Thank you, my friend, for putting the human back into a story that had been dehumanized by the modern equivalent to the peanut gallery. They took a thirstily-lived life they could not understand and turned it into the only thing they had the capacity to understand, "content, something to pass a few seconds before swiping onto something else in an otherwise spiritually empty day." And our community is spiritually poorer for the passing of a talented, competent and inspiring young man.
I see your view,MarkT..if i may say so,unapologetically ,I heard once "and that is what is wrong with Our Country,no one will stand up for the person (s) being beaten,harmed,danger,we stay out of the way.It has stuck to my ribs. I am, in fact,quit partial to this tragedy. I have my charcter flaws ,iam striving hard in a reclusive decade to maintain scholorism.I see your energy binding and I raise you,leverage to unblock your disqust. I had read them..I choose the heartless bastards down the line,defining my strike upon whoms the most out of line. IDK why I run between dig fights,bar fights,never girl on girl fights..no fn way..i take my 3 second pause..and i have no problem giving them a dose of my mind..i beg we all start doing the same.
Everyone talks about over throwing the government.We miss the strategic art of war.we are missing the Art of Motorcyçle Maintence..start with these online prics who use our friends for cheap tricks.Let me tell you,"I get around",ok!...Im pretty inventive,highly inquisitive,and these commenters are who feed my bad attitude of girls are meant to look pretty monster...ironically i havent a bad bone to throw,,i instead have insight justifcational inhabitant disorder.. Ha. I see your mood..i see your hunger for enlightment in a traverse situation. I see how I picked you,confront..not to power up on,or one over,but to enlighten our defaults ,together.
We need not dispute more of added hostility where one has no means to encounter the source and exicute by any means possible.
Im a creature of asking forgivness not allowence.And for that,I have come to you in sorrow and in litterally in tears this cold morning in Indiana.I moved to Yosemite at age 19. Bolin's story hit my heart. I have a long lost lover whom had ascended El Capitan free style with a girlfriend,when he returned 30 days after,I was M.I.A. I was withdrawn on a Leave of Absence. My 60 days off were spent at a womans clinic,for planned parenhood.A stage of life I wished I could rewrite.Regaining my position,I spotted him in the camp with a new girl.My heart has been broken ever sense..WHAT I jus Experienced is what i read from the artical in refrence..Yesturday Was The First Time Sense I read and morned Bolin,I had the nerve to see who is out there ,I thought to myself, THESE OVERSAYERS WHO KNOW ZIP ABOUT LIVING,TAKING ALL THE DEAD SPACE FOR BULLSH!@ comments....I FEARED ALL THE HOPE OF FINDING WHAT TRULEY HAPPENED MAY BEEN A PIPE DREAM,THAT NONE MORE WAS TO BE READ OR DISCOVERED ..ITS TAKEN ME 3 EXACT MONTHS TO FACE THE FACT THAT I MIGHT NOT EVER FIND HIS PEOPLE,AND WHERE ARE THEY HIDING????.... UNDER A ROCK NO
DOUBT...all puns aside...to soon..funny not funny..I had to cry firstly yesturday over the story headline about a mother leaving her daughter to hang from Mt.Everest.
You SEE...I WAS AFTER THAT COMMENTARY...THAT NARRATER .WHERE IS THIS NARRATION FOR BOLIN. I FOUND A POSSIBILITY THAT GAVE ME HOPE ENOUGH TO TRY AGAIN TODAY. That is the whole point in this story. Plus ,Im despretly neglect of Interaction from souls as kin to mine .Indiana,remember...Ha. So accept,my condolence,as a former Climbers Girlfriend,deep respect shout out..and the comment i gave to the asshole in Bolins original post,the one in discussion...I believe is behind my ongoing subconcious finding closure. FINDING CLOSURE IS TRULY BEEN ACCEPTED,THANK YOU TOO,THANK YOU SO MUCH...MR.K( i fear looking up his name will loose my stack here and Im familiar with substack,and its techincal dufficulties..MARK TWILIGHT,TWIGHT,NOT TWAIN...PLEASE LEAVE ME THE DUDILANCE AND FORWARD TO THE AUTHER FOR CONNECTING TO THAT ONE SOUL OUT THERE,WHEN BURDEND WITH THIS CHALLENGE,,TRULEY HE HAS A WAY WITH WORDS ,A WAY THAT HAS GIVEN ALL THE RESPECT BOLIN DISERVED..and i gave goose chills.. thank you thank youthank you.and you.
