Self Rescue

[catbirdseat]

Carry a knife so you can do a Joe Simpson on him and be home in time for dinner.

 

fuck that, the damn rope is expensive. I would hope he would be kind enough to untie.

 

CBS -- hauling systems are easy. I think a more challenging scenario is an unconcious leader, more than half a rope out. I bet there are lots of seconds in the alpine who wouldn't know how to handle this.

I practiced it for the first time this year using gear anchors rather than bolts. It took about 45 min. Still screwed up some things even though I'd done it about 4 times before.

[markwebster]

Awesome post! I was holding onto my seat hoping it had a happy ending. Something that mark1980 didn't mention is that he learned to carry prusiks in the Mountaineers. I know, because I was there with him. Say what you want about the hardies, but they do a great job of teaching beginners how to be smart in the outdoors...unlike the gyms.

 

They also taught us how to lift someone out of a crevasse using the z pulley system, and how to rig a litter from a rope, and lower an injured climber down a cliff. We actually used a live person, and the cliff was a good 50 feet, though nowadays I hear it's just a heavy bag.

 

Speaking of gym climbers transitioning into trad...I climbed canary this weekend with a young friend from the gym and his brand new rack. He led the second pitch beautifully, but when I got to the anchor, I found him doing a hanging belay on a tipped out camalot, only 2 of the lobes grabbing. He had another bottomed out camalot as backup, with a wire stopper, which I didn't see.

 

I'm looking at him belaying me, 400 feet in the air thinking, if those two lobes on that bad cam fail, we're both dead, unless the wired held. I whipped out a stopper and stuck it beside the bad cam. It was a totally sinker placement, bombproof.

 

These gym climbers seem to have tunnel vision with friends. Just because a piece costs $60 versus $8, it doesn't mean it's any better.

 

 

It was definitely bad judgment on my part to go up a hard route with an untested partner. Still, someone has to teach these kids how to be safe...but next time I'll pick a shorter, safer route and do some practice anchor systems.