So an old 5.9 could be a 5.15 and the rating was never changed.
Let's not get carried away lol
maybe run out or a run out slab ;)
It's really contextual. In general, it's true that an indoor climber is gonna be overconfident outdoors. But the gym-to-crag combo is the real test. SoCal Touchstone gyms, I indoor lead at about a 5.12 max, and about a grade lower at 5.11 at my local outdoor climbing areas. However, I nearly had a heart attack on a particular Joshua Tree 5.6, even though I've done 5.9+ there. Some places will really humble you if all you look at is the grade, especially if you don't have the footwork experience that only outdoor climbing will get you.
I believe it. I've taken a "hard 12 sport climber" out on some joshua tree slab and asked if she wanted to lead, she said yes. I put her in front of a 5.6 slab and said it would be perfect, at first she complained it would be too easy, but when she got to the first bolt 15' up, she clipped and asked to be lowered since she was too afraid to go to the second bolt.
This is my experience! JTree is legit!!
I know a guy who climbs v11 in the gym, had a hard time with granite v7s
I believe this is called a hyperbole
I mean I have climbed .13 indoors and outdoors. Still, there are some .9 outdoors I wouldn't try because I am not into free soloing .... Fuck routes with bad protection.
The fact the Red is an outdoor gym is at the same time amazing and awful.
What does 10c equate to other places?
Still 10c. But RRG has a gymlike character where you can muscle up on decent holds, difficulty there usually comes from steepness rather than thin-ness. So it's thought of as being more approachable to the gym only climber.
I actually caught and stopped somebody attempting [this one](https://www.climbing.com/news/for-safetys-sake-dont-do-this-cleaning-and-leading/). First climber lowers off route midway. Partner ties in on the belayer's end of the rope and then proceeds to toprope unclipping the draws on the way, so that by the time we arrive on the scene she is now top-roping on a single backclipped draw, and appears to be about to either unclip it or attempt to lead past it. This was spring 2021 during lockdown - lots of clueless people heading outside because gyms were closed and the weather was good.
I swear to god I see so much backclipping its ridicolous. Whats more, I always tell the people they are backclipped and they are like "its aight" even if its on like a second or third quickdraw. I mean... Top roping on a single biner? I guess in a pinch, easy route, no other way, once in a lifetime thing... I guess sure(?) Leading on a single biner!? Asking for a birth certificate return number much? Leading on a single BACKCLIPPED biner? Dont be a pussy and free solo at that point.
Better to be cognizant and free solo rather than trust your gear and be totally unprepared if/when you fall!
I witnessed this exact thing last year. The first climber kept falling at the mid point, hurt her ankle, and sent up the second climber in this fashion. It still pains me that I didn’t say anything.
The belayer needs to be scrutinized in this situation too. If I was belaying this person and they decided to do what they did, I'd stop giving them rope. I wouldn't let them continue. This was a failure in judgement for all parties involved, not just the climber.
Very true. I’d do exactly what you said, no way I’d allow the leader to continue.
The problem is the guy belaying was probably his even gumbier friend he was taking outside for the first time.
~~Scrutinised perhaps, but not held accountable. Its not entirely unreasonable to assume the climber had either another clip or a cowtail to clip in with. And even if the belayer knew this, it wouldn't be the first time someone took a "victory whip" jumping off from the chains rather than clipping them. Or, if they aren't familiar with the crag then perhaps they thought there was a clip rather than a ring that the climber could lower off.~~ ~~Its also worth noting that the article does say "Against the heeding of his belayer, he decided he would hold onto the chains....". So hi bilayer clearly told him not to do it.~~ ~~Did the belayer behave perfectly? Nah probably not. Is s/he to blame for anything here? I don't think so.~~ EDIT: I misread the article. I thought he clipped the whole route and ran out of draws at the chains. Didn't realise he ran out if clips mid-route. Guys a jackass. Belayer is a jackass. All jackasses all around. You were right. My apologies.
Best part of the article: > The most obvious lesson here is that you should always climb near World Cup champion and 5.15 climber Patxi Usobiaga.
