Marathon Boulder, Day 2!!!!!11!

So after a second day of effort, the proud project on the "Marathon Boulder" (formerly the "Matterhorn") still has yet to see a send. Ivan is closest, while the rest of us are getting to just below his highpoint (the real business move). I feel good, but scared as fuck that high off the deck (which is pavement) with only a few pads. Let's take some serious padage soon.





Also, this line on the right arete got some attention at the end of the day. A different style, and perhaps not as classic, but still stand out in its own right.

P-Rob vs. La Pelle

P-Rob vs. La Pelle from Garrett Koeppicus on Vimeo.

Hullo Hullo. A quicky from a short moist sesh in Cresciano this past Sunday. Mr.Robinson was psyched on getting this footage up on his blog so I cut this together today while resting. Jyeah-yah.

Also, there's a pic on the front page of 8a.nu taken by yours truly. Lofls.

pysched on magic wood tomorrow! should be gnar!

BIG UP FROM SWEEEZZZZYY!

HALLLLLLLLLOOOOO FROM SWEITZERLAND!!!!!!

How are you all? Well I hope!

As I see it, You can't facebook until you flickr. And you can't flickr until you update the Dab. And you can't update the Dab without climbing. So I've been climbing.

Everything went smoothly on the 2nd when Paul and I flew in. We rendezvoused easily, got our car, and even made it to our apt with no major hassles. The day was hot, and we were super jet-lagged so we just hiked up to Cresciano to scope it out. Dreamtime is REDUNKULOUS. First boulder we checked out. Psyched on having scoped the area we headed back to the apt, and planned on hitting up the boulders the next day.

Except that it rained. It rained for six days straight. Hard. With one brief interlude to the magic wood on friday the 5th when all of two boulders were dry. Oof. But the weather broke, and we've been shredding it up!

Paul and I are living in the town of Claro, which is:
-5 minutes from Cresciano
-25 minutes from Chironico
-35 minutes from Brione
-50 minutes from The Magic Wood

In those rainy days we scoped all of the areas, and they are pretty bangin. Bouldering by the river is pretty hard to beat.

In the sunny weather we've been hitting up the Magic Wood which is SPECTACULAR. The river boulder (supernova, neverending story etc, is quickly becoming one of my favorites, the setting is redunk).

There's a rad british crew that we've been climbing with, and we're already getting requests for UK editions of dab shirts. Haha EXPANSION.

Uploading here has been somewhat frustrating but to quote Paul "Dude, consider that we're hijacking wireless by sticking our computers out the window". LOFLS. so yeah. The seal has been broken, you can expect regular updates.

We're off to Chironico. Flickr update to begin this evening!

ENJOI.

xo,
G.

p.s. To envision cresciano, Imagine PCG, but more of it, and with bigger bouldarz. Yes, that is correct, more PCG. SNAP. So psyched for the days of 0 C.


Dabbing in Swizterland, Part I from Garrett Koeppicus on Vimeo.

Central Park Choss

Dab

Last Sunday

pic by Laura



pic by Laura

Who's down to go back in a couple weeks after it gets a little cooler? I really wanna send that first rig.

Farewell Dabber

king kong

live long, bring shirts, and prosper.

Fall will soon be upon us.

And I'm returning from the great American west with an abundance of psyche. I hope you will all join me on my quest to spend much more time on the boulders of New York this year. You've been officially invited. See you Tuesday night.

.s.s. said it best

it's good to roll deep.

Simple Post

Depart JFK International 16:00 Sept 1st
Arrive ZRH Inernational 08:15 Sept 2nd


Depart ZRH International 13:00 December 12
Arrive JFK International 16:05 December 12

Return To Teh North: Pt. 2

Return to Dabtronica. Beach Bolderz. Uh huh.


Return to Dabtronica from Redcrashpad on Vimeo.

hey hey
happpy independance day
the days are getting shorter.
with the following feature iam going to bring dabtronics back to its roots
big up
and special thanks to kuba
oh and make sure to grab a beer or some wine and put the volume up
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2ambLDAuS5A

Greetings From the South!

The dabathon looks like is was teh rad-niz!! Hopefully I'll make it up north for Dabathon Strikes Back.

Well, here's a vid for all you dabbers out there. Boat Rock and Rocktown. Boat Rock footage is from impromptu sesh while the NC boys were in town on Tuesday. Rocktown, was from back when it was colder, haha. Hopefully I'll be seeing you guys soon, yay-er!!


Greeting From the South!! from Redcrashpad on Vimeo.

Dabathon II

It was a great day with an unfortunate reoccurring theme involving unwanted visitors.  Busted in Fort Tryon, Van Cortlandt & St. Nicolas.

Dabathon

103rd Street Outcrops
Originally uploaded by .s.s.

Here are some photos from the recent Dabathon dry run. The real deal dabathon is scheduled for the solstice on Saturday, June 21.

