What was going on at Cob Rock today!?

yes, but he only eats inner children

This is pathetic. What a waste of tax dollars. I hope they send these incompetent fools the bill.

Just a side comment we used to have a similar set up here in Oootah, up Big Cottonwood Canyon for accessing land managed by the Forest Service (Salt Lake Slips). That is until there was an accident that resulted in a death. Once that made the news and the Forest Service knew about the traverse it was removed. It was re-established but continuously removed because of the liability issues. Whine about it as you will but it will not change the FS viewpoint, as once they knew about the issue they had to take action. To their credit an access trail was built that made crossing the creek unnecessary.

Not sure who the land managers are around Blob Rock sounds like City of Boulder?? But I would not be surprised to see similar action being taken - that is to have the rope removed.

Allen Sanderson wrote:Just a side comment we used to have a similar set up here in Oootah, up Big Cottonwood Canyon for accessing land managed by the Forest Service (Salt Lake Slips). That is until there was an accident that resulted in a death. Once that made the news and the Forest Service knew about the traverse it was removed. It was re-established but continuously removed because of the liability issues. Whine about it as you will but it will not change the FS viewpoint, as once they knew about the issue they had to take action. To their credit an access trail was built that made crossing the creek unnecessary. Not sure who the land managers are around Blob Rock sounds like City of Boulder?? But I would not be surprised to see similar action being taken - that is to have the rope removed.

While it is something to be concerned about, I find that scenario unlikely. Boulder Canyon has numerous Tyroleans, a lot of which you can even see from the road as you drive by. They've been around for years, the city, BLM, and FS I'm sure all know they're there, so I don't think it comes as a surprise to them that people are crossing the creek on Tyroleans and I don't expect a knee-jerk reaction to two [noun]s having trouble with the crossing (I hope).

Stich wrote:In any case, a fall into that creek would more than likely be fatal drowning time ending in death. That's some roiling, freezing water.

Do you know how long those rapids run? Is there really no chance of paddling like hell until things flatten out? Shit, they look pretty damn serious.

Getting on and off the Tyrolean on the road side is a lot more problematic than on the Cob Rock side. I did this 3 weeks ago and had some problems caused by the rope being a little too slack on the return from a climb. Shorter or heavier climbers can have difficulty exiting the traverse and getting their feet back on the ground.
BITD, we used to wait for the creek to subside and climb in the Fall, or wade across in late Summer.

Yeah, it gets really high every year during the melt off. And no, there isn't too much hope if you go in. The only thing you really need to know about swift water like this is DON'T FALL IN!!! The tyrols are perfectly safe when done properly and by some time this fall, we'll be back to being able to wade across to Cob.

Taken last year, within a day or so of the Red Lion's bridge going out:

vimeo.com/12393948

You can see the huge standing wave right in the middle.

-adam

full value entertainment.

they oughta charge them for the rescue. that's a no-brainer. they could've walked to cascade crag, or self-rescued, or just bivied until low water, sometime in august.

thanks for the laughs, gang!

-sp wrote: Do you know how long those rapids run? Is there really no chance of paddling like hell until things flatten out? Shit, they look pretty damn serious.

the creek is running like that for miles. it'd be nothing less than a miracle to fall in and not die either from blunt force trauma or drowning. someone actually died two weekends ago body surfing in Clear Creek, which is in pretty much the same shape. why in the hell someone would choose to swim in that stuff is beyond me.

If you want to keep someone out of the H2O you weight the top end of the tyrol at the edge while they cross the center, so all of the sag is NOT there. If you just cross without a counter-weight, a LITTLE water won't kill you anyway. Evidence that both work right here:

Anita stays dry, Tony gets wet

I went across the tyrol at Cob today. When you're going from the crag to the road, you can basically stand on a rock and clip a 'biner without a sling directly to the rope. When you're going from the road to the crag, you need to either use a sling (which would get you extremely wet considering the CFS the water is running at) or throw your feet over the rope before you clip a single 'biner to it.

I really can't understand how someone could make it to the crag and not be able to make it back, unless there was some weird circumstance like they got abandoned there by a more knowledgeable person that somehow got them across.

--Marc

-sp wrote: Do you know how long those rapids run? Is there really no chance of paddling like hell until things flatten out? Shit, they look pretty damn serious.

You stand a good chance of repeatedly hitting your head on the boulders in the creek in some places as you get dragged downstream. And with the temperature of the water I'm sure you would lose strength and start getting numb fairly quickly, making it difficult to even crawl out at the edge.

Went to cob yesterday. Got soaked on the way to the crag but stayed dry on the way back. The cragside sling was low on the tree so we slid it up a bit and over some stubby branches. It should stay and keep you a bit more out of the water. Definitely clip with just a single biner into your belay loop. To make this easier, clip in with a long sling, hang, and get your feet up/pull to clip in with the single biner. That also makes the dismount safer on the roadside since its a bit of a step down. Have fun.

phil broscovak wrote:This is pathetic. What a waste of tax dollars. I hope they send these incompetent fools the bill.

Fortunately or unfortunately, rescuers are generally paid the same where they are sitting in the station or out on a rescue. I would much rather they be paid to be out on more rescues than sitting around eating ice cream. However, the tyroleans in BoCan are such a fact of life you have to wonder what was going on with these people....It's a 60 second process AT MOST.

Tony B wrote:If you want to keep someone out of the H2O you weight the top end of the tyrol at the edge while they cross the center, so all of the sag is NOT there. If you just cross without a counter-weight, a LITTLE water won't kill you anyway. Evidence that both work right here:

Hilarious video, Tony! That looked invigorating, to say the least.

Fred Vanden Bergh wrote: Hilarious video, Tony! That looked invigorating, to say the least.

I wish they hadn't been so busy laughing that they could have adjusted the camera- I wanted to know how deep in I went. I suspect a foot.
Invigorating for sure- that's basically ice water. But you don't melt.