UKBouldering.com
the shizzle => bouldering => Topic started by: Will Hunt on November 24, 2016, 04:03:20 pm
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Because what really fascinates us is the myth, the legend, the small details that are passed by only in random conversations. Something vaguely mysterious and uncertain.
An aura is undefined, it is there but not clear in its margins.
What is widely known and accepted does not necessarily constitues the aura, but the reputation, that is based on facts.
This should be a thread. Climbing Rumours. Stuff that is written into the folklore of the crag. The little snippets that are passed on by word of mouth. The taller the tale, the better. Stuff that doesn't appear written down in a blog, but which is half-remembered and elaborated upon at every re-telling.
Let's see. When I was a wide-eyed youth cutting my teeth at Pex Hill, I lived on this stuff. It was my window into what climbing could be.
Phil Davidson, arriving at the top of the crag on his motorbike, giving the engine a good rev to let the assorted characters and hangers-on know that the King had arrived. Soloing down Dateline (oft-wet E3) in his biker boots. Pop the rock shoes on. Solo up The Knife (E4/5) and down Black Magic (E5/6).
Giving himself arthritis by doing 1000 pull ups a day in the shop at Ellis Brighams in Liverpool.
An early attempter of the Knife (name is in the Chesh Sand guidebook), coming a cropper on the top slap and parting company with the rock, performing a complete backwards somersault, before landing on his feet and living to tell the tale.
Nick Dixon taking groups of school kids to Castell Helen, setting them up on a stacked abseil at the top and abseiling down to the starting niche on lighthouse aręte. Rigging a handline across and up to the first stance, from where they would be top roped to the top. I think this stopped (if indeed, it ever happened) when someone explained to Nick that this might not be safe.
Al Williams, in extremis at the top of Entropy's Jaw, unable to make the last move and about to fall. One of the onlookers leaning over the top of the crag put out a hand for him to grab to save himself from certain doom. Al snatches at it, and grabs, a thumb! He's hauled over the top by this thumb.
You get the picture. Please continue.
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On a glorious November day in 2013, a young, fresh faced, lad called Will Hunt made his way all the way down to the Peak from Yorkshire. On that same day his hero, Adam Long, also made his way to the Peak. Via a series of freak circumstances Will managed to climb The Storm whereas Adam did not. Will hasn't stopped smiling since.
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I thought this was going to either a) an outing of the Twitter profile or b) Will having been offended by said Twitter profile.
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I thought this was going to either a) an outing of the Twitter profile
I'd tune in to that.
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Gritstone dildo.
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I heard someone shouted so loud when they fell off at the cornice police turned up an hour later to see what the fuss was.
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I heard someone shouted so loud when they fell off at the cornice police turned up an hour later to see what the fuss was.
I still don't believe that Haydn
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pegging boulder problems is in fashion these days too :p
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I think the entropys jaw thing was not Al, Al if I remember actually fell off the top and walked away(hobbled anyway).
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This is now doing my head in... I reckon you are right.
My aged brain cannot remember who was the thumb assisted climber..
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This is now doing my head in... I reckon you are right.
My aged brain cannot remember who was the thumb assisted climber..
I'm sure it was Al grabbing Nick Dixon's thumb. If Andy reads this then he will correct us.
Whether any of these things really happened is immaterial. They're all true stories.
I like the one about the Cornice scream.
EDIT:
Indeed, but I don't think the placement had been found/unearthed yet. Andy Woodward had soloed it so that's what we did. The funniest incident on EJ was when Al Williams didn't fall off. Al is at the last move and is sketching. Me and Nick Dixon are kneeling on the top watching from a distance of about one foot - close enough to touch him. Al keeps repositioning his feet on the smears and squeezing the rugosities but its warm and he's getting nowhere. Al calls for help and Nick sticks out his hand, Al lunges and just manages to latch ... Nick's thumb. Miraculously, everything holds and Al pulls over. He did it the next go.
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On a glorious November day in 2013, a young, fresh faced, lad called Will Hunt made his way all the way down to the Peak from Yorkshire. On that same day his hero, Adam Long, also made his way to the Peak. Via a series of freak circumstances Will managed to climb The Storm whereas Adam did not. Will hasn't stopped smiling since.
I love that one. Tell it again, Pa.
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Al grabbed my thumb.
I don't think I remember ever hearing that Phil would solo down Black Magic, but who knows?
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The gritstone phallus is the one that popped into my mind too!!
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The best blatantly false rumour I heard told (and told absolutely straight faced too) was that Malc was so weak from dieting when he did Hubble that he had to be carried from the car to the crag.
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I heard someone shouted so loud when they fell off at the cornice police turned up an hour later to see what the fuss was.
In a speedboat.
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The gritstone phallus is the one that popped into my mind too!!
Likewise. The complexity if the surrounding story changes with every version though.
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Al grabbed my thumb.
I don't think I remember ever hearing that Phil would solo down Black Magic, but who knows?
