How long until Eldo is closed?

Cosmiccragsman AKA Dwain wrote: But the climbers are.
Especially for putting the rescuers in danger rescuing their selfish self centered a$$es ,
and taking away essential personnel from where they are needed more at this time.

There's many a monster movie where the people with the torches and pitchforks go after the so-called monster in a crazed mob and kill them. The moral of these movies is that humanity itself is the real monster. 

The climbers aren't monsters for being dumb dumbs. We are not going to be turned into monsters by denying them help in a dumb dumb situation.  Hopefully  learning can happen.

Joseph Leiper wrote:  Not sure what the rescue policy is, but IMO the errant party should pay a significant fee, or listen to REO Speedwagon backwards on headphones for nearly an hour. Hats off to the rescue team!

RMR is pretty clear on their policy: 

RMRG does not charge persons we assist for search and rescue services. RMRG's position is based on direct experience that fears of bills for rescue services delay and complicate rescue operations.

Carlos Danger wrote: Why wouldn’t they just leave them up there for the night and tell them to figure it out in the morning?

They’d freeze their asses off but no one is going to die in 40 degree weather. 

Exactly.. it's called an open bivy.. 

Rob Kepley wrote:

Exactly.. it's called an open bivy.. 

I’m sure they at least had a hoody or something more than a T-shirt. They could RPS to see who gets the privilege of being little spoon.

I thought SAR in a time like this would say: “you’re both uninjured, you’ll be safe if you stay where you are. Call us again in the morning if you still need rescuing.”

When I was 18 a friend and I climbed the yellow spur. We topped out around sunset and had to descend in the dark without headlamps. Dumb decision not to bring at least one. We had a cell phone and were able to use the camera light. It took us a long time but we managed to get down. 

Alternatively, rap the entire route and leave the rack behind. No need to endanger other people in this scenario.

Carlos Danger wrote: Why wouldn’t they just leave them up there for the night and tell them to figure it out in the morning?

They’d freeze their asses off but no one is going to die in 40 degree weather. 

If they're wet enough then they just might die in 40 degree weather. If they're reasonably dry then a night out just might teach them to plan ahead a little better next time, and figuring it out in the morning is frequently part of the multi-pitch game.

A couple of land management agencies have (or had) a policy of citing people for "creating a hazardous situation" and fining the parties involved an amount equal to the cost of the rescue if they had been exceptionally stupid. Yosemite National Park started doing this in the '90s, and I think either the state of New Hampshire or USFS reserve this option for people who get into trouble in the White Mountains through extreme negligence or stupidity. Maybe it's time to start doing this in Colorado?

Long Ranger wrote:

...Hopefully  learning can happen.

i'm thinking a lot more learning would have happened in the old big spoon little spoon classroom.

slim wrote:

i'm thinking a lot more learning would have happened in the old big spoon little spoon classroom.

It's Eldo not Annapurna. Calling in a rescue before things gets out of control is the correct move. I was camping that night, in a tent, with a 20 degree quilt, and was happy it wasn't colder. 

No one died, including the rescuers. Successful mission. If the climbers start posting on social media that they survived some epic and are heroes because of it, maybe then we can collectively roll our eyes at them. Until then, let's give people a break. Could I see myself in their position?

Yeah. 

There's bigger things to deal with.

Patrick O wrote: Alternatively, rap the entire route and leave the rack behind. No need to endanger other people in this scenario.

I'm glad they didn't try it. If they were green enough not to have researched the walk-off or known where to find one of several established rap descents, it's far from a safe bet they could have safely rapped 4 pitches of improvised anchors over the tricky terrain that is Redgarden Wall, or had the skills to self-rescue if they got into trouble. 

Remember when climbing was fringe, and climbers took more self responsibility?
That has changed with popularity.

Yes, I know that sometimes rescues need to be done for one reason or another.  This one was very low on that list.  

Be like Warren.  ;)

https://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/14/archives/2-yosemite-climbers-on-the-vertical-face-of-el-capitan-refuse.html

Carlos Danger wrote: Why wouldn’t they just leave them up there for the night and tell them to figure it out in the morning?

They’d freeze their asses off but no one is going to die in 40 degree weather. 

People die of hypothermia in 40 degree weather all the time.

If you don't believe me, try it for yourself.

A little reminder that rescues are nothing new in Eldo: In 1961 Pat Ament and Larry Dalke were benighted on the Yellow Spur and required a rescue. They both went on to become top climbers of their generation.

All climbers make bad decisions at one point or another. Several poor decisions were involved in this incident, but hopefully the climbers learned something and will make better decisions in the future.

Rocky Mountain Rescue Group strongly encourage climbers to initiate a rescue if they cannot resolve an incident quickly and safely on their own. Good call on these climbers to do so rather than continuing down the East Slabs, or worse yet, "rappelling the route" (not at all straightforward, by the way).

Steve Levin wrote: A little reminder that rescues are nothing new in Eldo: In 1961 Pat Ament and Larry Dalke were benighted on the Yellow Spur and required a rescue. They both went on to become top climbers of their generation.

All climbers make bad decisions at one point or another. Several poor decisions were involved in this incident, but hopefully the climbers learned something and will make better decisions in the future.

