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Australian Landscape Photography by Michael Boniwell
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Chockstone Forum - Accidents & Injuries

Report Accidents and Injuries

 Page 4 of 5. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 40 | 41 to 60 | 61 to 80 | 81 to 83
Author
worst near accidents I've seen
Olbert
26-Sep-2010
5:12:41 PM
On 25/09/2010 rod wrote:
>my near death experience: do the tough semi-expo descent into a nice little
>verdonesque perch, hop on a warm up route and link a couple of pitches
>with the intent of being lowered off then get into the real meat of the
>day. belayer is communicating ok but i can't see him, start being lowered
>and i'm thinking "this seems a bit sus". i've got my hand on the rope and
>it keeps paying out at about the right pace but...? reconfirm the command
>with my belayer after about 10m of this weird badness feeling, commit full
>body weight still with a hand on the rope then...freefall, face down looking
>at 35m of rock face and the subsequent 70m near vert couloir before the
>big cliff lower down...bad juju feeling goes into overdrive...
>
>...then i slam into a tiny little pine tree which just happened to tuck
>itself under my right arm AND take the impact without ripping. dripping
>blood and with quite a few kinks i'm hanging mid face with my "belayer"
>tucked out of sight. it took a minute of his confused reaction gibberish
>for me to reach the conclusion that i'd be safest soloing out of there
>back to the chains and rapping down.
>
>the weird feeling was spot on: he'd untied and wandered off for a snack
>instead of belaying then the rope having wedged itself into a crack offered
>up enough friction to make it seem like being lowered.
>
>unfortunately, i then had to climb our way out of there with the wanker
>wanting to belay...i roped solo'd 'em instead and had him second each pitch
>with SO much penalty slack paid out in revenge that he was terrified.
>
>never seen him since and hope to never see him again, just writing this
>induces a need for violence toward him...but i do appreciate trees a lot
>more.

WHAT THE FCUK!?!?!? HOLY SHIT!!! JESUS FCUKING CRIST! - Ok turn caps lock off.
What the fcuk was that guy thinking? Was he trying to kill you? WTF did he think was going to happen?!!?!

climbertron
26-Sep-2010
6:38:01 PM
On 26/09/2010 Olbert wrote:
>WHAT THE FCUK!?!?!? HOLY SHIT!!! JESUS FCUKING CRIST!

I agree Olbert, if this had happened to me, that dude wouldn't have been able to walk after I'd finished with him......

IdratherbeclimbingM9
26-Sep-2010
9:32:01 PM
Regarding being taken off belay ...

I was leading on Bard once and got level to the start of the traverse to the 'second belay'. I considered running the first and second pitches together as one, so yelled out to my belayer how much rope did I have left?
Communication was not great at the time, so I made a move or two to where I could look back down to the base of the climb for better communication, and to my horror saw my belayer padding up the initial slab, and coiling the slack lead rope he was inducing, into his hands as he progressed!!

I quickly fired in a piece and clipped off to it...

I also noticed another person passing by the base of the climb and looking up at us. If they knew anything about climbing they were probably thinking WTF? ... ~> as was I, up at my stance!

I finished the climb & led every pitch, but treated the remainder of the climb as an effective solo!
rod
26-Sep-2010
10:58:01 PM
On 26/09/2010 Olbert wrote:
>WHAT THE FCUK!?!?!? HOLY SHIT!!! JESUS FCUKING CRIST! - Ok turn caps lock
>off.
>What the fcuk was that guy thinking? Was he trying to kill you? WTF
>did he think was going to happen?!!?!

Well yeh but going nuts would have just lead to more grief.

I overhauled my entire list of partners as a consequence and haven't looked back since. Basic lesson was that communication doesn't necessarily work as well as we assume so after a little introspection I decided the only safety thing to adapt was that the risk can be reduced through use of a prussic on lowers where I can't see my belayer.

freesolo
27-Sep-2010
12:59:28 AM
had a climbing partner once who was soooooooooo slow, one day, while freezing my ass off on a multipitch, i just started climbing after him, in effect unilaterally simul climbing, coiling the rope in my hand. i stopped just out of sight about 8 meters below him, waited till he clipped in, and then just finished the pitch without a belay. stupid of course, but i was just fed up with his pissing about. could easily ended really badly for me. but it was only about grade 14. he climbed 14's the same speed as 24's and i never really understood that.

