Injured Climber Rescued from Sandias: Gear Left Behind on Second Coming 9/2/2012

koat.com/news/new-mexico/al…

Dr. Durkin and I were starting the 2nd pitch when the accident occurred. I slung the big tree at the top of the 1st pitch with cord and a locking biner and we rapped to the base and hiked to the injured climber and his partner who were climbing on the Chimney. Hopefully in the next day or so I'll be back to finish the climb and retrieve my gear. if someone has already retrieved it an offer of beers for its return.

Stay safe out there,

Supra
Albuquerque Mountain Rescue Council
Cibola SAR
NMSAR Support Team

The climber was very fortunate to have the two of you climbing nearby, Supra. I hope your gear is still there or promptly returned to you. Great job out there.

krqe.com/dpp/news/local/cen…

This might explain some of what happened better. He pulled a couple of pieces and decked. He was wearing a helmet but struck a rock at the base of his skull.

Send positive energy, thoughts and prayers his way,

Supra

Any news on the fallen climber's recovery state? What kind of placements pulled? Good job with the help you guys gave to him out there.

Good job supra...
Lucky climber to have an ER doc so close.

koat.com/news/new-mexico/al…

I heard from my peeps at the hospital that he's recovering and doing well considering the extent of his injuries.

I spoke with the climbers partner and Durkin spoke with the climber. It appears that he may have pulled an alien (yellow or green) and possibly a nut.

Supra

The climber is back home now and doing amazing considering what happened.

That is great to hear. I will be thinking of him and hope for a quick recovery.

First, thanks to you people who do mountain rescue. In a sense, you make everyone's recreation possible.
There's one issue that may or may not matter to you regarding this rescue. Three hang glider pilots who agreed to launch and leave that day instead launched and stayed soaring on the mountain, delaying the final takeoff of the BlackHawk for over half an hour.
The local hang gliding club is renewing their Forest Service permit this year. If you have any opinion on this, you can post comments to comments-southwestern-cibola@fs.fed.us through today (Oct 4).
If you need any information or details post here and I'll give all I've got. Thanks again.

The three pilots involved are pleading "nuanced" interpretations of what they were told. I distinctly heard the Incident Commander say, "You have until 6:10 to get out of here." The story the pilots are selling is that getting 1000-1500 feet over is "out of there." They did in fact have permission to launch while the Hawk was waiting for cable, to be clear. It was staying on the mountain after 6:10 that was the problem.

the article says "faulty equipment"... does this mean the pro itself failed or the pro placement failed?

Injured climber checking in!

Recovery is going great and I am very fortunate to be in such good shape. Thanks again to all the SAR team and those who have helped!

brandonh wrote:Injured climber checking in! Recovery is going great and I am very fortunate to be in such good shape. Thanks again to all the SAR team and those who have helped!

Glad you are doing well Brandon. Let me know if there is anything we can do for ya.

If you're feeling up to it I'd like to hear what happened from your perspective. It always helps the community (Climbing and SAR) to hear first hand accounts.

Supra

Ok, Story time.

The day prior to the accident my climbing partner and I were on Little Yellow Jacket. We spotted the chimney climb on a spire behind us and decided it would be fun to do the next day. Guide book did not say much about the route but we heard from some locals it went around 5.7 and had solid bolts at the top. A bit of route finding and lose rock but nothing to really dissuade us. We scouted what looked like a good start and I took the first lead. I placed a small nut about 7 feet up and a small alien around 15. A foot or two above my last piece my foot slipped and I remember the Alien pulling. The next thing I remember was being up against a rock 15 or so feet down the hill from the start of the pitch bleeding from the head and ear. Luckily I had my helmet on and a first aid kit in my bag so my partner was able to help me quickly slow the blood flow.

From what I understand, the rock around the Alien fractured causing the placement to fail and the nut pulled out by the force coming up from my belay.
Lessons to take on this are, if placing a nut, or any piece that relies on directional force, place a second piece to counteract any force coming from below the piece.
As for the cam, not much to say there. Better testing of the rock surrounding the placement would of helped.