Accident on Cat in the Hat (Red Rocks Nv)
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Friday April 06, 2012 |
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There is a thread going on the taco. |
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I was involved with the rescue. |
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I rolled into the campground at 10:00pm that night and had quite the time putting up my tent so I know how bad the winds were. People don't realize how much this can affect communication and how much of a problem lack of communication causes. I'm sure in retrospect they wished they had tried something shorter for their first multipitch climb or bailed sooner. And someone please teach them what a munter is. That way she could have used the one belay device and he could have rapped on a munter and backed it up with an auto block. If you are going higher than half the rope length you better have a plan B. |
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I would rather lower than use a munter to rappel. |
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Please dont use the rappel rings to lower a load. The rappel rings |
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Eric Coffman wrote:Please dont use the rappel rings to lower a load. The rappel rings are for rappelling only. Loading the rappel rings and then applying friction wears out the rings (damages them by creating metal fatique). The weakend rings then could cause another accident. Advise new climbers to purchase "freedom of the hills" and dont be non-chalant about 5.6 routes. The easier the route the more stuff there is to hit in a fall and the rappels are commonly more difficult on easier routes due to the larger holds/lower angle. The rope can become stuck on the holds.Given what sounds like a sketched climber, a dropped belay device and possibly limited experience, lowering off the rings may have been a good option, certainly better than rapping. As to your comment that lowering "damages them by creating metal fatique", you are simply incorrect. Props to everyone who helped and I hope she's OK. |
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Not sure how you can say lowering was better than rapping considering she ended up in the hospital. I'm a bit squeamish about lowering when you do not have clear communication. That last rap is very long plus the winds guaranteed you could not hear and unless the person lowering extended themselves out over the ledge which I bet he didn't do (since he could not explain what happened(, you can't see either. In this case the double rappel would be the best option (connecting the two people with a long sling). Not as comfortable but less prone to errors given the less competent doesn't have to do anything. |
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rging wrote:Not sure how you can say lowering was better than rapping considering she ended up in the hospital. I'm a bit squeamish about lowering when you do not have clear communication. That last rap is very long plus the winds guaranteed you could not hear and unless the person lowering extended themselves out over the ledge which I bet he didn't do (since he could not explain what happened(, you can't see either. In this case the double rappel would be the best option (connecting the two people with a long sling). Not as comfortable but less prone to errors given the less competent doesn't have to do anything.Since there are important details missing, I'm going to refrain from commenting further and simply wish her a quick and full recovery. |
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I am one of kbobby's friends climbing with him the day of the accident and the one the injured climber talked to at the belay near the top when she asked about being rescued. I'm also the one almost hit by her falling ATC while sitting at the second belay. To clarify some of his details which were all correct, she did get her ATC back. It landed near me at the tree on the top of the second pitch. We found it and my partner brought it up to her as we climbed up. At the slings she was rapping herself down, not being lowered, so don't worry about the rings. It wasn't until the last pitch that the lowering happened and at that point they were on bolt anchors. It was very windy and she was very cold and extremely sketched out and panicy. I was doing my best to calm her down with chit chat as my partner climbed and that's when I discovered how inexperienced they were. I can only imagine she got worse as time went on. Her husband and her were from Miami and didn't have a lot of outside experience and were expecting warmer weather for the trip. (so was I) In the end I think it was just lack of experience and panic which led to some poor decisions and an accident. The ability to remain calm is critical in preventing accidents. |
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Rockwood wrote:I was doing my best to calm her down with chit chat as my partner climbed and that's when I discovered how inexperienced they were. I can only imagine she got worse as time went on. Her husband and her were from Miami and didn't have a lot of outside experience and were expecting warmer weather for the trip. (so was I) In the end I think it was just lack of experience and panic which led to some poor decisions and an accident. The ability to remain calm is critical in preventing accidents. The foreshadowing of this event was unblievable, but I was glad we were there to help direct the rescue workers and hope she's doing better. I'm considering a WFR class as well after this.i keep on telling the gym climbers i know that the only way to become "safe" is to go outside and practice the techniques you need over and over and over again before you try bigger and better things ... some think im a total azzz (i probably am), as they think they can just go out and jump on their first long multi and figure it out on the fly ... this past month alone, ive had 2 climbers who have lead up trad before panic on an easy multi ... one forgot how to tie a clove when 4 pitches up as the sun was setting and it got cold ... the other forgot how to build a good anchor and had a hard time leading a 5.8 pitch (he lead 5.11 trad earlier that day) ... practice and go out often ... all the forum posts in the world and book knowledge wont help that much when yr cold, tired, and hungry in the dark 10 pitches up ... and thats when yr most prone to screwing up ... |
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bearbreeder wrote: i keep on telling the gym climbers i know that the only way to become "safe" is to go outside and practice the techniques you need over and over and over again before you try bigger and better things ... some think im a total azzz (i probably am), as they think they can just go out and jump on their first long multi and figure it out on the fly ... this past month alone, ive had 2 climbers who have lead up trad before panic on an easy multi ... one forgot how to tie a clove when 4 pitches up as the sun was setting and it got cold ... the other forgot how to build a good anchor and had a hard time leading a 5.8 pitch (he lead 5.11 trad earlier that day) ... practice and go out often ... all the forum posts in the world and book knowledge wont help that much when yr cold, tired, and hungry in the dark 10 pitches up ... and thats when yr most prone to screwing up ...Well put. Sadly, the people that most need to hear this do not read threads like this. |
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I was one of the people involved in the rescue - the story has a happy ending! While it looked rather grim at the beginning, the victim ended up being released from UMC Trauma that night with, all things considered, minor injuries. |
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Thanks for the update, Nick! That is good news. |
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That's fantastic Nick! Thanks! |
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Nick Jackson wrote:I was one of the people involved in the rescue - the story has a happy ending! While it looked rather grim at the beginning, the victim ended up being released from UMC Trauma that night with, all things considered, minor injuries.Great news, thanks for the update. |
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So the husband dropped the wife? Ouch. I always take motorolas on windy days in RR. |