Ground Fall @ Drive-By

[BluegrassBouldering]

the petzl meteor III is still the best helmet you can get.

As neal strickland used to tell me "one day, you'll be able to say you were wearing helmets before they were cool" 8)

Once again, lightest does not equal best for all climbers. Many people are not responsible enough with their gear for a bicycle style helmet. That being said, I want one.

[rjackson]

I've always been a proponent of a long stick clip, and if I can reach it I have no problems sticking even the second bolt. Especially if conditions warrant. If I can reach the second bolt then it seems the potential for ground fall is pretty high with a blown second clip. Also, I haven't been bolting long, but the high first bolt makes sense to me and I am implementing where possible, and definitely assessing safety and 'trying' to consider the weakest climber. But sometimes the rock requires you to just put up the line and it is what it is. Personal responsibility must be adopted by individual climbers.

With that said, many climbers are too complacent. Climbing is not a sport that that should ever be taken lightly and it seems to me that as it grows in popularity, the risk is minimized. And it seems almost every piece of equipment comes with a warning, most people just aren't believing it. "Climbing is inherently dangerous. Severe injury or death is possible."

[camhead]

With that said, many climbers are too complacent. Climbing is not a sport that that should ever be taken lightly and it seems to me that as it grows in popularity, the risk is minimized. And it seems almost every piece of equipment comes with a warning, most people just aren't believing it. "Climbing is inherently dangerous. Severe injury or death is possible."

Agreed. Even many sport climbs have occasional spots that are "don't fall" zones. Usually we don't think about them, and they are almost never near cruxes, but all the same, they are there.

Does anyone know what route this was on?

[the lurkist]

breakfast burrito, I believe.

[Safe Climber]

Thanks for all the varied and interesting insights and comments. Someone asked "What preventative measure would I take?" I dunno? Great question. I supposed that getting some dialogue started on this thread is a small step. Education is by all means the most powerful tool in getting people dialed in on good habits. I come from a traditional climbing background and it saddens me to hear about climbers hitting the ground so frequently in the near past. I have had some close grounders on sport routes that were prevented by great belay skills. The use of helmets has also been touched on in this thread. That alone will not prevent a ground fall but can less the damage in a short ground out or swing into an object. Perhaps another small steps is posters and signage at trail heads and kiosks reminding people to be heads up. Speaking to a person that is doing something critically wrong endangering themselves or others is, what I hold, as a moral obligation. Just some thought from the top of my head but lets keep the dialogue coming.

[clif]

i'd recommend targeting gyms and equipment outlets for any 'user group' effort to protecting access and reducing injury.

[DriskellHR]

i'd recommend targeting gyms and equipment outlets for any 'user group' effort to protecting access and reducing injury.

and who do you suggest do this? I'm all for it but I think its up to the individual climber to educate themselves. That being said The neg impact it has on our community could be a problem as mentioned before.

Its a humdinger.....

[the lurkist]

I think the trend is toward a laissez faire approach toward belaying. With the number of people forcing the probabilities of human error occurring more frequently, education of the climber and re establishing with in the culture of climbing the seriousness of the belayer's job are the most effective measures that will change this trend.

The first bolt on Breakfast Burrito is fairly high off the ground. Ten Feet? I know you have to climb a bit to get to it. I guess someone fixing egregious first bolts will remove one small factor and pad the probabilities a tad, but again, the belayer and his/her attentiveness and skill is the final arbiter of deck or no deck.

[Garmin]

Does anyone know if the person who decked is okay?

[Josephine]

Does anyone know if the person who decked is okay?

I asked around at Miguels and no one seemed to know. I tried to find her on facebook with no luck. Her name is christine (or maybe christina) lee from chicago. i'm not sure how the first or last name is spelled though.