tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777718.post3988334035595763457..comments2023-09-06T03:18:02.143-05:00Comments on A Climber's Life: Adirondacks - Saturday: Beer Walls - Part Two: Still Getting There and Then the ClimbingGreg Mason Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189858826346433069noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777718.post-44856380424979254042007-06-08T09:27:00.000-05:002007-06-08T09:27:00.000-05:00In fairness to the Brahmin Ankle (no relation to A...In fairness to the Brahmin Ankle (no relation to Angela Merkel or that washed up lefty pitcher who became an outfielder, Rick Ankiel), "Ankle"'s version of the story is a far more accurate version of the events that transpired, which I only saw through "Wrongway"'s cringing eyes, and not in person. <BR/><BR/>I do have to give him greater credit too, because what he ended up climbing after the fall was Pegasus, which is the route I was about to climb. His beta through the roof helped tremendously, especially since I was a bit runout at that point, and my tight, leather-wrapped feet were singeing in the hot, hot sun.<BR/><BR/>I also took note of the potential rope drag that could have transpired on my own route, thus giving "Wrongway" and "Red" a more efficient path to the top.<BR/><BR/>Oh yeah, and I'm a total pussy: I would have whined my ass up the climb and looked for as much sympathy as I could find if I had sprained my ankle before reaching the top. Messages and snacks would have quieted me down, but only for a while. Kudos to "Ankle" for climbing to the top and making it back to the car at the end of the day without the slightest hint of a whimper.GB (admin)https://www.blogger.com/profile/02409007231158970731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777718.post-7021003448845192552007-06-07T10:56:00.000-05:002007-06-07T10:56:00.000-05:00Ok, I'll comment.First off, its pronounced < Ahn...Ok, I'll comment.<BR/>First off, its pronounced < Ahn-kel > .<BR/>Secondly, the way the fall happened was this:<BR/>Second pitch of Lichebrau, having sat on the rope for far too long, laboring to extract several different cams, for which I was glad for the practice, and having been beaten by direct sun for probably 45 minutes, and having not been to the gym for the better part of a year, I was tired.<BR/><BR/>There was a sandbagged face climb to a bolt on the far left side of the traverse. I had called "take" to the lead diety so that I could rest at that bolt before attempting the traverse.<BR/><BR/>Perhapse the lesson here is that "Take" means pull as tightly as you can, because the climber wants more tension, whereas "up rope" means, please pull to remove slack as the climber sees slack. As we were perhaps too casual, we had been using "take" to mean both, i.e. "take" meaning "up-rope" and "TAKE, TAKE! @$!$%^& TAKE!" meaning tension.<BR/><BR/>Regardless, I recall feeling somewhat rushed through the decision to unclip that bolt, for whatever reason, could have been that the sun was too bright, next time I'll bring sunscreen, and somewhat lucky to have reached that bolt, 5.7 my a#@$. Next time, I'll spend more time examining the traverse while protected, before removing my safety.<BR/><BR/>So after I unclipped that bolt, I was feeling it. You may notice that the 70's Elvis only shook one leg at a time, well 50's Elvis was in the house as I proceeded to downclimb to the travsere ledge. The best ledge I could find was probably an inch. With about 3 inches of Elvis in each foot, this was not a good situation and I knew it.<BR/><BR/>I started to eye my landing zone. I was looking at a small overhang with a large tooth hanging down which looked rather friendly, especially after being in the sun for about an hour. I eyed the rope, eyed the landing spot, eyed the rope, with the concentrattion of a pool player, I called "take", took a deep breath, called "falling" and feeling the tension coming, gave a slight push off.<BR/><BR/>There's no way to describe that feeling of free fall when the tension in the rope goes away, and given the angle of the rope, I had probably 5' to fall before I felt the tension pull me towards the tooth. I remember a thought process of "wow this is fast, I should try to land on that tooth before I continue this swing and risk more damage on the back swing". Of course the actual language going through my head was "Oh !&@!#%". Having stopped my descent on the tooth ,which probably resulted in the sprain, after a good solid scrape on the way down, I was beyond satisfied. It wasn't pretty, but I was fairly sure nothing was broken. <BR/><BR/>After a few minutes trying to assure my lead that I was well enough to finish the climb, and with my looks if not my pride intack, I reassessed. Feeling more spent than a [1] shotgun shell at a redneck cookout, I attempted to negotiate for the "guide belay" technique, to no avail.<BR/><BR/>Given the sharp pain in my ankle, I was psyched to find a heal hook which allowed me to use all four limbs without much additional pain to haul my spent carcass over the toothy overhang. I stood, breathed, found large handholds, and was happy. Adrenaline is a wonderful thing, and proof that God wants us to be able to outrun a slow old probably toothless leopard. Next stop, "Jesus".<BR/><BR/>[1] Madlibs are fun:<BR/>poodle in Paris Hilton's handbag<BR/>American tourist with DRTB<BR/>"Nut" joke in a climbers camphappypantshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13091237177485291816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777718.post-16206309150522508682007-06-07T10:35:00.000-05:002007-06-07T10:35:00.000-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.happypantshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13091237177485291816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777718.post-40532238614081546292007-06-02T23:32:00.000-05:002007-06-02T23:32:00.000-05:00nice blognice blogAll Blog Spotshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10642130105141272599noreply@blogger.com