SeaCat
Hey, my Halo is smoking
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2003
- Posts
- 15,378
Going through one of the boxes we brought home today I came across a bent Piton. My wife looked at it and wanted to throw it out until I told her it wasn't going anywhere but on a shelf. She didn't understand, it's rusted and bent out of shape. The ring on the end of it is oval shaped. Then I gave her it's history.
Back when I lived in Germany I did a lot of climbing. Cliff, Ice and Mountain. I had just picked up a new climbing harness and that day was going to be it's break in climb.
The climb was on a cliff we had climbed several times before. 300 feet of rock wall. This day though was going to be a bit different. Not only were we going to try a different route up the face but I was leading for the first time.
We geared up. Ropes and slings of Carabiners. Slings of set anchors and for one of the very few times a sling with several Pitons and a hammer. (We usually didn't use Pitons. The Germans frowned on them and we had a hard time recovering them. Our usual anchors were things like Cams and Nuts.)
I chalked up and started off. The first 75 feet were fairly easy. A mild lay back but the face was covered with cracks we could put anchors in and get good hand and footholds in. Then we hit another 70 plus feet of blank face. Foot and Handholds were few and far between and places to put anchors in were non existant. Neither of us were happy about this. By the time I reached the end of this stretch if I fell I would hit the ground a long ways below us.
Finally I cleared the blank face and found a good place to anchor in. A small ledge to stand on and a couple of good cracks. For a change I drove in a Piton and made sure it was set solid. I belayed Terry, my partner, up to where I was standing.
The next stretch looked good. Off to one side was a nice long crack heading up and at the end of it we could see another crack. The first crack was something like ten feet to the side. I sidled over there balancing on this little ledge and planted a cam before heading up. Something about this climb didn't feel right but I didn't know what. It was again a slight layback but we were used to those. I stopped every dozen feet or so and put in another anchor before heading higher. I had gone probably thirty feet doing a good imitation of Spider Man when it happened.
I could feel and hear a creak from the rock to my right. What in the hell? I was only a couple of feet below the second crack so I made a lunge for it with the intention of fisting it when the rock face creaked again and the piece under my foot crumbled. I was going to fall and I knew it. I yelled "Falling" and pushed away from the face slightly as the rock gave way under me. I wasn't anticipating this to be too bad as I was only about five feet above the last anchor or safety I had put in.
I fell past the safety and then watched as it popped out of the crack. I kept falling as I watched safety after safety popping out of the crack. Oh shit this wasn't good. By this time I was building up a good head of steam even though I was dragging the toes of my shoes on the rock. (You don't want to drag too hard or you'll flip.) It was quiet after my yell of falling and I could hear the safeties popping out and running down the rope. I went past Terry and had enough time to see his eyes were opened wide and he was leaning into the rope. Yep I had just fallen thirty feet, now I had another thirty feet until I hit the end of the rope. (This was truly going to suck.)
When I hit the end of the rope it hurt. I'm talking it truly hurt. The harness cinched tight around my legs and waist as it was supposed to do as the rope stretched. Now let me tell you that 12% stretch a good climbing rope has sounds great right up until you hit the end of that same rope. Then it doesn't feel like it stretches at all.
I hung in my harness catching my breath while I swallowed my nuts and counted fingers and toes. I had some good scrapes and I was going to be bruised in places I didn't want to be bruised but I was swinging from the end of the rope and not laying on the ground. I couldn't talk yet so I waved to Terry that I was okay.
Finally I climbed back up to where Terry was standing and looked back at the face. We now had a choice. We could retreat down the face or we could keep going. I was 19 and there was no way a rock face was going to defeat me. I started climbing again.
When we finally topped that cliff we were both wrung out and I was a hurting puppy. I was nursing a sore neck and more bruises than I wanted to count.
We lay there at the top of the cliff and talked about what had happened. We had no idea why all of the anchors I had put in had come out. Terry told me I was finally stopped when I hit the Piton I had driven into the rock.
We reset the ropes and rappeled back down the cliff face. I stopped at the ledge long enough to recover the piton which was bent at a 45° angle.
That was the Piton my wife wanted to throw out.
