vantage rock fall

[markwebster]

We were standing at the bottom of "seven virgins and a mule" (kingpins area of vantage) Saturday 4-11-09. Someone was leading the 10a face variation of Peaceful Warrior. I heard a shout and saw something flying down out of the corner of my eye. A flake about the size of a 15 inch pizza, about 3 inches thick, exploded on the ledge, sending shrapnel 15 feet in all directions. He pulled it off from about 5 bolts up, leaving a big scar in the rock. It missed his belayer by 3 feet, the rope by 6 inches.

 

The guy who pulled it off said it didn't look rotten, wasn't loose and looked like all the other holds at Vantage. He was a good climber, not a newbie at all.

 

I was the only one there with a helmet of half a dozen people nearby. I'm not sure the helmet would have saved my life as that thing was huge...but it would have helped. I wear mine all the time, even when I'm hiking along the base. For sure it would have killed someone without a helmet. Very very scary. I think I'm done with Vantage for a while.

 

I also got nailed in the helmet with a golf ball sized rock that day. Strange. I'll leave the "are helmets good?" arguments to someone else. FYI

[kevino]

Wow. You said he was climbing the face version, was the hold then on the right side of the anchors? Either way no fun...Glad no one was hurt.

 

On a related note, a group climbing Easy Off, told us about a loose hold that had a giant X made with chalk. How long before that is yanked off?

[dirtysloper]

sounds about normal for vantage.

[Choada_Boy]

Helmets are good unless they've been ripped in half.

[G-spotter]

At Vantage it's not so much about the holds that come off as the rare holds that don't.

[Jens]

I've seen the same thing happen at Vantage on trad falls on trad gear.

-------

I've also had two other buddies fracture out huge sections while falling on trad gear at Vantage- seemingly solid placements.

 

My advice... if you are going to Vantage for your dose of sun, clip bolts and leave everything except the quickdraws at home.

[kevino]

Yeah, all the Seattle people should just climb the aretes and lower cliffs.

 

Whats that one route name? MF 206'ers

[Jens]

Yeah, all the Seattle people should just climb the aretes and lower cliffs.

 

Whats that one route name? MF 206'ers

Speaking of west siders:

......and open the hardest and highest quality routes at that entire area every year since oh... like 1987 with perhaps the exception of an occasionally year thrown in for giggles.

 

 

[Mtguide]

Vantage=Chossage

[Crillz]

My advice... if you are going to Vantage for your dose of sun, clip bolts and leave everything except the quickdraws at home.

 

Agreed. That's been my MO for the once or twice per year that I go there now. I consider that place the LCQ.

[ivan]

lcq?

[Crillz]

Last Chance Qualifier.

 

It's the last chance to get into the main event in a supercross race. "Also used to refer to certain females at the bar around 2:00 am."

[korup]

Razor sharp dinner plates of death? At Vantage???? Nahhhhh. I don't believe a word of it.

Edited April 13, 2009 by korup

[markwebster]

Now you guys are scaring me. I was just starting to love those trad routes. Has anyone taken a whipper on gear at vantage...safely?

 

Granted, I knew the plates fall out occasionally, but those cracks don't look that rotten.

[kevino]

Mark,

 

Last weekend I fell on a nut, no problem (nut was at my feet). Saturday my friend fell on a .5 cam which was about 2 feet below his feet and nothing happened.

[sobo]

Now you guys are scaring me...

This'll scare the shit outta ya...

Link should take you to Page 2. It's my story of Vantage, 9th post down.

No shit man, there I was...

[markwebster]

sobo, that is a very frightening story. That is my worst nightmare every time I go to vantage. They do not look secure at all. I'm thinking I'll return to leavenworth for a while...even the pinnacles are more reliable than vantage. Triggerfinger is already down.

 

Plus, the gangbangers are at their worst at vantage. It's funny how castle rock never has gangbangers...a better class of climbers hang out at castle.

[Dane]

Whippers?

 

Lots of them.

 

I've done most of the harder cracks on Sunshine and Middle East....never had a piece blow in a leader fall. And I have taken a lot of them.

 

I have no doubt that pieces do blow on trad routes if the piece is placed close to the "pockets" that keep appearing in the cracks over the years. The difference in the amount of new pockets showing in cracks (or the aretes) like Lingerie, Jihad, Stem's/Seeds, Red M&Ms and Sex Party from '85 to date is rather shocking when I compare pictures.

