Some odd years ago a friend and I went rock climbing at Beacon Rock during the windier non-summer season. The weather that day was clear skies but quite windy. Upon arrival at the parking lot we realized just how windy it was...virtually gale force winds were hammering the trees surrounding the parking lot and the monolith.
Being determined dedicated climbers fixated upon the game with an ardent passion - never willing to admit defeat - we shouldered our day packs and ropes and dashed on down the leeside climbers path, curved around the base of the SE Face route, and marched a few yards up to the first tunnel hangout spot, where we dropped our loads of gear.
As we stood there sorting our gear and contemplating our desired goals that morning (we had the entire crag to ourselves that morning!) . . . the surrounding lightly forested terrain between the cliff and the railroad tracks kept getting pummeled and smacked with a random but steady supply of wind blown pebbles and smaller stones.
We had our helmets snuggly fastened to our keenoggins, yet the steady drone of projectiles coming down from above - in just the few ten minutes that we were there making our plans and shuffling gear - had quickly dissuaded us from continuing to test the ripe edge of risk that morning day.
So we hustled back up the leeside trail to the parking lot, then backtracked a few miles in our vehicle to the west, to the locally 'famous' Ozone Wall climbing crag to do a bit 'safer' less windy, at a more tree canopy protected zone, where the rock climbing risks pelting down out of the blue from above weren't a factor.