Phil S
27-Sep-2010
1:50:51 PM
>On 27/09/2010 freesolo wrote:
>...unilaterally simul climbing...

What a great phrase!
Thanks Freesolo.
mikllaw
27-Sep-2010
5:04:45 PM
I was with ness at Lindfield one day and she came back to Abseil Wall and said, "You've got to see this!". There was a party top-roping the overhang boulder, all very nice and safe looking till I realised the belayer wasn't clipped into the belay plate, but had the plate anchored to a finger thickness tree root he'd excavated (just like a floor anchor in a climbing gym). He very reluctantly agreed to clip into his harness also if I'd just bloody go away, clearly thinking i was deluded.

IdratherbeclimbingM9
27-Sep-2010
8:44:33 PM
On 27/09/2010 freesolo wrote:
>had a climbing partner once who was soooooooooo slow, one day, while freezing
>my ass off on a multipitch, i just started climbing after him, in effect
>unilaterally simul climbing, coiling the rope in my hand. i stopped just
>out of sight about 8 meters below him, waited till he clipped in, and then
>just finished the pitch without a belay. stupid of course, but i was just
>fed up with his pissing about. could easily ended really badly for me.
>but it was only about grade 14. he climbed 14's the same speed as 24's
>and i never really understood that.

Hmm.
If the slow leader thought they were being belayed then I reckon you were setting up for an accident.

>unilaterally simul climbing
Simulclimbing is fine when all participants know that they are doing it, otherwise it can come as a bit of a shock to an unsuspecting leader...
Whenever I have simulclimbed, the objective (discussed with partner beforehand), was to try and do so with minimal slack between leader and second, and preferably with at least three good bits of gear between our respective climbing separation/stances. For harder simulclimbing it is generally a better idea if the stronger climber is second on the rope, as they are less likely to fall and consequently drag the leader off...
mikllaw
28-Sep-2010
8:57:51 AM
Later that day at Lindfield on the overhang boulder we were treated to a display of abseilling. Looking closely I realised the guy had (only) a prussic loop on the rope, and was initiating downwards motion by jerking the knot down the rope, then falling onto the cord loop which (hopefully) halted progress when the knot tightened up again. I was informed that it was safe and his brother used this very method.

nmonteith
28-Sep-2010
9:39:26 AM
On 27/09/2010 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
>Whenever I have simulclimbed, the objective (discussed with partner beforehand),
>was to try and do so with minimal slack between leader and second, and
>preferably with at least three good bits of gear between our respective
>climbing separation/stances. For harder simulclimbing it is generally a
>better idea if the stronger climber is second on the rope, as they are
>less likely to fall and consequently drag the leader off...

If on 2nd in a simul climb I'll have the rope clipped through a gri-gri so i can climb faster than the leader if required for certain sections. It also means I can immediately start belaying the leader if he decides he doesn't want to simul-climb any more.

Eduardo Slabofvic
28-Sep-2010
9:45:16 AM
On 28/09/2010 nmonteith wrote:
>>If on 2nd in a simul climb I'll have the rope clipped through a gri-gri
>so i can climb faster than the leader if required for certain sections.
>It also means I can immediately start belaying the leader if he decides
>he doesn't want to simul-climb any more.

That's a nice idea. quicker and eaisier than doing that wacky coil and knot thingy (think trudging up a snow slope wearing wool). What do you do with all the slack that could potentially accumulate?

nmonteith
28-Sep-2010
9:52:39 AM
On 28/09/2010 Eduardo Slabofvic wrote:
>That's a nice idea. quicker and eaisier than doing that wacky coil and
>knot thingy (think trudging up a snow slope wearing wool). What do you
>do with all the slack that could potentially accumulate?

