Devil's Lake Climbing Incident

https://www.channel3000.com/news/22-year-old-woman-dies-from-fall-in-rope-climbing-incident-at-devils-lake-officials-say/722318466

Anyone have information on what may have happened?

Sorry to those affected by the tragedy. Wondering what went wrong.

This is the only other thing I've seen: 

I witnessed an unknown experienced climber wearing a helmet pull 2 cams and deck and hit her head. Likely broke vertebrae and died quickly. I performed CPR until EMS arrived but it was too late. I hope to make a more detailed post in the future...

I am utterly in shock.  Savannah was a friend and very strong climber.  Out of respect, let’s try to keep the speculation to a minimum.  I believe this should be in the accident report forum - no?  Mike, I know you’re just trying to find answers (we all are), but that reddit thread is horrifying.

Condolences to those who knew her. 

This is terrible sad sad news.  This girl's family and friends have lost an amazing person. 

Agreed with Ted. That reddit thread is pretty bad, but your curiosity is understandable, Mike. My recommendation? Get in, get your information, and get out before you get to the insensitive posts. Thank goodness for the autohide of downvoted posts. Savvy was an amazing person with an infectious smile. So positive, and we'd do well to learn from her example. 

Jake, he’s referring to the reddit thread, not comments on here.  It takes them all of five minutes before it devolves into victim-blaming and arguments over whether CPR should be taught in schools.

Hello, I was the one that posted the reddit thread and I am planning on making a longer post. I would like to process my own emotions and respectfully describe the incident as I saw it. I see it mentioned about an accident report forum which I think could be beneficial. I guess I'm looking for advice on how to write about this in a respectful way. If anyone could point me to other accident report forums or other ways of respectfully providing the information I would appreciate it. Climb safe everyone.

Hey Riley,

Here’s the accident forum:

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/105950972/injuries-and-accidents

Thank you for sharing your initial report and doing everything you could for Savannah.  She was an incredible person and will be missed deeply.  I can’t imagine what you’re going through.

Such a tragedy! RIP Savanna. I didn't know you, but I remember listening to Power Company podcast...

My condolences to family and friends

It was on Sometime? If there's one climb that you could possibly rip two cams that would be the one. Gotta have the placement about perfect for it to be "good". Crack is very splitter and yes, the rock doesn't have much friction. This could have happened to anyone. There's no falling at Devil's Lake.

Riley Gaines wrote:

Hello, I was the one that posted the reddit thread and I am planning on making a longer post. I would like to process my own emotions and respectfully describe the incident as I saw it. I see it mentioned about an accident report forum which I think could be beneficial. I guess I'm looking for advice on how to write about this in a respectful way. If anyone could point me to other accident report forums or other ways of respectfully providing the information I would appreciate it. Climb safe everyone.

Riley,

The only thing I can add to this in terms of being respectful. If you have information that you know or can confirm and post, I think that's ok. I would stay away from making assumptions or speculation and obviously use your best judgement as emotions are important here. This is a persons life that was lost (as you know) and no one is here to belittle that life. 

The best thing we can do is celebrate and remember that life, and make sure that we learn from it. I didn't know her personally, but I knew of her and would say she was a friend of friends. So I can honestly say this hits close to home and has been bothering me all morning.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong or add in anything I missed.

So Sad!  Condolences to those that knew her.  

Riley, first off, thank you for doing what you were able to and for comforting her.  Don't forget to care for your self while you process.  

NOLS has a lot of really great resources that might help guide you through writing an incident report in a factual way. Here is one, but there are others available via a google search. They are a credible organization in terms of risk management.  https://www.nols.edu/media/filer_public/74/4b/744bc587-f5be-4172-bb69-5ffd41297478/who_get_to_know_what-frances_mock_drew_leemon.pdf

Next, I think there is a lot of value in writing a personal narrative.  You deserve to have emotions too.  Whether that is kept to yourself or shared is up to you.  

If you don't know, American Alpine Club publishes reports every year to help other learn and to document what is happening in the community.  http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/about_accidents 

Hopefully these are helpful!

Sorry, didn't mean to come off insensitive posting this, but before seeing the Reddit confirming it was a gear pull on lead in my head it could have been anything, anchor failure, etc. so I was curious. Getting stoked about pushing the grade on trad there this season but now maybe not so much after this. Speculation-wise, after seeing the reddit I guess that even though understanding what went wrong is important, there's a time and a place for that and now is just a time to be respectful and helpful to those affected by the tragedy.

Riley Gaines wrote:

Hello, I was the one that posted the reddit thread and I am planning on making a longer post. I would like to process my own emotions and respectfully describe the incident as I saw it. I see it mentioned about an accident report forum which I think could be beneficial. I guess I'm looking for advice on how to write about this in a respectful way. If anyone could point me to other accident report forums or other ways of respectfully providing the information I would appreciate it. Climb safe everyone.

Being respectful first and foremost, I suggest sticking to factual information as opposed to emotional information. The point of an accident report is to prevent future accidents. Talk to someone close to you if you need to sort out what happened emotionally.

