The Story of the Core Shot (or how Right Wing Almost Killed Me)

Before I selectively forget what happened when Right Wing nearly killed me, I better write it down. I write it here because there are practical lessons to learn about rope fixing, wet ropes, grigris, and how they can interact in a bad way.

In November, I spent a day cleaning all the big, loose rocks on the route. While working on the long 10b corner, I noticed that the ropes were drenched and that my grigri was difficult to control. I would pull and pull on the release to no avail until finally it lost grip entirely and I would fly down the rope for 10 feet before stopping abruptly, and bounce to a stop. After bouncing my way down the rope, I jumarred back up, cleaning loose rocks, until I came over a bulge to notice that the sheath of the rope 20 feet above me was kapput and the sheath below the shot had slid down a foot or two. Upon later inspection (I just ruined the end of the story by letting on that I didn't die), it turned out that the core was in decent shape and showing only minor abrasion. But still. The core shot came from the rubbing against the most subtle of bulges---virtually flat granite. Think of a ball 60 feet in diameter. There was scarcely a crystal poking out of it. That's what's most scary about the incident: the lack of a cutting edge. The problem was that I had such a long section fixed (70m) with dynamic ropes and without an intermittent anchor. My repeated bouncing expressed itself as sawing action at the point in question. I've since built an intermittent anchor and installed a second (back-up) rope. Future cleaners, take heed.