Many people have asked about the circumstances of this accident. I was Mike's belayer on that climb. This is my perspective. It is written in the spirit of the American Alpine Club accident reports whose “.. primary purpose .. is to aid in the prevention of accidents.”

Description:
Mike and I started climbing in the lower Black Corridor at about 9 am on Sunday, April 1, 2007. For our fourth route, Mike was leading Black Corridor Route 4 Left, 5.11a. He clipped the four bolts and continued straight up over a bulge. He called down to me that he could not see the anchors and asked if I could see them. I said I couldn't see any anchors. He said he was going to go up a bit more to see if he could find them. He was about 20 feet above the last bolt when he fell. Mike fell approximately 60 feet to the ground, sustaining a head injury and spinal fractures. He was wearing a helmet. He was unconscious at the scene. He did not recover from his injuries and died on April 12.

Analysis and Comment:
It is natural when something like this happens to speculate about why it happened, and, given that we all want to continue climbing, how it could never happen to us. But if you take anything from Mike's accident, it should be that this could happen to any of us. Mike's accident was the convergence of many individual things that all of us have done at some point. We've gotten lucky; this time, he didn't.

Mike was a careful, conservative, and thoughtful climber. He was not reckless. He was an experienced climber who knew Red Rocks well. What happened to him can happen to any of us.


There are two things I learned from this experience that I did not expect:

1. The significance of rope stretch. I learned to climb 8 years ago on older, thick ropes. I was taught to expect that in a bad fall the rope might stretch 5 feet. In this case, I have reason to believe the rope stretched as much as 15 feet. The important question that raises for me is: How many of us know how much the rope we use will stretch in a fall? Every rope is different. It’s not something I think to ask when I climb using someone else’s rope. Do you know how much your rope will stretch in a bad fall?

2. The speed at which the fall happened. I have had plenty of conversations about what to do if a climber takes a long fall, such as, run away from the climb to take up slack. But in a fall like this, with no warning, things happen so fast that there is absolutely no time to process the situation mentally. All I had was muscle memory. What I want to say to other belayers is that even if you think you know what you would do in a case like this, you are unlikely to have time to do it unless you have actually practiced or experienced it before. If you have not looked around beforehand and planned out the route you would run, you will not have time to do it as the climber is falling.

I have been advised by a number of friends not to post these comments because they were concerned they would open me up to criticism. Frankly, you cannot ask me any questions I have not already asked myself. And even though I have intellectually resolved that I did everything I could, I will always be the one who was at the other end of Mike’s rope. If this information makes even one climber or belayer a little more aware of their climbing or belaying, if it prevents even one climber or belayer from having this experience, anything else will be worth the trouble.

-- Krys Stave

Krys,

Thank you for your courage and honesty. It is indeed a sobering reminder of the dangers of our sport when someone as experienced and careful as Mike can fall victim to such a horrible accident.

You mentioned rope stretch as a factor. What kind of rope were you using? What was the diameter of the rope?

I'd like to add the following to my previous post:

I did not post the information to begin a discussion. I thought very hard about what I thought other climbers and belayers needed to know about this accident and that is what I wrote. Other details about the rope, the climb, the day, etcetera are not relevant. I used the American Alpine Club's question: "What knowledge and techniques will help prevent future accidents?" to determine what I included in my post. What is relevant about Mike's accident is what we can take from it to sharpen our own practice. What is relevant about rope stretch is how much _your_ rope will stretch.

As you might imagine, it is difficult for me to think or talk about the details of that day, and I have said what I think is important to pass on for the sake of preventing future accidents. If you have a question that you truly believe you need to have answered for some reason other than simply because you are curious, then please ask me privately. I do not plan to answer any questions on line.

Thank you for your understanding.

Krys, thank you for posting this. The whole experience must have been terrible and frightening for you. My condolences to you for your loss, and my hope for you is to be able to peacefully move forward after this tragic situation.

According to this website, Route 4 left shares the anchors with one called Crude Boys. I'll be interested in hearing a description about these anchors from the locals.

Hey Krys,

My heart goes out to you for what you have been through. I hope that you can find some peace and closure soon from this tragic situation. You should be applauded for being brave enough to share this with the rest of the community. Take care.

Ropes stretch 8-12%. Older ropes start to loose their elasticity over time. Newer ropes have more stretch in them.

Krys's concern about rope stretch is extremely relevant. Most leaders are constantly working up risk factors such as what the liklihood of a fall is and what the consequences might be. If one positive thing could come out of this horrible incident, it's that maybe more of us will factor in this "extra" element while leading. I'm certainly going to think about it more.

Krys, thank-you for the post. It will make all of us think about this situation and could actually save somebody who reads this material.

Jason

Krys, thanks.

I don't see second guessing here, Mike was in a runout situation and fell.

The question I would like to ask in this forum is whether or not planning for rope stretch really all that feasible?

