Accident in CCC 5/25/2012

There was a accident, Sameone fell 20 to 40ft, (depending hows reporting) today, made the local news,

any up dates,

news always says climber injuried, but was it a climber or none climber, trying to climb, aka scrambler, no rope, no helmet, near tunnel 5/6, from photo of rescue, do's not look like a climbing area,
hope him recovers soon,

denver.cbslocal.com/2012/05…

It was at Catslab and recorded as a fallen climber.

(no comment on the accident, climber, evac, etc)

If I have to drive to Kermit's I am having a beer and some green chili before making my call.

The climber was a friend of a friend so I only have secondhand info, but he was taking pictures (as the post says) and soloing one of the easier routes at Catslab. It sounded like a hold broke or a foot slipped or some such thing and he took a tumble.

From Facebook pictures he looked pretty banged up but nothing permanent. He's an experienced climber which I assume is why he felt comfortable soloing what he was on but obviously mistakes can happen to anyone.

That climber that fell was me. I had soloed up the far right section of catslab (5.4?) and clipped in to the 2nd bolt to get some photos of friends climbing. I unclipped then started to downclimb the route, and according to my friend, the rock I was standing on broke away (I have no memory of the actual fall.) Fell about 10ft to a ledge (where I hit and went unconscious) then tumbled the rest of the 20ft or so.

I got lucky and escaped with a concussion, a few facial lacerations (18 stiches and 9 staples,) and a bruised foot. Pretty much all healed up already.

Injuries could have been much worse. Incredibly thankful for the extracation provided by the Alpine Rescue Team.

This accident will definitely make me think twice about soloing anything, no matter the grade. When the rock your standing on crumbles, not much you can do about it.

Glad to hear you're recovering quickly!