And Now They Call Me “Meteor”
I’ve been meaning to do this for a while so now that I am finally healing up, I figured I write up my accident report and see what feedback anyone had so that something could be taken away from what happened.
We (May, Lin, Robb, and I) had begun the day on April 11th at Rock Hudson out of Hidden Valley Campground in J-tree because Robb was keen on jumping on Hot Rocks. This was my first day climbing outside in months on account of being tied up in lab with work and grant-writing. May and I started the day with 5.7 about 50’+ left of Hot Rocks and things seemed to go well enough. Robb and Lin, meanwhile, had warmed up on the 5.9 just left of Hot Rocks, Looney Tunes. After May and I finished up on the 7 and the other folks had moved off of the 9, I finally found the stones to rack up for Looney Tunes. I was feeling a little apprehensive since I hadn’t been climbing much crack, just mostly bouldering hard in the gym, and had never led a 9 in J-tree onsight. But I promised myself 2 things: I was going to test my limits and I would place less pro than I usually do since I usually throw in too many pieces and flame my forearms pretty well when it’s not necessary due to an unreasonable fear of falling.
The climb starts in a really thin seam with slabby feet that wasn’t too bad. About 15’ up I got to a good stance in a pod and slotted in a small nut above me. The placement was a bit shallow so I decided to climb up a couple more feet where the seam widened to a finger crack and throw in a better, larger nut. Both were placed with an angle of pull downward. From there the climbing continued up a slightly less than vertical crack with intermittent pods and corners that I found quite awkward being somewhat bulky and inflexible. Some stemming and face moves mixed in got me about 10-15’ above my last nut where I placed a green Metolius. While placing I dropped a black Metolius which thankfully only went skidding down the slab to May but really succeeded in pissing me off and throwing off my concentration. From then on, things started going south as I had to hang-dog a bit and just couldn’t find a smooth way through some pods. While hang-dogging, the lower nut (my 1st piece) zippered out on account of the slabby wall. May was comfortably pressed up against the wall and at no point that day did I pull her up despite outweighing her by, conservatively, 70 pounds which is pretty amazing actually.
I finally managed to get past that section and onto some much easier ground right before I thought the crux would be. At a good stance 10-15’ above and to the right of the green, I threw in a red Metolius in a place that I thought would be good enough for what I needed. I figured I’d slot in a piece then climb couple moves to a better stance and placement that was in line with the little bit of climbing left below the chimney at the top. So I put the red in a somewhat shallow but not terribly sketchy part of the crack with the leaves of the cam mostly equally cammed. One was slightly off but not too bad and definitely contacting the wall. If I remember correctly the crack flared a wee bit behind the piece and above it. I can’t remember for sure if I put a quickdraw on the cam or not but I don’t believe I did. I began climbing above it and quickly realized that the crack got much thinner and the corner/pod more awkward. I got into a place where I was maybe 5’ above the red Metolius on good feet but without any pro small enough to slot into the crack: it was ridiculously shallow fingertips for me. I couldn’t downclimb because there was a bulge at my waist that I couldn’t see past so I decided to go for it stemming my feet on the walls of the pod. Well…that didn’t work so well.
My foot blew and as I began to fall onto the red Metolius I could feel the tension in the rope onto my harness. Apparently (I don’t remember), I yelled, “ Whoa (pause) WHOA!” because I felt the piece take my weight and then heard that dreadful sound of metal scraping on rock accompanied with the sudden release of tension that could only signify the popping of my piece. At this time, I remember simultaneously a general feeling of dread and the thought that I was falling for a very long time (Robb estimates it at 40’). I wondered to myself if the green Metolius was close enough to me where I would be caught by the rope because if not, that would be it for me. There was this distinct and puzzling uncertainty about whether or not I’d survive this. And then there were GREEN and PAIN.
When I regained my senses, I realized that I was stuck half in a yucca at the base of the climb and that my harness was killing my back. I was blinded somewhat because my glasses had been wrenched from my face and the swords of the yucca were scraping my helmet and arm. I realized that I had NOT hit the deck and needed to get lowered the last 4-6’ (maybe 8?) because I just wanted to lie down since the pain was profound but that May could no longer see me. So as calmly as I could, I started ordering May to lower me and just repeated it until I had enough slack to lie on the ground.
