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1:58:07 record El Capitan Climb record.
 

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

6/7/18 8:53 AM

1:58:07 record El Capitan Climb record.

The Nose, 3k elevation. Did they run up the granite? Smokes!

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Steve B.
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Posts: 769
Location: Long Island, NY

6/11/18 7:43 PM

It’s a risky climbing method.

There’s an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about the 2 climbers killed shortly after the record climb and the roping style that leaves them at risk.

Not sure the link will work, but here it is.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Witness-to-death-plunge-of-2-climbers-on-El-12982924.php?cmpid=gsa-sfgate-result

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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC

6/11/18 9:06 PM


quote:
the roping style that leaves them at risk.

The same roping style those record setters used

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Brian Nystrom
Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 5096
Location: Nashua, NH

6/12/18 5:31 AM

The whole concept of "speed climbing" just seems utterly reckless. When I was climbing (ice mostly), we did it for the physical and emotional challenge, the fun and the experience of being on the cliff. Speed was never a concern, but safety was always paramount.

You can't enjoy memories of a great climb if you're dead.

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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC

6/13/18 6:55 AM

Climbing vs mountaineering?

My impression. Climbing is about “solving” the technical problem (of finding handholds/footholds). Whilst mountaineering has destination to be reached within a time limit (reach shelter before dark, for example).

So in “big mountain travel”(e.g. Himalayas) , time has always been a factor. Techniques to speed things up are constantly being developed.

Yosemite walls to us general public is “climbing”. But to the climbers, it straddles that invisible, blurry line between simply climbing some rock wall vs. mountaineering. Sometimes, it maybe safer to get off the walls faster with slightly riskier methods (e.g. thunderstorm approaching). I’ve heard discussion on that from time to time when I uses to frequent the park (hiking not climbing). So, I’m not sure it’s quite so clear cut.

But clearly, the pair got it wrong because they died.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

6/13/18 7:49 AM

"But clearly, the pair got it wrong because they died."

Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell which broke the record, to be clear, not killed. The frenzy currently to break the climb in 90 minutes will kill and maim more though.

Just ask Quinn Brett, a former record holder. She will have to answer you from her wheelchair from almost killing herself trying to get the record back apparently.

My eldest lost a close friend that fell 1500 feet in New Zealand when the kids where about 19 or so. There were 3 of them and only one survived.

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Steve B.
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Posts: 769
Location: Long Island, NY

6/13/18 7:57 AM

In many ways climbing as the term is used in the article, should rightfully be called "speed climbing". It's a sport, unlike non-speed climbing, which I would argue is more an activity in that there's no competition for fastest ascent, etc...

Clearly speed climbing takes risks that a regular climber is not willing to take, in that a speed climber(s) will not spend the time to lay in the same level of protection, thus and as Sparky has commented, many more will be killed as they place less (if any) protection in order to get to the top as quickly as possible.

One major aspect of speed climbing is it needs to be on established routes, as the climbers cannot take the time to figure out where their hand and toe holds are going to be, they need to have that map in their head, of pretty much every move. Tough to do on a 3,000 ft wall.

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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC

6/13/18 9:34 AM


quote:
should rightfully be called "speed climbing".

Clearly speed climbing takes risks that a regular climber is not willing to take, in that a speed climber(s) will not spend the time to lay in the same level of protectio


Then, there’s free climbing, which doesn’t even bother with ropes

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Brian Nystrom
Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 5096
Location: Nashua, NH

6/13/18 2:17 PM

I've seen the two combined, solo speed climbing. You can look at it as either the height of recklessness or the ultimate expression of skill and confidence, take your pick. However, as the saying in climbing circles goes:

"There are old climbers and there are bold climbers, but there are no old, bold climbers."

To me, speed climbing sacrifices all of the beauty of the sport in a reckless search for the ultimate adrenaline rush. The problem is that the only limit to the pursuit is death. At least solo speed climbers only kill themselves.

I don't think that "Climb or Die" bumper stickers were ever meant to be taken literally, but it appears that's where we are.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

6/13/18 3:25 PM

"I don't think that "Climb or Die" bumper stickers were ever meant to be taken literally, but it appears that's where we are."


For the Cause. ;)

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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC

6/13/18 9:07 PM


quote:
At least solo speed climbers only kill themselves.

Indeed.

I'm more disturbed by the "simult-climbing". Perhaps because in the few mountaineering workshops I've attended (disclaimer: I ultimately decided I don't want to do mountaineering), we were told the following principle: "without anchor, a rope team is a death team".

Still, rope team members moving together is a widely used practice.

A few years back, there's a big accident in Mt Hood where something like 6 or 8 climbers fell into a crevasse. There, 2 rope teams were tangled and the one (or two?) member who attempted to hold them (by laying on their ice axes) simply couldn't, was pulled off their perch and dragged into the crevasse!

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daddy-o
Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 3307
Location: Springfield

6/19/18 9:41 AM

Turnabout is fair, old news

We invade the woods and climb, they go downtown and get some buildering in.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

6/19/18 2:32 PM

"get some buildering in"

And the critter got up to near the top and just rolled onto his back sunning himself before he got taken hostage and brought back down to earth.

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