Wear your harness high enough, and know how to give a soft catch!

August of last year. It was  perfect evening with a light breeze, and a beautiful sunset. I set off to lead 10b/c, feeling confident.  As it goes with injuries, it was the last route of the day. As I progressed through a modest overhang, the only move I could see was a lunge towards a crimper. I was about 4 feet above my last bolt, tilted backwards on the overhang. I lunged backward and up for the crimper, barely grasping it. My fingers peeled off, and I was falling - feeling relaxed with the fall. As I fell the 10 ft, my body was slowly rotating backwards through the air, but I was still slightly upright when the rope went tight.  My harness was around my waist, just below my navel (how I wear jeans).  When the rope when tight, my body was whipped violently upside down, and I slammed into the rock with my back. My head was rattled, but ok due to the helmet, but I hit with so much force that it broke the cartilage off my sternum in 3 places (yes, it broke in the front, even though I got hit from behind).

What went wrong: A hard catch + wearing my harness too low. It's debatable, but I don't think either factor would have flipped me alone. My harness was too low around my waist, just below my navel. The hard catch caused me to pivot around this lower point. This contributed to the upside-down whip, instead of a right-side up correction.

Lessons Learned:
Check the height of your harness, and check your partner. This problem seems to be more common for men like me, without much of a waist, so it feels odd to wear it so high.
Perhaps more importantly, know how to give a soft catch, practice it, and make sure your partner know's how to as well.

NOTE: Post has been UPDATED to include and emphasize the "hard catch" as aproblem, based on the many thoughtful comments. Also, my original post said, Lesson: “PARTNER check the height of your harness!” However, I got some flack from admin for promoting a buddy check. So, I changed the post to emphasize checking yourself first, which I thought was obvious. So, just to be clear: check your own shit first and then your partner. Learn how to do a soft catch, and make sure your partner can as well. 

Is it possible that it’s because of body the position when you started to fall? e.g your feet was still on the wall while your torso started to fall.

why does your partner need to check this? not their fault that you don't know how to put on your own harness.  good lord...

I wear my harness lower than that, and this has never happened to me. Sounds like it had a lot to do with the nature of your fall?

My girlfriend is always on me about this but my obliques stick out further than my hips so my harness wont stay up  that far.  Never caused a problem.  Taken whips on overhang...  

Conghui Song wrote: Is it possible that it’s because of body the position when you started to fall? e.g your feet was still on the wall while your torso started to fall.

Yes, that was definitely part of it. Unsure. but I've always flipped upright before on other similar falls.

slim wrote: why does your partner need to check this? not their fault that you don't know how to put on your own harness.  good lord...

I would think it would be for the same reason you do any other partner check? To keep them safe. 

According to your logic....
"Why does your partner need to check your figure 8? not thier fault you don't know how to tie a knot. good lord...
"Why does your partner need to check your belay deviuce? not thier fault you don't know how to bely. good lord...
etc...

The cimbing community embraces learning form each other's mistakes, so that we can all learn form each other and not die or get hurt. Critisizing someone for admitting thier error is counterproductive and could lead to more accidents. 

ScoJo wrote: I wear my harness lower than that, and this has never happened to me. Sounds like it had a lot to do with the nature of your fall?

Could be. I think it was both, but hard to know for sure- the combination of rotating through the air while wearing the harness too low. Probably either factor alone would have been fine. 

Nannying climbers isn't the function of administrators on MP and Slim can post as a private person if he likes. I don't partner check anyway and don't know anyone who does so your hectoring order that I should include their harnesses will be ignored.

Jim Titt wrote: Nannying climbers isn't the function of administrators on MP and Slim can post as a private person if he likes. I don't partner check anyway and don't know anyone who does so your hectoring order that I should include their harnesses will be ignored.

