RRC Archives

Charlie gets it. When the belayer took she felt the climber and the climber felt the belayer so she unclipped. she was on the wrong side of the bight .

But the climber should have felt the belayer pulling her downward, not upward. Perhaps she never checked that the belay had her weight before unclipping.

Canuck wrote:But the climber should have felt the belayer pulling her downward, not upward. Perhaps she never checked that the belay had her weight before unclipping.

a good lesson for me to be extra EXTRA sure whenever i'm doing something that's not my usual way of doing things.

i hope she'll get well soon.

rhunt wrote:..Was the goal to switch out ropes so someone to leave? Its not that hard to just tape the two ropes together at the end and pull the other rope throw the draws and anchor....

I've seen people do this on a steep route where they want to allow another person to "second" the route unclipping as they go. In all (both) cases where I saw this take place the climber who was setting the rig up for the next person was uncomfortable with the process of being lowered a bit at a time, swinging in and clipping, then being lowered to the next clip and repeating....

It's crazy watching stuff like this happen when you are in other places. It's interesting what becomes the norm in other areas.

Hope she's recovering.

That route has had a few accidents.

I was the belayer of the accident at Roadside. We were on Ro Shambo. Charlie was correct in what happened.

It was both of our faults.

My fault because I didn't understand the system of how everything would work (I obviously do now). I had never done this before (climbing in the middle of a rope on a one pitch sport route) and had asked the strategy as she was hopping on the climb. She explained how she would unclip her end and clip her side. I understood how that would work, so put her on belay. As she got to the top we started talking as I was still confused about the mechanics of it all. She said she was indirect so I assumed (huge, huge, huge fault of mine) that she had it under control. When she said take, I took. And she fell.

This was also her fault because I don't think she could have tested her rope prior to being lowered as if she had, she would have seen it was not taut.

It was a horrible accident. A result of mis-communication and assumption. A reminder that climbing is dangerous.

The update is she is healing and has been transferred to a hospital in West Virginia. She has many fractures and needs surgery but will definitely live. We have left each other messages, but have yet to talk in person. She sounds good but thinks she made a horrible mistake, when in reality we were both at fault and climbing is dangerous. As for me, I am obviously really shaken up still and deciding what to do now. I don't know if I climb again, I don't know if I go home (to Utah). I don't know yet. I guess I am just simply lost in life right now but will make some decisions in a couple days after talking with her in person. There were three witnesses and they are all doing alright. One is back in Canada safely, the other two are still here at Miguel's and decided to go out climbing today.

That is the update.

I am so sorry for everyone involved, what positive vibes I have are flowing in your direction.

WasatchGirl thanks for the update. I personally want to commend you for coming forward and setting the record straight. Climbers can be a pretty judgemental group sometimes and it took real courage for you to step up and give us the facts. Now other have the opportunity to learn from your mistakes. I hope your friend heals and you both continue climbing.

Best Wishes,
E.

i'm stupid, i think i will still need a diagram to understand what was going on... i've never done it like that before, either.
anyway, i am really glad to hear she will be okay. definitely a reminder to us all that climbing is not a fail-proof sport.

I have watched the same thing nearly happen at least two other times - once the guy had already started unclipping the anchor draws, which would have ended up the same as this.

Climbing can be tricky sometimes, so always make sure you have a plan!