close calls

[lummox]

you know you have had them. fukin a.

i had one just yesterday. but i will tell of another fukup that i walked away from: after climbing a long iceclimb my buddy and i wandered towards the descent trail. well. we didnt wander enough before we headed down. managed to downclimb and slide down part of some steep slabs. that was about the time we realized we were over a cliff. we were fucked. we couldnt climb back up because the snow released off the fukin slabs and people cant climb frictiony granite when its slick while wearing crampons. physics and shit prohibits it. so we gotta climb down a little further to a tree to rap from. on that granite coated with a dusting of snow --the wind slab we released had wiped off the whole area. no shit we made it cuase i am writing this now. and that is the best part of a close call: it werent a bullseye you-dead-now hit.

[lummox]

so wtf is one of your close calls?

[Dru]

i ordered a decaf americano and i was just about to take the first sip when the barista chick realized she gave me caffienated!

[vegetablebelay]

I got a cellphone call from someone right in the next room.

[catbirdseat]

It happens all the time that my daughter will be talking on the phone to her boyfriend. There will be a knock on the door, she'll answer it and there he is cell phone to his ear.

[sobo]

Years ago. I had been climbing about 2 months at the time. Partner and I were climbing the granite slabs at Stone Mountain, NC over Thanksgiving break. It was getting dark, and we needed to get out of the park before the rangers locked the gates. My partner asked if I was ok to descend from the Big Ledge (about a pitch off the deck) on my own, and he was gonna hoof it on over to the car to put it on the other side of the gate.

 

What did I know? I had easily soloed up to the big ledge earlier that day (it's about 5.4). How hard could it be to solo down? I told him I would be just fine, and asked him to take the rope with him so it wouldn't be dangling all over me on the downclimb. Well, I found out about how hard it was.

 

After several false starts, slipping on pine needles on the descent slab, grasping desparately at meager slab holds, panting heavily, fear welling up in my guts, darkness falling rapidly and getting colder, and clutching my asshole up into my colon several times, I decided to just wait it out until Frank came back for me and led a rope back up...

 

Frank didn't come back, but the rangers did.

 

I ended up getting bull-horned to death by the ranger, until he shut up long enough to understand that I couldn't climb down. They finally let Frank back into the park, and he soloed up to me and we rapped off. Then I got the Lecture from the rangers.

 

Thus ended my first solo. Never soloed again until I'd been climbing about another 10 years after that.

[dylan_taylor]

Twelve years ago, when all I did was clip bolts in colorado, I was climbing with some folks at rifle. I had just finished a route, my hardest at that point, and I clipped the anchors, untied my knot, re-threaded the rope, and tied in. I never said off belay. You can see where this is going. I made a huge error in not communicating well enough with my partner. I pulled into the chains, and the rope felt like it went tighter. I unclipped and let go. I fell all the way to the ground (60 feet). The route was overhanging the whole way, and I think the only thing that kept me from going upside down was the small amount of friction in the dude's belay device (he had a figure 8 rigged in "sport-belay" mode). My feet hit the only two flat spots around, and my ass landed on a round boulder. If I would have landed anywhere else I probably would have died right there, but I got away with a broken foot and a huge purple ass-cheek. My climbing partner moved to Thailand the next week and I haven't heard from him since.

[Alex]

It happens all the time that my daughter will be talking on the phone to her boyfriend. There will be a knock on the door, she'll answer it and there he is cell phone to his ear.

 

Wait, they let you have children??

 

[Stefan]

I wanted an very early morning start at the Robinson Creek Trailhead out by Mazama. Due to obligations I wasn’t able to drive until 10:00pm the night before the climb.

 

So my friend and I drove from home over Highway 20. It was raining banshees on the way until the first tunnel on Highway 20 after Newhalem. Then it was snowing big wet heavy flakes at an astonishing rate thereafter. The snow was so coming down at such an incredibly intense rate that I had to drive in the middle of the road from that first tunnel all the way until the hairpin turn—I needed to drive in the middle so I could follow the middle line. At Rainy Pass the line was gone due to the snow and my friend and I could only judge how we were doing by looking out my side windows towards the snow banks on either side. I went 15-20mph max the entire time.

 

No cars were ever headed westbound at that time. I realized that I would have been in an accident if one single car headed westbound on my eastbound foray.

