By Joe Kreidel
From Tucson, AZ
Aug 17, 2009
| Just watched the video of Michael Kennedy climbing the route, and thought it was kinda funny that one of the most famous/infamous routes in the world didn't seem to have chalk on it. Anyone have any guesses as to how many times a year it gets climbed? | 
FLAG |
By Norm Larson
Aug 18, 2009
| Hayden Kennedy you mean. Michael's son following in his dads large footsteps as a really nice person and a good climber too. Kudos to Hayden. |
FLAG |
By Hank Caylor
Administrator
From Left Hand Canyon, CO
Aug 18, 2009
| Joe Kreidel wrote: Just watched the video of Michael Kennedy climbing the route, and thought it was kinda funny that one of the most famous/infamous routes in the world didn't seem to have chalk on it. Anyone have any guesses as to how many times a year it gets climbed?
I did it the day after Scotty Franklin did it. Dave Yerian said that it had been a couple years prior to us since anyone had climbed it.. My guess is not very often. |
FLAG |
By Andrew Bisharat
Aug 18, 2009
| I was standing around Rifle drinking beer the other day with a group of five people, and somehow the BY randomly came up, and three out of the five people had climbed it ... My guess is it gets climbed more often than people think ... |
FLAG |
By Peter Franzen
Administrator
From Portland, OR
Aug 18, 2009
| Cool video, but the camerawork makes it look waaaaay mellow. A lot of those shots caused it to come off looking like a 5.6 slab due to the angle it was shot at. |
FLAG |
By LeeAB
Administrator
From ABQ, NM
Aug 18, 2009
| My guess would be 5-10 times a year, as Andrew said if you ask around there are a fair number of people that have done it, though I'd be willing to bet most only do it once and never again. You also have to remember now with so many people climbing so much harder that the actual difficulty is really not that high, so when those stronger gym climbers get into trad climbing... not that it is a trad route. |
FLAG |
By Shawn Mitchell
From Broomfield
Aug 18, 2009
| Sure it is...as are the bolted, runout (though much safer) faces at JTree, Suicide and elsewhere. They sure aren't sport routes. :) |
FLAG |
By Hank Caylor
Administrator
From Left Hand Canyon, CO
Aug 18, 2009
| Andrew Bisharat wrote: I was standing around Rifle drinking beer the other day with a group of five people, and somehow the BY randomly came up, and three out of the five people had climbed it ... My guess is it gets climbed more often than people think ...
But I did it back in the mid-90's when you were still crapping in your hands and rubbing it in your hair!!!!! Sorry Mandrew, I just had an old-timers meltdown. |
FLAG |
By Dudemanguybro
From Here
Sep 17, 2009
| Hank Caylor wrote: But I did it back in the mid-90's when you were still crapping in your hands and rubbing it your hair!!!!! Sorry Mandrew, I just had an old-timers meltdown.
At least Mandrew stopped doing that shit. More than I can say for you. |
FLAG |
By David Aguasca
From Plymouth, NH
Sep 18, 2009
| I've never been on the BY. The entry here on MP describes the second pitch as being "slightly overhanging," so what gives it the X rating? I've also never taken an 80' lead fall...but on a good bolt, on an overhanging wall, but with that large of a fall, are you really hitting the wall hard enough to get seriously hurt or dead? |
FLAG |
By Evan Simons
From Boulder CO
Sep 18, 2009
| David Aguasca wrote: I've never been on the BY. The entry here on MP describes the second pitch as being "slightly overhanging," so what gives it the X rating? I've also never taken an 80' lead fall...but on a good bolt, on an overhanging wall, but with that large of a fall, are you really hitting the wall hard enough to get seriously hurt or dead?
Yes, read a high school physics book, plug your body weight and an 80ft drop into an equation, the answer is yes. At that height you can break your back against your harness is you fall just a little wrong. |
FLAG |
By rickd
Sep 18, 2009
| On B-Y you will miss most stuff (as Wolfy did) "R" is a correct fear rating. R is potential, X is assured. *possibly* breaking your back is not assured.
X=
Falling 45' into rough talus you can't escape injury. Falling 45' onto a ledge you can't escape. Grounding from 80' (hey, I did that!) you can't escape.
R=
Whipping 80' in space (or even sliding ala Stone Mountain) is escapable. |
FLAG |
By David Aguasca
From Plymouth, NH
Sep 18, 2009
| EVS wrote: Yes, read a high school physics book, plug your body weight and an 80ft drop into an equation, the answer is yes. At that height you can break your back against your harness is you fall just a little wrong.
There are many cases of people having taken whippers of that size and been uninjured, as long as they did not strike anything...the acceleration you experience when the rope becomes taught depends on the fall factor.
