Mussy hook climbing accidents:

Mussy hooks are awesome. No complaint here, no controversy.

However.. I'd like to hear about any accidents that may have occurred over the last couple years directly related to people climbing above mussy hooks, or lowering onto mussy hooks from above.

If there are none, great. I'm just looking to get some data together and hear from climbers actual experiences, good or bad.

- Cheers

A woman fell somewhere in California last year or the year before. Don't remember what happened but seems likely she clipped the mussies and then somehow accidentally unclipped them and decked. Fortunately she survived, but super bad accident. 

Having a hard time finding it, anyone remember any deets that might make it easier to find?

Edit to add: here's a MP thread that discusses the accident: https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/124636099/why-are-mussy-hooks-not-installed-oppositeopposed

Some climbing media outlet ran a story on it but I can't find it. 

Ricky Harline wrote:

A woman fell somewhere in California last year or the year before. Don't remember what happened but seems likely she clipped the mussies and then somehow accidentally unclipped them and decked. Fortunately she survived, but super bad accident. 

Having a hard time finding it, anyone remember any deets that might make it easier to find?

Edit to add: here's a MP thread that discusses the accident: https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/124636099/why-are-mussy-hooks-not-installed-oppositeopposed

Some climbing media outlet ran a story on it but I can't find it. 

I remember this one! Brutal accident for sure.

I feel like there has got to be more.

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/125127969/sand-rock-october-14

This accident just happened recently. It was a terrible tragedy.

Super shuts not Musseys but same principle. One has to be extremely careful when you're above or to the side.

https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13200605700/Rappel-ErrorFailure-to-Check-Anchor-Inadequate-Protection-North-Carolina-Shiprock-Hindu-Kush

Ricky, was there an accident at the Arnold area? You have expressed elsewhere that you prefer Mussy hooks on your multi-pitch anchors. 

The Sandrock accident is inside my head. It's the closest I have to a 'home crag', I've done that particular climb several times, the parties involved were about the age of my own kids, and the setup they were using isn't far from things we do. 

When climbing with my family, our regular pattern is for my son or me to lead and set an anchor, for my wife to top-rope, and the third to climb and clean. This summer I was out with just my wife, who doesn't clean anchors so I would lead and pre-thread with a locker above, and she would retrieve the locker. I was very comfortable with that setup for rings, but mussys bothered me to the point I would just climb the route twice instead of have her mess with it, and she's certainly not a beginner. My other standard practice is to leave the last bolt or two clipped on the belay side which could catch certain kinds of mistakes at the anchors.  So far, we haven't had anything unexpected happen which I think makes it even more important to remain vigilant. Cleaning anchors and rappelling are serious business. 

philip bone wrote:

Ricky, was there an accident at the Arnold area? You have expressed elsewhere that you prefer Mussy hooks on your multi-pitch anchors. 

I am unaware of any accidents up highway 4, actually. I'm sure they've happened, but I sure haven't heard of them. 

Update to add: we did have an accident where a friend was rappelling on a friction hitch on a scrambly section when either she didn't let go of the hitch or the hitch gave way. I watched it happen but I'm not sure which it was. She got injured but was ok and was climbing a few days later. 

An inexperienced climber should never be responsible for cleaning an anchor, no matter how simplified the process is made ahead of time by the leader (or even worse, a "guide"). I see this far too often here in the south. If you can lead a route to put up a top rope for your friends, then you can certainly top rope the route again to clean it. If top roping the route again is too taxing for you, then you should stick to the gym. If you bring inexperienced people outside, you need to be ready to donate your entire day to them, and do everything for them. If you are taking beginners out, your day needs to be for them, not yourself. I am not calling anyone out in this forum, but this is a terrible trend I've been seeing increasingly with little shame on the part of the "one lead climber//anchor cleaner in the group", and if that's your attitude, you shouldn't be rope climbing outside.

I too am very familiar with misty…. It was my very first 5.10 - the recent death has def hit close - I for one hate the hooks and wish all climbing anchors were the same. I’ve been climbing outside for about 4yrs now and have never liked meathook style anchors. Prayers to the family.

I do believe there was some negligence - the climber was inexperienced and shouldn’t have been asked or put into the position to clean esp without a tether - and from what I’ve read she didn’t have one. 

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/124090137/11yr-old-climber-falls-at-smith-rocks

As a former UGA student with some close friends still involved in the community there, that was a very hard accident report to read. My condolences go out to her family and all of the Crag Dawgs out there.

This is just speculation, but the most logical conclusion I could draw about this is that the climber had difficulty unclipping the locking carabiner and without realizing what she was doing, opted to lift it out of the hook, taking the rope with it. Misty is a fairly exposed route and feels very very tall for a new climber. It is not at all hard to see how her whits would have been elsewhere in that situation.

