Beacon open early

[kevbone]

relieved that they won't have to grow up w/ an asshole for a father?

 

Ivan dude, you have the mental capacity and the werewithall to wake up every morning and make that a true statement...or not.

 

It is a choice YOU can make.

ahhh...irony is wasted on the interweb

 

everyone knows i'm the coolest dad ever!

 

Dude.... I thought I was the coolest dad ever....

[JosephH]

Just for comparison - here is a post put up today on Supertopo on the Yosemite Peregrine closures...

 

======================================================

 

Hey All,

 

It’s that time of year, and people are getting hungry for the fine cracks of the Rostrum. I get at least five calls a week about it, folks bring it up at Climber's Coffee, and it’s the only thing all the YOSAR boys will speak to me about.

 

I just talked to Jeff Mauer one of our Wildlife Biologists, and our main Peregrine Monitor. He told me he wants to stay consistent with the August 1st opening. The four chicks of the Rostrum aerie fledged around the end of June. They usually become independent and leave their natal area 4-6 weeks after fledging, so the August 1st date should give them enough time to leave the area full of life and vigor!

 

Other Peregrine closures (Glacier Pt., Rhombus Wall, Fifi Buttress, and Kolana Rock in Hetchy) will also end on August 1st.

 

Hopefully crowds of climbers will not be lining up on "opening day." If there are a couple parties already on the route maybe wait for the next day to give the young peregrines some time to adjust to the new vertically crawling creatures in their territory! I will still be checking out/monitoring the Rostrum between now and August 1st to make sure the closure is not being violated so please respect the final weeks of the closure!

 

Cheers,

 

Jesse McGahey

Yos. Climbing Ranger

jesse_mcgahey@nps.gov

(209) 372-0360

 

[ivan]

a head's up - there is a monster block very loose on snag ledge on the walk over from the top of pitch 1 to the start of the slab pitch on the se corner - its the first huge block on your right, the one that pretty much everyone sits on or puts their palm on where starting to dip down a bit while walking over to the belay station- it has a good couple of inches of play in it and must weigh at least a 1000 lbs - jim o scratched a skull n' crossbones or somesuch nonsense into it, but it will need a controlled sendoff and soon - luckily it won't rampage through a place where folks tend to chill out, but it will very likely reach the traintracks

[JosephH]

Could someone pm me with Ben Priestly's cell number? I said I would try to get out with him to climb today and can't and want to call him. Unfortunately I pitched my cell phone into the void Friday and so don't have his number anymore...thanks.

[billcoe]

but it will need a controlled sendoff and soon - luckily it won't rampage through a place where folks tend to chill out, but it will very likely reach the traintracks

 

Idea. NO Train tracks! Slam a bolt in it and lower it off with Jimmy O's trashed rope that Stewart or somebody trashed and gave him. I know 2 people with Hilti TE-6s.

 

Added: this will have the additional effect of finally causing Jim to retire that old thing. Every time I find myself on it my testicals shrink. Last time I think they slipped up in my throat and disappeared. F*King thing is sooooo old. And beat.

 

JH, check your pms.

Edited August 6, 2007 by billcoe

[ivan]

seems really heavy to try to lower under control, but then i guess some of you mechanically minded fools might be able to rig something up - i'd imagine you'd want several pulleys involved -at any rate, you'd definetly want to shut things down for the time it took to get it done

[billcoe]

Well, Joseph has that Camry he used a pully on a tree with and pulled a washing machine or a damn engine block up from the base of rocky butte...

 

Hmmm, how do we get the car to the top of Beacon?

 

I lowered 300lbs of dead people once with a figure 8. Shouldn't be an issue with a grigri or a cinch.

[John Frieh]

i will lower it myself using only my teeth so that I can do handstand pushups continuously while lowering it

 

if you guys need a drill, beater ropes, etc etc let me know

[Cobra_Commander]

Not sure how big that thing is, but you would have to have a serious anchor. Potentially several times its weight to get enough m.a. to control it. If it failed the odds of injury would be very high.

 

If you do lower it, you'd be better off with a brake bar rack. Grigris start slipping around 3.5-4.5kN depending on rope diameter.

[billcoe]

Not sure how big that thing is, but you would have to have a serious anchor. Potentially several times its weight to get enough m.a. to control it. If it failed the odds of injury would be very high.

 

If you do lower it, you'd be better off with a brake bar rack. Grigris start slipping around 3.5-4.5kN depending on rope diameter.

