Dumb injury, inspect all gear attached to harness, even chalk bags.

I (the belay) recently experienced a tail bone fracture that could have easily been a life-changing spinal injury.  My partner's chalk bag detached, without her noticing, while at the top of the route.  This was near the end of daylight, the chalkbag was gray and similar in size to some X'd do not use rocks on the route. The chalk bag looked like a rock that could have easily been fatal if hit by, even with a helmet, and it was coming right at me.  I moved backwards quickly, tripping on a rock and slamming my assbone on a sharp protruding rock before the rope could fully catch me.

I am OK and will fully recover but am having to sit on one of those stupid inflatable donuts for weeks (months?) and climbing season is done for me now.  It also is really painful.

Check all your gear folks, even a chalk bag, anything falling is bad.  An impact a few inches higher up on my spine and I could be in a wheelchair the rest of my life.  Because of a chalk bag.

Sorry for your injury, I hope the recovery goes smoothly for you.

Couple points that you didn't make, but should have, IMO.

1. Do not be that person who hangs a chalk bag on their harness with a carabiner! Chalk bags come with belts, use them.

2. When dodging rocks, it is usually better to go sideways-best, or even forward, rather than backwards. Obviously terrain-dependent, but rocks often ricochet off the wall and go further back, they can't really go closer.

3. I'm assuming that you partner was on TR, otherwise your trip backwards, and the "rope catching you" could have been really bad for them.

4. Random shit happens. Nothing would prevent every instance of chalk bag (or draws, or gear)  unclipping from the harness mid-pitch.

Lena chita wrote:
1. Do not be that person who hangs a chalk bag on their harness with a carabiner! Chalk bags come with belts, use them.

Why? I hard disagree. Belt is annoying.

It's nice that there are people on MP who know everything. 

grug g wrote:

Why? I hard disagree. Belt is annoying.

climbing chimney or off width? No bueno clipped to the back as the most obvious example that comes to mind.
Being able to move the bag from side to side or even in front is huge advantage IMO. Bummer to really be wanting chalk and your back is against something.

I was a clip to the harness type climber until I started getting into trad/multi/alpine then it was obvious it was sub par to anchor that thing like ready to go wag bag. Use some rated cord for the belt and you also got an emergency option for all kinds of scenarios.

Yes the climber was on top rope, but don't get me wrong, I wouldn't hesitate to rip a lead climber off the wall if it meant not having my face bashed in, in which case their nasty forced lead fall would be less severe than a potentially deceased belay partner.  There was only one direction I could go to avoid collision and that's the direction I went.  

The chalkbag 'biner vs. belt argument is of no significance here, it was the loop on the chalkbag that failed.  Save that internet gem of a useless argument for somewhere else.

Pretty much all advice on what to do during the situation is dumb, it all went down in about 1 second.  The learning here I am trying to convey is inspect your gear because given 1 second to react almost never are any of us going to make the 100% optimal decision.  A simple glance at the chalkbag in this case would have shown the thing hanging on by a thread.

Mr Rogers wrote:

climbing chimney or off width? No bueno clipped to the back as the most obvious example that comes to mind.
Being able to move the bag from side to side or even in front is huge advantage IMO. Bummer to really be wanting chalk and your back is against something.

I was a clip to the harness type climber until I started getting into trad/multi/alpine then it was obvious it was sub par to anchor that thing like ready to go wag bag. Use some rated cord for the belt and you also got an emergency option for all kinds of scenarios.

Interesting - I don't see any ticked offwidths or chimneys on your profile.

I have climbed a decent amount of chimney/offwidths- you know what I do? Just clip the chalk bag to a gear loop if its in the way. Its not like you need chalk for those climbing types... Also, I use a light locking carabiner on my chalkbag to have as an emergency. 

grug g wrote:

Interesting - I don't see any ticked offwidths or chimneys on your profile.

I have climbed a decent amount of chimney/offwidths- you know what I do? Just clip the chalk bag to a gear loop if its in the way. Its not like you need chalk for those climbing types... Also, I use a light locking carabiner on my chalkbag to have as an emergency. 

Interesting you think everyone here puts their ticks on MP like its a requisite. I would be surprised you found any ticks....

Ticks are dumb and chalk is aid. 

How did the climber deal with the belayer taking off is what I  want to know. Good reason to stand on the side of the route while belaying. 

Chalk is aid.

Cherokee Nunes wrote:

Chalk is aid.

Chalk is now objective danger, right up there with cornices collapsing.

Trevor Peschek wrote:

I am OK and will fully recover but am having to sit on one of those stupid inflatable donuts for weeks (months?) and climbing season is done for me now.  It also is really painful.

Sorry this happened. It's a good reminder.

