Bad Couple of Days on Longs Peak

Stich wrote:If someone had contacted SAR and/or was going for help and someone with medical knowledge was attending the patient, there is little else to do for other bystanders.

PS - well, not climbing above a rescue party is better form than climbing above a rescue party, but I'm not sure what actually happened.

Right now I'm just happy my friend is alive, that he has no brain/spinal issues, and that his partner and all the rescuers made it out safe. I have zero doubt that any climber going up to do the Diamond would not stop in heartbeat to help a fellow climber in need, unless specifically instructed to stay away by people in charge at the rescue/triage scene. So yeah, I doubt anybody just walked on by. We climbers are a tight community, folks going to climb the Diamond all the more so.

My name is John Steinbauer. I was one of the people who was in the North Chimney on Friday morning and continued on above Broadway.

I was simulclimbing the chimney when Christian's fall occurred, and my partner was leading somewhere higher in the chimney, closer to the incident. At this moment, here at work, I don't know the details of where my partner was initially to comment on that.

When I was finally able to get up to the location of Christian and see what was going on, there were already several other people on the scene, some of whom had greater training and/or experience than I do in emergency medical care and rigging. I offered to contribute my trail line to the rescue and was willing to help, but people were focused on the patient and my offer was ignored in the midst of it all. I'm not putting blame on others about this - I probably should have been more persistent in my offer at that point. SInce I had not even communicated with or seen my partner since the chaos had begun, I continued to follow my belay up to Broadway to make sure he was not also injured and to figure out what we should do.

The four of us who were there (me and my partner, plus one other party of 2 who had placed the phone calls) discussed at great length what to do. 911 and NPS had been called and the rescue was underway. There were already a lot of people on the scene, in my view at the time probably too many people. As others have commented, sometimes too many people can just make things more dangerous, and that was our thinking at the time.

In the end we decided to continue up the Diamond. Most if not all the things other posters have said about this went through our heads as well, in terms of weird juju, being on standby, etc. But we felt that we could do little to help and it would be best to remove ourselves from the scene.

I understand that many people will feel that we abandoned a person in need. Other than giving you my side of the story, there is little I can say to that. In the past, I have been first or second on the scene of other emergencies and have put everything else on hold to help. Had I thought I could help him get to safety faster, I would have stayed put for sure. It was a complex situation and from our perspective, at that time, we thought it was the right choice.

My biggest regret as I have replayed the scene many times in my head is that I did not try harder to offer our assistance and make sure there was nothing we could do to help before leaving the scene.

I wish Christian the best possible recovery from his injuries.

Seems like CLIMBING ABOVE an ongoing rescue situation, particularly in a chossy gulley, is at least as significant a consideration as to whether additional assistance was needed or not.

My armchair judgement would be that everyone who continued above the scene added an unnecessary amount of additional objective danger to the victims and the rescue party. Nice work.

Darin Berdinka wrote:Seems like CLIMBING ABOVE an ongoing rescue situation, particularly in a chossy gulley, is at least as significant a consideration as to whether additional assistance was needed or not. My armchair judgement would be that everyone who continued above the scene added an unnecessary amount of additional objective danger to the victims and the rescue party. Nice work.

So the second should have:

• Untied
• Called his leader down
• Told the party (who called the accident in) on Broadway to bail down

??

Tough situation with many variables, IMO party in question did the best they could. No easy way out of that gully with no easy bail from the leader position above as far as i know.

Is the Crack of Delight any safer due to the fact that it is still below Broadway? I can only assume so given the amount of choss all along the North Chimney.

Best of luck recovering Christian. Sounds like a long, painful road back, but could have been worse.

pepperluff wrote: So the second should have: * Untied * Called his leader down * Told the party (who called the accident in) on Broadway to bail down ?? Tough situation with many variables, IMO party in question did the best they could. No easy way out of that gully with no easy bail from the leader position above as far as i know.

My thoughts exactly

Tony T. wrote: Related, I'm posting a quick "WTF?" to the apparently 2-4 parties who came upon the scene of our friend and his partner, who was pretty severely injured, and kept climbing. This is including one supposed nurse who said he looked OK and kept going. <3

Tony, it sounds like you weren't even there. In that case I think your comment is inflammatory at best.

Hope Christian makes a full recovery.

Be careful in the North Chimney folks.

Paul Hunnicutt wrote:Is the Crack of Delight any safer due to the fact that it is still below Broadway?

I rappelled Crack of Delight once and it appears to be very clean by comparison. It also looks like a nice climb in and of itself.

