Today there was a significant rock fall at Hemingway Wall in Jtree. I was climbing "Funky Dung" on the leftmost end of Hemingway main wall with a buddy, when just to the left about twenty feet a large amount of rock came cascading down. The rock fall occurred just to the left of where we were, but fortunately we were protected by a large "fin" like feature. I'm not entirely sure where all of the volume of rock came from, but, as we later discovered, it appears that someone knocked a boulder loose up top, which may have knocked off additional material on its way down.

We were uninjured and we immediately bailed. As we walked away from Hemingway, we talked with a man who I had seen taking pictures earlier. He confessed to being responsible for the rock fall, saying that he scrambled to the top to take pictures and upon trying to scramble back down, had knocked a boulder loose. The man seemed sort of odd, especially since he remarked that "rock fall is a danger of climbing". Albeit definitely true, it seems like an odd remark to make after very nearly killing someone.

So that was the loud crash I heard in the park today. I thought it was just the marine base playing with big explosives. At least no one was hurt.

So some tourist goes up there and kicks off some rocks and then warns you of the ever present danger of rockfall while climbing? Priceless. Not much different than shoving someone off the side of a crag and then warning them of the dangers of gravity.

Sounds suspicious. I didn't know there was an easy way for tourists to "scramble" to the top of Hemingway Butt.

Sounds like this guy trundled something on purpose, realized there were people underneath, and then tried to call it an accident.

If I remember correctly, the scramble up the back is nowhere near the routes.

I was over by mindless mound when the rock came down. I didn’t see it but definitely heard it. It started out with a few loud pops, which sounded like gun shots. My first thought was that they were shooting on the Cohn property. Then a second or two later we heard a huge amount of rock come down. It was LOUD. I moved around the corner and could see a large cloud of dust in the area - climber’s left of where you guys were. Your leader had a red jacket on, correct? You guys looked all right so we went about our business. We had seen a guy scrambling on top of Hemingway while we were walking from the car on LH road. My partner’s immediate thought was that he must have trundled something. I guess she was right.

Next time get his plate # and report the freak. If he trundles a rock to scare you, that's not just creepy and weird. It's criminal.

Hemingway has rap chains?? What?
That down climb is no big deal, I did it as one of my first climbing experiences. I went with a buddy and he led white lightning and I followed and then he informed me that in JTree you have to be willing to down climb if you want to up climb. So he gave me a #4 Bd and a long sling and I down aided my way down that crack. Since then I have down climbed without the use of that cam multible times and have led two newbies through the routine as well.
Rap rings?
I feel like I am getting old and crusty...