Huge fall at Smith

[RuMR]

how come anyone who disagrees with you has an ego problem? Tool...

[crimper]

One of our friends fell 40-50 feet into a "steep and clean dihedral" at Beacon (second pitch of Blown Out) There were no ledges or blocks, just a sustained 10a dihedral. He did not have the rope behind his leg when he fell, and he was not flipped upside down. I'm sure G Spotter and Joseph would wager that this is the textbook scenario where a 40-50 fall would be "clean" and "no big deal" since it's "all air."

 

But they'd be wrong. He broke his leg. When you fall significant distances your body has plenty of time to gather speed and some weird shit can happen as you introduce more air time and variability into the system. He thinks at some point his leg hit an arete on the outer edge of the dihedral. He doesn't expose himself to 40 foot plus falls anymore. At least he made it to my wedding the next day, crutches and all!

[dberdinka]

I've also had a good friend sent to a nursing home for life at age 29 with a paralyzed right side and massive brain damage because of a 15' fall - I'd consider that a "huge" fall in my book anyday.

 

Yikes I need to quit climbing.

 

My apologies for offending thee. 30' with blown gear and rock is more of a fall than I want to take...

[Cairns]

Wew…..that only took about an hour before some person on here would discount what I wrote. Would you feel better if I changed the title to big fall instead of huge?

 

I would've.

 

On seeing the title Huge fall at Smith:

 

first thought = hundreds of feet

second thought = then it would have been "fatality at Smith"

 

 

[billcoe]

Damn…..g-spotter just got bitch slapped.

 

pfffst: I've seen better. Wheres Trask?

 

 

Agree with Cairns. Huge fall is Steward whipping most of the 2nd pitch length of Blownout, no bolts, yet having some of his gear hold, barely just preventing a ledgefall, but breaking a bone in the process anyway. Dramatic.

 

Later I see Steward doing some groundup FAs on aid, no precleaning, no loose rock rolling from above, just right up through the vegetation, in the rain.

 

Stones.

[Raindawg]

If you don’t think 30 foot gear ripping fall is not noteworthy than you have a HUGE ego. Lighten up bro……

 

Wow...he popped two pieces and got caught by a bolted anchor..."GEAR RIPPING!!!"

Better call "Rock and Ice"...they'll want your breathless, detailed story for their next "epics" theme issue.

This man's "rooster" is bigger than that fall you witnessed!

 

 

By the way, you always act as if "having an ego" is a bad thing. You didn't learn that from Dewey Cox!

[kevbone]

The difference here Rain….is I am not calling Rock n Ice. I was simply telling you what I saw….if you want to play the ego game and discount what I saw then go for it…..it will not change the fact the Alex took a 30 footer, which in my book is a huge fall. I have no idea were you get it in your head that I say I saw a 30 foot fall and that must be the biggest ever……this is not the case. Rain, I get the impression that if you were standing there yesterday watching what I saw….you would stick your nose in the air and tell the climber he is a wimp…..that is what your posts imply.

 

Moderators….this was a fine discussion amongst climbers, until G-spotter and Rain showed up. Please show them the door. This is not spray, nor was I spraying…..simply recalling what I saw.

 

[eric8]

Wew…..that only took about an hour before some person on here would discount what I wrote. Would you feel better if I changed the title to big fall instead of huge?

 

I would've.

 

On seeing the title Huge fall at Smith:

 

first thought = hundreds of feet

second thought = then it would have been "fatality at Smith"

 

 

I was thinking 80+ or fatality too...

[Winter]

(orange sunshine at tieton, if you must know, and right at the chains)

 

Hah! Who else has taken that same ride? I know there's a few of you out there. Tasty red alien placement to catch you.

 

BTW, all the bithing in this thread is STUPID!!

[Raindawg]

The difference here Rain….is I am not calling Rock n Ice. I was simply telling you what I saw….if you want to play the ego game and discount what I saw then go for it…..it will not change the fact the Alex took a 30 footer, which in my book is a huge fall. I have no idea were you get it in your head that I say I saw a 30 foot fall and that must be the biggest ever……this is not the case. Rain, I get the impression that if you were standing there yesterday watching what I saw….you would stick your nose in the air and tell the climber he is a wimp…..that is what your posts imply.

 

Moderators….this was a fine discussion amongst climbers, until G-spotter and Rain showed up. Please show them the door. This is not spray, nor was I spraying…..simply recalling what I saw.

