Hi! My channel is based on documenting and sharing adventure and exploration of some of the greatest climbing and adventures in the southeast including Aid, Ice, Trad, and many other forms of awesome climbing and exploration! From gear to straight-up experiences I cover it all! All videos and content are solely produced and created by Tim Wheatley!
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The land of a thousand eyebrows. If only some of them were upside down... If you need a masterclass in NC slab, head over to Stone Mountain (Not the one in Georgia) where you'll find expanses of smooth granite bigger than football fields. It's nowhere near vert, but there's 5.11s. Bolts were placed on lead, no power tools. No, you didn't miss a bolt, it's up another 40 feet... You'll gain a new appreciation for tiny nubbin crystals... Home of the Stone Mountain running belay--the rope is passed through a biner slung to a tree, and when the climber falls the belayer takes off running through the woods. Good times.
Bro having redundancy is key. What if your duck gets jammed open by the rock, your shirt, etc? You should seriously consider just adding a micro traxion
"And that's why we wear a helmet!" I'm not sure but it looks from the video that your foot kind of caught on that little ledge, which is what maybe caused you to flip upside down.
Bro watched one video and thinks I don’t know how to place gear. There was no where to place gear here, the rock quality was too bad and wouldn’t haven been worth placing. Also rope drag. Thinking that just knowing what a good placement is without considering anything else such as rock quality, rope drag, etc, will get you killed. Although this may have been a bad fall I did not hit the ground. My gear held.
He's at the Glass!!!!!!! W00t! been waiting for this one for a while. You buried the lead with that Skibbity comment lol. Don't go all ohio rizz on me ;)
isnt falling like this considered bad? i dont climb, but i would be extremely worried to just slam back on the rope/anchor without good reason. if you know you are going to fall why not carefully lower down and rest on the rope?
Many times in climbing if you think you are going to fall you actually have a lot left in the tank. I always try to push myself till failure. If you are confident and know your gear is good and your fall will be a clean one there's no reason not to push yourself. Most of the times this is the case.
TR'd this earlier and really wishing I watched this first. At the crux I was using those crimps with my right hand and had a flaring/lousy/half a handjam with my left hand and pulled up to get my feet on the crimps and boy did that feel super hard. You finger locked the bottom of what I was trying to handjam and got that right hand up; I really like how you did it. On another note, I miss all the content man! I hope to see you posting more pov trad climbs of sunset and T-wall (this coming season). You're a badass!
Yeah dude glad to hear you enjoyed it! Trust me, I really want to continue uploading and climbing all the time but I'm still recovering from toe injury for a few months now and haven't climbed in a while.
I did this for years. Two barrel knots make it adjustable to cinch up around your waste. Can be used in an emergency for a prusik or whatever you need.
Would it not be better to have Duck on top? Would the Duck hold if micro trax failed and came in contact with top of Duck? I have always been told to put micro trax on bottom. Feel free to chime in.
It will think about it. The kong duck works by compression so even if the sheath is not attached or even present, it will still catch. Or at least that is the theory.
Progress device this is pointless just clove the first piece. Back up knot isn’t gunna help if the grigri fails which won’t happen but then the micro traction will cut the rope, don’t need any of this get in your ladders and start moving just the grigri is good
Bruh first of all clove hitching the first piece is a terrible idea and increases the chances of a factor 2 by a lot. Not only does it do that but all removes any dynamic component of the system. Backup knot will help because even if the gri gri were to be completly removed from the system the knot will be there as an independent failsafe. The progress device is not there to provide any protection just to maintain the cache loop. The progress capture wont cut the rope because its not even oriented to catch a fall. Did you watch the whole video lol?
thanks for your tips - i think the most important under us rope solo climber is to share our experience like you do and take it to make your one system safer - for that reason i have lots of films from others under playlist CH Rope Solo. Maby there are some stuff for you guys as well.
I have anchored to a tree but usually only to get to the anchors themselves. The anchors are usually very easily visually inspectable and if i see they are rusty ill either not use them or make a full on equalized anchor. SERENE
Nah its not about moving fast, its about being efficient. Climbing quickly through the easy bits and more slow and thoughtfully through the hard sections is the way to do it.