At the Ramble
Originally uploaded by .s.s.

initial results

{an initial photo report, as snelling did most of the photage.}
gk on the big arete in the ramble mud. the elbow damage. thank god everything looked worse than it feels. props to everyone who came out and went the full distance, it ruled. hard. there is already talk of a summer solstice dabathon starting out from van cortland and moving south. i eagerly await this event.
by my count, I think i got in 55 problems. I'm not sure what other people did, or if they even counted. I just wanted to break 50. with some ingenuity and pluck, I think the brave and the bold could squeeze out 70 next time around. new problems were sent by many. yang slayed pile driver and nearly cleaned up guns, cars, and sitars. next time around... the crew moved with efficiency and nearly stayed together the whole time, though we lost the thread right at the end. burgers and beers ended the day and my tips are still a little tender.
the big news from this trip is that the ramble rules and st. nicolas park holds one of the raddest problems in nyc. check it out, its always christmas in new york.

dabathon!!!?!

RIP for both the pad and the bike



MAY 10th!!!
That means THIS saturday kids.

The deal:
Meet @ 9am @ Rat Rock
bring a bike and whatever else you want

get the word out to whomever might not see this...
if you need a a bike, I've got one extra, so get in touch.

followup

all together
Originally uploaded by yangwave

a while back we tested the snellmobile on a road trip from brooklyn to central park. it took us about 45 mintues to get there. here are some of the result from the day.

p.s. flickr uploadr blows donkey

mmmmmm

dab marathon 2008

the manifest:

1)cat rock
2)rat rock
3)the ramble
4)west side outcrops
5)110th st areas (worthless, shit rock, etc)
6)st. nicolas park
7)highbridge park (south and north)
8)ft.tryon
9)Inwood
10)van cortlandt



the idea: climb at least one problem at every area, though ideally you will climb as many as you can at each area. we can tally up points at the end of the day, but no, its not a competition, only "with yourself" as the saying goes. bikes are the mode of transport, no trains, cabs, or send-mobiles will be allowed. from my vantage point in brooklyn, its about 15 miles up to van cortlandt. the crux here is that to finish the game, you have to bike it back to brooklyn (or wherever else may be home). so, if you don't have a bike, beg, borrow, (don't steal, there is an especially devious place in hell reserved for bike theives), or do whatever it takes to procure a velo for this event. so there is potential here to do between 50 and 100 boulder problems and ride your bike for 30 miles, plus you get to visit all the lovely bouldering areas in nyc in one day. rulin'.
no date set yet, but i'm feeling that it should be soon. i guess we should wait for snelling to get back from the west coast before we embark, but other than that, its anybody's guess, or suggestion?

Friday in Da Gunks

Dear Friends:

On Sunday March 30th at approximately 2:30 pm my climbing partner Steve Snopkowski and I were struck by an avalanche while climbing the North Gully in Huntington ravine on Mount Washington. The avalanche was triggered by a two climbers just reaching the rim 800 feet above. They reported a fracture 60 feet wide by four feet deep.

I led the first pitch which consisted of a 50 or so feet of stepped ice bulges followed by about 40 feet of snow climbing up a slope to a fixed two piton anchor just below another low angle ice flow. Upon arriving at the fixed anchor, I clipped one of my ropes to it with a quick draw, opting to remain on belay from below while I shed my pack and added more gear to the anchor before I committed to it. 

Minutes later, as I was equalizing a cam into the anchor matrix I heard a rumbling sound similar to an overhead jet. I looked up to see snow pouring over the ice bulges above. I called out “avalanche!” quickly, made myself small below my hanging backpack, and grabbed hold of my ice tools in an effort to hold on.

Within a split second I was swept from my stance at the anchor. I tumbled in darkness several times down the snow slope, and over the lip of the ice bulge below. I was arrested by the rope in an upright position a few feet beyond the lip of the ice. I could see light as snow and ice flowed past me overhead. And then it stopped. I quickly checked myself for injury.

Steve was initially unanchored at the bottom of the pitch. He belayed from a snow shelf we had cut to the left of the ice. When I fell, he was sucked up into the ice and struck it. He then swung right towards the path of the slide. 

“Holy f-ing sh!t Steve are you okay!?” I called to Steve to check his condition. He was okay, but assertively told me he needed to take me off belay and wanted to retreat immediately. I agreed. I clipped into a cam that I placed on the way up, hastily placed a screw, clipped into it also and called “off belay”. He lowered himself to the snow and quickly climbed up and left to a rock wall to build an anchor out of the way of potential slides to follow.

Some voices shouted from across the ravine asking if we needed help. We declined.

I prussiked up the rope, hauled my self over the ice bulge and marched up the snow and clipped into the anchor. My backpack was still there, but my ice tools were gone. Thinking back I don’t know why that surprised me. 

We were using double 8 mm ropes, and my tie in knot was about the size of my thumb. It must have taken more than 5 minutes to untie that knot. At one point I had my knife out, but didn’t use it because I felt frantic, and was afraid that I would cut something I shouldn’t. 

Steve and I communicated many times during this time, to ensure we were both still okay. At some point I heard snowmobiles whine their way up to the ravine floor and asked “Do you think that’s for us?” They were.

