![](http://nickbullock-climber.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/caff-hardback.jpg)
Wen Zawn and Caff's hardcover thesaurus An attempt at a site visit.
I read a forum topic on UKC started by Chris Craggs a few days ago. The topic titles are: risk perception, here is the link
In his first post, Chris explains:
“Today we were climbing at the Horseshoe and Colin pointed out a team to our left. The leader went up about six clips, fell down a few times, then came down and peeled off all the remaining quickdraws on the way down. Another man raised the top rope to a high bolt, pressed down, and immediately fell.
I shouted in my best schoolyard voice that he needed to come down and put at least one more bolt under there, 'just in case'. He did so by apologizing and thanking me. One of our team spoke to them later and it was the first day they crawled out of the house.
I'm a bit shocked by the apparent lack of understanding that they can be dangerous, that bolts generally don't break, and ropes generally don't unravel. But it can happen.”
*
Reading your post reminded me (loosely) of what happened a few years ago when Jack Geldard, James McHaffie, Adam Wainwright and I decided to climb Gogarth's Wen Zawn.
The day was cloudy. A monochromatic sky that gives one thing is not a good thing. The four of us rappelled into the zawn, the sea was wide open, the rocks were all proud and slippery. As soon as we started jumping on the rocks and looking around, it started raining. The sea must have been a spring tide and was swirling around the rocks, but it was shallower than I'd seen it before. The loud sound of the sea echoed in the dark, enclosed space. I saw a steep, shiny wall.
Adam and I were hoping to climb a route called Rubble, first climbed by Paul Pritchard and Leigh McGinley in 1991. It was an E7 6a and it was the best line and probably the smoothest on zawn. Jack and Caff were going to try out a Johnny Dawes and Bob Drury E7 6b called the Hardback Thesaurus. Hardcover Thesaurus The first ascent took place over a number of rudimentary attempts by Johnny over several days and set the standard for the route. Without searching Google (you can use other search engines), there is a movie somewhere where Johnny attempts and repeatedly falls off a climb, which is rated E8 and is clearly dangerous. Of course, Caff was on site armed with a big gear rack that he didn't need and a few skyhooks that he did need!
The rain was now heavier and the four of us took shelter in the back of the zawn. Both Mr Softy and The Mad Brown routes saw Adam join George Smith on the first climbs. A wall of orange, yellow, and gray blocks spiraled upward into flowing water. The light was ominous and the rocks grew darker. Oh, I thought I wasn't going to do anything today. At some point the rain stopped and Caff walked across the rocks and stood under the hardback.
“Would you like to give it a try, Jack?” Karp suggested.
Jack looked a little perplexed, but he wasn't the one to run into this wet, unprotected wall. So I said.
“Um, okay, okay, James.”
[I’ve always known Caff as Caff, but Jack had always called Caff by his proper name, James. To this day, I’ve never really wondered why this is, and I’ve never asked Caff which he prefers?]
Adam and I jumped over boulders to a pretty crazy starting point on a raised concrete embankment made up of boulders. I reached my hand over the rock and found it soaked.
“We’re not going to try this today, Adam.”
I turned to look deep into Zawn, who had been pulled against the wall by Caff (secured by a very concerned Jack). Although confident that the attempt would be quickly over once Caff judged conditions to be poor, Caff made cautious and cautious progress. As on other occasions I had secured, I should have known that Caff would keep going despite the odds, and his tenacity would be remarkable. In some ways, this tenacity to try things when many things were going against what was happening was probably what got Caff through many difficult paths.
There was something odd about the equipment, but the higher he got, the more weird it got and it didn't look very good. Sporadically, Caff would ask Jack to keep an eye on him, but honestly, I'm sure there wasn't enough distance for Jack to run (from one side of Zawn to the other) to keep him from hitting the ground.
Caff moved to the pretty tricky, wet and unprotected right side and placed a skyhook. If the hook had been torn off it would have definitely fallen to the ground as the last gear was far below. Shaking and chalking it up repeatedly (remember, the rock is wet!), he targeted a small ledge where he said he could see a possible nut location. He gets to the nut position, yells that it's not that good, and sets another skyhook on the small edge. After a while, he began what appeared to be a series of painstaking movements cutting off the small protrusion. Caff exclaimed and said he could clearly see a good hold and a slightly over-rigged gear, but in an instant one of the flakes he was undercutting tore and he was flying. I have never screamed at someone falling before or since. I was sure I was witnessing my friend's death, but he stopped and a hook was caught on each rope.
“Please let me down Jack.”
He reached the bottom and untied himself. I must admit I felt a bit shaken. Jack looked sick, but Caff seemed fine.
“What are you going to do now?” Jack asked, looking at a wet wall with some equipment and two ropes hanging from two skyhooks in the distance.
Caff looked up, turned to Jack and said: “Give Jack’s top rope a try. That hook is a bomber.”
*
I admit that Chris' story and his shock at the climber removing all the throws below the one he was lowering and the next guy top-roping off the bolt with this one draw reminded me a little of the Wen Zawn episode. You should. I wonder if Chris would have put on his best schoolyard voice that day and talked to Caff.