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World’s First 5.14—and Many World-Class Crags—Will Be Closed to Climbers

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8 Nov 2024, 00:00

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    Tom Pearce has made an ascent of James Pearson's The Walk of Life (E9 6c) at Dyers Lookout, Devon. https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?n=780649
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    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZh5THdBgg8
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    In this month’s Prescription, an expert climber made two crucial errors in her rope ascension/top-rope solo system. She fortunately escaped with relatively minor injuries. This accident was featured in the 2024 Accidents in North American Climbing. On October 8, 2023 Whitney Clark was ascending a fixed rope at the start of Valkyrie (17 pitches, 5.11+) when her single ascension device was jammed by a sling. She fell 30 feet to the ground. Clark wrote to ANAC: “We woke at around 6 a.m. and made our way to the fixed line from the day before. The days were short and we had many pitches to do. My partner, Luka Krajnc, went first, using a Grigri to jug and then transitioning to climbing. About 40 feet up, he clove-hitched the rope to a bolt. I then started jugging with a single Micro Traxion. Thirty feet up, I leaned back on the rope. My body weight wasn’t supported because the sling around my neck [part of the top-rope solo setup] got sucked into the device and caught in the teeth of the Traxion. The rope was sliding against the sling. I hadn’t tied a backup knot.” Clark attempted to wrap the rope around her leg. But her rope was new, thin, and slippery. She wrote, “I grabbed the rope and slowly started sliding down. Eventually the rope burn was too painful and I let go. I hit the ground, landed on my feet, and fell backward. I struck my lower back and then my head. I was wearing a helmet. Because the ground was angled, some of the force was dissipated, though I landed six inches from a large rock spike. “I never lost consciousness but was in a bit of shock. Luka rappelled down and did a spinal exam. He got me comfortable, and I sat there for a while. I had pain in my back and my left ankle. I used my inReach to call for a rescue while Luka retrieved our stuff. I started crawling and butt-scooting to where a heli could reach me. I would have loved to have self-rescued, but it’s a 16-mile hike out. It took about 2.5 hours of crawling to make it to a flat place. Four hours later, a helicopter airlifted me to the Visalia Level III trauma center.”  Whitney Clark’s progress-capture device failed when the as-yet-unused retention sling got stuck in the device as she was ascending. It is common practice to use a sling and an elastic connection to hold the progress-capture device upright as one climbs along a fixed rope. Photo: Luka Krajnc Top-rope soloing is becoming increasingly popular. In this video, Pete Takeda, Editor of Accidents in North American Climbing, and IFMGA/AMGA guide Jason Antin are back to provide an accident analysis and give you some quick tips on how to mitigate risk when top-rope soloing. Top-rope soloing is an integral part of modern climbing. Currently, only one device (the El Mudo) is designed and commercially available for top-rope (and lead) soloing. There are many ways to configure these systems and we’ve demonstrated one possible solution here. Solo top-roping allows a climber to self-belay when no partner is available, for a team to work on individual sections of a route without the need for a belayer, or for two climbers to move simultaneously, as in this situation. The errors Clark made were using only one device to safeguard her progress and not tying a backup knot. “I was jugging by pulling on the rope, syncing up the slack, and sitting back,” Clark said. “The route was meandering and the fixed line didn’t allow me to readily climb, so I decided to jug straight up the initial blank slab. The sling around my neck was going to hold the Traxion upright [allowing the rope to feed freely] once I started climbing. I haven’t done any top-rope soloing since the accident. I probably will at some point, but I will definitely use two devices. This was the first time I only used a single progress-capture device.”  (Source: Whitney Clark.) Each membership is critical to the AAC’s work: advocating for climbing access and natural landscapes, offering essential knowledge to the climbing community through our accident analysis and documentation of cutting edge climbing, and supporting our members with our rescue benefit, discounts, grants and more. Plus, get the new 2025 member tee! https://americanalpineclub.org/news/2025/2/11/the-prescription
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    The story of a fateful El Cap egg swap mission https://www.climbing.com/people/climbers-helped-save-yosemite-peregrine-falcons/
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    The legendary climber continues to push the limits after 40 years of hard climbing The post Alex Huber, 55, Climbs New 76-Metre-Tall 5.14c Pitch appeared first on Gripped Magazine. https://gripped.com/news/alex-huber-55-climbs-new-76-metre-tall-5-14c-pitch/
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    The mentorship gap is a frequent topic of discussion in a lot of climbing circles, and the gap seems to be especially pronounced for climbers trying to get into crag and boulder development. In this episode, we dove into the joys of having too many mentors to count. Long-time developer and AAC member Josh Pollock decided to collaborate with Jefferson County, in the Front Range of Colorado, to develop a beginner-friendly crag called the Narrow Gauge Slabs. For this project, sustainability and accessibility was a focus from the start, and Josh and other local developers designed a mentorship program that would coincide with developing the crag, to support climbers of traditionally marginalized backgrounds who want to equip themselves with knowledge and mentorship resources so that they could be developers and mentors in their own right. In this episode, we sat down with Lily Toyokura Hill and Ali Arfeen, two mentees in the program who have really taken this experience and run with it, stepping into leadership roles in the local climbing community. We cover what inspired them to become developers, perceptions of route development and who belongs, grading and individual bolting styles, and much more. The conversation with Lily, Ali, and Josh illuminates a lot about the power of mentorship and the complex considerations of developing in modern climbing. https://americanalpineclub.org/news/2024/11/18/connect-the-next-generation-of-crag-developers
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    Its another Yosemite episode! And with some of the most in-the-know climbers, pro Amity Warme and Climbing Ranger Jesse McGahey, who weigh in on what’s been happening in Yosemite, both climbing wise, and in terms of community discussions about the future of climbing ethics and style there. In this episode, we get to know crusher Amity Warme, and her perspectives on going ground-up on El Cap, how she’s recently been toeing the line between pushing her limits versus being in over her head, and how she views her role in the climbing community. We also chat about her ascent of Book of Hate (a 13d heinous stem corner ) and Pineapple Express (which is the fully free version of El Nino) last fall. We also have Yosemite Climbing Ranger Jesse McGahey back on the pod, and chat about what’s been going on in Yosemite recently regarding rising temperatures, recent accidents due to using technology, the origins of the new Yosemite Climber’s Credo, and how a local climbing community came together to agree on shared values and guidelines. Amity also weighs in on the Yosemite Credo, and why she believes in the Credo and wants to help lead the way on the best practices for climbing in this iconic location. Dive in to hear about some crucial conversations happening in one of the hubs of the climbing community. Read the Yosemite Climber’s Credo Watch Amity climb Book of Hate Learn More about Amity Warme https://americanalpineclub.org/news/2024/8/5/protect-amity-warme-and-a-yosar-climbing-ranger-weigh-in-on-the-yosemite-credo