http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/jul/22/rescuers-work-re>>>>>

I hope he is doing as well as he can. My thoughts are with him and his family/friends.

What's with all the Eldo accidents this year? Are there more than usual this summer, or is it just that accidents getting more publicity?

Nope, there just seem to be a lot more accidents.

Hopefully the guy's OK.

Hello again, my name is Heath Urie, and I'm a reporter at the Daily Camera in Boulder. There was another accident at the canyon today where Preston fell. Initial word is that the man is in critical condition and at a Denver hospital.

We heard there may have been friends of family of Preston's out there today. Is anyone willing to talk to us about it this afternoon?

If so, please call me at 303-473-1328 or 303-472-9890. I'm hoping to get some people to chat today.

Thanks again, you've all been great to us in this difficult time.

Over the thirty or so years I've climbed in the canyon there have been bad years and good for the accident rates. I can remember seasons with scary numbers of fatalities,(rarely soloists). Maybe the increased attention to our sport as a whole encourages people to try the glamorous variations such as third classing, even without the required skills. (Panic containment is the most important when soloing.) It's always a drag when someone gets hurt or killed, and yet that possibility remains a part of the sports' essential charm.

I hope the unknown climber pulls through. This has been a bad year for accidents.

Did something change on the route to make it significantly harder recently? If the climber was indeed soloing werks up you would think it was well below his abilities. Is a key hold now gone?

Best wishes to the injured - pull through!

__

Unrelated:

Heath Urie, why this angle in approaching your piece?:

"Despite the proximity of the accidents, which happened just 10 days apart, there are no plans to close the popular climbing route, said Deb Frazier, spokeswoman for Colorado State Parks."

Is it your position that the route should be 'closed'?

There do seem to be a high number of accidents this summer. It's gettin' hot - so maybe it's a good time to take a little hiatus from the bad mojo floating around.

Maybe I'll pick up golf.

Ray

I went up on the route the other day and as far as I can tell the route is the same as it ever was.

I'm not ready to put out an opinion of why I think so many people are hitting the deck this season. Mountain Project people are wayyyy too critical of anyone who has a strong opinion of anything or even if they just put their opinion out there (notice Shawn's comment in reference to what Ken wrote......).

There are more climbers out there every year, more of them are inexperienced, the rock is hot and slick, and people make mistakes all the time.

The rock hasn't changed.

I always thought the first pitch was the crux until I read the guidebook description after climbing it a half dozen times. Now I know.

Best wishes to everyone involved.

The Camera story says "fell from nearly the same location", but is this info coming from a climber or a reporter? If it's not a climber it could just mean anywhere on the Bastille, do we know he fell on Werksup?

Edit - just reread, I guess witnesses and sheriff said almost the same spot, so it appears to be Werks. Not enough info until we hear from someone who was there. I'm sure hoping he pulls through.

Many good thoughts and positive energy to the climber involved.

Positive thoughts to the guy who fell today, best of luck pulling through.

There is defintiely a subtle funk to the start to Werk Supp. A while back a friend of mine fell from that same general area while climbing alone. He was lucky enough to escape with one broken bone but was/is (seemingly) too talented a climber to pop off a 5.8.

I was climbing in Eldo all day today, and started up the Bastille Crack at about 12:45, apparently just after the rescue vehicles left. The temp was about 98 degrees, needless to say bad soloing conditions. I believe the route was in the shade at the time, but still hot from a sunny day. Best wishes to the victim and his family. Everybody be careful out there.

I saw this man fall and was the first one to respond to him. Everyone there did the best they could to help him. I don't know waht to say except that I hope he pulls through and I can get a chance to hang out with him. Thank you to the park rangers and the professional/nonprofessional rescuers involved. This man was in rough shape and I think everyone could do him some service by laying off the speculation and criticism. If anyone reads this and is close to the injured climber my thoughts are with you and feel free to contact me via mt. project. I hope he makes it ok.

Wow another sad story. Best wishes to the climber and his family.

Robert

Thanks for the update. I have been thinking of the man all day. I hope that we get nothing but good news about him from with every passing day.

WAAAAAYYYYYY positive energy and a few prayers as well bro. C'mon man, rub some dirt in it and get back in the game!

Let's have a harmonious convergence of positive energy for this person. and for all the other injured climbers this year, and of course for Preston. It does seem like a lot of accidents so far, but it seems like we say that about every other year. Werk Supp has not changed. It's on my standard afternoon circuit and I do it about twice a week. I agree that a major issue is that it has been murder hot lately. No rain. The rock is particularly greasy in eldo right now. I also think that since Werk Supp is so accessible and takes such good gear that people repeat it a lot, like me. After a while you get it dicked, then you start to run it out between pieces until you finally find yourself climbing into ground fall territory all along the route . I do this all the time on various routes that I have dialed, and it's not a good practice. Sometimes I'll scare myself a bit and say I'm going to be more conservative, and I am for a while.
Obviously that wasn't the issue in this latest event since the climber was soloing, but I think that it is a particular hazard on a route like Werk Supp.
Let's hope that this spate of accidents is over.

I am in shock that another climber was injured on the same route. All I can say is my heart goes out to the climber, his family and friends. This website has been so helpful to me as Preston's wife of 18 years, I hope that it will comfort the man and his family who fell today.

Hey,
I have a bit of information about the guy on Werk Supp today and giving it to you from CA. I am an old climber from my Boulder days in the 80's and used to live in the canyon. The guys is the brother of a close friend of mine. I shared this post with Randy but will leave it to him to give more in terms of family names and such.

Leave it to say that Mike is a veteran of the sport for more than 30 years. He's a strong and committed climber with 1000's of vertical feet of climbing all over the country and many as a solo climber a year. The fall was profoundly unfortunate and when I spoke to Randy earlier this evening, Mike was in ICU in Denver following surgery. His family were actually meeting for a reunion this weekend and were on their way to CO.

At this time Mike and his family could use our prayers, to give everyone the strength to get through this this tenuous time. I know that if anyone has any specific information from todays fall that the family would appreciate anything that might help them understand. I will continue to check in here and forward what surfaces to Randy.

Again, thanks for the kindness and concerns, it's appreciated.

Ok here's the most recent update having just heard from Randy about his brother MIke:

I just talked to Mikes nurse and it is not good. I asked her point blank and she said that if it were her brother she'd be on a plane. So I'm going to be on a plane. He has chest tubes in both sides, is on a respirator, was unresponsive even before sedation, his blood pressure is too low, he had multiple open, compound fractures of both legs, compound fractures of the left arm, multiple major facial fractures, a broken pelvis and several broken ribs. He's so unstable that they couldn't even completely clean or dress his wounds without killing him so she said infection will be a big issue. Rhonda takes care of him 12 hours straight and no one else. She said things are not going in a good direction but she will do her best.

Keep our prayers strong