What is the stupidest/unsafe thing you have seen at the crag?

M Jarmland wrote:

That's not so bad. Beats my dad who was drunk or passed out on the couch my whole childhood.

10 year olds weigh like 40 pounds..

Remember, these were American 10 yr olds...avg is 70 lbs 

At the top of the sea cliffs at Acadia, a summer camp climbing instructor (~22yo) asked a camper (~15yo) to lower him using an ATC in guide mode with sling release (already set up on their anchor). The camper pulled sling slightly and counselor eased over edge, saying “you can go faster than that.” Kid obliged and opened it up completely and the counselor plummeted. Rope was ZZZipping thru ATC and I yelled “let go” and lurched towards the kid to push him off the sling. He let go and we both quickly peered over cliff. The instructor was about ~8ft off the deck, looking up w Fear of god in eyes, and scraped and battered. I belayed him back up and they packed their stuff and left. 

Saw a "Guide" at Railey Beach belaying his client on lead about 25' up. Guide gets bored so he pulls about 15' of rope thru his Grigri and proceeds to reflake the rope. 

A young Millennial aged gym climber. Poor dudes had absolutely no idea WTF they were doing....

lightning storm on an exposed ridge in Montana. Bottleneck at rappel station. Young lady informs us to beware that she rappels very slowly. I kindly explained that everyones life and hers depended on her rappeling at decent rate of speed. I did add the lightning likes to travel down the rope and will blow the shoes right off her feet. She did ok :) 

WoodyWwrote:

A young Millennial aged gym climber. Poor dudes had absolutely no idea WTF they were doing....

I think I saw those guys too

Watched a guy on lead at exit 38 verbally abusing his wife/GF for the way she was belaying him, we so hoped she’d just drop that asshole 

Drederekwrote:

Watched a guy on lead at exit 38 verbally abusing his wife/GF for the way she was belaying him, we so hoped she’d just drop that asshole 

Wait did you mean a causal day at world wall (truly the worst thing about such a great place to climb)?

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

Monty was a cheeky bastard who had a habbit of falsly claiming credit for succeses and blameing defeats on others.  In reality he was a slow plodder who used up too many troops.  Russia certainly did a lot of heavy lifting yet good old uncle sam bankrolled her. 

What crag was this at?

Got to the top of a climb to find my partner,  sitting at the edge of the cliff , not tied in belaying me with a hip belay. There was an anchor about 5 feet away.

Princess Puppy Lovrwrote:

Wait did you mean a causal day at world wall (truly the worst thing about such a great place to climb)?

Amazonia, the worst at world wall was hearing the commotion when the dog bought the farm (exit 32)

First time at Indian Creek. Some guy is retrieving a stuck cam while standing on the pillar that starts 3am crack. Needing the get down he asks my friend who was getting lowered off the adjacent climb to swing over. As soon as he could get a hand on the rope he jumps off the pillar and then clips his PAS into the rope we were using midair. Gravity pulls them down and the belayer up.

It didn't turn out bad but still stands out in my mind as one of the sketchier things I've seen

I once saw 2 guys marking the middle of their rope with a sharpie. My partner lunged to try and knock the marker out of his hand, but it was too late. The ink had soaked into the sheath and we quietly packed up our things and left

curt86irocwrote:

I once saw 2 guys marking the middle of their rope with a sharpie. My partner lunged to try and knock the marker out of his hand, but it was too late. The ink had soaked into the sheath and we quietly packed up our things and left

Nightmares come from this sort of thing. I hope you are OK now.

dudes being toproped by a girl hes obviously trying to impress, who doesnt seem to have climbed before.

dude tops out, unclips the anchor and walks over to the next route to set that up.

While this dude is standing at the top out, with the rope going directly to his belayer, clipped to nothing - the girl turns around and walks over to check her phone.

Only thing that kept her from dragging him over the edge was the little bit of extra slack in the system.

Pnelsonwrote:

I'm curious as to what you mean by "barely hanging on by a thread?" Are you talking figuratively, or are we talking about a nut that's about to thread off a bolt, or the sling worn down to threads? 

I would say relatively figurative, but I was a bit far to tell if it was a girth hitch or an overhand that attatched the sling to the rap ring. Either way, thready indeed. 

Woah where’d the ww2 comments at the start go???

Porter Archibaldwrote:

Woah where’d the ww2 comments at the start go???

I think a couple of posts got marched off into Siberia.

At muir valley at the red I was belaying my partner and watched a guy take a whip from the chains of the route next to me. I remember thinking, wow he's falling a lot farther than expected, and then he hit the ground about three feet away from me. Got up and they hiked out. 

25+ years ago I was at top of the cliff and some guy ask me to double-check his top rope set up.  It all looked good but he hadn't hung the rope yet.  As I was gathering up my gear I glanced back over and screamed STOP!  He was about to rappel but hadn't put the rope through his shiny new lockers(top rope set up).  He has built a solid anchor(trees and slings), and properly set up his rappel device but never clipped the rope into the anchor!