Sinserely seeking SEATTLE WASINGTON,EL CAPITAN ,FREE CLIMB ASCEND 1997-2000 JUSTIN♡♡♡♡♡ #lost and found# searching for freeclimb97elCapSeattleJustin#ksims471978#812.403.2308#21170 SouthApalonaCoRd.St.Croix,Indiana,475??
If you look closely at the video the two ropes are not the same color and the tail of the rap line whips around him and off to his left as his focus is on his haul bag. Also after rapping off and gaining speed you see him clearly lean and attempt to grab his bag / haul line…it would have been amazing if this last ditch effort worked but sadly it didn’t 🥺
I guess I watched the video through squinted eyes, like watching a horror film, so I'm probably wrong, but the error will be something simple. I do know someone who rapped off the end of a rope and did catch the haul bags as they fell, but he only fell a short way.
> It wasn’t a single failure, like he just “rapped off the end of his rope” or failed to tie a knot in the end. He died like most climbers die: he’d grown too comfortable with what he was doing and where he was, and he rushed when he should have taken his time. He thought it was over. He let his guard down. It wasn’t.
This is an incredibly empathetic way of framing it, and a valuable reminder for us all. Thanks for the piece, Andy.
Andy, can I use this quote from your story, Please. I will credit you and your story.
And so, in spite of the content and the comments, I clicked play and watched it to the end, saw the tragedy unfold, as I’d already guessed it probably had, having been there, and nearly done that very thing more than once. It wasn’t a rookie error, it was the opposite, a masters error.
I don't believe the 'kill pause' would have saved him as he'd already made the erroneous judgement that he had enough rope...the safety knot would have though and by downplaying it you're almost guaranteeing this will happen again!
If you wanted to list all the reasons that led to his death the lack of the knot would be one of a long list of things, really, it was the direct he was traveling in, like a lot of young men. It wasn't how but when. I don't know if you've ever soloed a big wall, but the haul line is almost always a closed loop, as it's attached to the belay below, and you use it to descend back down after pitch, sometimes more than once if you have problems with your system, meaning you never pull it up and tie a knot in the end, and when you're using a GriGri for pitch after pitch, you end up thinking it's so safe; you don't need a knot in the end perhaps, or even consider a knot necessary. It's not the lack of a knot, it's the lack of thought, complacency, and assumptions that kills people, not knots, or not knots.
I appreciated your preservation of humanity! No life is cheap and all are worthy of dignity. We recently just lost a legend in our area, Pete Cleveland, to a rappelling accident. 25 feet too short. Probably grabbed the wrong rope or was miss informed on the length. He knew Devils Lake better than anyone. Without having a name for it I often find myself implementing the "Kill Pause". Identified and named I'll be sure to continue and pass it along. Thanks Andy!
Good write. I feel much the same. Ive been talking to his father, best partner, girlfriend and trying to get a grip on his story. That was third solo on PO wall this year. He did PO and the Atlantic before dreams. Also last year he climbed Torre Egger, Standard and Fitzroy, then soloed a bunch of Canadian ice climbs. He also soloed the slavic Direct on Denali after soloing two routes on Mont Hunter. I'm trying to write about him but just figuring out what he's done is working me. Keep on firing Andy!
Excellent piece as usual Andy. I haven't seen the accident (no desire to either) and don't have some people's insistence to know all the details of accidents that happen; only really the (usually unfortunately obvious) takeaways. It's all a bit ghoulish wanting to see/know every single detail imo.
Thank you, my friend, for putting the human back into a story that had been dehumanized by the modern equivalent to the peanut gallery. They took a thirstily-lived life they could not understand and turned it into the only thing they had the capacity to understand, "content, something to pass a few seconds before swiping onto something else in an otherwise spiritually empty day." And our community is spiritually poorer for the passing of a talented, competent and inspiring young man.
