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Fatality at Arapiles 11/11/14 |
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18-Nov-2014 6:13:13 PM
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On 18/11/2014 kieranl wrote:
>For me the significant thing to take from this accident is not whether
>descent, ascent or abseiling were involved but that detached/loose blocks
>are really dangerous and there are a lot of them.
>That's now 2 deaths at Arapiles involving large loose blocks, the other
>being Denis Kemp on Birdman. There have also been at least 3 accidents
>at Arapiles resulting in serious injury due to loose blocks (Marbuck, Five
>Fingered Mary, Yesterday) as well as close calls (high on Bard last year).
>Last week's death wasn't in a popular area but it shouldn't be downplayed
>because of that. Just because hundreds or even thousands of people have
>pulled or stood on something doesn't mean that it will stay there the next
>time. There are lots of time-bombs out there that are highly likely to
>kill someone if they do come off.
>
>...
>
>We can't totally avoid this loose stuff and still climb but we can raise
>our awareness of the risk inherent in it.
Absolutely agree 100% with Kieran. People need to be aware and be careful of loose blocks. I ran across one just the other day on the first pitch of Beau Geste, where the chimney gets tight and it seems easier to go across to the arete (as I did). It was about 50cm each way.
I'm hoping nobody just thinks to themselves "everyone else must stand on it" and keep on trucking... but I don't believe in common sense any more.
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19-Nov-2014 9:56:12 PM
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See a loose block, put a big white chalk cross on it..
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20-Nov-2014 7:37:24 AM
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On 19/11/2014 rich wrote:
>See a loose block, put a big white chalk cross on it..
That'll stop it falling. I've never seen a falling rock with a white cross on it.
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20-Nov-2014 8:13:50 AM
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Just treat every bit of rock as suspect..don't blindly pull, rap off, yard on without thinking of consequences...its a big part of climbing and the best protection against accidents. Of course it will never make you 100% safe, but climbing will never be that anyway.
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20-Nov-2014 8:55:01 AM
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On 20/11/2014 rodw wrote:
>Just treat every bit of rock as suspect..don't blindly pull, rap off, yard
>on without thinking of consequences...its a big part of climbing and the
>best protection against accidents. Of course it will never make you 100%
>safe, but climbing will never be that anyway.
Rod's advice is sound. And try not to fall for the "that's so big it will never move" thing. I think that's what killed Dennis Kemp. And Todd Skinner and Paul Piana had a near disaster at the top of the Salathe on their FFA when the huge boulder that everyone hauled off went over the edge.
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20-Nov-2014 9:38:23 AM
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Rapping off boulders is bad, hmm. This one looks perched ready to go ..
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20-Nov-2014 12:10:41 PM
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On 19/11/2014 rich wrote:
>See a loose block, put a big white chalk cross on it..
Good point, it didn't occur to me but it had a lot of lichen so I doubt it would've worked anyway.
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21-Nov-2014 1:46:29 PM
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On 19/11/2014 rich wrote:
>See a loose block, put a big white chalk cross on it..
Not really any sort of solution. If a block is properly about to go, either pin it (assuming the hold is crucial, and the engineering feasable), or come back with ground control and trundle the thing. That loose block at the top of Bard had big chalk crosses on it for a decade, then a really odd American chap rode it off the wall (luckily he was on toprope, and no one was directly below).
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21-Nov-2014 1:55:35 PM
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On 20/11/2014 kieranl wrote:
> I think that's what killed Dennis Kemp. And Todd Skinner
>and Paul Piana had a near disaster at the top of the Salathe on their FFA
>when the huge boulder that everyone hauled off went over the edge.
With temperature fluctuations, boulders can inch there way down a slope till they become unstable.
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21-Nov-2014 5:17:13 PM
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On 21/11/2014 mikllaw wrote:
>fluctuations
Getting a bit racialist there, aren't you Mikl? I hardly see how asians are to blame, fluct u too!
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23-Nov-2014 5:05:02 PM
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One Day Hero ...... what the f^&@ is wrong with you !!! A valid point was make and you then make a stupid racist comment like that !!!! You sound like one of these people that would say, "I'm not a racist ... but (insert racist point / ideology here)"
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24-Nov-2014 1:28:00 PM
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hahaha very funny... except you might want to think for a moment which thread you're posting this in. Someone died. Not a place to be making jokes (good or bad).
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24-Nov-2014 1:33:34 PM
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On 23/11/2014 wazACT wrote:
>One Day Hero ...... what the f^&@ is wrong with you !!!
To my recollection there is usually something 'wrong' with ODH if he 'doesn't' make those kind of comments. Sometimes when he's ill or having an off day he can be quite congenial, but it's nothing to worry about he usually gets better. But ODH, poor choice of thread to bust out the ol' ation/asian joke. But the thread is rapidly going west anyway. I will however add my sympathies and condolences.
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25-Nov-2014 12:12:12 AM
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The poor bloke being killed is a tragedy. The number of potentially dodgy blocks at araps (once one wanders off the beaten track, as happened here) is endless. The dissection and discussion of the minutia of every accident is pointless and rather cringeworthy.
I wasn't meaning to make light of the accident, just the stupid thread. Condolences to friends and family
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