Greg--

Malcolm has it right (grab the rope and hold on). Jed suggests something different--"slowly lowering yourself until you feel the tension from your belayer take over." The scenario I was describing would only apply to the procedure Jed describes. With rope stretch and two feet of slack, you could lower yourself a few feet before coming tight.

Be it rapping or lowering - I'm always still loosely tied into the anchor as the rope is weighted as Tony mentioned...a "death" grip on the rope doesn't do it for me. If I can't see my belayer and there is some doubt I'd rather rap myself down. Visual contact is key when lowering. I also always confirm twice vocally - once before the rope is weighted and once after - though many partners give you the look like "duh you are weighting the rope!" I'd rather be a pain in the ass then on the ground.

Typically my partner and I establish lowering or rapping before we leave the ground...and even then if I'm lowering I just ask for slack instead of going off belay. There is really no reason to be off belay at any point if you are lowering.

Hope everyone recovers well from the accident.

Shouted commands, tugs on the rope, morse code or semaphore--communication is good. But nothing beats a set of radios, esp. on long pitches or multipitch.

I'm going to start a new thread with some questions.

Sorry for the hijack Lon and Avery, keep us posted and best wishes again.

Hey there, I completely agree with Steve about the radios. Communication on wind ridge is difficult as is and with everyone yelling "off belay john, sara, julie...." whatever, it is difficult to mishear things. My partner and I use the radio's on multipitch things and it really seems to help out and decrease those snafu's that can occur when the tugging system is in place or just yelling. It is always a good idea to have a backup system of course in case the radios die.

I actually was climbing next to these guys yesterday before the incident occurred. Avery and I were chatting on the ledge after the first pitch of Recon while Lon was leading. I did not see the incident, but was climbing next to them until about 4:00pm and they were communicating a lot and what seemed to be efficiently. Whatever happened I am not going to speculate, but wish everyone involved a safe recovery and many more SAFE climbing days.

Anyone have an update on how Lon is doing?

Malcom and I are saying the same thing. If you can't see your belayer, as likely in the case of this Recon accident, if I recall the climb well enough, then you're going to be slowly lowering yourself until you can make eye contact and see exactly what's going on - Malcom's rule #1.

As for worrying about the belayer thinking they should feed you slack or take you off - that's the whole point!!! They should know they are lowering you at this point and it's a very good thing you are backing yourself up!

If I am not climbing with a long time partner, I always rap instead of having myself lowered.

Healing energy to Lon!

Nice change from the last accident thread to hear of the heroes involved in this rescue instead of the armchair quarterbacking. (which I took part in)

Jed,

It would be a nasty surprise to lower oneself far enough to find your belayer breaking down the belay and the rope running through a crack creating drag...

If there is any doubt as to whether I'm on belay, I'm not going to find out by batmanning down the rope, which is a potentially fatal maneuver if it should turn out that I'm not on belay. I'll pull the rope and rap, if possible.

An alternative is to set up an extended top anchor: pull rope up and tie off at the top anchor, then descend (possibly with a prussik, if its sketchy) to a point from which unambiguous communication with the the belayer can be established.

Jed,

I fail to see how rapping or extending a top anchor would ever have me flying past my belayer. Your technique, on the other hand, could lead to that unhappy result. So obviously you're the one missing the point.

My suggestion is that if there is doubt--because of imperfect communication or for whatever reason--eliminate the doubt and don't lower. Instead, rap or, possibly, extend the top anchor to establish communication. You, on the other hand, suggest down climbing the rope to check things out. If you're on belay, fine. But if you're wrong, you might fall and that would suck, since it could have been avoided. I would note that climbing down a rope has not caught on as an alternative to rapping....I imagine because of the substantially greater hazard it presents.

This is a silly conversation - but.

I'm not "lowering myself" so much as "backing myself up for a bit as I'm being lowered". You seem to be missing that - but I thought it would be obvious.

Your idea of extending the anchor and/or rapping is fine if that makes you happy and you happen to have all the gear you need to do that. But it's a seperate action not related to this discusion.

Even after extending the anchor and saying hi to my belayer (over a radio perhaps even), I'm still going to have control over the rope until I've made eye contact, can see the whole system, and know for absolute certain things are working as they should.

The times you need to do this, it's usually because the climb slabbed out at the top, as in the case of this route, Recon, or Cest la Vie, for example. If you happen to find the rope isn't coming tight as you lean back and lower yourself a bit, then don't continue to the point where it gets steeper and there will be an issue.

But this is just what I do, and I've seen others do 1000's of times. If you do different, that's fine.

Update on status of injured climber:

Lon has undergone surgery to fuse some vertebrae. The surgeon is fairly confident there will be no paralysis. He also has had surgery on his legs/ankles. Recovery time will be long but he should be able to be fairly active after P.T.

Best wishes for his speedy recovery. Many thoughts are with him and his family.

An update on Lon Abbott's condition... Lon sustained a number of serious injuries in his huge fall sunday, including two broken vertebrae, broken ankles, five broken ribs, a broken shoulder blade and a concussion. He underwent surgery to fuse vertebrae T10-L2, which was successful and will undergo additional surgery tomorrow to repair an ankle and subsequent surgery to install a filter in his vena cava to prevent blood clots. While he is extremely uncomfortable at present, the good news is that he is likely to recover nearly fully with time. Lon is a very thoughtful colleague and dedicated teacher in the Geology Department at CU-Boulder - the faculty and students there all wish him a speedy and full recovery.

My name is Terri, I am the spouse of Lon Abbott, the climber who fell Sunday in Eldorado.
I would like to express my and my family's heartfelt thanks to all of you -- Josh, Dave, all the rescue folks who participated but whose names I will sadly never get to know -- for the incredible job you all did in stabilizing and rescuing Lon and helping his partner, Avery. It is thanks to you all, plus the incredible team of medical personnel, that we are confident Lon will fully recover. Though his injuries are extensive, he was incredibly lucky. He has no internal damage, and has suffered no paralysis. He has come through 3 surgeries with flying colors and has just one more to go late this week. He is at St. Anthony Hospital in Denver and will be here another week or so. I welcome cards for him (4231 West 16th Ave., Denver 80204). His rehab is expected to take up to a year, but we are hopeful he will make quick work of the challenges that lie ahead of him.

Lon learned to climb in Eldorado nearly 30 years ago, and has climbed consistently since then. He has taught many people, including me, how to climb, including at two colleges, and safety has always been uppermost in his mind. Avery is also an experienced climber who has climbed many times with Lon and also prioritizes safety. Avery is suffering from less severe but very painful injuries that he incurred when he showed tremendous courage trying to stop Lon's fall, and our family is incredibly grateful to him.

I do not know what happened Sunday, nor am I likely ever to know. We all know that climbing has inherent risks. I know Lon will welcome this safety dialogue and hope that besides the excellent tips I've read here, all climbers will remember one thing. Lon survived the accident, and Avery greater injury, because they were both wearing helmets -- properly fitting climbing helmets. Please, for your families as well as yourselves, never climb or belay without one.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Terri

Best of wishes to you and your's. I hope for a speedy, complete, and as pain free as possible a recovery.

Best wishes Lon and Terri for a full and speedy recovery.

Lon, I met you briefly at Ridgeline on Mt Lemmon where you took a picture of a friend of mine that you eventually used in your guidebook.

Christian Rodenbeck

Terri thanks for taking time to sign-up & communicate. Best wishes for a continued and full recovery to Lon and his partner. Big hug 2U for being his rock-o'strength