Childbirth...

[joe]

I'm sure you've heard it said that if mothers remembered the pain of childbirth we would all be only children...well somehow not believing that the 2 star route If We Bolt it They Will Come was as bad as I remembered, we headed back out there the other day...the first time I climbed it I was truly frightened not for my own safety, but that I would kill my belayer, Erik, with the loose rock constantly falling every time I tried to pull on or step on a hold...I started the route as a Caucasian and finished darker than most African Americans, covered with black lichen and a mossy lawn from the exit moves that made the event even more exciting...

couldn't be that bad though...unfortunately, it was...this time my belayer moved to a different zip code after I clipped the first few bolts...rock constantly raining down despite exercising much caution...I thought I must have cleaned it for my partner, but he had 20 lbs on me and knocked even more off following me up..."what was that?  my hand hold..."what was that?"  my foot hold....and so it went for 120 feet...perhaps the only consolation is that my memory of the first time included softball size rocks mixed in with the baseballs, golf balls and marbles, while yesterday it was baseball size on down...

which led me to wonder, despite all the choss I've climbed, which routes have I been on or belaying while the most rock has fallen off, not potentially fallen off, but rained down....immediately 2 other routes came to mind...the first pitch of Loveline, and Cross Your Heart...
needless to say, we sought the relative safety of the Monolith and Back Door yesterday...

your list?  not just loose crap, but actual quantity of rock hitting the ground...

 

[Brad Young]

For me the ultimate such climb was Sultans of Sling. Huge rocks hit the ground. They were followed by me hitting the ground, which was followed by 50 to 100 pounds of rock hitting me. This was followed by a quick visit to the medical clinic, which in turn was followed by a week off work in a hospital in Modesto.

[F4?]

No Pinnacles, but it was shit raining down..so it has to qualify.

Black Ice couloir, it's a funnel for all Rocks on the upper part of the Grand Teton.

As we climbed up, I took so many direct hits on the head. Ducking and shriveling under my helmet. Heck my helmet was scratched up from all the rocks and ice chunks I took on the head.

Then I saw the oddest thing...amongst the debris raining down....a squirrel, cartwheeling end over end......over end

Yeah, he missed me, but the horror, the horror.

The poor bugger going end over end down the 4k ft face (think Eiger Sanction).

[clink]

I'll have to think about this one, meanwhile will probably have night sweats from Joe's description.

[Gavin]

Joe, looks like we missed each other on Sunday; I ended up at Discovery Wall for some hours.

That's interesting about Cross Your Heart... Though it continues to be loose and definitely a heady lead, I still like that route. It feels like good practice for testing the flexing flakes throughout Pinnacles!

[JC w KC redux]

I'm glad Joe climbs the hard stuff. That means there might still be holds on the easy stuff I like to climb.

[joe]

heard Discovery Wall was a zoo Sunday...rumor has it some former basketball player had a rope on Jorgie's for a party of 8 or 10...

I've only knocked a modicum of rock off Cross Your Heart, but belayed Mateo when when cleaned a good 5-10 lb section, of which he kept a piece larger than a softball as a paperweight...

Sultans of Sling sounds serious...2 stars?  3?

loosest routes you've climbed at the Pinnacles?

[mynameismud]

A few come to mind

The first pitch of Stiletto with Brad comes to mind.  Not only a ton of rock but I think a small tree as well.  My lead was much cleaner but still fairly loose.

Feeding Frenzy - every lead and belay is a FA experience

Pipeload to Pluto - every hold is loose.

Outside of the Pins

The base of Positively Fourth Street.  I got rained on, everything from stuff the size of a basketball on down to gravel.  Lasted for quite a while.  Scary.

The gully coming off of Middle Cathedral.  Everything from the size of a refrigerator on down to gravel.  Still do not know how Clint survived that.

[mynameismud]

I forgot Knifeblade direct.  Not a lot of rock came down but that route had my attention.

[F4?]

Pipeload to Pluto, ah yes there is a route to prove you are a mud master.

A hand hold cannot be used as a foothold.

Maybe a tub or two of epoxy could be sprayed on the route to keep the holds there... nah.