Close Call at Beacon

[kevbone]

My wife and I went out to climb the SE corner on Sat. Super great views and lots of wind made the climbing interesting but fun. I led Cruzin and belayed her up. She has not climbed in a while and fell out of a finger jam at my second peice about 25 feet up. The directional I placed which is on the traverse on the SE corner popped out and she decked but is not hurt. I ended up rapping and releading it but when I got back there. Steve Timetraver was just coming across the travers on the first pitch and we met right at that placement. I have been putting cams there for 15 years. I have even had followers fall and it held. But today if did not and it was a close call. I showed the block to Steve as I slapped it. The entire thing moved. Its loose. He tried to trundle it later to no avail.......please be very careful to not grab it or place any gear there. We will need a crowbar to get it out. It needs a b ig X drawn on it.

[ivan]

your piece was on the snag ledge traverse? near the cut tree near the anchor for the 2nd pitch belay? all that rock is loose, pretty much only the tree seems reliable. i know some girl fell round there 2 summers ago and got banged up real bad. good to here maggie's alright

 

is the rock good n' dry now?

[kevbone]

Ivan. My piece was left of the small tree by 10 feet. I have been placing that piece for 15 years. I have had followers fall on it and it has always held. This particular stone is loose and needs to come off the wall. Steve tried to get it out but it would not fall. It moves at least one inch......and yes, Maggie is fine. We finished the climb. Super great day.

[ivan]

the whole park is slowly falling apart - did you notice the huge tree that's now half-down n' poised like a sword of damocles just a few feet from the parking lot on the apporach trail?

[pink]

the whole park is slowly falling apart

 

 

[ivan]

so goddamn cold n' windy today i couldn't hardly pause long enough to sort out what placement betrayed ya, kev - was it a cam that pried two blocks apart or a nut that pulled through?

 

and doood, you know pink - you say my english is unassailable, how about his pics? what does the above technicolor-jeebus gauntlet tell us?

[stevetimetravlr]

The loose block is beneath the small tree at the very top of Cruising, but 6 feet left. It is part of a placement you might use that is on the right side of the small drainage doing the traverse over to the base of the corner anchors from Snag Ledge. The loose block forms the right side of the placement. Its hard to see any evidence the block is loose until you touch it, so that's why it's dangerous. The block is huge, and will go down Cruising when it goes. I rocked it by hand, but was afraid it would take my fingers off if I rocked it any harder. Good day climbing and hanging at the ledge with Kevbone and Maggie and Adam. Only 10 more days and Beacon is closed for the next 6 months. What a bummer for the climbers, and what a bummer for the State Park forgoing all that parking revenue.