What was going on at Cob Rock today!?

Ray Lovestead wrote:This is a tragic story and should not be made light of. These two people were in dire need of assistance and the Boulder rescue squads were able to provide it. I would like to extend my hand in help and offer money to purchase their single use rack of climbing equipment at a discount.

why the basket? all they had to do was dangle a new pair of shoes and a handcrafted bag on the near side

Mark Nelson wrote:why the basket? all they had to do was dangle a new pair of shoes and a handcrafted bag on the near side

Driving up the Canyon at around 10:15 on Saturday, I saw a woman crossing that traverse clipped in with what looked like a 3-foot sling. Obviously, she was dangling in the water. It's hard to think that someone would have been stuck there that long, so maybe it wasn't the same person. It seems pretty obvious from looking at the setup that you would want to tie in as short as you can to stay out of the water. I guess the woman in the article missed that point.

This is down right pathetic.

However this still is the most entertaining thing that I have seen in quite some time.

Carl Dixon wrote:Driving up the Canyon at around 10:15 on Saturday, I saw a woman crossing that traverse clipped in with what looked like a 3-foot sling. Obviously, she was dangling in the water.

what's scary is that this happened to people who were going to go climbing. i think they're lucky that they never made it onto the rock. otherwise, the rescue resources would've likely been much more necessary.

Mark Nelson wrote:why the basket? all they had to do was dangle a new pair of shoes and a handcrafted bag on the near side

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I think I remember that trav. fondly

If you clipped in w/ a too-long sling, you could easily end-up in the middle of a cold, whitewater wave and too far below the rope to grab it...anyone here made a mistake before?

Agreed, the tyrolean is in fine shape with plenty of clearance if you clip in short...a quick draw worked perfectly.

Ryan Williams wrote: Now that's a little unfair. I've seen plenty of men out climbing that would create the exact same clusterfuck in this situation. Rediculous that they had to mount a rescue effort for these people, but let's not make in about what they've got between their legs.

here we go

Ben Walburn wrote:here we go

Yeah, if you clip in too long, it becomes much much more difficult to pull along the line. Even stronger folks can get tired pretty quick if the technique is done poorly. Some think the only issue with the length of the tie-in has to do with distance to the water but it's much more about distance from the line vs ability to pull. Another issue is that lots of folks keep their packs on. If you're strong and fast on the line, this is no problem but it is much more work to keep your body upright with the pack on. I don't know if the folks in question were trying to get back across with packs still on but keep in mind that, if the technique was done poorly and they were tired after climbing it would be relatively easy to lack the strength to pull up from the middle of the line. And, as has been pointed out, this is the point where you are most likely to get wet on this line (I got a nice splashing going across it last weekend). If you're unsure of your ability, make sure you're tied in short and hook your pack on the line behind you with a sling connected to you so that it just pulls along the line with you. Much easier and way more fun.

John Marsella wrote: (it seemed inevitable)

You can cross even when the water is this high, you want to be careful not to drop in the river, that would be a wild ride! ;)

+1 for the jaws photo. Ha Ha! thats good shit.

Funny thing is I just watched Jaws last night, now why didn't I think of that?

I don't know if anyone uses this technique, but sometimes I'll clip the pack off to a cordelette, cross the tyrolean, then simply pull the pack across. If you can't get across a fukn tyrolean, you have no business being in the mountains (I wouldn't even consider bocan as such)

In any case, a fall into that creek would more than likely be fatal drowning time ending in death. That's some roiling, freezing water.