Well hopefully it isn't more than 10m or so as you are only using it to get ahead at points when its unsafe to sit around mid move waiting for the leader to keep climbing. I just let the excess trail down or in easy ground coil it in my hand. I usually simlul the full length of the rope - or if i know we need it shorter just double it between leader and 2nd. Or even better have a specific 20m simul length rope! One of my memorable simuls was in the Verdon - and it wasn't deliberate! I had a 70m rope and I was linking pitches together - of course at the 70m mark there wasn't a belay so my 2nd just had to unhitch and start climbing! It was an awesome feeling cruising up such a huge expanse of rock with my 'belayer' so far below who was also climbing.
One Day Hero
28-Sep-2010
1:35:13 PM
On 21/09/2010 cruze wrote:
>Years ago I took up the offer of another couple of climbers at the top
>of the Watchtower slabs to rap down on their ropes. We had had a big day
>and I got to the end of the first rap to the little ledge above Auto Da
>Fe's 1st pitch. I proceeded to undo the rope from the abseil device and
>was just about unclipped when one of the other climbers already on the
>ledge reminded me that I should clip into the anchor first... Could have
>been a nasty little 40 m slide down the slabs. First and only time I have
>ever rapped the watchtower slabs.

Standing untethered on a meter wide ledge is not a near miss........pretty much business as usual on "safe" alpine routes
One Day Hero
28-Sep-2010
1:42:41 PM
On 21/09/2010 Eduardo Slabofvic wrote:
>No, I was fine. I went out dancing afterwards

That cracked me up Ed.......nice spear, by the way
One Day Hero
28-Sep-2010
1:46:38 PM
On 21/09/2010 PDRM wrote:
>Once got to the top of a pitch to find that I'd been belayed by a mates
>girlfriend off two 'trees' small enough to be clipped with biners...which
>is how she had constructed the 'anchor'
>
>Paul

A year ago I would have agreed that clipping twigs was pointless. However, I have since caught a 7m fall at bungers arrested by a slung 20mm "tree" growing out of a crack. Apparently they can be remarkably strong!?
One Day Hero
28-Sep-2010
1:52:52 PM
Not a near miss, but the "stupidest thing I've done" thread is long gone.

I once spent 2hrs on a hanging belay, halfway up Integral Crack......with no rope.

My mates were supposed to drop a rope down from the top, but found something more interesting to do. Irritation became concern, which then gave way to a creeping dread that some good climbers would walk round the corner and find me :/

Mates.......!?!
widewetandslippery
28-Sep-2010
2:11:01 PM
Far from a near miss but a good yarn, I remember truncheon breaking it to a young Stuart and Brad he was the one who pissed on them off the Flake Crack ledge.

Name and let us have someone to laugh with not at ODH.
One Day Hero
28-Sep-2010
2:40:10 PM
On 28/09/2010 widewetandslippery wrote:
>
>Name and let us have someone to laugh with not at ODH.

The whipper at bungers was my mate Chris from Sydney, who unplugged a brick on the easy 1st pitch of Evolution. I was teasing him about the pointlessness of slinging twigs one minute before the slung twig in question did a fine job of keeping him off the deck.

The Integral Crack debacle involved a pair of brothers who I started out climbing with. We had a fantastic couple of years trying to kill ourselves and steadfastly refusing to learn anything from those who knew better. Unfortunately both of the brothers got involved with a wierd cult called road cycling, and haven't been seen since!
widewetandslippery
28-Sep-2010
2:47:51 PM
I have great faith in vegetation as runners. Thats why as a matter of karma I avoid vegetables with the exception of barley and hops. How did your mate rip a hold in the gorge? Its solid as?

Cyclists are around the bend.

Eduardo Slabofvic
28-Sep-2010
3:42:29 PM
On 28/09/2010 One Day Hero wrote:

>I once spent 2hrs on a hanging belay, halfway up Integral Crack......with
>no rope.

On a similar note, I was belaying this guy on a route at Rabbit Rocks or Dog Rocks (can't remember which one), it was a left facing corner with a fist crack in it, but the route had a couple of bolts that were left of the corner on the face. This guy climbed up and clipped the bolt and continued past it. when his feet were level with the bolt he got into trouble and came off, falling past the bolt, but the back of his harness clipped itself into the draw on his way past. He was now hanging off the bolt facing outwards like some fleshy gargoyle for the half hour or so that it took me to stop laughing

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