Accident at Hidden Valley

m.wcyb.com/news/Washington-…

It's horrible to hear that something like this has happened at a place that was so recently re-opened. Some of my friends were out there when it happened but I don't know anything more than that.

So sad to hear especially so close to Christmas. Be safe out there and always love on your loved ones. You never know when it's your time.

This is very sad news. The climber was Kayah Gaydish from Asheville. She was a member of the board of directors for the Carolina Climbers Coalition. Unconfirmed word is that this was a rappelling accident. A terrible loss.

JL

saxfiend wrote:This is very sad news. The climber was Kayah Gaydish from Asheville. She was a member of the board of directors for the Carolina Climbers Coalition. A terrible loss. JL

That's horrible, Any idea what happened?

More info from the Citizen-Times:

citizen-times.com/story/new…

looks like she fell while cleaning the anchor. Apparently she thought she had tied back into the climbers end of the rope but had failed to do so. When she thought she was back on belay and being lowered she fell. Very sad and tragic accident.

She was also a single mom. If anyone cares to help out her two kids, check out this link below:

youcaring.com/the-children-…

Also, seriously guys, lower off single pitch sport routes. Rapping introduces so many more unnecessary variables.

Pnelson wrote:She was also a single mom. If anyone cares to help out her two kids, check out this link below: youcaring.com/the-children-… Also, seriously guys, lower off single pitch sport routes. Rapping introduces so many more unnecessary variables.

that also requires untying at many places without big rings, point not taken

Pnelson wrote:Also, seriously guys, lower off single pitch sport routes. Rapping introduces so many more unnecessary variables.

This may have had nothing to do with rappelling. Are there more details than below?

"She was at the top of the climb, the time when you switch from the anchor you build to the permanent anchor," said Boggess, of Burnsville. "It's always the riskiest part of the climb. We think there was some mistake with the way the rope was tied in. There was no failure with the equipment."
Source: citizen-times.com/story/new…

Various speculation here: reddit.com/r/climbing/comme…

Indeed, there may have originally been intent to rap.

Sounds like something like moore's wall in NC where you top out the climb than have to hike over to some rap rings on an edge of a cliff to setup a rappel. Having never climbed here I don't know what the wall is like, but I can't think of a reason why you would build your own anchor if there are bolted ones right next to you.

Or was it just news people are idiots and don't know what they are talking about. Switching from quick draws on the top of a route anchor to rappelling isn't switching from your anchor to a permanent anchor... they are the same anchor. Also I always recommend to people climbing you never untie from an anchor until you are 100% held by the rope you are lowering on / rappelling if you have to untie.

Anyone on here that has climbed there want to give some more info on how this wall is setup? I had planned to maybe get up there at some point but have never been.

ViperScale wrote:Sounds like something like moore's wall in NC where you top out the climb than have to hike over to some rap rings on an edge of a cliff to setup a rappel. Having never climbed here I don't know what the wall is like, but I can't think of a reason why you would build your own anchor if there are bolted ones right next to you. Anyone on here that has climbed there want to give some more info on how this wall is setup? I had planned to maybe get up there at some point but have never been.

I don't know the specific route she was on but in general Hidden Valley is nothing at all like Moore's Wall. It's well bolted with anchors at the top of almost every route. I'm sure more details will be released at some point. Right now I'm just terribly sad. Kayah was a friend and a truly wonderful person. She was a single Mom and leaves behind two children. They have some tough times ahead and the community is trying to help out so if you can contribute please do so here.

youcaring.com/the-children-…

The route has a set of hangers with rings at the top and is a typical sport climb set-up. From what we know she originally intended to rappel and then was having some sort of difficulty with the set up and decided to lower instead. Her belayer had her on belay the whole time. Something went wrong with the transition and it appears she did not close the system by tying back in to the rope, although we assume she must have thought she did. She leaned back, her belayer felt tension (which we think was from a bight of rope passed through the anchors) and then she fell to the ground 50-60 feet below. There was a climber on scene who is also a paramedic and the local emergency crews arrived quickly, but efforts to save her were not successful and there was really very little anyone could have done.

This is a very big loss for the community here, not just climbers but conservation folks as well as Kayah was very active in that area as well. She leaves behind 2 children, one of whom just found out he was accepted to college. If you can give to support them it would be greatly appreciated. youcaring.com/KayahGaydish

Brian Payst
President, Carolina Climbers Coalition

edited: I originally said this route had cold shuts, but they had been replaced with stainless steel hangers with stainless steel rap rings and I forgot. Doesn't really change the root cause of the accident, but just wanted to be fully accurate.

The accident occurred when she was cleaning the quickdraws from the anchors atop a sport route in the Ginseng area. She hung from two daisy chains, pulled a few feet of rope up, and clipped the bight to her harness, as is standard to prevent dropping the rope. That knot was reportedly still attached to her on the ground after the accident. Then she untied the rope, also normal practice, from her harness tie-in to thread it through the anchors (instead of the quickdraws, which she would bring down) in preparation for being lowered. In an instance of human error, she apparently did not retie that rope end to her harness, a sad reminder to all to double check everything, every time. No knot was found in the rope end. The rope came down with her.

She had originally been rigging the anchor to rappel, which perhaps caused confusion. She had difficulty threading the rope through the lower rings, so called down asking to be put back on belay. She was on belay when, moments later, she fell. No miscommunication occurred with the belayer.

rockandice.com/lates-news/k…

always weight the anchor aggressively before taking off the safety ... if thats not possible triple check everything visually

very sad