[max]

Skaha about five years ago:

 

I just led a 5.8(?) to the right of.... shit. I led some skaha 5.8, anchored myself, got off belay, set up a rap, and had just started down when my partner yelled "What are you doing!?!" I responded with "rapping. what's it look like?" (or something equally indignant) Then she pointed out I had only ten feet or so of rope on one side of my rap setup. Somehow I'd fucked up it up and was just about to take a 40 footer backwards shit-your-pants style. What a wakeup!

 

The thing that strikes me about the whole thing is how it's sickening how close I came... nothing but dumb luck (and my partner's watching!) kept me from... spat city. yuck.

[ken4ord]

There are a few.

 

First multi-pitch climb, I was climbing with a buddy head was leading all the pitches. Craig would get to the end of a pitch and yell off belay. I would take him off, and he would pull up all the slack. Then I would start climbing and about 25(+) I would hear your on belay. It didn't really register until I was up about 5 pitches that I wasn't on belay until Craig said I was.

 

This spring on Raineer I was caught in a white out with out a tent and only with a summer bag up on Lib Cap. I spent a very cold night shivering out in the open with all my clothes on. Thank gawd that only went on for a day, I figured I was good for 3 but I really didn't want to find out.

 

Another time soloing Solar Slab in Red Rocks. I got up through the first initial pitches no problem up to the big ledge. Then I started up the corner above. About 250 feet I realized that I was on another route and not sure how hard it was. I had three options continue into unknown terrain, downclimb, or traverse to the actual route. I decided to traverse. Definitely my scariest solo about halfway across things started getting ugly. First it started snowing, then the holds were becoming quite frail. I got to a point were I could climb back the way I came and all the hold were shit. Eventually I made to the route with a huge sigh of relief.

 

Those are probably the scariest moments.

[sobo]

And then there was this one from a thread back around last Thanksgiving...

[lummox]

in december i was gettin all aligned to be married again. holy shit i fuk you not. thank the lord that reason came back to me --even if only briefly. i am not going to get married. ah nah hell no.

[mvs]

this one time I camped in a tent on the glacier (snowfield really) below forbidden peak. We got there in the dark, set up near another tent. From a sound sleep I awoke to my own screaming - something huge hit me. The tent was sliding down the slope, we were in the dark - total confusion! Finally got the tent open, and a basement freezer size block of ice was calmly sitting next to us. That wasn't there before! It had "grazed" me, bounced over our tent, and come to a stop. After that the usual drill - all night descent from Boston Basin in the rain, sore back, etc.

 

Close call, but lucky!

[klenke]

I got a cellphone call from someone right in the next room.

[dylan_taylor]

this one time I camped in a tent on the glacier (snowfield really) below forbidden peak. We got there in the dark, set up near another tent. From a sound sleep I awoke to my own screaming - something huge hit me. The tent was sliding down the slope, we were in the dark - total confusion! Finally got the tent open, and a basement freezer size block of ice was calmly sitting next to us. That wasn't there before! It had "grazed" me, bounced over our tent, and come to a stop. After that the usual drill - all night descent from Boston Basin in the rain, sore back, etc.

 

Close call, but lucky!

 

Another tent faux pas. I was guiding on Baker a couple years ago. It was mid-summer, and we ended up camping on the coleman glacier at about 7400' at the popular spot at the black buttes. My client wanted to sleep in his own tent - didn't like sharing. So I slept in mine solo as well. We camped in some pre-dug spots about 30 or 40 feet from the moat that forms between the glacier and the volcanic choss. There were sites dug closer to the moat, but I didn't like the look of the rocks that had landed on them. My client was cooking dinner in his vestibule and I was cooking in mine. There was a loud noise coming from above us, and all the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. By the time I unzipped the vestibule and looked out, there was a pile of rubble stretching from the moat to a point right between our two tents. It was a few feet tall and probably comprised about 5000 Lbs of stone. I don't camp there anymore. Not neccessarily because of that, but mainly because that site gets crowded and no one bothers to pack their shit out, or for that matter, at least properly dispose of it in the moat.

[mvs]

Yikes. That's pretty lazy if all you hafta do is toss the feces into a moat, and you don't even do that.

[To_The_Top]

Up at Cathedral gap we were just about to get off the glacier when we heard a bunch of clattering on the rock above us, and we werent really close to the rock. Look up at the noise and there were hundereds of boulders headed our way. They were spinning through the air and breaking apart and we were right in the way. It was down to the last second as we dodged them, it was like a bowling alley and we were the pins.

