Rocky Butte: Bring protection

[Dirtbag Packwork]

I'm not talking about cams and draws. I'm not talking about adding to the plethora of condoms on the ground. I'm talking about a helmet and perhaps a large implement capable of beating the shit out any fuckers who throw rocks.

 

I've spent a lot of time climbing there by myself and have never had any problems, until today. I was climbing (solo TR) at Silver bullet on when two high school aged kids poked their heads over the side and told me to smile for a picture. After snapping my photo they started to hurl rocks down at me. Small ones at first, then volleys of larger ones. Luckily I was on "Last Tango" which is to the right of "Silver Bullet" and was tucked behind a corner.

 

This lasted for a few minutes before they left and ran around to the other side and started chucking rocks again. This time far from where I was hanging. By the time I made it to the top they where gone. I was already having a shitty session, so I took it as a sign to start the long bus ride back to West Portland. I was fuming the whole way.

 

Again, this is the only time I've had this happen to me in over 30 solo trips. I've always thought "I should bring my helmet here in case someone starts chucking beer bottles off the side" but never did. That's going to change now.

 

Ok, I think I'm done...

[Lodestone]

Man that really sucks. I would not have reacted well to the situation. Maybe it was good you were rope soloing, no belayer to get hit.

 

 

Chad

[Checat]

If karma catches up with those kids there going to be hit by a bus next time they are hanging around cliff tops near bible colleges...

[Dirtbag Packwork]

I think part of what helped me was the fact that reaching the anchors I was using would be a little sketchy for those that don't climb.

[ivan]

keep going to broughtons - only 1/2 as crazy there

[Dirtbag Packwork]

keep going to broughtons - only 1/2 as crazy there

I agree However with no bike and no car I'm stuck with Dirty Butte.

[OffTheSteppe]

I was climbing (solo TR) at Silver bullet

 

OK that is new to me. Please tell me how you rig up a solo Top Rope? Do you do that with a figure 8 to provide the friction in case of fall? Photo?

[stevetimetravlr]

If you had a CO2 BB pistol would you have used it? If so, then that will make a fine addition to your rack next time.

[denalidave]

keep going to broughtons - only 1/2 as crazy there

Yeah, at least cabbages are softer than rocks & beer bottles...

[denalidave]

I was climbing (solo TR) at Silver bullet

 

OK that is new to me. Please tell me how you rig up a solo Top Rope? Do you do that with a figure 8 to provide the friction in case of fall? Photo?

Usually it is done with Gri-Gri or other auto-locking device, but there are many options. If you do some searching here, RC.com or SuperTaco, you should find plenty of info on it. JosephH has a good bit of info on the subject and is quite proficient at the art of rope soloing. I'm too lazy to dig it up for ya though.

[corvallisclimb]

I was climbing (solo TR) at Silver bullet

 

OK that is new to me. Please tell me how you rig up a solo Top Rope? Do you do that with a figure 8 to provide the friction in case of fall? Photo?

Usually it is done with Gri-Gri

 

A gri gri is the worst for top rop soloing. It is not ment to self feed so i dont know why anyone would use it? A basic ascender rigged with a chest harness and the occasionall back up knot is the way to go. Add a little weight on the bottom end of the rope and your climbing.

[Dirtbag Packwork]

 

A gri gri is the worst for top rop soloing. It is not ment to self feed so i dont know why anyone would use it? A basic ascender rigged with a chest harness and the occasionall back up knot is the way to go. Add a little weight on the bottom end of the rope and your climbing.

 

I agree! For the last couple of years I've been using a Mini Traxion by Petzel. I'll tie the middle of the rope into the anchor and use a gri-gri to descend the free stand. For the end the mini is rigged to I tie my pack off at the end (with stuff in it) as a counter weight.

 

 

[corvallisclimb]

A gri gri is the worst for top rop soloing. It is not ment to self feed so i dont know why anyone would use it? A basic ascender rigged with a chest harness and the occasionall back up knot is the way to go. Add a little weight on the bottom end of the rope and your climbing.

 

I agree! For the last couple of years I've been using a Mini Traxion by Petzel. I'll tie the middle of the rope into the anchor and use a gri-gri to descend the free stand. For the end the mini is rigged to I tie my pack off at the end (with stuff in it) as a counter weight.

 

 

Mini Traxions are prerfect too. I just said a basic since it is acctully intended for ascending a rope where minis are intended for hauling. Either way both work great. I definatly do NOT reccomend a grigri. Unless its 5.6 with tons of no hands stances.

 

More info at http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1123050/toprope_solo_setup

[JosephH]

The dual minitraxions is probably best and what the boys in the Valley use. I'm kind of ambivalent relative to the use of a grigri or Eddy for top rope soloing. You do have to pull the rope through - but then I only rope solo doing free leads so manually pulling the rope through is what I do when seconding pitches until I'm up a ways, then the rope starts to run through the Eddy on it's own. So I'm used to pulling the rope through in a seconding / top rope situation and don't really mind it, and Rocky Butte and even Broughtons really aren't tall enough to get that self-feeding action going anyway. If all you're going to do is TR and going to do it fairly often then you probably should do the dual mini thing.

[OffTheSteppe]

Wow, thanks for all the info. I guess I have kind of diverted the thread to a new topic.......

 

I really am thinking of climbing ice by fixing a rope (top and bottom) and then using a device (which is best?) with a leash that will move up the rope with me.

[JosephH]

http://www.tuolumnemeadows.org/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=103&g2_serialNumber=1

[Lodestone]

This is all new to me. Why use the dual mini-traxion set-up over a single device that is dedicated to soloing, like a soloist or silent partner?

