layton Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 (edited) Can't resist writting TR...fighting urge....uhgggg. I give in. I did Cloud Tower with my friend Andrew yesterday (best climb in Red Rocks) and we pulled a computer monitor sized boulder down whilst unsticking our ropes from a shrub. Luckilly I was facing downhill so I didn't see it happen, but it roared down and landed squarely on Andrew's rockshoe'd foot. It sliced right through the leather on top and was gnarly looking upon 1st inspection. We high-tailed it to the ER and after 4 hours of waiting (for him, my house is 2 blocks away so I was getting quietly drunk) all he needed was 8 stiches on one toe, nothing broken! The crazy part was, that the cut was on the underside of his toe? Go figure. I though he was gonna lose some toes. -1 of the nine lives that day. I think I've got one or two left, no more for sure. How's the weather and the job scence up there? ps. Dan McQuade and his partner (who did the actuall climbing) put up a final pitch on this route that goes at 12c/d. It has bolts and tcu's for gear. I got to watch them finally free it as they were a pitch ahead of us. We obviously didn't follow them as that is way way over my head. Edited April 17, 2003 by michael_layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Attitude Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Hospitals are aid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Attitude said: Hospitals are aid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 michael_layton said:We obviously didn't follow them as that is way way over my head. Dude, Red Rocks 12b is like Index 5.9+ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpinfox Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 In my Falcon Guide to Red Rocks, the route description for the 4th pitch of Cloud Tower says "5.11+ Stem up the right-facing, right-leaning corner with a tips crack in its back to a ledge with 2 bolts and a loose block.... Maybe that was the block eh? Maybe you changed the rating of that pitch eh? In any case, glad to hear you and your partner ain't dead. p.s. I climbed at Red Rocks for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I second the opinion that RR 5.12 = Index 5.9+. I'm no 5.12 climber, but I am at RR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lummox Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 Alpinfox said: I climbed at Red Rocks for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I second the opinion that RR 5.12 = Index 5.9+. I'm no 5.12 climber, but I am at RR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason_Martin Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 The ratings in Red Rock are wildly varied. It is not uncommon to find a route that varies in the opposite direction. The problem is that most first ascents in the area are put up by outsiders who bring their own rating prejudices to the area. The result is that -- aside from sport climbing which is admitedly soft -- ratings vary dramatically. Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 my mom said your mom said her mom said his mom said your mom said their mom! your mom! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bug Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 Raphael and I did a 1st ascent of a steep alpine ridge up Mill Creek in the Bitterroots in 1988. It was about 12 miles in and up a thousand feet to the bivy. From there we had our choice of several long routes that looked good. We had planned on doing two so we took the easiest one first. It went very well for the first 16 pitches. There was a little 5.9 but mostly 5.6 to 5.7. We were on the last pitch before lunch. I summited and was belaying Raph. He got to within 50 feet of me and yelled "FALLING" and then didn't fall. He just started cussing and swearing and generally saying "ouch". He came up to the top, sat down, and ripped his shoe off. Then said "Watch this" and he poured about 1/4 cup of blood out of his shoe. He had come up to a piano sized block on a ledge. He stood on the ledge and reached over the block and started to pull himself up. It move immediately onto his foot which he yanked out instantly. He thought the block was going to continue and he was preparred to leap frog it but it settled precariously on the edge of the ledge. I looked at his toe and saw that the pad at the end of his second tow was ripped off and hanging by a flap of skin. It was pretty deep and bleeding well. I applied pressure for about five minutes and got the bleeding stopped. Then I taped it up and we started down. The face and ridge were huge and treeless so we had to walk off. We had about 2000' to descend just to get to the bivy. We started out with him wearing one of my larger shoes on his injured foot. He still hobbled miserably and I was hobbling too from wearing a shoe two sizes too small. I finally took my shoe back so I could move ahead and reconoiter the descent route. It was varied over talus, 3rd and 4th class, and a few rappels here and there. The last rappel went over an an overhang and ended on a 40 degree snow field. My twin 9mm 50 meter ropes were about3 feet too short to touch the snow. I had to rap off the end and land on firm snow in rock shoes and stop myself from carreening down the rest of the snow field about 300 feet. When Raph came down, I was up hill and had him swing over to me so he could plant his feet before unroping. We pulled the ropes and started inching our way down the snowfield next to a wall. By this time, Raph's shoe was wet and bright red. He did not complain even once. We got down to the bivy and packed up and hiked out. We stopped at "The Doctor's" for a few MG of Demerol. Raph had some too. Then I cleaned out the wound and recommended stitches wich were out of the question for a boy with no insurance. So I taped it up and recommended lots of inactivity and drugs for a few days. He healed well. We named the route "The Bloody Toe". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpinfox Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 Jason_Martin said: The ratings in Red Rock are wildly varied. It is not uncommon to find a route that varies in the opposite direction. The problem is that most first ascents in the area are put up by outsiders who bring their own rating prejudices to the area. The result is that -- aside from sport climbing which is admitedly soft -- ratings vary dramatically. Jason Yup. I did notice that the bolted sport route ratings were much softer than the multipitch trad route ratings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plexus Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 Great story Bug. I feel for your pain, two sizes too small !! So my question is, is that block still there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Szyjakowski Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 Alpinfox said: Yup. I did notice that the bolted sport route ratings were much softer than the multipitch trad route ratings. isn't that usually the case for sporto climbers??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catbirdseat Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 Leave the fucking Subject Alone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Szyjakowski Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 catbirdseat said: Leave the fucking Subject Alone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texplorer Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 Szyjakowski said: Alpinfox said: Yup. I did notice that the bolted sport route ratings were much softer than the multipitch trad route ratings. isn't that usually the case for sporto climbers??? Ditto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norsky Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 Alpinfox said: p.s. I climbed at Red Rocks for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I second the opinion that RR 5.12 = Index 5.9+. I'm no 5.12 climber, but I am at RR. That's all I need to hear...I'm there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layton Posted April 18, 2003 Author Share Posted April 18, 2003 The 1st crux is definitely 12- w/no loose blocks (you don't rap the route), and the 2nd crux is 11+ (maybe solid 11). End of discussion. The whole point was the story about Andrew's foot epic. Bug's story is better anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bug Posted April 20, 2003 Share Posted April 20, 2003 plexus said: Great story Bug. I feel for your pain, two sizes too small !! So my question is, is that block still there? Oh Yeah. Addendum to The Bloody Toe; Watch for loose blocks. It's alpine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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