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Chockstone Forum - Accidents & Injuries

Report Accidents and Injuries

 Page 2 of 8. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 40 | 41 to 60 | 61 to 80 | 81 to 100 | 101 to 120 | 121 to 140 | 141 to 142
Author
Climber injured in bluies after 30m fall 2/Jan/13
james
3-Jan-2013
1:08:21 PM
On 3/01/2013 mikllaw wrote:
>Anyway recognise where this is?

I miss-read this the first time & thought mikl was trying to be funny by asking "..anyone recognise WHO this is..?"

IdratherbeclimbingM9
3-Jan-2013
1:35:55 PM
On 2/01/2013 Olbert wrote:
>On 2/01/2013 bobic wrote:
>>On 2/01/2013 richo6 wrote:
>>>save your total speculation... idiot
>>
>>Why is he an idiot? I reckon the first thought in most climber's minds
>>when they hear of these things is what went wrong.
>
>Which is fine - what is wrong is doing it on a forum which journalists
>will trawl, misunderstand and misquote out of context.

Given most media things climbing related that I have read over many years, I'd say that they are likely to misunderstand and misquote out of context anyway!

I wish those injured a speedy recovery, and give my thanks to those who assisted them.
mikllaw
3-Jan-2013
1:50:02 PM
What do we actually know about the accident? Not much:-
- From the news report it’s probable that 2 people fell and were hurt.
- We don’t know if they were climbing, abseiling, or walking. If someone is hurt near a cliff, the media tends to call it a rock climbing accident and the victims tend to be called rock climbers.
- It’s hard to know where the accident occurred, Horne Point could be the place where the accident occurred, or simply where the emergency squad accessed the cliff base.
-The quoted distances fallen may or may not be correct.

Luck and a good recovery to those concerned.
FatCanyoner
3-Jan-2013
2:13:46 PM
On 3/01/2013 mikllaw wrote:
>What do we actually know about the accident? Not much:-
>- From the news report it’s probable that 2 people fell and were hurt.
>- We don’t know if they were climbing, abseiling, or walking. If someone
>is hurt near a cliff, the media tends to call it a rock climbing accident
>and the victims tend to be called rock climbers.
>- It’s hard to know where the accident occurred, Horne Point could be
>the place where the accident occurred, or simply where the emergency squad
>accessed the cliff base.
>-The quoted distances fallen may or may not be correct.

That is why I included the official statement as released by the police who responded to the accident. It is not based on media speculation, it is a statement -- signed off by a local Inspector -- outlining the basic details of what happened. Not how much further up the food chain it needs to be for you. Do you want the Police Commissioner to go out there to confirm they were climbing? Read the statement again...
kieranl
3-Jan-2013
2:26:41 PM
On 3/01/2013 FatCanyoner wrote:
>On 3/01/2013 mikllaw wrote:
>>What do we actually know about the accident? Not much:-
>>- From the news report it’s probable that 2 people fell and were hurt.
>>- We don’t know if they were climbing, abseiling, or walking. If someone
>>is hurt near a cliff, the media tends to call it a rock climbing accident
>>and the victims tend to be called rock climbers.
>>- It’s hard to know where the accident occurred, Horne Point could be
>>the place where the accident occurred, or simply where the emergency
>squad
>>accessed the cliff base.
>>-The quoted distances fallen may or may not be correct.
>
>That is why I included the official statement as released by the police
>who responded to the accident. It is not based on media speculation, it
>is a statement -- signed off by a local Inspector -- outlining the basic
>details of what happened. Not how much further up the food chain it needs
>to be for you. Do you want the Police Commissioner to go out there to confirm
>they were climbing? Read the statement again...

Keep the aggro in check. Good to have the official police statement but it's pretty bare bones and Mike's points are still valid, in terms of what we want to know as climbers.

IdratherbeclimbingM9
3-Jan-2013
2:50:12 PM
On 3/01/2013 kieranl wrote:
>Mike's points are still valid

On 3/01/2013 mikllaw (who probably didn't notice the Police report on page one of this thread) wrote:
What do we actually know about the accident? Not much:-
>Other than from the Police Report!

- From the news report it’s probable that 2 people fell and were hurt.
> a 31-year-old woman and 32-year-old man.
>He sustained a compound fracture to his ankle and a fractured leg.
>She sustained numerous fractures; head and internal injuries.

- We don’t know if they were climbing, abseiling, or walking. If someone is hurt near a cliff, the media tends to call it a rock climbing accident and the victims tend to be called rock climbers.
>They were scaling a 35 metre cliff when the man slipped off. He fell to the base of the cliff.
> During the incident the woman was pulled from her position and fell to the ground.

- It’s hard to know where the accident occurred, Horne Point could be the place where the accident occurred, or simply where the emergency squad accessed the cliff base.
> a 35 metre cliff at Hornes Point on Mt Piddington.

