What's the scariest/strangest thing you've seen at the crag?

[Pierre]

I think this weekend I saw what not to do at the crag!

I was up at Bald Peak on Saturday doing some top roping and it was near the end of the day when a group of 3 arrived.

He says "hello" then makes a comment about our climbing gear, then proceed to climb up one of the easier faces without protection. Once on the top he throws down his rope without yelling rope. Then we don't hear them or see them for awhile, I later on find out why. They we warming up to climb smoking some wacky tabacky...

My first impressions of these people were that they were cluesless and had little or no experience in climbing and that someone was going to seriously get hurt. I decided it was time to pack up and to get out of there before something happened that I didn't want to see...

Before we left I was curious about the rope they we're using, It looked to be about 9mm and it did quite reach the bottom of the cliff. I thought it was odd that it didn't reach the bottom so I went over to the rope closely examined the rope, I could not believe what I was seeing, the rope looked and felt like poly rope that you buy at the local hardware store.

After we're all packed up I still need to take down an anchor so I went up top and
and the smell of the wacky tabacky was quite strong, I looked over to their anchor and
saw what they were using for an anchor, all they did was thread the rope through the bolts at the top of cliff.

I tear down my anchor and am coming down the trail to the bottom of the crag and the guy ask me where I got all the biners and climbing gear and how much it costed. I told him mec and he looked at me like I had two heads. They also asked us where we got the cute little rubber shoes.

I asked the guy if they are going to be climbing or rappelling and he tells me climbing, and that they been up there several times before. At this point I didn't know what to say, I felt like giving them a speech on safety but I'm sure that would of made no difference, so decided it was time to leave, I put my pack on made one more quick glance of the area and saw them getting ready to climb, it looked like they we're tying a swami belt....

What were these people thinking... How can they be so cluesless...

Later



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[martha]

I've seen some pretty ugly crap at crags. it happens. I would have likely given them a lecture and then left them there so I didn't have to watch any accidents happen.


Did you get their names? what they looked like etc? It was on saturday? the UNB Climbing Comp was on Saturday, so it likely wasn't any of our regular climbers.

Are you sure it was a Cdn tire type rope and not just a small double rope or something? yikes!

theaded through the bolts eh? that is aweful, cause those bolts are not meant to be rapped off as they are just regular hangers with no rap rings. they are lucky they didn't saw the rope in half!

grrr. it makes me so angry you have no idea.

[Fred]

what's wrong with threading your rope through those hangers?

[martha]

If I remember correctly, those hangers are not the thick metolious ones like on the belay ledge on L-shape that you can rap off. and If I also remember, they don't have rap rings on them, so they are the normal sized hangers.

I'm thinking since they were climbing on that set up as Pierre said, that threading the rope would be just a tad dangerous...

or were you joking?

[Fred]

If I remember correctly, those hangers are not the thick metolious ones like on the belay ledge on L-shape that you can rap off. and If I also remember, they don't have rap rings on them, so they are the normal sized hangers.

ok

I'm thinking since they were climbing on that set up as Pierre said, that threading the rope would be just a tad dangerous...

ok

or were you joking?

yes

[Pierre]

Martha Said:
Did you get their names? what they looked like etc? It was on saturday? the UNB Climbing Comp was on Saturday, so it likely wasn't any of our regular climbers.

It was late Saturday late afternoon they had a pitbull with them. From the brief conversation I had with them I did not get the feeling that they were regular climbers.

Are you sure it was a Cdn tire type rope and not just a small double rope or something? yikes!

I'm not a 100% sure, but the rope didn't seem feel like any climbing rope that's been in my hands. It felt like it was polypropylene rope.

I've seen some pretty ugly crap at crags. it happens. I would have likely given them a lecture and then left them there so I didn't have to watch any accidents happen.

I thought about saying something to them but the guy who seemed to be the leader had a very big knife and looked a little high... So I felt it was best to avoid conflict. I told them to play safe and then left the area because I didn't want to watch just incase and accident did happen.

Once I got back to the car, I mentioned to Range Patrol what I observed and told them I didn't think they checked in before using the area. Sgt at range patrol informed me that there was not much he could do about them climbing unsafely but if they were up there without permission he could kick them the f'out of there.

The thing that I hate is if an accident did happen it brings us bad press.... I just find it hard to believe that people would take risks like that and not educate themselves more about rock climbing. I know that I'm pretty much beginner in this sport and I have a lot more to learn about rock climbing but what I saw this weekend distrubed me. I've spent a lot of time educating myself on the subject and I believe that I have the basic fundametals to make my climbing trips safe. Rock climbing is much more than just a rope and climbing on rock...