 

 

Chad

[Kletterhund]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience at The Butte... I have had several weird to bad experiences there myself...

 

I have soloed at The Butte via shunt (80's!), Soloist, and SP... I much prefer the SP as a chest harness is not required. I know plenty of folks like the modified GRIGRI I just have not personally used that method. The dual Traxion method looks sound but then again - chest harness is needed...

 

You will, and are, getting lots of opinions on the solo top-rope business here. Perhaps best in a stand alone thread but most folks here have good working advice.

 

As The Butte is so short and you would likely be there only in drier conditions many of the aforementioned techniques should work fine.

 

As for the local ruffians... K A R M A !

 

 

 

 

 

 

[stevetimetravlr]

The dual mini trax is for TOP ROPE soloing, while the Silent partner or the Soloist is for LEAD CLIMB soloing.

[eldiente]

Thread drift but since were talking about self belay now.... I've always had good luck with my GriGri for top-rope self belay. I'm sure the MiniTrax works better ( seems to be the big wall standard for top roping) but I'm too cheap to buy one. The GriGri will self feed if there is enough weight on it, I'll tie my pack to the bottom of the line or tension it with some pro. This only works on routes that are straight up, any type of traversing and the rope tension will keep you from being able to move. Once in a blue moon I'll have to manually feed the device, on these types of routes I just pretend I'm on lead and stop every 10 feet to pull the slack out just like you might if you were stopping to clip pro. Not the best solution but better than doing a hang-board workout on a sunny day.

[Kletterhund]

The dual mini trax is for TOP ROPE soloing, while the Silent partner or the Soloist is for LEAD CLIMB soloing.

AhemMmMmMmMm... Silent Partner can be used for lead OR top-rope soloing...

[stevetimetravlr]

yeah, you can use the Silent partner for top rope soloing but it sucks compared to the mini trax.

[Kletterhund]

Yes, I agree, the SP is better for lead solo over TR solo - just a clarification for those considering an SP.

 

Traxion set-up looks solid for solo TR.

 

Alas, I have but a single Pro Traxion...

[billcoe]

I'm not talking about cams and draws. I'm not talking about adding to the plethora of condoms on the ground. I'm talking about a helmet and perhaps a large implement capable of beating the shit out any fuckers who throw rocks.

 

I've spent a lot of time climbing there by myself and have never had any problems, until today. I was climbing (solo TR) at Silver bullet on when two high school aged kids poked their heads over the side and told me to smile for a picture. After snapping my photo they started to hurl rocks down at me. Small ones at first, then volleys of larger ones. Luckily I was on "Last Tango" which is to the right of "Silver Bullet" and was tucked behind a corner.

 

This lasted for a few minutes before they left and ran around to the other side and started chucking rocks again. This time far from where I was hanging. By the time I made it to the top they where gone. I was already having a shitty session, so I took it as a sign to start the long bus ride back to West Portland. I was fuming the whole way.

 

Again, this is the only time I've had this happen to me in over 30 solo trips. I've always thought "I should bring my helmet here in case someone starts chucking beer bottles off the side" but never did. That's going to change now.

 

Ok, I think I'm done...

 

Hopefully you remember what they look like and catch them later. The exact same thing happened to my friend Kelly Warden, Silver Bullet as well, years ago. He caught them on top and read them the riot act. In 1986 Talbot Bielfelt wrote an article for Outside magazine in which he detailed some interesting encounters, one of which involved some kids starting to unclip my shit a few years previous. That stuff has been happening for years.

 

I only got up to the Butte @ 5 times last year. I'm hoping for more this year. Probably be Tuesday and Thurs evenings, although I get kind of sore enough that once a week is enough. Maybe just Tuesdays. Last night I got up and used a regular GriGri to do a TR lap on Birds of Paradise. I don't know if it was because I'm out of shape or it's early in the season, but I felt somewhat stilted. I quit after one trip up, and the whole time on route I was thinking of your story and also had that visual of the kids starting to unclip my stuff and it all played in my head all the way up. The wired nuts I carried so as to be able to get a piece in if that very thing happened seemed small consolation. I did a single non-flowing lap and gave up and went and bouldered. Soooo, just wanted to thank you for the visual:-)

 

ps, I'm resolved to spray the poison oak on top of and inside the Wisdom Tooth crack (next route west from Birds) and wipe it out. Anyone who doesn't like it (Cough* Larry * Cough *) get yer ass up there and pull it out. I hit it on top last fall and got 96% of it. I won't get to it right away so you have time, but that route will be climbable this year - I'm committed to it. If you do jump on that route, and it's a great one: one of the best there if you're a 5.11 climber, closely watch the death flake that looks like a massive 3-4' sized ear with a rurp crack straight through it @ 40 feet up as it might finally choose this year to pull off. Last time I was on that one, it slightly wiggled, and with some freeze thaw action it's probably close to pulling off. Furthermore, and not to cause anyone to mess their panties - the woman who lives in the closest house had assured Sean and I 3-4 years back that the whole cliff is actually moving there, so I'd back those chains up with a tight rope to a stout tree, don't know if that would help if the cliff goes though. We looked at it carefully at the time and didn't see evidence of it. Figure it's not shaking off in an earthquake it's probably not going anywhere.

 

Take care all

[Kletterhund]

Yes, I agree, the SP is better for lead solo over TR solo - just a clarification for those considering an SP.

 

Traxion set-up looks solid for solo TR.

 

Alas, I have but a single Pro Traxion...