So who was it that fell off the top? I know of the various descents from Piece of mind, the legendary Face grabbing a fallee
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Who had to be rescued from the lip whilst soloing flying butress direct. Some perma pissed polish dude that was working at outside and staying at North Lees campsite?? and was Grimer involved??
As I recall it, someone soloed up to the back of the roof and could lean out and offer a hand. When they let go, they swung in, but they lost grip with the hand and turned, ran down the slab and off into the bracken and remained relatively unscathed.
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The best blatantly false rumour I heard told (and told absolutely straight faced too) was that Malc was so weak from dieting when he did Hubble that he had to be carried from the car to the crag.
There is an earlier generation story about Phil Davidson and the same thing at Kilnsey instead.
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talking of Kilnsey, I heard one about little Nick (think that's what everyone called him) trying to do a racing start on the road at the base of the crag on his motorbike and back flipping it. it might have been true though.
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Not really a rumour, as I witnessed the whole thing, but I wanted to share nonetheless.
My friend fell from two-thirds of the way up Right Wall E5 at Brimham, ripping various pieces of gear, and landed on his belayer. He walked away absolutely fine, but we had to call mountain rescue for the belayer who ended up in a back brace for several months.
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The gritstone phallus is the one that popped into my mind too!!
Likewise. The complexity if the surrounding story changes with every version though.
Full story please.
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The best blatantly false rumour I heard told (and told absolutely straight faced too) was that Malc was so weak from dieting when he did Hubble that he had to be carried from the car to the crag.
Whilst on a broccoli drip.
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talking of Kilnsey, I heard one about little Nick (think that's what everyone called him) trying to do a racing start on the road at the base of the crag on his motorbike and back flipping it. it might have been true though.
I think these "carried to the crag" rumours are brilliant. It brings to mind the scenes from the Harry Potter films where the waif like Voldemort is carried around everywhere.
Not really a rumour, as I witnessed the whole thing, but I wanted to share nonetheless.
My friend fell from two-thirds of the way up Right Wall E5 at Brimham, ripping various pieces of gear, and landed on his belayer. He walked away absolutely fine, but we had to call mountain rescue for the belayer who ended up in a back brace for several months.
Didn't he then do the same thing to the same belayer on a different route some months later?
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The gritstone phallus is the one that popped into my mind too!!
Likewise. The complexity if the surrounding story changes with every version though.
Full story please.
You have mail. Best not "smear" the name of a high profile climber publicly.
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There were also rumours of an american sport climber in the 80s getting piggybacks so he wouldn't develop leg muscles, and of one sleeping without a sleeping back because he reckoned being cold and shivering burned more energy so he would lose weight.
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I heard... A certain extremely well known Sheffield climber was once found under Tom's roof at Stony, red faced and straining away... However the well trained power was focused not on Stony's shiniest stone but his own organ. Yet another reason for avoiding Tom's roof.
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To be honest that's all Tom's Roof is fit for.
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Since we're on the topic, I heard from a strong young man that he had hitched a lift with a well known famous climber. As the car rounded a bend, the glovebox popped open of it's own accord and a large vibrating penis rolled out onto the floor. Must have been quite the ice-breaker.
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Seeing as we're rolling with a dildo-based theme here, I heard a rumour about a foreign wad climbing couple, who left one of said objects in the spare room they were staying in. Only a well known climbing wall owner and competition judge with appalling taste in vehicles and football teams will be able to confirm this for certain. Allegedly.
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I heard about an American female boulderer who liked choking Sheffield males whilst on top.
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I heard about an American female boulderer who liked choking Sheffield males whilst on top.
:lol:
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Since we're on the topic, I heard from a strong young man that he had hitched a lift with a well known famous climber. As the car rounded a bend, the glovebox popped open of it's own accord and a large vibrating penis rolled out onto the floor. Must have been quite the ice-breaker.
I have also heard this story but can't remember who off. The Artist Formerly Known As Psycho Dave?
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Since we're on the topic, I heard from a strong young man that he had hitched a lift with a well known famous climber. As the car rounded a bend, the glovebox popped open of it's own accord and a large vibrating penis rolled out onto the floor. Must have been quite the ice-breaker.
I have also heard this story but can't remember who off. The Artist Formerly Known As Psycho Dave?
I heard it off he who screams the loudest when he falls off.
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Can anyone shed any light on what actually happened in the pool at Glenmore Lodge 1999 BMC Winter meet, between Britains most famous crap climber and a young hard grit star. Others no longer of these shores may well have been involved too.
Allegedly.
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There's a local legend about a young hotshot of this parish returning from a highly successful sport trip in sunnier climbs and deciding he'd saved the Black Magic onsight solo long enough. He turned up at Pex on his own, set off, realised too late it was not properly dry and ended up taking a big lob. He thankfully walked away and went on to send 8c not long afterwards... :hug:
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2 quiet lancs heroes once soloed Vector together at Tremadog when one of them slid down the ochre slab and was caught by the other.
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2 quiet lancs heroes once soloed Vector together at Tremadog when one of them slid down the ochre slab and was caught by the other.
Flippin' 'eck is that true? Who was that? Epic.