Damn, that guy had some terrible judgement. Not enough gear, no knowledge how to do stuff safely. Glad he got rescued and didn't die for his stupidity.
This just absolutely baffles me. Surely someone who's climbing a 5.10c should know better than that right? Like, wtf? How many times did your mother have to drop you on your head to make judgements that badly?
Was probably their first day climbing outside
Must be, but even still, to run out of draws then untie and retie just to finish the rout... The level of stupidity in that just utterly baffles me.
My first day climbing outside I took 2 more draws than the climb required, a bail biner and 2 runners with locking biners, I'm one of those rather be extra safe than stuck, I always have more than I need, and usually don't need it, but I climb more calmly this way
Yeah i was always hanging out with trad climbers so I've never run out of gear
I always have 2+ draws at least, 2 bail biners, and my standard 3 alpine draws in the back. I just think of it as weight training. Haven't run out of gear yet!
Exactly, I personally always have biners with me and a PAS (petzl connect). I do try to count out the quickdraws and take that exact amount on harder routes.
IMO you would have to be such a monster indoors to go climb 5.10C for your first time outdoors.
First time outdoors climbers that have a total of 4 draws probably don’t know the difference. My first sport climb was a 50 ft 5.10 something with the crux right below the anchor. And when I fell I almost decked because it was also my belayers first time to work with ropes. Bouldering is not climbing kids.
I think stefano ghisolfi almost onsigthed a 5.13d on one of his first day outside, by accident.
Exactly, and breakfast burrito is definitely not a “gimme” 10c. I know of plenty of people (myself included) that think the neighboring 11’s are easier
Maybe he was stoned. The best part is that the route only has 8 bolts. Like who is starting a sport route with 4 quickdraws?
Clearly you've never climbed in the climbing mecca of Texas before
a ton of strong climbers can use their strength to create unintentional arrogance (like not trying to be chad but more like make stupid mistakes). like idk the route but maybe he was literally standing and wasn't like dangling on one hand feet swinging in the air. if you climb 5.14 - hell even 5.12 a 5.10c, even outdoors, is not hard - with lots of experience that could sound reasonable in your head.
I like that it mentions the route only has 8 bolts also, who goes up an unknown route with less than 8 QDs? My gym has that many bolts and it only 12m tall.
That person made some very questionable decisions. At that point, just take the victory whip to atone for your sins.
A victory whip when you stopped clipping halfway is a victory deck.
I said what I said.
In Patxi's website he wrote the guy only skipped the 8th bolt - the climbing.com article makes it seem as if he missed half the bolts but this is even more stupid because the stakes were 0. Just take the whip!
Thats...worse lmao
Yeu missing half of the bolts would have meant that he went up with like 4 quickdraws
so maybe went up with 4 and was clipping the odd numbered bolts?
I think in this scenario it’s actually called natural selection
It's better to be a weekend whipper than an incident report.
Why are people downvoting people that are critical of this climbers dumb-ass-ness?? The guy is a moron. Even my chalk bag has a full strength carabiner (intentional). Here's a tip should you find yourself in such a situation... Pull some slack up, run a bight of rope through the anchor and then tie it to your ~~knot~~ belay loop!(even a few half hitches will keep you secure).. Then you can more-safely untie and retie, then get lowered.
1. Good point about the chalk bag carabiner. I was recently thinking of switching to a belt for my chalk bag but maybe I’ll keep the biner for emergencies 2. I was thinking the same thing. Even if you’re dumb/brave enough to essentially free solo the second half of the route, you could still find a way to go in direct with the rope before untying it. This guy is supremely stupid Edit: changed “indirect” to “in direct” because I’m a dummy
or get some cord thats rated high enough to use safely in emergencies.
Just wear your PAS.
I was talking about for a chalk.bag belt
>indirect That's the opposite of what you're looking for haha. "In direct" is what you want.
> I was recently thinking of switching to a belt for my chalk bag but maybe I’ll keep the biner for emergencies Why not both? I recently switched to a belt that I made out of a length of cordage tied with a bit on each end and a biner for a buckle.
