question about climbing

Two things first:

A fall from 70 feet onto a hard surface is pretty much reliably fatal. Not always, just damn near most of the time.

Rapelling is considered one of the more dangerous aspects of climbing. When something goes wrong during a non-belayed rapel it usually ends badly. It is a major source of climbing accidents/incidents.

That said, depending on the type of rock, sinking a bolt might be the best (although permanent) option. Then all you do is rapel down a doubled rope. Real common, but real dangerous if anything goes wrong.
 
andrew7978 said:
so I know this isn't a forum for climbing, but I figure a few of you guys might know a thing or two. Anyway, in my town, there is this cave about 75 feet up in a rock face that has history dating back to the Native American wars with my town in the 1600s so I have had this dream since I was a kid of climbing up there. Anyway I have never had the nerve to do it because I am afraid I won't be able to get down. The climb up is pretty easy. Anyway I think I am finally ready to make the final push and make the climb. Right now I have some rope and a harness with caribeners. There is no top rope anchor and I dont want to buy anything expensive for top roping. But I was wondering if there is some easy way to get down with ropes without a top rope. Sorry for so much text.

PS. If anyone is interested the cave is in Connecticut.
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This wouldn't be near Hublien tower? ;)
 
andrew7978 said:
Its called Kings Phillips Cave on Talcott Mountain. Have you ever been up there?

From what I have heard, the cave was never actually used by Native Americans. The actual cave was nearby, but that doesnt stop it from being in local legend. I originally heard the story that it was this cave so even tho I dont think its the true cave, I like to believe it is. So I dont think I would be hurting anything historic, and not that this justifies it, but many others have been to the cave before me.
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I know this area well -- it is possible to enter the cave by descending from above... I do not recommend this, however I know it can be done without ropes. The cave itself is fairly shallow and likely was not used by native americans.

There are other caves (south of your location) that are far more likely.
 
mainewoodsman said:
I know this area well -- it is possible to enter the cave by descending from above... I do not recommend this, however I know it can be done without ropes. The cave itself is fairly shallow and likely was not used by native americans.

There are other caves (south of your location) that are far more likely.
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Nice to hear some locals on the forum, are you from Simsbury??
 
andrew7978 said:
You nailed it right on the head:thumbup: , its on the same mountain, have you been to the cave?
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Never been to the cave, and I haven't been to Talcott Mountain in about, well, several years now. Where is it in relation to the Metacommet Trail?
 
mp510 said:
Never been to the cave, and I haven't been to Talcott Mountain in about, well, several years now. Where is it in relation to the Metacommet Trail?
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The metacommet trail goes up Talcott mountain. At the closest point, I believe the metacommet trail and the cave are about a quarter to a half mile apart.
 
andrew7978 said:
You nailed it right on the head:thumbup: , its on the same mountain, have you been to the cave?
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No, but I dated a woman that had been into the cave years before when she was in HS. If you hike the metacomet tr from the north to south, there is a faint trail that takes off to the right as you near the top of the ridge. This will take you down to the cave, it is steep I am told, I'd probably top rope to be safe. I'm told it's actually fairly shallow, looks more impressive from the Farmington river...

andrew7978 said:
Nice to hear some locals on the forum, are you from Simsbury??
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Used to live in Tarrifville, have ridden my mountain bike from Tarrifville to the Hublien tower. Used to take midnight walks on the same ridge near E Granby.

Head down to Rattlesnake mountain, there is an awesome and more interesting cave down there.
 
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