Finally I was free of the knot. By this time, there were two snowmobiles on the ravine floor, and a two figures hiking up to us. I tied the ropes together, set up my rappel rig, cleaned our gear, put on my pack and started down. I cleaned all my protection from the pitch, swung left to Steve’s anchor, and clipped both ropes in so he could reach them and rapped to rope ends on the snow below. I told Steve I was off rappel and walked a few feet climbers left to the toe of a rock buttress.

Steve jumped on rappel and met me a few moments later. We pulled the ropes, and he gave me one of his tools and a leash for my walk down. The snow slope directly below looked dangerous, so I traversed left over the rock buttress a few yards and climbed down circuitously toward the figures heading my way, avoiding any steep or questionable slopes. There was now a snow cat and a few more folks down there.

I met a ranger named Brian a few hundred feet below. He asked me if we were the only climbers involved. I told him someone spotted another party on the route earlier that day, but we never saw them and that the slide came from above. He asked if we called 911, I said we did not. (We later learned that a soloist on central gully called 911). He looked me over quickly and said we would talk some more on the ravine floor. I kept climbing down. He went up to check on Steve.

At the floor of the ravine, I stopped at the boulders by the snow machines to wait for Steve. I took off my crampons, poured myself some tea and inspected my self further for injury. Brian met me there shortly and returned one of my axes. He took my story a couple of times, and recorded my information. He looked me over for injury. We were joined by another ranger named Chris who returned my other missing tool. (Not only did God want me to live, he also wants me to continue to climb ice.) There was also a search dog playing in the snow.

Steve and I both cracked our helmets. The rope that did not arrest me was cut 1/3 way through about 30 feet from the end. My backpack was abraded on one side and its internal frame deformed. I lost my sunglasses, a v-threading tool, and initially both my ice tools.

I suffered a few abrasions and bumps on left side of my face, a contusion on my left forearm and pain in my right shoulder. (I may have damaged my rotator cuff) Steve had some mild pain in his lower back and neck. 

We both passed the Forest Service’s field exam and were not required to go to the hospital. In an effort to be most self reliant we offered to hike down to the Harvard cabin, but the rangers insisted we ride in the snow cat. We returned to our igloo and hiked out the next morning.

There were forces that were working against us that we failed to recognize. The previous day, the avalanche danger for all routes in Huntington ravine was High. On this day, it was Low for all routes, except Damnation and North, which were reported as Moderate. It was a blue bird day, with high temps in the sun. Mostly all the routes had parties on them, some had multiple parties.

All the routes had parties on them and we assessed climbing below climbers would be ok if they were not directly above or in close proximity to us. Pinnacle Gully looked like a bowling alley with constant rain of falling ice. We never saw the climbers who were above us until they walked into the base of the ravine to check on us. 

On our drive up Steve and I both agreed climbing under Moderate avalanche danger was an acceptable risk. I assumed that we would not trigger a slide, and therefore, others wouldn’t. We never put two and two together.

We went up there for the last licks. Climbing ice harbors a sense of immediacy or urgency not found in rock climbing. Routes that are in shape one day may not be in shape the next. Combined with the time limitations of our lives, the tendency to “go for it” is high.

I believe the drastic reduction of avalanche danger for Huntington ravine as a whole combined with the clear day and warm temperature lulled us into believing we were safe. Thinking back now, It was alarmingly easy to turn a blind eye toward the real dangers. 


We narrowly escaped the grim reapers calling with not so much as a slap on the wrist.  I can not take credit for the relatively low expense of this event. I wonder in amazement how the number of variables fell into place to minimize the price we paid. The questions of “what-if” keep replaying in my mind. 

For some reason I didn’t tie into the top anchor upon reaching it, which I would normally do. I instead clipped it for protection and remained on belay from below while I added to it. Who knows if it would have held? Would it have been better to be secured to the anchor while subjected to the full deluge of debris, or was it better to be carried a distance until I was sheltered from the tonnage? If we were five minutes faster, that would have been the case. We would’ve been committed to the top anchor, and subjected to the full bore. 

If I hadn’t reached the anchor, everything would have all hinged on the small cam I placed, and that wouldn’t have kept me out of the run out below.

If we were 20 minutes faster, Steve would be on the second pitch ice, or above. Our plan was to solo the easier snowfields above.

What if I was leashed or tethered to my ice tools? Ugly.

What if the fate of Rock Paper Scissors had not designated me to lead the first pitch?

Who knows?

Core Shot

Core Shot
Originally uploaded by peter.benchimol

Last Licks

facial injuries
Originally uploaded by peter.benchimol

Bad-Wrist_BoatRock-Session

Climbing while injured! Oh yaaaay-er!!

Yellow Arete and The Rail

Knucks from Above

Whilst some were scrambling up gullies, others were scrambling up boulders. cool ones.

damnation

Quick Burn in Bishop

Here's Todd on Pope's Prow at the Buttermilks while Bishop burns.
March 2008


Looking for backup on Grain Pain at the Buttermilks.