MV anchor cleaning accident

[Josephine]

From Rick's Facebook page:

We want to send out a huge THANK YOU to the Muir Valley Rescue group, and volunteer climbers, who helped to save a young man's life last Saturday at the Bruise Brothers Wall. Once again, the Muir Valley emergency system worked beautifully, providing for a very fast response and patient evacuation. Mark Ryan, a WFR headed up the patient stabilization and treatment. This is the fourth serious incident this year, and because the Wolfe County Emergency Services do not “leave the tarmac” to attend to injured persons in wilderness settings, the Muir Valley Rescue group has become an absolute necessity. - Rick and Liz

The young man who fell 75 feet from the top of a climb in Muir is still in critical condition, but doctors are optimistic. His survival is nothing short of a miracle. It really helped that he was still in his "golden hour" when the helicopter landed at UK Trauma Center.

If you know Chao, you can friend him on facebook through Logan Brown for updates on his condition. Hopefully he will have a speedy recovery. So glad that the emergency system was in place to help him get quick care.

[Noell]

So is someone able to explain how the accident occured? Cleaning accident? What went wrong?

[ynp1]

I want to know how BB wall got to be 75 feet tall? I can see how a climber can fall off a cliff... Gravity happens.

[EricDorsey]

The right side of the wall seems close to 75 feet, rat stew has to be pretty close.... but anyway I would be interested in finding out what happened as well.

[Monty]

I would like to thank the MV Rescue Group for all the hard work they have done and the effort they put in to making Muir a safer place to climb.

[Spoonman]

hope he is all right!!.....to who ever helped thank you!

[Frethawk]

1

[weber]

We believe that it is inappropriate to post speculation regarding climbing accidents at Muir on this forum. When all the facts are determined, the causes will be reported on the Muir Valley Facebook page and in the AAC publication: "Accidents in North American Mountaineering." In all cases, patient privacy will be respected as per HIPAA.

However, because some of the details have now been posted, this followup will help clarify.

Definitive cause of the October 6, 2013 accident: Climber did not have both ends of his rope on the ground when he rappelled after cleaning the anchors. He had not tied a stopper knot in the end of the short rope. His belay/rappel device was rigged correctly, the rope was through both anchor rings, and his rappel was backed up with an autoblock loop. After cleaning the last draw under the anchors, he rapped off the short end of the rope, fell approximately 56 feet, and impacted the ground. Two Muir Valley Rescue volunteers were nearby and immediately declared a medical emergency on the MVR emergency radio channel. Karsten DeLap, an MVR volunteer and wilderness paramedic, arrived on scene within four minutes. A helicopter was also called in. The patient was assessed, stabilized, packaged for litter transport, and carried out by Muir Valley Rescue personnel. The helicopter took the patient to Huntington W.V. as the weather window was closed to Lexington. - Rick Weber

[Frethawk]

I was there and just wanted to know what happened, the events play over and over in my head. I'm not much of a climber, and I didn't know there was a hush-hush regarding accidents, especially in instances that turn out relatively positive such as this. My apologies if I offended anyone.

[krampus]

Can we at least have a discussion on how we can make climbing safer for everyone and reduce the individual responsibility for ones own self? It's been at least three months since the last convo like this