Ep 2 - A Rope Too Short - Blake Bowling

the Sharp End Podcast

Sports

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2016

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Blake Bowling aimed to redpoint 1,500 routes in Kentucky's Red River Gorge. The Madness, a 5.13 route at the Motherlode, would be number 1,499. When a friend came by his camper van and asked if Blake wanted to climb, he grabbed the rope he'd already used many times before while rehearsing the moves on the Madness. This time, however, using that rope would be a near-fatal mistake. Sharp End host Ashley Saupe interviewed Blake about his accident and the very simple steps he could have taken to prevent it. Blake and his belayer had 52 years of combined rock climbing experience, proving that experience is no guard against serious accidents. Blake's story and photos can be seen at the Accidents in North American Mountaineering website: http://bit.ly/1TrlGTB.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the Sharpend.
0:05.0	A podcast from Accidents and North American mountaineering.
0:10.0	I'm actually Safi your host of the show. So after the American Alpine Club and I launched this podcast on February 1st,
0:17.0	there were over 1500 listens in the first five days.
0:21.0	So thank you.
0:22.0	Anyway, welcome back to the show. This is the second episode of
0:26.2	the Sharp End. I'll be talking with a guy named Blake Bowling, who I interviewed when he was
0:30.5	crammed in his tiny little van while on a climbing trip in Waco.
0:34.0	So you may hear him shuffling around and his voice cutting in and out as he talks.
0:38.0	But that's fan life for you.
0:40.0	Go ahead and introduce yourself, Blake.
0:42.0	My name is Blake Bowling. I am a rock climber and developer in the red. I've been climbing in the red about 26 years or so.
0:50.0	I am a senior software engineer for the American Alpine Club. I do a lot of their
0:58.2	websites and web databases and such. I have taught for the State Fire Commission and Rope Rescue, Cave Rescue and
1:06.0	Swift Water Rescue. And I was a captain of the statewide rescue squad for about 12 years.
1:13.0	Thanks for the introduction, Blake.
1:15.0	I see that you have your own story published in the 2015 edition of Accidents.
1:20.0	Go ahead and tell us about it.
1:21.0	Well, September 26, 2014. I was working. I was in the Red River Gorge at my
1:27.8	camper at one of the campgrounds there and I was just working. did not expect to go rock climbing, and a friend of mine stopped
1:37.1	by my camper and saw sitting, you know, just to check to see if I wanted to go with him.
1:44.0	And I'm like, sure, you know, I can bust out a couple of hours for a few pitches.
	...

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