Weekend Whipper: Highball Mishap
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White Rastafarian (V1+), put up by John Long and John Bachar in 1973, is one of Joshua Tree’s finest boulder problems. Despite the “easy” grade, this R-rated highball
is no gimme with its mantle top-out 25-feet off the deck.
In this week’s Weekend Whipper, Austin Schlosser reaches the mantle move and slaps desperately for a hold above. When his efforts come up dry—airmail!
Austin’s spotter took one for the team, but he landed cleanly on the rock and escaped with only light abrasions to his left arm, a bruised hip and some
bruised ribs.
“Sometimes you just gotta be the crashpad!” says Sean Goldman, the spotter. “Not the smartest idea but my friend didn’t break his back or anything. Good
day of climbing I’d say.”
“Thanks to the huge spot by Sean, I didn’t snap my arm as it was headed straight for the rock,” says Austin.
Happy Friday and stay safe this weekend!
Watch last week’s Weekend Whipper: Another One Bites the Deck
READ Climb Safe: Spotting For Bouldering
Be like Austin and submit your whipper videos to Rock and Ice!