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be careful this spring


keenwesh

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My buddy fractured his ankle yesterday at the Serene Boulder along hwy 2. Stump under a pad rolled his ankle in a big fall from the top of the V4 corner problem. The image of his foot all askew and his scream of pain has been seared into my brain. We all made errors as spotters and I wish we could go back and better protect him but I have a quick question for the community, if theres a stump or something in a landing, would it be overly detrimental to rip it out? I'm thinking bring a saw and ax and cut/chop it out. I hate tearing up vegetation for something as selfish as climbing a rock.

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If it's a stump then it's already dead so removal can't hurt it further. Removing a healthy tree is not something I'd do lightly.

 

and hope your buddy's foot/ankle recover.

Edited by Rad
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if theres a stump or something in a landing, would it be overly detrimental to rip it out? I'm thinking bring a saw and ax and cut/chop it out. I hate tearing up vegetation for something as selfish as climbing a rock.

 

Sorry about your friend. Climbing does has its risks.

My opinion? Don't even think about tearing up the vegetation.

 

No problem with that. I don't like getting hurt bouldering. I tore a lot of brush out of there in 2003. Have fun, and best of luck to your friend.

 

Big problem, dude. Boulderers altering the landscape is becoming an increasingly recognizable problem. (Denuding vegetation, stashing crash-pads which the local rodents love, chalkin' up every last crimp, etc). You want bouldering to maintain a low-impact reputation and stay relatively uncontroversial? Keep it clean and low impact. Leave the saw, ax, or whatever at home.

 

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if theres a stump or something in a landing, would it be overly detrimental to rip it out? I'm thinking bring a saw and ax and cut/chop it out. I hate tearing up vegetation for something as selfish as climbing a rock.

 

Sorry about your friend. Climbing does has its risks.

My opinion? Don't even think about tearing up the vegetation.

 

No problem with that. I don't like getting hurt bouldering. I tore a lot of brush out of there in 2003. Have fun, and best of luck to your friend.

 

Big problem, dude. Boulderers altering the landscape is becoming an increasingly recognizable problem. (Denuding vegetation, stashing crash-pads which the local rodents love, chalkin' up every last crimp, etc). You want bouldering to maintain a low-impact reputation and stay relatively uncontroversial? Keep it clean and low impact. Leave the saw, ax, or whatever at home.

 

respect the raindawg... hes right 99% of the time

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Hey Raindawg, great to hear you again on the same pointless argument. My bouldering kit includes a Stihl MS430 a crash pad, shoes, and chalk. You are never going to change any minds about ethics. I really don't care about low impact. So go ahead and lecture us endlessly about how we are destroying the environment. I'm still gonna kill trees, put bolts in the rock, and drive an SUV. Have a great day!

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(Denuding vegetation, stashing crash-pads which the local rodents love, chalkin' up every last crimp, etc). You want bouldering to maintain a low-impact reputation and stay relatively uncontroversial? Keep it clean and low impact. Leave the saw, ax, or whatever at home.

 

a broken ankle is not a low impact thing either. If it comes down to a dead stump or another broken ankle, the stump loses. Cutting out a stump is not denuding vegetation. Once again, the dawg takes things over the top or doesn't take the time to understand the situation before a knee jerk reaction arises.

If the dawg is right 99% of the time, then this might be that 1%, but I doubt it.

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Check with the land manager to see if it is ok.

 

Yep, walking around a forested, or formerly forested area with a running chainsaw can draw attention. Cutting a stump here and there may be no big deal, but it can also get the place shut down.

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The thread seems to be a solicitation for opinions. therefore...

 

Cutting stuff up so the bouldering (or climbing...) is more safe? nah, I'm not into it. I think the comment about "check with the land manager" seems to be the most reasonable. I think if you asked, the FS would likely say "no, that stump is part of the ecosystem/our management plan, and without review, shouldn't be yanked..."

 

Is it a big deal to me? Nope. Just my opinion.

 

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Bummer about your friend's ankle. I can see the desire to get even with the stump by taking it out. However, while one may think that a stump is a sign of a dead tree - not always as the root system may be alive and well. The root system is what is often holding the ground together. So removing the stump just may well start a chain reaction of erosion. At which point your solution may just make things worse.

 

My suggestion is to use it as an opportunity to better learn how to spot and use crash pads. The woods are not a gym, there are hazards.

 

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it's really simple actually: bring more pads.

