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Crowders Fatality

Kevin Shon · · Unknown Hometown · Joined May 2009 · Points: 65
michael s... wrote:This is so fucking sad. Reading that article made me realize I remember posts by him recently asking about possible partners and being super humble about his ability but that he was knowledgeable, just a bit older. The guy loved to climb but had a hard time finding partners. Went out solo to do what he loves and ended up dying. I have been doing more solo climbing recently, mostly aid, and after a bit of research decided to go with a silent partner since it seemed the most reliable. It is interesting that people dog on occasion it for being "too heavy" or "too expensive".
Right on Michael - puts things in perspective... what is heavier? The weight of a silent partner? or.... the outcome of this type of tragedy ...

I must say the argument's of "too heavy" are important if you're putting up some new route high up on an alpine wall.... but for most of the terrain in Western NC - if the weight of this device is holding one back, I would suggest them reexamining what they have packed in addition to their Silent Partner...
Kevin Shon · · Unknown Hometown · Joined May 2009 · Points: 65

Question for folks....

All the respect to Mark and his family - if this question needs to be tabled until folks are in a place to be able to talk - that's fair, good and anticipated:

From my understanding, it sounds like the actual mechanism of injury here that resulted in Mark's tragic fatality was actually an obstructed airway?

I got to thinking - I help oversee an adaptive climbing program on campus where I work. We had one little guy who is rather large and needs some upper body support, so we first purchased a chest harness for him. After some use, we all agreed that the harness would ride up on his neck and be uncomfortable... so we purchased a full-body harness for him and it seems to work. He was too big for a kids harness, but small for the torso length of an adult.. so we took an adult harness and sized it really small and it seems to work great.

What are your thoughts, community, of say - having full body harnesses being a new acceptable best practice for doing solo work?

We all own sit harnesses - and we improvise things for the chest. Perhaps if a full body harness would be a standard implement for future rope solo work, we could at least mitigate future potential airway obstructions?

In the pursuit of knowledge and support,

K.shon

P.S. I was at Brooklyn Boulders the other day and I noticed an adult woman, fully able-bodied sporting a full body harness as her harness of choice. It stood out, it seemed kind of odd to me/unique. But then i got to thinking - what if this was actually a standard for roped soloists?

M Sprague · · New England · Joined Nov 2006 · Points: 5,090

The woman in the gym may have been pregnant or had another medical reason to use the body harness.

Kevin Shon · · Unknown Hometown · Joined May 2009 · Points: 65
M Sprague wrote:The woman in the gym may have been pregnant or had another medical reason to use the body harness.
perhaps -- she did not appear pregnant/had no baby bump. One will never really know if there was a medical issue. I still think it would be great to see it more common place.

Unless the chest tie-in wouldn't be appropriate for leading. Thoughts?
csproul · · Pittsboro...sort of, NC · Joined Dec 2009 · Points: 330

Yes, pregnant women often use a full body harness (I saw a pregnant Beth Rodden climbing in one in Yosemite in Jan!).

As far as I know, the Soloist is really the only lead-solo device that requires the use of a chest harness. Yes, some people use them when TRing with trax and such, but it should be much more difficult to fall upside down while TRing. In fact, the directions say expressly not to use a chest harness with the SP. WIth virtually every other method of lead rope solo (other than the Soloist), a chest harness is not necessary as they'll catch an upside down fall and the device does not need to be kept in a particular orientation.

Kevin Shon · · Unknown Hometown · Joined May 2009 · Points: 65
csproul wrote:Yes, pregnant women often use a full body harness (I saw a pregnant Beth Rodden climbing in one in Yosemite in Jan!). As far as I know, the Soloist is really the only lead-solo device that requires the use of a chest harness. Yes, some people use them when TRing with trax and such, but it should be much more difficult to fall upside down while TRing. In fact, the directions say expressly not to use a chest harness with the SP. WIth virtually every other method of lead rope solo (other than the Soloist), a chest harness is not necessary as they'll catch an upside down fall and the device does not need to be kept in a particular orientation.
Sure. This is slightly tangential - we know pregnant women use body harnesses... no rudeness intended!

The original question was the use of body harnesses for soloists. Would this even work? I don't see, at first glance, why not...
Ice Axed · · Unknown Hometown · Joined May 2012 · Points: 225

There are a few threads here on MTN Project talking about soloist devices, so I'll add my input to this particular thread because I had a near-death experience on one...

I've used a TR solo device with zero problems for both ice climbing an rock. Even used it when my rope had accumulated ice. No issues with it malfunctioning except during a sleet storm, where I used plenty of backup knots. [Note- poor choice to ice climb solo in those conditions.]

I did use the Wren Soloist for several sport climbing routes but then one day decided to push it on a route that I was not familiar with. Got about ten feet off the last anchor when I plucked off and took a nice whipper back into the wall, breaking my foot. Almost blacked on the line due to the pain. Managed to self-rescue but had to belly crawl back to my truck and drive myself to see two physicians who refused to see me (wasn't an "established patient"). Had to drive another 20 miles to the nearest emergency department.

Took me two years to recover fully due to the nature of the fracture.

Lesson learned- be extremely careful with these devices. Do not climb close to your limit. Be aware the rope gives very little on the Soloist- it is like taking a fall on non-dynamic line. Talk to folks who have taken a Real Fall on one- you won't find many.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Injuries and Accidents
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