twisted ankle and left gear on striated

[motanb]

Hey everyone,

I was in Welsford today with Cory R. and we managed to complete one project which we started cleaning last fall (on striated wall). Located on the arete to the left of "miramichi trout hunter" is the new route called "commited to memory"-5.8,trad,G; 75ft. There is a fixe rap station at the top which was place a few wks ago by Fred.( be careful when rapping off of this, because the bolts are placed 5ft or so back from the face ,on flat terrain, which creates a tremendous amount of friction when retrieving the rope from below.)
After completeing "commited to memory" I hopped on our next project which is adjacent to the latter route. While stuggling through the crux section I took a "routine" fall on sound pro, but.... I twisted my right ankle severly enough that we had to bail. So, the FFA has yet to be accomplished. We also left behind 3 cams and slings/biners atop the route (on the fixe anchor). Needless to say, I believe this project checks in around 10+ or easy 11. It is all trad with good pro.
In case anyone cares to know, my ankle was checked by a doc at St. Joe's luckily NO fractures!! Just a routine sprained and swollen ankle. I'll mend back to health soon enough.
In the mean time, whilst I recover, could everyone please remain off the route until I have the oppurtunity to return and red point the FFA. Thank you
Thomas Anderson

[chossmonkey]

Bummer about the ankle. Hopefully it wasn't a bad sprain. Those seem to be worse than breaking it a lot of the time.

I hope you heal up quick.

[Fred]

be careful when rapping off of this, because the bolts are placed 5ft or so back from the face ,on flat terrain, which creates a tremendous amount of friction when retrieving the rope from below

rap off the slabby part heading towards Ride A Cock horse instead of straight down the route and the rope pulls fine

[Fred]

We also left behind 3 cams and slings/biners atop the route (on the fixe anchor).

Are you using a natural anchor as a statement to suggest the anchor is not needed? Not certain if I'm missreading your subtle comments.

[motanb]

We also left behind 3 cams and slings/biners atop the route (on the fixe anchor).

Are you using a natural anchor as a statement to suggest the anchor is not needed? Not certain if I'm missreading your subtle comments.

Hey Fred... No subtle comments implied. The anchor is solid. I merely used several sewn slings w biners to reduce rope drag whilst rapping down the two routes I described. You are right though, If we were to rap down the slabs of Miramichi trout hunter, perhaps the drag would be reduced? Either way, i used the fixe anchor which you placed (not a substitute trad anchor) because it is absolutely solid. Upon looking at the area in which you had placed the anchor it seems that a higher placed anchor on vertical rock opposed to on flat rock would facilitate a smoother retrieval of rope. And it seemed to us that such a position clearly existed. Nevertheless, your bolt placements are fine of course;-)
Hope you don't over-analyse my commentary as being subtley rude, I am only providing honest feed-back.
My ankle is quite sore and swollen however and I'm super bummed about the injury. Hope to see you out soon.
T.

[motanb]

one more thing... the three cams are all remaining on the climb itself;not as a natural anchor to substitute the fixe station. 2 HB quad cams and a DMM cam all remain on the first 30 ft section of the project.

[Fred]

Hey Tom. Thx

I took a long hard look at the higher placement but I think if you spend more time around there with a hammer you'll quickly see that the only higher placement is on a large detached block sitting on a slopped cleavage plane... so I opted for the bomber anchor on the flat with compromise in rope retrieval of course. As I'm sure you know, it's never straight forward when selecting optimal bolt locations (i.e. many factors involved in the decision)

Don't rap down Miramichi as this will likely cause more problems. Rap down to climber left towards Ride A Cock Horse on a low angle slab and I think you'll find it much easier to pull the rope. Once you try this let me know how it works. I've pulled the rope from there a few times with no difficulty.

p.s. nice sends and hope the ankle heals quick

cheers

[chossmonkey]

We also left behind 3 cams and slings/biners atop the route (on the fixe anchor).

Are you using a natural anchor as a statement to suggest the anchor is not needed? Not certain if I'm missreading your subtle comments.

You were just trying to start your own little NB "debate" weren't you?

[Burley]

Debates are for nerds and politicians. Fistfight... the winner’s ethics prevail.

[Andrew]

Tom,

That's a rough deal about the Ankle, but luckily at our age it heals quickly! I sprained my right ankle quite severely in October. Mine took about 1 month before I could walk on rough terrain and another month before I wasn't scared I'd sprain it again. The first month, I wore a special plastic boot that limited my ankle's range of movement. I had to work (Cable technician) while injured, so that boot helped. I'm fine now, but the ankle gets sore in some situations like driving crummy automatic transmissions on Chevy Vans. No problem for climbing now.

Congrats on setting up a couple more routes. I gotta try out the 5.10 one's its all finished up. Get better soon bud.

Andrew

[motanb]

thanks Andrew for your kind words. See you on the rock soon.

[cory]

but luckily at our age it heals quickly!

Tom's OLD. He will be out of commission for at least 8 weeks, and the way I see it you only get 4 for a project. So I might get to add a few cams to my rack AND grab a FFA
I guess you'd better get well soon Tommy Boy

Cory (G)

[motanb]

yes...how could u take advantage of a cripple?

Somehow i'll get the ffa (gimp foot of not)