TR: Gunksfest 2003
Alex Chiang
and enjoyed the other half.
The cast of characters included Mike Rawdon, The Cikoskis (Tom,
Diane, and Colin), Gabriel (GoClimb), Marc (Fred), Larry (Chiloe),
and me. It was nice to meet up with some old friends and make new
ones (and associate names with faces with internet handles).
Special thanks to Tom for getting the first round at Bacchus!
How did Saturday go? Let's see some more TR's!
/Alex
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Go get your copy of Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills.
I'll wait.
[...]
Ready? Cool.
I've got the 6th edition. Those with other editions will have to
do a bit of sleuthing. Anyhow, on page 119, in the upper right
hand corner is a picture of the "rewoven bowline" which is
the knot I tie in with all the time. It's a bowline variant,
so it doesn't cinch up supertight like a figure-eight, which
is a handy feature if you fall a bunch, like while climbing hard
sport routes (for most people) or if you're just out of shape
(like me). It superficially resembles a figure-eight, so a
distracted gym safety nazi has to look twice before realizing
that you're using a non-sanctioned knot.
And as I always tell people that haven't seen it before, it's a
pretty safe knot, considering that it actually consists of two
bowlines, and that if the first ever comes undone, you've still
got the second to prevent death.
Not that I'd ever seen the rewoven part ever come undone before,
but after staring at it a few times, it sure seemed that it would
be the case.
Actually, I'd never seen the rewoven part come undone until I
happened to look down right before pulling on death flake #2.
"Um, hold on a second, Larry. I seem to be having some
technical difficulties."
"Oh yeah?"
I start fiddling with the knot while explaining the situation to
Larry.
" .... And so I've always told people that the second bowline
would hold if the first ever came undone. Not that I've ever
seen the first one come undone before."
"Well, now you can assert your statement with the power of
first-hand experience."
"I'd prefer to theorize from the safety of my armchair."
If you examine the picture on page 119, you'll see that the
finished knot has a final overhand to finish it off. I usually
tie this backup knot, but for whatever dumb reason, I was feeling
lazy earlier on the ground and simply didn't finish it. Perhaps I
was giddy at the prospect of some sun.
We'd been freezing our assets off all day. The weather was a sort
of miserable inbetweenness, where it wasn't oppressive enough to
cause retreat to the bar, and definitely wasn't good enough to
actually enjoy yourself on the rock. I prayed for either
precipitation or sun and got neither for most of the day.
Alternately, I wondered if I could convince everyone to pack it
in and then collectively lie about what a great time we'd had.
I also wondered why I was trying to climb rocks on an overcast
December day. Did I actually enjoy Gunksfest, or did I simply
like the idea of Gunksfest? mu. It's not fair to ask that
question while Gunksfest is still in progress.
By 2 pm, though, we actually had some sun. Larry had finished
his warmup climb and was ready for more. We decided on Three
Doves, although I was a bit apprehensive at climbing 5.9- with
numb fingers. I heard myself volunteering for the first pitch and
wondered what malicious alien had taken over my speech
facilities.
"Where are the stoppers?!?"
"You don't have them?"
I was belaying comfortably, watching Larry spar with the expando
flake up above on the second pitch. While still on the ground, I
glanced over at Larry and saw that he was carrying a small rack.
I thought I saw stoppers, so I didn't bother either of the 2 sets
in front of me.
"Stoppers would be perfect here. In fact, nothing else will go in!"
"Oh."
I snuggled back onto the comfy tree root that was serving as my
belay bench and zipped up my jacket a bit more. The first pitch
wasn't that bad, with only a single exposed move above an old
pin. The numb hands made it interesting, but certainly not as
interesting a time as Larry as having up above.
In good time, Larry pulled through the crux and I headed up.
"Alrighty. Knot's fixed. Climbing."
"This is a bit more adventure than I was expecting from Gunksfest."
"Yeah, well, we lie a lot."
Dawn Alguard
> "This is a bit more adventure than I was expecting from Gunksfest."
>
> "Yeah, well, we lie a lot."
Where's the rest of it? This isn't the end, is it?
Dawn
Alex Chiang
Kinda ends abruptly, I agree. Who knows... I ran out of
inspiration.
So where are the other TR's? SERIOUSly?
/Alex
GOclimb
for day 2.
If anyone from day 1 is down a couple of oval biners, please email me
w/ make/marking, and I'll mail 'em to you.
GO