Stephen Koch

Last week I took the longest (roped) fall of my 20 year  climbing career. It was a 45 foot “whipper” that happened while mixed climbing in Granite Canyon, WY, not far from Bondurant, WY. Two ominous things happened that morning. There was miscommunication on my part which led to the ice screws being left behind and I dumped my entire thermos of hot tea after taking one sip. As my clients can attest, I am adamant about not leaving drinking containers open unless you are in the act of drinking. I like to say, “if the bottle is on the ground, close it up.” It is too easy to knock it down and lose your valuable and hard won (usually carried up thousands of feet in a pack from the valley floor), life giving, hydrating liquids.

It didn’t dawn on me until after I fell that these two things happened, and in hindsight, may have been signs of something else to come (the fall). My partner for today’s climbing was Freddie Botour, a rancher and cowboy living in Big Piney, WY. Freddie is not only a rancher but also a hippie. The kind of hippie who hides his hair in fear, fear of business associates realizing that he isn’t exactly like they are (REPUBLICAN). Not that there aren’t Republican hippies. Things go more easily with him fooling the people he works with by hiding his hair. But isn’t he just fooling himself by hiding who he is? Debatable…

Since we didn’t have screws to protect us on the ice, we opted to do a dry-tooling route that had only one very small piece of ice (that is why I am not calling it a mixed route (mixed rock and ice) but a dry-tooling (a rock route climbed with crampons and ice axes vs. rock shoes and hands/fingers). This route had no evidence of having been climbed before and was not the most aesthetic line on the wall, but looked adequately protectable (with rock gear to hopefully prevent hitting the ground or ledges in the event of a fall) and would do the trick to get us climbing. The route had a crux (most difficult section) that involved slightly overhanging rock with minimal gear for protection, that I pulled through with much huffing and puffing and a grunt or two to a big ledge where I could get some descent gear and a nice shake (rest). I continued up over a 15 foot section that offered no cracks for protection. Eventually I was able to get a fist size SLCD (spring loaded caming device or CAM) in and worked my way up another small overhanging section. Here I placed a green Alien (small CAM) and climbed up to the only ice on the route, a small blob that was not even large enough to place an ice screw in for protection. I was about 15-20 feet out from my last piece of gear and wanted something in before making the next moves.

Falling!

I fiddled trying to place a cam in a crack that looked good but I couldn’t see it very well. Once placed I gave it a test pull. As I did this, the cam came shooting out with no resistance due to ice on the walls of the crack. This threw me off balance and my ice picks (attached to my ice axes) which were precariously placed to begin with came out of the ice and rock. It was at this moment that I knew I was going to fall and managed to yell down to Freddie, “Falling!” before hurtling backwards into space. I don’t know how, but was soon upside down looking at the creek far below thinking “This is how people die,” and “I am going to hit the rock ledge below and my head and neck are going to get smashed against the rock as the weight of my body smashes into them at high speed.”

Then came the pain.
The pain was on my “groin area,” which had somehow gotten pinched under the weight of the rope as it came taught with my 200 lbs. plus momentum until I stopped! On the one hand I was relieved I was not in a crumpled pile on the ledge, but this was downright painful in a fully conscious kind of way. I quickly righted myself and asked to be lowered. As I was being lowered I did a body check to assess the damage. My right elbow hurt but did not seem to be broken and besides the “groin” injury, that was it!

I think what happened when I initially fell was I pushed off from the wall or more likely, hit the first ledge about 10′ below me, and pushed off with my feet, hence ending up upside down. Falling is not normally good, especially with crampons and ice axes on your person. I felt very fortunate to not be more injured and the pain in my groin area went away after several minutes. I was a bit apprehensive to take a peek at my pecker, but when I finally did there was a large hematoma on the end. OUCH! Way more purple than is normal, at least for me.

Freddie was game for a go and went up to my high point before deciding he was too pumped to continue. He added a piece of protection before being lowered. I put my “fruit” boots (lightweight ice climbing boots with permanently attached crampons) on and climbed the route to the top without event, completing the first ascent of “Purple Koch.”

I felt wonderful getting back on the sharp end after taking such a fall. This leads me to believe that climbing is a good thing for me and my soul. I am at peace with what happens in the mountains based on the decisions I make. Nature has an indifference of my presence that makes me feel simultaneously humbled and emboldened, knowing that I am totally responsible for my actions, dealing with the laws of nature (gravity, cold, etc), not of man.

One of the best things about climbing in Granite Canyon is the soak in the Hot Springs on the way out! And this time I brought BEER!

GRANITE CANYON ICE CLIMBING INFORMATION

The best ice climbing in the Jackson Hole area is located up Granite Canyon, 12 miles from the turnoff of 189/191 and 2 miles past Granite Hot Springs. GC is located off of Hoback Canyon, about 20 minutes from Jackson. When the snow closes the road one must snowmobile the 10 miles into the hot springs then ski about 2 miles, cross Granite Creek, and get to the wonderful wall that is home to the greatest concentration of ice climbing around these parts. There are only a couple of routes that touch down and are rated Grade 5. The rest of the routes are mixed in nature, meaning that one must climb rock to get to the ice or climb a mixture of rock and ice. Gear is natural, so bring your rack and bring your sack. The rock quality is quite “variable,” with some good and some questionable. There is a lower band of the limestone that makes the stone up the South Fork near Cody seem downright good. There are several corners and cracks that are climbed to the top with anchors on trees or bushes. To date there are approximately 8 routes with potential for more. Bolts are not permitted as it lies within the Wilderness Boundary. If you want more information or photos, drop a note. Again, it is a treat to soak in the hot springs after a day of ice climbing! The Hot Springs closes at around 5 p.m., so you need to be out early to soak in the big pay pool. The other option for soaking is to walk across the pool drainage, past the propane tank and sign to the small pool below the waterfall. This is good for up to about 4 people and is not too deep. I like to go from the cold creek to the hot springs. I once did this, alone, repeatedly and was staying in the cold for over 5 minutes. I pushed it a little far when I had to crawl on all fours as I was convulsing with hypothermia with seized muscles. Once I dragged my self into the hot water I was still seriously shaking for a good 5 minutes until my core temperature warmed.

“That which does not kill us makes us stronger…” – Friedrich Nietzsche