Adrianne Wadewitz, 37, Wikipedia Editor, Dies After Rock Climbing Fall

Didn't see anything about this here but maybe I missed it.

nytimes.com/2014/04/19/busi…

Seems like an interesting woman. Don't know the details of the accident.

be safe out there.

Jim

mountainproject.com/v/prett…

Sounds like it was anchor failure?

supertopo.com/climbers-foru…

"Cathouse (03-29-2014)
A traditional anchor was built at the top of the Cathouse using three pieces of gear. The female victim started to rappel down the cliff face and one of the three anchor pieces pulled out. The victim stopped on a ledge and the male, who was still on top of the cliff, reincorporated the third (failed) piece back into the anchor. After being assured the anchor was now sound, the victim started to rappel again. The entire anchor then failed and the victim fell 15-20 feet, suffering fatal injuries."

Only 15-20 feet. Died from head injuries. Wear a helmet! (and that partner should quit climbing).

Too bad! Sounds like she just started climbing and was really passionate about it. A brilliant person too.

I was there and assisted in the rescue she was wearing a helmet. I will continue to wear my helmet, but no longer put a lot of trust in it saving my life in a fall

jon sherwood wrote:I was there and assisted in the rescue she was wearing a helmet. I will continue to wear my helmet, but no longer put a lot of trust in it saving my life in a fall

Any details about the anchor failure?

I wonder if a larger padded helmet, like a skate helmet, would protect your noggin from more than rockfall, unlike our typical helmets...

That's a pretty useless thought to offer, so let me just say rest in piece. Sad to hear.

I do not know any more that what is already posted about the anchor failure

I had 20' of ground fall once and my helmet allowed me to walk away without injury. I landed on my back and then my head hit the rock. I guess it could have been different if I had landed on my head. Helmets do help.

Helmets may help..but not having anchor failure helps a lot more.

I think I remember a thing in "Accident...." about 10% of lowering accidents being anchor failure !!

Of course 56%..56 % !!! was that the rope was to short..NO, you didn't tie a knot in the end..More than all the other factors combined.

anchor failure is more like under 1%

A three point anchor, calling it bomber, and then it fails on a rap is just a head scratcher....meteorite impact I guess

Looked it up last night Accidents in NA a study of 2003-2013 lowering accidents 10%...I read it 3x.

most anchor failure involves a factor 2 fall happening on it... for just rappel weight for all 3 cams to fail just kind of boggles my mind....

very sad.

ErikaNW wrote:Sounds like it was anchor failure? supertopo.com/climbers-foru… "Cathouse (03-29-2014) A traditional anchor was built at the top of the Cathouse using three pieces of gear. The female victim started to rappel down the cliff face...

I would like to suggest that when forwarding information within a community like this, you acknowledge that incomplete and bad information can spread as fast as normal rumors. This quote from SuperTopo at least clarified that they were not sure of the veracity, whereas here it is suggested as truth. Other ranger reports indicate that it was not fault on the part of the climber who placed the anchors, or that anchor failure was only part of the problem.

rpb wrote: Other ranger reports indicate that it was not fault on the part of the climber who placed the anchors, or that anchor failure was only part of the problem.

Do you have a link to the other ranger reports? Anchor failure doesn't seem like a grey issue. I am baffled that a 3 piece anchor could fail under body weight, especially after being re-checked (if the early report was accurate), so it would be very interesting to hear of a different cause.

On the other hand, if the anchor and rope is laying on the ground.........

Im not too familiar with the area, but why were the rappelling off a built anchor (making a TR?)? Yuod think in making a tr with a toprope youd double/ triple check each cam when pulling on them ... This whole scenario just seems like she trusted the wrong person.

rpb wrote: ..... Other ranger reports indicate that it was not fault on the part of the climber who placed the anchors, or that anchor failure was only part of the problem.

If you have a link to the "other ranger reports" please share....

I think that most rangers are as clueless to climbing as are most reporters.

This is trully sad, begining climbers need to be protected. Someone sure dropped the ball.

RIP

According to supertopo the climb was Dwarf among midgets... sadly, there looks to be a bolted rap station not 10 feet away...