I had a groundfall once that broke my tailbone, and had a similar freakout about the "what if".  It was a mostly bolted route that took a piece up high and I threw a cam on the second gear loop of my harness.  When carrying a full rack I typically use a gear sling so this was an unusual place for me. The fall landed partly on my ankles but then quickly fell backwards onto the tailbone.  My butt landed square on the cam and the bruise was massive and very painful in itself.  All I could think of was if I had been twisted a little differently or the cam had twisted a little differently, the impact of the cam might have been directly into my spinal cord.  A bit mentally traumatic on top of the physical trauma of the hand, ankle, butt and tailbone injuries.

I can't remember how long it took to heal.  Probably the ankles kept me out of climbing longer than the tailbone. For a long time I would get pain after certain types of repetitive aerobic exercise.  Wishing you quick healing.

Hey man, sorry about your injury!

Lena DOES know a lot and clearly is just trying to help here. (even though I disagree about the chalk belt :) )

Trevor Peschek wrote:

  The learning here I am trying to convey is inspect your gear because given 1 second to react almost never are any of us going to make the 100% optimal decision.  A simple glance at the chalkbag in this case would have shown the thing hanging on by a thread.

Climbing Partner Safety Checks:

Knot? Check.

Through both loops? Check

Harness doubled back? Check

System closed? Check

Chalkbag properly attached? Uh, check.

That last check isn't going to happen. Not going to catch on as a routine check.

Unfortunate freak accident.

Were you wearing a helmet?

grug g wrote:

Why? I hard disagree. Belt is annoying.

because falling on a piece of metal<falling on random fabric and a buckle

Trevor Peschek wrote:

The chalkbag 'biner vs. belt argument is of no significance here, it was the loop on the chalkbag that failed.  Save that internet gem of a useless argument for somewhere else.

I wasn't going to reply but now I have to. LOL. I've done the chalk bag on a biner, on an accessory cord, and on it's own belt. I'm back to using the belt that came with it because, as mentioned with the biner you can't flip it to the other side and I like the bag off the harness when packing because otherwise it seems like chalk spills out. I carry a few accessory cords for self rescue anyway so I don't need one more, the belt that comes with the chalk bad is super light and it's buckle is way easier to use than tying a knot in cord.

For those of us that like the waist belt chalk bag and don't swap it out for rated cord, I like the mammut chalk bag that requires you to depress an extra tab to unclip: mammut.com/us/en/products/2…

Stiles wrote:

Were you wearing a helmet?

Yes, but the "rock" was big enough that all the helmet would've done is maybe snap my neck rather than cave my head in.  I'm not convinced these helmets will do much against a 10lb rock falling from 60ft+.  A little choss or a dropped draw maybe, sure.

I was just curious, as a common argument against them is, "We were just TRing."  I agree its best to not get whalloped, helmet or not

Trevor Peschek wrote:

Yes the climber was on top rope, but don't get me wrong, I wouldn't hesitate to rip a lead climber off the wall if it meant not having my face bashed in, in which case their nasty forced lead fall would be less severe than a potentially deceased belay partner.  There was only one direction I could go to avoid collision and that's the direction I went.  

The chalkbag 'biner vs. belt argument is of no significance here, it was the loop on the chalkbag that failed.  Save that internet gem of a useless argument for somewhere else.

Pretty much all advice on what to do during the situation is dumb, it all went down in about 1 second.  The learning here I am trying to convey is inspect your gear because given 1 second to react almost never are any of us going to make the 100% optimal decision.  A simple glance at the chalkbag in this case would have shown the thing hanging on by a thread.

It's hard for a climber to do a simple glance at their chalk bag that is hanging on the back of their harness throughout the day. I guess you are saying that you had made the mistake of not inspecting your climbers gear? No disagreement from me about checking your gear, or checking your partner. It is definitely important, and I'm not saying that it isn't. I simply brought up additional items that might be worth thinking about, in an aftermath of an accident like this.

And yes, things happen very quickly when the rock is falling, and there will be times when you make a split-second decision, and it is a wrong one. But that is why it is important to think about it beforehand, to increase the chance that you will make a better "instinctive" choice. People instinctively look up when they hear "rock". That's why you tell them that they should be ducking, not looking up. Going sideways/forward IS a better choice when the rock is falling. You can learn to do that, just like you can learn to duck, instead of looking up. It might not save you from injury every time. Nothing ever will. But it will increase the chances of avoiding the injury. And, as a bonus, you are less likely to trip when you are going sideways than when you are going backwards. Unless you were standing in a tight chimney, I cannot imagine a situation where you couldn't go sideways in a single pitch TR situation.

People instinctively let go of things they shouldn't let go of, or clamp down and don't let go of things they should let go of... that is why we practice.