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Ha! That guy would have decked for sure if his buddy hadn't told the belayer "no not that much, take some in!, remember to jump though". it is an absolute miracle that someone doesn't die every hour during a busy weekend in the red.

wow. so much horror.

cramacam - did you at least try and offer some help to this group? Isn't there a communal stick clip at that wall?

gripster wrote:Ha! That guy would have decked for sure if his buddy hadn't told the belayer "no not that much, take some in!, remember to jump though". it is an absolute miracle that someone doesn't die every hour during a busy weekend in the red.

It is a miracle indeed. What I don't get is why these people think it is so hilarious when they come so incredibly close to death or permanent paralysis... perhaps the moronic laughter is some kind of coping mechanism to deal with their own idiocy? Or are they just truly unaware of the needless objective risks they are voluntarily accepting? It seems like they will never learn until someone is permanently disabled or dead. Even then, some still don't understand that these tragedies are self-inflicted and completely avoidable.

All I can say is thank god RRG locals and TeamSuck folks are fairly diligent and very generous when it comes to maintaining bolts and fixed gear... without this effort the accident rate would be far higher. It seems like the majority of sport climbers out there voluntarily sacrifice whatever margin of safety they should be enjoying and instead rely on a single bolt and single non-locking biner to keep them off the deck throughout the majority of every route they climb.

Scene at Boneyard this weekend: a strong climber guy, a newbie climber girlfriend. The guy is climbing Cindarella, obviously way below his ability level, hanging TR for the girlfriend. The girlfriend is belaying on a gri-gri, a shiny new not-a-single-scratch reverso and a brand new PAS attached to her harness. In a few minutes that I watched her, she held the device at least 10 different ways, all of them incorrect, some way or the other. One hand clamped tight on the cam, the other above the device pulling slakc out, periodicly switching hands to do this, but never once puting the hand on the break.

I stood nearby, ready to grab the rope, but the guy really looked like he could have been soloing, so I was not freaking out and didn't want to distract the girl further by trying to teach her while she was "belaying". After he came down and the GF started climbing, I waited until she was far up the route, and quietly told the guy that his GF didn't know how to use the gri-gri, and he should spend some time teaching her. Told him about the recent accident (they were not local, it was their first day climbing at the Red). The guy politely thanked me, and I left.

Later that day I asked some friends who stayed behind if the guy had said anything to the girl. Nope, not a single word, no instruction, no backup. She continued to belay him, and he climbed every route there... Oh well, I tried. Hopefully he will stay on routes within his soloing range.

it is not easy for me to admit that when i first started climbing with my wife (gf at the time) that i should have ended up on this forum for not properly teaching her how to use a gri gri. i figured that the gri gri was my best bet since she was new to the whole lead belaying thing. i totally blame myself for being so foolish and desperate to climb that i would risk my life letting her belay me without the proper training. i hear of accidents all the time from similar situations. please people, do not let an inexperienced person belay you even if you could solo the route, it is a good way to get killed! you may really, really want to get out, but if you die remember that it will be your last trip!

in answer to the communal stick clip... yes there was one there.

dustonian wrote: It is a miracle indeed. What I don't get is why these people think it is so hilarious when they come so incredibly close to death or permanent paralysis... perhaps the moronic laughter is some kind of coping mechanism to deal with their own idiocy? Or are they just truly unaware of the needless objective risks they are voluntarily accepting? It seems like they will never learn until someone is permanently disabled or dead. Even then, some still don't understand that these tragedies are self-inflicted and completely avoidable.

All I can say is thank god RRG locals and TeamSuck folks are fairly diligent and very generous when it comes to maintaining bolts and fixed gear... without this effort the accident rate would be far higher. It seems like the majority of sport climbers out there voluntarily sacrifice whatever margin of safety they should be enjoying and instead rely on a single bolt and single non-locking biner to keep them off the deck throughout the majority of every route they climb.

I thought the same exact thing. I hope after the cameras were off someone said, damn, that was close (like, you were on the ground). Or maybe it was indeed the laugh @ the grim reaper...

I have been thinking about all of this and what I saw last weekend really opened my eyes. I have told several climbing buddies this story and heard many theories about how its sad that just about anyone can rope up and do something stupid. One thing that someone mentioned was a lack of a governing body... All this makes me think of is going to a gym and having to pass a belay test... This makes me sick because I want to get out to get away from that crap. It makes me want to go back to my trad roots where people tend to take climbing more seriously, and recognize that this sport can be dangerous. Since when did this sport become an extension of the gym when we need someone regulating? I'll be the first to admit that Ive make my share of gumby mistakes... I remember trying to work a climb with slopers at the chains... blowing the clip and coming down near the first bolt... This one made me think a little bit... A cage rattling of sorts. Are people that climb in gyms that used to decking on a floor full of mats? Sport climbing sometimes dishes out bigger whips. That's ok. But since when is it ok to end up on the ground? Are people accepting this as a regular everyday occurance part of the sport? Its not an everyday thing in my book. If it is, in other climbers I want no part in that.