Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 5:11 pm Post subject: 011009 Lightning Couloir "STRIKES BACK" (pic heavy
Taco (Ryan), Yoskolo (Alex) and myself (EnFuego - David) made a trip up to Baldy to make a second ascent of Lightning Couloir. We arrived shortly before 6am to windy conditions, and semi warm temps (minus the wind chill).
I would like to say it was a great trip......Ah, what the hell, it was an awesome trip. Alex and I wanted to make this trip a practice for anchors, belaying, running belays, etc.
We donned our crampons in the parking lot and with loaded packs, and enough gear to protect both sides of the mountain, we started up Big Butch Wash at 6:00am
Ryan leading the way:
Lookingback at Baldy at first light:
Getting close to steep section, we check our gear and ready ourselves for the assault:
Looking up into the couloir:
Me and Ryan looking up for a quick pic:
Looking down at what we just came up, dodging rockfall the entire way:
Alex - just behind the rockoutcrop, rocks raining down everywhere:
Alex leading first pitch:
Ryan soloing route:
Don't know what this is:
Alex at top of first pitch, before I take the lead and send second pitch:
Looking down to Alex after my lead:
Alex and Ryan after 30 minutes rescue of Ryan:
Not knowing what happened, Ryan gets belayed down to my stance:
Ryan arrives at my belay:
BAM!!!! Lightning Strikes. Son of a gun was hit by a nice size rock. Possible compound fracture:
Looking down at what we need to lower Ryan down:
Self portrait:
Ryans hand at second belay down:
Alex coming down from his belay on self made snow bollard:
Ryan at 2nd or 3rd belay, trying to get food and water in him:
Hero of the day:
Some of our gear anchored in snow/ice:
After 5 rappels, slope is gentle enough to walk down:
Paramedics (and Ryan) in parking lot:
Crazy Arse pilot giving everyone airshow on way down:
It took over 4 hours to get Ryan down 5 full pitches. This was definately a learning experience for everyone. We learned a lot of techniques, and most impotantly, how assist fellow climber in need.
At time of this post, Ryan is in Emergency Room. Ryan - I hope everything is well. Best wishes brother. If not, you can always take up flat land hiking.
Alex - you were awesome. I'll climb with you anytime. OK, OK - Ryan I'll climb with you too. _________________ There is no place for me in this world, Chanchito, I don't belong out there and I don't belong here. So I'm going into the wilderness, probably to die. I hope to see you again Chancho, maybe in the next life.
Last edited by EnFuego on Sat Jan 10, 2009 5:25 pm; edited 1 time in total
Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 5:19 pm Post subject: A fine day, really!
Ryan buddy, I've never seen someone so calm and so put together after an injury like that. You took it like a champ and I hope it's not as bad as the paramedics feared.
David, you're a superstar and I couldn't have asked for a better partner!
I hope to climb with you both soon and collect on that beer/pizza rain check!
Good everybody stayed calm and got down without any further misadventures
Get well soon
Ask for the good drugs !
serious bummer about the right arm though _________________ So many canyons...So little time
"You can't fix stupid" Ron White
"If men were angels, no government would be necessary." James Madison
"No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare." James Madison
Also, perhaps I can fill in a couple gaps...
As I was building an anchor at the top of the 5th pitch, Taco soloed past me. Throughout the morning, we had been experiencing some nasty rockfall and had been avoiding it mostly by placing our belay stations behind outcroppings and on the safer side of the coulier. It was no surprise to hear Taco yell "Rock!" I looked up and saw a few baseball size rocks go past, but none on a collision course with me. I was about to resume my anchor construction when I heard: "Hey man, I need your help." Pretty calm, really all things considered. After traversing out and spotting what seemed to be an entire kitten worth of blood on the snow, I concluded that something, quite obviously, was wrong. Taco and I made our way to the sheltered right side of the coulier as quickly as possible and I had a quick look at his arm. It seemed to me to be just a nasty cut and some serious bruising, but not knowing we decided to take the quickest route to medical help. In retrospect, I might have bandaged the wound right away. But lacking anything very appropriate and seeing the bleeding slow down quickly, we resolved to make it down the coulier ASAP!
This involved an unfortunately time consuming series of top-roped belays. First David would descend to build a belay anchor and I would lower Taco to him. After they were safe, I would either down climb or rappel (or both) to their position and we would start again.
You guys are friggin made of win! Thanks again a million times!
Arm is OK. Big hole but no broken bones, thank God. Lotsa blood loss so I was a tad messed up.
I'll have pics online soon, just very hard to type right now. _________________ Light is Right - Smooth is Fast - Speed is Safety - Mind over Matter - Burritos are Delicious
Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 6:54 pm Post subject: Taco
Sorry to hear you got hurt, Nice work David and Alex to get him down quickly and safely.
Nice work Taco for staying calm and letting others help in your time of need.
Hopefully Taco will heal quickly and get back out there before winter is over as we all know Taco loves the Winter sport better than the summer version.
Hopefully it's not as bad as it looks - get well soon.
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Thats gonna leave a mark! 