Another case but not us:

We were above the ice seracing area at Baker, and theres a bunch of people together down below in a group. One guy standing around maybe a dozen, looked like he was instructing them. Up slope from them my friend and I saw something...at first we didnt know what it was, until it skipped a few times. There were a few microwave sized boulder falling very fast, skipping every 40 yards or so, until we realized they were headed for the seracers that were pretty far away, so we yell "rock! rock!". Finally the instructor dude heard us and look up at us like we interupted him as the rocks sailed twenty feet right over their heads--they never saw them and went back to the instruction like we interupted him

[scott_harpell]

Early season ascent on Cadaver Gap. We did one long push up to the notch past Muir and we were about to toss on the G-tex cause it was getting FRIDGID(especially with the intense wind) and I look and my partner disapears! By the time I noticed this, his weight (220LB guy plus winter pack) spun me around and I was swinging tools desperately as I was being dragged in. Finally, one stuck and I anchored him off. Now the fun begins. I go to the lip and see if he is ok and he is. The crevasse is overhanging and the rope is stuck 12 inches into the lip of the crevasse so he can't prussik out. SHIT! So I prepared the lip and set up a Z-pulley... Nothin' add a C... Nada. The rope is about to break (7.9mm) so I back off. Ended up having to solo down cadaver gap in the night to get another rope/help. Lets just say downclimbing ice in the dark is not easy. There was an 80* section (very short, but still) that I almost pinched one out on. Finally I got back to the hut and got some help. Ordeal wasn't done till about 3 AM. Long ass day!!! A bit stressfull too!

[Dru]

I got a cellphone call from someone right in the next room.

 

dude was prob a close talker too

[Mtguide]

I got a cellphone call from someone right in the next room.

 

There's a great scene in one of the Wayan's brothers' films of two gang bangers leaning up against a brick wall,right next to each other.One gets out his cell phone and punches in a number.In a few seconds the other guy's phone rings,and they carry on a cell phone conversation standing about a foot apart.Very well done scene,funny as hell.

 

[EWolfe]

I was working on a longliner in AK, and we had just unloaded a 16-day catch of blackcod. I was climbing out of the slush-brine tank, dead tired, with full gloves on, hit the lip and popped from 12 feet.

 

I remember looking back and seeing the circulation pipes (3") set a good 2" off the bottom of the hold, and my lower back was on a serious crash course to one of the metal supports that held the pipe. I couldn't change direction, so with every ounce of power I had, I twisted. I had about 3 seconds.

 

The pipe hit me inches above the hip on my right side as I collapsed (hitting my head badly), and I relaxed, knowing it was my only hope.

 

I had a bad bruise above my hip but was fine otherwise, but I will never forget the moment of relaxed impact.

Edited February 6, 2004 by MisterE

[gnibmilc]

Pitched a tent in the Cirque of the Towers in the Wind River Mountains and on the 6th morning, while up for a 7am pee, heard what felt and sounded like a redlining 645 cubic inch per cylinder, 20 cylinder locomotive engine perched up above amongst the Warriors. Standing there looking up for a while, but not long enough to finish peeing, I saw a greyhound bus sized piece of the planet rattling between two of the Warriors like a pinball, slowly getting larger as it bore down, shedding fleas. First you get the medium screamers flying over head, then nearby explosions here and there, then some big stuff cartooning through ripping voids into the air, then the acrid dust and asphyxiating blanket and then I gave up trying to be ready to dodge the really big ones and sucked up against the backside of a neighborhood boulder and hoped for the best. This takes awhile longer than you might think. I got back into my tent after screaming good morning to the Bitch, and found that I had a new convertible section in the tent and a cut in my foam pad indicating where the offending slab of rock had made a one bounce clean escape out the front door. I’m not sure that qualifies as a close call because nobody would stay in a tent with a diesel engine bearing down, but, the cut in the pad was in the warm part of the pad where I had pushed my zipperless bag down for the initial exit from the tent. Did more damage to the tent the next night when I woke up and heard some rock fall and tried to out run it with the tent tangled around an ankle.

[Jens]

Some of my closest calls climbing always seem to be driving home and using all the lanes as I nod off while driving.

 

____

Some of the old stumps on the side of the Cascade River Road can start to look like monsters when you've been awake to long.

____

There's nothing like home sweet home and a warm bed.

[max]

Some of my closest calls climbing always seem to be driving home and using all the lanes as I nod off while driving.

 

I very vividly remember driving back from shuksan late and swerving when I mistook one of the road stipes for a jack rabbit. It totally looked like a rabit! Night driving+tired=crazy