Man, thank you for the footage, I mean this! While Im in my older years, and still love to climb, watching these types of Yosemite video's is as close to the wall as I will ever get. It means the world to me, to be able to watch what I once dreamed of. Hell, I can barely get on a rollercoaster now. It's amazing the transformation one goes through as they get older. It's different for everybody, but there's just No Way, I could gather THE VERY SPECIFIC TYPE of courage big walk climbing requires. With that said, I love all of you who go into a world where only a select few have trodd. God bless you and keep you safe. In the mean time, I will continue to live vicariously through you select few. Again, thanks! Climb on, david
I too was an avid climber for more than thirty years starting in my early teens back during the mid seventies................though now at 57, I really do not think I would have the nuts for the kind swing - I know at 24 I wouldn't have worried at all but as my friend above said, it s funny how things and our perspective on things changes with time - stay safe men!!!
@@badnews9312 Yeah it's kinda ironic. My father died at 102. So, at 22, I had no fear, but had 80 years to lose. At 62, I get a bit of vertigo in places that I don't even remember as being scary in my 20s even though I "only" have 40 years to lose. It may be some slow changes in brain chemistry, but also, even though I keep in decent shape, my muscles just won't do what they used to, so I think there's some sense of just not feeling like one of the immortals anymore. Of course, there are tradeoffs: I know the geology, archeology, history, and biology a lot more now and so I appreciate the beauty in ways I used to be unaware of.
That, “hold my beer” and quoting random things, have all run their course. But unfortunately we will have to keep seeing them, because people aren’t original. Most people just mimic other people.
@@humboldtharry4248 The worst of them all is the god damn "So, you have chosen death".. the others at least has some ways to be creative, but that one is just useless. The punchline is the sentence and nothing can follow, so it's 100 % wasted time...
I bet you trust thousands of random fellow drivers on the road every day right? Do you trust the hundreds of drunk drivers around you every time you drive somewhere on a Friday night?
Having learned to climb at the tail end of the, "the leader must not fall" era, I have never gotten used to trusting ropes, or gear. It impacted my climbing of course. Just watching this swing makes me anxious.
Dang I kind of miss climbing. Now I live back in the Hi Line prairies. I never did any big walls though. Some videos that I have seen recently makes me wonder if I could do it again.
Normally not a huge fan of watching Gopro footage of climbing, but that was awesome. Sweaty hands just watching the swing. How does your climbing partner get down to you. Do you lower them through the rings where they were and then they do the same rope swing out to meet you?
that is one way but an easier way is to keep climbing and run out the next pitch so there is no gear below you, then when i got to the next belay station i was essentially about thirty feet straight across from my partner who is still where i left him... he pulls all the extra rope to him and i fix my end of the rope to my anchors, he then will take a bite of the rope and feed it through the rings, then attach it to his belay loop on his harness, so he can hold one end of the rope and lower himself down off the rings...once he reaches a point to where he is right below me, he will undo the bite which is attached by a carabiner on his harness and pull the bite back through the rings, then he takes out his ascenders and simply jugs up to where i am...hope i explained it well enough!
Hey notice you said your rope is sterling. I was curious if you recommend a wet/dry from them for sport? I was considering my next rope to be from them. They are just a tad pricey but I have seen people say they trust sterling more than any other brand. Also when you do the swing how long before you recheck your rope for hmm obscurities ? Like to make sure it’s safe like how often in general? Great job tons of exposures looks fun :)
We bought a brand new one for the climbing and a dry rope should be fine if your not ice climbing and I usually inspect the rope every time I climb when I flake it out
yeah i understand why you don't anchor with those but as soon as i turned the camera off i started to climb again then i built an proper anchor at the next set of bolts... i lead the next pitch and cleaned all my gear below as i climbed so that was prob the scarier part of the pitch... if i am belaying i always tie in with a clove hitch on the rope.
What were the hardest pitches for you guys and which pitches did you bivy at? I'm in process of planning my first wall(South face, WA column) and the Nose is going to be my 2nd. Just trying to get some beta! ;)
Lots of good bivy spots and don't worry about the climbing it's easy it's the exposure you need to worry about in addition to wa column I suggest leaning tower as well for its steep exposure
Are all those bolts just left there by previous climbers? Does the wall gradually get filled up with bolt holds everywhere? Do you always trust the security of a random stranger's bolt?