After that, Robb, Lin, and May essentially conducted a rescue of my sorry self and behaved wonderfully. I truly can’t thank them enough. Robb cleared my spine and I remember that my primary sources of pain were my knee and my back which was really just stiff. I had some cuts and abrasions from that damned yucca as well. They cleaned up and got me the hell out of there and back to SD where I went to the ER. I was diagnosed there with a broken 2nd rib (just below and behind the clavicle), a classic case of masking of injuries, broken probably from hitting the wall with an outstretched arm. My back remains stiff; and one week later, I ended up pulling pieces of yucca out of my forearm (3mm long) and the top of my shoulder (9mm long) that the ER docs should really have picked up.
Almost 7 weeks have passed and I’ve decided to continue climbing despite a fall that forced me to reflect on the purpose of climbing. Ultimately, though, the system and gear all worked because I never did deck. It looks as though the piece blew because it walked a bit. Yet I only made 3 moves above it at the most and all in line with the piece. And though the cam wasn’t 100% well placed, I’d give it a 90-95% which I had thought would be good enough to take a short fall. Obviously not…
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Good thing that you made it in one piece!
I was always scared shitless while belaying you cause of your size:)
What do we learn? As for me (you can call me a pussy) when I am going for a project unless there is no way to place gear i place as much as i can and normally a couple not one piece before I think is the crux.
I think a fundamental error was combining pushing your limits and deciding to put in less gear. On top of that, if you’re putting in less gear, if you think one is “90-95%,” it’s probably worse than that and since you’re putting in less gear every piece should be “100%.” I try to put in 2 good pieces at the crux, and I’ve put in at least 5 at a crux with crappy gear.
It’s good that you recognize that despite being injured, in the end the system worked and kept you off the deck. That’s how I view my 70′ fall. A lot went wrong, the odds were stacked against me with circumstances mixed with error, and I still didn’t deck. Sweet. Learn and move on.
I’d estimate that the “4-6 feet” you were “lowered” was actually about 1 foot, and that the Nolina (Yucca) took about 95% of the fall since May was not yanked, nor felt much of anything in the way of tension. Personally, I think more worked your way out of the Nolina than were truly “lowered!”.
As for the placements, although May was close to the rock, due to the angle of the first few feet of the climb, the nuts were being pulled off of the wall a bit and thus easily popped. It’s not a bad idea to make your first placement a cam when possible since they’re multi-directional. Also, there was no runner on the red when I pulled it off the rope, nor the green when I cleaned it.
As a final note on gear, I definitely second Josh on having multiple pieces of gear keeping you from taking a long fall…
Anyhow, so glad you were OK bud. Lin and I both thought you were done for when we watched you fall, and were amazed and elated to see you doing so well later in the day. Looking forward to getting back on the rope with ya soon!
http://picasaweb.google.com/santarosadan/JoshuaTreeAndPalmSprings#5292354240972714082
May was sitting on top of and wedged between the rock the belayer in the picture has his foot and the wall. I fell out of the frame and to the right on the other side of the plant in the picture which is easily 6′ and probably more since on that side there was a few foot drop off if you recall. Knowing how long it took to get lowered to the ground, I’m confident that I was well off the ground. Another indication that the yucca didn’t absorb the fall is the fact that the only place where I was cut up and had marks on my shirt from the yucca was my right side from my ear to my upper shoulder. No marks on the pants, back, abdomen, ankles, etc.
Thanks for the pointers, everyone. Josh, the five crappy pieces you mention were a result of the lack of good locations to place pieces, correct?
We’ve all done stupid shit and some of us are fortunate enough to live to tell the tale. I definitely have. The important thing is to walk away with a lesson. When I was 16 I did my first wall and was about to lean back from the rappels, 1000 feet off the deck. It was midnight and I was beat from the climbing. My partner double checked me before I leaned back…turns out my rope was through the device, but not the biner. I was *this* close to dying. Now I always double check before leaning back.
Sometimes a second chance is all you get.
I find myself often climbing above my gear and then calculating how safe my fall would be if the top piece were to blow. Seriously, this is constantly going through my mind.
Thats why after an easy section in which I don’t place much gear, I usually place one piece and then imagine the ride I would take if it were to blow. That usually makes me throw in another piece.
I definitely agree with Shay and Scotty – the important thing here is to learn from what you did wrong so that it doesn’t happen again (think strongly about direction of pull with passive gear, use runners when needed, see where a cam would walk if it did, place extra pieces, etc.) – then smile and get back out and have a great time. I’ll still maintain though, from the lack of pull felt by May, and the force and speed with which you went in that Nolina that it did the brunt of the work – the bottom it was pretty thick, and you were pretty well pinned in it and against the rock (your side without the stickers). The time that it took you to get lowered was more because you had to work your way through that thick bush than anything about the height! That really doesn’t matter too much though – what really matters is that you apply these lessons to be more safe and have a good time in the future.
