Accidents in North American Climbing, required reading

Covid opened up some time to read, including the most recent two editions of accidents in NA climbing cover to cover and back to back. Please allow me to report several takeaways from this review:

1. more and more accounts including on easy sport climbs where a helmet prevented something much worse. Among all the f‘d up things that happen, yes even on easy sport routes, it is heartwarming how many stories end with thankfully, I was wearing my helmet….
2. confirmed. you do what you want, but I won’t be belayed with an atc as a belay device. Many great belayers, many gnarly accidents. Sure, you‘re awesome!  Until that rock beans you, and you are unconscious. They are making cars with seatbelts these days too. 
3. holy smokes people pull a ton of gear!  not sure why or how but pieces come flying out constantly in these reports. Not just one or two but entire arrays of gear. is it possible people are not as good at this as they think they are?
4. A particularly sobering scenario is where you pull a good hold off, it bashes you, you fall, it cuts rope, and you perish. DANG. Be cool up there.

the rest of the takeaways are the usual. Tie a knot in the end of the rope, check your knot, & don’t ice climb. 

YGD, summarized 

j mo wrote:

Covid opened up some time to read, including the most recent two editions of accidents in NA climbing cover to cover and back to back. Please allow me to report several takeaways from this review:

1. more and more accounts including on easy sport climbs where a helmet prevented something much worse. Among all the f‘d up things that happen, yes even on easy sport routes, it is heartwarming how many stories end with thankfully, I was wearing my helmet….

It’s probably more about the type of person who climbs easy sport.

1. confirmed. you do what you want, but I won’t be belayed with an atc as a belay device. Many great belayers, many gnarly accidents. Sure, you‘re awesome!  Until that rock beans you, and you are unconscious. They are making cars with seatbelts these days too. 

How many times did the atc actually cause the accident?

1. holy smokes people pull a ton of gear!  not sure why or how but pieces come flying out constantly in these reports. Not just one or two but entire arrays of gear. is it possible people are not as good at this as they think they are?

Yes.

1. A particularly sobering scenario is where you pull a good hold off, it bashes you, you fall, it cuts rope, and you perish. DANG. Be cool up there.

What are the chances!?

the rest of the takeaways are the usual. Tie a knot in the end of the rope, check your knot, & don’t ice climb. 

Don’t fall ice climbing.

Here is a 2023 entry:

Red Rocks Nevada, Epinephrine. Inexperience, exceeding abilities, failure to evaluate weather, inadequate protection, inadequate clothing. Multiple parties required a helicopter rescue after being overly confident and were unable to descend costing taxpayers thousands in unnecessary rescue costs.

j mo wrote:

Covid opened up some time to read, including the most recent two editions of accidents in NA climbing cover to cover and back to back. Please allow me to report several takeaways from this review:

1. more and more accounts including on easy sport climbs where a helmet prevented something much worse. Among all the f‘d up things that happen, yes even on easy sport routes, it is heartwarming how many stories end with thankfully, I was wearing my helmet….
2. confirmed. you do what you want, but I won’t be belayed with an atc as a belay device. Many great belayers, many gnarly accidents. Sure, you‘re awesome!  Until that rock beans you, and you are unconscious. They are making cars with seatbelts these days too. 
3. holy smokes people pull a ton of gear!  not sure why or how but pieces come flying out constantly in these reports. Not just one or two but entire arrays of gear. is it possible people are not as good at this as they think they are?
4. A particularly sobering scenario is where you pull a good hold off, it bashes you, you fall, it cuts rope, and you perish. DANG. Be cool up there.

the rest of the takeaways are the usual. Tie a knot in the end of the rope, check your knot, & don’t ice climb. 

