Re: Virginia Peak East Face, Sept 29,2022
Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2022 9:47 pm
Harlen, I never meant to imply that your climbing was not safe.
I am not sure I would call it "brave" getting into that mess on North Chute of Langley. Sometimes you just find yourself in the middle of a bad location and you have to either go up or down and try to quickly get out of the danger zone. We went up because we were closer to the top. Had I known the rockfall danger I would not even have done it. If you climb long enough, you will find yourself in such pickles once in a while.
What you said about the kewi friends- I think there are a lot of climbing cultures that accept a lot more risk than the typical American. I have run into Russian climbers who go out in the most miserable weather and climbed with Czechoslovakian who would put a sling around a rock and wedge the thing in a crack on a 5.8 climb. I questioned this "pro" and he said that where he learned to climb, they did not have money for ropes so they just free climbed and he learned early NEVER to fall. But what scared me most about him was his driving. After the first climb I did with him I insisted met him at the trailhead. The peace of mind was worth the price of gas.
I am not sure I would call it "brave" getting into that mess on North Chute of Langley. Sometimes you just find yourself in the middle of a bad location and you have to either go up or down and try to quickly get out of the danger zone. We went up because we were closer to the top. Had I known the rockfall danger I would not even have done it. If you climb long enough, you will find yourself in such pickles once in a while.
What you said about the kewi friends- I think there are a lot of climbing cultures that accept a lot more risk than the typical American. I have run into Russian climbers who go out in the most miserable weather and climbed with Czechoslovakian who would put a sling around a rock and wedge the thing in a crack on a 5.8 climb. I questioned this "pro" and he said that where he learned to climb, they did not have money for ropes so they just free climbed and he learned early NEVER to fall. But what scared me most about him was his driving. After the first climb I did with him I insisted met him at the trailhead. The peace of mind was worth the price of gas.