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Chockstone Forum - Accidents & Injuries

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Topic Date User

My ground fall in the Gramps 25-Jul-2003 At 2:10:28 PM mikl law

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There are so many factors involved that the only scientific principle you can apply is to be scared and not fall too much. In bike racing we say once you've fallen, it's a lottery. I saw a friend die on the safest corner in NSW (turn 3 Oran park), and have fallen in really bad spots (200kph inot walls) and limped away.

I'd say in (rough) order of importance :-
*skinny ropes and double ropes and gentle belays limit peak forces on gear.
*having the pull coming on axis of strength of gear is critical in poor placements
*Having too much tension in the system during a (potential) fall may mean you have a bit of outwards force on the gear before the downwards loads settle it in. You often get this if you have a worried belayer who sucks it in too much. It's the same as grabbing a poor cam from above, it may have held if you were below it..
*As Blond Gecko says, the load / distance thing is nonlinear. Fat bastards may go further and make a bigger hole when they hit.
*Easy choss is worst to fall on as you will hit something, and you don't think you need as much gear. Steep routes scare me and I over protect them

The worst crap can save your life, and bomber pieces have been known to fail. Safety isn't surviving once, it's you and all your mates still climbing when you're 60.

Mikl