Non-motoring > Climbers in Yosemite National Park Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Duncan Replies: 20
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New Thu 15 Jan 15 13:44 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - Duncan
Two men climb to the top of a rock in America.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-30824372

Bah! Humbug!

Free?

There was nothing free about it. If they slipped they had so many ropes on them that they only dropped a couple of feet.

Let's see them do again. Only this time without being covered in ropes from head to foot. Don't these people know what the definition of the word 'free' is?

I remain

Yours etc

Mr Grumpy
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New Thu 15 Jan 15 14:01 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - Focusless
:)

I guess the definition of 'free' is ropes below rather than above. And they did damage themselves when they fell 'a couple of feet' - "During their climb up the notoriously difficult Dawn Wall route, both took rest days to wait for their skin to heal and used tape and even superglue to speed the process."
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New Thu 15 Jan 15 14:39 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - Cliff Pope
They slept in tents hung from the rockface. Did they just rely on finding little hooked rocks to hang them on, or did they by any change carry hooks, a hammer and some rawlplugs?

How long did it take? I presume they carried all their food and drink, and perhaps a porta-potti? Perhaps some bits weren't filmed.
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New Thu 15 Jan 15 14:43 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - Old Navy
I saw three tents on the cliff face, so I assume there was a film crew and some bag carriers.
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New Thu 15 Jan 15 14:58 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - Focusless
>> I saw three tents on the cliff face, so I assume there was a film
>> crew and some bag carriers.

Where did you see that ON?

Set of photos on the DT website: tinyurl.com/nyuk4ss

Picture 11 does look like it was taken by someone with them, although it might just be a form of selfie.
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New Thu 15 Jan 15 18:32 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - Old Navy
>>
>> Where did you see that ON?

I am not sure, possibly Sky (Fox) News.

Someone was carrying their kit or pulling it up on a rope. They did not have it while climbing. These things do not happen without a sizable support team.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 15 Jan 15 at 18:33
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New Thu 15 Jan 15 22:30 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - WillDeBeest
I am not sure, possibly Sky (Fox) News.

Famously reliable. Ask the people of Birmingham.
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New Thu 15 Jan 15 22:33 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - Zero
>> I am not sure, possibly Sky (Fox) News.
>>
>> Famously reliable. Ask the people of Birmingham.

Mr Farage agrees with them. Sharia Law in place there according to him.
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New Thu 15 Jan 15 14:44 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - Focusless
>> They slept in tents hung from the rockface. Did they just rely on finding little
>> hooked rocks to hang them on, or did they by any change carry hooks, a
>> hammer and some rawlplugs?

Don't they hammer pegs into cracks to suspend the tents off, and hope they stay there?

>> How long did it take?

"They began their historic half-mile ascent on 27 December" :o
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New Thu 15 Jan 15 14:47 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - Focusless
>> Don't they hammer pegs into cracks to suspend the tents off, and hope they stay
>> there?

Climbing holds? www.holdz.co.uk/
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New Thu 15 Jan 15 15:38 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - Armel Coussine
I wonder how many of those coming on supercilious about safety ropes and pitons etc. would care to spend a night in a hammock hanging from some ropes and pitons a few hundred feet up an overhanging cliff in the cold and rain above a mass of jagged scree?

Personally I would much rather die. I wouldn't go 20 feet up that thing even in a papoose carrier borne by the abominable snowman.

Clearly many here are made of pretty stern stuff, hmmmm?
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New Thu 15 Jan 15 18:07 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - Duncan
>> I wonder how many of those coming on supercilious about safety ropes and pitons etc.
>> would care to spend a night in a hammock hanging from some ropes and pitons
>> a few hundred feet up an overhanging cliff in the cold and rain above a
>> mass of jagged scree?

Yeah. Yeah. It's still not free, though, is it?

>> Personally I would much rather die.

That could be arranged ;-)

>> Clearly many here are made of pretty stern stuff, hmmmm?

I was objecting to the misuse of the English language.
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New Thu 15 Jan 15 18:14 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - Zero
This is free climbing

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrX0ohmu1zw
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New Thu 15 Jan 15 19:13 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - CGNorwich
More that you do not understand climbing technology.