Also, my question was more specific to the route. |
FLAG |
By Jay Knower
Administrator
From Plymouth, NH
Sep 18, 2009
| EVS wrote: Yes, read a high school physics book, plug your body weight and an 80ft drop into an equation, the answer is yes. At that height you can break your back against your harness is you fall just a little wrong.
The situation you are describing is assuming a static rope and/or a bad belay.
With a dynamic rope and the proper dynamic belay, I don't see why an 80 foot whipper on an overhanging wall would hurt you. It would be super scary, but the system works the same, no matter if the fall is 15 feet or 80. |
FLAG |
By cory132
From Torrance
Sep 18, 2009
| Dave Macleod and Sonny Trotter took falls of that magnitude (or thereabouts) on Rhapsody, and they didn't break their backs . . . It all depends on the fall factor. |
FLAG |
By Evan Simons
From Boulder CO
Sep 18, 2009
| People take falls that big all the time, and escape unharmed all the time, but I personally know someone who fractured a vertebrae on a clean '30 fall, so nothing is set in stone. So if you want to do some experiments and take some 25 meter whippers on camera, I'd be happy to watch the footage, let me know how that goes. |
FLAG |
By David Aguasca
From Plymouth, NH
Sep 18, 2009
| EVS wrote: People take falls that big all the time, and escape unharmed all the time, but I personally know someone who fractured a vertebrae on a clean '30 fall, so nothing is set in stone. So if you want to do some experiments and take some 25 meter whippers on camera, I'd be happy to watch the footage, let me know how that goes.
Ok! Pitch me the money for the rope I'd want to replace afterwards, and I'll take a few 80 footers. |
FLAG |
By Evan Simons
From Boulder CO
Sep 18, 2009
| I got this old 10.2 sitting the garage, if you come pick it up you can do whatever you want with it :) |
FLAG |
By Hank Caylor
Administrator
From Left Hand Canyon, CO
Sep 18, 2009
| rickd wrote: On B-Y you will miss most stuff (as Wolfy did), (or even sliding ala Stone Mountain) is escapable.
Wolfy didn't give it another go after he fell.
And an 80' slide off "Orange Blossom Special", or any other Stone Mountain route would SUCK! I wouldn't go back up.
Just because it's maybe survivable doesn't mean that's the difference between an R/X rating. If really runout routes that involve this type of risk are your thing, lots of variables come into play. Especially when you stretch out the playing field to include all the different stone types and climbing areas. Eldo is different than Yosemite and is different than North Carolina...etc. Once you get into the Bachar/Yerian and up range. It's not a math thing, it's way more interesting. If that's your bag. |
FLAG |
By Fat Dad
From Los Angeles, CA
Sep 18, 2009
| LeeAB wrote: My guess would be 5-10 times a year, as Andrew said if you ask around there are a fair number of people that have done it, though I'd be willing to bet most only do it once and never again. You also have to remember now with so many people climbing so much harder that the actual difficulty is really not that high, so when those stronger gym climbers get into trad climbing... not that it is a trad route.
I'd be really, really surprised if this is the case. Personally, I don't know anyone who's done it. Plus, it has nothing to do with the numbers, it's the lack of pro.
Let's put it this way. Way back in the day I was hanging in the Valley when Wolfgang Gullich was staying at Camp 4. He had just made what I think was the second ascent of Grand Illusion (.13c), one of the hardest climbs in the world at the time. The guy was on fire.
Long story short, he and Thierry Renault went up to give it a shot. Thierry took a fifty footer and busted his leg. That pretty much ended both of their efforts.
Now granted, there are some climbers doing really awesome stuff these days--hard, way OTD, etc. But even with the route having lost some of its fearsome reputation due to grades creeping upward, I'd wager it still doesn't see much traffic. |
FLAG |
By David Aguasca
From Plymouth, NH
Sep 18, 2009
| EVS wrote: I got this old 10.2 sitting the garage, if you come pick it up you can do whatever you want with it :)
Hahaha...no thanks! I'd rather fall on my own rope. If I do get some video, I promise to post it to MP for analysis... ;) |
FLAG |
By Peter L K
From Cincinnati, OH
Sep 19, 2009
| Quite a few 50+ footers here (low fall factors) with no bad results: |
FLAG |
By Rough
Sep 19, 2009
| I don't really care about Bachar Yerian other to ask, how many more people would enjoy it if it was reasonably bolted? What would serve the climbing community more?
On another note, Peter L K, thanks for posting that link, that clip was awesome. |
FLAG |
By Cota
From Skagway AK
Sep 19, 2009
| sick video! |
FLAG |
|
[ Forums > Northern California ]
RSS Feed
