Just saw this in the Denver Post: www.denverpost.com/news/ci_11936151

Anyone have more info?

I just saw a report on the local 10 o'clock news (Channel 9 I think). Apparently the injured climber worked at the channel. The report said something like (paraphrasing) the equipment failed because it had been sitting around all winter and had gotten stiff?! It didn't sound like the climber was mortally wounded: of course I hope that's the case and don't mean any disrespect to him, just that the blurb on the news was the typical type of report that if you're climber either pisses you off or amuses you, or both.

The climber is a friend of mine, a regular partner and a very good friend. I just spoke with his mother in law on the phone and it sounds like he is going to be okay. He sustained head and spinal injuries but nothing life threatening and he should be released from the hospital soon.

hey eric, know anything on how and where it happened?

from the images i saw on the news coverage im fairly certain that it was the Wall of the 90's

I was driving home from skiing and was stopped just before tunnel #2. From the road it looked like he was on Wall of the Nineties. They had 4 fire trucks and every search and rescue in a 30 mile radius. He should have been in good hands....

I sure hope he's ok. I would be very interested to find out details on how he was injured, just to know what went wrong, I climb at the wall frequently, so any info would be helpful.

another link:
www.9news.com/seenon9news/article.aspx?storyid=112084&catid=>>>

he got lowered off the end of his rope. 110' route, 60m rope.....
gabriel explained the whole thing on the video.

i would bet it was either Hot Stuff or Leftover Stuff based on the footage.

i hope the 9 news reporter incorrectly paraphrased the guy's partner. i hope no one who thinks climbing equipment stiffens over the winter actually climbs.

I thought that since the injured climber worked for the news that maybe the news would report a climbing accident correctly for a change. Lowered off the end of the rope does not equal equipment failure (as they reported it). Oh well. We all know this at least. I hope the guy recovers from his injuries and is able to get back on the rock this season.

i got injured once because i laid around all winter and got stiff. kind of different though. hope the guy is alright.

One thing you guys need to realize is that the info from an incident like this usually comes from the responder information officer so the news is using a source, as it should.

Now whether that source actually knows jack, well that's another set of items. Though, you're not going to get much of an argument about wearing a helmet; it would have helped to report on the importance of safety with using a technical system for anyone that does want to enjoy climbing in this canyon.


Anyone know how much the rescue bill is gonna be?

Pretty harsh reminder to always "close the system" by either having the belayer tie in or stopper knot in the end. The interviewed climber (was he the belayer?) even stated this in the video. Being rusty after a winter may apply to climbing ability or technique, but having a system down cold that you use every time you climb could have saved his partner some pain.

I agree that 60M is a standard, but 60M with a few meters chopped off is a secondary standard. Most people with 50's are using doubles or twins and moreso than that they have 2 ropes, they are more advanced climbers.
Regardless, plenty of my friends have ropes shorter than 60M by some amount, and I don't thing < 60M is a strawman arguement. Maybe not reallyu stong, but a valid question. I happened to believe the poster that he meant what he said and genuinely expected a real address of the question.
Anyway, this is a lesson to learn for the climbers and the setters.
Nobody can make anything idiot proof, and nobody can expect to make silly mistakes too often and get away with it. This is a game of Roulette, but you get to influence your odds with caution.

Bi-color ropes are awesome- no need to wonder if you have hit the middle yet, no worrying about uneven ends on raps, etc... I only buy bicolor. And only buy 70M, even my twin ropes are 70M.

These routes will presumably be climbed for longer than we can predict what rope lengths will be standard. In a place (CCC) where most routes aren't very long anyway, I would say route setters should set them for as long as the good climbing allows. They can put in intermediate anchors, or expect climbers to use 2 ropes. As someone noted, trying to dumb things down just creates more problems, as there is no lower boundary to the dumb things that climbers can do. (Don't meant to say the injured climber here is dumb, although he obviously made a potentially lethal mistake. Avoiding "dumb" mistakes is a huge part of being safe, and all anyone can say is that they've succeeded SO FAR.)

Ron, a small item in that there are several Eldo routes that exceed that 30M anchor guideline. As well, I think Darren has done a great job of getting out info about what to expect with routes in CCC.

It can be a fun place to climb, it sucks when anyone gets hurt, the education about climbing safety is readily available all over the front range, as well as beta for most any route. There really isn't much else Darren or other FAs can do. The crags dictate the manner of climb.