Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - Accidents & Injuries

Report Accidents and Injuries

Author

Climber hit by Lightning - Pierces Pass


Butters81

3-Jan-2011
2:23:33 PM

Copy pasted from article:
He was found by rescuers with back and leg injuries more than five hours after they received a triple-0 about 8.20pm

and

Last night's rescue party - consisting of the Blue Mountains Police Rescue Squad, Ambulance SCAT and Rural Fire Service officers - had found the pair about 2am after a difficult trek into the climbing site.

Isildur: once your friend is able to, I'd love to read a trip report!

Isildur

3-Jan-2011
2:32:18 PM

I'll mention it to him and see what he says.

Thanks to those who offered support, and I'm just glad it stayed an Epic rather than a Tragedy.

Cheers!


Sonic

3-Jan-2011
3:35:24 PM

On 3/01/2011 Isildur wrote:
>The climbers in question are friends of mine, and while they're young,
>they're not just "Gym numptys" as you've put it Sonic.

Also I did not refer to the involved that way - I refered to my clientel. Im sorry you read it that way.


kuu

3-Jan-2011
4:19:36 PM

The following pasted from ABC Online News ...

" A 17-year-old boy has been rescued from the Blue Mountains in New South Wales after he was injured in a lightning strike.
Bad weather delayed efforts to reach the boy, who was struck while bushwalking in Mount Tomah yesterday evening. "

If this is accurate, and the lightning strike victim was actually bushwalking rather than climbing, it makes a mockery of all the uninformed conjecture above.

Isildur

3-Jan-2011
4:19:40 PM

@ Sonic: My apologies if I read your posts incorrectly - it has been a long 20 hours since it started, and it seemed that you were getting into the climbers directly. Again, apologies if mis-read your posts.

Cheers.

Isildur

3-Jan-2011
4:36:11 PM

On 3/01/2011 kuu wrote:
>The following pasted from ABC Online News ...
>
> A 17-year-old boy has been rescued from the Blue Mountains
>in New South Wales after he was injured in a lightning strike.
>Bad weather delayed efforts to reach the boy, who was struck while bushwalking
>in Mount Tomah yesterday evening.
>
>If this is accurate, and the lightning strike victim was actually bushwalking
>rather than climbing ,it makes a mockery of all the uninformed conjecture
>above.
>
>

Just saw that article too, but I bet that they edit it pretty quickly. Although, I suppose there could have been two sets of people trapped in the Grose Valley near Pierces Pass last night.

I can definitely confirm that a mate of mine called me last night around 8, and I got off the phone with him at 8:15 after telling him to call emergency services. Another friend of ours suggested he head back to the start of West Face and find the walking track that heads up to the bottom car park. Something obviously happened in between and the rescue needed to be carried out.

The above story (and the multiple edit of SMH today) confirm why online news reporters give me the shits. They post just the smallest snippets of info, without really looking into he facts. The ABC post is basically a copy of the first paragraph of the SMH article this morning, before SMH changed it to correctly read "lightning struck near the boy".

Bah, anyway, he's out now, and I can relax. I'm gonna watch a movie and chill out.

Isildur

3-Jan-2011
4:49:06 PM

So, after writing the above, I just got a call from my mate. He (and his climbing partner) are both home safe. A little worse for wear, but fine in the grand scheme of things.

A basic run-down for those that want to know (I'll ask him if he would like to post a more detailed report up, but I think he just wants to relax at the moment).

They started the climb at about 10am yesterday morning.

About halfway up they were caught in the first storm.

After waiting that out, climbing seemed the better option than rapping & walking out.

While they were on the 7th pitch, the 2nd storm rolled in, and lightning struck the top of the pitch.

My friend felt a buzz through his hands (from the ironstone?), and at this point, they decided it was better to rap back down to the middle ledge than attract more lightning.

That's when I spoke to them, and they then got a call to another friend who advised them of the old walking trail back out from the bottom.

They called 000, and managed to get a 10 second call out, but reception was really poor and they couldn't make any more calls.

Rapped down to the bottom, but the rope got stuck on the 2nd last rap.

Spent some time trying to free the rope, and eventually got down.

It was pitch black by this stage (about 10pm) and still pissing down.

They were a little afraid of more lightning & falling rocks, so decided to shelter behind the Pinnacle, and wait until morning to walk out.

At about 2am, they heard the voices of the rescue squad, and from there it's history.

They walked out this morning with the crew, topping out at about 1pm.

Now I'm gonna chill out and watch said movie :)

Thanks again to everyone involved in the rescue operation, as it's good to know we have such able people doing such hard work!


sbm

3-Jan-2011
5:16:37 PM

I drove back from the mountains last night and it was absolutely pissing down and thundering the entire drive from Wentworth Falls to the M7. People were doing 60-70km/h on the motorway at points it was raining so hard. It was a mother of a storm and I was driving through it for about an hour and a half

If they got caught in that then wow, what an epic...Glad to here they're safe and that they got off.

Marssan

3-Jan-2011
5:51:44 PM

What's the deal with the "back and leg injuries" , is he all right?

Edit: Just read Isildur's second post, they walked out. Can't be too bad. Or did they carry him?


voodoo

3-Jan-2011
6:41:36 PM

I was up there at Pierce's today and got to see some of the circus going on.

I might just make the following observations, for what it's worth...

