This ever happen to you?

[tyman]

I was leading a 5-11 and had just pulled several crux moves with one more to go. move toe to tiny ledge then let go with one hand and clip bolt now at my face. What the, could not reach ledge because the caribiner was stuck in my shoe just below the shoe lace? How did this happen. I start shaking my foot in hopes to unhook the caribener. Not hapinin. I look at my belayer and other climbing partners and there was a stunned silence. OH SH_T im going to peal. The result, one bent caribener, one torn shoe and a few fraid nerves. No injuries. Yes i should have gotten back on the horse and finished my lead but instead it was time for a cold beer with good friends.

[Sherri]

That's wild. Was this at the Elwha Wall?

 

 

[tyman]

Yes. It Goes was the rout. Ive been wandering if this is something i need to watch out for as i climb past any pro.

[Sherri]

Thought so. A 5.11 with "several crux moves" sounded suspiciously familiar. (The whole wall feels about like that, unless you're Kevin. )

 

I'd guess that anything getting caught is a possibility as you move past pro. The velcro on my shoes often catches the slings on my pro, but having a biner bite the shoe itself is an interesting scenario.

 

Thanks for pointing out the possibility.

 

[G-spotter]

are you saying the routes are bouldery, or just short?

[Sherri]

Neither. Routes there are stiff but are decent length(avg 80 ft) and well-protected; they do tend to throw multiple cruxes at you, though, and because of the overhanging nature you tend to get just one shot at clip before you peel off. Would suck to find out your shoe was caught in your last pro just then.

[billcoe]

I remember reading a story a long time ago (I probably will screw this up) that Galen Rowell had climbed up some wide crack, and gotten his foot jammed in so hard he couldn't get it out. So his partner that day, Layton Kor, climbed up and hammered it out of the crack.

 

It struck me as such bullshit at the time. Yet later, at various times, I've gotten hands, fingers and feet jammed in so severely that getting them out seemed in doubt. I put it out of my mind to the point that I didn't even ask Rowell about it when he was up this way.

 

I have yet to clip myself or velcro my shoe, but there's most likely still plenty of time.

 

[underworld]

aid climbing - stuff like that happens all the time. typically on the transition from aid to free, the last step of you aider gets caught on your last piece of gear and either pulls it (run out) or you have some dicey downclimbing to fix it.

[rmncwrtr]

Sherri (or anyone for that matter) - do you have a pic of this route. I'm a long ways (possibly never) from doing something like this, but I'm just trying to visualize it.

 

And Bill, my first time climbing outside was at Skinner Butte Columns. Being the worst-case scenario thinker I am, I was wondering what would happen if my hand, fingers or foot got stuck in the crack.

[Sherri]

M, this Elwha Wall pic is not of the line Tyman was on, but it does a good job of conveying the pumpy and balancy character of the routes there.

 

 

The route Tyman was on, called "It Goes", is at the bottom of the page linked here:

 

Olympic Peninsula Climbing

 

Now you know all our secrets.

 

[rmncwrtr]

Thanks, Sherri! :kisss:

[Sherri]

Anything for you, Sweetie.

 

Now be careful you don't get those new shoes(or any fingers or toes) caught on sumpin when you're climbing.

[dan_forester]

aid climbing - stuff like that happens all the time. typically on the transition from aid to free, the last step of you aider gets caught on your last piece of gear and either pulls it (run out) or you have some dicey downclimbing to fix it.

 

or your fifi gets caught in the sling on your last piece, or your cam hook gets caught in your daisy which is somehow snarled around the lead line (how did that happen??), or....

 

Josh & I saw a guy get his foot stuck in the crack on the 3rd pitch of super slab a couple months ago. He had a little freak out which was entertaining to watch from the belay ledge (we were waiting a while & desperate for entertainment). Not like that would ever happen to me, of course!

[tyman]

I believe that this is one of those freek things that happen to people every now and then. It takes a good amount of force to get a biner to clip in ones shoe or shoe lace, especialy if it is dangling. As i have this rout dialed i was able to map out the moves in my head. The one move that caused the biner to clip my shoe came when i force my toe into the wall to hold my balance so as to reach for the next crimper, my foot must have been in the perfect position up against the biner at this time. In the future i will be using a longer draw through this section to avoid this from happening again. I am not going to worry about clipping my shoe in pro as i climb past. Its just highly unlikly you will get cliped as you climb. I am more concerned with rock fall when i climb than anything else. As i have had many close calls. Gotta love climbing in the Olympics.

[matt_warfield]

One time I got stuck in a squeeze chimney for about half an hour jammed in the crack by my camera which was right on my chest. The wind was blowing and my partner could not hear what was happening. I eventually extracted myself, exhausted, with resolve to hang the camera off a sling next time.

[rob]

I had the rope get stuck in a crack while leading once -- couldn't get any slack. Had to downclimb to fix it, and I took the piece out to fix the rope. Of course, the trigger wires detached from the trigger at that exact moment. I had to rethread the wires with one hand, hoping elvis didn't vibrate my ass right out of the crack. Talk about gripped....

[hemp22]

i took a fall one time that managed to pull the rope through a constriction and into the crack, which was flared back into the rock. The rope had stretched just thin enough at the peak force of the fall to slip though...and then it wouldn't come back out. The rope moved fine back inside the crack, but I couldn't move up any further due to the z-clip effect caused by the constriction. body weight wouldn't stretch the rope enough to pop back out, so I had to anchor in and un-tie from the rope to thread it back out of the crack....

