Yer gonna die myths

Yoda Jedi Knightwrote:

Now wait a minute. I slept with my grigri once last year and it didn’t eat my brain. Myth! Was into some kinky stuff tho..

Oh I think you read that wrong. John is going to eat your brain. Better watch your back. 

David Kwrote:

I'm personally taking this as being about commonly overstated or misunderstood dangers; practices that maybe aren't ideal, but carry less risk or less consequence than climbing media and culture might lead you to believe.

This was my goal, mostly just a fun thread about stuff we all worried about till we got more experience. 

I've done at lot of the things I have posted in this thread at the start of my climbing :)

I'm starting my own new myth! - Belay goggles are dangerous. 

Both times that I have been pummeled by rockfall have been due to the damn belay goggles, they were too disorienting to know which way to avoid the asteroid field heading toward my person, so I had to just randomly duck and cover. The one time I wasn't wearing goggles I had the spatial awareness to just avoid the falling rock. 

I still use them tho...

Are you considered a zombie if your heart stops beating and then starts again? How long does it have to stop before you are considered dead? 30secs? 1min?

Alan Rubinwrote:

No, it isn’t a myth as I’m sure that it has happened, but how often? I’ve seen folks misusing a Grigri ( multiple times, multiple ways) but have never seen a belayer hit on the head and letting go of the rope. As said earlier in this thread, we are always making judgment calls—balancing possible risks against their likelihood of occurring, that is a basic aspect of our chosen obsession. If we wanted to be perfectly safe all the time, we wouldn’t climb, but even then…..

Alan,

I would have likely died as a teenager if my partner was not using a grigri. We were into big walls and aid climbing back then. We had a grigri to help with belaying long aid pitches.  I was about 80' above my belayer when a block, the size of a small fridge, that I was hooking on came loose. I fell with the block for 5-10'. My last piece was to the side so as the rope came tight I swung away from the block in the air. I watched the block fall directly towards my belayer. The block accelerated and exploded on a ledge just a few feet above my belayer, the ledge almost certainly saving his life. From my view the block landed and exploded into a huge cloud of dust directly on my belayer. As the dust settled, I saw my belayer unconscious in the rubble, yet the rope was still tight because he had a grigri. I yelled repeatedly but got no response or even movement, so I began to build an anchor to rap to aid my partner. As I was finishing up the anchor my partner regained consciousness and was able to lower me. We both walked away scared and wide-eyed. 

Many other factors are involved in this accident: rockfall, choice of belay location etc. but the chances of me surviving are slim without an auto-locking belay device. So just wanted to say that, although it may be unlikely, it does happen. I'm an old fart now and get to tell my kids this story. Cheers to that!

I acknowledged that it has occurred, the issue is risk assessment and making decisions that work for you and your partner in the given circumstances, always recognizing that there is a possibility that the unlikely could happen.

Though for multiple reasons I am not a big fan of grigris, especially for belaying a leader, I actually think that they make a lot of sense for big wall aid climbing. That just happens to be an aspect of climbing that I have rarely engaged in.

Andy Jacobsenwrote:

Alan,

I would have likely died as a teenager if my partner was not using a grigri. We were into big walls and aid climbing back then. We had a grigri to help with belaying long aid pitches.  I was about 80' above my belayer when a block, the size of a small fridge, that I was hooking on came loose. I fell with the block for 5-10'. My last piece was to the side so as the rope came tight I swung away from the block in the air. I watched the block fall directly towards my belayer. The block accelerated and exploded on a ledge just a few feet above my belayer, the ledge almost certainly saving his life. From my view the block landed and exploded into a huge cloud of dust directly on my belayer. As the dust settled, I saw my belayer unconscious in the rubble, yet the rope was still tight because he had a grigri. I yelled repeatedly but got no response or even movement, so I began to build an anchor to rap to aid my partner. As I was finishing up the anchor my partner regained consciousness and was able to lower me. We both walked away scared and wide-eyed. 

Many other factors are involved in this accident: rockfall, choice of belay location etc. but the chances of me surviving are slim without an auto-locking belay device. So just wanted to say that, although it may be unlikely, it does happen. I'm an old fart now and get to tell my kids this story. Cheers to that!

That's a wild story! Thanks for sharing!

Jeez I thought I was joking around but goddamn some of you take this shit WAY TOO SERIOUSLY.  This is an internet forum, not a murder trial. 

Jeff Jwrote:

Jeez I thought I was joking around but goddamn some of you take this shit WAY TOO SERIOUSLY.  This is an internet forum, not a murder trial. 

What???

Setting a Stainless Steel bolt with a Plain Carbon Steel hammer. Apparently the a small bit of the carbon steel can be transferred to the head of the stainless bolt, which will result in a small flake of rust developing which in turn will cause the stainless bolt to fail. 

Salamanizer Skiwrote:

Setting a Stainless Steel bolt with a Plain Carbon Steel hammer. Apparently the a small bit of the carbon steel can be transferred to the head of the stainless bolt, which will result in a small flake of rust developing which in turn will cause the stainless bolt to fail. 

yeah, this one makes me laugh. you have to use a stainless steel hammer!  (lolz....)

Salamanizer Skiwrote:

Setting a Stainless Steel bolt with a Plain Carbon Steel hammer. Apparently the a small bit of the carbon steel can be transferred to the head of the stainless bolt, which will result in a small flake of rust developing which in turn will cause the stainless bolt to fail. 

I've moved to a stainless hammer because you can get them for $20 on Amazon and I don't like the way the little rust flecks look on the bolt, but it's more of an aesthetic thing than a structural thing. But when you can get a good stainless route development hammer for $20, why not?

Jeff Jwrote:

Jeez I thought I was joking around but goddamn some of you take this shit WAY TOO SERIOUSLY.  This is an internet forum, not a murder trial. 

Eh, everything is meaningless, so overthinking climbing safety practices is as valid a way to spend time as any.