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Chockstone Forum - Gear Lust / Lost & Found

Rave About Your Rack Please do not post retail SPAM.

Author
Beg Borrow or Steal... Single Point Hammock

Jo-Ann
19-Jan-2014
7:40:44 PM
Ok, I'll admit up front that I must be some kind of sick and twisted sadist, because yep, I'm publicly asking if any of you other sick twisted sadists have a single point hammock that you're looking to offload, or loan for the comming long weekend.

Naturally, there is problaby a very good reason one can not buy these items anymore.... but just think how much more I'll appreciate shelling out for a cosy double portaledge after having spent a few nights hanging on the North Wall at Buffalo in one of these classic babies!

If anyone can help me out please email or reply.

Thanks!

E. Wells
19-Jan-2014
8:52:11 PM
I have no idea what this is but you can borrow my hammock and clip both ends into your anchor....I'm not sure that it's rated....It has 'Alice springs' embroidered on it. Should satisfy your kinky ffetishism?
gfdonc
19-Jan-2014
10:58:09 PM
I can bring one with me on Friday evening .. will that work for you?


harold
20-Jan-2014
12:14:51 PM
Has anyone ever used a banana lounge? I saw one in Bunnings for $20 and was thinking it might make a pretty good makeshift ledge and a bit more comfy than a hammock.
Justcameron
20-Jan-2014
2:54:15 PM
Speaking of the buffalo north wall, does anyone have any photos of "Big Grassy" or comments on its suitability to sleep two tall blokes?

Planning a trip to buffalo in late feb.

Has anyone tried setting up a two point hammock above it? (as I think it's in a corner, is it possible to arrange suitable anchors 3-5m apart and level, and so that the hammock is not resting against the rock?)

gfdonc
20-Jan-2014
3:03:00 PM
Two tall blokes can sleep there fine, just don't expect a completely flat &/or level space.

Last time I was there, there were at least two bolts on the wall at least 2 metres apart, so you should be right for a hammock, but not sure that meets your last criteria as I recall they're on the same wall.

Someone else with a better memory than me needs to pitch in here ..
kieranl
20-Jan-2014
3:42:31 PM
I haven't been on big grassy for a few decades and I gather it's changed a bit. 2 -point hammocks are notorious for dumping their occupants as they're under a lot of stress. I recall Reg Marron getting dumped from Big Grassy when the end attachment of his hammock went. His sleeping bag disappeared into the night. Then on Tyrant the hammock fabric split and he lost hs sleeping bag again.
If you can still lie on big grassy as gfdonc suggests then you should leave your hammock at home and save weight. You'll be tired enough to sleep well.
gfdonc
20-Jan-2014
3:48:05 PM
On 20/01/2014 kieranl wrote:
>under a lot of stress. I recall Reg Marron getting dumped from Big Grassy
>[snip] Then on Tyrant the hammock fabric split

Wasn't it the story that he poked a hole in the bottom to let some water out, with predictable end results?
kieranl
20-Jan-2014
4:14:50 PM
May well have been.

dave h.
20-Jan-2014
5:27:47 PM
I was last there in early 2012, I think. I recall there being bolts on both walls. I know that both times I've been on Ozy we set up a hammock using one anchor on each wall. Having tried the ground and the hammock, the (2 point) hammock was far superior.

There is enough space on the ground to sleep two tallish guys. The way we did it was to lie back on a sloped rock, IE both of us facing the South Buttress. So our legs were pointing downhill (the direction of the slope) and our back towards the North Wall. You will gradually slip down the slope during the night until your daisy chain comes tight. I suggest you make sure you like your harness before attempting this (I wore the new Calidris, and I was fine; my buddy had the then-current WC Syncro and had sore hops for a while, although doubtless the aid-leading and masses of gear contributed to that).

Good luck and be safe. It's a great adventure and February's a good time to do it.

IdratherbeclimbingM9
20-Jan-2014
6:35:20 PM
On 19/01/2014 Jo-Ann wrote:
>Ok, I'll admit up front that I must be some kind of sick and twisted sadist,
>because yep, I'm publicly asking if any of you other sick twisted sadists
>have a single point hammock that you're looking to offload, or loan for
>the comming long weekend.
>
>Naturally, there is problaby a very good reason one can not buy these
>items anymore.... but just think how much more I'll appreciate shelling
>out for a cosy double portaledge after having spent a few nights hanging
>on the North Wall at Buffalo in one of these classic babies!
>
>If anyone can help me out please email or reply.
>
>Thanks!