 

Anyone with some trad leading experience would (should) avoid placing gear next to obviously weak rock (pockets). Although I have used the pockets to protect hard moves by seating nuts way back in the crack. I'd also suggest lacing up the crack fairly well so you aren't trusting a big fall to a lone piece of gear.

 

I have used Friends and TCUs with only the occasional nut placement at Vantage and never had one blow. Had lots of rock failures while climbing though. In the cracks (making a new pocket) and on the face.

 

People climb on some pretty shitty rock at Vantage today that we never dreamed worth our effort while we originally developing the place. We went there to climb cracks (some of the best in the NW imo) not the (still) chossy face climbs. But power drills made those choss climbs possible and "safe".

 

Until "Super Dave" Morales showed up in the late '90s the level of difficulty at Vantage hadn't gone far from the guys climbing in the mid '80s. (12a/b) Russ Johnson, Glenn Cambron, Carl Birkencamp and Max Dufford come to mind among other early climbers developing lines at Vantage. Only one of them (Max) from the West side. Pulman, Priest River, ID and Spokane were the other residences.

 

Lots of addtional developement by the "west siders" but you would be pressed to justify "hardest" until 1999 And Super Dave's climb through the grades. "Highest quality?" I guess that is left to the climber's opinion with the amount of choss developed in the last 20 years at Vantage.

 

Helmets? I hate wearing a helmet rock climbing. But at Vantage with the amount of climbers of vastly varing skill and thoughtfulness and the quality of the rock you have to be insane not to. I'm surprised more people haven't been killed or seriously injured there.

[eatsleepclimb]

I've never pulled a hold off at vantage.

[dirtysloper]

Vantage trad is too good to resist. Wear a helmet and back-it-up

[CollinWoods]

My brother and I were talking some friends who have never climber before up the 5.6 or 5.7 Peaceful Warrior route last Friday, there is a really good size hunk of rock ready come apart and fall as soon as someone puts enought pressure on it (its about 3/4 of the way up)... Some people also pulled of a baseball size rock of Don Coyote on the feathers that weekend.

Edited April 14, 2009 by CollinWoods

[Valhallas]

The guy who pulled it off said it didn't look rotten, wasn't loose and looked like all the other holds at Vantage. He was a good climber, not a newbie at all.

 

I was climbing with him that day, although not belaying at the time. Virtually the same thing happened to another of my friends and I last year on P2 of Duress/Under Duress. Solid looking block the size of a shoebox, didn't move when hit, didn't sound hollow, then flew off as soon as I weighted it. It hit my friend in the head, busted his helmet and knocked him out. It gashed his head pretty good, and almost surely would have killed him had he not been wearing his helmet.

 

I, like the original poster, always wear my helmet there when belaying, climbing, and walking along the wall. It's hard to believe there are people who don't.

Edited April 15, 2009 by Valhallas

[plaisirclimbr]

Sooooooooooooooo sick of people dissing on "Vantage". Actually you can diss on Vantage all you want - it's a crumby little town with no climbing. Frenchman Coulee, however, is a really fun place to climb, great cracks, fun well-protected sport routes, good weather. So the rock is a little loose - isn't climbing supposed to be a little risky? Use some common sense, for Dog's sake! Been climbing there for 20 years now - never pulled off a loose rock without meaning to. Question: Why do Washington (maybe just wet side?) climbers feel they have to name every crag after the last town they drive through on their way there from Seattle? (even when the crag actually has a name?) If every place was like that, we'd be climbing at Terrebonne, Almo, Slade (KY), Las Vegas, Joshua Tree (oops, guess that one's OK). I think all the choss-dissing wankers SHOULD go climbing at Vantage (I think maybe there's a V23 or 5.15h up the north face of the Golden Harvest Motel) - and stay away from Frenchman Coulee, it's getting a little crowded from all those poor uninformed non-snobby folks that actually enjoy the place.

[mattp]

Nice post, Mr. Plaisir. The crap talk is a little repetitive at times. VantageFrenchman's Coulee is a piece of crap though. Maybe I'm just an MF 206'er, but I feel comfortable saying there are lots of better places to climb in Washington. However, it is pretty out there, the weather is usually good, and I always have fun when I go.

 

You've honestly never pulled off a hold or had a foothold blow when you didn't mean for it to happen? What kind of good luck piece are you carrying?

[Sol]

i think vantage kicks ass! i try to avoid the sunshine wall as much as I can, seems like the best climbs and the best rock are elsewhere.

 

i tried to call it frenchmen's coulee for a while but it was too hard.

Edited April 15, 2009 by Sol