PSA: don't abandon your followers (Daks 9/3 on Regular Route/Bob's knob)
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On Sunday 9/3/2023 at around 3:00-3:30pm my partner and I began the first pitch of Bob’s knob. My partner took the first pitch with the possible intention of linking it into P2 depending on how much rope was available and where she could make an anchor. We were aware some simuling might be required, had discussed it beforehand, and were comfortable with that option. At some point I hear her tell me that there is an unroped climber stuck at the top of P2 of Regular Route and that we are going to help him. My immediate thought was that there must have been a soloist who panicked and no longer wanted to proceed. For the sake of minimizing back and forth communication I didn’t ask questions, but when it was my turn to climb I went as fast as possible. I got up there to see a young man (name will be kept anonymous, maybe 20-24 years old) standing on part of the slab. I could only see from his shoulders to his waist. I asked him “what happened?” and he goes, “my two other partners ran out of rope so they told me to stay here while they continued upwards.” I then make it over to my partner and we started going through our options of how to get him down. My partner had built an intermediate gear anchor we could use, but we trying to figure out the best way to have him get to the anchor without anybody soloing. We were figuring out a plan when lo and behold an actual soloist (Will) comes up and sees what has happened. We could tell Will was either a guide or had past guiding experience as he went quickly into guide mode and helped us get the man to our anchor. We then find out that the man was left clipped into a piton with a quickdraw and nothing else. He said that he had been with two other climbers and that the leader had climbed to the end of their rope. Rather than setting up an intermediate belay or downclimbing if needed to find an appropriate anchor point, the other two climbers decided it made more sense for them to clean the anchor and start simuling to continue up the route while leaving him behind. They told him they would “come back for him once they were done or that he could downclimb to the ground (about 80 meters)”. He said he had been waiting there alone for 30 minutes before spotting my partner. While we are all in a state of disbelief, Will managed to get him over to us by having him tie into the end of our rope, and down climb with the quickdraw now clipped to the rope and piton as a ‘top rope’. When he safely got in direct on our anchor Will went over and unclipped the draw and we took in that slack. We then set up a grigri lower off the anchor and with a 70M we were able to lower him directly to the ground. While lowering him Will mentioned he may catch up to the other climbers and have a talk with them. We do not know if Will found them. He got down to the ground and we told him that what his ‘friends’ did was not okay and really, really bad. Based on his response it was clear to us he had no idea how horrible, unsafe, and unethical what his partners did was. It was also clear to us that he was likely a newer climber who potentially did not understand the situation he was placed in when he was standing ropeless on a single piton secured only by a quickdraw 80 meters above the ground. So, now that the overall facts have been laid out. We wanted to write this post to a) try to figure out who these people were and b) communicate that what happened was incredibly reckless, dangerous, and unethical and that no one should ever put their partner in this situation. Especially given the availability of alternative options and ability to avoid this situation entirely with a minimum amount of planning. Lastly, by doing what they did, these climbers essentially knowingly and willingly signed up the next party to stop their climbing and conduct a rescue. We never saw another party come up after us that day, so the man they left behind could’ve been there for hours or even all night if they didn’t go back for him. If anyone knows who these climbers were that felt it was okay to leave an unsuspecting climber alone without a rope connected to nothing but a PITON via a quickdraw for an indefinite period of time, please let us know. Do your thing MP community. |
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Let’s see where this goes |
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I'm thinking that was probably Will Roth. You can find him on Instagram (@willclimbz) if you want to follow-up with him. I'm happy he showed up and you didn't have to figure out that mess on your own. |
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Maybe he tried Frank's advice to get a GF and it backfired: To be maximally generous, was he on a ledge? MP says there's a ledge on top of that pitch. Being clipped to just a pin on a ledge you can't fall off of doesn't seem like the end of the world. And the fact that you didn't see another group really doesn't tell you much; I would assume they communicated and met back up afterwards. I'm guessing they decided coming back with a 2nd rope was a faster option than the alternatives, which plausibly could be true. Based on the route description I would expect to be waiting on the ledge for hours though. It would be hard to turn down somebody's offer to help. |
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Austin Donisanwrote: Haha! That sounds like Jim Herson. His trip reports are hilarious. You're right of course that his level of expertise is unmatchable by these yahoos. My buddy and I were climbing The Regular Route on Fairview dome a couple of years ago. A pair of climbers were flying up towards us from two pitches down. My buddy was discouraged that we were so slow in comparison. When they got close enough to recognize, I told my buddy "Don't worry that's Connor Herson, the youngest person to free the nose. He's with his dad a former world class climber." Connor wore a helmet, his dad didn't. The younger generation is smarter! They were a lot of fun to talk to. No egos, friendly. Three pitches later Mikey Schaefer and his girlfriend flew past! They were just as friendly. |
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I led the first pitch of a route in Tuolumne and tied in to the belay anchors. My partner hollered up something unintelligible, untied from the rope and walked off in to the woods. Nice. He came back about 20 mins later, job finished and we completed the route. Good job on helping the guy to get down. It may or may not have been that big of a deal, but you did good. |
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There's definitely not a ledge there. That's the only fixed pin on the route and it's there because that's the steepest bit. Probably the most inconsiderate spot to strand someone on the whole 300m slab |
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Taylor Bironwrote: This seems out-of-context bad, not actually bad. I left my wife on the High E ledge once intending to rap then traverse back to her but some “guide” found her first and tried to give me a lecture, she told him to “get lost”. Lol! |
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Jim Herson has now volunteered more than a thousand hours for youth climbing, singlehandedly coding the app we all use for bouldering and sport scoring. What an incredible badass. Thanks, Jim! |
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Tradibanwrote: You know damn well you could pitch a tent on the High E ledge and that it doesn’t compare. |
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Tradibanwrote: Good call. I once should have left my wife on a ledge but didn’t. Honestly, I think she would have preferred being left and picked back up on our descent. So much missing context here. Maybe the party will chime in. |