I had a chat to some uniforms that said they were heading off to HC, who then walked in entirely the wrong direction.

A 5hr trip to HC is a pretty creative route - although perhaps not if you don't know where you're going.

And lastly, having the beacon may have been a great help in raising the alarm - but it still wouldn't have reduced the 5hr timeframe to work out how to get into Hotel Cal.

simey

3-Jan-2011
7:42:54 PM

On 3/01/2011 One Day Hero wrote:
>So, here's my understanding of your process;
>
>Step 1) get into climbing cause its fun and exciting and rebellious
>
>Step 2) get job in climbing industry owing to lack of imagination
>
>Step 3) mistake one's self for a professional
>
>Step 4) get all shitty because young guys having fun, getting excited,
>and being rebellious are jeopardising your "career"
>
>Step 5) get online and be a wanker

A few more posts like this will help ensure Chockstone will be worth logging into throughout 2011.

rightarmbad

3-Jan-2011
9:14:37 PM

So it seems that injuries were just a case of Chinese whispers?


nmonteith

3-Jan-2011
10:15:41 PM

I'm surprised Mikl wasn't rebolting in that storm.

mikllaw

3-Jan-2011
11:28:58 PM

On 3/01/2011 nmonteith wrote:
>I'm surprised Mikl wasn't rebolting in that storm.
batteries charged but "Ben Ean, we meet again"


wombly

4-Jan-2011
8:46:25 AM

Given my track record:

http://www.chockstone.org/Forum/Forum.asp?Action=Display&ForumID=2&MessageID=5454&Replies=10

I'll hardly pass judgement on anyone getting stormed out of the Grose. However, it's worth noting that bluey's weather during the past few months has been particularly stormy - future suitors of long routes in the area would do well to aim for a quick, early ascent to avoid the all too common 3 pm drenching.


Li

4-Jan-2011
9:13:43 AM

On 4/01/2011 wombly wrote:
>Given my track record, I'll hardly pass judgement on anyone getting stormed
>out of the Grose. However, it's worth noting that bluey's weather during
>the past few months has been particularly stormy - future suitors of long
>routes in the area would do well to aim for a quick, early ascent to avoid
>the all too common 3 pm drenching.

Yes, my partner and I were caught out at Mt Boyce on the same day (can't remember the name of the climb). The storm came through fast and furious. At one stage the thunder was so loud and directly above us along with flashes of lightening imediately after, then the heavens opened up. I was belaying my partner and he was just about to top out when the storm hit. He continued up and when he was safe and tucked away in a little cave I quickly untied and grabbed all our stuff and hid in a cave down the bottom. When the drenching eased off he rapped down and cleaned the route and we got the hell out of there! We had to scramble back up a steep gully and a bit of a walk to get back to the car. Luckily we had a change of clothes because we were soaked through. We decided to call it a day and found a cafe to kick back in with a glass of wine and the papers.

mik

4-Jan-2011
9:35:54 AM

I hope there are some pics sometime soon, well done to the boys and to Li and her partner. Glad no-one was killed.

mikllaw

4-Jan-2011
12:11:19 PM

I'm glad it ended well, storms are terrifying.
FWIW most storms start after 1 so an early start may see you out of harms way. I remember trying a route in the Grose and getting rained off and being chased up a bald ridge by lightening, like a hobbit in lord of the Rings.

3 questions:
-How was the abseil retreat from P7 to the half way ledge?
-If there was a shelter/bivi site on the half way ledge, would that have helped?
-Did the rescuers know where the climb was ( I spent 20 hours providing the ambos with a grid reference to every climb in the Blue Mountains after Nic's death) and how to get there (did they have a guide book)?


aarond

4-Jan-2011
12:30:13 PM

ahh another case of police rescue....

knew some people who had a similar experience, made the mistake of calling the police to advise of the situation and they were going to sleep in a cave til morning., next thing they knew a few hours later the cops had found them to "rescue" them but didnt bring any of the appropriate equipment for the rescue although (at night). so decided it was easier to call a hellio for the next morning... meanwhile they had stared to walk out the next day and the cops rung them and freaked and told them basically to go back to where they were or they would be in lots of trouble. so had to go back and wait for a hellio.
then they got drilled by the media and cops about it.

Mikl, i think thats a good idea for the cops to have a peice of paper with grid ref with all climbs in the mts!

Tommo

4-Jan-2011
1:00:46 PM

A very, very good thing Mikl (grid reference to routes) but sounds like your efforts aren't being utilised? Of all the resources, training, expertise, etc. of the emergency services, it would be disappointing to think that fellow climbers in a more serious emergency might not get help on time because something so simple as Mikls list, or even better, the Blueys Climbing guide, or even better again, knowledgeable local climbers were not utilised. But of course, the facts in this case are somewhat sketchy, but it is food for thought. Perhaps the climbing community (Syd Rockies?) needs to liaise with emergency services about how to access information/help in climbing rescues? We know that the general public knows very little about our sport, and the misconceptions can be insane. But it strikes me that even trained personnel in bushland rescue organisations also have an unrealistic view about how our sport, on an average day, is conducted. Of course, no disrespect to emergency services intended in this rant - they do a great job, but some feedback may help them do it better.

Oh, and who the f*** carries an EPIRP climbing? Not unheard of, I guess (long wilderness approaches etc.) but another prime example of misconceptions about our sport.

There are 93 messages in this topic.