Warren Harding pioneered a single point hammock during the golden era of Yosemite climbing.
Here is a quote from;
http://www.climbing.com/climber/the-life-of-warren-andquot-batsoandquot-harding/
>
Over Irish coffee he told us how the name “Batso” came about. When the film Midnight Cowboy came out, it seems, his friends decided that he bore an uncanny resemblance to the gritty Dustin Hoffman character, Ratso Rizzo. From that, combined with his penchant for hanging out on rock walls like a bat, came the moniker. And from Batso came B.A.T. – Basically Absurd Technology – Harding’s resolutely unprofitable mountain gear company, one of the products of which was the infamous “Bat tent,” designed to provide shelter on high walls.

“It was a pretty good idea, the Bat tent,” Harding says. “I think I invented it, although there may have been others working on something like it at the time. It was designed to keep you out of the elements, but the first time we used it, on Half Dome, we discovered a basic flaw when a storm hit, which was that it held any water that came its way. We spent a couple of days swimming in the damn things, and nearly froze to death. Back to the drawing board.”

This, of course, was the famous attempt on the south face of Half Dome with Galen Rowell in 1968. In the annals of climbing literature, Harding’s account of his and Rowell’s “death bivouac” and eventual rescue ranks among the most thrilling. “I strongly believed that we weren’t going to survive on Half Dome,” he says. “I just had this feeling of resignation. I’ve read about dealing with likely death, and the sense of peace that comes, and even though I’m not religious, and I don’t pray up there, I had no problem with it. I was ready for it. We spent three days stuck in freezing rain and snow 750 feet from the top, and it puts you into this kind of induced shivering to try to keep yourself warm. After about 36 hours of it, you’re pretty exhausted. That’s the merciful thing about climbing – that you can get so goddamned tired you just don’t care if you die or not. It finally took a helicopter to get us off that face, and it was Royal Robbins who rappelled down to get us. I was so far gone I didn’t recognize him. Of course, hypothermia hadn’t been invented by then, so we didn’t even know we had it.”


I have experimented with dual point hammocks on climbs and found they are harder to set up, plus tend to want to tip you out unless they have oversize sides or are slung quite bent like a banana. Their worst feature is that they are blerrie uncomfortable if both anchors are on the one face of a wall. This is because after a short time your shoulder against the wall is constantly crushed by gravity acting on your bodyweight. Squirming and rolling over risks tipping out...
Cold stone has a habit of sucking the warmth out of you...
I then experimented with a single point suspended canvas bosuns-chair-recliner/bed arrangement, and have found it to be much better, provided it has been rigged with a stabilising bar to spread the suspension lines further than shoulder width. It required other minor refinements that I sorted too, but that is info not required in this thread...

As others have indicated, there are bolts on both faces of the corner walls at Big Grassy.
Take bolt plates, as you will need them.

As far as camping on the 'ground' at Big Grassy goes, this has become less comfortable over the years due to erosion cutting a step in what used to be relatively flat ground.
When I first did it I could lie full length and almost level, with not quite as much room for my taller partner beside me, but over the years rainwater dripping off the Gledhill Bivvy roof has cut a neat line into that dirt platform taking 60% of the ledge, after it was denuded of grass from climber use.
The sloped rock others refer to above, was only a minor projection once, but has since become exposed from erosion, and the lower half of the slope / entire ledge generally, is getting steeper angled as more soil is lost to the void.

Be sure to pay your camp fees for site 53 as set up by HB!!!
Justcameron
20-Jan-2014
8:16:06 PM
Thanks for the comments, especially Dave H.

This thread http://www.chockstone.org/Forum/Forum.asp?Action=DisplayTopic&ForumID=10&MessageID=8750&PagePos=0&Sort=LastMessage&Replies=22&MsgPagePos=0

also indicates that hammocking is a viable option. Picture especially interesting.

I slept in my (borrowed) hammock in the back yard, very comfortable. Weighs about 400g but I will probably get some lighter cord for it and bring the weight down.

jo-ann
21-Jan-2014
3:13:51 PM
Hi gfdonc,

I would really appreciated borrowing your Hammock. Turns out we have neighbouring camp sites too, which is handy.

see you Friday night (I'll be heading up after work, so won't be in super early.
gfdonc
21-Jan-2014
4:43:35 PM
OK. Grey Touareg and orange dome tent as usual. The new kitchen tarp should make its debut, if I can find enough space to set it up. (Which might be on your site anyway).


There are 14 messages in this topic.

 

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