About two weeks after we had climbed the cliff a large section seperated and slid off. That area to the right of the crack turned out to be a large six inch thick sheet or flake. When I had been pulling back on it towards the top it had started pulling away from the cliff which is why all of the anchors popped out.
Cat
Back when I lived in Germany I did a lot of climbing. Cliff, Ice and Mountain. I had just picked up a new climbing harness and that day was going to be it's break in climb.
The climb was on a cliff we had climbed several times before. 300 feet of rock wall. This day though was going to be a bit different. Not only were we going to try a different route up the face but I was leading for the first time.
We geared up. Ropes and slings of Carabiners. Slings of set anchors and for one of the very few times a sling with several Pitons and a hammer. (We usually didn't use Pitons. The Germans frowned on them and we had a hard time recovering them. Our usual anchors were things like Cams and Nuts.)
I chalked up and started off. The first 75 feet were fairly easy. A mild lay back but the face was covered with cracks we could put anchors in and get good hand and footholds in. Then we hit another 70 plus feet of blank face. Foot and Handholds were few and far between and places to put anchors in were non existant. Neither of us were happy about this. By the time I reached the end of this stretch if I fell I would hit the ground a long ways below us.
Finally I cleared the blank face and found a good place to anchor in. A small ledge to stand on and a couple of good cracks. For a change I drove in a Piton and made sure it was set solid. I belayed Terry, my partner, up to where I was standing.
The next stretch looked good. Off to one side was a nice long crack heading up and at the end of it we could see another crack. The first crack was something like ten feet to the side. I sidled over there balancing on this little ledge and planted a cam before heading up. Something about this climb didn't feel right but I didn't know what. It was again a slight layback but we were used to those. I stopped every dozen feet or so and put in another anchor before heading higher. I had gone probably thirty feet doing a good imitation of Spider Man when it happened.
I could feel and hear a creak from the rock to my right. What in the hell? I was only a couple of feet below the second crack so I made a lunge for it with the intention of fisting it when the rock face creaked again and the piece under my foot crumbled. I was going to fall and I knew it. I yelled "Falling" and pushed away from the face slightly as the rock gave way under me. I wasn't anticipating this to be too bad as I was only about five feet above the last anchor or safety I had put in.
I fell past the safety and then watched as it popped out of the crack. I kept falling as I watched safety after safety popping out of the crack. Oh shit this wasn't good. By this time I was building up a good head of steam even though I was dragging the toes of my shoes on the rock. (You don't want to drag too hard or you'll flip.) It was quiet after my yell of falling and I could hear the safeties popping out and running down the rope. I went past Terry and had enough time to see his eyes were opened wide and he was leaning into the rope. Yep I had just fallen thirty feet, now I had another thirty feet until I hit the end of the rope. (This was truly going to suck.)
When I hit the end of the rope it hurt. I'm talking it truly hurt. The harness cinched tight around my legs and waist as it was supposed to do as the rope stretched. Now let me tell you that 12% stretch a good climbing rope has sounds great right up until you hit the end of that same rope. Then it doesn't feel like it stretches at all.
I hung in my harness catching my breath while I swallowed my nuts and counted fingers and toes. I had some good scrapes and I was going to be bruised in places I didn't want to be bruised but I was swinging from the end of the rope and not laying on the ground. I couldn't talk yet so I waved to Terry that I was okay.
Finally I climbed back up to where Terry was standing and looked back at the face. We now had a choice. We could retreat down the face or we could keep going. I was 19 and there was no way a rock face was going to defeat me. I started climbing again.
When we finally topped that cliff we were both wrung out and I was a hurting puppy. I was nursing a sore neck and more bruises than I wanted to count.
We lay there at the top of the cliff and talked about what had happened. We had no idea why all of the anchors I had put in had come out. Terry told me I was finally stopped when I hit the Piton I had driven into the rock.
We reset the ropes and rappeled back down the cliff face. I stopped at the ledge long enough to recover the piton which was bent at a 45° angle.
That was the Piton my wife wanted to throw out.
About two weeks after we had climbed the cliff a large section seperated and slid off. That area to the right of the crack turned out to be a large six inch thick sheet or flake. When I had been pulling back on it towards the top it had started pulling away from the cliff which is why all of the anchors popped out.
Cat