There was a good climber in our uni climbing club who, it was claimed, had fallen off while soloing Overhanging Groove and caught himself on the jugs a little further down :o
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2 quiet lancs heroes once soloed Vector together at Tremadog when one of them slid down the ochre slab and was caught by the other.
Flippin' 'eck is that true? Who was that? Epic.
That would be too easy
One has retrospectively climbed E9 and the other carries the torch
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2 quiet lancs heroes once soloed Vector together at Tremadog when one of them slid down the ochre slab and was caught by the other.
Flippin' 'eck is that true? Who was that? Epic.
That would be too easy
One has retrospectively climbed E9 and the other carries the torch
So Ryan and someone else? Who was the slipee?
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I think Pete stopped Ryan, when I asked them about it the 'slip' was more of a 'slump' but that's not nearly as good a story.
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Did someone once get stuck in a handjam on Ressurection on the Cromlech and have to be rescued?
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Who had to be rescued from the lip whilst soloing flying butress direct. Some perma pissed polish dude that was working at outside and staying at North Lees campsite?? and was Grimer involved??
As I recall it, someone soloed up to the back of the roof and could lean out and offer a hand. When they let go, they swung in, but they lost grip with the hand and turned, ran down the slab and off into the bracken and remained relatively unscathed.
No, that was me it happened to. Although the words "It happened to" makes it sound like an accident that befell me. I fell off at the lip and ran off down the entire height of the slab, diagonally, towards the only flat landing spot.
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I've heard the one that someone had to be cut out of a kneebar by firefighters at (*crag varies depending on the teller of the story*).
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Heard about someones fingers getting chopped off by a wobbly wedged block on the skull. Heard about it by text message about two minutes before setting off on the relevant pitch, climbed quite carefully after that warning!
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And many variations of people running down the slab after falling of sniveling shits.
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Heard about someones fingers getting chopped off by a wobbly wedged block on the skull. Heard about it by text message about two minutes before setting off on the relevant pitch, climbed quite carefully after that warning!
Dave Musgrove Snr wasn't it?
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I think Pete stopped Ryan, when I asked them about it the 'slip' was more of a 'slump' but that's not nearly as good a story.
The way Pete tells it, both of them were in a bit of a state after "smashing it in at a party" but decided to solo something "easy". Ryan was just ahead of Pete, and suddenly declared quite calmly "Oh, I'm off here Pete" to which Pete replied "No you fucking aren't!" Pete managed to hold him in position long enough for Ryan to sort himself, the rest of the ascent going smoothly.
Grimer makes his tale sound vaguely heroic and superhuman - "Irishman saved by cat-like reflexes" but I'm sure he told me he whimpered till his last breath, peeled off and was saved by some old boy who casually shoved him away from the pointy rocks.
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That's right Dan, locked right in on the beat there as usual.
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You're still my hero Niall, if only for that one time when you got me to throw the Road Closed sign out of the way so you could drive us home over the snow-bound Snake Pass, with the Duke's of Hazard soundtrack on the car stereo "Just 2 Good Ol' Boys, Doing The Best That They Can". Yeehah!
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If you fall off soloing Vector then one confidently say that you have completely fucked up.
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The bit I can't remember about Pete and Ryan was who was carrying the bottle at the time?
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Gus, Grimer and the font jumper incident was fairly amusing as a tale.
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Grand Horizontal was so named after the line was spotted from an, um, horizontal position.
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Did y'all hear the one about Eric Jones falling off while soloing in the Alps, only for a fifi hook attached to his harness to catch in the eye of a piton hammered in just below him saving his life. He then proceeded to finish the route rather than take an easier variation just alongside.
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On that note, was it Kirkus who would cycle off to north Wales and solo new routes, with his only protection being a route that he trailed behind him with a knotted end, that would hopefully catch in a crack on the way down. As I heard it, the one time this was tested it somehow worked!
I think that's just off the scale of unbelievable. More likely he trailed a knotted rope that he could wedge in a crack for a rest or to protect the odd hard move.
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I was once told that Justin Critchlow soloed The Sloth in Wellington boots and a brown paper bag over his head, with his mates shouting him beta!
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Chloe Brooks led Rectum Rift pissed Steve Bancroft followed naked and barefoot. Chloe was belaying laid down in a sort of horizontal rift with no belay, with rope round his neck.
I also think Steve and John Allen did Quetius naked.
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Did anyone hear about Steve Allen soloing up and down Piranha in wellies? Surely bollocks?
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I've heard of Ken Palmer doing various routes at Ansteys in his wellies, can't remember which - maybe Just Revenge or The Lynch?
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I'm pretty sure I also remember a tale from one of my old timer mates of a young Ben Bransby falling off the top of Chee Dale cornice after some miscommunication with his belayer, landing flat on his back on my mate's sandwich box completely destroying it, and walking away unscathed.
Can anyone confirm whether this is true?
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I'm pretty sure I also remember a tale from one of my old timer mates of a young Ben Bransby falling off the top of Chee Dale cornice after some miscommunication with his belayer, landing flat on his back on my mate's sandwich box completely destroying it, and walking away unscathed.
