Rescue in Boulder Canyon

I saw RMR vehicles and a FFL helicopter on the road in Boulder Canyon near Happy Hour Crag or The Bihedral. Daily Camera "article" here.

dailycamera.com/news/ci_164…

Best wishes to all involved. Hope they pull through. Anyone know more details? Always breaks my heart to hear of climber accidents.

Hey all! Trying to give this a bump....surely SOMEONE knows what happened! I'm trying to verify if Beth Davis is THE Beth Davis that my friends and I know and love....any info would be much appreciated!
cheers,
pam

Pam Roberts wrote:Hey all! Trying to give this a bump....surely SOMEONE knows what happened! I'm trying to verify if Beth Davis is THE Beth Davis that my friends and I know and love....any info would be much appreciated! cheers, pam

I haven't heard anymore, but if you know her personally you might want to call her??

There is only one 52 year old Beth Davis from Boulder who climbs I know of ( swimboulder.com/about.html), it would be quite a conicidence if it was not her. Best of wishes.

Indeed, it's Beth. What little I know is that while she suffered some pretty severe injuries, in the big picture she'll be fine....no head or spine involved. That's all I know for now........

an fyi, quoted from a comment (not me) on the DC article:

"I was up on the Upper Bihedral Wall when this all happened. The wall is located 7 miles up the canyon on the right, just before Boulder Falls. Right before we arrived two ladies went to rappel down from the upper climbs by way of a two bolt anchor set up just for getting down. There is a spot where the rope can get stuck roughly halfway up the rappel down. Their rope got stuck and one of them went to get it down and ended up falling 20 feet. Unfortunately, the wind and the location of the where they were none of us up above were able to hear them call for help. We only realized that something was wrong when Mountain Rescue showed up and closed the rappel down leaving a somewhat sketchy hike down the way you come up.

It sounds like she should recover, which I'm really glad to hear. Seeing the helicopter come and land in the canyon was quite a site, but it doesn't mean a good sign for the person being lifted out there. And thank goodness for her helmet. Lessons learned for me, don't put saving time or inconvenience ahead of being safe. Hike back up and ask someone for help retrieving your gear."

I am still a bit confused by this. If the rope got stuck prior to rappelling she could had just followed down and worked towards the stuck portion and freed it without having to come off the rappel. Possibly setting up a prusik or some other sort of friction hitch.

Or was it that they had reached the bottom, pulled the rope through the anchors and then it got stuck on the way down so she had to climb up to free it? The above quote seems a bit confusing to me. I would be interested to here what actually happened.

Either way, best wishes to Beth for a speedy and healthy recovery. Saw the helicopter fly in while over at Avalon...never a good sight.

According to the blog that was setup to convey info to Beth's friends (see below), she and her partner "both rappelled down, and when Beth got off the rock and was pulling the rope down, it got stuck. She free-climbed back up to get it and almost made it, but was feeling pretty "off center" and like the rock wasn't too stable. She was just about at the rope when she slipped."

Beth's running and climbing partner posted this on the Boulder Trail Runner's forum: "We know that many of you will want to know how she
is doing, to send her your thoughts and well wishes, visit and help
with her recovery. To get the word out, a blog has been set up where
you can check on her status and, in the future, sign up to visit or
help out: getbettersoonbeth.blogspot.com"

Best wishes to Beth for a quick recovery!

I have been home now for 2 weeks after 17 days in the hospital. Only now was I able to look at my cut up climbing clothes and read the posts on my accident.

The main thing I want to say is that wearing my helmet was the smartest thing I did that day. I have no spinal or head injuries. In retrospect,
I made several mistakes. I knew my shoes were very inappropriate for hiking much less free climbing. I did not adequately assess the situation nor did I consider any other options. I fell because my foot slip.
I am extremely grateful to my climbing partner, Karla and to RMR.
My 27 bones will heal and I am expected to return to full recovery.
The gift in this is I have been woken up on levels within I was ignoring and this type of accident is what it's taken. The support and love I continue to receive from the community is incredible. I am very grateful to be alive. I look forward to returning to the Boulder outdoor community.

Hey, Beth. Glad to hear you are now home and out of the hospital. Karla told me about your accident the following weekend. We've never met, but I'm thinking about you! Take care and get strong.

elizabeth moss davis wrote:My 27 bones will heal

Ouch.

Ouch, ouch, ouch.

Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch.

That's a lot of broken bones. Ouch. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

Best wishes for a full recovery Beth.