 

there are plenty of problems that I wont get on until I have enough pads to make me feel safe. i'm the dork that keeps adjusting the pads until they're just right. do a little walk/stomp on the pads and see if you can feel any big stumps and also realize that ankle breaking is a pretty damn common risk associated with bouldering. im sure plenty of people have climbed and fallen off that problem without breaking their ankles.

 

hope your buddy heals up quick: plenty of fluids, multivitamin, and if he smokes let him know it will slow his healing down alot.

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I have a quick question for the community, if theres a stump or something in a landing, would it be overly detrimental to rip it out? I'm thinking bring a saw and ax and cut/chop it out. I hate tearing up vegetation for something as selfish as climbing a rock.

 

This is not the kind of question to ask a bunch of chumps strangers on an open forum. Use your judgment, discuss it with folks who know the area and who go there, and do the right thing. Most of us even know where the hell you are talking about and most likely have never been there. Maybe you leave it if it's a high profile area or used as a chair, and just top rope the sequence?

 

PS, Dwayner, :ass: it's a f*Ckin STUMP. OK? A "Stump". Look that word up.

 

Another bit of advice: after a hard day of climbing, do NOT knock back 4-5 cocktails and then go bouldering directly over uneven rocks with no crash pad or spotter...that's do NOT do this. Spring, summer, fall, whenever.

 

:wave:

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I hope your friend will heal up and be climbing soon.

 

As far at the cutting of the stump.....just do it and dont ask the community. You will get a ton of yes's and no's. At the end of the day you just need to make a decision. We already kill trees to build roads, what is another stump going to matter?

 

Obviously be a good steward of the forest and pack out your trash. I am sure someone cleaned off the moss and dirt to establish the climb in the first place. What is the difference?

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Chop out the stump or let it rot out. A chainsaw might draw unwelcome attention, but your call.

However, if you're a boulderer, I got a better solution for you. Its called the "Cordless Big Boy." Get one or similar since Cordless went under. No mo broken ankles or impact wounds. You'll need it one day for Midnight Lighting anyway. Best investment I ever made for $300, and it rides around in the back of my van, and 2 people and a few dogs can sleep on it as well.

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I am sure someone cleaned off the moss and dirt to establish the climb in the first place. What is the difference?

 

here's a (not thee)difference: The roots of the stump stabilize the soil and allow for nitrogen fixing bacteria to exist. Removing or disturbing this speeds up the process of erosion and the topsoil ends up in the Skykomish, or whereever.

 

If you feel you absolutely have to do it, use a handsaw and saw off the stump as close to flush with the ground as possible. If you have to use a chain saw, then it's too big and you should leave it as is and work around it with creative pad placement and spotting as others have stated above.

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just for clarification, the boulder is 30 feet off hwy 2 and the ground around it is very level, plus the stump is very much dead. No harm if it gets pulled out, and the chainsaw would be drowned out by the countless 18 wheelers and other car traffic blasting by a stones throw away. I still think it's good to check with the community before tearing shit up however, i.e. that fucker who jacked the block off on godzilla. That shit is not cool!

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have you ever climbed godzilla? it it completely impossible that that thing just happened to fall off. someone jacked it off and didn't even have the decency to shovel off the dirt. I'm kinda beating a dead horse here because that other thread on it went on for something like 7 pages but there is no doubt in my mind that the big 'ol block couldn't have gone without help.

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if theres a stump or something in a landing, would it be overly detrimental to rip it out? I'm thinking bring a saw and ax and cut/chop it out. I hate tearing up vegetation for something as selfish as climbing a rock.

 

Sorry about your friend. Climbing does has its risks.

My opinion? Don't even think about tearing up the vegetation.

 

No problem with that. I don't like getting hurt bouldering. I tore a lot of brush out of there in 2003. Have fun, and best of luck to your friend.

 

Big problem, dude. Boulderers altering the landscape is becoming an increasingly recognizable problem. (Denuding vegetation, stashing crash-pads which the local rodents love, chalkin' up every last crimp, etc). You want bouldering to maintain a low-impact reputation and stay relatively uncontroversial? Keep it clean and low impact. Leave the saw, ax, or whatever at home.

 

How much strip-mining and quarrying had to go on so you could assemble that trad rack that allows you to climb "clean" and be "low impact"? Or does environmental degradation only count when it's nearby?

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"How much strip-mining and quarrying had to go on so you could assemble that trad rack that allows you to climb "clean" and be "low impact"? Or does environmental degradation only count when it's nearby?" - Julian

 

Thumbs up.

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