Can anyone confirm whether this is true?
I don't know about either of the previous anecdotes, but I have seen Bransby soloing Western Front in wellies.
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I've heard of Ken Palmer doing various routes at Ansteys in his wellies,
Proper Devon style Ooh arr me lover
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Climbing related due to it being about a climber. Dan honeyman used to reinforce his wingmirrors and joust with oncoming cars trying to take there wingmirrors off.
James thornton the night before doing the ace in a desperate bid to loose weight dehydrated himself by drink 6 cans of stella then taking a scorching hot bath to sweat out all the water. In the morning he had nothing but 2 strong shots of coffee. Weighing himself to have lost 4 kilos in water weight. Knowing the time was right he headed for the ace only to find himself to exhausted to carry the pads and had to rely on his partner incrime to carry the pads up for him.
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Dan honeyman used to reinforce his wingmirrors and joust with oncoming cars trying to take there wingmirrors off.
Did he drive everywhere in reverse?
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Dan honeyman used to reinforce his wingmirrors and joust with oncoming cars trying to take there wingmirrors off.
Did he drive everywhere in reverse?
He also used to speed up going through speed cameras as he had a French number plate. So scary driving through the peak with him, especially as he was screaming 'that's fuckin E8' whilst overtaking a car on a blind corner .
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Did someone once get stuck in a handjam on Ressurection on the Cromlech and have to be rescued?
One on Noah's Warning (http://www.llanberismountainrescue.co.uk/news/between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place).
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He also used to speed up going through speed cameras as he had a French number plate. So scary driving through the peak with him, especially as he was screaming 'that's fuckin E8' whilst overtaking a car on a blind corner .
Did he drive a red van...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UU3UtYRxEQ
There must be some Johnny Driving rumours.
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Well it's not exactly a rumour.....
Johnny (driving back to Cereste from Chateauvert with, amongst others, Sean and Ben in the car) mistakes an S bend you had to slow to take with single right hander you could accelerate through at 60+
Inevitably this meant flying round the bend, on the wrong side of the road, at over 60 mph before the car started jumping around in a series of power wiggles eventually coming to stability and a stop. There was nothing else on the road, obviously.
It's not a rumour because I was in the car too.
H e didn't seem overly chastened as flying into Apt to celebrate with pizza after Ben did Maginot Line a couple of days later he seemed to have no fear of the black ice that was liberally spread along the carriageway. A cold winter that one.
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I heard that a certain prolific north york moors new router had such long arms as a teenager that he went to the doctors to see why they wouldn't stop growing!
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I think so....the stream at the back of the house froze solid and once in front of the fire you couldn't leave otherwise you'd never be able to get close again to get warm.
Don't remember any furniture being burnt.. although I do recall one famous gritstone climber running about Benny Hill-like, wearing nothing but a long sleeved t-shirt and his manhood shouting 'come back Sean'. Sean didn't oblige.
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Did someone once get stuck in a handjam on Ressurection on the Cromlech and have to be rescued?
One on Noah's Warning (http://www.llanberismountainrescue.co.uk/news/between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place).
My partner got his hand stuck fast in a crack near the top of Zambezi on the slate while leading it. I had to take him off belay, run around to the top of the route and drop a rope to him. Took a good fifteen minutes to free himself, thought I was going to have to go to into beris for some fairy liquid!
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Did someone once get stuck in a handjam on Ressurection on the Cromlech and have to be rescued?
One on Noah's Warning (http://www.llanberismountainrescue.co.uk/news/between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place).
nice, cheers.
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There is a Facebook group on the go called "Friends of Pex Hill" started by Pete "Pekkie" Trewin. He's doing a series of Pex Myths and Legends, a few comments from which I'd like to share with you lovers of tall tales:
On recalling a massive quarry in Whiston with some big routes in it - now filled in!
That Aid line in Whiston, you started it off the top of a fridge to get the first bolt head. I can remember being 2/3rds up and my brother was belaying, he shouted up at me, 'look-out!' as a single mattress was flung off by one of the owners of the properties. On another occasion I got hit by a load of grass cuttings!
Big Ewan. Reputation for being as hard as a bag of six inch nails from B&Q. But underneath that tough exterior beats a warm heart. And I will prove it with this story. Myth, legend or apocryphal – it should be true.
Pete Chadwick is just sitting down to his evening meal when he gets a call on his mobile. It is Ewan.
‘Pete, help! I was on a run in Sefton Park and I’ve been mugged by a gang of scallies!’
Pete jumps in his car and finds Ewan sitting on a wall covered in blood. He takes him back to his flat, washes the blood off and is amazed to find that there isn’t a scratch on him. It was all other people’s blood.
‘So what happened to the scallies?’ says Pete. ’How many of them were there?’
‘About six.’
‘Six? Shouldn’t we tell the police?’
‘Oh no, they’ll be all right. I left them all in the recovery position.’
