2 climbers die in fall from el cap

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Two-Climbers-Dead-After-Fall-From-Yosemites-El-Capitan-484388871.html

Sad news out of Yosemite today. No info available yet as to identity. Rumored to have been climbing the Freerider.

Condolences to the climbers and their families.

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=3093022&tn=0

Stay safe out there, everyone.

It's neither Tommy Caldwell nor Alex Honnold, as they have just checked in. It's also not anyone in John Long's birthday party. The rumor is that it might be a party from Boulder. Anyone know about that?

Identities just released. 

The park released their names They are: Jason Wells, age 46, of Boulder, Colorado and Tim Klein, age 42, from Palmdale, California.

RIP sad day in the Valley

It sounds like a haul bag from another party fell from above and pulled both climbers off.

Becky and family, you are in our thoughts and prayers. We hold you in our hearts and are here for you please reach out as needed.

-Kelly 

Naked Edge record Jason Wells?

Bruce Hildenbrand wrote: It sounds like a haul bag from another party fell from above and pulled both climbers off.

Now they are saying that didn't happen. We'll have to wait for a more complete report.

Long Ranger wrote: Naked Edge record Jason Wells?

Yes :(

Details: ​https://www.climbing.com/news/jason-wells-tim-klein-killed-in-fall-from-el-caps-freeblast/​​​

Any new details?

Very bummed to hear this news. Though we'd only met a couple times, we had a good chuckle over our matching names, ages, and interests. Jason was the climber I'd always hoped I could be: dedicated, strong, talented, and always seeking out adventure. Who wouldn't want to get solid enough to sprint up Eldo 5.11s and take enough trips to Yosemite to be able to run laps on El Cap?

A very strange and thoughtful day to be a climber, especially one living in Boulder and also named Jason Wells. Lots of friends called to check-in, which is an entirely surreal and humbling experience. Stay safe out there and, whatever you do, take the time to appreciate the ride.

Question about simul-climbing:   How many pieces are typically in the system at a given time?  These guys would have had a couple of cams plugged, right?   Would a team ever simul-climb with no pro?

Russ Keane wrote: Question about simul-climbing:   How many pieces are typically in the system at a given time?  These guys would have had a couple of cams plugged, right?   Would a team ever simul-climb with no pro?

Simluing and speed climbing aren't necessarily hand in hand, simlu is just one speed climbing tactic. I simlu all the time but there's a full pitch of gear between me and the follower.

I get the impression that during these speed climbs there may only be one piece of gear between climbers.

Russ Keane wrote: Question about simul-climbing:   How many pieces are typically in the system at a given time?  These guys would have had a couple of cams plugged, right?   Would a team ever simul-climb with no pro?

It really depends on what is agreed upon. In most cases one wants one good piece at all times. The difficulty, terrain, and other conditions may dictate that more gear is used. When it comes to such gear on rock it is reasonable to expect that the good piece will be bomber. In the alpine setting, it is a different ball game. We were just on a route where placing pickets was the only option. They would have held a short tumbling fall but probably not a long fall. We also climbed large sections roped sans gear but where we felt we could catch a fall given the snow conditions. 

The accident report will probably have some clarity to the equipment being used at the time of the fall. I.e., they were roped together, if the rope was not severed then any gear used would presumably still be attached. Which a reasonable conclusion would be one fell and the gear did not hold the fall pulling the other off.

I was just reading the thread about this on supertopo.   Per a witness from the ground who was watching the ascent diligently, a haul bag dropped from above was definitely involved (in spite of the earlier confusion as to whether this was the case or not).  I suppose this could have caused pieces to rip out?  One would think cams would hold even if hit with debris from above, but who knows.   Maybe they were indeed simul-soloing the pitch.   Weird though, because they had a third climber with them.  

(These guys would have had a couple of cams plugged, right?) Ryan Swanson wrote: One would hope.  I seem to remember an article where Dean Potter and Tim O'Neill whipped simuling with only two cams in and a single half rope, but it all held.  That is some scary stuff.

(Would a team ever simul-climb with no pro?) I would hope not. 

Lol. Hope all you want, but the reality is that for a pair of climbers who climb at the level where they can do both the Nose and Salathe sub-24 hours, you can almost guarantee that they're not going to be stopping to plug in pro on 5.7 terrain. 

Relevant from the ST Thread:

KevinK

climber
Flagstaff
Jun 2, 2018 - 11:05pm PT

First off I want to extend my deepest condolences to the friends and family of those killed.
I am a member of the party that was camped on the shield headwall this morning(on chickenhead now). We did not drop anything. There were people camped on mammoth terrace last night. I think there may have also been another party doing a route between the freeblast and the Muir but below mammoth (magic mushroom?). We witnessed the accident but couldn't tell exactly what was happening. My thought, which I certainly don't know for sure, was someone was doing a non conventional hauling route, either the freeblast or something just left and dropped their bags which seemed to explode on the way down. Only later did we hear the news of the tragedy.

axle

Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
Jun 3, 2018 - 10:04am PT

My deepest condolences to family and friends of the lost. I was sadly a partial witness, viewing the incident from the meadow. The above photo was taken from my vantage point at 8:05am yesterday, shortly before the accident. I will try to relay what I saw and heard, although even after many mental replays I still don't really know what I saw, since it all happened quite fast.

I was in the meadow to watch what I hoped would be a nose speed attempt, and at about 6:30am we saw a very fast party of 3 moving up freeblast. They quickly made their way above the half dollar and I would look over their way occasionally to check their progress. At around 8:10 or 8:15am, I heard multiple people yelling loudly in a back-and-forth manner from the heart ledges/mammoth terraces area, which drew my attention. I then saw what looked like a haul bag drop from that area, impact the wall, and start to accelerate downwards. Two other dark objects were falling with it, and there was a rope connecting them. In the moment I assumed it was a series of haul bags, because I could clearly hear what I thought was the sound of polyurethane or durathane coated fabric running against the granite. I wasn't clear on what exactly I saw and it wasn't until later that I learned of the loss of life.

WilliamSkea

Big Wall climber
Brisbane, Australia
Jun 3, 2018 - 04:32pm PTHey,

Me my partner Alastair were bivying that morning on the far-left side of mammoth terrace after aiding the first 10 pitches of Magic Mushroom the day before. We were preparing to lead above the far left of the terrace at the time of the incident.

We definitely didn't see anything fall from the party on the shield, and we definitely didn't drop anything ourselves. If we had, it wouldn't have gone down freeblast.

At the time of the incident we heard shouting from freeblast followed by bangs of something hitting the ground. We didn't see anything, but there was a party of two above the team that did. They helped the third member get up to mammoth by climbing as a train of three. They didn't tell us what happened besides saying ‘simulclimbing with no gear’. It was tragic, and everyone was in a degree of shock. One member was called Jared but we cant remember who everyone was. Hopefully they can clarify what happened. 

Russ Keane wrote: I was just reading the thread about this on supertopo.   Per a witness from the ground who was watching the ascent diligently, a haul bag dropped from above was definitely involved (in spite of the earlier confusion as to whether this was the case or not).  I suppose this could have caused pieces to rip out?  One would think cams would hold even if hit with debris from above, but who knows.   Maybe they were indeed simul-soloing the pitch.   Weird though, because they had a third climber with them.  

True Russ but if that haul bag was full it would create significant forces in kilonewtons on their gear. I know you know this, but just something to think about...

I've been scanning the threads and news sources. At this point, I think the haul bag theory is unsubstantiated.