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Documentary trailer (by Shaggy).
Warning! Large file (40MB). |
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Brad pulling on the wall. |
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| Chris working way too hard! |
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2003 Photos |
Photos below by Mark Ballard (from video). Commentary by Brad. |
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The day before we climbed, these guys rappelled the route and setup the ropes on every pitch. The video with Mark's commentary is very funny, but it will suffice to say that Chris J. was not having too much fun on this big pendulum. He had to run back and forth on the rock until getting enough speed to reach the anchors and tie in. This high off the ground with a pack full of rope—well it is certainly would get your nerves going.
Many people helped bring gear up, and take it down. It's a huge amout of work, all to get me up the route...
THANK-YOU EVERYONE! |
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Hobey Walker is buckling me in, and for good reason. This is not a trail, it is very dangerous and needs a lot of hands to keep the rig and me stable. These unnamed volunteers in this shot were super strong. They did the haul in 32 minutes ... vs an hour and a half it took last year! |
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| This is the flat part, but still fraught with obstacles. |
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Remember the "Beaker" character on the Muppet show?
No?
That Sternum strap—currently undone—was choking me the whole way back down this "Trail of Death". |
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Hobey and CG ... "it's just sooo ... YELLOW!
Well, it is easy to see from the parking lot anyway. |
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Wheels doing a good job of keeping me clear of the rock.
Dean Thomson, Vertical Challenge team sponsor and fellow "gimpy", asked that we take his "dead head" up the root with us, which we were happy to do. @e tied a rope around his neck and tied him to the mast. |
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Here the rock is getting soo steep that the wheels don't touch any more. It got a touch freaky when the rig felt like it was going to roll over. We plan to space the wheels out more next time. But going over roofs that were at an odd angle those were OK going up.
Lowering off was not too enjoyable because communication was very hard in the high winds. So ... you sit there and the rig drops few feet at a time. (Due to the weight of the rope, CG needs to pull up slack as he lowers me.) |
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We are getting really far off the ground here. I am facing the wrong way, because CG welded the rig that way stating that Howe Sound is a better view. You can see the Pub from here(behind me)!
I was worried about the heat, but froze in the high winds instead. |
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Chris G. here was working hard, but was having fun. See—he has a great smile doesn't he?
Send him a note via email and tell him he should be a model too, just like that sexy beast CJ! |
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Hobey gets to sit alone at the belay above and keep all the mess of ropes clear. He helped out by bending the tubes for the rig and a fair amount of sewing. He is a product designer by trade and great guy to have on the team. (He's got a huge bladder too.) |
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| Near the top. A big problem with my cam went unnoticed until under full weight. We had to jury rig the jummar/cam setup and keep adjusting it. The more it slipped the more CG had to pull. Here he's doing his upside-down thing again. Few times the cam slipped and I pulled myself into the jummar. So we gonna be fixing that next! |
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Almost at the top I wanted to come down because I was hanging with my pal "autonomic dysreflexia" in a bad way. But we were there so we went for it. Odd thing was I felt fine at the top. I was stoked to get to our NEW high point. |
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| Felt great to get the splints off but the guys would not let me have the beer I had put in my camel back. The thing about being at the top. Still gotta get back to the van. You can see it from that spot, but its really tiny. |
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Here we are at the base again: time to check for damage and rest before the ugly carry out. Next year's chopper ride out from the top direct to the pub will be "funner"!
Quads can climb! We proved it.
Word ! |