I anchor my belayer or I'm anchored as belayer. With this, the belayer can't manage a runout situation & might possibly be in a debris fall line (with good route planning, the former can usually be managed effectively). Though, I think anchoring the belayer is better because it prevents the belayer from being hammered into the terrain during a lead fall, allows for a place to tie off a fallen climber, and is usually the norm in multi-pitch climbing I do irregardless.

Given a runout situation, I feel the speed at which a climber falls is too great to do any good. I find it very difficult to plan/react to the runout length and rope stretch in order to gauge how to keep a lead climber off the ground. In this situation, I believe the circumstances of the fall are on the lead climber. Trying to foresee rope stretch given the force & speed of a lead fall is just something I can't see competent belayers being able to successfully plan out.

Krys, don't beat yourself up. I almost had a similar situation where a guy blew the clip and the rope stretched way more than I thought it would. I managed to get just enough in (one armful) which is about as good as can be expected on "unexpected" falls.

It's a bummer that this happened in such an "innocuous" area like that Black Corridor. It's a good reminder to me that even clipping bolts can be more dangerous than one would expect. There's really nowhere to "run" from my recollection of the BC (I've only climbed there once...)

Thanks for having the balls to post Krys....that took some serious courage.

Knowing the corridor...I am sure that there was no where to "run" as you say. Tight quarters in there.

Plese don't beat yourself up too bad about all this...we all know the risks when we tie in, as I am sure Mike did. You do bring up a good point that newer skinny ropes, do strech a lot more than people think...it's amazing really.

Just sucks when it hits home, like this one. My heart goes out to you, and other close friends and relatives dealing with this tragic loss. Mike seemed like a great guy, in the one short encounter I had with him.

Krys,

Thank you for your post. Although I did not know Mike personally, I have friends who did. Mikes life touched many, and we are saddened by his loss.

Your posting of the details surrounding this tragic occurrence took courage, but will undoubtedly render increased safety and awareness for all of us who choose to climb. Most of us who have climbed for many years have been in a similar circumstance as Mike (i.e., off route and runout), and the belayer really cannot do anything but hope and pray the leader does not fall. Falls happen so quickly, as you noted. Rope stretch is a necessary component for strength, but can be a double-edged sword unfortunately.

My condolences to you an all who knew and loved Mike. He will be missed.

-Mark

According to this table from Mountain Tools, Beal ropes have a significantly higher dynamic elongation than Blue Water or Mammut. I'd think twice before buying a Beal rope based on this accident report.

Ron,

According to the table, the Beal Joker and the Mammut Serenity (when used as single ropes) both have exactly the same dynamic elongation (29%) AND they have the same impact force (9.5kn).
In general, most of the Beal ropes do have more dynamic elongation than those other brands, but the kicker is that they also have less impact force (the two being inversely related).

I think the statistics may very well show that more climbers are hurt or killed due to protection failing than due to rope stretch.
Increased impact force means more force on the top piece.
I agree with others that rope stretch should be considered when looking at the variables that influence the danger in a given situation. But to choose a rope based on elongation alone seems a bit myopic.
Please don't take this as a personal attack, that is not how it is meant. I just think a more balanced approach to the subject is important so that people don't get the idea that less elongation=more safety.
I echo others condolences and feelings of sadness at this tragedy.
Mark

Krys;
Thanks for the very professional post; it was very informative and well thought out. I cannot begin to imagine how one copes with a horrible tragedy such as this. I hope you can find peace.
DAS

Ron, I don't mean to butt in at all. I know everyone is well intentioned here, we all care.

I just don't see how anyone can effectively "plan" for a runout fall. I mean look at the runouts on ice using doubles. It's accepted that the climber can't fall, and if they do, the consequences are generally quite serious.

Maybe the lesson here isn't brand, maybe it is that skinny ropes have to stretch more to distribute the energy over a long period of time to avoid snapping under a shorter impulse (higher force). So the point being that there are trade-offs. 9.1's and 8.9's are not necessarily everyday use ropes, even if they will hold a fall.

And furthermore, the static/dynamic elongation is not really the end-all measurement anyway. It is a point on a line intended to represent a point on a curve that has many variables in it including a climber's mass.

I had a girlfriend in college that took a lead fall on a stiff rope, she tweeked her back pretty badly. THe rope was a 'stiff' rope (coincidentally, a beal) we figured that because of the low elongation that she got pretty far up the curve more quickly and got "tweeked" because she was so small and the moderate force was a stout accelleration for her. She preferred stretchy ropes.

Hmmm... well, it beats whiplash every time you fall.

I'd like to let everyone who has expressed symapthy and regret for this terrible tragedy know that an anchor has been added to the top of the route where Mike's fall occurred. The person who added the anchor climbed the route a few days before Mike's accident and very nearly had a similar experience. He heard about the incident and went out shortly afterward to prevent future repeats of this unnecessary and sad occurance. He's since moved out of the area, but on behalf of all the climbers who will safely enjoy routes in the corridor in the coming years, I thank my friend. Safe travels.