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[epoch]

Hearing internet reports of a scary moderate sized rockfall on Whitney-G.

Does anyone have details?

[old_school]

Damn...that place scares me!! 

[keese]

just whats been going up on other forums

12 Climbers on route. First group reportedly blew their anchor (with no injuries?!?!?) and dropped a couple refrigerator sized blocks onto the belay ledge for the pipe pitch. (The ledge with the 5 inch knee catcher off width and finger crack). Which took out more rock at the top of the 5.6 portion of P2/3. Dust up to 60m in the air . No one hurt again. But the 5.6 side opposite the 5.8 variant is not what it was before. Maybe harder or not, only one climber went through the new section. (They were leading when the rockfall took out the ledge 20ft above and 15ft to their left. Probably not 5.6 anymore if it was since the last rockfall. Welded pink Clog in that section now. Its good if you want to clip it.)

Someone from the party of 3 that dropped the rock please post and tell us what happened. And how you cut your ropes in 6 places, blew an anchor, how you didnt get hurt, and why you decided to keep going?


lesson here for everyone of the 14 people around the climb that day only one team was a team of 2 competent climbers.  the rest were teams of 2 or 3 with one person leading and the others seconding...

[Dave]

What day and what forums? Links please. I had friends on Cannon both Sat. and Sun. and they knew nothing about it.

[epoch]

What day and what forums? Links please. I had friends on Cannon both Sat. and Sun. and they knew nothing about it.

There's chatter on RC.com about it.

[MT]

I vote that Al start a new "Topic" on the Forum page called "Cannon Rockfall". This would make NEClimbs the go-to source for information on the latest car-, freezer- or pea-sized hunk of stone that has tumbled from that choss pile. I'm sure it will be the most active topic on the forum 

Cheers,

Mike

[Admin Al]

I vote that Al start a new "Topic" on the Forum page called "Cannon Rockfall". This would make NEClimbs the go-to source for information on the latest car-, freezer- or pea-sized hunk of stone that has tumbled from that choss pile. I'm sure it will be the most active topic on the forum 

LOL... 

surprised no one has posted about it here tho. hadn't heard anything as of today.

--al

[Dave]

LOL... 

surprised no one has posted about it here tho. hadn't heard anything as of today.

--al

Wierd, Had friends on lab wall and they didn't hear a thing. Talked with Rick and Alec today and the guys at IME and IMCS have heard nothing about it. It would seem a rockfall making a"60M" high dust cloud would be a big nasty event.

[WanderlustMD]

Regardless, I'll put out a standing offer of $10 for the first person to whip on the clog.

[AntinJ]

Did any of the falling blocks go the distance - or did they all stop on the ledges above the second pitch?

[Flotsam]

surprised no one has posted about it here tho. hadn't heard anything as of today.

This "keese" person has 4 posts ever on crock(dot)com all only on this thread.  They opened the account at Oct 12, 2009, 6:36 AM posts the Gilman Thread @ 6:54...  Now they have moved over here and spread similar information slightly differeing information preferenced with "it's what being talked about on other sites". 

This this is totally sust. 

First "refrigerator sized blocks" fell with 11 people below it.  No one gets hurt.

Than our friend Keezy raps to safety and learns
"Rope cut in 6 places" of lead group.
"blown anchor" (Sounds like a movie)

How,d Keezy figure all this out?

Follow that up with a confusing yet detailed account of the inexperienced hordes on the climb, were they part of a group of 9 or the only experienced party of 2 or...  and welded gear that is good now. 

I,d say the rock fall and number of people on the gilman are totally believable ¦ even the number of inexperienced people I would believe some days...  but after that it gets more than a little suspect.

http://www.rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2219894;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;

12 Climbers on route. First group reportedly blew their anchor (with no injuries) and dropped a couple refrigerator sized blocks onto the belay ledge for the pipe pitch. (The ledge with the 5 inch knee catcher off width and finger crack). Which took out more rock at the top of the 5.6 portion of P2/3. Dust up to 60m in the air . No one hurt again. But the 5.6 side opposite the 5.8 variant is not what it was before. Maybe harder or not, only one climber went through the new section. (They were leading when the rockfall took out the ledge 20ft above and 15ft to their left. Probably not 5.6 anymore if it was since the last rockfall. Welded pink Clog in that section now. Its good if you want to clip it.)

Someone from the party of 3 that dropped the rock please post and tell us what happened. And how you cut your ropes in 6 places, blew an anchor, how you didnt get hurt, and why you decided to keep going?

-one of the 9 who bailed from below

[DMan]

This "keese" person has 4 posts ever on crock(dot)com all only on this thread.  They opened the account at Oct 12, 2009, 6:36 AM posts the Gilman Thread @ 6:54...  Now they have moved over here and spread similar information slightly differeing information preferenced with "it's what being talked about on other sites". 

This this is totally sust. 

First "refrigerator sized blocks" fell with 11 people below it.  No one gets hurt.

Than our friend Keezy raps to safety and learns
"Rope cut in 6 places" of lead group.
"blown anchor" (Sounds like a movie)

How,d Keezy figure all this out?

Follow that up with a confusing yet detailed account of the inexperienced hordes on the climb, were they part of a group of 9 or the only experienced party of 2 or...  and welded gear that is good now. 

I,d say the rock fall and number of people on the gilman are totally believable ¦ even the number of inexperienced people I would believe some days...  but after that it gets more than a little suspect.

http://www.rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2219894;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;

And professional internet trolls finally arrive at NEClimbs.com...

[Admin Al]

And professional internet trolls finally arrive at NEClimbs.com...

emphasis on the word professional...

--al

[Dave]

And professional internet trolls finally arrive at NEClimbs.com...

It makes me wonder when none of the guys at IME or IMCS had heard anything about it with the number of climbers that float thru that place on any given day. News of rockfall that big would travel fast.

[llamero]

When I climbed the Whitney-Gilman this summer, it seemed to be nothing more than a tall stack of loose blocks, with hardly anything solid (as in Acadia granite solid).  All the guide books clearly state to not follow another group on a route for this very reason.  They also clearly state that Canon is not a place to learn to climb.  I know personally that I would never have wanted to test out what would happen if I took a fall on some of the pro, especially on the higher pitches, mostly out of fear I'd wind up with some refrigerator block careening down on me.   Canon is super fun, but is also needs to be taken seriously considering the combination of friable rock and unpredictable weather (here's for stating the obvious  ).