Good times!

[Jens]

Pulling out after a roof today on mixed pitch I speared a chunk of ice. I heel hooked above my head and then Bang! about 250 pounds of ice slid off the rock (the part my tool was in) The ice went straight for Tvashtarkena coming down on top of him as I sailed through the air completely upside down seeing the trees behind me. Tvash someohow managed to arrest me and survive unhurt aided by a tangle that jammed in the belay device after the barrage ended. I fell the full length of the pitch from the 6th bolt to the first and was face to face with Tvash when it ended. I didn't touch a thing. He gets hardman points for surviving unhurt and not letting me hit the ground! With all the monkey business the last 3 months, this has been my luckiest/unluckiest? ice season of my ice career. We decided it was time to quit for the day and drink beer!

[wayne]

Jesus

[ZimZam]

Shake it off. Tvash-

[Jens]

Shake it off. Tvash-

He did awesome and far better than I would have done. I don't think I would have been able to stop that fall with all that shit coming down- Brand new 9.5mm skinny line with a teflon coating.

[G-spotter]

don't stand right under the climber

[Jens]

He had to because of the way a little snow ledge had formed and with a pitch like this that was 90% rock I would have done the same thing.

________________________

G-spotter how much longer do you think Lillooet will hold up if we get no more cold snaps? Let me buy you a cold one at the Reynolds.

[G-spotter]

I won't even stand under the belayer for rock pitches at some crags (like Vantage)

[G-spotter]

Not to mention dropped tools....

[Jens]

Snow ledge

[G-spotter]

i\

so, dig!

[Matt Damon]

 

I am an Ice Climber

Edited February 15, 2007 by Matt Damon

[tvashtarkatena]

don't stand right under the climber

 

That part of the lesson has been indelibly burned into every strand of my DNA from now on. I had actually moved to one side because I felt a bit nervous about my belay position. The ice hit a few inches from where I'd been standing.

 

For a millisecond I wondered which thing I should dodge more; the big red thing with all the spikes sticking out of it or the big white thing with all the sharp edges.

 

Another cheap lesson from today: We were using an pre-existing old sling as a directional (only a mild swing would have resulted had it failed). It held through 6 laps, including a bit of hangdogging.

 

Nothing about it looked good for a rap, so I took it off and inspected it, only to find that it had been chewed completely through (on the opposite, nonvisible side of the tree it was girth hitched to). Basically, the directional we had been using all morning held because it was frozen to some tree bark.

 

BTW, the aforementioned pitches (all on the same falls) were in excellent condition and really fun.

 

 

Edited February 11, 2007 by tvashtarkatena

[Sherri]

Hats off to you both for doing what needed to be done so that you both lived to post about it.

 

Thanks for sharing...I still have goosebumps!

 

[TrogdortheBurninator]

Glad to hear you guys survived. If I were you Jens, I'd stay away from suspect ice the rest of the season. Someone has it in for you.

 

Where was this?

[rob]

holy sphincter, sounds like you both cashed in some karma. If I were you, I'd volunteer at a soup kitchen or something for a while.

 

Where was this at?

[wayne]

don't stand right under the climber

Poor Gary didnt have a choice in the Scottish Gulley belay, I was listening to the different sounds made on different parts of his body/pack/helmut

[DirtyHarry]

Jens, were you leashless at the time? Would you have gotten your shit pushed in even more if you had leashes on?

[kevino]

I won't even stand under the belayer for rock pitches at some crags (like Vantage)

Had a close call there yesterday..and I wasn't even standing directly under him.

[catbirdseat]

Pulling out after a roof today on mixed pitch I speared a chunk of ice. I heel hooked above my head and then Bang! about 250 pounds of ice slid off the rock (the part my tool was in) The ice went straight for Tvashtarkena coming down on top of him as I sailed through the air completely upside down seeing the trees behind me. Tvash someohow managed to arrest me and survive unhurt aided by a tangle that jammed in the belay device after the barrage ended. I fell the full length of the pitch from the 6th bolt to the first and was face to face with Tvash when it ended. I didn't touch a thing. He gets hardman points for surviving unhurt and not letting me hit the ground! With all the monkey business the last 3 months, this has been my luckiest/unluckiest? ice season of my ice career. We decided it was time to quit for the day and drink beer!

Steward says it isn't a whipper if you fall on a bolt, even if you did fall the entire pitch.

[Weekend_Climberz]

Damn Jens :tup:

 

Come to Pub Club tomorrow and I'll buy you a beer. After the warm temps this past week/weekend I've pretty much given up on ice climbing in Washington for the year. Maybe, there will be one more cold spell.

[Mr_Phil]

Tis getting a bit warm for ice climbing.

[tvashtarkatena]

Damn Jens :tup:

 

Come to Pub Club tomorrow and I'll buy you a beer. After the warm temps this past week/weekend I've pretty much given up on ice climbing in Washington for the year. Maybe, there will be one more cold spell.

 

Actually, the pure ice pitch we yo yo'd to the far right before the 'incident' was in superb shape. Really nice. Not a drip.

 

Might want to stay off mixed routes, though.

[Weekend_Climberz]

Tis getting a bit warm for ice climbing.

 

Gonna have to start making the big drives :tup:

[eric8]

so where were you climbing.

[tvashtarkatena]

so where were you climbing.

 

The M7 above Source Lake.