Separately, but still on the subject of "Big Ewan", I honestly can't remember whether this was said while we were watching the fight itself, or whether it was simply being recalled in conversation. Said fight was taking place at the top of The Knife - home to the biggest potential plummet in Pex - and was being fought between two scallies. The only comment Ewan could make, with a doleful shake of his head, was that both of their brawling techniques were shocking, absolutely shocking. Really crap fighters they were.
Our first trip to Pembroke in 1982 with the late Tom Herley and Jim Hewson. We went down in Tom's Opel Ascona. He drove across the Widnes bridge in the "3rd lane" whilst telling us that he'd just welded the back axle together. What a journey! We arrived late at night and pitched our tents at the top of Mother Carey's kitchen. In the morning Jim and Tom abseiled down on Tom's hawser laid rope....it creaked! As I was just about to abseil on it, Tom shouted up that he'd found it in the Alps. Mike immediately uncoiled our ropes and we abseiled in on those. RIP Tom.
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There must be some Johnny Driving rumours.
Johnny offered to drive to the roaches and took the back way, rally driving as per. When we got past Buxton on the road to leek, overtook an Audi but couldn't pass the lorry infront, queue lots of arm waving from said Audi driver. Johnny, being gracious, offered the next opportunity for the Audi to overtake, but it didn't. Maybe there wasn't enough of a gap, but Johnny wasn't giving him another chance and got past the lorry on the next straight, then preceded to take every bend at 60+ just to get far enough ahead "he can't even see us anymore". Well, the Audi driver took up the challenge and tried to chase him, but Johnny was driving my 1.2l clio and seriously owned him, getting miles ahead.
The story gets interesting when we reached the turn off for the roaches, which is around a blind bend. We had to stop as there was traffic coming from the other direction. The Audi swung in behind us as did another car, however the arctic truck we had overtaken someway back obviously wasn't prepared for a queue, taking the bend too fast. All i saw as we pulled off the main road was an arctic truck actually getting air as it dove off the road and through the fencing.... Props to the driver he didn't roll the lorry and probably saved the other drivers lives.
The above piece is a work of fiction and any resemblance to actuals events or people is purely coincidental :whistle:
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I've just remembered the one about Ordinary Route on the Idwal Slabs! You know the one!
The couple who got benighted trying to climb Ordinary Route, not once, but twice! They apparently spent two nights out and had to resort to drinking from puddles :lol:
I think everyone knows that one, but is it actually true? Surely it featured in the news somewhere?!
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I've just remembered the one about Ordinary Route on the Idwal Slabs! You know the one!
The couple who got benighted trying to climb Ordinary Route, not once, but twice! They apparently spent two nights out and had to resort to drinking from puddles :lol:
I think everyone knows that one, but is it actually true? Surely it featured in the news somewhere?!
Brilliant, there's a book deal to had among the clusterfuckery
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I've just remembered the one about Ordinary Route on the Idwal Slabs! You know the one!
The couple who got benighted trying to climb Ordinary Route, not once, but twice! They apparently spent two nights out and had to resort to drinking from puddles :lol:
I think everyone knows that one, but is it actually true? Surely it featured in the news somewhere?!
I found https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=29936 , in which someone quotes:
'From Ogwen Valley MRT:
http://www.ogwen-rescue.org.uk/ovmro/reports/2000/i_narrative.html
9th October 2000: 21.23 - 00.55 hrs. Idwal Slabs. Female, 30 yrs. Exhaustion, dehydration and swollen feet.
The woman set off up the Slabs on the Sunday morning with her partner. The conditions were wet and they were very slow climbing. They did not reach the top of the route until dusk and then could not find the walk off. They stayed on the ledge for the night without waterproofs, food or water; these had been left in the rucsac at the bottom of the climb. On Monday morning, they still could not find the walk off and decided to climb down by Ordinary route. By dusk, they were still 200 feet from the bottom and the female could go no further due to hunger and exhaustion. Her partner climbed down and raised the alarm. She was retrieved and walked off. They had not called to any party in the Cwm during the day. They had taken 39 hours to do Hope - possibly a record.
15 Team members."
That link now seems to be broken, but http://www.ogwen-rescue.org.uk/incident-maps/?id=1062 seems to confirm the basic "cragfast on Idwal Slabs for two nights" picture.
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Amazing.
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You have made my day! I always wanted to believe but never quite could. Phenomenal.
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I was twelve when I first led the ordinary route. It was my first real lead.
I didn't take 39 hours though, so not relevant really. Though I do remember Ron walking up the route beside me telling me how to place the gear, whilst rolling a fag and occasionally dipping into a tin of Sardines...
Now having a nightmare about being stuck on the route for 39 hours with nothing but Sardines to eat, choking on Ron's cheap tobacco fumes and the stench of the old Army surplus jacket he always wore that was principally waterproof with Sardine/Sild oil that leaked from the used tins he kept in the pockets...
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Truly amazing and rather wonderful. The really amazing thing is that it must have felt as genuinely epic to them as some storm battered benighting on the north face of the Eiger. They had the kind of adventure few of us will ever experience.
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Now that is the greatest story ever told, never mind Lord Jesus Christ!