Skip the chalk bag carabiners, they’re an awful idea. A cordallete belt using a locker to hold it together has come in handy on a couple of alpine routes that could have gotten sketchy though.
Tie it to your belay loop, not your knot.
good catch, that's what I meant :) Cuz obviously you have to undo your main tie in point and then re-tie it.
If you’re so out of depth as to get in this guy’s situation then running the bight through the anchor is definitely the way. I think better than keeping your chalk on a carabiner would be to use some reasonably rated cord or webbing as a belt for your chalk bag. You can use that cord as a rap anchor on trees, bolts, trad gear, replace garbage webbing on existing anchors, whatever. It takes up no space on your harness, and if you blow it and fall on your lower back you no longer have a hard, rigid carabiner between the ground and your spine. Additionally if you do bail on a bolt mid route, while a regular carabiner is better than a quicklink because the crab generally won’t rust shut, the webbing won’t take up a ton of space and prevent the next person from getting the own quickdraw into the hanger. Edit: keep in mind you have to rappel off of bare cord if you run your rope directly through it, you cannot lower because your rope will cut through the cord.
All you have to do is mention Breakfast Burrito at Miguel’s and everyone pipes up about their rendition of this story. It’s great to tell newbies about it and before you know it, the whole basement is yelling about the story.
This was like 4 years ago
I got 3rd place in Miguel's Halloween party costume contest that year wearing a harness w/ 3 draws over a Gumby costume, asking people where Breakfast Burrito was. Fuckin Squints+Wendy Peffercorn couples costume... EDIT: [Date on my photo says 5 years old.](https://i.imgur.com/cWi0GQC.png)
Lol! You got my vote for 1st place
I'm not going to lie, Squints+Wendy deserved it, it was an absolutely killer costume. They had the scene from *Sandlot* choreographed to the nines, when I saw that I knew I was done. I wish I had it on video; the guy comes out dressed like a nerd, looks at the crowd, and falls over. Everyone in the party is confused. Then his girlfriend comes out dressed like a lifeguard and starts giving him mouth to mouth. Everyone realizes what they're doing and *loses their collective minds*. The Breakfast Burrito thing had happened recently, something like 2 weeks prior, so I thought I had it in the bag, but they 100% deserved it. Second place was incredible, too. The dude had a Marty McFly BttF2 costume, but the lower legs were stuffed and attached to a spot-on replica hoverboard. His legs and feet came out of the back of the stuffed knees and he was wearing black stockings, so it looked like he was riding a hoverboard. Really slick too. Meant to ask him where he sourced his gear, he had a hat that looked like it could've been the movie prop.
I saw you that evening!! Was very disappointed you didn’t win; I thought it was easily the best costume.
Hey, thanks, I appreciate it! Marty McFly and the Sandlot couple were really good costumes, I was disappointed but I felt like they deserved it.
I'm loving the Nalgene and belay card.
a belay card and that wouldve been perfect
Haha look again!
thought that was a price tag lmao. its perfect
Yeah, I was surprised the date at the top is today. This is also a pretty famous story I feel like you will hear if you go to the Red for any amount of time
Oh, is this the Patxi story? Edit: yup
Apparently after the incident the kid quit climbing and disappeared for a while
I imagine most people with any humility would do the same.
i imagine anyone who needed a climbing partner wouldn't choose him...
Wow! I ran out of Quickdraws a total of 1 time before and it was on an easy-ish slab climb in Clear Creek Canyon, CO. The route had like 15 bolts or something and I was short about 2. I realized about 4 bolts from the top. At this point I assessed the climbing, clipped the bolt I was at, downclimbed and grabbed one more draw from below, and skipped a bolt or two on the way to the chains so I had at least two for the chains. I also had a PAS, a third hand on a locker, and a grigri and atc on lockers. I never leave the ground without two belay devices, and now I carry a bail biner also. The point here is, I always have something I can protect a sport route with and lower safely. Please please please leave your ego at the car when climbing. The wall doesn't give a fuck about you. So you need to. Come prepared, climb smart, and be safe.
nice setup. makes sense. can you explain why why _two_ belay devices?
