Weekend Whipper: Blowing it Just 3 Feet From the Chains!

Breathe! Ok, now just relax, and clip the chai…. DOH!

Greg Turnbaugh was climbing the 50-foot-tall Molly’s Route (5.10a), at a crag called Old Highway 8 (OH8) in Columbia Gorge, Washington, when he climbed his way into a “bad position,” he told Rock and Ice. And well, things went from bad to worse for Greg as he mounted a last-ditch effort to stay on the wall. He peeled off, taking what he estimates was his “first completely unexpected lead fall in three years climbing outside. ”

Luckily, his belayer, Cam Kinne, was johnny on the spot, pulling in two arm-lengths of slack to keep Greg a solid 10-feet clear of a ledge below.

Greg dissected for us what went wrong: “The lesson from this one is I cleared the roof on the left side—which I think is a 5.11- variation—but once over the roof instead of foot swapping I stab the left foot too high, and just can’t recover from the position. This makes me stab for the pocket and barn door out.”

The most brutal part of this Whipper? The chains were only three feet away!

Happy Friday and climb safe this weekend!

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