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General Climbing Discussion

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Upside down 7-Jun-2007 At 4:07:39 PM Snowball

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On 7/06/2007 shamus wrote:
>Massive blood loss and internal injuries? Yes, quite a feasible way to
>die. More so in a car crash than in a climbing accident.
Same forces involved, (it's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop when you hit the ground) which is why major vessels detach from organs. Happened to a princess in a Paris tunnel as an example
>Break a leg? Easy enough, and it'll lead to a fair bit of internal bleeding, but not enough
>to kill you, especially if theres a bit of first aid applied.
Considering a broken femur can cause up 2 litres of blood loss with no visible haemorrhage, and the body on average carries 6 litres. Bilateral closed fractures of the femurs is a very real life threatening injury.
> create haemorrhage that will cause further
>problems very rapidly (ie seconds to minutes).
Blood loss is not the issue here it's pressure.
>And how the hell are you gonna get major soft tissue injuries in the torso
>while climbing?
By hit the ground at high speed.
>I'd say abdominal injuries are the least of your concern.
Really, why? 4 litres can be lost into the cavity, there's many major blood vessels/organs there.
>Broken ribs? Fair enough, they suck, but much less life-endangering than
>a shattered skull. Even pneumothorax / sucking chest wound / whatever you
>want to call it, can be handled if you know what you're doing.
True, 3 sided bandage blah blah blah. But what if the pneumothorax tensions?
Unless you can decompress, and I don't know anybody who carries the equipment to do this in there first aid kit at the crag. Tension pneumothorax is a major life threatening injury which kills quickly with, at times, no obvious (unless you know what to look for) external signs.
All I said is that I wont to see the evidence, not speculation. I have already twice stated my view on helmet use.