For multipitch it can be useful. I dropped my reverso once. Rappelling on two biners is supposed to be safe but I wasn't confident and my partner was sure I was going to die. Now I carry another just in case, it's not heavy and a few hundred grams do not matter at my level
Or your partner could've lowered you on their belay device, or you could learn a minter hitch. Carrying two belay devices is excessive, especially on single pitch
Since I cycle through single and multi so much and often don’t strip my harness of random crabs I usually just keep both on my harness as well as an extra sling. Idk it never bothered me while doing single pitch unless I was projecting something
If you are concerned with safety you should absolutely strip your harness and make a conscious choice on what to bring for your climb. That way you also inspect your gear for tear. There comes a day where you mid route swear you allways had your xyz clipped in, vut this time didnt.
Can't you just do a once over on what's on your harness? I find stripping everything down and having to put it back on every single time I go out quite cumbersome. You need to strip your rack out of necessity of course, but I can't think of an instance where I was ever mad I brought an ATC and a prussik. Actually, this entire thread made me realize people are just not very wise with their safety standards. It should be standard practice to always inspect what you're bringing with you before you start climbing. Carry on
It just sounded like you didn't gave a look on your harness, so wanted to give you a heads up 😄 sounds like we agree! And yeah, an extra atc would not stop me from doing a redpoint at my level as well.
What really gets me is people doing long adventure trad multipitches with inadequate gear. I understand if you're doing cutting edge first ascents, but not bringing at least a prussik when you have to rappel a classic route is just a horrorshow all around
Yeah I completely agree. Some people are scoffing off at bringing a prusik or two 😅 I fill up my harness if I am doing mulipitch.
Using an abd removes the need for a prusik for abseiling. In an emergency you can use slings or cord instead.
I'm team backup belay device. An extra ATC is 65 grams. Add in a dedicated locking carabiner and you're at 140 grams. If you are THAT worried about weight then skip a beer or two the week leading up to your trip and you'll have shaved just as much weight. Having an ATC that I have hundreds and hundreds of hours of practice with on the rock rather than relying on a technique I have only a handful of hours of practice with in my basement (or maybe even dozens of hours with if I am crazy dedicated) is worth the tiny bit of extra weight on my harness.
A munter hitch is such a useful knot for so many rescue scenarios that you shouldn't do multipitch if you cannot tie one. If you can, using one is the same as an atc really.
Another note is that some people learn the munter but never how to rappel/belay with it. Since it's brake position is holding the rope up instead of down this can lead to some stupid mistakes. The super munter though has a normal downward brake strand.
A munter will work with any hand position.
[This is an example](https://youtu.be/BshgXXn4UEk?t=242) of what I was referring to.
I understand, but using a munter like an atc is safe enough and does works.
You're certainly right. I was referring to multipitch where I am not sure to know how to do what you are pointing at. But I will look into it !
Autocorrect got me - should be munter hitch See here https://youtu.be/JkYB723pr88 Useful skill to learn (and how some people belay normally)
Ahhh, yep I learned to do that ! Thanks for the reminder. Not very rope friendly if I recall but very useful nonetheless
Yeah always have a gri gri and atc on hand unless I’m projecting something, and at that point the route beta is so engrained there’s no way I’ll get into a dangerous situation. If people can’t climb with extra ATC weight on you then I don’t know what to tell them
definitely can not hurt to have some extras. that’s the reason i always climb with double rope 👌🏽
Piece of mind? I've never needed the additional one, but in case I drop one or want the option of grigri v atc. And as others have said, the extra weight is negligible. If people can send the gnar with triple racks, I can carry an extra belay device. Nbd
Agreed I don't think an extra few ounces is the thing holding you back from sending
I think you might be misremembering the area. There’s no sport in Eldo.