Let's get this out of the way, the climber made a mistake and that's ok. Usually mistakes result in a simple fall, this however resulted in a fatality. I don't believe it to be disrespectful to point this out and while it may be hard for people to accept that their friends/family et al made a mistake that resulted in their death it's usually the fact in climbing accidents.

I would guess that the cam placements we're either too tight or too loose to blow but we will never know, as I mentioned before DL in general requires very percise placements and the area is not forgiving to poor placements. Trad gear is never "bomber" anywhere, "good" placements sometimes fail and "bad" placements sometimes don't. A trad leader can never know for sure that something will stick unless they fall on it, weird stuff can happen in a fall.

DL isn't a dangerous place to climb, it's just a place where it's more difficult to climb safely. When I say "Never fall at Devil's Lake", I'm not really speaking hyperbole, due to the rock type, the height, and the nature of the climbing, your best bet is to take or back off if you aren't 100% sure you are going to make the next moves. 

I credit DL with making me a damn safe climber and avoiding major injury for 18 years and counting. With a "no falls" mentality I have probably lost a few great onsights and sends but I don't give a shit, better to swallow pride and come back another day. I'm not saying this is what happened in this case but I think it's something to consider in the aftermath of a fatality.

Also, this is a sickening reminder that you can die climbing, even with a helmet on. 

It probably seems like I'm using this incident to advance my own agenda and that's 100% true but my agenda's intent is to prevent death/injury in climbing. If one person in the future gets up on a crux and says "Fuck this shit, it's not worth it" and thereby prevents an accident I'm willing to look like a zealot. I've climbed with a few people now that climbed like shit, not 100% with their gear and not 100% with their head, and eventually ate some serious shit. I wish I would have criticized them right then and there and maybe saved their ass.

God speed, mother fuckers.

Mikeyy Blisz wrote:

Sorry, didn't mean to come off insensitive posting this, but before seeing the Reddit confirming it was a gear pull on lead in my head it could have been anything, anchor failure, etc. so I was curious. Getting stoked about pushing the grade on trad there this season but now maybe not so much after this. Speculation-wise, after seeing the reddit I guess that even though understanding what went wrong is important, there's a time and a place for that and now is just a time to be respectful and helpful to those affected by the tragedy.

Above it was mentioned that the fall was on 'Sometime'.  Guessing that means Sometimes Crack.  Due to that route being totally overhung, where a toprope hangs at least 15 ft. away from the wall, it's easy to understand how on lead one could 'deck' on this. Especially if cams pulled somewhere mid route or lower.  No ledges to slow your fall down; it's all air.  Will wait to see a full accident report with details:  How many cams or nuts were in place, what was height of climber on the route, how far apart were the two cams that 'pulled', and how far was the total fall, etc.  Agree that we know how slick the quartzite rock is, especially inside of that crack.  At this time of year with weather we've had so far this spring, imagine the inside of that crack could have been damp or wet yet. 

           Not placing any blame, just thinking of some of the variables that could have affected the rock, the climb at this time in the spring.    Do hope that family and friends are finding ways to deal with this tragedy. 

Woodchuck ATC wrote:

Above it was mentioned that the fall was on 'Sometime'.  Guessing that means Sometimes Crack.  Due to that route being totally overhung, where a toprope hangs at least 15 ft. away from the wall, it's easy to understand how on lead one could 'deck' on this. Especially if cams pulled somewhere mid route or lower.  No ledges to slow your fall down; it's all air.  Will wait to see a full accident report with details:  How many cams or nuts were in place, what was height of climber on the route, how far apart were the two cams that 'pulled', and how far was the total fall, etc.  Agree that we know how slick the quartzite rock is, especially inside of that crack.  At this time of year with weather we've had so far this spring, imagine the inside of that crack could have been damp or wet yet. 

           Not placing any blame, just thinking of some of the variables that could have affected the rock, the climb at this time in the spring.    Do hope that family and friends are finding ways to deal with this tragedy. 

I've been updated that it was on Birch tree crack.

My sincerest condolences to her family, friends , the climbing community and her belayer. She sounds like she was a wonderful person and climber. 

Please , no matter where you are climbing , let's be careful out there. RIP Savannah.

Tradiban wrote:

I've been updated that it was on Birch tree crack.

That's a BIG difference. Not an overhaning. slimy sided crack like Sometimes Crack is for protection.  Crux move is sort of low, not the easiest to protect well without some nice wires stuffed in the thin cracks. .  ( I can't picture or remember any good #2 Camalot or bigger cam spots down low)   Upper wall has some wide crack cams needed, but plenty of spots to stuff things in..  If leader fell from up there, there is a big ledge to hit on the way down too.   Just thinking out loud; not making any critique.  I think we all wonder about any climb, any falls, and how protection failed to hold. Its' a constant learning process for all of us, and a surprise when we hear of a serious injury/death at the park.  

Condolences to family and friends of the deceased.

Would it be insensitive for me to post more details? I have a friend who was a witness to the efforts of her party immediately after the incident who gave me a bit of information on what happened.