Rannoch Mountaineering Club
www.climbrannoch.co.uk
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Rannoch Mountaineering Club
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Falling"If you don't let go, you can't fall off !" — Jerry Moffat. "Fall (to) /v./ AKA free-solo rappel. A dynamic retreat from a climb. Note: it is never the fall that kills — it's the sudden stop at the end." "True, terminal velocity in climbing can vary, and be a lot lower than you think. A bit like; 'Any good rope will last you a lifetime, which may not be as long as you'd wish'." — Stefan Axelsson. "If you can hit it while falling down, you can use it while climbing up." — Andy's Rule of thumb for climbing vegetation. "Are you all right ?" — Herman Bull after taking a 60m lead fall. "Flying is easy: just throw yourself at the ground and miss." — Douglas Adams (1952-2001). "Don't fall now or we'll both go." — Layton Kor on numerous occasions. Q: What's the difference between a bad golfer and a bad climber ? "You know the difference between 'trauma' and 'no big deal' ? 'Trauma' is when it happens to me. 'No big deal' is when it happens to you... This roof is 'no big deal' !" — William Wright. "Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom." — General George S. Patton. Inertia /n./: Tendency of a skier's body to resist changes in direction or speed due to the action of Newton's First Law of Motion. Goes along with these other physical laws: "I went to the gym for the first time in over two months after returning from a road trip. It fucking sucks. I was falling all over the place too, and those holds were hurting. My fingers are sore as hell. I watched in dismay as I got smoked by 17 year old gym rats. Then some kid who's never touched stone in his life told me that I could be pretty good if I just improved my finger strength and then he started to walk away. So I grabbed him and threw him against the wall and I took his fucking head and I put it on the fucking floor and said, 'you mutta fucka, I've taken 50 foot falls onto tiny tcu's, I got respect in all 5 boro's — sport, trad, big wall, ice, and alpine. My mudda can hold her head high in any crag in this country. Look at me, I got 26 first ascents under my belt and you're going to walk out on me? I walk out on you.' "It's all A1 until you fall." — About A5 ratings. "We took the customary summit pictures and ate some chocolate. I felt the usual anticlimax. What now ? It was a vicious circle. If you succeed with one dream, you come back to square one and it's not long before you're conjuring up another, slightly harder, a bit more ambitious — a bit more dangerous. I didn't like the thought of where it might be leading me. As if, in some strange way, the very nature of the game was controlling me, taking me towards a logical but frightening conclusion; it always unsettled me, this moment of reaching the summit, this sudden stillness and quiet after the storm, which gave me time to wonder at what I was doing and sense a niggling doubt that perhaps I was inexorably losing control — was I here purely for pleasure or was it egotism ? Did I really want to come back for more ? But these moments were also good times, and I knew that the feelings would pass. Then I could excuse them as morbid pessimistic fears that had no sound basis." — Joe Simpson, Touching the void. "I'm not sensitive about my accidents; I'm sensitive about being considered a bad or foolish climber. Apart from the avalanche and the ice climbing thing (those were my fault) the others were not my fault." — Joe Simpson. "When the slab cut loose, my mind calculated trajectories, analyzed terrain, and fed me its conclusions: no way out, you are going to die. This conclusion seemed to free me to experience the fall. Tumbling, catching air, then the loudest sound I've ever heard — probably the sound of both legs breaking or how to get hit by a Mack truck." — Carl Tobin about breaking both legs in Alaska. "Be careful when you go down a mountain. Remember, there's only one step but it's a big one !" — My grandfather. "He who lowers off and runs away, will live to climb another day." — The Dingus moto. "How to fall on a slab ? I would say facing the rock and sliding on ya feet, there's always a chance they'll grip and save you. I prefer to close my eyes — I can't stand to see people getting hurt — especially me..." — Robin Soper. "Sucks to be you, dude." — An Emergency Room Doctor and climbing partner to Brent Ware after a fall. "I want painkillers, and none of that Tylenol #3 crap either. Something with a 'dan' or a 'done' at the end." — Brent Ware after a fall. "When on the wall, the bottom of the learning curve can be the top of a long free fall..." — Brutus of Wyde. "No mistakes or big pancakes." "Make that move or six foot groove." "Cruise or bruise "Place well thy protection lest the Earth rises up and swallow thee." "I had great times leading at Devil's Lake, where the ground was never too far away, and hard to miss if you should happen to fall to it." — Andy Cairns. "I climb way too badly to worry about cholesterol..." — Brad B. "If you fall, stand tall, and come back for more." — 2Pac. "If you fall, act like you're swimming to amuse your friends." — Jack Handey.
"Crater (to) /v./ To fall and hit the ground." "Unzip (to) /v./ simple yet spectacular way to remove protection." "Walking: uncommon means of mountain locomotion. See fall, glissade, etc." "Well, you don't see that every day." — Bev Johnson to her partner after seeing a body fall off El Cap. "I was feeling far too claustrophobic to worry about falling." — Merry about the 3rd pitch of the Worst Error. "Solo climber: One climber falling. "It's not advisable to drink too much strong liquors while climbing in the Alps. If, however, you are going to fall over a cliff, it's advisable to be thoroughly intoxicated when you do so." — Anonymous English alpinist. "Do you think I'll make it ?" — Catherine Destivelle, after breaking a leg on the summit of Mt Viets, Antarctica. "The fall was like sliding down a slanting Empire State Building, six times higher than the real one." — Robert H. Bates after having been stopped with 6 others falling climbers by Pete 'The Belay' Schoening on a 1953 attempt on K2. "Looks like we found the fast way down." — Rick White after a 200m fall off the summit of Shivling with Greg Child. "I like big fat men like you. When they fall they make more noise !" — Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. "They that stand high have many blasts to shake them; "Cave ne cadas." — Ritually said by a slave to the triumphing Roman emperor during a defile. "The bigger they come, the harder they fall." — Robert Fitzsimmons (1862-1917). "He who never fell never climbed." — Unknown. |
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