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I read the the original Mountain Rescue report when it was first noted on UKC, iirc the couple had other teams climbing past them during their benightment but were too embarrassed to ask for help. Makes it all the more deliciously British - you can imagine the passive aggressive recriminations through the night. Like a mountain version of those childhood car journeys filled full of accusatory remarks about road atlas reading skills and unwillingness to ask strangers for directions.
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Great story, part of n.Wales folklore!
Talk of puntering on the slabs reminded me of a tale of misadventure involving a mate. Now married for 20-odd years with two teenage kids... it could all have been so different..
He'd not long met his future wife when he thought it'd be nice to take her climbing to show her a bit of his world. Admittedly he didn't have much experience of climbing, nor much equipment - his 'rack' consisting of three wires and a couple of slings. But what could go wrong..
They did a route up the slabs without incident, then he decided to do Lazurus (S) on the continuation wall above. He led up and stopped on a small ledge to 'belay' - due to his lack of equipment he didn't actually have any gear with which to build a belay, his 3 wires all placed in the pitch.. the last one about 20 feet below. Adopting a braced stance he called down to his girlfriend to start climbing..
Up she climbs, removing the first wire placement - two remaining - and then starts having difficulty on a tricky move. My mate udges a bit further into the back of his ledge.. She falls off the move.. the force rips my mate off the ledge... they both end up going a fair distance and the rope flicks out the top wire placement.. the last remaining wire holds.. and now they're both left dangling counterbalanced like a pair of frightened conkers hundreds of feet above the base of the slabs from a single wire.
You'd think he'd count his blessings, lower off to the base of the route and totter off to the pub for therapy. No. The craziest part is he described climbing back to his little gearless ledge (replacing the ripped wire placement as he passed) and coaching his gf through the tricky bit, this time with more success. Nutter-punter. He became a teacher and a responsible mountaineering instructor. She didn't take to climbing.
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:o
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"Character building" stuff I'm sure. Thankfully the nearest thing I get to an epic nowadays is leaving my chalkbag in the car...
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I still maintain that surviving the first 6 months of my climbing career were the most impressive. Looking back I didn't have a clue and was almost taunting death.
Love the Idwal story. Reminds me of mate getting benighted on Square face, which is 3 pitches. Would have been funny if they weren't caught in a storm and were nearly hypothermic.
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Sometimes truth can match legend and amazing epics can happen on the easiest routes through bad luck.
Moff and I were out scrambling in Langdale with friends and had just got down Jack's Rake when we heard screams and saw a climber falling like a rag doll down the lower cliff over to the left. We shot off expecting something very grim and piled up the starting chimney pich of Crescent Climb, Mod, to find a very injured but thankfully alive woman clinging from her fingers off the last patch of turf above a clean steep face; out on the rock just right from the chimney. A couple of nail biting minutes (that felt like forever) followed as the rock was shocking and belays were shite for my scrambling rack and there were no other options given my short scrambling rope and the woman was begging in terror for help, but eventually (although we couldnt move her, being in too much pain) we had things secured enough so she probably wouldn't kill herself or us if she fell.
It transpired she had taken a beginner on the climb who had been severely spooked by the rock quality and exposure and she decided to back off. She was lowering him when the rock on the belay unexpectedly failed. He fell and soon landed on a ledge, she was catapulted out and over him and was probably slowed just enough by his body weight on the ledge, 30m or so above, to grab said turf.
This was the start of a long afternoon and evening. First problem was the dropped man was in shock and kept looking down to see what was going on. He didnt seem to understand about or couldn't find a belay but finally got the message to move to the very back of his ledge and brace just in case. Climbers appeared from above and secured him and dropped ropes to improve our belay and that of the woman. Mountain rescue turned up and a rescue helicopter. The helicopter tried to pendulum in a rescuer on a rope but the blades were just that bit too close to the rock so they gave up after some fabulously scary looking attempts. 6 more hours of careful ropework on shite rock finally got her down and off to hospital.. fractured pevis and a few other breaks.
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Since we're doing epics, this one caught my eye and it really is a must read. It caught my eye when I did a route on Grey Crag in Buttermere and thought it was oddly named and the FA was done quite late for such a historic crag (it's only VS). On Googling "Return With A Vengeance", I found this article in the FRCC journal which describes the original destruction by rock fall of Slabs Ordinary on Grey Crag, the survival of the climbers involved (by an absolutely phenomenal series of events), and then the revisiting of the crag later to reclimb a route where Slabs Ordinary had been.
The fun starts on page 79. READ IT!
http://www.frcc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Vol27-1.pdf
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Crikey! Reminds me of another story, the details of which I'm to find somewhere.
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I think what I like most is that he doesn't try and hide the fact that the autopilot decisions that his brain is making for him have got absolutely nothing to do with anybody else's survival. Their survival is purely a means to his own self preservation.
We all know that this is the ruthless reality of how the human brain works, but writing in a journal 28 years later he could have easily made himself out to be a selfless hero.
