Cathedral Ledge: Rock fall event

I was at Cathedral yesterday and noticed that there was a substantial amount of debris from a rockfall event a the base of the ventilator slabs. Later in the day when I was up at the Barber wall, it was clear that the rockfall had come from the base of Retaliation. Does anyone know how recently this occurred? It looked fresh. Seems like it could have been any time ranging from the last few days to mid-winter. 

Please see the pictures below. I believe the rockfall was substantial enough that at least the description and maybe even the grade of the first pitch of retaliation (5.6) might have to be altered. In addition, there is now a fair amount of loose rock lying near the cliff which could easily slide off. We did not touch anything as we did not know who might be below. However, as rock season nears this would be good for climbers and hikers to be aware of. 

Picture 1: The start of pitch 1 of retaliation where most of the rock seems to have fallen from.

Picture 2: Loose debris which could slide down onto the ventilator slab area. 

Picture 3: Screenshot from a mountain project post of the start before the rockfall. 

One of the side effects of climbing a long time is now seeing a steep granite wall full of cracks as basically big choss waiting to fall down. Still it's sad to see a great line like Retaliation (if only partly) succumb to the effects of freeze/thaw/tree roots/etc. How long before Lichen Delight and its neighbors follow suit?

We should probably have an event to clear away the debris to help keep friends from getting brained on the lower pitches. Ideally we would stack whatever's on the ledge in a depression so that it won't need to be trundled. 

It all ended up down around Ego Trip and Three Birches at the lower left wall.

Quite the mess

J B wrote:

We should probably have an event to clear away the debris to help keep friends from getting brained on the lower pitches. Ideally we would stack whatever's on the ledge in a depression so that it won't need to be trundled. 

Plans are in the works to address loose debris on affected routes, and up on the Barber Ledge this week. A small crew of volunteers will be deploying to remove debris, and maintain ground safety in the area of the Lower Left Slabs.

Photos don't really do it justice, but here's a couple shots from where the Lower Left Slabs trail used to meet up with the cliff at Ego Trip - Three Birches. The main mass of the slide made it halfway down the slope, with one singular volleyball sized rock making it all the way to the flats.

Peter Beal wrote:

One of the side effects of climbing a long time is now seeing a steep granite wall full of cracks as basically big choss waiting to fall down. Still it's sad to see a great line like Retaliation (if only partly) succumb to the effects of freeze/thaw/tree roots/etc. How long before Lichen Delight and its neighbors follow suit?

Or Beast Flake & Peanut Gallery Flake?!

Did the rock fall make Ego Trip actually climbable?

My buddy and I rapped down ventilator yesterday and trundled the stuff that was on the the cliff. Even with everything we did which made rapping safe we barely touched any of the big mess which is a lot of trees and rocks tangled up on top. One thing that’s scary is the little oak tree in the picture at the top of the cliff it’s snapped but hanging on. It will die and fall off probably best if someone cuts it loose under safe circumstances. It’s hard to tell if the climbs in the fall line were damaged but I’d be surprised if they came through this unscathed. Judging by the damage on the trees I’d guess this happened around a month ago. We are lucky no one was around. Geologic time includes now. 

Thank you to Joseph and everyone who has shared info and is cleaning up. I think it was even more recent than a month ago. I went for a walk up to the slabs on April 1st and this hadn't happened (the base of Ego Trip had a clean snow bank and was otherwise totally normal). If anyone knows of a big cleanup operation that is being organized, please post up - I'd like to help.

Holy shit - this looks like it would make Funhouse not safely climbable until cleanup can be done. I'd hate for a party to start up that route and arrive at those slabs on Barber ledge covered in debris.

My theory is that this happened on Saturday night. We had a big rain event that night.

Joseph W. Dutton wrote:

My buddy and I rapped down ventilator yesterday and trundled the stuff that was on the the cliff. Even with everything we did which made rapping safe we barely touched any of the big mess which is a lot of trees and rocks tangled up on top. One thing that’s scary is the little oak tree in the picture at the top of the cliff it’s snapped but hanging on. It will die and fall off probably best if someone cuts it loose under safe circumstances. It’s hard to tell if the climbs in the fall line were damaged but I’d be surprised if they came through this unscathed. Judging by the damage on the trees I’d guess this happened around a month ago. We are lucky no one was around. Geologic time includes now. 

“Geological time includes now.” Is the quote of the month.  Period.

Routes that are likely effected and may have damaged fixed gear are: Starfire, Scene of the Crime, True Temper, No Birches, and Three Birches. Also care will be needed exiting Funhouse or traversing the ledge to get to Upper Refuse.