Was the red Metolius a TCU? Those are notorious for walking, plus the U-stem design of the Metolius cams makes them more likely to walk due to inflexibility. If the crack was flaring behind and above the cam as well this is a doubly bad placement since the direction of walking would likely be up and in, both places where the widens. I usually always place draws on my TCUs for this reason. On a short fall (the first one) like that to, it is also possible to torque the placement into a position that it will not hold. I had a Trango single axled cam pull on me once because it got torque in such a way that the lobes basically opened up in a vertical direction in the crack and the whole thing slid out; that deck was not as bad as yours.
Metolius Power Cam. I had heard about their propensity to walk but nobody ever told me the mechanism how. Interesting…
Also it’s interesting to hear people assessment and judgment of risk. Shay feels comfortable running out easy sections and then places 2 pieces on harder terrain from what I understand while other people I’ve known (myself included) like gear every X number of feet (usually 15 or less).
This poses an interesting question: how dangerous is climbing, really? In my opinion climbers simultaneously over-estimate and under-estimate the risks. When we are on a difficult lead most climbers (myself included) overprotect. This gives us the confidence to keep going. I would call this over-estimation of risk. At the same time, when is the last time you actually saw a leader fall (not take) on gear? We all know we *should* be pushing ourselves and falling on gear, but the honest truth is that it doesn’t happen very often. Since most placements are never tested, this begs the question — how solid are those placements, really?
Well put, Scotty!
The trick is to fight the urge to overprotect when a) it’s not making you any safer, and b) you’re in a strenuous position and shouldn’t waste the energy.
I guess I didn’t complete my previous thought. Since I throw in two pieces after a runout I often place them in between if its quick to do so. This way I use the same amount of gear while being arguably safer.
I think it all depends on location too. At Tahquitz I place less gear than at Joshua Tree on easy ground. This is because I am often more concerned with moving faster on longer climbs.
Glad you made it out o.k. man. Thats one hell of a fall.
You’re a lucky man. Nothing makes you value your life as much as getting close to losing it ;D
Indeed…thanks Jon and Colin. I appreciate it.
Meteor… nice. Though I presume you weren’t flaming on the way down.
Here’s some more armchair quarterbacking for you…
- Don’t push your limit on multiple aspects of climbing at one time. If the pro is tricky, or you’re running it out, make sure you’re climbing nowhere near your limit, as well as the opposite – if you think you’re likely to fall, place plenty of gear to keep you safe. This principle falls in exactly with Josh’s point above.
- Check your placements after you hang on them. Hanging on a piece can make it move or walk. Sometimes it’s necessary to re-set the piece before climbing on. Hanging on gear also will pull lower pieces in varying directions depending on the route and how long your slings are. I would guess this may have caused your lower piece to move to a poorer placement. Stem flexibility won’t make near as much a difference as sling length in this case. When you place a piece, look where the piece below is and where you think your next piece will be. Think about which way the piece will be pulled if the rope comes tight between those. Make sure this pull won’t cause the piece to zipper or walk into a poor placement.
Sounds like you’ve learned some valuable lessons from this experience. By putting your story up here, I’m sure some others will too. Thanks for posting!
Hey all, just happened across this interesting site and couldn’t help perusing the various aspects of it, including this accident report. At any rate, sorry for the unsolicited comment, but I had to say because I didn’t see anyone else mention it, rope drag in your system (having a tight belay either by request or in anticipation of a fall? also, you said when you were hangdogging your belayer never got pulled, a good sign of a lot of friction in the system, possibly due to J-tree’s sticky rock) coupled with the fact that the Metolius had no runner probably caused that little puppy to walk right up/down into the flare and pop.
Always sucks to hear a climbing accident, but props to you and yours for your self rescue and for getting through it.
Finally, at the risk of sounding *too* annoying, remember the adage “Push the grade or push the gear, just push one.”
Speedy recovery and happy climbing!
-Steve (Davis, CA)
p.s. – thanks for the idea for WYW! Sounds awesome!
Steve,
Thanks dude for your kind words, most definitely not annoying especially since I’ve learned something from this and hope that someone else has too. As for drag, I don’t think there was that much. What there was was an slightly weird direction of pull since the start of the climb was slabby but then trended to the right. My belayer was being pulled into the wall but she was comfortable since she had a seat wedged right up on the wall with her knees against it. With the slab, then, she would have been pulled into the wall more than up. Thanks again!
Dan
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