Edit: I mistook Mussy Hooks for open shuts. I still think the act of futzing with the locker caused the rope to come unclipped in some way.

The actual anchor on Misty...

The one false premise I see in all the discussion about the recent accident on Misty is the notion that the mussy hooks must face the same direction. On that climb it's quite feasible to clip the hooks opposite and opposed. I know this because I did so yesterday morning when I cleaned the route, completely unaware at the time that someone had died there the day before.

When people finish Misty, they tend to end up standing directly right of the hooks. If both gates were facing out, and if the rope were running the wrong way, it would be very easy to unclip when weighting the rope.

If someone built the anchor in this fashion with an additional locker on the left bolt to be removed, they unwittingly built a trap for the beginner climber. The risk of the rope unclipping might not be apparent until AFTER the locker had been removed.

Regardless of what actually happened, it's a failure mode worth understanding.

Karsten Delap has recorded a video hypothesizing what happened in the Sand Rock accident - it’s a helpful visual. https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cyet4OWOmMH/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

The high carabiner (aka guide carabiner) is a great tool when used on chain anchors. It elevates the powerpoint so that the chains don't wear down as fast and I usually only use a single steel non-locker for this as it is easiest to clean.

When the anchor is mussy hooks then use much more caution but is not out of the question for me. This is something I have people do after some training on the ground. There is the loop you can create (drawn above) that can be fatal. To avoid this happening I do a few things 

1. DON'T add another locker onto the anchor, just keep it through the mussy hooks or build an anchor and clean yourself. If you decide to add another carabiner then certainly do #2 and you can always do #3.

2. Don't have the person cleaning stand above the anchor.

3. When you are descending after clipping the mussy hooks as the leader move the top quickdraw from the rope you lead on to the rope you are lowering on. Then when the follower climbs on the rope going through the draws they will get to the anchor and there will be a draw below them still clipped in between the belayer and the anchor. Honestly, you could add a locker there if you really wanted. Then after they clean they will have their weight on the mussy hooks, be lowered a little bit, and then get to that draw, at that point they can unclip that unweighted lower draw from the belayers side of the rope.

THANKs everyone for ALL OF the brilliant!!!! posts and advice.

Artem Vee wrote:

Not to scale - but this is what would happen. Climber goes up to locker, get above mussies to take off locker, is on the wrong side of the mussies, rope catches lip of both mussies (or just the near mussy - which would also guide the rope into the gate of the far mussy), climber takes off locker, climber leans back, rope unclips itself from both mussies and climber falls, disconnected from the wall. 

As a recent UGA climber alumni with connections to the accident, I have thought extensively about about the technical aspects of this accident and think you have the nail mostly hit on the head.

 I think it is important to consider at Sandrock it is not uncommon to top rope through the thick hooks, and I almost remember hearing from those putting them up that they chose the steel hooks specifically for that reason.

I also think that an accident like this could just as easily happen with or without the extra carabiner. As can be seen in the video of Misty, or known by those with experience with the route, it is extremely easy to top out the route (or similar routes) or perhaps climb a little higher if you want to get a better view when you friends yell up to not forget to take in the view. If you do either of these things while on the wrong side of the anchor while on top rope, you can be unknowingly putting yourself in a similar risky position.

The solution is to make the hooks be opposite and opposed, as some other crags around the area have. Otherwise we are just waiting for another accident, especially with the lips the hooks at sandrock have. I think a group of us with connections to the incident are going to make the push for this small change in the anchor systems at sandrock, if anyone wished to make the push with us you are more than welcome. 

Artem Vee wrote:

Not to scale - but this is what would happen. Climber goes up to locker, get above mussies to take off locker, is on the wrong side of the mussies, rope catches lip of both mussies (or just the near mussy - which would also guide the rope into the gate of the far mussy), climber takes off locker, climber leans back, rope unclips itself from both mussies and climber falls, disconnected from the wall. 

How many times has this actually happened? (Quoting AV because pictures are worth a thousand words).

There are anchors like this everywhere, changing them all up is not an option, people just need to be aware of the possibility.

Is the solution to make the hooks opposite and opposed? I honestly don’t know.  The American Safe Climbing Association disagrees, as the inward facing gate can open if pushed into the rock.  https://safeclimbing.org/new-anchor-guidelines  There is a risk with Mussy hooks either way and it comes back to climber experience and personal responsibility for your own safety, including using a PAS (which cannot be stressed enough). Climbing is a dangerous sport and you cannot engineer the risk to zero. My heart goes out to anyone who has been involved in or witnessed a climbing accident.  It’s a risk we all should know and accept when enjoying the sport.  All we can do is try to learn from it and not repeat it. 

Think about it this way: mussy hooks are for convenience only.

Convenience, only.

There are far more secure methods available. But it's deemed convenient to use a less-secure method, as it saves us 60-seconds or so.