The only thing I can say about #2 on your list. IF you were to ever lose your belay device ( tubes, figure 8s like etc.) The one thing I always teach new partners is to know how to belay around the waste with no gear.  Id started like climging in the early 80's. although  was exposed to it in 75'. I will always teach new partners how to belay without a device. If your up 10 pitches and lose your devise, U WILL be screwed unless you know how to belay around your waist. This is the first thing I teach with all my new partners. Shit happens and if u lose your device then u have to know how to belay around your waste. 

charles price wrote:

The only thing I can say about #2 on your list. IF you were to ever lose your belay device ( tubes, figure 8s like etc.) The one thing I always teach new partners is to know how to belay around the waste with no gear.  Id started like climging in the early 80's. although  was exposed to it in 75'. I will always teach new partners how to belay without a device. If your up 10 pitches and lose your devise, U WILL be screwed unless you know how to belay around your waist. This is the first thing I teach with all my new partners. Shit happens and if u lose your device then u have to know how to belay around your waste. 

Why the waist over a munter? 

Climb On wrote:

Why the waist over a munter? 

What if you lose your harness 10 pitches up???

I was also surprised by the amount of accidents caused by ripping gear. In general, it seems, people trust trad gear, especially small stuff, way more than they should.

Climb On wrote:

Why the waist over a munter? 

I think Charles dropped his munter years ago

Allen Sanderson wrote:

Here is a 2023 entry:

Red Rocks Nevada, Epinephrine. Inexperience, exceeding abilities, failure to evaluate weather, inadequate protection, inadequate clothing. Multiple parties required a helicopter after being overly confident and were unable to descend costing taxpayers thousands in unnecessary rescue costs.

Don’t forget about the party ticking the route as an on-site lead even though they never made it to the top.

j mo wrote:

1. holy smokes people pull a ton of gear!  not sure why or how but pieces come flying out constantly in these reports. Not just one or two but entire arrays of gear. is it possible people are not as good at this as they think they are?

This is a known trend for a long time now.  Rock climbers use to be born outdoors in the alpine environment.  They drifted or retired if you will to rock climbing but learned systems, forces, etc with glaciers, waterfall ice and wandering rock routes.  Today, rock climbers are born out of gyms.  They progress to clipping fixed hardware outside and then get into trad.  They simply do not extend their pieces appropriately.   Many accidents occur when clipping the rope directly into passive or active gear without extension.  When they fall, the force on the active or passive gear occurs at a point that is not directionally beneficial to the piece and how it is designed to function.  

This is the number one item I have to re-train budding (and sometimes supposedly experienced) trad leaders about.  Many also think double ropes are somehow evil and would rather climb with a single rope and tag line vs doubles when climbing a large route requiring double rope raps.  One of several advantages of doubles is directional fall advantage (if used correctly).  

No doubt this stuff is not taught in a gym or at the crag.  Hanging out in an alpine environment, it would be one of the first items addressed.

charles price wrote:

The only thing I can say about #2 on your list. IF you were to ever lose your belay device ( tubes, figure 8s like etc.) The one thing I always teach new partners is to know how to belay around the waste with no gear.  Id started like climging in the early 80's. although  was exposed to it in 75'. I will always teach new partners how to belay without a device. If your up 10 pitches and lose your devise, U WILL be screwed unless you know how to belay around your waist. This is the first thing I teach with all my new partners. Shit happens and if u lose your device then u have to know how to belay around your waste. 

A hip belay is one thing but many people would be screwed more so because they have no idea how to rappel without a device. Carabiner brake bar rappels were the defacto standard for years. 

charles price wrote:

The only thing I can say about #2 on your list. IF you were to ever lose your belay device ( tubes, figure 8s like etc.) The one thing I always teach new partners is to know how to belay around the waste with no gear.  Id started like climging in the early 80's. although  was exposed to it in 75'. I will always teach new partners how to belay without a device. If your up 10 pitches and lose your devise, U WILL be screwed unless you know how to belay around your waist. This is the first thing I teach with all my new partners. Shit happens and if u lose your device then u have to know how to belay around your waste. 

Shit happens when you belay around your waste.

I had a partner drop his belay device several pitches up.  He learned the munter hitch that day.

