Weekend Whipper: Mixed Climber Inverts, Nearly Decks, Gets Axe to the Face
A failed clip, an inverted whip, nearly decks ... what the heck?
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Readers, please send your Weekend Whipper videos, information, and any lessons learned to Anthony Walsh, awalsh@outsideinc.com.
Summertime dry-tooling, anyone? Sure, there’s warm, hand-friendly rock to climb out there (with no medieval instruments to gouge or lacerate you), but ice-climbing season is just around the corner, so why not get strong?
That was the rationale for this week’s whipper, filmed in September 2021 to prepare for the upcoming winter, in Fairbanks, Alaska. The group, who had packed half ropes and not enough helmets, were climbing at the Grapefruit Crag when this whip occurred. “My buddy Gabe is the one climbing,” the filmer, Calvin Daugherty, told Climbing. “He’s paying for college and couldn’t afford a helmet so [he] opted to climb without one. In hindsight, he realized [a helmet] was worth it and decided to get one.
Their lesson learned? Your life is worth more than $80. “It only took a broken tooth to realize that,” Daugherty said.
Happy Friday, and be safe out there this weekend.
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