 

i've never had a climbing shoe get caught on a draw or piece during a climb, but one time when scrambling down from the top of a climb i did manage to get the thumb loop on the heel of my shoe caught on a draw hanging off the back of my harness. ended up having to do the one-legged funky chicken dance down a bunch of scree before i could stop and get it unclipped.

[davidjo]

i took a fall one time that managed to pull the rope through a constriction and into the crack, which was flared back into the rock. The rope had stretched just thin enough at the peak force of the fall to slip though...and then it wouldn't come back out. The rope moved fine back inside the crack, but I couldn't move up any further due to the z-clip effect caused by the constriction. body weight wouldn't stretch the rope enough to pop back out, so I had to anchor in and un-tie from the rope to thread it back out of the crack....

 

Something similar happened to me following an inwardly flaring crack at J-Tree. My partner led up and it then started hailing and raining. I followed and weighted the rope to clean a piece from a smeary stance. That pulled the rope through a constriction above a small overhang higher up. When I got there I got a stance so I could leg press hard trying to get the rope back out. That jammed it in so tightly that I couldn't even get it back into the flare by bouncing with my full weight. I was stuck hanging in space with the rope siphoning rainwater from the crack right onto my crotch. My partner ended up tying me off and rapping down. As I was dangling, the rope finally popped back into the flare and I dropped a few feet. We then rapped off and were able to scramble around to pull the rope. Fun times.

[rob]

Buddy of mine had the rope get eaten by a crack leading on Cutthroat -- off-route, poorpro, poor guy couldn't proceed. I had to self-belay out to the constriction and cut the rope out

 

Seemed to make him a little nervous I still have a 30m chunk of that rope.

[rmncwrtr]

Another n00b question. When stuff that's been posted above happens, is it relying on your experience, instinct or sheer perseverance to get out of whatever you've gotten yourself into or is that where those self-rescue courses they teach come in handy?

[selkirk]

Didn't a littler birdy say you used to be an Enginerd rmncwtr? You'll probably be just fine.

From what little I've seen it's a case by case thing. But I think a little creativity and an eye to be sure that you stay tied in to some anchor can go a long way to figuring something out without going into full self rescue mode. (possibly tie excess rope off to an anchor and self belay up to help. Leader stuck but he can't belay you? Have him build an anchor then self protect with a prusik or or a clove hitch into the rope available. ) It may not be as efficient as having had a full self rescue course, but it'll do in a pinch.

[Sherri]

Another n00b question. When stuff that's been posted above happens, is it relying on your experience, instinct or sheer perseverance to get out of whatever you've gotten yourself into or is that where those self-rescue courses they teach come in handy?

 

That's a good question, M.

 

One thing that I consider valuable about a site like this is that we do get the chance to learn from other's mistakes or experiences. When people post about their accidents and epics, it's a good reminder that stuff can go really wrong out there and that it can happen to anyone. Hearing how they responded to their challenge gives us all more to think about, should it be us in the hot seat next time.

 

Aside from a self-rescue course, there are also some good reference books on the subject, such as Self Rescue, by David Fasulo

[rmncwrtr]

Thanks. The birdy was correct, Selkirk, I was a mech. enginerd in a previous life. One cc.comer told me to stop being such an engineer when we were climbing.

 

Someone mentioned a self-rescue class when I was at the gym on Tuesday and I was wondering what that would be about. As Sherri said, it's good to see this stuff posted because I would have never thought about any of it happening. I'm still at the stare and gape in awe as I watch good climbers, thinking "how did he/she do that" and wishing I could rewind and watch in slo-motion.

[summerprophet]

Two stories of unintended clipping;

 

One

Swiss cheese wall, North of the Bugaboos, 1996ish

 

I had instructed a close friend Kelly, on the ins and outs of sport leading, and after reviewing everything, sent her us a rather delicate 5.10. The moves were not difficult, but releyed on a lot of friction and balance. Well Kelly ended up about 100 feet off of the ground, and while I was soloing around on easy terrain, taking pics of the event, somehow she had managed to clip her belay loop into the same biner that she had clipped a bolt with. Unable to move up, and unable to move down, with no previous lead experience, she was as stuck as can be.

I would love to say I galantly came to her rescue, but unfortunatly, I was rolling with laughter.

 

Two

Lost Arrow Spire, Yosemite, 2003ish

Perhaps as Karma for the above episode, I found myself stuck on the last few feet of lost arrow spire. While only rated as 5.5, the climbing is pure slab, and rather dicey in hiking boots and an aid rack.

Anyways, after clipping the last bolt, I climbed up and unclipped my etriers, in preperation for the short amount of free climbing. Tossing the aiders aside, I start merrilly climbing away, until I find that the second lowest loop on my aider had clipped into my last piece of pro a good 6 feet below me. Tweaked and looking at taking a nasty fall onto my daisy, I delicatly retraced the moves to where I could unclip the daisy from the etrier and finish the few moves to the anchor. Ashamed to say just how scared I was on a 5.5.

[Sherri]

Thanks. The birdy was correct, Selkirk, I was a mech. enginerd in a previous life. One cc.comer told me to stop being such an engineer when we were climbing.

 

Someone mentioned a self-rescue class when I was at the gym on Tuesday and I was wondering what that would be about. As Sherri said, it's good to see this stuff posted because I would have never thought about any of it happening. I'm still at the stare and gape in awe as I watch good climbers, thinking "how did he/she do that" and wishing I could rewind and watch in slo-motion.

 

If you make it to the Red Rock Rendevous in March, you should be able to catch a couple self-rescue clinics there, too. The one I took last year, "The Fine Art of Bailing," was pretty helpful, and I plan to take more of the same this year. Easy to forget all that stuff if you're not using it everyday.