Hip belays have their place, but a Muenter hitch (provided you haven't dropped all your carabiners) has some definite advantages, especially if the climber is bigger than the belayer. 

I see many folks over rely on micro gear.  (guilty) Micro gear placements need to be absolutely perfect to be reliable. usually they are not perfect.  treat your micro gear like its a bolt and its simply a matter of time before you have a piece blow. what the consequences of that blown piece are will depend mostly on luck. 

bryans wrote:

How small are we calling micro gear? Is a zero (purple) metolius (or say black totem) considered micro? If I have one of those fairly tightly in a parallel crack or a slight constriction/taper I've felt they are "solid," especially with a draw/sling on them. But the smallest cam I've fallen on is a blue metolius at my feet, and it held in bomber basalt. (Smith Rock Lower Gorge Bloodclot, for those who know)   

I fell on a double zero Metolius aka gray ghost and the failure was that it pried a chunk of basalt the size of a softball loose at the waterfall. The point being even small cams can be very very strong. Round these parts we fall on them all the time in solid basalt (and the local crushers fall on them in Sedona!?!). But the larger point is that when my 00 failed, I had a redundant system of protection with solid gear below that held. Another way to put it-when I get run out on sketchy gear, I know it. I don’t just say take, lean back, and have about 4 pieces rip, as in some of the stories. Holy cow!!!!

Tradiban:  yes multiple examples of super rad old school belayers getting knocked about and then the rope zipping thru their extra cool ATC.

Also you say “Don’t fall ice climbing” but respectfully, and based on intense scrutiny of the materials, you are at great risk of open ankle fracture (at best) if you so much as go to an ice climbing locale, or buy ice climbing gear. 

Bryans. its al about repeatability.  most of us have a story about how we whipped on micro gear and it was truck. try the same trick 10 times in a row and most of us have a story about how a piece of micro gear blew. and yes 0 purple metelious is micro gear and if placed perfectly its truck. thing is all of us occasionally place this stuff less than perfectly. 

Alec O wrote:

What if you lose your harness 10 pitches up???

I was also surprised by the amount of accidents caused by ripping gear. In general, it seems, people trust trad gear, especially small stuff, way more than they should.

First without a harness is how I grew up. and had no harness only with a rope using a Bolan knot. Like seriously U better be able to both Repel and belay w/out a harness or belay device.

So this is the second thread today people have called me out and I cant see why. No Cussing/cursing no hate, no like prejudice. Did I like really destroy my cred that night when I was drunk?

Bryans. that's my point. when people treat micro gear like its a bolt sooner or later something bad can and will happen.   I have climbed a solid 40ft over a #3 Chounard silver soldered micro perfectly placed and felt it was truck at the time. looking back I see the insanity that comes with familarality.....  play stupid games frequently enough and you start to forget that they are stupid. The stupid game starts to feel reasonable. that's when you stand a great chance of winning stupid prizes....   I do suspect that some of these incidents are on the other end of the spectrum and happen to folks who just don't understand the game . In the case of the pro climber who got hurt badly with ripped micro gear I suspect it was the first scenario. I do this all the time... that tiny little fcker is truck! lets send this thing. 

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

Bryans. its al about repeatability.  most of us have a story about how we whipped on micro gear and it was truck. try the same trick 10 times in a row and most of us have a story about how a piece of micro gear blew. and yes 0 purple metelious is micro gear and if placed perfectly its truck. thing is all of us occasionally place this stuff less than perfectly. 

I have this feeling that even perfectly placed micro gear can sometimes rip sometimes. Not only is the margin for error incredibly thin, but the rock can be suspect as well. 

I tend to double up when trying hard above .2 and smaller because I figure two good placements shouldn't be able to rip, but betting a harmful fall on one small piece feels a lil loose. Y'all think I'm crazy, or reasonable?

For a lot of people that trad climb, falling is theoretical. When your gear never holds weight it’s surprisingly easy to place post it notes instead of protection.