Masa's perspective of Banana Wall (XII/12)

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Wed, 2015-02-25 11:57 - Shaking an arm on stupidly steep terrainShaking an arm on stupidly steep terrain
7 years ago ago at , Glenmore Lodge, Scotland, United Kingdom by Masa Sakano. cs

Greg Boswell made the first ascent of his yet hardest Scottish winter route, Banana Wall, Coire an Lochain, Cairngorms on 25th February 2015, as reported in his own blog post. It can well be the hardest Scottish winter route (grade XII, 12) or even the world, for the trad-protected mixed route. Here is my perspective as the belayer, climbing partner and witness of his feat.

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Risk by Dan Gardner

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Simon Perry casually posing on a steep cliff

We are all wired to be a stone-age human!
So we react to the risk as wired as our ancestors who run on the savannah in Africa, fleeing away from predator beasts, avoiding poisonous or harmful things like particular plants and something polluted to maximise the chance of survival.

It might be all good as long as one lives such a life alone, relying thoroughly on their instinct, or so called Gut. But we don't. Modern lives are far more complicated.

In this post I summarise, from a climber's perspective, some interesting facts taken from the brilliant book: Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear by Dan Gardner (2009).

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Required strength of belay anchors

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A rigging example by Nick Bullock [©Will Sim (2014)]

There was a fatal accident in Yosemite — the circumstantial evidence implies the party placed 4 pieces of gear for the belay, then the leader took a factor-2 fall on the belay, all the gear of which ripped, and as a result the entire party was perished. In that particular case, clearly the belay was not strong enough despite 4 pieces of gear…

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Type-3 fun, or 5 per cent terror

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Tue, 2014-08-12 11:49 - The weather cleared up and it has become a nice sunny day.

Kyle saw an orange light tumbling down the steep slope on the glacier and passing him.
He realised, I have got to do something, right now!
Throwing himself at the slope to thrust the pick of iceaxe into snow as deeply as possible.
Unfortunately, that was not enough.
The rope between him and falling Masa became taught.
He was dragged down and he too started to fall…

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Force and gravity

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Ruler. (Cropped from the original image by Ejay in http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Steel_ruler_closeup.jpg . License: CC Share Alike 3.0)

In this world, the unit is often the source of confusion. Climbing is no exception. As an example, here is an extract from Andy Kirkpatrick's solo attempt in Troll Wall, where he had a hard time as vividly described in his own words:

[After hand-drilling a hole to place a bolt:]

I slid the bolt onto the hanger, then pushed it into the hole, but found it was a little too big to fit easily, so tapped it in with my hammer. I felt it trying to resist, but eventually felt it begin to give way. Then, after only a centimetre, it started to bend.
…

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New routing at The Brand - Part 1

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Sat, 2012-10-06 15:22 - In The Brand, Leicestershire, E4 6a. Belayed and shot by Graeme. ©Graeme BaxterMasa before the upper crux of Zakuro
9 years ago ago at , Swithland, England, United Kingdom by Masa Sakano. ©

[© Graeme Baxter]

"What's the next move?!" I asked myself.
I have practiced the move so many times, yet for some reason in this final leading attempt, I can't recall…

The last and only meaningful gear was 4 metres below — as many as 4 pieces — loads in terms of quantity, but the quality is questionable: a small pecker, micro-cam in a shallow seam, micro-nut placed side-way, and slider-nut placed vertically…

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