Most dangerous newbie situation you've seen

Mountain Project is the most dangerous newbie scene...

Climber gets near the top of a sport route and yells "anchors" because he sees the anchor up ahead.  Belayer takes him off and walks away.  Climber looks down, doesn't say a word, finishes the climb and raps off.  I mean, it was a stupid thing to yell down in the first place...

edit: not a newbie situation, just a comical one

Don't recall if I mentioned this one in the past 16 pages. If so, apologies for the repetition.

Gunks, High Exposure, party of 3. One rope. They were planning on lowering/tossing an end to the next climber. We left before they got on the final pitch.

Marc801 C wrote:

Don't recall if I mentioned this one in the past 16 pages. If so, apologies for the repetition.

Gunks, High Exposure, party of 3. One rope. They were planning on lowering/tossing an end to the next climber. We left before they got on the final pitch. 

Marc there was a story posted here about folks doing this on one of the flatirons last year, I believe. 

There was a story a few years ago about a party of three where the middle climber blew the crux on the last pitch of High Exposure. The third held the trailing  rope ,"on Belay" & the the poor girl was passed a knife  !  And  then she, , , , ,  Cut the rope she was following on! 

There was a thread on here at the time,  Anyone remember it?

I once mistook a smudge on my rope for the middle marker and then rapped off the TR anchor I had just built. I was solo and didn't have  a partner to confirm both ends were on the ground. Luckily, I happened to look in the direction of the end that was just about 6 feet below me, saw the mistake, and self-belayed my ass back up. The fall would have been about 25' and onto a boulder. And I wasn't a newbie. It was a scary reminder that anyone can fuck up and you must always double-check.

Robert Michael wrote:

I once mistook a smudge on my rope for the middle marker and then rapped off the TR anchor I had just built. 

Somewhat similar scenario, but tragedy was the result for Paul Duval at the Needles, 2008.  One has to be SO careful with raps.

Crimp Shrimp wrote:

One time, when I was the newbie, I used an alpine harness to TR up a pitch my friend set up .  It was my first or second time rope climbing.  Anyway, on this harness there is not a belay loop and you tie your not through the bottom and top loop of the legs and waste to attach everything.  I climbed the whole pitch with only the bottom loop tied and I "on sited it" luckily.  Because if I fell I imagine I would have flipped upside down and slipped out of the leg loops.  I noticed the mistake after I got to the top and my friend instructed me to lay back on the harness and he would lower me.  As I did this the snap on leg loops were popping undone.  He assured me it was a equilibrium thing and if I layed back the forces would equal out and the buckles would stop popping open. aha. Anyway, I noticed I wasnt really tied in at all and I had to climb above the anchor in search of a ledge because I also did not have any quick draws .  I climbed high very scared, found a ledge luckily, tied in properly , and was brought down.  Moral of this story for me, If you are taking someone who does not know what they are doing ( me as the newbie at the time trusted my friends safety checks and instruction) then you better know what your doing and make sure everything is tied up right.  

The climbers who are teaching this newbie, have reminded me to always climb with at least a few things on your harness, even on top rope. You might need it, and outside isn't the gym.

Glad you got out okay! 

Best, Helen

last weekend my partner was at the top of a cliff and yelled down to me, "Almost off belay." naturally i took him off, not hearing the first word.

we both had a good laugh at the top. it was a safe cliff top, so no real peril.

JSH wrote:

I found what I think was that thread by searching "screaming high e site:gunks.com" but I think the forum is long dead there, and the wayback machine doesn't have it.  But you have the gist right, if I remember.

Edit add:  found it!  http://www.rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=1900322;page=1;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;

tHNX FOR THAT!

HEY THERE 't\TROOPER, JHS,' iVE BEEN READING THAT YOU AND I HAVE A LOT OF RECUPERATION IN COMMON. iM A LUCKY RECIPIENT OF A C3-5 FUSION (hIGH nECK, DONT BREAK YOUR NECK) AS WELL AS THE OLE' EXPLODED HEELS & ANKLES DANCE. (AS WELL AS MISSING THAT CURMUDGEON KIETH UHL)oops caps lock(again)

. EDIT; YOGA, YOGA AND MORE YOGA,. . . . FOR EVER HUH, hAPPY hOLIDAYS

Marc801 C wrote:

Don't recall if I mentioned this one in the past 16 pages. If so, apologies for the repetition.

Gunks, High Exposure, party of 3. One rope. They were planning on lowering/tossing an end to the next climber. We left before they got on the final pitch.

Had a very similar situation on Spearhead in Glacier Gorge. Got to the base at 6am to find a group of 4, with 2 ropes and 1 rack/leader. Decided to pass, taking an alternate route to the top of the 1st pitch. Was very glad we did, considering we were back at camp, under our rock bivy when it hailed at 2pm. They hiked down in the dark.