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I think what I like most is that he doesn't try and hide the fact that the autopilot decisions that his brain is making for him have got absolutely nothing to do with anybody else's survival. Their survival is purely a means to his own self preservation.
We all know that this is the ruthless reality of how the human brain works, but writing in a journal 28 years later he could have easily made himself out to be a selfless hero.
Thankfully (and kind of amazingly) I've never actually been in or anywhere near a really bad accident. That insight into the psychological processes that unfold as its happening are fascinating. I'm very happy to experience them secondhand though.
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Great story!
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Nowhere near on the same scale but I nearly got into a tricky situation on a single pitch route.
January 2008, and my girlfriend of the time and I are spending a few months off having just moved to Sheffield from London. Due to a relatively recent ankle problem she can't boulder / risk landing on it, so we spent the time trying to work through The Peak's routes. In the middle of winter.
We went to Rivelin on a day that wasn't that cold, and I decided to lead Croton Oil, having seconded it years before. It was as great as I remember, and that situation of being perched on the needle similarly so.
Only thing was a) the breeze picked up and was whipping a chilly northerly right down the valley and into me, stuck belaying at the top b) it was a day my thermals happened to be in the wash and we were just "popping out" so hadn't thought this a problem and c) my girlfriend was still very much getting to grips with gritstone (having been primarily a wall climber in London).
she struggled and struggled with that weird offwidth thrutch at the very start and eventually overcame it, but not before I'd started to feel increasingly woozy. She got to the penultimate piece of gear just as I realised there was a good chance of me passing out, so I told her this (what a way to inspire confidence!) and rapidly lowered her off.
I must have tried and failed to rig the abseil off the needle about 5 times, as I kept getting confused midway through but fortunately was aware enough that I needed to get it right before lowering. I got to the ground, put all the clothes I could find back on and even after quickly packing up and stumbling back down the hill I still didn't get warm again until well after we were back home.
Was really shocking how quickly it came on, and how close I was to potentially being passed out through hypothermia on top of Rivelin needle!
To top it all off, my girlfriend owned at the time one piece of gear and one sling of her own as she'd just started building up her own rack. That of course was the piece we'd had to abandon in the route so we ended up going back the next day (obviously well layered up this time) to re-lead it so we could retrieve the gear and so she could tick it off.
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1990ish.
A group of us in the Verdon, having walked into the bottom in the early morning of a hot August day; gradually reassembling in the campsite as dusk draws in. Most have hitched back from the rim, since we only had one minibus between us, so it's a dribs and drabs affair...
The sun dips below the rim.
Ian (SystemaIan on here) and Dunc still haven't shown up, but that's not unusual, so we wander into La Palude looking for Pizza and beer.
Hey, they'll know where to find us, no worries.
There's no moon that night, it's very, very dark.
Pizza has come and gone.
Fuck.
We start to get worried and hasten back to the campsite.
Nope. Tents in darkness, empty sleeping bags.
So we pile in the van and head out, arguing about which route they said they'd be doing and who should have dealt with this much earlier and frankly pretty scared what we might find (or worse, not find).
It is bloody easy to walk off the rim of the Verdon, when stumbling around on a pitch black night with nowt but a crappy headtorch; hunting those little painted route names. Step over the wrong bush or boulder and you win 11 seconds of freefall and an abrupt deep tissue massage.
Exclamations of "Fucksssakkeee!" and wildly veering torch beams grace the night.
Eventually we track down the right top out and there is a chorus of shushing as we try to peer into the abyss .
Finally, a weak but plaintive cry can be heard some distance below and, rather inconveniently, far into the overhanging cliff...
It took two 50m ropes tied together, spread out either side of the route and agonising minutes of swinging to get a rope to Ian.
Dressed only in vest and shorts, without any kind of torch; the had found themselves starting the final pitch as the sun clipped the opposite rim of the canyon. As the shadow sped up from below, Ian , exhausted from the several hard pitches below, lost the race.
Plunged into frigid darkness, unable to see route or bolts, he badly misjudged how much climbing remained and pushed on unprotected; hoping for a nice safe belay at the top.
Eventually the cold and fear stopped him. Unable to climb up or down, too high above the last clipped anchor to risk the lob; he clung on while we chomped Pizza and laughed at crap jokes.
By the time we got the rope to him, he was frozen stiff. He managed to step though the loop of rope and we pulled it up snug against the ropes tied to his harness. Half rescue rope, half running belay.
Kudos to him though, we could only part haul him, he climbed through.
You'd be hard pressed to imagine a more forlorn pair than the disheveled, shivering, naked apes we pulled up that night.
Top tip.
Beer and cheap wine make excellent Post Traumatic stress relievers.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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I'm pretty sure I also remember a tale from one of my old timer mates of a young Ben Bransby falling off the top of Chee Dale cornice after some miscommunication with his belayer, landing flat on his back on my mate's sandwich box completely destroying it, and walking away unscathed.
Can anyone confirm whether this is true?
Seems like a Ben mix up to me:
True story, Ben Tetler was dropped by his belayer from the top of Chee Tor. He clipped the belay and shouted 'safe' at which point he was taken off. He lent back and went further than expected. Landed flat on his back in the relatively soft ground down that left hand side of Chee Tor from at least 15 metres. Walked out, bit winded.