-The quoted distances fallen may or may not be correct.
>He fell 18 metres
>She fell 12 metres

(Thereyagomikl fixeditforya)

>in terms of what we want to know as climbers.
... or ghouls?
Hopefully those involved in the incident will eventually post a report enlightening us regarding specific technical details, in an attempt to save us from similar fate.


Sonic
3-Jan-2013
3:37:31 PM
From the Blue Mtns LAC:

Climbing Incident - Mt Piddington 2/1/2013 - Update. The two climbers that sustained injuries in the incident at Hornes Point, Mt Piddington yesterday are still in hospital. The injured male climber is in a stable condition, and the female climber in a critical injury due to injuries sustained in the fall - both persons from the Victorian community. Due to the nature of the incident, and the fact that an investigation into the incident has commenced (and is ongoing), there will be no further discussions about the incident at this time. The previous crime scene established at the location on PM 2/1/2013 is finalised.Our thoughts are with both the injured climbers, and trust that they are able to make a full recovery in the future.

hangdog
3-Jan-2013
8:57:20 PM
Are we any closer to knowing what actually happened? Not the result (obviously)but the cause. How did the belayer deck out? What caused the anchor to fail?
patto
3-Jan-2013
11:13:25 PM
On 3/01/2013 mikllaw wrote:
>Anyway recognise where this is?
>
>from the SMH article
>
>It looks like near the base of Think Kink below Horne Point, but I can't
>see any steps

On the (very poor assumption) that the police are correct that the belayer fell 12m one might jump to the conclusion that The Bells of Rhymney was the climb involved as the first pitch happens to be 12m.

I don't know the climb myself so I can't comment further, however it seems that one "M. Law" had the FFA so maybe he can shed some light. ;-)
mikllaw
4-Jan-2013
10:44:59 AM
This was sent to me this morning:-

Hi Mike, saw your posts on chockstone, thought I would let you know what I know so you can kerb the speculation - I'm not on chockstone.

The climbers are from Victoria, a couple. The guy was starting up the second pitch but whilst looking for gear placement, the rock broke. He tumbled, but no details on how far he fell from off the belay, I suspect greater than the length of the rope since it is just off the belay. THe fall pulled the gear and belayer, and ripped the rope too (I dont know how ledge maybe?). They fell 12m from the first belay to the ground.

The peoples names started with P (male) and S (female) so you can assist with people who are worried about relatives. I know the guy from Thailand a couple of years back. Hope that helps. The guy is waiting surgery but is conscious, femur and some dmage to spine. The girl has some more serious injuries to her chest and lungs collapse, is undergoing surgery now. Her mother is coming up from Victoria to be with her.

bones
4-Jan-2013
10:51:12 AM
Very sad to hear - wishing both of them a solid recovery
pecheur
4-Jan-2013
11:32:47 AM
On 4/01/2013 mikllaw wrote:
>This was sent to me this morning:-
>
>Hi Mike, saw your posts on chockstone, thought I would let you know what
>I know so you can kerb the speculation - I'm not on chockstone.
>
>The climbers are from Victoria, a couple. The guy was starting up the
>second pitch but whilst looking for gear placement, the rock broke. He
>tumbled, but no details on how far he fell from off the belay, I suspect
>greater than the length of the rope since it is just off the belay. THe
>fall pulled the gear and belayer, and ripped the rope too (I dont know
>how ledge maybe?). They fell 12m from the first belay to the ground.
>
>The peoples names started with P (male) and S (female) so you can assist
>with people who are worried about relatives. I know the guy from Thailand
>a couple of years back. Hope that helps. The guy is waiting surgery but
>is conscious, femur and some dmage to spine. The girl has some more serious
>injuries to her chest and lungs collapse, is undergoing surgery now. Her
>mother is coming up from Victoria to be with her.

I've actually been quite impressed by the restraint shown by the Chocky community so far. I would have thought the ages of the climbers (though her age was incorrect in the ABC article) would have been enough.

A LOT of the Chocky community know one or both of these two and that people haven't been posting much speculation is a good thing.
strerror
8-Jan-2013
12:14:06 PM
Given that Eternity's first pitch is 22m, how can they only have fallen 12m from the first belay?
Justcameron
8-Jan-2013
12:26:06 PM
On 8/01/2013 strerror wrote:
>Given that Eternity's first pitch is 22m, how can they only have fallen
>12m from the first belay?

Strerror, I don't think anyone has mentioned The Eternity as the route in question.

Sabu
8-Jan-2013
12:42:05 PM
Wishing them both a speedy recovery. By the account given that sounds like a real worst nightmare kind of fall and I hope in the long run they're not put off climbing. It would be good to eventually find out how and why the system failed so that we can learn from this but I agree with calls for restraint on speculation until those involved have recovered and are (hopefully) willing to talk about it.
WazACT
9-Jan-2013
12:58:06 PM
Just wanted to say I second that it would be very interesting to get some analysis into what happened, what went wrong and some lessons learnt.
patto
9-Jan-2013
2:54:32 PM
On 9/01/2013 WazACT wrote:
>Just wanted to say I second that it would be very interesting to get some
>analysis into what happened, what went wrong and some lessons learnt.