The crack of delight is more or less the rappel route off of Broadway. It would be a good alternative as the rock is much cleaner- however it is harder and pretty much 5th class the whole way. It would also be much more difficult to pass slow parties.

People will always probably tend to the North Chimney as it is much easier technically, easier to pass, and really only 4th class for >80% of the terrain.

I think the most important thing to look at in this situation is that the injured climber is recovering from his injuries and it sounds like he is going to be ok in the end. We can always look back at should haves and could haves but in the end the important thing is that he is going to fully recover.

I was not there that day but will say, in the moment emergent judgement calls in the back country can be difficult to make, and every situation is different from the next.

I can recall a rescue I was a part of 10-12 years ago in the black Canyon when a guy on the route next to us fell and did a considerable amount of damage to himself. His partner along with myself and my partner, rescued him back down the wall then hiked him out of the S.O.B. with 2 shattered ankles. In that situation 2 parties climbed up to us from below and continued climbing, one of which was a nurse. IMOP, those parties that day did the right thing by continuing upward climbing above us as we had the rescue under control and more people would have ruined the efficient nature of it.

Point I'm making is we all assume the risks of climbing, especially in the North Chimney and when someone gets injured the most important thing is that they heal from their injuries. My thoughts are with all those involved.

Seems to me that bag was saying that he/she did not know what his/her simuling partner was up to.
In that case, what can you do?
Well, all things considered, it seems like we, reading this, have a lot of things to consider and move forward with, should we ever end up facing a similar situation.

This is David and I usually do not post on forums of this type. However, I was on the belay stance about 20ft below where Christian's fall finally ended. The fall happened near the top of N. Chimney. Both my partner and I saw the last few moments of the fall and were the first team on scene -- others were there pretty quick to offer an assist. I was personally in the N. Chimney assisting for 7hrs of the 9hr rescue. I feel that I might be able to offer something to the community and to this particular conversation. I am only speaking for myself and cannot speak for anyone else that was there.

The N. Chimney is a chossy pile and can be something of a bowling alley if people are climbing above you (as many here already know). Being cautious is necessary, but sometimes that is not enough. Things happen and climbing in the alpine is a dangerous game. Frankly, it could have been anyone of us up there on Friday needing a rescue. I am grateful for everyone who did stop and help. We do suspect rock fall kicked down by a climber from above as the initial cause, but there is no way to confirm this. Christian seemed a rather experienced climber and the #1 cam placement that saved his life was adeptly placed.

There were a number of impressive folks on scene almost immediately after the initial incident. I am particularly taken aback by Christian and his partner's resilience/courage during the extended rescue. The partner I was with was amazing in setting anchors and getting Christian to safer ground in the first few minutes of the rescue. Caldwell and Siegrist were ready with fixed lines, contacting rangers, and hauling gear – thank you for stopping. The climber EMT that stopped was awesome and so too was his partner. Thanks to all the climbing rangers, park rangers, and rescue personnel that showed up. All told, the experience reaffirmed my faith in humanity and the ability for people to combine efforts to help out in a horrific situation.

For those who did not stop, it is a tough call and there were a number of other parties crowding the same area. I can appreciate how difficult that decision making may have been in the moment – I'm not convinced I would have acted differently in your situation – no hard feelings. Things were crowded and confusing during the initial rescue. There was a nurse that continued to climb up, but did say she would call in the rescue from Broadway – I trust that she made good on that promise. Reception from the belay ledge was terrible and a call from higher up was necessary. We were being pelted with rocks for the entire ordeal and fewer climbers going up would have made things less stressful and dangerous for everyone involved.

One thing that I learned from this experience is that even if you cannot personally help, offering some piece of extraneous gear in assistance may make the difference. We had 6-7 climbers offering the assist before mountain rescue arrived. Between us, we were still short warm clothes, hand warmers, and other equipment that could have made Christian more comfortable while he waited for rescue. You certainly don't want to put yourself in danger in those situations, but additional gear you might not need can make a massive difference.

This was my first experience with the consequences of climbing in the alpine and the take away for me is that you need to be prepared and cautious. Although mountain rescue is only a call away, you may be in such an area that it can take time for rescuers to arrive – have what you think you'll need to help yourself or another person during this time. Many of the risks can only be managed, but cannot be eliminated. Even the best climber might find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. I am grateful that we were able to get Christian down, the people we were with, the role I was able to play, and just to be alive.

