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splitter
Trad climber
Hodad, surfing the galactic plane
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This reminds me of a similar fatal rappel off of West Crack back in the late 70's. It's been a while, but, an older(late 30's)experienced climber was teaching two younger men how to rap. I believe he set up a double rappel and was going to rap along side of them. I do recall that the ropes were all the same color. And he accidentally grabbed one rope from each separate setup. And, of course, when he leaned back to demonstrate braking they simply pulled through.
A good friend at the time, P Cowen, observed the accident/fall from the road. He was the first person on the scene, and the man died in his arms.
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mpeg
Ice climber
CA
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Aug 14, 2012 - 01:15am PT
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to tahoe climber. they have all been climbing since the accident. being a girl scout means alot of things.
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Tahoe climber
climber
Davis these days
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Aug 14, 2012 - 06:49pm PT
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great to hear, mpeg!
Props to them - seeing my first instructor die while doing the activity would have shaken me up a bit at that age for sure.
I'll amend my bet to "I bet they are all very careful rappelling for the rest of their lives."
TC
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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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Had a conversation with someone with RMRU today...they conducted an interview with the participants who were present at this incident to get a clearer understanding of what happened.
Turns out the leader of this group was demonstrating some climbing/rappelling techniques using the 'Surprise' anchors to rappel from. Along the base of the Weeping Wall is a ledge that runs from the left (towards the descent gully...'Bye Gully') towards the right, which curves upward towards the base of the left facing dihedral that forms the right side of the Weeping Wall.
The leader apparently had a fixed line along this ledge, with the participants watching from below. As one moves leftward along this ledge (towards 'Bye Gully'), the dropoff below gradually increases (though never more than about 30'). She apparently rappelled from the 'Surprise' anchors to this ledge, and as she was unclipping from the rope, she tripped over this fixed line, going over the dropoff below (~20').
She sustained a pelvis & internal injuries...there was a delayed response from CalFire (don't know why) of about 4 hours....she bled out and died during the flight to the Keenwild helipad.
Not a rappel rigging failure...not an anchor failure....simply a very tragic accident.
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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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App.....
Thank you
sobering fact.
sad so very sad.
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Grampa
climber
from SoCal
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Thanks for the update.
We we at Suicide this weekend and my friend sprained his ankle very bad. We limped him down the hill, but I was thinking how hard it would be to carry someone down in a litter. Imagine trying to carry someone down the Tahquitz climbers trail in a litter, it would be a semi-controlled crash.
Is there another litter option that could be used to get people down the trail faster. Maybe those litters with a large tire?
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Imagine trying to carry someone down the Tahquitz climbers trail in a litter
Been there, done that.
With fewer than six people it will be the hardest you ever worked in your life. The difference between five and six is enormous. Four would be a nightmare.
You don't want to be the tallest guy and stuck on the front either. Everytime someone stumbles, guess where the load goes.
I do't think any retrobolts have been added to Suprise, but Clark did add some bolts to one of his adjacent routes that caused some controversy a few years ago.
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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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Having worked SAR as an Operations Leader for nearly 10 years, I'd say more like a minimum of 10-12 persons is preferable...litter carries can be done with 6-8, but TGT is right...it's bloody hard work.
Litter wheels do make the work a bit easier, but they work best on Cl. 1-2 terrain with relatively few obstacles...it would have limited value on the climber's trails at S/T. (When RMRU participates in a litter evac, it's usually a carry-out with the help of other climbers &/or the local Fire Dept.)
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mpeg
Trad climber
CA
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to apogee, i don't know who you talked to but just to be clear to EVERYONE this was not a rapelling demonstration and it did not take 4 hours for them to respond. there was rapelling, in order to set up a top rope but no demostration of any type.
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