Ground fall 11-21-12

[chriss]

Any more details? Route? Circumstances?

Any more info on the accident? Anything that we can learn from? Saw the ambulances on our drive out. Happy to hear that the climber is recovering!

[kneebar]

No word on what happened".........I don't know anyone involved so let's just be asses as usual and start speculating and making up stories. I'll start, the belayer was using a reverse loaded gri-gri while hanging out in the hammock petting his aggressive dog, eating a snicker bar and checking out the ladies right before he fell fast asleep. The leader forgot to tie in and thought he was on a toprope after consuming a tasty magic brownie. Seems logical and a totally believable story.

But seriously, have a speedy recovery.

[rjackson]

Seems this site is now rife with concern about safety and this would be an excellent opportunity for education and analysis. We all learn from mistakes...

[tbwilsonky]

i assumed it was gri-gri camping (which seems to be the standard for 'experienced' belayers), but - shockingly - it wasn't. from what i've pieced together, it appears the belayer's feeding hand was on the rope and prevented the gri-gri from camming when the leader fell. the only thing slowing the fall was rope/skin friction.

glad he's not hurt worse and hope he has a speedy recovery.

[SCIN]

That's what you call GriGri Freeze.

[Cromper]

That's what you call GriGri Freeze.

Is that what the new model is called?

[climb2core]

TW, facts are not correct from what I heard. But it is not my place to comment with 3rd hand info

[tbwilsonky]

i made the initial jump with 4th hand info. thats kinda the 'thing' with the internet: everyone has a place to comment.

[foo]

Hey guys, its Saifu. I figured I should fill people in on what happened (first hand accounts are a little more reliable than fourth hand). I took a lead fall trying to clip the fifth bolt on Fire and Brimstone. I landed on my back and ended up with a fracture in my pelvis and 7 compression fractures in my spine. Thanks to everyone at the crag who took care of me while we waited for the ambulance. My belayer was using a cinch, not a gri gri, and I was climbing on a 10.1 mm rope. At this point I can't say whether it was user error or device failure; I haven't seen my equipment since the fall so when I'm all healed up I figure I'll check out the belay device and do some investigating. Sorry I can't be more informative but I don't want to make any conclusions until I get a better idea of what happened. I'm healing up well though, 6-12 weeks using a back brace and walking around like an old person and I should be ready to start working back into shape. The amazing support from the community has definitely helped.

[climb2core]

Glad to hear you are on the mend. I know people swear by their cinch, but to me it just seems like it the device is extra prone to belayer error/failure.


Hope you heal quickly!

[camhead]

My belayer was using a cinch, not a gri gri, and I was climbing on a 10.1 mm rope. At this point I can't say whether it was user error or device failure; I haven't seen my equipment since the fall so when I'm all healed up I figure I'll check out the belay device and do some investigating.

Whoa, glad you did not get hurt worse than you did, good luck on the mending process.

And forget about checking your equipment; I'm sure it is fine. Check and see if you belayer has rope burns on his/her feeder hand (probably the left).

[climb2core]

My belayer was using a cinch, not a gri gri, and I was climbing on a 10.1 mm rope. At this point I can't say whether it was user error or device failure; I haven't seen my equipment since the fall so when I'm all healed up I figure I'll check out the belay device and do some investigating.

Whoa, glad you did not get hurt worse than you did, good luck on the mending process.

And forget about checking your equipment; I'm sure it is fine. Check and see if you belayer has rope burns on his/her feeder hand (probably the left).

Camhead, is the correct assumption of what you are saying...

Burn on feeder hand only, bad belay.
Burn on break hand or both, well not as obvious.

[camhead]

My belayer was using a cinch, not a gri gri, and I was climbing on a 10.1 mm rope. At this point I can't say whether it was user error or device failure; I haven't seen my equipment since the fall so when I'm all healed up I figure I'll check out the belay device and do some investigating.

Whoa, glad you did not get hurt worse than you did, good luck on the mending process.

And forget about checking your equipment; I'm sure it is fine. Check and see if you belayer has rope burns on his/her feeder hand (probably the left).

Camhead, is the correct assumption of what you are saying...

Burn on feeder hand only, bad belay.
Burn on break hand or both, well not as obvious.

Yes, and especially in the case of gri gris or cinches; with those devices, when you instinctively grab the rope with your feeder hand, their brakes will very likely not engage. It's the most common type of "gri gri malfunction" that I've seen in my experience.

[pigsteak]

heal fast saifu!!!!

[cliftongifford]

I know people swear by their cinch, but to me it just seems like it the device is extra prone to belayer error/failure.

Every device is extra prone to belayer error/failure. Grigri, cinch, SUM, etc. They're all the same. You can fuck up belaying with any of them.