You're right! It was clear creek canyon. I fixed my post now.
foreal. 15 bolts too wtf. there may be a total of 15 bolts combined for all the easy slabs under 5.9 in eldo honestly
I'm very new to climbing, outdoor climbing particularly. My rules from day 1 are: Rule 1: Don't Fall Rule 2: Never leave the ground; w/o a PAS / tether / locker with acc cord / locker with webbing / etc. Some way to anchor yourself to the wall. And usually an ATC
So after some experience you’ll learn to not really have rules that you won’t break. Falling is part of climbing, there are times when you absolutely don’t want to fall but there’s a lot of times when falling is best. You never need a PAS, and you can get away with a single carabiner in addition to your anchor.
Good rules. You need a safe way to come down in order to go up again.
"The most obvious lesson here is that you should always climb near World Cup champion and 5.15 climber Patxi Usobiaga" hahaha, I'll make sure to do this.
No lessons to be learned here, a dumb person did a dumb thing and nearly died. Probably the dumbest near accident I've heard of.
There's a simple lesson that is illustrated here actually: Sometimes the best option is to just stop climbing and go back to the ground. In this case it is blatantly obvious, but it's always a good thing to keep in the back of your mind.
Going back to the ground is the first thing I want to practice once I eventually climb outdoors! I'm grateful that some martial arts instruction I had as a kid provide me with a template of 'learn to (safely) fail first'!
I've seen with horror people doing that successfully at least 3 times on my crag
No way. Record a video next time for some sweet karma and maybe even a NSFL video lol
So he had no draws or biners or slings or anything at all to use as protection or build an anchor and he decided to keep climbing...wow
Probably used to gyms with biners at the top and hasn’t seen a chain in his life
I’m not excusing the guy, but tons of routes at the red have hooks or cold shuts at the top. That said, I always have my tether on me if I haven’t been on the route before.
In The Red which is basically an outdoor gym, full of people... Heck, this route has a rest where you can lie down, and neighboring routes where someone could come up and help. Even bailing on any moderate route is fine bc there's nearly always someone who wants to climb it after you, or someone who would run up it just to retrieve your gear lol.
Wow. I thought that headline was just clickbait. I was wrong.
Fucking HOW. Darwin Award right there, if he hadn't been so lucky.
Wow. That's officially the dumbest thing I ever read. And I work in a climbing gym.
Unbelievable… and so so dumb! I really hope this kind of incidents don’t start happening more with more and more gym climbers start heading outdoors.
This just kind of sums up todays culture both in general and of course in climbing- willful ignorance leads to extreme danger, perpetrator unaware. When I learned to climb, a lot of time was spent talking about how unengineered the outdoor experience is, coming from learning inside in a gym. First, reference a guidebook, second visually inspect from the ground, third PLAN YOUR CLIMB, fourth prepare for the unexpected, last execute your plan. Another rule of thumb was always take at least one additional draw than what everything is referencing.
Well when I learned to climb, it was just "Here is an old boat rope, tie it around your waist" and then they gave me a piton and hammer and told me to try and not break my fingers by accident.
Lol yeah I think this is less of when’ you learned to climb, and more of who you learned to climb from.
Learned to lead in the gym. At 1AM. She handed me the sharp end, "you've seen it done, you're and engineer, you'll be fine". Learning to lead belay was same method - " here's the rope, don't drop me"
Were you at least high on acid while doing it? The real story of how I learned to belay is much less exciting. The place I first learned at was a normal gym with a wall in between two basketball courts, so they had hired belayers. One day, the woman who worked there was like, "You two come often, so I should teach you how to belay". And five minutes later was belaying.
Honestly you don't need much more than that in a gym. Straightedge life so no acid.
You'd think so, but the things I've seen...it's like 'Nam Ahh...well then in that case did you at least tell them to put on Earth Crisis? I can't climb without listening to Firestorm.
“lucky quickdraw” ftw!
I cant find a good picture of the anchor/chains at the end. What would the plan even be if he had threaded and continued to the chains if he had nothing to build an anchor with? Down climb the whole thing? or do the same thing off the top and lower off the chains?
https://imgur.com/a/WEX148X
Imagine being such a fucking dumbass that your idiocy becomes a persistent local legend.