Aided is using ropes and ladders scared to the rock

Free climbing is with the use of ropes simply to limit a fall. They are not use to aid the climb

Solo free is without any ropes at all. a fall is usually fatal.


as someone whose climbing ability is limited to cleqning out the gutters on a ladder I can only have the utmost respect for these guys.

See article for details of climb.

news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/01/150114-climbing-yosemite-caldwell-jorgeson-capitan/

"From the National Geographic Article"

It's worth noting that Caldwell has managed to achieve all this success despite missing a finger. In 2001 while working with a table saw, he accidentally cut off his left index finger—a debilitating loss when your life's passion involves hanging by your fingertips.

Doctors were able to reattach the finger, but told Caldwell that with its diminished mobility he'd never climb again. At first he was devastated, but then his determination kicked in, and he had the finger removed so as not to hinder him. Five months later, he free climbed the 3,000-foot (914-meter) Salathé Wall, another route on El Capitan, in less than 24 hours.

He faced another grave moment the following year during an expedition to Kyrgyzstan with fellow climbers John Dickey, Jason Smith, and Beth Rodden, who was then Caldwell's girlfriend and later became his wife. In the Aksu Valley, the four climbers were taken captive by militant rebels of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Over the next six days, they were held at gunpoint and marched at night through the mountains while their captors traded fire with the Kyrgyz army.

The defining moment of their kidnapping came when the four climbers found themselves alone with just one rebel fighter, and Caldwell shoved the gunman off a cliff. They escaped, hiking 18 miles (29 kilometers) to freedom.

Caldwell was distraught over what he thought he'd done. Yet in a bizarre twist, a week later word emerged from Kyrgyzstan that the rebel Caldwell had shoved had actually survived, having only tumbled down a steep hill."
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New Thu 15 Jan 15 20:17 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - Focusless
>> news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/01/150114-climbing-yosemite-caldwell-jorgeson-capitan/

Their base camp consisted of three portaledges—each one a six-foot by four-foot (2-meter by 1-meter) platform with tent fly, suspended by nylon straps and hanging from bolts in the sheer granite wall. ... Every few days, one of the friends waiting on the ground ascended 1,200 feet (366 meters) of rope to bring the team a new cache of supplies and water

Perhaps those are the 3 tents ON saw. But it doesn't sound like they had much in the way of other people on the cliff face supporting them.
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New Thu 15 Jan 15 22:35 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - Duncan
>> More that you do not understand climbing technology.
>>
>> Aided is using ropes and ladders scared to the rock
>>
>> Free climbing is with the use of ropes simply to limit a fall. They are
>> not use to aid the climb

No.

It is more that you do not understand that you (or climbers) cannot change the meaning of words in the English language just to suit your convenience.

'Free' means exactly what it says - unfettered. Not tied.

The climbers has a series of ropes running down from the top of the cliff.
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New Thu 15 Jan 15 22:46 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - legacylad
I am surprised by the lack of snow in the valley. A few years ago we stayed a couple of nights at the Ahwahnee hotel early January and it was feet deep. And a few years before that in a camper van early Jan and it was metres deep. Positively drought conditions at the moment. You would not want to be on El Cap in a blizzard.
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New Thu 15 Jan 15 23:01 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - CGNorwich
“When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’
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New Thu 15 Jan 15 23:21 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - rtj70
Visisted Yosemite one summer for a few days. Looked in awe across to El Capitan. Walked up to another waterfall summit but it was a trickle of water at that time of year.

A motel near where we stayed had been swept away by the river earlier in the year! My brother had been there before.

EDIT: It was a long time ago... I know I looked across to El Capitan. But the awe reference should have been for Half Dome. Oops.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Thu 15 Jan 15 at 23:24
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New Fri 16 Jan 15 08:26 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - Duncan
>> “When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means
>> just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’


We all know what happened to him!
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New Fri 16 Jan 15 08:56 
 Climbers in Yosemite National Park - CGNorwich
I seem to remember Duncan didn't fare too well either.

"Is this a dagger that I see before me?" :-)
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