www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_12029503

Am I reading this right, he threaded his rope thru the nylon instead of the caribiner ???

wow. That is very strange. I have heard of rapping directly off a v thread cord or somthing to that effect but never for a top rope. I am surprised to read that 2 climbers safley made it up and down before that burned through.


Glad to see he survived and can hold his little boy and wife still.

Cheers to a quick recovery.

yes that seems to be what happened a terrible oversight but i am glad he will be ok. lets all learn from this

yep, sal, on a thread you are just bailing off the route by rappel; minimal use & without the weight of the climber when you make the pull, though you still get friction -- anytime you have moving nylon over stationary, you'll get that.

The rap bail biner up there was to keep the rigging intact because the route gets so much traffic -- it's not really a good top-rope setup either due to the potential for cyclical loads and then flopping a bight off, which is why the opposite opposed biners are key.

I'm really glad to hear that he managed to survive this fall and, by the account in the paper, will recover. I don't intend any disrespect or judgement here but want to bring up a question.

Does anyone have a thought about why this particular mistake keeps happening?

It's a really really basic rope management concept that you never have moving nylon to nylon contact. It's a fundamental of our chosen activity like having your partner check that you doubled back your harness. I can understand when this happens to a novice who perhaps hasn't had the proper training or mentoring (this sort of lack of proper background happens a lot with folks coming out of the gym, for example). But by all accounts this group was pretty experienced? As a community are we somehow missing the communication of basic safety concepts? Again, I'm not judging here. We all make mistakes... it's something that we can't totally avoid. But is there something we are missing that is causing this particular mistake to happen over and over again?

How do you climb for 10 years and not know TR'ing off nylon is a bad idea? I'm glad the guy is expected to recover. That's a lot of broken vertebra....

Kathy

That was my thought as well Kathy..

Here's to a speedy recovery!!!

One thing to note, that since running rope over webbing does happen as well as tr-ing off of the flimsy rap rings, to check the condition of any existing anchor material before trusting lives to them -- give yourself a redundant back-up for anything like this in question; even if you just want to rap off a station.

I normally have no idea what someone has done to webbing, slings, rap rings, etc. prior to me; not to mention the weather/sun elements.

My bro is lucky, I'm usually the test dummy being the bigger dude.

I think the article was a first-hand account, Mark.

"It was a major oversight on my part in that friction caused when rappelling off the top rope is going to burn through those anchors," Boratenski said.

I think he meant being lowered off.
I am still shaking my head in disbelief, how anyone that experienced could make that kind of mistake is beyond me. It's possible that he had been guided all these years without having gone though comprehensive instruction and mentoring. Everyone, please back up your anchors and double check, always.

We're all hoping you have a complete recovery soon, Chris!!

Glad he is going to be ok, recovering from big falls is a lucky inconvenience. I think that we ought to remember that Lynn Hill must have been climbing for a long while before she forgot to retrace her knot resulting in a 70 footer. I know of lots of others that have made mistakes and decked/ almost, or caught them at the last minute.

"We" as humans all make mistakes, some dumb, and some based on misjudgment or bad perceptions or missed information. "We" as a community should discuss, and learn from them, then when "we" are out with friends, clients, etc, be as diligent as possible to make sure one of those mistakes don't happen.

"We" should also understand that the paper may or may not do a good job translating, or explaining things that may or may not have happened. Rappelling is not the same as lowering off, though are used incorrectly but interchangeably at times.

Tonight at REI (7:00 i think) and tomorrow at Prana (?) in Boulder is a top rope anchors 'clinic' - maybe a good idea for a refresher, especially at the beginning of the season!

i am glad all 3 climbers are ok and that chris will make a full recovery. given that he made the mistake of setting the top rope accidentally through the nylon when he meant to go through the rings/quick links.....we should remember that those (and most) fixed anchors are meant to rappel from, NOT top rope through. Please save fixed rings for rapping AFTER top-roping thru your own gear. this saves much wear and tear on heavily used rap anchors.

Wrong. We can't guess intent; we can only analyze the system. One if completed
Is safe. The other if completed is not. One is an error of inattention;the other is an error of design.

i find it curious that one or both of his partners might have/probably did make it to the anchor and didn't recognize the ticking time bomb that was up there. its hard to believe 3 (allegedly) competent climbers all had their eyes on this 'anchor' and lowered off anyway.

i always scrutinize an anchor before i lower/rap off...no matter who built it. if either partner had done that and remedied the situation this cratering would not have occurred. not to blame them in any way, just to point out that its something we should all try to do just in case someone missed something important.