I see your view,MarkT..if i may say so,unapologetically ,I heard once "and that is what is wrong with Our Country,no one will stand up for the person (s) being beaten,harmed,danger,we stay out of the way.It has stuck to my ribs. I am, in fact,quit partial to this tragedy. I have my charcter flaws ,iam striving hard in a reclusive decade to maintain scholorism.I see your energy binding and I raise you,leverage to unblock your disqust. I had read them..I choose the heartless bastards down the line,defining my strike upon whoms the most out of line. IDK why I run between dig fights,bar fights,never girl on girl fights..no fn way..i take my 3 second pause..and i have no problem giving them a dose of my mind..i beg we all start doing the same.
Everyone talks about over throwing the government.We miss the strategic art of war.we are missing the Art of Motorcyçle Maintence..start with these online prics who use our friends for cheap tricks.Let me tell you,"I get around",ok!...Im pretty inventive,highly inquisitive,and these commenters are who feed my bad attitude of girls are meant to look pretty monster...ironically i havent a bad bone to throw,,i instead have insight justifcational inhabitant disorder.. Ha. I see your mood..i see your hunger for enlightment in a traverse situation. I see how I picked you,confront..not to power up on,or one over,but to enlighten our defaults ,together.
We need not dispute more of added hostility where one has no means to encounter the source and exicute by any means possible.
Im a creature of asking forgivness not allowence.And for that,I have come to you in sorrow and in litterally in tears this cold morning in Indiana.I moved to Yosemite at age 19. Bolin's story hit my heart. I have a long lost lover whom had ascended El Capitan free style with a girlfriend,when he returned 30 days after,I was M.I.A. I was withdrawn on a Leave of Absence. My 60 days off were spent at a womans clinic,for planned parenhood.A stage of life I wished I could rewrite.Regaining my position,I spotted him in the camp with a new girl.My heart has been broken ever sense..WHAT I jus Experienced is what i read from the artical in refrence..Yesturday Was The First Time Sense I read and morned Bolin,I had the nerve to see who is out there ,I thought to myself, THESE OVERSAYERS WHO KNOW ZIP ABOUT LIVING,TAKING ALL THE DEAD SPACE FOR BULLSH!@ comments....I FEARED ALL THE HOPE OF FINDING WHAT TRULEY HAPPENED MAY BEEN A PIPE DREAM,THAT NONE MORE WAS TO BE READ OR DISCOVERED ..ITS TAKEN ME 3 EXACT MONTHS TO FACE THE FACT THAT I MIGHT NOT EVER FIND HIS PEOPLE,AND WHERE ARE THEY HIDING????.... UNDER A ROCK NO
DOUBT...all puns aside...to soon..funny not funny..I had to cry firstly yesturday over the story headline about a mother leaving her daughter to hang from Mt.Everest.
You SEE...I WAS AFTER THAT COMMENTARY...THAT NARRATER .WHERE IS THIS NARRATION FOR BOLIN. I FOUND A POSSIBILITY THAT GAVE ME HOPE ENOUGH TO TRY AGAIN TODAY. That is the whole point in this story. Plus ,Im despretly neglect of Interaction from souls as kin to mine .Indiana,remember...Ha. So accept,my condolence,as a former Climbers Girlfriend,deep respect shout out..and the comment i gave to the asshole in Bolins original post,the one in discussion...I believe is behind my ongoing subconcious finding closure. FINDING CLOSURE IS TRULY BEEN ACCEPTED,THANK YOU TOO,THANK YOU SO MUCH...MR.K( i fear looking up his name will loose my stack here and Im familiar with substack,and its techincal dufficulties..MARK TWILIGHT,TWIGHT,NOT TWAIN...PLEASE LEAVE ME THE DUDILANCE AND FORWARD TO THE AUTHER FOR CONNECTING TO THAT ONE SOUL OUT THERE,WHEN BURDEND WITH THIS CHALLENGE,,TRULEY HE HAS A WAY WITH WORDS ,A WAY THAT HAS GIVEN ALL THE RESPECT BOLIN DISERVED..and i gave goose chills.. thank you thank youthank you.and you.