I second this.

Curiosity about accidents is normal for many in this sport. Knowledge and understanding of accidents is important for safety. This is often why we have coronial inquests. I would consider speculation and discussion as fine and normal and healthy for the sport, despite what some have insinuated.

It would be great to know what happened. But any posting of personal accounts are naturally up to those involved....
Rock turtle
14-Jan-2013
4:39:42 PM
Hi Guys,
I am one of the climbers that was involved in the fall. I am recovering well in Westmead Hospital. My partner is also recovering extremely well. I believe it's time to end all the speculation and let everyone know what happened so they may learn from our mistake.

We decided to climb at Mount Piddington on the 2nd as we were looking at doing a nice easy trad climb on our rest day. We walked out to Horners point and walked down the track, not looking for anything in particular just a line which interested us. From memory we stopped off at Slape Wall at and initialed climb marked "WYL" (pretty sure this is right). We checked the guidebook and it said that the climb was a 2 pitch grade 16. No topo map was shown just a brief description.

We set down our packs and scoped out what we though was the line, looking for possible pro and carrots through the blank sections. After we had an idea of where the line went, we racked up and set off. 1st bolt was a carrot which I clipped standing on a small rock and set off.

The first pitch was easy climbing up a vertical face with heaps of bomber placements, no fixed pro was necessary. Got to the ledge which was about 1-1.5m wide and set an anchor into a nice crack, 2 horizontally placed crack and 1 vertical crack on the right. 2nd came up with no issue. Smooth sailing.
Once we were both on the ledge, I walked a long ledge to the right to take a look at the line we scoped out.

After taking a look at the line which went over a small rooflet, I decided that the pro didn't look too good pulling over the rooflet and was a bit thin following the corner up. There was some carrot bolts further up but I could spot any good gear between us and carrots. I decided that the climbing looked a bit stiff for a 16 so we returned to the original anchor.

I placed a cam deep into the horizontal crack for my partner to clip into. While I looked around for other possible routes. I stopped up onto a shelf that was about hip height to take a look at the wall above the small rooflet, again looking for gear placement or carrots for our first bit of pro. At this point of time I still had no intention of climbing on, I was just looking for the possible route, but my second put me on belay out of habit.

Whilst standing on the ledge I spied a few carrots out wide to the left, about 2-3m away. I also looked up and saw a carrot about 2-3m away up and to the left. I was looking for gear placement and didn't seem to find any until I spotted a crack to my left and a foot up, which had a dried plant growing out of it. I removed out the plant and scraped out the dirt and got a shallow nut placed. It wasn't the greatest placement and I wasn't happy with it but I left it in. I matched my left hand to the bomber pocket my right was in and felt out with my right had to see if there was a carrot I just wasn't seeing. My right hand came across what felt like a bomber crimpy flake. I adjusted my weight to the right foot and loaded the right hand to feel the wall with left hand. That's when the right hand hold broke and I popped off backwards, as I fell I can only assume I pulled the nut placement out of the crack, pulled my belay off the ledge and popped the cam.

I landed at the bottom feet first, breaking my left femur, compound fracture to Right ankle, slight end plate fractures to L4 and T1. I never lost consciousness throughout the whole experience and spent my time waiting for the ambulance staring up the wall trying to retrace my steps and figure out what went wrong.

My belay landed behind me slightly up hill in a prone position, fracturing her left femur, right fibula, ribs 2-10 on the left, 2 ribs on the right, cracked left distal radius, lacerations to the face and arm.

We consider ourselves pretty experienced climbers with 8 years outdoor combined experience and normally very careful. We chose Piddington that day because it was a popular area, easy grades, well travelled, and from what we could tell in the guidebook, well marked.

We are both currently waiting for the green light to head back home to Melbourne.

nmonteith
14-Jan-2013
4:49:22 PM
Thanks for he detailed description! Sounds like a horrible experience and it's great that both of you came out alive. Blue Mountains trad always feels a bit theoretical to me. I have one question if you don't mind me asking. You wrote

On 14/01/2013 Rock turtle wrote:
>The first pitch was easy climbing up a vertical face with heaps of bomber
>placements, no fixed pro was necessary. Got to the ledge which was about
>1-1.5m wide and set an anchor into a nice crack, 2 horizontally placed
>crack and 1 vertical crack on the right. 2nd came up with no issue. Smooth
>sailing.

Did you remove this 3 point anchor?
simey
14-Jan-2013
5:01:21 PM
Great to hear that you are both on the mend. Still trying to get a clear picture of everything that happened, but what I would like to know is...

What do you feel were possible mistakes?

What would you do differently?





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There are 142 messages in this topic.

 

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