As we stepped around a final culminating block onto the summit, getting blasted by the wind, incredibly cold, we could not help but be elated to have made a winter ascent of Longs Peak, at 18 and 23 years old. At 14,259 feet and 11:34 pm, we could see the city lights of Estes Park twinkling in the distance far far away, and below us. Although we were incredibly cold and just wanted to begin our descent, I decided to take a quick summit video, a decision I'm very happy about in retrospect. We began our descent rather rapidly after summiting to stay warm. I pulled out my Inreach to send a quick check-in message where I was met with a message detailing how the Inreach was reaching the minimum operating temperature of -20F. As we continued downward on steep snow-covered slopes, scouring what we thought was the cables route, we miraculously found both eyelets for the rappels with minimal searching and were finally off the ridgeline in the boulder field. Although it was still incredibly cold, we were joyous to be somewhat protected and out of the wind again. Our original plan was to descend via a GPS route that someone had posted, which descended a hidden gulley returning to Chasm Lake as seemed to be the fastest way. In the dark and weary, we could not find this gulley so we opted to return to the car via the Keyhole Route. As both of our phones and headlamps were almost dead at this point, we began to scour the massive boulder field surrounding us, searching for the trail, aided mostly by the peaceful moonlight illuminating the snow around us. After arduously finding the trail, we continued following it back to the car, getting off the trail a few times due to snow cover and the little travel the trail receives in the winter. We arrived back in the car at around 7:00 am the next day. Boots and crampons still on our feet, harnesses remaining around our waists, and helmets still on our heads, we were joyous to see the parking lot hidden through the dense trees. After over 25 hours of continuously moving in the mountains, the sun was rising and we were chewed up and spit out by the mountain. Parkas filled with numerous memory-making holes, and fingertips that would not be the same for months, we had done it. Although Longs Peak had allowed us to summit, it had come at a great physical and mental cost. Reviewing the temperatures and such, it had turned out to be around -30F on the summit with wind chill. I believe it was far colder due to the incredibly strong wind on the summit and the elevation but I'm not sure. At the very least it was -20F without windchill due to my Inreach reaching the minimum temperature. Although some things had not gone 100% according to the plan, it was an incredible experience nonetheless. Taking a route we had not planned on taking and adventuring in unknown terrain made the experience all the more exciting. I would like to mention, however, that at no point, were we truly in any danger as we had gone about everything very conservatively with respect to ourselves and the mountain. All hazards and risks were taken with prior consideration and were by choice. As I've painted our trip to be quite pleasurable I'd like to clarify by saying yes, we may have been absolutely miserable, freezing cold, and exhausted. Still, it was a great time romping through the hills and accomplishing something so great. A great thanks to my partner Mason for remaining steadfast during our ascent and to the mountain for allowing us to summit and for returning us to our car safely.
Tim Wheatley Longs Peak Winter Alpine Ascent Trip Report *For added effect read while listening to the 3rd Movement of Bruckner Symphony #8* It was the dawn of January 2nd, 2024, following a day of rest and sleep, after spending the previous night partying at a bar in Colorado at Copper Mountain for the celebration of the New Year with my long-time climbing partner Mason Rinalducci. The morning began weary-eyed after a night in the van at 9,382 feet in the Longs Peak parking lot. Just before we had gone to sleep, a park ranger showed up and we thought for sure we would be booted, as there were signs posted reading “No camping in the parking lot”, but to our surprise he came and went, not saying a word to us, likely due to the fact that our gear was splayed out on the ground of the parking lot around our car as we packed our bags for the upcoming day, making it obvious we were there to climb. We woke up donning our headlamps, weary-eyed and ready for the day ahead. Fracturing the darkness surrounding us, we crawled out of the warmth of our sleeping bags. After putting our clothes on for the day ahead of us, we left the car at around 5:30 am, a later start than we had liked. Filled with excitement and ambition we began trudging up the trail heading toward Chasm Lake in the cold and darkness, packs filled with our gear for the day. We had chosen to do Kieners Route, a 5.4, M2, easy snow climb. As we are from Tennessee and Georgia, the elevation crept in slowly, forcing our travel to go far slower than we had expected. Luckily, throughout the entire trip, other than the difficulty of catching our breath, neither of us sustained any altitude sickness symptoms whatsoever. As we continued drawing nearer to Chasm Lake, the sun began to rise, revealing the incredible alpenglow we could've only dreamed of. The scorching fire of the sunrise ripping through the horizon pierced our eyes like no sunrise had before. The lack of any other people made the environment all the more serene and the newly revealed view of The Diamond glistening in the golden sunlight off in the distance was magnificent. We continued towards Chasm Lake, reaching it around 10:00 am at an elevation of around 11,760 feet. As we weren't sure if it would be completely frozen, we threw a fairly large-sized rock onto the ice where, after the first impact of the rock, it was completely out of the question if it was frozen. The sound produced was that of a stone hitting a slab of concrete and all doubt that may have been in our minds was demolished. After further inspection, the