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I know Rick Weber already posted a little something about the accident, but he didnt really cover any details. I'm hoping we can learn something from the accident to prevent it in the future.

Any first-hand accounts of what happened?

Also, how is the climber doing? Extent of injuries and pronosis? I hope he is doing well!

As being one of the first on the scene I will give my account of the day. I was in the party climbing next to the involved party.

The climber cleaned the anchors then prepared to rap off, collected 2 draws on his way down and then had not pulled sufficient rope through the anchors to get both ends of the rope on the ground. He ran out of rope at about 50 feet off the deck.

My friends took control of the scene, getting others around stabilizing the climber who was feet down on the hillside to keep from sliding down further and keep his spine in line and keep him from moving. Later found out that he had a fractured sacrum and C7 vertebrae.

I drove up to top of Bald Rock Rd and 498 and helped lead the ambulance and others down to the parking area.

This guy we later found out is called KY Joe or Clevis Hitch identified himself as an ER Nurse then refused to take over the scene from my friend who was an EMT many years ago. I thought he would be kind enough, being more qualified. He did however go prep his truck to use to bring rescue gear up to the crag, but ended up using another persons truck. I really feel like he could have been better utilized at the scene having more extensive medical background than my friend.

This same guy later suggested this terrible route to me and my friend as some sort of cruel joke at Shady Grove stating that is was a good warmup for other harder routes in the area. It was the most awful route on the whole dang wall and she will certainly tell him her opinion on that subject if she sees him again.

Another thing, some guy jumped in the truck with the patient in the back and identified himself as a doctor, supposedly delayed getting the patient in the ambulance b/c he too wants to assess the patient. Turns out this guy is a medical student, not a doctor, and is suing his medical school over some issue. Then I hear that this same guy is claiming that he was there for the whole rescue, that no one else knew what was going on, and taking claim for helping this guy. Sounds like he lied about being MD and delayed things.

Sorry, it started as what happened that day and what could be learned, but it turned into a vent session.

Another thing that upset me is that when others heard of the accident there was alot of calling him a dumbass. No, this climber is a very sweet guy and climbing with an experienced group. He just made a simple mistake, that when hurrying or not double triple checking yourself, could happen to anyone. So please don't judge.

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

What area/route was this?

It sounds ike there was more than one accident at the Gorge this weekend?

My best wishes to the climber. I hope he makes a full recovery.

lena_chita wrote:What area/route was this?

It sounds ike there was more than one accident at the Gorge this weekend?

My best wishes to the climber. I hope he makes a full recovery.

There was a guy at BuriseBrothers on Rising, the 11a roof pitch above CH4. He decided to skip both the roof bolt, AND the second bolt because they were glue ins and he "wasn't sure if they were good or not." He took a leader fall clipping the third bolt, fell approximately 40 feet, and hit the wall around the first bolt on the 7. Rick and I responded, and he went to the hospital in Winchester. I saw him yesterday back at BruiseBrothers with his friends, all wrapped up. He was EXTREMELY lucky to hobble away with only a hyperextended Achilles tendon. He's lucky he didn't ground out or break both his ankles.

Best wishes to the guy from PMRP. I always say a little prayer before I climb and rap down: "please God don't let me f*ck up."

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

rappelling is essentially belaying yourself, so another accident due to rope control failure. regardless of how "sweet" the guy is, it is a matter of checking your set up before you unclip from your anchors. I wouldn't call the guy a dumbass but i'd say he fucked up something pretty elementary. As for his partners, any "experienced" group should pay attention to their partners and let them know when the rope is on the ground, or as in this case, isn't on the ground.
These people aren't necessarily stupid or wreckless, but their actions certainly were. The same can be said about many climbing accidents, including my own.

The route was a slabby 5.10 on the right side of the Playground...I think it was "Tire Swing". I didn't see the accident, but I observed the rescue, and helped where I could, but there were already a dozen or so helpers when I arrived. "Colorado Jen's" account is not entirely correct, for one, KY Joe was not involved in any way. As for the rescue, they did a really good job. The SAR team arrived very quickly (thanks entirely to the quick action of the ER nurse Jen is criticizing, who called the SAR coordinator directly), and had him out of there within an hour of the accident. Considering the remote location, that is quite good.

The injured climber did rap off the end of his rope...what conclusions you draw from that are up to you. I don't know the guy, or anything about him, and I hope he recovers quickly. Some lessons learned might be: 1) Rappelling is statistically more dangerous than lowering, lower, don't rap. 2) If you rappel, tie a not in the end of your rope. 3) Verify that your rope is down. 4) If your friend and/or loved one is preparing to rappel, verify they tied a knot in their rope, and the rope is down.

Quick thought, give it a week or 2 before the community starts talking about this kind of thing on the internet. There are still family and friends out there that are grieving for this person. Try being a little respectful of these people and the persons involved in the accident. I hate this kind of shit and personally its non of our business right away. GIVE IT SOME TIME!