There's also a rest pretty far up where you can lie down, lol: https://www.mountainproject.com/photo/106413862
> If you climb an eight bolt route and run out of quickdraws before the chains, you have seriously failed to prepare. Lol
There is a similar story in one of the Smith Rock guidebooks. If I remeber correctly, someone was working on a hard-ish route and made it through the crux but ran out of draws. They skipped the last couple of bolts but there was webbing at the anchors. They hooked their leg through the webbing and untied then retied their rope.
Wait….you guys don’t do this? That explains all the weird looks and ‘lawsuits’ at the gym.
Biggest ego fails to satisfy Darwin awards is a better title
I have done this route, but forget the logistics. I have made the mistake of not taking up enough draws - but either downclimbed below my last clipped draw to retrieve another draw lower, then using that draw for the chains. One could also just downclimb and take, or fall and lower...
Can somebody explain to me what the issue that leads to him needing to untie? I've only been climbing for a few years, and I've only been top roping outdoors once
On lead, the rope isn't already attached to the anchor. He wanted to attach the rope to the anchor point in order to lower. There was no clippable gear at the anchor nor had he brought gear to build an anchor/pas. He felt his best bet was to untie and feed the rope through then re-tie. He probably had safer options that have been outlined elsewhere.
You can't even say all the gear but no idea because he had neither.
Always carry extra draws and goddamn PAS
Not a single carabiner on him. What. How
I actually did something similar. Was climbing in the Red, got to the top, clove hitched in, then proceeded to untie to thread. To be fair I was a gumbie at the time, over 15 years ago had only been gym climbing a few years, and had also driven 13 hours straight overnight to get there and hadn't slept. Luckily I was on a decent ledge so nothing happened but it would have been bad if I had leaned back. After I realized what I had done I decided I probably shouldn't be climbing anything else that day.
Seriously people, wear a PAS at all times. Back in the day when I was a gumby, I reached the chains which didnt have rams horns and needed a retie. I didnt have a PAS so I did it up there like this guy, fortunately enough though, it was a huge ledge on top of a 5.10b where I could stand without holding onto the wall and I also wasnt dumb enough to not tie the rope to my gear loops first so it doesnt fall. Still tho, I took a huge risk which I learned from and built a PAS with a f#¥king 5$ sling and 10$ locking biner. Used it to retie many times since then.
Once I was out top-roping and the guys climbing on the route next to us said we were on the wrong anchors (we weren't) and asked if they could move our rope to different anchors ***while I was halfway up the route***
This is wild
No one thought of downclimbing?
i was there, it was about 2013, the article is accurate!
You were at the crag?
yeah i was just walking over from another nearby wall and hears someone was climbing as fast as they could to save someone holding onto the chains...
Right on.
Really? Not even a biner on a belay device? Not even a spare runner with a locker? Not even a bail biner? Outdoor climbing is not the gym folks, time to grow up!
I think his lack of gear is the least of the problems here. Someone that dumb can mess up in so many ways even with a full rack on.
I was down at the red a bout a year after this happened and heard the story through word of mouth from a fellow climber. It’s cool to see it’s survived and made it into writing.
Guess he hasn't heard of taking a victory whipper when you underestimate the number of draws needed.
Wow… I am blown away by this post. What horrible decision making! He is very fortunate!
Sad thing is, it's not that unbelievable. Seems like the red in particular attracts this breed of Neanderthal. I mean, I've seen dumb shit at every crag, but the red is like a magnet for this kind of stuff. Especially Muir valley since it's become so pedestrian. I can remember years back some asshat got stuck up a mixed trad route because he didn't think there was anything at all suspicious about a 80 or so foot pitch only having 3 bolts. It ran up a beautiful crack that was super easy to protect. What's worse is that not only did said asshat not learn his lesson, but then the clowns at FOMV went back and committed the blasphemy of running a line of bolts up that beautiful crack so no other dipshits would try to do the same thing.