lake had to have been at least a foot thick; likely many more feet reaching the rock below it. We continued out onto the lake donning our mountaineering boots and crampons, both wearing G-techs as our choice of boot. We continued to walk across the lake; crampons screeching and gnawing on the impeccable ice slab below the 10 points of our crampons. We arrived just below the Lamb’s slide and continued up the snow-covered boulder field beneath the Diamond where we began ascending the couloir in front of us. We were delighted to see the couloir was filled with snow, rather than a steep slab of ice, allowing us to ascend it without the use of ropes for protection, and only using our ice tools in the case of needing to self-arrest. Our feet sank into the snow up to our mid calves as we began up the couloir, reaching the access point of the Broadway Traverse at 2:00 pm, nearing 12,900 feet after ascending over 1000 feet. The sheer length, steepness, and elevation of the couloir made ascending quite a bit more challenging than expected and longer than hoped. Although not technical whatsoever, ascension here was very slow going. After beginning the Broadway traverse, we reached a point where the traversing became ever so slightly technical and the fall potential outweighed that of soloing. In turn, we decided to rope up to the summit from here, a decision that would slow us greatly but increase the safety of our ascent astronomically. At this point, we could see what we thought was the summit glooming in the distance which turned out only to be the top of the Diamond feature, hiding the true summit above and behind it. Although the weather throughout our entire ascent was as good as we could have asked for - a bluebird day - it just so happened to be one of the coldest days on Longs Peak. As we were halfway through the traverse the temperatures began to drop dramatically and we could tell. It took all the layers we had brought to keep us any version of warm at this point. We finally reached the end of the traverse after negotiating many easy snow slopes arriving just below the notch couloir. At this point in our ascent, things began to happen in less-than-ideal ways. Reviewing the topos posted on Mountain Project, some said to ascend the notch couloir and some to go past it and ascend 4th class terrain. We opted to ascend the Notch Couloir where at this point the sun was almost down. As we reached the top of the Notch Couloir, having negotiated multiple sections of extremely thin, steep, unprotectable alpine ice, we were met with a near-vertical section of around 45-50 feet of fully technical mixed climbing. Although the ice was thin and technical here it was not something we weren't used to. Both my partner and I have gotten a great majority of our experience climbing incredible sketchy, thin, southern-fried ice, making this section far more relaxed than it could have been; climbing on ice that is too thin to take screws is something we were rather accustomed to. At this point, we had only used the rock protection and pickets we brought for making anchors and placed very few pieces during the traverse as an end-all-be-all death prevention tool due to the nature of the traverse being extremely easy yet extremely consequentially risky and exposed, facing a fatal multiple thousand-foot fall below. Before our ascent, we had read about how most people take very few pieces of rock gear but I opted to take a full single rack of Totems and offset nuts which in turn made everything we were about to do far safer and very reasonable. At no point during our ascent did we encounter ice thick enough to place any of the screws we had brought? As I had the most experience, I took the lead on this 40-foot technical section of unknown difficulty. It was pitch black and very, very cold, leading the pitch in a full summit parka and extremely thick and heavy gloves. I will say after the fact, that although nothing was ideal in this situation, it was quite enjoyable, going at around M4 or M5. The sheer location and technicality of doing a near-vertical pitch of full-on mixed climbing with unknown difficulty was incredible. However, had I not brought rock gear, this would have been not so awesome and incredibly dangerous. We reached the top of the face and continued up and right toward the summit, pitching it out, placing 1-2 pieces every 200 feet as the climbing here was very tame at around 4th class terrain with one final section of offwidthy 5th class. During this final section of ascension, the temperature had dropped to a grueling low, causing us to shiver during each belay as soon as we stopped moving; being battered by the wind growing in intensity as we became nearer to the summit. -> Continued in separate comment due to character limits
It's a good set up. I would also suggest you stop by the Fire Department stations in your area and ask if they have any old hose scrap. Fire hose is made with a thick rubber interior hose with two very abrasion resistant woven outer jackets. Thread your climbing rope through a four-foot section or so, and when you set up your rope use that section where it drapes over the rock / edge. It'll do a GREAT job of protecting your ropes (and your life) and more often than not the Fire Dept. is happy to give it away. I also keep a few two-foot sections I've cut on one side of. I use these if I find a spot mid-rope that needs protection, I can just slip them on and wrap them from coming off with either cord or duct tape.
Screemer extension restricted by 1st bolt. Rather tension anchor on 1st bolt while keeping screemer extension free from being clipped above the screemer but clipping the screemer slacg in the 1st bolt. That way the anchor is tensioned in opposition but while taking a higher factor fal on a ripl the screemer can still extended freely but the rope can pulley over the 1st bolt.
I see your point, however, in the real world, you will have the first bolt much higher than this example, I was just limited by space, but good observation and definitely something to keep in mind.
