Man and son rescued from 3rd flatiron, 12/28/10

Just saw this on DC:
dailycamera.com/news/ci_169…

More info on how the injury occurred is obviously needed before much discussion can be had... But wanted to get this out there nonetheless.

14 hours on the third ... pretty crazy.

Is 14 hours a record for the 3rd? I've not heard of a longer ascent of it.

Hope the dad's back is okay. Back issues whether caused by injury or just spasms are awful.

That's awful. Factoring in that anyone's epic would be someone else's cruise, still, consider what it would take to make you call for rescue on a rappel less than 200' from the ground. Consider too that these amazing unseasonal days turn to winter nights in about 5 minutes at 5:00 pm, and he called after 10 pm. Brrrrrrr. Best wishes for father and son.

The injured climber provided a write-up/comments on the Daily Camera article for those inclined, a rap accident.

They thought about just self-evac'ing; but with an injured back, immobilization is probably a better decision.

Thanks for the update. Poor guy...back problems bite.

WTF???

Mark Nelson wrote:The injured climber provided a write-up/comments on the Daily Camera article for those inclined, a rap accident. They thought about just self-evac'ing; but with an injured back, immobilization is probably a better decision.

How long did he think about self-rescue? Even if he spent more than an hour thinking about it, why did it take 12+ hours to climb the third? I'm not criticizing slow climbers or anything... I just don't understand the situation. It looks like they started plenty early at 8:30, but by 5 pm it is freezing up there. If I were still on there at 6 pm, I would be bailing, and if I couldn't because of injury, I would be calling rescue well before 10 pm.

Julius Beres wrote: How long did he think about self-rescue? Even if he spent more than an hour thinking about it, why did it take 12+ hours to climb the third? I'm not criticizing slow climbers or anything... I just don't understand the situation. It looks like they started plenty early at 8:30, but by 5 pm it is freezing up there. If I were still on there at 6 pm, I would be bailing, and if I couldn't because of injury, I would be calling rescue well before 10 pm.

Just read his darn explanation Julius!

Julius Beres wrote: What explanation? I read the article. It says he had some sort of back problem while rapping and then called rescue at 10 pm. Why did it take until 10 pm to get to the rap? Did he have back problems while climbing too?

He posted a detailed explanation of what happened as a comment to the article.

Pat Erley wrote:14 hours on the third ... pretty crazy.

As usual, what is pretty crazy is the misreporting of "facts" and lack of clarity in the press that leads to questions that don't apply to the situation.

Posting the climber's comment from the Daily Camera thread:

Kevin_Layfayette writes:
"I am Kevin, the 53 yr old climber who was rescued. I had no idea so many comments would be posted. I should have posted the more detailed story early on to clear up some confusion. Well, if anybody checks back here they will be a bit better informed.

First of all, my son and I wish to offer a tremendous amount of thanks to every rescuer involved. They all worked extremely hard and were well-trained and worked together as a team like nothing I've ever seen before. The medical team was prepared to deal with virtually any medical situation which was very impressive. If I was wealthy, I'd gladly offer hundreds or even thousands of thank you dollars to each and every responder.

We roped up and started climbing at about 10:45 and the 8:30 time reported is not accurate. I had climbed the Third 4 times before, the last time in 1998. My 16 yr old son had limited climbing experience but was willing to try the Third since the weather forecast was high 40s, zero chance of precipitation and mild winds. We were thinking about swapping leads, but my son decided after the first pitch that he'd rather second the whole thing. We knew we would be slow and should have started much earlier. Anyway we made slow and steady progress and reached the top of our climb (the area at the top of the Gash near Kiddie Car Ledge) by about 4:45. It was getting dark and we had been dealing with very strong cold winds that picked up in the late afternoon. The 6 hours of climbing was very slow, and my goal was more like about 4 hours so we were about 2 hours behind schedule.

We decided to skip the last summit pitch (to the right of the top of the Gash) and try to maneuver our way through the boulders up to the bottom of the first standard rappel and the location of the standard second rappel. We encountered one tricky obstacle which was a giant smooth 12 foot boulder. We got my son up by using my back and shoulders for his footholds. He then belayed me up which would have been easy had we not been a bit exhausted and dealing with intense cold wind.

Anyway we were at the belay station and with headlamps in the dark. The prospect of rappelling in the dark was a bit frightening (especially for my son) but the cold wind may have been worse than the dark. On the 50 ft rappel to Fridays Folly Ledge, I was going too fast and was a bit out of control, but made it OK. My son followed with perfect rappel form. We then spent quite some time deciding between the 75 ft rappel around the corner or the 140 ft rappel from where we were. We were a bit nervous, but I tried to show confidence to my son that we would get down safely. We decided on the long rappel.