Rocky Mountain Rescue Group strongly encourage climbers to initiate a rescue if they cannot resolve an incident quickly and safely on their own. Good call on these climbers to do so rather than continuing down the East Slabs, or worse yet, "rappelling the route" (not at all straightforward, by the way).

Steve - I've yet to run into you in eldo or around town so this seems as good an opportunity as any: thank you for all the work you've done over the years (guidebook & otherwise) as a steward for eldo & front range climbing. Rock on! 

Matt Simon wrote:

Steve - I've yet to run into you in eldo or around town so this seems as good an opportunity as any: thank you for all the work you've done over the years (guidebook & otherwise) as a steward for eldo & front range climbing. Rock on! 

I ‘ran into Steve’ in eldo, on the west side of the Bastille, a couple years after his guidebook first came out.  One of the funniest moments I’ve had in eldo.  

My partner, “Joe” (false name to protect the innocent) was getting into the crux on p1 of Blind Faith.  It was our first time on it.  It was early morning and the park was still very quiet, the route still in the shade.  Joe walked through the hand crack with only a single #2 placed ~10’ from the crux bulge.  Sure enough, Steve is walking down the trail back toward the road, sees Joe and stops to watch him pull the crux.  

Joe did not disappoint.  He struggled with the beta for a while, almost blowing it more than once, until he finally got the crimp and seemed to pull through.  Nope!  He peeled off the bulge at the last second and let out a huge scream/yelp/howl as he took a big boy whip on the #2 that was way, way down in the hand crack.   

Steve just put his head down and continued to the road.  Oh to whip on an eldo classic in front of the guidebook author....so much shame.  Joe went back up to finish the pitch and lead the next pitch because he’s an absolute unit, but I still laugh about it every time we pass Blind Faith.  

Kyle P wrote:

I ‘ran into Steve’ in eldo, on the west side of the Bastille, a couple years after his guidebook first came out.  One of the funniest moments I’ve had in eldo.  

My partner, “Joe” (false name to protect the innocent) was getting into the crux on p1 of Blind Faith.  It was our first time on it.  It was early morning and the park was still very quiet, the route still in the shade.  Joe walked through the hand crack with only a single #2 placed ~10’ from the crux bulge.  Sure enough, Steve is walking down the trail back toward the road, sees Joe and stops to watch him pull the crux.  

Joe did not disappoint.  He struggled with the beta for a while, almost blowing it more than once, until he finally got the crimp and seemed to pull through.  Nope!  He peeled off the bulge at the last second and let out a huge scream/yelp/howl as he took a big boy whip on the #2 that was way, way down in the hand crack.   

Steve just put his head down and continued to the road.  Oh to whip on an eldo classic in front of the guidebook author....so much shame.  Joe went back up to finish the pitch and lead the next pitch because he’s an absolute unit, but I still laugh about it every time we pass Blind Faith.  

Love it - thanks for sharing!

I just drove through the canyon to see for myself. I saw about 12 people climbing, about 10 fly fishermen and some hikers. Ranger waves as usual.

My partner and I found the Anthill guy's rope, which they had gotten stuck well above the east slabs. Based on where it was, they were super lost having come from Anthill. They managed to get their rope well stuck too.

I had also been down the east slabs a few days prior, so two days after the rescue. I know the slabs well, it was daylight, and still it was not completely trivial for me with all of the ice and snow (remember this is after two warmish days). I would be guessing, but based on all of that I think they found the slabs beyond them, went looking for the rappel and got lost and cliffed out. After making an odd rappell and getting the rope stuck they most likely felt out of options. They could no longer rappel and had already ruled out the slabs...

This isn't a comment on how dumb their choices were, but I think you get a picture here that they had slowly been running out of choices as they went. They couldn't burn their rack or rappel (no rope). In my estimation they really had no clue where they were trying to go based on where the rope got stuck. The East slabs were not in great shape even if you knew where to go. I think calling RMR was the right move for these guys.    

Cosmiccragsman AKA Dwain wrote: The rescuers should have just left them there.
It was their choice to climb and they THOUGHT they were SAFE.
And every one who IGNORES the orders are STUBBORN ASSHOLES and deserve what they get.

Careful, karma’s a bitch.

Cosmiccragsman AKA Dwain wrote: The rescuers should have just left them there.
It was their choice to climb and they THOUGHT they were SAFE.
And every one who IGNORES the orders are STUBBORN ASSHOLES and deserve what they get.

So the rescuers were being pulled away from tending to Corona-infected children, who did not receive life-saving care because their would-be saviors were called up to Anthill Direct to participate in a gumby rescue. Damn shame. Totes agree. Cosmiccragwhateverthefuck

They definitely made the right choice to call for a rescue. I don’t see it as using Covid-19 resources either, not like someone doing mountain rescue operation is going to be on the front lines at a hospital. However, if they were denied rescue for “using valuable resources during the pandemic” they could have likely gotten hypothermia or became desperate and try something stupid and get injured.  This outcome would definitely lead to them using valuable emergency medical and hospital resources.
Should they have been climbing in the first place? Maybe not, but they should have been smarter and stayed within their skill set if they were to climb.