Ground fall at Torrent, Sunday Sept 5

Post by **KenJo** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 4:24 am

If anyone has the details on this groundfall, please post up. Some friends of mine were there and saw it. Brad helped out considerably but we're curious to know what happened with the fella... internal bleeding and whatnot.

Post by **marathonmedic** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 5:07 am

Yes, please post. Morbid curiosity aside, I try to not repeat mistakes made by others. Thx.

Post by **Spragwa** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 1:37 am

I'd be interested in knowing too. If anyone has any information for Mark, he indicated tonight that he'd like to know how the guy is doing.

Post by **haas** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 3:36 am

I was told from his friends when they were packing all their stuff back up at Miguel's that he broke his thumb, heel, hip, fractured a few ribs and bruised his vertebrea. No internal bleeding. All in all I'd say he got off lucky for as far as he fell and for not hitting his head either

Post by **marathonmedic** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 3:37 am

How far/where did he fall? Do we have any idea what went wrong?

Post by **haas** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 3:51 am

He grounded out going for the anchors on Recoil, so like 50 feet or so. A girl was belaying him with a grigri and she said it "malfunctioned" but the guy with her said the girl didn't know what she was doing. My guess is that the climber popped and she tensed up, holding the lever down so the rope was never able to lock in the grigri. The only other option is that she loaded the grigri backwards.

Post by **marathonmedic** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 3:56 am

Wow. Sounds like he was lucky, all things considered. Glad to hear that he should be okay.

Post by **steep4me** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 2:26 pm

I hate to add to rumors about someone falling, so let me clarify that this info is hearsay. We were at Torrent on the day and talked to this guy a little bit while we were on Bandoleer. We heard him fall from the ten wall on the other side of Torrent and then heard a lot of screaming, saw the ambulance leave etc. The first information I heard is what is already posted here. However, I did speak to the guy (John Keller)'s friend at Miguel's that night. He said that he had called the hospital and that John broke "a few fingers," shattered his heel bone, shattered his elbow, tore his rotater cuff, and broke some ribs. I can't remember if he also broke a hip--but that may have been in the rumor mill at Torrent that day. I also was told that he was on Racer X--so, I am not sure which climb he fell from. A woman he knew from the climbing gym in Michigan was belaying him with a grigri ( I agree with whoever said above that she either loaded it backwards or held down the cam on the grigri --I have seen people drop leaders doing that). That's just speculation though.

Post by **asylvest** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 5:06 pm

I was at Torrent on Sunday when John fell. He was at the anchors of Recoil and fell going for the one of the final holds. Several other climbers and I were watching John as he neared the anchors and so I don't think anyone was watching the belayer. I saw the grigri after the belayer had unclipped from it and it was not loaded backwards. Only two possibilities exist: Either the grigri failed to work or the belayer was holding the lever down. Either way it seems unlikely that the belayer had her hand on the brake-side of the rope (which might have prevented the ground-fall even if the grigri had malfunctioned).

I am relieved to hear that John's injuries were not more extensive and wish him a speedy recovery.

Post by **Zspider** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 5:17 pm

As fast as the rope must have been whipping through the Grigri, it's suprising that she could have held on to the release lever.

Long falls while attempting to clip anchors are starting to look like a plague. I have a friend who took a 35 footer trying to finish 59" Drill Bitch, and another friend who was ready to clip the anchors (different climb) hit the ground.

ZSpider