I remember when Bransby once took a big whipper off chee tor pulling a hold off, only damage being rope burn to belayers hand. Not really comparable as an anecdote.
Unless Bransby did also fall the height of the Cornice? He'll be along in a minute to confirm...?
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This thread has become amazing. That "Return with a Vengeance" piece has to be one of the best climbing epic stories ever "The blood and flesh stain on the rope was later measured and found to be twelve feet long" :jaw:
I was told a story about a different incident of calling mountain rescue after topping out on the Idwal Slabs by the protagonist, who seemed totally unembarrassed by it. Another member of the party was mortified to learn that he'd broken their pact of secrecy though. :lol:
There's another quality thread of epics (although some aren't the lightest reading) for those who haven't seen it here (http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,12077.0.html). Fatdoc's "white peaches" Verdon story in particular is incredible.
I still maintain that surviving the first 6 months of my climbing career were the most impressive. Looking back I didn't have a clue and was almost taunting death.
:yes: Sounds familiar. I'm not sure where I heard the phrase "If get through your first year of trad combing you'll probably be alright for the following ones" but it's absolutely true. I feel obliged to type up a story now. Bear with me...
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I know I chipped in with Return With A Vengeance but I can't help but think that the factual epic stories, as good as they are, belong in the Carking It thread. This is kind of supposed to be about folklore that you've heard, which may of course include epics.
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I've just remembered the one about Ordinary Route on the Idwal Slabs! You know the one!
The couple who got benighted trying to climb Ordinary Route, not once, but twice! They apparently spent two nights out and had to resort to drinking from puddles :lol:
I think everyone knows that one, but is it actually true? Surely it featured in the news somewhere?!
I found https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=29936 , in which someone quotes:
'From Ogwen Valley MRT:
http://www.ogwen-rescue.org.uk/ovmro/reports/2000/i_narrative.html
9th October 2000: 21.23 - 00.55 hrs. Idwal Slabs. Female, 30 yrs. Exhaustion, dehydration and swollen feet.
The woman set off up the Slabs on the Sunday morning with her partner. The conditions were wet and they were very slow climbing. They did not reach the top of the route until dusk and then could not find the walk off. They stayed on the ledge for the night without waterproofs, food or water; these had been left in the rucsac at the bottom of the climb. On Monday morning, they still could not find the walk off and decided to climb down by Ordinary route. By dusk, they were still 200 feet from the bottom and the female could go no further due to hunger and exhaustion. Her partner climbed down and raised the alarm. She was retrieved and walked off. They had not called to any party in the Cwm during the day. They had taken 39 hours to do Hope - possibly a record.
15 Team members."
That link now seems to be broken, but http://www.ogwen-rescue.org.uk/incident-maps/?id=1062 seems to confirm the basic "cragfast on Idwal Slabs for two nights" picture.
The link is somewhat functional on the wayback machine (https://web.archive.org/web/20030530185047/http://www.ogwen-rescue.org.uk/ovmro/reports/2000/i_narrative.html)
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Aside from the tragedy those write-ups are pretty funny. "several calls from numerous mobile phones... they had one head torch among them" etc.
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The link is somewhat functional on the wayback machine (https://web.archive.org/web/20030530185047/http://www.ogwen-rescue.org.uk/ovmro/reports/2000/i_narrative.html)
Thanks for finding that!
Aside from the tragedy those write-ups are pretty funny. "several calls from numerous mobile phones... they had one head torch among them" etc.
"They got drunk and had a fight. This was reported by phone as having had a fit."
I rather like reading MRT incident reports. I figure there's educational value (in terms of learning "most common ways people fuck up and/or get hurt), and there's also sometimes a level of deadpan, very quiet snark which I enjoy.
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Ordinary route is evidently a committing proposition: "September 16th Idwal Slabs. 8 males and females. Cragfast.
The party had been climbing Ordinary Route when darkness overtook them and they became cragfast."
Cragfast is an excellent word.
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Is the story behind 'chip shop brawl' any more entertaining than the obvious?
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Cragfast is an excellent word.
Tattooed on your knuckles.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4zie7p
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I was trying to recall last night the one about Peter Croft and his work ethic of getting the most out of a climbing day. It's something like, he topped out a hard route with his friend and his friend decided to go off to the bar or Camp 4 or wherever and bathe in the glory of it all - Pete couldn't understand this as there was plenty of daylight left, so went off to solo The Rostrum or something.
What were the actual routes/details of this story?
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They'd broken the nose record.
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So off to The Rostrum or was it something else?
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Lmgtfy
https://www.climbing.com/news/in-depth-the-evolution-of-the-nose-speed-record/
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Not a rumour as such. I have it from someone who saw it with their own eyeballs.
A young lady at Almscliff had just done a move on Demon Wall Roof and she leapt for joy. Except, she was still underneath Demon Wall Roof. She cracked her head and passed out for a few moments before coming to.
:clap2: