Death at Lover's Leap

A woman fell to her death on Fantasia (5.9R) this Thursday, August 29th. Here's a brief article confirming.

My friend and I went climbing the day after and were confused by the presence of a dangling rope on the route, then later horrified by the explanation when we ran into a local who knew the story. Apparently a catastrophic leader fall after a long runout. Horrible news. Whoever you were, rest in peace.

I saw a brief headline the other day and now reading this… it’s tragic. 

CJ Kersh wrote:

• Could you break down what you understood to have happened in layman's terms please. She was an experienced MD with rescue / climbing training and a lot of experience. Thank you.

First of all, I'm so so sorry for your loss. 

Here's my best attempt at layman's explanation:

When a rock climber climb's a rock face, they bring with them pieces of gear made of strong metal that they place into cracks and fissures in the rock as they climb. The climber attaches their rope to these pieces of gear with a carabiner so that in the event of a fall, the gear (which is temporarily lodged in the crack) will catch them and keep them from hitting the ground. As such, these pieces of gear are referred to as "pieces of protection" or just "pro". Some climbing routes offer more opportunities for placing pieces of protection than others. Sections of a climbing route where there are NO opportunities for placing protection, or where those opportunities are insecure or unreliable, are referred to as "runouts". The longer the runout, the further you will fall before being caught by the last piece of protection that you placed. 

Tragically, it seems as though your friend took a fall after a particularly long runout (something this specific route is infamous for) and incurred a fatal head injury as a result. They were wearing a helmet, but the fall was just too much. 

I want emphasize that while I do consider my source fairly reliable, my report of what happened is 3rd hand information. I don't have any concrete evidence or reporting to reference, only next-day aftermath. 

Again, I am so so so sorry for your loss.

CJ Kersh wrote:

Thank you, I appreciate it. I was told her anchor point failed but was at a loss for how she could have hit the ground, if she was on belay, etc. 

I am familiar with repelling, via the Army, but not climbing, like you all. Thanks for the information and kind words.

She was such and awesome person, doctor and athlete, loved by so many. 

I know she didn't hit the ground. They were high enough on the route to make that impossible. It is possible that one of her pieces of protection blew out and failed to arrest her fall. Just speculation though.

Very sorry to hear of this tragedy at a beloved climbing area. It is a serious route.

I too am very sorry to hear of your loss, she certainly sounds like a wonderful person who will be greatly missed.

I happened to be in the area on Thursday afternoon and am posting this in case it might help answer questions or help prevent future accidents.

Around 4:30 PM on Thursday afternoon I had just topped out on the Hogsback, which is broad-topped rock formation at Lovers Leap across from East Wall (which is the location of the Fantasia route) and noticed a party across the way climbing Fantasia. It looked like the leader had just started the second pitch but was off-route. They were up and left of the bolted first-belay anchor, whereas the 'normal' route (or at least the way I've gone) goes up and right of the anchor towards a small knob that can be tied off for (questionable) protection. The leader was maybe 20 feet above and left of the anchor but that's a very rough estimate given how far away they were. It was also too far to tell whether the leader had been able to place any protection after leaving the anchor. (BTW there's no crack system or other obvious markings to indicate which way to go from the anchor, so the routefinding is a little tricky and it's probably not usual for climbers to wander off-route here. Even if you are ON route you have to wander a bit!)

As I walked back towards the campground I turned around occasionally to see how they were doing but in the 5 or 10 minutes before they were out of sight it looked like the leader had not moved from the initial position. I'm guessing - pure speculation - that they may have fallen while either trying to get back on route or perhaps while trying to downclimb back to the anchor. 30 or 45 minutes later I was down at the store when the rescue vehicles began arriving, but did not learn of the fatality until the next day. (At the time I actually wondered if it involved a party that I'd seen on a different route, the Line, who appeared to have been stationary for over an hour.)

Again, I'm very sorry for your loss.

This is a tragic occurrence and I am very sorry for the loss of this person in a climbing accident.  While it is natural that friends and family, and the climbing community at large, will want to understand how this fatality occurred, speculation adds no value. So far, Tom G is providing the only first hand information. Unless another direct observer comes forward, the only other information of value will come from her partner, or from rescue personnel who were directly given information from her partner.

CJ Kersh, there are various scenarios that can account for fatalities even in a shorter fall.  For example a head injury can be sustained, especially if the climber is not using a helmet.  There is no information provided about this.  A long fall can take place, even if the climber is not very runout, if the belayer loses control of the belay device. It is likely that more concrete information will be forthcoming in the days and weeks ahead, and at that time, someone will probably be able to explain in layman's terms what occurred.

Tragic accident no matter how it happened.

Tragic. 

I can add some amount of detail about the event. As you will read, there are others who will have even more accurate information should they choose to relay it. The information I have mostly comes from her climbing partner that day, and two others at the scene. If they are even reading this thread, I would absolutely understand if they choose to refrain. As everyone has said, this was a tragic outcome and I wish to pass along my most sincere condolences to her climbing partner, family, and all who knew her.

In putting the timeline together afterwards, I believe I was atop Pop Bottle bringing up my follower, a novice climber, when the fall occurred. When we were back at the bear box reviewing our climb for a few minutes, I noticed the bright orange rope hanging on Fantasia. My initial thought was that the rope had been core shot in a fall, but then I realized there were no climbers on the wall, the rope was in fact intact, and the discoloration on the rock behind the rope was not splayed nylon but rather blood. My partner, a general surgeon, and I ran up the scree to find the following: the woman who fell was on her back and had been untied from the rope, her climbing partner was doing chest compressions, someone was supporting her head and had been swapping in for compressions, and a third person was on the phone with emergency services. They had been doing compressions for 33 minutes.

The woman's partner had led P1 and planned to lead P3. While she was leading P2 she placed a piece of protection about 10' off the anchor up and to the right, and then went out of sight of her belayer (I have no information about whether she was on or off route; it was their first time climbing the route). Her belayer stated she had begun moving slowly/had not moved in a little while. He said it sounded like she was trying to put in a piece of protection. (I have not climbed this route and so I do not have a great gauge as to how far from the belay this might be). She was then, suddenly, falling. 

The two other people helping her climbing partner said they were walking up to do Haystack. I believe they said they took a moment upon arriving at the base/while they approached up the scree to look at the climbers on Fantasia. I believe they then saw the fall. All three of them indicated that she had inverted in her fall, but I do not know what led to the inversion. She fell past the belay station, her first & only piece of protection holding, and impacted head-first onto the rock face, immediately becoming unresponsive. Her belayer quickly lowered her to the climbers on the ground, who untied her from the rope, and then he fixed the line to the anchor and rappelled down on his GriGri. 911 was immediately called and they were instructed to begin compressions as the emergency response was initiated. When the emergency response team arrived, they of course took over the scene. After a short period of time, the climber was pronounced dead. 

There are a few last bits to mention. A salient detail is that she was in fact wearing a helmet. It was a modern helmet, the kind with some hard plastic on top and foam around the side. The strap was still holding some remains of the edge of the helmet in place to her head, but most of the helmet was 20' away from her having broken off as a single large piece. I do not know exactly how far the fall was. My very rough guess is 40-60'. There was/is a rope recovery happening that may possibly ellucidate more about the fall but I am not a part of that effort. If one is to go to the Leap and look at Fantasia, there may be indications of where she impacted the wall unless any cleaning is happening (I have no idea how that works). I was told that anything you see below the clear initial impact occured while lowering the deceased and is not an indication of further falling. From what I could see, all parts of her harness were intact, however there was the equivalent of a single rack of gear scattered in a ~25' radius on the ground.

Those are the details as I know them. I have tried to relay them as accurately as I can and with as little editorializing as possible. I apologize if there are mistakes. Although I was present in the immediate aftermath of the fall, I did not want to badger her partner for details. I appreciated Phylp's sentiment above regarding speculation. If there are aspects of my recollection anyone finds distracting or unhelpful, please let me know here or via a DM and I can revisit their place in my report. As I have never been this closely involved in a fatal climbing accident, I was unsure of how much to share here or if it would be appropriate.

Absolutely tragic, my heart goes out to her loved ones, partner, and the responders.

Will WB thank you for your report, which is descriptive and contains pertinent detail. 

Malcolm, I should explain that I took objection to your explanation to her friend, which I thought jumped to a lot of conclusions based on non-specific information, using language such as :

"Tragically, it seems as though your friend took a fall after a particularly long runout (something this specific route is infamous for) and incurred a fatal head injury as a result. They were wearing a helmet, but the fall was just too much."

It is still unknown if the climber was off-route and this is an important factor because rock quality and difficulty level pertain to WHY someone might fall. The length of a fall is only one factor to consider in a fatality. Telling her friend that the length of the fall is what caused the fatality is just wrong. If indeed the fall was 40-60 feet, (length estimated, not confirmed), this length in and of itself does not result in a fatality. Injury is more dependent on the way one falls (body position), and what objects or features are hit. The phrase "particularly long runout" is non-quantitative and editorializing. A 30 foot runout can be quite routine and whether people consider it long or not depends on the nature of the climbing, and the nature of the rock, and the difficulty level relative to ones comfort level.

For people who may not be familiar with the route.

http://www.supertopo.com/rock-climbing/Lake-Tahoe-Lovers-Leap-East-Wall-Fantasia

Again, this is just a tragic accident, no matter how one analyzes it.  30 years old - my deeepest condolences to all affected.

Will WB wrote:

I can add some amount of detail about the event. As you will read, there are others who will have even more accurate information should they choose to relay it. The information I have mostly comes from her climbing partner that day, and two others at the scene. If they are even reading this thread, I would absolutely understand if they choose to refrain. As everyone has said, this was a tragic outcome and I wish to pass along my most sincere condolences to her climbing partner, family, and all who knew her.

In putting the timeline together afterwards, I believe I was atop Pop Bottle bringing up my follower, a novice climber, when the fall occurred. When we were back at the bear box reviewing our climb for a few minutes, I noticed the bright orange rope hanging on Fantasia. My initial thought was that the rope had been core shot in a fall, but then I realized there were no climbers on the wall, the rope was in fact intact, and the discoloration on the rock behind the rope was not splayed nylon but rather blood. My partner, a general surgeon, and I ran up the scree to find the following: the woman who fell was on her back and had been untied from the rope, her climbing partner was doing chest compressions, someone was supporting her head and had been swapping in for compressions, and a third person was on the phone with emergency services. They had been doing compressions for 33 minutes.

The woman's partner had led P1 and planned to lead P3. While she was leading P2 she placed a piece of protection about 10' off the anchor up and to the right, and then went out of sight of her belayer (I have no information about whether she was on or off route; it was their first time climbing the route). Her belayer stated she had begun moving slowly/had not moved in a little while. He said it sounded like she was trying to put in a piece of protection. (I have not climbed this route and so I do not have a great gauge as to how far from the belay this might be). She was then, suddenly, falling. 

The two other people helping her climbing partner said they were walking up to do Haystack. I believe they said they took a moment upon arriving at the base/while they approached up the scree to look at the climbers on Fantasia. I believe they then saw the fall. All three of them indicated that she had inverted in her fall, but I do not know what led to the inversion. She fell past the belay station, her first & only piece of protection holding, and impacted head-first onto the rock face, immediately becoming unresponsive. Her belayer quickly lowered her to the climbers on the ground, who untied her from the rope, and then he fixed the line to the anchor and rappelled down on his GriGri. 911 was immediately called and they were instructed to begin compressions as the emergency response was initiated. When the emergency response team arrived, they of course took over the scene. After a short period of time, the climber was pronounced dead. 

There are a few last bits to mention. A salient detail is that she was in fact wearing a helmet. It was a modern helmet, the kind with some hard plastic on top and foam around the side. The strap was still holding some remains of the edge of the helmet in place to her head, but most of the helmet was 20' away from her having broken off as a single large piece. I do not know exactly how far the fall was. My very rough guess is 40-60'. There was/is a rope recovery happening that may possibly ellucidate more about the fall but I am not a part of that effort. If one is to go to the Leap and look at Fantasia, there may be indications of where she impacted the wall unless any cleaning is happening (I have no idea how that works). I was told that anything you see below the clear initial impact occured while lowering the deceased and is not an indication of further falling. From what I could see, all parts of her harness were intact, however there was the equivalent of a single rack of gear scattered in a ~25' radius on the ground.

Those are the details as I know them. I have tried to relay them as accurately as I can and with as little editorializing as possible. I apologize if there are mistakes. Although I was present in the immediate aftermath of the fall, I did not want to badger her partner for details. I appreciated Phylp's sentiment above regarding speculation. If there are aspects of my recollection anyone finds distracting or unhelpful, please let me know here or via a DM and I can revisit their place in my report. As I have never been this closely involved in a fatal climbing accident, I was unsure of how much to share here or if it would be appropriate.

I am so very sorry for the loss of this climber and send my deepest condolences to her friends and family. 

Thank you Will for your detailed account and for your assistance. I do not have much to add as Will very accurately described the events of this tragic accident, but my climbing partner and I were the two walking up to Haystack. We were on the approach and were stopping to take note of the two on Fantasia to find the base of Haystack. As we got to the base of the wall, we were right under the two climbers as she fell. I believe she may have hit the wall a couple of times with the intial impact causing her gear to fall off of her harness. The rope caught her, but unfortunately, she was already unconscious and unresponsive at which point we had called 911. Her climbing partner lowered her so that we could assess her injuries. Luckily, we were able to get her to the ground without any issue. I untied her as to let her climbing partner get to the ground as well. From this point, it was evident that she had suffered a traumatic head injury even though she was wearing a helmet, and the 911 operator instructed us to initiate compressions until help arrived. Please feel free to let me know if any of this information is too much or not enough, and I will do my best to answer any questions. 

Again, I am so sorry for this tragedy. Please be safe out there. Much love. 

Baylie, thank you for adding your more first-hand info to the report. I'm sorry you had to witness the fall, but it was impressive to see you and your climbing partner responding the way you did. Thank you both for your efforts in a challenging situation. I can only imagine how helpful that was for her partner.

I would recommend people read through Baylie's acocunt of the accident to get a more full picture of how the accident and response transpired.

I am sorry for any amount of speculation on my part.

Tom G wrote:

It looked like the leader had just started the second pitch but was off-route. They were up and left of the bolted first-belay anchor, whereas the 'normal' route (or at least the way I've gone) goes up and right of the anchor towards a small knob that can be tied off for (questionable) protection. The leader was maybe 20 feet above and left of the anchor but that's a very rough estimate given how far away they were

That doesn't really sound off route to me. I found that to be the easiest line and it lets you place some small gear before cutting back right to the steep climbing and the knob.

The rope is running left off the belay in this Supertopo photo:

Thanks for the photos Austin and after reading some of the above posts I was already second-guessing myself on whether what I saw was off-route or not.  It's a pretty wander-y route, and from my vantage last week it looked like - at that time -  the leader would still have been in sight of the belayer (as opposed to the summary in one of the posts above), possibly near the "small gear" annotation in your photo which would mean that they were on route.  Apologies for any misunderstandings, I didn't mean to imply anything wrong on the part of the climbers, just that the routefinding on Fantasia can be challenging.

Condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.

Will, and those involved as first responders.
Take care of yourselves. Take time. Take what you need.
Being face to face with an incident like the one you all were engaged in is no small weight to be handed.

I hope you all find healing and a path forward that brings peace. You're all amazing humans that I would hope to have in my vicinity if something went wrong for me.

Rest in Paradise fellow climber.

The Climber has been identified as Janel Mathews from Ohio per this article:

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article291897595.html

Condolences to her friends and family. 

Worst nightmare situation and outcome for all of us.

Hopefully we can learn something by understanding what happened. This is not morbid curiosity rather a hope for a safer future.

One detail I’ve been wondering about and maybe someone here can help me to understand:

“with the intial impact causing her gear to fall off of her harness.”

Do we know this statement to be true? How would this happen? The only scenario I can think of where all one’s gear could fall off is if a shoulder worn gear sling were to come undone or rip apart. But this statement says the gear fell off her harness?

Gumby King wrote:

The Climber has been identified as Janel Mathews from Ohio per this article:

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article291897595.html

Condolences to her friends and family. 

Thank you. No pay wall here: https://archive.is/hY57C

For me, it confirms my reluctance to lead a climb with an R at the end. I think that’s what it boiled down to.