Bill F yeah they are left there but it is very bad edicit to put new ones in you usually have to get permission from the first ascensionist, people know if a new one was place and it will be removed pretty fast
@@billf7585 no power drills are outlawed in the valley if your gonna drill a bolt it has to be with a hammer and a hand drill, bolts are a past resort if there isn’t a crack or some kind of feature then you drill a bolt for upward progress , also people will do a pendulum to avoid too many bolts if you want a better understanding watch the movie valley uprising it’s the history of climbing a n the valley it’s a great film!
The bolts were placed by a local committee of some kind- full of guides, search and rescue, and climbing people who know all the main anchors and visit them frequently and monitor their condition and replace them when necessary. The real problem is bolting in more obscure areas where after 20+ years in dripping water or freezing or sandstone they become useless. Also some people use cheap bolts. Maintaining good belay anchors at popular areas is a good idea. While i am not 100% opposed to the idea of established bolted sport routes people who bolt new routes on rappel have decided to suck as human beings in hopes of being more impressive. But that’s about what most hard big climbing has always been... “heroes” littering o2 bottles up everest, bolts and copperheads up el cap.... these dudes look like they are climbing pretty clean so thats cool. Real climbers place bolts with a hand drill (as in a drill hit with a handle that you hit 700 times with a hammer) ON LEAD to place bolts. Everyone else is a little Maestri wannabe and holy shit fuck that guy. Murderers
how a bout a plane or a boat once you inspect every part of your equipement before the climb...its rope and carabiner and stuff (kinda easy) now try to inspect a plane or a cruise ship, a elevator accident happen be prepare be safe dont be affraid
It’s climbing, this equipment is meant to be used like that and certified under strict measures and quality controll. Failure of the equipment is extremely rare occurrence, most of the equipment can withstand forces up to 20-30 Kn of force where it’s hard to generate more than 6-7 while climbing and falling with 12 Kn will probably break your spine anyway. You could say the same bout lets say scuba diving, some sports and hobby involves using speciality equipment, maybe it’s not for faint hearted but for people involved its just normal
These bolts that climbers put in as they ascend, do they remove them as they go? Or till the entire face of El Capitan just be full of bolts eventually?
odgeUK they dont remove them but only the first climber places them and then they remain there for next ones. Thats why in a lot of places aborigines dont want climbers on their holy mountains. I think thats stupid tho, the bolts are very small and only climbers will see them
Thanks. I was wondering if they are used as additional 'holds' for climbers, or just as points to secure ropes to. Seemed to me like it might be a little 'easier' (relatively) to scale a rock face, if there are a bunch of bolts all over the main route, or if they are used by the Free Climbers as additional holds. I can see now though that they really are very small and low profile.
odgeUK In modern climbing bolts and ropes are there only for safety reason, you should get to the top without using them as holds or even for resting, if you dont you cant say that you "send" the route. Free solo climbers can only use the rock. For alpinism is different, you can use anything you got as long as you get to the top of the mountain
The rack of gear that was passed down to him looks like trad protection. He likely was preparing to set up a multi point trad anchor as opposed to using those fixed bolts.
I had to keep reminding myself to breathe every now and again watching this... Also, was anyone's b.h. puckering so hard, a macaroni couldn't even slide out? Yea, me either....🤐
It would be pretty difficult to mess up that badly! The rope actually holding him up is tied directly to the harness with two knots, not something he can just unclip. Definitely a scary thing to think about!
Alex Oh ok interesting, my only point of reference is top roping at the gym where u clip the rope to your harness. I guess it makes sense that they wouldn’t do that on actual mountains lol
ball day most gyms also require you to tie the standard figure 8 and double fisherman’s not for top rope and lead. The only exception to this rule that I can think of would be the autobelay systems. What gym do you go to?
Ooh, I’m confused. This gets to go wrong only once. Just the footage makes me feel ill! The climber describes it as gnarly and scary as fuck. Why the fuck does anyone do this? Impressive maybe, but these guys need their heads testing, not for me thanks! I stood in the valley and got vertigo looking up that thing, ha ha. Ah well, hats off to you lunatics.
