RRC Archives

I am in shock that I have to defend my husband regarding his efforts to rescue this man. When he came to the scene "Jen" told him that she was medical(though didn't disclose what type of medical). He did assess the victim and feeling that he was stable and knowing that the best thing was to get him out ASAP, he called his friend, Ronny, who is the head of the SAR in Lee Co. He then brought his truck (not someone else's) up the hill and prepped it quickly to get the man out and to the helicopter quickly. He wasn't gone long (a few minutes). After he came back he led the medical side of the rescue, putting IV's in etc . . .

My husband has been a trauma nurse for a long time. He has served in Afghanistan as a trauma nurse and has been in charge of an ER for many years. Put bluntly, he knows his shit.

I am proud of his efforts on Saturday.

These types of injuries really disappoint me - I just want to smack my head against the wall whenever it happens....its so easily preventable.

and please guys - I'm sure everyone was doing their best to help in the rescue...

I hope both recover fast and fully.

There are few people that climb with any regularity that might be in the vicinity of the Red when a fall occurs and can deal with the polytrauma that is the result.
This nurse that Jen refers to is one. Kevin Cox is a trauma nurse, an active duty major in the Air Force, is the director of Emergency Services at Wright Patterson AFB Hospital, recently returned from a tour in Afghanistan (where anyone who is anyone in trauma medicine goes in the past 7 years) has more first hand trauma resuscitation experience than most people I know, (and I work closely with the ED staff- docs, nurses, trauma surgeons of a level one trauma center). When you fall and have an spine fracture,flail chest with developing tension pneumo, and comminuted tib fib fracture, you will want Kevin Cox there.
He really doesn't need defending (although I relish the opportunity), but this person who fell has know idea how lucky he was to have Kevin Cox near by.

rhunt wrote:Finally an accident not involving belayer error. I hope he make a full recovery.

It has always been my understanding that one job of the belayer is to watch their climber even when they in direct and off belay to catch potential mistakes, such as this, so by not telling the climber that both ends weren't down, I would consider this, at least in part, belayer error. Of course, if the anchors were in a spot where the belayer could not see and the climber started the rappel without the belayer's knowledge, then it's the climbers fault for not asking if both ends were down. Asking if the rope is down is actually part of my cleaning checklist, but then, I'm such a coward I usually ask about 4 times just to make sure.

Whatever happened, belayers should ALWAYS be watching thier climber even if the climber specifically tells them they are off belay and done with them. The belayer is still the one responsible for watching, asking the climber if they are doing each step, and prepared to give a fireman's assist if necessary.

please don't hate the haters. it's important that the traumatize individuals are fully chastized to prevent further damage.
far from the maddening crowd is what leads sheep off the precipice.

I disagree, once I say off belay, its all on me, my belayer takes me off and is free to do what ever he or she wants. It's my responsibility to figure out if the ropes are down, if my rope has a middle mark and I know how high off the ground I am. to do the math, its my responsibility to figure out what to do when I discover my ropes are not both down because no one was around to let me know, it's my responsibility to figure out when its a good time to rapell or get lowered. Notice the multiple use of the word responsibility? (which by the way, I was happy to type four times because I have trouble spelling it) Just like with belaying accidents, this was totally the climber's/rapeller's fault.

This is in no way an attack on the person injured, again I hope he makes a full recovery.

Wasnt me...i left the gorge on wednesday morning...i just got back in the red tonight!!!

colorado_jen wrote:He just made a simple mistake, that when hurrying or not double triple checking yourself, could happen to anyone. So please don't judge.

It can't happen to simply anyone. This is a mistake that doesn't happen when proper technique is used. If you do things the right way, you can expect a lifetime of climbing without such an accident.

I hope he has a speedy and complete recovery.

I have no desire to beat up on the injured climber or his belayer. But it is very important that everyone understand exactly what went wrong here. The climber FAILED TO TIE A KNOT IN THE END OF HIS DAMNED RAP LINES. It is never acceptable to rap without a bulky knot in the end of your rap line or lines. If you take shortcuts and skip the knots you will ( almost guaranteed) rap off the end of your rope some day. I've known several people who've made this mistake and only one who slipped over a too-small knot. This accident was 100% preventable with proper (and simple) technique. Repeat after me - TIE A BIG KNOT IN THE END OF YOUR RAP LINES - ALWAYS- NO EXCEPTION.

Chastized!? I'm pretty sure near death falls serve as a more than adequate teacher of caution! How about some support and edification.

Prayers for the climber and the family and friends.