Retrosaurus

It was Apple Blossom weekend and a great time to not be in Wenatchee. A former-local climbing pal of mine gave me a call to try to hook up for a 1/2 day of climbing at Castle Rock. He had a morning and I had an afternoon so he hooked up with a couple of 18 year olds that I had taught to climb about a year or so ago. When my wife and I got to the rock just before noon, we spotted the three of them right away on a climb called Brass Balls on Lower Castle Rock. Brass Balls is a stellar route and the best for its grade in the entire Leavenworth area, in my opinion. Moderate crack climbing to a 5.10- roof then a steep and slightly off balance 5.8/9 hand crack to a stradle move below a 5.10b roof pulled on straight-on fingerlocks. Great protection. Your feet normally cut loose when you grab the jugs at the lip of the first roof. We are hiking up the trail to the lower rock to do The Bone or Catapult or something just as former-local has finished the pitch and Andy is following the route, removing all the pro and trailing a rope for Andrew to follow on. As I top the chimney on The Fault, I see Andrew pitch off the first roof and take a fairly wild swing off to the side of the route with no pro on the rope to keep him on the route. He fights his way back on to the route andafter wasting a lot of energy trying to flip the rope above him across the lip of the roof so that it would be above him instead of pulling him sideways off the route, pitches off the roof again. On his third attempt he pulls the roof in a terrific display of determination and establishes himself in the crack above just as I am rigging my belay anchor about sixty feet to his right to bring my wife up The Fault. A minute or two later I hear Andrew say,"What the f@#k!" And I look over in time to see his rope come whipping down the rock from above him and land on the slabs at the base of the route then slither off into the bushes and talus. I have never seen any one so fucked. "Get a stance! You're solo!" I yelled to him. "What!?", he says in disbelief. "Get a stance! You're solo!" I see a nut hanging from his harness. "You've got a nut. Can you place it?" He quickly glances at the 5.9 hand crack where his hands are jammed. "No. The crack's too big." "If I clip some cams on your rope, can you pull them up and place them?" "I can try." I can't do this to this kid, I'm thinking. He'd have to take one hand out of that crack, pull up an arm-length of rope to his teeth and repeat maybe ten or more times while this jammed hand is holding all of him and milking out of the crack. It is becoming very clear that in precious few minutes I'm going to see this kid come off the climb, fly through the air and impact the slab. Bones will snap, blood will spatter and he will tumble broken down the slab off another drop and into talus and bushes. He's not even out of High School for Christ's sake. I taught him how to climb. I haven't even met his mom. "Just hold on. I'll come and get you." I clip about fifteen feet of runner onto my belay anchor, clip my climbing rope through it and climb out left and down to the start of Brass Balls. I take his climbing rope dangling off the roof above and tie a loop in it and clip it to my belay loop. I don't know if I could grab it when I'm higher on the route, certainly not until I'm over the the first roof. I climb to the first roof and stuff a cam in half way out, slinging it long. This is the first piece that I could place since leaving the belay on The Fault. I couldn't possibly have placed anything sooner and gotten through the rope drag. My wife has no idea what is going on at this point. I take Andrew's rope and tie him off short again to my belay loop. At this point, if either of us comes off, he hits the slab and I deck too, but I probably save him a tumble off the slab. Maybe he'll live. Another piece at the lip of the roof and I turn the roof and establish myself. I put in two pieces and put Andrew on belay. As he down climbs the ten feet to me I add a third anchor to the belay then lower him to the ground.

Or Klans Trad could invest in a power drill and bolt vertical talus everywhere for just such and end.

I keep seeing that pic of the chunk of Frenchman Coulee rock with the bolt in it on the site. The same senario keeps coming into my mind. The climber falls ripping out the block, is caught by the next bolt, and then..... tethered to the rope by a short quick draw, the rock zips down the rope and strikes the fallen climber right in the.....YYEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!!!! Oh well, he was probably a sport climber and didn't have any balls any way.

Hey Bonehead, It's only slander if it's not true. Nothing stings like the truth. Grow some values.

quote: Originally posted by lambone: My point is that I love all aspects of climbing, except the old school Trad bastards who think they are gods gift to the rock. I could go off for hours.... -matt You are wrong. We are not God's gift to the rock; the rock is God's gift to us. Sport Mo's need to quit spraying stainless steel all over it.

Hey Viktor, I climbed the rightmost route on the Sole Kitchen slab, right of Chitlins. Can you tell me about it?

Oh, You lie!! And every one knows it. Anyone that would take sloppy 2nds on Drul's favorite inflatable livestock is certainly not as picky as you claim to be. I hear you know exactly what to do with the hair on the back.

Length, width and, umm... depth? I'm sure Erik would apreciate a little more beta.

Maybe Madonna Top-Bunk would do the on scene commentary for Real TV?

lamboner, Just what are you doing on max's back? Wait ... I don't want to know.

You just figuring that out? The truth is that only some one dumb enough to fall off setting up a toprope would bosch a route.

Hey Im-a-bone, and all you gym climbers out there; come on outside and have fun, and keep those rescue helos flyin' Retro

It protects just fine.

onlinetesting@DNA.com

Leavenworth Mountain Sports also rents rock shoes.

The only overwhelming concensus is that everyone who posts here is an idiot.

I cast my vote for removal of the DDD bolts, although I'm not going to run out there to do it without a concensus either.

Bronco, Congratulations on "impulsively" stumbling on to a superior product. Black Diamond really dropped the ball when they started making hexes wired only. Wired Hexes suck. The Cable springs against the sides of cracks making placement and removal more dificult. And in horizontal cracks the cable sticks out like a stiffy allowing the rope to transmit all sorts of motion to the nut. Wired hexes look better on the shelf and on your rack and save you the extra steps involved in slinging them, but are vastly inferior when it comes to function. Tying the not inside the hex is the only way to go. You can even go so far as to use a water knot inside when a double fisherman's no longer fits. I feel secure using this knot inside the hex as long as the ends of the knot is jammed tightly within the nut ant the tails of the knot are left as long as possible while still ramaining inside the nut so as not to interfere with endwise placement.

Dru, I just had a tremendous urge to kick you in the nuts. If you would just remove that sheep for a moment...

I use the HB offset nuts and truly love'em. They often degrade a R/X route into the realm of sanity.

No. More like insufficient snowcover in a couloir filled with sharp shards of stone.

How about The Hemorrhoidectomy Glissade?

!!! Winner !!! But it was more like a library, than a single mag.

Try again ladies.

Negative.