 

Sack up pussies....we're tying Ivan to one end it will be fine.

 

BTW, you don't have to be by the setup - and shouldn't be - to be controlling it. I see this as a non-issue. You will not be attached to Johns shit rope (see that deft shift) but to another, separate anchor.

 

If it goes- either by pulling out of the wedge anchor you slammed in it (not likely unless the boulder hits something and breaks), or the weighted anchor fails, all you should see happen is gear failure.

 

 

I could foresee an issue arising if it got 10 feet down and got stuck. Then another person would have to approach from the other angle, roped into the base of the slab anchors, and crowbar, pry, push it off. That could lead to some issues, but in my mind, they were there to start the pushing process originally.

 

I suspect that this got loosened when Ivan and I pushed the block off from above pre-opening, as it hit hard right there on the lil climbing trail between pitches before plunging to the ground.

 

It may not be an issue at all, we all need to look closely at the block first. I've tried to pry boulders off that would easily rock out with 10-20-lbs pressure, but because of the rocking action from a round base, they would only come out a bit real easy, getting them all the way off was a massive issue involving sweat and a big pry bar involving hundreds of lbs of pressure. They sometimes start to move easily, but won't come off easy if that makes sense. When you encounter it you would go "ahhhah!"

 

 

 

B

[Cobra_Commander]

Well have at it then. I do have a brake rack to provide should it prove helpful.

 

Or you could just heave it and hope it doesn't hit the tracks. I'm not sure how big that thing is.

 

On the injury note, I was specifically referring to just the gear failure. I've found on heavy lowers, things fly with incredible speed and force and wind up in interesting places. BIING!

 

Have fun.

[billcoe]

Hold on, don't go walking away with that brake rack so quickly....

 

 

Yeah, I have a steel belay device made by Ushba which they say they could not broken when tested to 10,000 lbs, I figure with steel carabiners rated to 30 kn or what ever, it's a non issue.

 

Course they're Russian and all....

 

Getting an anchor above that and the whole rigging thing may be an issue, maybe the big one, course you'll be there to figure that out CC.

 

That is - if it's needed at all.

[Cobra_Commander]

if I can help, I'd be happy to if I'm not working.

 

Unaerated basalt has a density of 3011 kg/m^3

[John Frieh]

this could be a good opportunity to test out some aliens also! I have a few new hybrids I haven't whipped on yet

[MtnHigh]

As typical of how American's deal with problems, everyone here wants to 'cut out' or eradicate the offending article.

 

However, we should perserve the essence of Beacon and retain the loose block. What about finding a way keep the block in place safely? Glue, pins, bolts, bridges. You guys are masters at this stuff. It's like a loose tooth.

[ivan]

i'd be fine w/ the entire second pitch of YW being sprayed w/ some sort of badass epoxy

[billcoe]

As typical of how American's deal with problems, everyone here wants to 'cut out' or eradicate the offending article.

 

However, we should perserve the essence of Beacon and retain the loose block. What about finding a way keep the block in place safely? Glue, pins, bolts, bridges. You guys are masters at this stuff. It's like a loose tooth.

 

 

Good idea Pete. You were on that rock Sat, did you see this looseness? I can't get out till next weekend so have to live vicariously through you all. Meantime: some ideas:

 

Glue used on the old man, result: catastrophic failure:

 

Bolts in rock, catastrophic failure.

 

But ya never know, this thing may be fine for 25 years more as is. Do you get a look?

 

 

[ivan]

the good thing is that this rock is very unlikely to kill anyone, as it would most likely go off when someone sat on it, and i think they'd be able to stick the landing elsewhere on the traverse - they might have to throw away their drawers as a total loss though

[Cobra_Commander]

As typical of how American's deal with problems, everyone here wants to 'cut out' or eradicate the offending article.

 

Throwing big rocks down shit is as american as 4th of july and apple pie. NOT wanting to push that sucker off is decidedly UN-American. If you have to opportunity to cut loose some huge boulder I'm starting to think you're with the terrorists.

[ivan]

As typical of how American's deal with problems, everyone here wants to 'cut out' or eradicate the offending article.

 

Throwing big rocks down shit is as american as 4th of july and apple pie. NOT wanting to push that sucker off is decidedly UN-American. If you have to opportunity to cut loose some huge boulder I'm starting to think you're with the terrorists.

yeah! cheese-eating surrender-monkey!!!