My thoughts are with you Rayna and Christian. I am pulling for a quick recovery. Please let me know if I can offer any additional assistance in the healing process.

kirkadirka wrote: Tony, it sounds like you weren't even there. In that case I think your comment is inflammatory at best. Hope Christian makes a full recovery. Be careful in the North Chimney folks.

You're right I wasn't there. However, and it's a big however, I work with Christian's climbing partner involved in the accident. I will leave his name out because it is still a very recent and traumatic event. Anyway, his partner came to work the next day and explained what happened to a few of us. What he explained was the terrifying sensation of holding his friend, who was bleeding profusely on the snow, and wondering if he was going to die in his arms. He went on to explain that several parties passed them by before the rescue was even initiated. Maybe from a distance it didn't look bad. I'm not sure and I don't feel like bringing it up with my co-worker. He mentioned that one party included a person who claimed to be a nurse who said Christian looked OK, even though he clearly wasn't. I think my co-worker, like any of us, was likely also in a state of shock and maybe didn't communicate in a way that made it clear to the passing parties that they needed help, but it's still our duty to stop and evaluate the situation. Then again, maybe he made it very clear that they did need help, and I find that more likely knowing how he communicates very clearly in every situation I've seen him in.

He then explained that Caldwell and Siegrist were essentially making up for the lack of help from other parties. Apparently Caldwell jugged or soloed to the top (not sure if that was the top of the Chimney or the Diamond) to get a cell signal and called SAR. There were other parties that did stop and assisted the rescue. They are to be commended and I would buy them a beer any day for their actions.

I don't begrudge anyone who came upon the rescue scene already in progress, offered to be of any kind of assistance, and decided to proceed when instructed by SAR that they have the situation under control. Maybe it wasn't the best decision to climb up the loose chimney with even more possibility of showering rocks down above the evac in progress, but at least you stopped to evaluate the situation.

I do definitely begrudge climbers who were somehow too caught up in their own goal for the day that they felt it necessary to not thoroughly investigate the situation and help out. I know how it is. It would be a disappointment to miss the only decent weather window we've had in a month to go help out, but FFS, you have an obligation as a human being to put in some real effort to help your fallen comrades out.

I don't want this to be inflammatory, I just want people to know that this kind of behavior, if this is the correct interpretation of the story as told by his partner, is not OK.

David, thank you for sharing your story. It sounds like it was a rather chaotic situation, and I don't blame my co-worker for not being in the best state to recount all of the details of the accident.

Hearing him recount the story left a lot of his co-workers really upset at other climbers. Our co-worker was distraught at what he saw were others passing without helping. However, it sounds like it was just a general cluster, and people didn't want to get in the way. David, you're right that at the other parties should have at least stopped to offer anything they had.

A lot of things could have been worse that day, and we're all just glad he got the help he did. We wish him a speedy recovery and strength for future endeavors.

Edited to add at the request of my co-worker involved in this accident: This isn't to come down on anybody or out people personally. I just want to make it clear that if you come upon an accident scene, make an effort. That's all I am going to leave it at. He doesn't want this thread to turn into what it's starting to turn into. Please respect that and just wish Christian good health.

JLP wrote:IMO, the only person with an obligation to help you is your partner, and maybe the person who kicked the rock, if this is how it was triggered. You can debate everyone else until the end of time in your philosophy classes.

You wouldn't feel obligated to help a climber with life-threatening injuries?

A previous poster mentioned the injured climber was on snow, so maybe this happened towards the bottom of the chimney where mills weaves up into it? In this case I don't think it was wise for people to conintue past. Towards the top of the chimney it might have been a good idea to keep going and stay away from being directly over the rescuers, after offering assistance.

Was the rock dislodged by a climber?

JLP wrote:IMO, the only person with an obligation to help you is your partner, and maybe the person who kicked the rock, if this is how it was triggered. You can debate everyone else until the end of time in your philosophy classes.

I would agree that you don't have an "obligation" to help, but not doing so is just about the biggest dick move ever.

Remember JLP is from the internet. Obviously a pompous ass. Shame on anybody that feels that obligation has anything to do with helping a fellow human being. And shame on anybody that climbs choss above a rescue.

JLP wrote:IMO, the only person with an obligation to help you is your partner, and maybe the person who kicked the rock, if this is how it was triggered. You can debate everyone else until the end of time in your philosophy classes.

Obligation? Well, technically you may be correct, if even those people.
But if we ever happen to meet in person, remind me that there are better people to make friends with out there and not waste my time talking with you further... and I'll grab my gear or beer and quietly move over a few places on the crag or at the table.