JSH wrote:

I found what I think was that thread by searching "screaming high e site:gunks.com" but I think the forum is long dead there, and the wayback machine doesn't have it.  But you have the gist right, if I remember.

Edit add:  found it!  http://www.rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=1900322;page=1;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;

Holy shit, that's insane!

Chris Blatchley wrote:

last weekend my partner was at the top of a cliff and yelled down to me, "Almost off belay." naturally i took him off, not hearing the first word.

we both had a good laugh at the top. it was a safe cliff top, so no real peril.

I was belaying my partner on the 10a off-width pitch on the Rostrum this past fall. He had clipped the rope to the number 5 cam he was bumping. He also clipped a sling from the cam directly to his harness. Once he got to the point where he would leave the 5 he unclipped the sling and yelled down "Okay, I'm off the cam!", but all I heard was "Off".  For a second I started to take him off belay, but I decided to just check with him to make sure...happy I did.

Spencer Perry wrote:

I was belaying my partner on the 10a off-width pitch on the Rostrum this past fall. He had clipped the rope to the number 5 cam he was bumping. He also clipped a sling from the cam directly to his harness. Once he got to the point where he would leave the 5 he unclipped the sling and yelled down "Okay, I'm off the cam!", but all I heard was "Off".  For a second I started to take him off belay, but I decided to just check with him to make sure...happy I did.

Spencer, Bumping  'Biguns' up the wide on the Rostrum, is not No0b, Is your dad Donald? if so you have a storied past, but those are also not No0Bish . . .

JSH wrote:

I found what I think was that thread by searching "screaming high e site:gunks.com" but I think the forum is long dead there, and the wayback machine doesn't have it.  But you have the gist right, if I remember.

Edit add:  found it!  http://www.rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=1900322;page=1;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;

It's really too bad that this was in 2008. Had it happened in the past three years, it seems like at least one of the people involved would have been wearing a GoPro.

FrankPS wrote:

Yeah, especially the ones who show disdain by saying "you people."

I prefer to show disdain by saying "Some peoples kids"

Michael Schneider wrote:

Spencer, Bumping  'Biguns' up the wide on the Rostrum, is not No0b, Is your dad Donald? if so you have a storied past, but those are also not No0Bish . . .

I wasn't saying bumping the cam was a noob thing to do. Showing up at the bottom of the route with 3 #5s on the other hand...

I was just replying to the other guy's comment about communication mishaps. Had I taken him off belay, I would have been the n00b.

JSH wrote:

I found what I think was that thread by searching "screaming high e site:gunks.com" but I think the forum is long dead there, and the wayback machine doesn't have it.  But you have the gist right, if I remember.

Edit add:  found it!  http://www.rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=1900322;page=1;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;

This sounds just like the rescue scene outside the rail tunnel in 'The Eiger Sanction' ...

I have from time to time wondered about that party of three on High E. Did they continue climbing after this whole incident or did they give up on the sport? The leader? The screaming woman? The second guy, caught in between?

And what of Tim, the rescuer? Does he still climb? Does he have regrets?

Next year will bring the tenth anniversary of the screaming girl/cut rope affair. Maybe we should stage a reenactment?

wait ? '06? NoWay, ouch, that  is gonna leave a mark!

JSH wrote:

Not that much really, just the very lucky  life before "V" grades, or pads  were a thing of a dedicated cordless Gunks YoYo. - The heels and ankle, was due to the change in temperature on a very hot August day,as the sun went away from the cliff the cool change brought   a 'sheen' of condensation,  to the rock, * (Very Hard Quartzite). These are  the same conditions that (inmho), brought disaster to Andrew Barns on his fatal solo of CCK.

 I came off 'Junior' at the Uberfall, next to Laurel. I was at the top, where you can go left into the easy corner/ 'chimney', or right to  finish on Laurel,  past the difficulties, so 15 feet?  I chose that day to go RIGHT,- Way Wrong!- , my feet cut and I down campuse'd three desperate long reaches, grabs of those crimps before landing, standing up, on the carriage road(stood  for about 10 seconds) there were witnesses and by luck one old goat from the early days,was just passing thru, on his way home. Mike Mowbray, who scooped me up and carried me over his shoulder like a sack, the sad sack I was... The Neck is a much more convoluted story. A combination of falls and one final slip & flip out of the back of a cargo van following a snow storm;  that led to an extremely lucky diagnosis that came after working/ climbing and traveling with a broken neck for  months.

DONT BREAK YOUR  HEELZ -OR- NECKZ  !,* edit B^7  FOLKZ !