Super Collossal Save of a Falling Climber

I missed this one entirely. According to carpenter on rc.com:

"A similar thing happened a few weeks ago in Clear Creek Canyon. A friend was belaying a random drifter, who climbed to the anchors out of sight, out of hearing. Belayer thought he'd rap, climber thought he'd lower. Belayer unclipped, and so did the climber, and the climber started to fall.

On the next route over, a man was clipped in to the first anchor while belaying his partner on the 2nd pitch. As the falling climber passed him, he locked off his partner and quickly spun his free arm into the climber's slack rope, catching him with a single bare hand. Despite severe rope burns, he gently lowered the catch and finished climbing his route like nothing happened. I kid you not. bamf. "

So who was the guy that made this heroic catch? We need to give him some props here I think!

Better question is: Who was the moron belayer that 'assumed' he would rap? Bad form.

Amazing story though.

Wow, that seems almost impossible, but amazing if it did happen -- I'd like to hear from the parties involved!

Is there a link to the rc thread?

This post was a few down.

rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/fo…;post=2516416;page=1;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;

I randomly climbed with the rescuer in CCC about a month ago. He had the still-bandaged rope burns to prove it. Don't remember his name, but he definitely earned some serious karma points.

The climber/catcher is a good friend of mine. He has some pretty severe rope burns on the catching hand but is otherwise OK. He certainly has earned all the kudos/karma that could be passed on!

Truth is stranger than fiction, the falling climber is one lucky SOB.

Yeah, that is truly amazing -- it's like something out of a movie!

My guess is this happened on People's Choice at high wire crag. Apparently this is all to common, I have heard of a number of accidents exactly like this on People's Choice and even had trouble communicating with my partner from the top anchor. Luckily we have been climbing together for years...best to clearly communicate your intentions before starting off on this seemingly benign route.

The falling climber was on Passing Lane. The "catch" was done from the 1st pitch belay of Deuces Wild...

johnL wrote:Is there a reason why people are keeping his name to themselves?

@ johnL

No - just he's not a poster on here. He's a very understated kinda guy who prob doesnt want the attention

I was just going to say I bet he's being humble about what he did. Pretty amazing.

You know.. there is the possibility that the mysterious Mark may not have had the chance to check mp in the last _17_ hours..

I saw the whole thing go down. I had just climbed people's choice, and rapped off another route to the right. My partner saw some guy go tumbling down the rock, straight through the party at the midway anchor of deuces wild, and then miraculously stop about 15 feet from the ground. He fell a good 60 feet (head over heels), at least. There was no screaming or yelling and everything seemed pretty chill so we just kept on climbing. It wasn't until we got down to the ground that we got the full story.

Anyway, both belayer and faller/climber took off shortly after the incident, without much regard for what happened from what i heard. I was shocked when I got the full scoop, and took it upon myself to take our mysterious hero out for a beer at Woody's.

Thanks Mark F. for saving the day!

Amazing story.

Small public service announcement - weight the rope before unclipping from the anchor. Do this whether you are rapping or being lowered. Make it a habit as it might save your life

Wow. Amazing. Sure would like to hear the story first hand from the man with the "hand of God."

This might be the most amazing story I have ever read. Incredible! Mark F. you are the man!!

wow. no words.

I know the guy who fell, he's new to town and was climbing with a new partner. As Jon guessed it was a lack of communication between the climber and belayer that led to the fall. When my friend told me what happened I was blown away that someone simply caught his rope to save him, total hero move. He was able to walk away but with a broken elbow.

First, great job Mark!!!

Second, what with this "belayer thought/assumed they would rap" you never make that assumption when belaying. This is the second accident there in 2 months. If you really don't want to hold the rope, just tie it off. If the rope starts to feed but you're not sure what the leader's intentions are then feed the whole damn rope thru your device. It seems that some need to learn how to belay, or perhaps they should find other leisure activities.

Mark hopefully will come visit and accept his accolades. What Mark has demonstrated is excellent situational awareness.

Next time I run into Mark I hope to buy him a beer!