For the second rappel, I switched from a standard ATC thing to a Guide ATC which has a high friction mode. During my rappel, I was concentrating on the friction and trying to descend at a slow safe speed. Suddenly in a fraction of a second my feet went out of control and I flipped upside down with feet facing up and head down. This action was probably the first instance of injury to my back. I tried to maneuver to a normal position and was unable to get things right. I thought I was really in a bad situation, but nobody in the world could help me right then, Ultimately I kept my brake hand on the ropes and continued the rappel another 100 feet bouncing around upside down/sideways and landing on the ground flat on my back. I could feel the pain in my lower back (2 previous back surgeries in the late 90s). I was happy to be alive, and was conscious, but had a minor problem there on the ground. I was not paralyzed, but was sort of "frozen" and couldn't move for about 10 minutes. I kept calling up to my son to wait a few minutes. He was still scared at the ledge up there and could hardly wait to get down and get the thing over with. Eventually I forced myself to roll over and get up and undo the rope so my son could rappel. I protected him by holding the ropes and he executed a perfect 140 ft rappel. The time was about 8:30 or so.

My lower back hurt a lot, but I was able to get up and walk around a little on flat terrain. To get to hiking territory we had to go up a 30 foot low angle wall. Normally this wouldn't be a huge problem, but with my back injury I tried twice from 2 different sides and only made it halfway. I could feel my heart race to hyperspeed and knew something wasn't quite right. We rested for a while and went in a cave to get out of the cold wind. We called my wife in Lafayette and my 21 yr old son in Montana (professional mountain guide) to seek advice.

We wanted to self-rescue and hike out but decided to call 9-1-1 a little after 10. We thought a small search and rescue team could reach us and help us get to the trail to hike down. With the injuries I had, they thought it was best to carry me down even though this would mean heroic effort by the numerous search & rescue people.

Here's some things we should have done differently:
Should have done a much shorter climb like Third Flatironette, or Freeway on Second Flatiron or Front Porch approached from NCAR trail or something like that.
Should have started earlier since we knew we were slow - should have been on rock by about 9 am.
Should have pushed harder to not take so long.
Should have done some practice rappelling in advance.
Should have sought professional advice about using a safety prusik setup on the rappel.

Finally, we are extremely thankful to the best search and rescue people in the universe.
They got quite a workout Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

If any of the posters come back to read the full story, you will obviously understand the event better.
Feel free to throw out all kinds of criticisms since we know we made some mistakes."

Read more: Rescuers worked through the night to help pair stranded on the Third Flatiron - Boulder Daily Camera dailycamera.com/news/ci_169…
DailyCamera.com

Having read Kevin's account my reaction remains one of alarm and sympathy. It's easy to start too late, climb slower than you plan, and get benighted. (My brother and I spent a memorable March night spooning on top of Royal Arches, below about 50' of 4th class we couldn't see to climb.)

I do have one suggestion for future parties topping out on the 3rd in tough circumstances, as long as your rope is at least 60 meters. From the top, and especially from the big ledge just below the top (accessed by the first short rap or cutting through the gash) a simple exit is afforded by anchoring a single rope and getting off the cliff in one rap. You can worry about recovering the rope--or not--later. If conditions are tough, it's cheap life insurance. The worst downside would be that you lose the rope. If you're worried about an inexperienced member rapping on a single line, lower him/her to the ground, and the experienced party raps the single line.

If you're rapping from the very top, there is a bit of an awkward roof lip to get over before you can ride the down-elevator.

In much less severe circumstances, I did that this summer on a full moon ascent of the 3rd. The dark climbing and poor view of gear placements made for slower going than we hoped. At top, deep into the night and not wanting to hassle with multiple rappels, I just lowered my less experienced partner, then rapped. The next day I soloed back up and did the rappels. The last part wasn't an option for this team. But posting for help with lost gear or just losing the rope seem far better than venturing into the abyss.

Hindsight is easy, but sometimes it seems like fear of losing gear outweighs safe judgment.

I'm curious as to why Kevin's son didn't hike out to get help and, more importantly, warmth.

Not criticizing...just wondering what led them to both stay there in that weather.

Something I think about here, the exposure or getting benighted seems more matter of comfort; meaning whether it took them 2 hours or three days, they were able to maintain themselves while climbing. They really didn't make a bad call setting up systems, using anchors, and getting off.

My philosophy on most Flatirons is that the best way to bail is just to keep climbing. It seems to me they were prepared enough to do that.

He hurt his back by losing his balance on rap which could have happened in broad daylight. The third-hand hitch is a good idea, but the climber would still have an injured back, although the risk of falling once he did hurt his back might have been managed better. Though it seems he was able to control himself even in an awkward and hurt position and offer a fireman's.

Is it Monday? Bring out the armchair quarter-backin.

Or close the book and don't discuss nothin'. Everyone should learn everything for themselves the hard way, in actual conditions, right?

EDIT: Actually, England, one of my New Years Resolutions is to better observe Rule #1 on and off MP. Thinking about your comment caused me to revise my earlier post about getting of the top of the 3rd, into less of a critique and more of a suggestion. Thanks.

JLP wrote:A mountain lion would have made this story more interesting.

Naked climber chicks as well.

Julius Beres wrote: What explanation? I read the article. It says he had some sort of back problem while rapping and then called rescue at 10 pm. Why did it take until 10 pm to get to the rap? Did he have back problems while climbing too?

Reading comprehension OwnZ U! Read the quoted text in your own post above or just read the explanation now posted in this thread.