Otto Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 We visited Three O'Clock Rock soon after a large rockfall left new broken blocks, scars and dust all over the North Buttress. I had been there and climbed Silent Running back on May 20th and all was normal. DavidW reported the new rockfall on this past Sunday, so the rockfall must have occurred between those dates. The obvious white scar between Total Soul and Silent Running locates the source. Among the routes affected may be Penny Lane, Revolver, and Silent Running. DavidW was on Silent Running on Sunday, and said it had collected sand and gravel on every flat surface with balanced broken rocks all around. Revolver must have many broken bolts and hangers. Penny Lane may have escaped damage. It must have been a thunderous roar, just a massive rock fall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BirdDog Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 wow, spooky. Thanks for the update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonNelson Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 It is frightening. I wonder what caused it. Is rockfall like this common in summer (as compared to other times of the year)? I hope to do Total Soul in two weeks. Do you think that route would have any loose fragments from this rockfall? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benmurphy Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 damn, a friend and I climbed silent running on May 31 and this hadn't happened yet...would not have wanted to be on route for that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benmurphy Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 just looking back at pics I have of that area before the rockfall...looks like a little exfoliation going on. total soul should be fine, as most of the rockfall would have ended up in the gully separating it from silent running. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanman Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 I was there on June 14 I think. We were going to climb Revolver but there were still a few wet patches up high. Zoinks! On a somewhat related note, I noticed some fresh scars on Exfoliation Dome's west slabs and buttress. Right of the first pitch of Westward Ho there is a bushy overlap that is missing a thick block (~3 feet thick), now all over the gully at the base, but mostly stable. The rockfall over at Blueberry route at about pitch 3 appears to have extended itself several more feet down. It was a very concentrated rain period in March, maybe this accelerates the process. It does occur to me that it's all going back to the sea. Sometimes at a fairly rapid clip.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 It generally seems that the rockfall events are weather related. The big ones mostly happen with early winter storms but I've also seen them on really hot days and this last one happened in a period when there may have been a hard rain but no other obvious trigger. The debris and scarring is pretty impressive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonNelson Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Thanks, Matt. I often suspect roots, which could be a key factor in the warm-weather events. Perhaps a growth spurt... About the conditions of Silent Running, as of July 13, the lowest two pitches have quite a bit of loose rock at the ledges and the rock a coating of rock dust. The third pitch seemed fine. And Total Soul seemed to escape unscathed, as the posters above suggested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Posted July 21, 2014 Author Share Posted July 21, 2014 On Friday I went up there with DavidW, and another rope team of Kellie M. and Micah L. I wanted to look at Penny Lane, so we let the other team clean piles of tree needles and other debris off of all the bolts on the first two pitches. Micah said he'd look around for a bolt, see a big pile of duff and push it off, and there would be a hanger, or sometimes not! Spooky lead for him. Anyway, the third pitch was clean. We didn't do the fourth pitch. Then we hopped over and did Stance or Dance and Northwest Passage, which cracks were filled with old needles and dirt. We cleaned 'em out and had a good time. It is not sandy or gravelly over there, but there are some new scars where chunks of rockfall must have bounced over. Northwest Passage needs to be rebolted. What a good finger crack! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric T Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 Here's a video of the rock scars on Three O'Clock Rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric T Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 (edited) I was just up there again a few days ago and saw a very suspect piece of rock that is precariously perched above Silent Running. If you view my video in the post above and pause it at 22 seconds, in the right lower portion of the frame you can see a large pizza slice shaped piece of stone with dual cracks running up the side. The narrow portion of the pizza slice is facing down and it seems that all of the stone is resting on just a foot or two of granite. One can see full daylight through the cracks. The stone must be 40 feet tall and 15 feet wide. It's a loaded gun. I realize that many climbs have loose rocks, rock fall events and suspect sections. This is crazy though. Have fun. Edited May 31, 2015 by Eric T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoltani Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Would you recommend doing Silent Running or skipping it in favor of another route in the area? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 That thing is crazy looking but it has been there since 3:00 Rock was first developed. Yes, it is not a question of whether it will fall one day, but when. But that is true of just about everything we climb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
num1mc Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 That thing is crazy looking but it has been there since 3:00 Rock was first developed. Yes, it is not a question of whether it will fall one day, but when. But that is true of just about everything we climb. Like the Split Pillar, Boot and Texas Flake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genepires Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 or that phat pillar on rogers corner. we could make a list of things that are next to fall down and time capsule it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric T Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 (edited) I've now gotten word from some active Darrington climbers that exfoliation is exfoliating and to avoid blue berry hill for now. I was going up there this weekend to get some shots for a guide book but now I'm going to der town. I feel you guys with your comments but I like to be informed at least. Someone in here said they suspect roots could be a factor and that flake on silent running has some trees around. I dismissed the rock fall as "a moment in geological time" to SJ. He replied "In geological time, its the same moment." Have fun guys!!! Edited June 17, 2015 by Eric T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanman Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Does anyone have any specific info or pictures of the reported Blueberry route issues? I have been monitoring the expando blocks mid height for many years and would be curious to see what's up and soon to be down..... M.Hanna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 I might be into going to take a look at the Blueberry Route on Sunday if somebody wants to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtveld Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Matt, Hanman or others - Has anyone actually seen rockfall happen at Dtown when climbing? Seems like the risk to climbers is reduced, in part, because we aren't on the rock all that much of the time (<10% by my estimation). Plus, I'd think it'd be far more likely during rainstorms, freeze-thaw activity, etc. Should knock on wood, but seems like mild summer weather, things should be less active. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
num1mc Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 While at Three O'Clock during the middle of a big fine weather window in 1990, saw a big ripper come off the very upper North Ridge of Exo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 I've witnessed several rockfall events at Squire Creek Wall, and one was second only to a huge rockfall event I saw in the Bugaboos many years ago. There was a large event in Squamish a recently. These events occurred during stable weather. Exfoliating granite does fall down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtveld Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 Exfoliating granite does fall down. Right, and they don't call it "Exfoliation Done" fer nuthin! And so much for my self-reassuring theory... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 I used to say that driving to the mountains was probably more dangerous than the climbing but the fact is there are lots of hazards out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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