Sling-shot Passage
From LagWiki
| Sling-shot Passage
| |
|---|---|
| Location | SE New Mexico |
| Author | William Tucker |
| Date | May 6, 2017 |
2014
Way back in 2014, on a trip with Jason Walz, Mark Bulman, Derek Smith and myself, we used a sling-shot to catapult a lead weight on a string up over a chock stone in order to access what looked like a promising high lead.
That attempt turned into a drawn-out effort. I had no idea how hard it was going to be.
It took several attempts; but, we did manage to get the string up over the chock stone; but, the weight got caught in some rocks higher up and we were unable to pull it down. Our idea was to use the string to pull up a rope so that we could access this high lead.
After many frustrating attempts to free the string, we finally gave up, for the time being, and cut it off at the floor. This left it hanging with the hope that we would be able to use it. We had no idea how at the time.
On the next trip, and after considerable thought and experiments at home, I came up with an idea. Jennifer Foote, Mark Bulman, Derek Smith and I were on the trip. I used a bundle of plastic tubes, each about 1 foot long. I inserted the string into each tube one at a time and pushed them upward. Each pushed on the other. On the top tube was a pulley and another string with a slip knot and weight. By stacking the tubes on top of each other around the stuck string, I successfully got the pulley into position on the other side of the chock stone high in the ceiling.
Then, I released the slip knot and lowered the new weighted string to the floor. From there, we tied on a dynamic rope and pulled it up, over the chock stone and through the pulley. It worked.
The next step took a little courage. Derek and I had been rehearsing at home for this move. We anchored Derek to the floor and had him belay me while I ascended the opposite side of the rope. I them climbed up into the rocks to retrieve the stuck string and weight. Then, I climbed horizontally, also known as chimneying, about 20 feet through the fissure that the chock stone was stuck in to access the ledge at the target lead. I was attached to the rope with Derek belaying the move. It worked.
From there, we pulled up a static rope and I anchored the static rope up in the lead and Jennifer started to ascend.
While the rope was well anchored, the rocks on the end of the ledge were loose and some of them started falling on Jennifer. We quickly determined that the situation was unsafe and that we needed a better plan.
I descended the static rope while the others pulled on the dynamic rope attached to me. This was in order to pull me out at an angle away from any falling rocks. It was awkward; but, it basically worked.
That is how things were left since 2014: a dynamic rope up over the chock stone and an unsafe static rope anchored up in the lead.
