Climber falls in Eldorado Canyon
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Eldorado sees far too many accidents, including the one I was part of. Best of luck to you Joe. We're all wishing you a healthy and speedy recovery. |
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denverpost.com/news/ci_2630…
The Denver Post has identified the climber as Wayne Crill. Best wishes for his recovery and sending positive thoughts to his partner. |
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Equipment malfunction? :/ |
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Please don't speculate until the facts come out. |
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thoughts and prayers for wayne and others |
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Be okay Wayne |
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60' ? |
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Just finished rappelling Wayne's route, from 4 different angles, very early this morning. His rope and gear are all still just hanging there(RMR?) with police tape and awaiting an investigation I presume. |
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Hank Caylor wrote:Just finished rappelling Wayne's route, from 4 different angles, very early this morning. His rope and gear are all still just hanging there(RMR?) with police tape and awaiting an investigation I presume. From what I saw with my eyes and from what Mike Schlauch(1st on scene)saw, this is what happened. Wayne was climbing and fell, he shock loaded a Yates Screamer attached to a stopper that blew, you can fully see in the crack where a placement blew, Eldo rock makes this scarring ridiculously obvious. As Wayne fell to his next piece of gear, the rope and the skinny Mammut sling must have bunched up a bit and THE nightmare scenario happened. As the rope started to pull tight again, the carabiner opened and popped off the Mammut sling. Wayne was found at the base of the climb with a stopper attached to a Yates screamer with a couple bartacks blown, as well as a couple individual carabiners. The story, under inspection with a knowing eye, actually tells itself rather obviously. If there's something to take away from this, use a locking carabiner when clipping long skinny slings.. though if you tried to repeat this scenario 100 times you probably couldn't make it happen again. Use a locking carabiner folks. After talking to Eldo Rangers I am, as always, very pleased with Rocky Mountain Rescues response and evacuation times. Those guys/girls are awesome. Keep Wayne in your prayers, I know he would prefer you prayed to Thor and Odin.Can you explain that part a bit more? Why is it only long slings? On the rope end or gear end? Why not quickdraws or racking biners? It sounds like he was climbing a high-end route with yates screamers and all. Best wishes to Wayne. |
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"Can you explain that part a bit more? " |
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I'm pulling hard for Wayne... |
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Hank Caylor wrote:"Can you explain that part a bit more? " See the floating carabiner attached to the rope? That can, and did, flip the wrong way and unclip itself.Yeah I always wondered if it mattered how the rope is clipped into a long sling. Never thought that it matters that much. It's so hard to get the orientation correct on a long sling. |
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Malcolm Daly wrote:I'm pulling hard for Wayne... Hank, thx for the analysis from the site. I've watched a fair amount of slo-mo video of what happens to the gear chain below a piece that's blown out and have always been shocked by how violently the rope whips around. Light locking 'biners are the key... Climb safe, MalAre any of these videos available online? If so, could you please share? Thanks. |
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- was the sling a 60 cm or 120 cm? |
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The videos were of drop tests we did at the Rivory Joanny rope factory which replaced the orfice in the UIAA test specification with a quick draw. They were from back in the era when the issue of gate vibration was just figured out so a lot of companies were trying to figure out how bad it really was. This was back in the '90s so nothing was put on line. Colin Powick at BD may have some similar tests on video. |
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Brief report: Wayne is in ICU (No visitors yet.) after surgery to relieve pressure on his brain. Multiple other injuries but made it through the night. Brain activity still high and his fiance is hopeful he will pull through. |
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If anyone can pull through this it's Wayne. He is one tough man and now he has a partner and a young child to motivate his drive to survive and recover. Make no mistake he has a long haul ahead of him but there is encouraging signs already. Wayne, Tessie and Kaiden there is a well spring of love and support for you all. |
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CMON WAYNE!!!! We are all pulling for you brother! Prayers to all family. |
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I just got back from OR and my partner Jeff Jackson told me about the accident and that he was heading to Boulder to see bro Wayne. Not wanting to speculate, but brain activity is key and if his is "good," as reported, I'm thinking he's going to send this thing! |
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