No one said he couldn't, we're saying that "my partner's safety is not my problem" is an incredibly stupid thing to say.  But hey, if you want to deal with a badly injured parter 2000 feet up a big wall because you couldn't be bothered to take 0.1 seconds to glance at their harness, that's your choice.  Good to know you are as stupid and dangerous as dear admin.

Both the petzl and black diamond documentation counter this point. You broke your ribs in a shitty upside-down fall, and none of us were here to witness it, nor can we refute your feelings on it. I'd err on the side that their is more to the fall than at first glance. Harnesses are made to be worn below your ribs, so that the compressive forces do not actually come in contact with your floating ribs lest that be a super common climbing injury.

I've had similar upside down falls in the past year and the long and short of it was my hands popped before my feet, and my partner let me fall longer than was necessary allowing enough time for me to flip.

Hard catch?

I'm guessing that a hard catch, the nature of the route/rock, and you coming off a dynamic move have all contributed to some extent, but yes, wearing a harness the way you wear your low-waist jeans is not good, and I see this WAY more often than I'd like.

Obviously you just need to know how to check the fit of your harness properly, and a lot of newer climbers don't know about the rise, and only look at the waist/leg circumference when choosing a harness to buy.

Tall lanky guys with not much in way of the hips can be more top-heavy, and have a higher center of gravity, making them more prone to flip. Ironically, tall lanky guys are also more likely to have a harness with the rise being too low, because they are skinny enough to fit into a smaller-size harness, which usually has lower rise. I think for taller guys who are in-between sizes (where they can fit into a bigger-sized harness that would be cinched tightly, or fit into smaller harness that would be at the outer edge of the fit), going with a size up is almost always a good idea. 

Jim Titt wrote:

Jon Ingram has heavily edited his post in which he twice questioned Slim's suitability to be an administrator for questioning buddy checking harness fit. Guess if his balls are that small he'll have no problem fitting his harness higher

Jim, I want to prevent injuries. I removed only one line questioning slims admin status because I don’t want this post to be about anything other than preventing accidents. My opinion hasn’t changed. Discouraging climbers from learning from each orhers’s mistakes just leads to more accidents and deaths. I wouldn’t climb with anyone who didn’t care about their partners safety. 

Will Cohen wrote: Both the petzl and black diamond documentation counter this point. You broke your ribs in a shitty upside-down fall, and none of us were here to witness it, nor can we refute your feelings on it. I'd err on the side that their is more to the fall than at first glance. Harnesses are made to be worn below your ribs, so that the compressive forces do not actually come in contact with your floating ribs lest that be a super common climbing injury.

I've had similar upside down falls in the past year and the long and short of it was my hands popped before my feet, and my partner let me fall longer than was necessary allowing enough time for me to flip.

I agree Will. The fall had a lot to do with it. However, the breaking of the ribs was not from the harness, but from the force of the rock hitting my back, pushing my rib cage forward and breaking the cartilage attaching ribs to sternum (cartilage more breakable than bone). It’s called a coastal cartilage fracture, rare but most common with rugby players and people falling and landing their back.

Daniel Winder wrote: Hard catch?

Yup. 

I doubt that wearing a sit harness in a different position would have helped you much in this situation, but I wasnt there so dont really know. You could wear a chest harness if you are really concerned that this will be an issue.  

ScoJo wrote: I wear my harness lower than that, and this has never happened to me. Sounds like it had a lot to do with the nature of your fall?

Just like the OP, you also wear your harness too low as well.

Jon Ingram wrote:

I agree Will. The fall had a lot to do with it. However, the breaking of the ribs was not from the harness, but from the force of the rock hitting my back, pushing my rib cage forward and breaking the cartilage attaching ribs to sternum (cartilage more breakable than bone). It’s called a coastal cartilage fracture, rare but most common with rugby players and people falling and landing their back.

Can you explain how having your harness two inches higher would have changed the outcome of hitting your back against the wall?

slim wrote: why does your partner need to check this? not their fault that you don't know how to put on your own harness.  good lord...

Good Lord.
You should give up your JOB as an ADMIN!