As part of the cleanup, can you locals decide what is or is not an ethically acceptable descent route and put that info somewhere folks can find it? Last year we wasted far too long trying to decipher various outdated and conflicting descriptions of how to descend after Funhouse. We encountered sketchy leaf-litter glissading, chopped bolts, and dead rap trees, making it all far less fun than it should have been.

Ed

Ed O'Dwyer wrote:

As part of the cleanup, can you locals decide what is or is not an ethically acceptable descent route and put that info somewhere folks can find it? Last year we wasted far too long trying to decipher various outdated and conflicting descriptions of how to descend after Funhouse. We encountered sketchy leaf-litter glissading, chopped bolts, and dead rap trees, making it all far less fun than it should have been.

Ed

Ed, the reason there isn't an obvious descent at the top of fun house is because most parties climb to the top of the cliff and walk off. If you need special, designated descent routes with two bolt anchors all the way down, I heard they have those at the 'gunks.

Once you finish fun house you can traverse left and down where there is a big oak tree with slings and rap rings, somewhere above scene of the crime. A single 60 won't get you to the two-bolt anchor by the big pine tree. There's an intermediate rap station on a small tree with slings and rings, (the top of that tree was broken off by the rock fall. The slings and the root and some of the trunk are still there, but I would question its safety) From the intermediate anchor you can make two more raps to the ground. According to the book it's a 120' rap to the big tree so I think a 70 would reach with stretch but it would be close. Two ropes wold be a lot a better, but most folks are't climbing FunHouse expecting to rappel, so they use a single.

I don't think the traverse from the top of Fun House to the barber wall (and the rappel route I described) is very safe in it's current form. It's dirty; kitty litter and silt on a sloping ledge. Any of the big loose blocks still up there could easily cut your rope if you were belayed. 

If you really need to get down from fun house in a rush, just rap the route and leave some slings/rings. Be courteous of other parties on the route and don't drop your rope on leaders. You could even ask them to clean and toss down your rap anchors so you aren't leaving anything behind. Sorry to be rude earlier, snark get snark tho.

Ed O'Dwyer wrote:

 Last year we wasted far too long trying to decipher various outdated and conflicting descriptions of how to descend after Funhouse. We encountered sketchy leaf-litter glissading, chopped bolts, and dead rap trees, making it all far less fun than it should have been.

Adventure lives!

Rasputin NLN wrote:

Once you finish fun house you can traverse left and down where there is a big oak tree with slings and rap rings, somewhere above scene of the crime. A single 60 won't get you to the two-bolt anchor by the big pine tree. There's an intermediate rap station on a small tree with slings and rings, (the top of that tree was broken off by the rock fall. The slings and the root and some of the trunk are still there, but I would question its safety) From the intermediate anchor you can make two more raps to the ground. According to the book it's a 120' rap to the big tree so I think a 70 would reach with stretch but it would be close. Two ropes wold be a lot a better, but most folks are't climbing FunHouse expecting to rappel, so they use a single.

I don't think the traverse from the top of Fun House to the barber wall (and the rappel route I described) is very safe in it's current form. It's dirty; kitty litter and silt on a sloping ledge. Any of the big loose blocks still up there could easily cut your rope if you were belayed. 

If you really need to get down from fun house in a rush, just rap the route and leave some slings/rings. Be courteous of other parties on the route and don't drop your rope on leaders. You could even ask them to clean and toss down your rap anchors so you aren't leaving anything behind. Sorry to be rude earlier, snark get snark tho.

 Sorry to be rude earlier, snark get snark tho.

Classic: Sorry, but . . .

Apologize or don't. Jesus.

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Rasputin NLN wrote:

I don't think the traverse from the top of Fun House to the barber wall (and the rappel route I described) is very safe in it's current form. It's dirty; kitty litter and silt on a sloping ledge. Any of the big loose blocks still up there could easily cut your rope if you were belayed. 

One should always use their best judgement and keep their situational awareness on high, but I'm pretty sure we trundled all the big blocks that were hanging out in the recent rock fall zone. That of course doesn't include pieces of the cliff that are seemingly solid, but making their way towards a similar fate as the Retaliation flake. There are of course still plenty of rocks, scree, and dirt still up on the ledge waiting to come down, and frankly no amount of cleaning is going to fully stabilize that zone (relatively speaking)  in the short term.

Rasputin NLN wrote:

Ed, the reason there isn't an obvious descent at the top of fun house is because most parties climb to the top of the cliff and walk off. If you need special, designated descent routes with two bolt anchors all the way down, I heard they have those at the 'gunks.

We didn't NEED any special, designated descent routes, we had a guidebook and online sources, that described descent routes, none of which existed any longer. The dead tree I can understand, but chopped bolts and bogus beta are frustrating. The descent beta you gave in your later post was exactly what we could have used.

As for adventure, we certainly had some of that, but adventures are only fun afterwards!

Ed