Another Eldo accident 6-26-2010

Looks like a couple of strong Boulder locals had an accident.

dailycamera.com/boulder-cou…

Both of these guys are very experienced, very good climbers.

Becareful out there folks.

Best wish on the healing process, Tom!

josh

I read about this. Any idea if the injured climber was leading or seconding? From the length of the fall, it seems like he would have to be on the sharp end. Of course he could have been seconding, fell and ripped his leader off and took the brunt of the fall.

Also, any idea if he was wearing a helmet?

--Marc

details from bill wright:
web.me.com/billwright510/Mo…

sounds epic!!!

props 4 keeping it
together.

Wow is right, good vibes to Tom and to the unfortunately busy RMR folks.

Incredible story.

Best wishes for Tom's recovery.

WOW!
Hope for a speedy recovery for Tom.
Bill-Thanks for the in depth recount of the accident. There is always an intense curiosity from other climbers when an accident happens and a fine line of appropriateness to push for details. Hopefully your detailed account will help someone else down the line.

Jim Amidon wrote:WOW

Definitely wow!

Thanks Bill for the detailed account of the accident. Sending lots of good vibes and well wishes to Tom, Bill and families.

Holy cow! I hope that Tom has a fast & full recovery. Bill - great job up on the wall. Thanks for sharing. Best wishes to everyone involved & their families.

Best wishes to Tom and Bill. I met Tom and Kirsten last spring and they are great people. Also, super big thanks to RMR. A lot of folks don't fully realize or appreciate how lucky climbers are to have them around the Boulder area.

Best wishes and thoughts go out to Tom, Bill, and Kirsten. Kirsten, please feel free to send me an e-mail through MP and/or track down my tele# through our mutual friends if you like or need. I have direct experience with frontal lobe TBI injury quite similar to Tom and would be more than happy to share/discuss any of that with you and/or you and Tom if you need/desire down the road. I'm sure your hands are more than full currently, stay positive!

Wayne

incredible story. thanks you so much bill for sharing your story.

Tom - I wish you a full and speedy recovery.

tom & kirsten, you are in my thoughts,
sending positive vibes your way !!!!!!

bill, you did awesome, given the situation at hand.
if you need someone to talk with, call me up! i am
here just to listen, and help get things off your chest.

peace,

cor

Greg Miller and Eric Klimpt.

What you guys did is absolutely amazing.

Ending your climb and descending to help is the kind of thing that makes climbing a family.

Fixing your rope for RMR may have gotten medical treatment to Tom up to an Hour faster. This kind of thing is key and you guys absolutely did the right thing.

Lot's of people to be commended that day...and you 2 are on top of the list in my book.

Cheers,

Josh

That was a truly gripping account. What a relief that the leader survived and is on the way to recovery! I'm sure it was a life-changing event for the second as well.

Re-reading the story, I got to thinking about the physics involved in the fall. The writer puts the leader at 90' out from him at the time of the fall, due to slack at the lower end and accounting for rope taken up by tie-ins. He also states that the leader fell past him before the rope went tight, which means he would have been run out at least 50' above his last piece (the #2 Camalot). So if the second had been anchored (which he wasn't), this would be a 100' fall on 90' of rope for a 1.1 fall factor. Right? A pretty violent fall, but at least it wasn't a horrendous FF2.

However, as noted, the second was not anchored, so he got pulled up almost to the only other piece of pro (the 3.5 Camalot, which he estimated to be about 25' above him). In effect, he gave the leader a "soft catch." Presumably this mitigated the leader fall to some degree, but my question is, does this added length of fall change the fall factor calculation above?

Best of luck to both climbers.

JL

This will be a story for the record books: it pushed the very limits of climbing, and, in as scientific a manner as possible (since both climbers were extremely experienced), experimented with and revealed extremely valuable data about the limits of this type of climbing. I will send an email to the Alpinist about it, though I'm sure they'll hear about it otherwise, as it certainly deserves to be communicated to the larger climbing community, particularly Bill's captivating account on his blog. I'm sure the uniqueness of this accident will attract attention in the climbing community worldwide.

I know Bill Wright, and Kirstin, and read his account with rapt attention: his reaction to the incident, as far as my imperfect knowledge can tell, was executed perfectly. He could not have done anything more to assist Tom. I very much appreciate Bill's swift posting of his account, which speaks to his devotion to the climbing tradition and the climbing community. My thoughts and compassion go out to Tom, Bill, Kirstin, and related family.

So.....THANK GOD FOR RMR! Those guys are the true heroes here. You guys rule!

--Rick

Tom, Family and Kirsten,
I am pulling for you.

One of my next HARD route will be named after Tom.
And it will be a stellar route.

Stay strong Tom, family and Kirsten.
Tom is such a warrior, he will go through this in a heartbeat, especially given the slow heartbeat they observed in ICU yesterday!
Tom is so fit, it always blows my mind away.
You rock Tom, you will get through this!

Positive vibes your way my friend.
Bruno

Greg Miller and Eric Klimpt
Way to go guys! Along with the excellent work by Bill, RMRG, and many rescuers, you guys really made a difference too. Fixing that line was very smart and saved a lot of critical time. Well done lads, well done. Jim Davidson

Greg Miller and Eric Klimpt
Way to go guys! Along with the excellent work by Bill, RMRG, and many rescuers, you guys really made a difference too. Fixing that line was very smart and saved a lot of critical time. Well done lads, well done. Jim Davidson

Greg and Eric, did you guys also have one of those little wooden kegs of brandy hanging under your necks?

That would have been cool.

Seriously, good thinking on your part.