Sinserely seeking SEATTLE WASINGTON,EL CAPITAN ,FREE CLIMB ASCEND 1997-2000 JUSTIN♡♡♡♡♡ #lost and found# searching for freeclimb97elCapSeattleJustin#ksims471978#812.403.2308#21170 SouthApalonaCoRd.St.Croix,Indiana,475??
#help me find Justin from Seattle♡ kenna
danielle sims YNP'97 HORSE STABLES
CHEEERZ 2 MY FRIENDS OF A FEATHER
rip
Andy, you’re an incredible writer.
If you look closely at the video the two ropes are not the same color and the tail of the rap line whips around him and off to his left as his focus is on his haul bag. Also after rapping off and gaining speed you see him clearly lean and attempt to grab his bag / haul line…it would have been amazing if this last ditch effort worked but sadly it didn’t 🥺
I guess I watched the video through squinted eyes, like watching a horror film, so I'm probably wrong, but the error will be something simple. I do know someone who rapped off the end of a rope and did catch the haul bags as they fell, but he only fell a short way.
> It wasn’t a single failure, like he just “rapped off the end of his rope” or failed to tie a knot in the end. He died like most climbers die: he’d grown too comfortable with what he was doing and where he was, and he rushed when he should have taken his time. He thought it was over. He let his guard down. It wasn’t.
This is an incredibly empathetic way of framing it, and a valuable reminder for us all. Thanks for the piece, Andy.
Thanks Andy.
Thanks Andy
Andy, can I use this quote from your story, Please. I will credit you and your story.
And so, in spite of the content and the comments, I clicked play and watched it to the end, saw the tragedy unfold, as I’d already guessed it probably had, having been there, and nearly done that very thing more than once. It wasn’t a rookie error, it was the opposite, a masters error.
Hi Jim, use away.
thank you
I don't believe the 'kill pause' would have saved him as he'd already made the erroneous judgement that he had enough rope...the safety knot would have though and by downplaying it you're almost guaranteeing this will happen again!
If you wanted to list all the reasons that led to his death the lack of the knot would be one of a long list of things, really, it was the direct he was traveling in, like a lot of young men. It wasn't how but when. I don't know if you've ever soloed a big wall, but the haul line is almost always a closed loop, as it's attached to the belay below, and you use it to descend back down after pitch, sometimes more than once if you have problems with your system, meaning you never pull it up and tie a knot in the end, and when you're using a GriGri for pitch after pitch, you end up thinking it's so safe; you don't need a knot in the end perhaps, or even consider a knot necessary. It's not the lack of a knot, it's the lack of thought, complacency, and assumptions that kills people, not knots, or not knots.
I appreciated your preservation of humanity! No life is cheap and all are worthy of dignity. We recently just lost a legend in our area, Pete Cleveland, to a rappelling accident. 25 feet too short. Probably grabbed the wrong rope or was miss informed on the length. He knew Devils Lake better than anyone. Without having a name for it I often find myself implementing the "Kill Pause". Identified and named I'll be sure to continue and pass it along. Thanks Andy!
Good write. I feel much the same. Ive been talking to his father, best partner, girlfriend and trying to get a grip on his story. That was third solo on PO wall this year. He did PO and the Atlantic before dreams. Also last year he climbed Torre Egger, Standard and Fitzroy, then soloed a bunch of Canadian ice climbs. He also soloed the slavic Direct on Denali after soloing two routes on Mont Hunter. I'm trying to write about him but just figuring out what he's done is working me. Keep on firing Andy!
Why you western folks keep calling Slovak direct on Denali Slavic? So disrespectful to those who opened that legendary route.
All modern news is just cut and paste.
Because "slavic" is a more common, more familiar word. It's an easy mistake to make.
Sorry. What should Alaskans call it? Direct Slavic?
Excellent piece as usual Andy. I haven't seen the accident (no desire to either) and don't have some people's insistence to know all the details of accidents that happen; only really the (usually unfortunately obvious) takeaways. It's all a bit ghoulish wanting to see/know every single detail imo.
Edit for grammar