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Someone's got their knee stuck on Ruper again

Original Post
Bill Duncan · · Glade Park, CO · Joined Mar 2005 · Points: 3,410

A rescue is in progress right now to save someone from the 2nd pitch of Ruper. I still can't quite understand how this can happen . . . again. I guess it's time for the butter (or a saw).

Evan1984 · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2007 · Points: 30

I've had to take a shoe off to get a foot out of the crack, but, wow, this is impressive.

I guess you can see how some people have been driven to chop off their own limbs.

Shawn Mitchell · · Broomfield · Joined Mar 2008 · Points: 250

If it's camoflauged and biodegradeable.

Dirty Gri Gri, or is it GiGi? · · Vegas · Joined May 2005 · Points: 4,115

People shouldn't be allowed on Ruper if they don't possess these knee-bar skills.







I wonder what the rescue will entail.





John Maguire · · Boulder, CO · Joined Nov 2008 · Points: 195

That was fantastic. Thanks you.

jcntrl · · Smoulder, CO · Joined Jun 2008 · Points: 0
John Maguire wrote:That was fantastic. Thanks you.
That was more than fantastic, that was a mole of fantastic!

Well, the pictures were. It must suck to be stuck like that... my sympathies to the victim.
Phil Lauffen · · Innsbruck, AT · Joined Jun 2008 · Points: 3,098

I was climbing rosy(got my rp today!) when it occurred. He looked pretty comfy. He just wanted a phone to call someone. We offered to rap down from the top and try to help lift him out but he ended up lowering his partner to the ramp to call for help(we didn't have phones). He also wanted a knife to cut his jeans off, which I stupidly left in my bag. The one time I don't bring it...

Phil Lauffen · · Innsbruck, AT · Joined Jun 2008 · Points: 3,098

and he was up there for upwards of 4.5 hours. that would suck.

Goodman Sachs · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2008 · Points: 315

Where can I find some pictures of the Route?

Phil Lauffen · · Innsbruck, AT · Joined Jun 2008 · Points: 3,098
Mark Roth · · Boulder · Joined Jan 2008 · Points: 14,062

Don't drag me into this!! But since you did.... here is a better shot of the crack:

Ruper "knee eating" Crack

Michael Verdone · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2008 · Points: 35

I'm the climber whose knee got stuck in the Ruper crack. My partner and I worked for about an hour to free my knee, but after that it became clear there was nothing left for us to do. Luckily, my life has been really confusing for the last few weeks so I was able to use the 5 hours alone on the wall to reflect about some other things. Just when I was reaching some really good conclusions about life the rescuers showed up. We cut my jeans off, lathered up my leg with dish soap and set up a pulley system to haul me out. Having my leg stretched between the crack and the pulley wasn't the best feeling, but it felt so good once it was finally out.

Huge thanks to RMR. You all are some great people and I'm sorry you had to cancel you're own climbing plans to come lather me up with soap.

Phil Lauffen · · Innsbruck, AT · Joined Jun 2008 · Points: 3,098

Glad to hear you got out ok! It was a relief to see you walking down the trail rather than coming down on a stretcher.

Michael Verdone · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2008 · Points: 35

Thanks. It was a relief to me, too. Thanks for offering to help. And, if it makes you feel better, even if you had a knife, I don't think I could have gotten out without some dish soap to lubricate things a bit.

Phil Lauffen · · Innsbruck, AT · Joined Jun 2008 · Points: 3,098

oh. well I had soap also in my pocket. I hate that grimy feeling you get after climbing those rocks all those other people have touched.

Kevin Craig · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2002 · Points: 325

Mike, I would have figured you were too darned skinny to get stuck in there! :^D Seriously though, glad you got out and all is well.

Don't feel too bad, more than one climber has gotten stuck in a similar crack on the Kain Route near the summit of Bugaboo Spire and had to have wardens ("rangers" in Canadian-speak) flown in by helicopter to rig a pulley system to extract them. So it could have been worse.

KevinCO · · Loveland, CO · Joined Mar 2006 · Points: 60

Definitely could have been worse. At Vedauwoo I've heard about a similar incident that involved a lot of blood, motor oil, and screaming.

Michael, glad you are OK and great attitude!

GiGi, you are a genius.

Allen Hill · · FIve Points, Colorado and Pine · Joined Jun 2004 · Points: 1,410

Imagine this!

That same year the British climbers Joe Brown, Mo Anthoine, Malcom Howells, and Martin Boysen took a similar spirit to the Karakoram Himalaya where they attempted the unclimbed granite face of Trango (never nameless) Tower. Their first attempt ended part way up at what is now known as the Fissure Boysen. They had only one large bong and Boysen had to run out eighty feet of unprotected offwidth, at almost 20,000 feet, before placing it to insure that he was protected for the rest of the pitch. On the next move his knee jammed and would not come loose, and he spent hours fighting to free it, cutting his pants off in the process. He prepared to die as the sun began to set, but when he finally relaxed, he fell out of the crack, and descended to his concerned team. After the emotional drain of nearly seeing Boysen die a cold death, and running low on food, they retreated. The following year they returned and completed the climb. Boysen took a second bong, and managed the offwidth without problem. At 5.10, A2 their route was not as technically difficult as Porter's A4 adventure on Asgard, but it was the hardest and most impressive technical route completed at high altitude, and it opened the door to big-wall climbing in the highest ranges on earth.

Nate Oakes · · Unknown Hometown · Joined May 2006 · Points: 235

Cool story Allen.

Buff Johnson · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2005 · Points: 1,145

Well Michael, look at it this way, you've made the cooler-talk koa radio news bites this morning!
(yes, the ky jokes were flying around when I heard about this over the weekend)

Not that I haven't had the same damn thing happen to me on these splatte off-widths. I decided after really hammering my knee on one, to add those neoprene knee pads from a sporting goods store and haven't had a problem since; or should I say, yet.

slim · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2004 · Points: 1,103

my wife was leading an OW flake at the creek, maybe 5 years aog, and got her knee welded in-situ. she was stuck for at least an hour, trying everything she could to get it out. the crack flared out abover her, so she couldn't really get a high hand-stack and try to do a pullup. everything she did just buried her knee deeper. i was about to tie her off, go to the car and get the jack, rope solo up the other side of the flake, and try to "open up the flake a bit". luckily, she gave one last tremendous effort and yanked it out.

getting your knee stuck is scary, and it really sucks when you finally get it out, and just shove it right back in for another hour. trust me on this one!

glad to hear you made it out ok!

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Colorado
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