 

Do you really expect everyone to high-five you because you saw someone take a moderate fall? Part of the discussion here is to let you know that there are other climbers who don't find that sort of incident the least bit significant. Falls of that sort are common. You, yourself, and perhaps others, have now been educated to that fact.

 

Word of advice...you might want to tone down your usual "ego" routine...you only sound silly...and I don't really think you understand the concept very well.

[el jefe]

come on, kevbone, you know you'll never impress windbag and g-splatter, they've seen it all and know everything better than everyone else. the two are godlike beings who routinely whip 50 feet on manky pro placed in shit rock just because that's how the big dogs roll...

[max]

I'd be pretty freaked if I fell 28 feet.

 

If some one told me: "hey, somebodies gonna' take a 28 footer over there..." I'd stop what I was doing and go watch.

 

Kevbone, I'm with you.

 

 

 

[kevbone]

 

Do you really expect everyone to high-five you because you saw someone take a moderate fall?

 

I expect nothing. Never did. I disagree…..30 foot fall is not moderate.

 

 

Part of the discussion here is to let you know that there are other climbers who don't find that sort of incident the least bit significant.

 

Are you speaking for someone else? If you personally don’t find it significant….why bother posting? Just to slam me? What did I do? All I did was tell you about something I saw.

 

Falls of that sort are common.

 

Really? Gear ripping 30 foots are common? Wow. If they were common….I am surprised people keep climbing after there gear fails. You know…..since it’s so common.

 

 

 

Word of advice...you might want to tone down your usual "ego" routine...you only sound silly...and I don't really think you understand the concept very well.

 

Good times eh Rain…….

 

[JosephH]

I would definitely call taking a 40'-50' foot fall inside of Blownout's p2 dihedral a "big" fall. That is not a flat, clean wall - you are falling in relatively tight, irregular confines and I'm somewhat amazed that's all Stewart broke. Again, it's highly dependent on the situation at hand - or out of hand I suppose.

[crimper]

Hey Raindawg, who is saying 30 foot plus falls are "moderate" besides you, G Spotter and Joseph? (basically the usual contrarians)

 

I still say a 30plus foot fall is something you see once a season, and a fall that 99% of us (joseph aside apparently) take no more than a handful of times during a career.

 

i can't think of any sport routes at smith you can even fall 30 feet on with the obvious exceptions of dreaming (R rated) and heinous cling (bolted on lead, i think?) - or else the route gets an R rating BECAUSE you COULD fall 30 plus feet. go ahead and show me a 5-10 or harder route at smith or broughton or carver or madrone or ozone or french's or beacon or any other sport crag in oregon or southern washington where you can fall 30 feet.

 

(oh, i thought of one - suicidal tendencies 11d at smith, i chickened out above the last bolt because you face a mantle move with a 25 or so foot pendulum fall if you blow it, and none of my TCUs fit the slot. mark d - a solid climber and respected poster here - tried it and also bailed, presumably because a 25 foot fall was unacceptable to him as well! i left my first bail biner on it, and that biner stayed there almost a year even though that climb is on the picnic lunch wall. that route was put up in 1984 by kurt smith groundup, so it's not really a "sport" climb, now is it? which is my point, i guess...)

 

seriously, start naming' em, and show me an exception or two that will do nothing but prove that there are OF COURSE some exceptions to the general rule that sport routes are bolted to avoid 30 plus foot falls.

 

 

Edited June 2, 2008 by crimper

[dt_3pin]

28 feet isn't even a big fall . . . [it's] merely slightly larger than average.

 

What exactly is the average fall length? I didn't realize someone had compiled that data.

[kevbone]

seriously, start naming' em, and show me an exception or two that will do nothing but prove that there are OF COURSE some exceptions to the general rule that sport routes are bolted to avoid 30 plus foot falls.

 

 

What’s the matter Rain…..cat has your tongue?

[crimper]

and by the way, nothing personal - except to g spotter - i'm just feisty today and sick of reading other people's crap without calling it out for the BS it often is.

 

oh and winter, you were a nice guy to meet at the lucky lab a few months back. i was there with tall arent sitting by taller ivan. but here you're telling me that i'm just "bithing," apparently because i disagree that a 30 foot fall is moderate?!?

 

you live in pdx and you know most bolts here and at smith are like 6-10 feet apart, and that most of the trad lines protect at least every 5-10 feet, so where are you seeing all the 30 foot whippers you think are normal?

[JosephH]

Crimp, I'm guessing in most trad venues such as the Valley, Eldo, Gunks, Looking Glass, etc. my take on how falls are characterized is probably not at all out of the ordinary. I don't sport climb so I don't know, but I don't doubt on a majority of sport lines going up today it would be hard to fall 30'.

 

I've taken quite a few 40-60' falls over the years (goldline stretched a lot...) and because we started out climbing steep stuff and roofs we never did buy into the whole ridiculous "the leader must not fall" bullsh#t. You were going to fall on the stuff we were doing and you were going to fall a lot. We also fell a lot while getting a feel for climbing in Eldo and the Gunks back in the '70s.

 

You've seen me fall, it's just another part of the craft from my perspective if you're pushing your limits. But you have to do it wisely with experience and judgment brought to bear before and while you're out on the edge. And the fact that I do it a lot doesn't necessarily mean inside I'm not whimpering like a baby just before some falls.

 

I suspect Bill has taken his fair share as well or has just been tenacious or lucky as hell because I've seen him runout on shite ground and gear more than once or twice. Maybe he'll expound a bit more as well.

 

Edit: gspot lives in PDX? Who are you?

[Winter]

bithing/bitching - its all the same if you have a lisp.

 

not giving you shite - and not taking sides in this important debate. just laughing at cc.com sprayfesting.

 

btw i have to disagree about smith. i've climbed pop goes the nubbin and that is extremeo run out scary ass sketchfesting! 30 footers are the norm.

[builder206]

You're all a bunch of wankers. I have fallen over 5,000 feet many times. Once I fell almost 12,000'. NONE OF IT WITH A ROPE. Don't talk to me about 50' vs. 30'.

[RuMR]

Hey Raindawg, who is saying 30 foot plus falls are "moderate" besides you, G Spotter and Joseph? (basically the usual contrarians)

 

I still say a 30plus foot fall is something you see once a season, and a fall that 99% of us (joseph aside apparently) take no more than a handful of times during a career.

 

i can't think of any sport routes at smith you can even fall 30 feet on with the obvious exceptions of dreaming (R rated) and heinous cling (bolted on lead, i think?) - or else the route gets an R rating BECAUSE you COULD fall 30 plus feet. go ahead and show me a 5-10 or harder route at smith or broughton or carver or madrone or ozone or french's or beacon or any other sport crag in oregon or southern washington where you can fall 30 feet.

 

(oh, i thought of one - suicidal tendencies 11d at smith, i chickened out above the last bolt because you face a mantle move with a 25 or so foot pendulum fall if you blow it, and none of my TCUs fit the slot. mark d - a solid climber and respected poster here - tried it and also bailed, presumably because a 25 foot fall was unacceptable to him as well! i left my first bail biner on it, and that biner stayed there almost a year even though that climb is on the picnic lunch wall. that route was put up in 1984 by kurt smith groundup, so it's not really a "sport" climb, now is it? which is my point, i guess...)

 

seriously, start naming' em, and show me an exception or two that will do nothing but prove that there are OF COURSE some exceptions to the general rule that sport routes are bolted to avoid 30 plus foot falls.

 

steep limestone climbing has 30+ foot falls that are common...If you climb in France, look at routes that are called "engaging"...

 

Buoux, Ceuse, Verdon...all have cruxes located 10 to 15 feet over bolts...with 60m pitches and slack you look at 40 footers fairly frequently...nothing to hit but air though...

 

Head to yosemite and you will find the same situation on many common routes...or, as Joseph pointed out, Eldo, gunks, seneca, etc...

Edited June 2, 2008 by RuMR

[rob]

You're all a bunch of wankers. I have fallen over 5,000 feet many times. Once I fell almost 12,000'. NONE OF IT WITH A ROPE. Don't talk to me about 50' vs. 30'.

 

Were any of them headfirst?

[RuMR]

You're all a bunch of wankers. I have fallen over 5,000 feet many times. Once I fell almost 12,000'. NONE OF IT WITH A ROPE. Don't talk to me about 50' vs. 30'.

how's that ropegun training going? Runnin' laps on GNS yet? punter...

[RuMR]

You're all a bunch of wankers. I have fallen over 5,000 feet many times. Once I fell almost 12,000'. NONE OF IT WITH A ROPE. Don't talk to me about 50' vs. 30'.

 

Were any of them headfirst?

unfortunately, no...