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Stupidest thing I've said or done climbing?


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quote:

Originally posted by erik:

[QBCAN YOU SAY AUTOBLOCK?? I KNOW I CAN![/QB]

Hmmm... since we hadn't started climbing for the day yet... it would have been a little tricky getting the cord out of the pack..

 

Next time I'll just make sure to have you around for the fine instruction.

 

Kiss it [Moon]

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Certainly not one of the dumbest things I've done, but one of the fun things about urban cragging--when gaping away at you are friends, neophytes, gomers, and the general non-climbing public--is to make up new belaying signals...

 

quote:

Originally posted by forrest_m in the "The Stupidest Thing You've Ever Heard Climbing" thread:

A friend of mine was walking by one of the lower crags at exit 38 and saw two very young guys working a route. The guy on the ground was useing a gri-gri, of course. About the third bolt, he gets a worried expression on his face and yells up to his partner "Are you in a good place?"

 

"Why?" replied the climber with sudden panic.

 

A pause. "Dooood. You're the hand."

 

(for anyone not familiar, the gri-gri has some of those cute petzl icons on the side to show you which direction to feed the rope through. One is a climber, the other a hand)

While cragging today, our belay signals included "I'm the hand" and "You're the climber." [big Grin]

 

quote:

From the new
Climbing
mag's Overheard:
"Coming, coming!"--a sketched out and shaky new leader a couple of feet above his bolt at Smith Rock.

And when ready to be lowered from the anchors by the right partner, and in honor of the above, one of our climbers today yelled, "I'm coming I'm coming!" [Eek!] This one did turn heads.

 

--pindude

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ok, this is sort of a "group error", but here it goes (it's a classic...)

 

This was actually only a few days ago. Myself and 2 friends were on a moderate (5.7) multipitch route on New Hampshire's Cathedral Ledge. Now, for a three-person group we developed the following system in order to improve our effeciency. Leader climbs as usual, belayed by a second who is tied into the other end of the rope. When the leader finishes the pitch, he belays the second up, who brings a second rope up with him. Once the second reaches the top and clips into the anchor, he fixes the second rope, yells: ROPE FIXED, and gets ready to belay the leader on the next pitch; at the same time, the third climbs up the fixed rope with ascenders; thus there's no unneccesary waiting time and in theory the group of 3 climbs as fast as a two person team. Oh, one other thing. We decided that on the very last pitch, there was no point for the third to jumar up - he would simply tie in and be belayed after the second was done.

 

Well, as you've probably figured out by now, we kind of forgot to communicate about this little detail before the final pitch. In part it was cause i wasn't quite sure whether it was actually the last pitch or that we would need to do another one. In any case...i get to the top (tourist lookout and all), set up an anchor and bring up the second. Everything is good and well so far. Next, I yell for the third to tie in so i can bring him up. I hear some kind of response which i interpret to mean that he's already tied in, and give the rope a nice yank.

 

OK, now imagine this from the perspective of our third climber. He's sitting there on a hanging belay, 500 feet off the ground, tied to an anchor but not tied to the rope because he expects to be jumaring...all of a sudden, the rope yanks up and...

 

well, he managed to grab it just before I pulled it completely out of his reach...I on the other hand am still completely unaware of what's going on...i figure it's him and wait for him to undo the anchor. I'm waiting 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes...finally he somehow gets it across that he needs SLACK to tie himself in...

 

when he finally reached the top, i was pretty damn glad i had myself anchored...and that he didn't bring a knife along...

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well, first off we switched halfway through (because the route is actually 2 routes connected by a large, tree-covered ledge), second when we jumar in free climbing it's sort of half-climbing half jumaring - you use only one and you use your feet to gain elevation. So it's not as boring as it could be...but yea, it's not the most exciting. Oh well. I've been stuck on a jumar like that more than once, ice climbing...it's a price you pay for efficiency...

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I went climbing with this guy that i was really hot for and was trying to impress him... so I picked a lead that was pushing it a bit for me to show him what a studette I was.

Unfortunately I was so distracted by this guy that I was a good 20' up the climb before I went to place a piece and realized I'd forgotten the entire rack at the bottom of the climb [Eek!]

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quote:

Originally posted by sayjay:

I went climbing with this guy that i was really hot for and was trying to impress him... so I picked a lead that was pushing it a bit for me to show him what a studette I was.

Unfortunately I was so distracted by this guy that I was a good 20' up the climb before I went to place a piece and realized I'd forgotten
the entire rack
at the bottom of the climb
[Eek!]

from what i hear you had a pretty nice rack with you though [Wink]

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quote:

I went climbing with this guy that i was really hot for and was trying to impress him... so I picked a lead that was pushing it a bit for me to show him what a studette I was.

Unfortunately I was so distracted by this guy that I was a good 20' up the climb before I went to place a piece and realized I'd forgotten the entire rack at the bottom of the climb

hmmm...ya know, just a tip for future reference from a male perspective - a girl shouldn't EVER try to impress a guy with her climbing ability; it's the worst possible way to go...because nothing is more painful to most guys' egos than watching a chick climb harder than you.

 

nah...i'm messing around with ya. Actually I personally am kinda turned on by girls who climb better than me, even though it definitely is an ego-deflater...

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I had just gotten back from a climbing trip. Put my gear down and ran to the bathroom to take a leak. When I finished, I decided to do a pullup on the door frame. Little did I know that there was a pipe above the door, and the pipe was encased in a box with a sharp edge... I quickly fell to the floor as my hand went to my forehead to stop the blood...

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quote:

Originally posted by Dave Schuldt:

Got into the sport!!!
[laf][laf][laf][laf]

LOL! When viewed from afar the activity looks like a chronic mental condition doesn't it? [laf] I often think about how much cash and time I have dedicated to climbing (and it certainly has not been that much compared to many of you).

 

Sometimes I wonder why I'm doing something that is the equivalent to punching myself in the arm so that I can better appreciate life when I stop hitting myself! [laf]

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Stupidest thing I've said? "Sure", when Oscar proposed some adventure in South Africa. Stupidest thing I've done? Repeatedly took trips with Oscar.

 

Representative instance: we fly from J'berg to Capetown, leaving Oscar's car parked on a median strip with a smashed rear window and a sign saying, "Dear prospective car thief, there are dangerous snakes in this car."

 

The thing was, like SA golfer Gary Player, Oscar had excellent luck because he practiced his luck so much.

 

Andy Cairns

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  • 3 weeks later...

Sounded good at the time: Preparing for the icey traverse above the schrund on Liberty Ridge, we're deciding on pro placement. We have 3 tools, 2 pickets and 1 screw (dude dropped the other on the Black Pyramid). It's too hard and steep for a good picket, and backing up to the better snow might leave the leader still on the ice at the end of the rope. The ice is thin at the belay, but we decide to anchor with a tool and the screw while I set off with the pickets and 2 tools. At a bulge in mid pitch, I realize I should have traded the other tool for the screw. I sink the little X-15 hammer into the ice, clip the spike without a sling, and continue to the good snow on the Ptarmigan side of the face. Once anchored, a pull on the rope levers the stuck tool out and it slides down to my partner, who pulled out the screw with his axe. The entire system was utterly useless, and a long pendulam fall would have sent us down to the Carbon. So close to Liberty cap, we got stupid because we were in a hurry to finish.

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