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East Ridge of Wolf's Head peak Accident Report July-6-2022
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Consider it emphasized. The bold font made it really jump off the page this time around. Thanks! |
Benton Hodgeswrote: I think I'm stretching my own point to incoherence. All I'm saying is that should someone bolt the rappels, they should not point to this accident as motivation, nor wait for an accident like this to go do it. |
Petsfed 00wrote: Agreed. Edited by request to remove others info. |
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It's true that choosing to bolt a rappel route because of an accident is shutting the door after the horses have left the barn. But another way of looking at it is to ask how many parties per season rely on a particular set of anchors. The most frequently climbed routes will likely be the site of more incidents just due to the hordes of climbers rolling the alpine dice. We can't/(shouldn't) bolt every multi-pitch rappel- but shoring up the ones in, say, the top ~5% of popularity will be most likely to save someone from an accident similar to the OP. Adventure climbing is about self-reliance, and plenty of folks will scoff and call the attitude in the previous paragraph nanny state mollycoddling. I would counter that to climb the standard routes on Pingora or Wolf's Head is no longer to venture into uncharted waters. Routes that popular have crossed a threshold, and the crowds should be managed at least a little bit by using best practices for anchors. |
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Best wishes to Alex S on his recovery, thankfully he survived. And whether or not there should be a rappel route put in with bolted anchors I leave to the locals to decide, I climbed that route in 1997 so I don't have any basis for an informed opinion on the current conditions in the Cirque of the Towers. Back then, and on another trip in 2001 I distinctly remember the "tat anchors" on all of the descents we did. I had learned by then (to that date roughly 27 years of climbing experience) that the only way to insure a "tat anchor" was going to hold was to either inspect the tat thoroughly, and if that wasn't possible, or the inspection revealed questionable cordage, to place you own cord, either adding to the tat or cutting the existing tat and replacing it with a new cord. It was and still is common for me to carry tied slings on climbs for the reason to contribute new cord to old anchors. There is no doubt that I "rolled the dice" on tat anchors on climbs in my now 52 years of climbing, fortunately I got away with it, but certainly could have had the unfortunate experience that Alex S had or worse, it was luck that I didn't. I know that getting off the peaks before the afternoon thunderstorms roll in is a part of minimizing risk, and if there had been a descent with rap anchors I would certainly use them, but it would seem prudent for climbers to also have extra slings to contribute to "tat anchors" where they are found, and take the time to positively inspect all of the cordage you are going to depend on, rappelling is a bitch and often has no anchor redundancy. Having done the Bugaboo spire descent with the "old" tat anchor (1985), and with the "new" bolted anchor (1995) I did much prefer the modern improvement. |
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Ed, Perhaps you meant the Snowpatch Spire rap route (McCarthy Route). It is nice with the chain anchors these days. There are only a couple of rap anchors when descending the Kain route on Bugaboo Spire. |
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I did mean the Bugaboo Spire descent... which didn't have any fixed anchors when I did it in 1985. The anchor at the Gendarme was a huge nest of tat, in 1995 it was bolts. Snowpatch Spire also had no anchors back then, we escaped a storm high up the McCarthy Route and I recall a particularly scary rap anchor of one fixed Lost Arrow piton banged in about 3/4 length as a single point for our rappel. I was the last of three, and at one point I had inadvertently placed my hand on the pin, feeling it flex as the second person descended. It was hard to go after that, but probably one of my smoother rappels. Here is Lawrence Wiencke on one of those rappels...  |
 Yeah, Steph's overlay shows 6 raps in total. When I first did that descent with my dad in 1974, we downclimbed to the Gendarme, did 2 raps there (on fixed slings in place), then did rap #5. I recall there was a Swiss party ahead of us, and they got their rope stuck on rap 6, so we downclimbed it. Always nice to have bolts + chains instead of a wad of mystery slings. |
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Wishing you a speedy recovery. |
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Glad to hear that you are recovering, oddly enough I was there that day and watched the [quite impressive] rescue. I really appreciate your summary of takeaways, and I'll second your comment on bringing additional cord! Even though it's tough to bring additional gear when you're trying to travel lite on alpine ascents, it might be even more important to do so in the alpine environment where UV is stronger and storms/harsh weather are frequent! Good luck on your recovery! |
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Even with the 40+ ticks since your accident, I was appalled by the state of some of the anchors on the descent. Mainly this one  What the hell is going on here and how were people using this? I regiggered the material to make it at least redundant with the 2 rings. I'm 100% guilty of not leaving my own cord as I went as there are plans to improve these stations but it just makes me wonder what all those climbers who have been on this route since the anchor blew were thinking... |
Thomas Gilmorewrote: And bolts are considered an eye sore hah. That looks like a fun anchor to arrive at. |
Thomas Gilmorewrote: Is this the final one to get you into the gully? Or the second one? I remember feeling extremely sketched out with the last rap when I did it. |
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This is the 4th anchor from the summit I believe. Still 2 more after this. And yes the last one was total garbage as well. An extended single 7mm cord around a pinch with single aluminum ring. |
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Thomas. that is exactly why I feel that the leave no trace, bolts are horrible crowd is basically completely delusional and full of Poo on this subject INMOP There is zero doubt that clean well bolted anchor is a much smaller impact and much safer than the standard tat nest. |
Nick Goldsmithwrote: BuT iTs NoT AlPiNiSm |
Nick Goldsmithwrote: It’s not the unsightliness that’s the problem, it’s the permanent alteration of the wilderness with hardware and the idea that we, as humans, can just leave our mark wherever we like. Tat can be cut replaced and thrown away, affectively leaving no mark. |
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but its not and never will be. it will always grow in the same places. is what it is. GTF over declaring 1 square inch of metal a desecration because it simply is not. letting people go splat all over the place while leaveing huge tat nests is a desecration... |
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gotta love mp righteousness |
Thomas Gilmorewrote: This station is clearly a work of art. It would be difficult to cut it down and destroy such beauty |
