Man hit by wag bag in Yosemite

Does anyone know the details of this story or is it just an urban legend? I've heard it from about three or four different people. I've searched here and Google but found nothing. The cliff notes version is that a couple guys were just approaching the base of El Cap and one was nailed with a full wag bag. As the story goes, neither said a single word.. the one that was hit quietly undressed down to his underwear and both hiked all the way back out without speaking.

Anyone know the rest or can someone post up a description of this event? I hate to take such an interest in someone's grave misfortune but you have to admit.. this warrants elaboration.

sometimes, it's just not your day.

I've heard of such a legend. Based on the amount of crap bags littered around the base of el cap in the early to mid '90's, I'd say there is a decent probability that it happened. I've heard of folks that had crap-bombs from above explode on them and their portaledge before. That can't be good.

A couple years ago while chowing down on breakfast on our portaledge, my partner and I got the full on golden shower from the party above (Jon and Tree, from Oregon I believe they were). Make that "dark bronze shower" instead of golden, because that was some seriously dehydrated piss raining down on us. All we could do was use a hand to cover our bowls of granola and wait for the torrent to stop. Us, covered; our sleeping bags, covered; ropes, covered (thought about that the rest of the day when taking bites of rope); everything covered. I'll tell you, it made for a memorable scent once the sun hit us and again later that night when getting in my sleeping bag. [as a note, Tree totally apologized, he simply forgot we were a pitch below.]

Gawd what a retch fest.

And you all climb in the Valley because....

Now that's some funny S#!T.

Not quite as gross as the previous story, but a couple friends and I were walking along the base of El Cap a couple months back when a nut tool came falling from above and missed my friend by about 3 feet. We looked up and couldn't see anyone above, so they must have been very high up when they dropped it. Our helmets were strapped safely to our packs, so it probably wouldn't have been good if my friend were standing 3 feet farther right . . .

I know the SAG (Super Aid Guy) got pooped on by a well known alpinist who was on the PO. The Sag was multiple days into a multiple day climb. The poop did a 2k drop before impact

oh shit....

Another shitty experience... Once, I was rapping the fixed lines from Heart in the dark (and with a pig) and somewhere down the first rap I encountered a giant fresh smear of shit that encompassed both the wall and the fixed line. How did I discover this? Oh, by the ample amount of soft feces that sludged into my brake hand while rapping. (Again, this is all in the dark.... surprise, surprise on me.) Can't let go, it's my brake hand, so had to deal with it. Got to the anchor, switched over to the next line, went down, and AGAIN came upon evil chocolate on the rope - again as it frosted my brake hand. It seems the shit bag/s had skipped and bounced their way down the wall from a toss high on one of the Heart routes. At the next anchor, my partner and I decided to skip the fixed lines and toss our own ropes for raps instead. Missed the fatty poo streak for that section (yayy!!), but after pulling the ropes and having them fall and drape over us we realized they slithered thru the streak and were now covered in shit too... which then covered us in shit.

Deciding to bail off an el cap route is depressing enough, but getting to the base defeated AND covered in shit is a whole different type of low.

Erik W wrote:Another shitty experience... Once, I was rapping the fixed lines ....

WOW that just made my day!!!

That's exactly why I've never had any desire to climb El Cap.

Climbing El Cap is an incredibly memorable and rewarding experience that no capable climber should pass up.

Wally

Was chickenwinging my way up an OW section on one of the base routes and was blocked by a gnarly poo bag. I was left side in, so to get it out of the crack I had to take my nut tool in my right hand, reach up and in, snag the bag, and then lift it up over my head and out the crack, all while wretching from the smell (not the OW). That was a real tense couple of seconds.

Wally -
I'm not going to let you get away with chiming in on this thread without mentioning the golden shower incident on Spaceshot. I don't think Dave and George would give you a hall pass on that, either. :0)

As I heard this tale, a climber high on the Salathe threw off his bomb bag, hitting another climber in the head at the base. Both climbers were friends of guys I climbed with back in the day, and I knew both individuals. Neither one ever mentioned it to me, but the climber high up was W.C., the guy on the ground was XX (name changed to protect the innocent)

I was sitting at the base of Free Ride below the Shield headwall with a buddy & I heard a buzzing sound. My buddy pushed me gently to one side and a 10" Long Dong piton hit the gravel right between us. Beware the El Cap base.

Good Lord!! Given some of the accounts here and John's rendition, I'd say this story is more than plausible and probably not an urban legend. I would probably need therapy if i ever got mud bombed.. Ugh!!... [shudders]

At least in the Jackass movies they are able to wash off fairly soon and, besides, dog excrement would be nothing compared to people scat. That someone would even consider hanging their flowmaster off the edge and slinging dirt loaves is just mind blowing. Yick!!