Accident on Manic Crack in NM

There is a discussion about this on Reddit.
reddit.com/r/climbing/comme…

I was curious if anyone here had any more information about what happened or news about how the injured climber is doing.

I wonder if any of the Chinese children that work at the BD camalot factory actually climb or care much about it.

this was posted earlier on mp and removed....basically some guy broke his back and claims x4's failed but provided no info

its highly unlikely that three "perfectly placed" cams, one of which was double axle failed in a row, suggesting user error

but like was said before - no info so all speculation

hope the guy heals up and actually posts up what happened w/ details

The Internet demands answers!

He's a friend and coworker. I spoke with him yesterday and sounds like the doctors are expecting a full recovery. I asked him about the cams and whether they pulled or broke and he was pretty clear that the cams broke. I haven't seen pics (he's in the hospital for a few more days). But he said the lobes sheared.

Glad to hear that the climber is expected to make a full recovery. It will be interesting to see the pics whenever they get posted.

There won't be any pictures.

Care to elaborate?

Seth Kane wrote:because the guy who fell is most likely just trying to cover his ass for his shitty gear placement. Failure of not one, but three cams in a row due to shearing has a ~0% chance of happening.

It wasn't even supposedly a fall. The article said the first piece failed after he only "took" on it. I think if it were possible to break an x4 by taking on it, stories like this would be everywhere.

If this is real, though, I hope the injured climber heals quickly and wish him the best. I nursed my guy back from seven fractured vertebrae, and it was a long, difficult process for him. Take heart, though, he was back to climbing within a year and has fully recovered. I watched him do a v4 in tennis shoes this weekend.

Well, it would appear the accident is legit. The story behind it seems a bit fishy though. A cam failing on a "take"? I don't buy it...

Los Alamos Daily Post

NC Rock Climber wrote:Care to elaborate?

Because it was user error.

caughtinside wrote:I sheared metal off a cam in a fall in what I thought was a perfect placement once.

The article said he didn't fall. He "took" on the .4 x4 and it failed. To boot, they claim it was the second instance of an x4 failing on a take.

I had the previous thread removed because no one took it seriously and it was upsetting. Pictures of the damaged gear will be posted soon.

Thank you to everyone who actually posted positive messages.

Well, it would appear the accident is legit. The story behind it seems a bit fishy though. A cam failing on a "take"? I don't buy it... Los Alamos Daily Post </quote

I does sound fishy, I know. But I am not lying.

Kerr Adams wrote:I had the previous thread removed because no one took it seriously and it was upsetting. Pictures of the damaged gear will be posted soon. Thank you to everyone who actually posted positive messages.

If that were the water-mark for MP topics, they'd all be deleted!

For what it's worth, I agree with Caughtinside. It may seem unlikely for 3 cams to fail, but without any evidence, speculating that they did not fail is just as misguided as speculating that they did. Sure it seems unlikely, but so did the whole Alien debacle. While remaining a bit skeptical, I'll reserve judgement until we see the pictures or hear from BD. It wouldn't be the first time there was defective gear out there...but it also wouldn't be the first time I saw someone swear their gear was "bomber", only to have them umbrella/pull and hit the ground. It is also possible that BOTH happened...ie some combination of poor placement(s) and a piece of gear failing.

Kerr Adams wrote:Well, it would appear the accident is legit. The story behind it seems a bit fishy though. A cam failing on a "take"? I don't buy it... Los Alamos Daily Post </quote I does sound fishy, I know. But I am not lying.

BTW I doubt anyone really believes you are lying. You could be right, or It is entirely possible to just be wrong/misinterpret without intentionally fabricating the story. THe bottom line is that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. And given that poor judgment in gear placement (even when the climber swears the gear was good) has happened far more often than gear defects, I'm afraid this will require extraordinary evidence.

Hey Kerr. I am really glad that you are ok and expected to make a full recovery. That is awesome news.

I'll second the message that I don't think that anyone here thinks that you are intentionally lying. Csproul said exactly what I was thinking. I will look forward to seeing pictures and hearing more details.

All that aside, the fact that you will recover is awesome. Hang in there and heal up fast!

Kerr - as a climber who was once (and perhaps still is) very close to the climbing community in New Mexico, I am very saddened by your accident and hope for a speedy recovery!

I am very anxious to hear the details and see gear pics related to the incident. Don't let mp negativity get you down - it's easy to be an a$$hole when you are removed from the situation and sitting in front of a computer screen. I gave up on mp user opinions years ago.

It's a terrible thing anyway you look at it. Why should I not take the OP's word on it? He seems closer to the ordeal than I am. I am sorry about your buddy and I hope he gets well and climbing again soon.

Pics or GTFO.

I wish you the best, and a speedy recovery.

Having bought a fresh set of x4's (minus the .1), I was, of course, following Shoo's thread about the x4's. Even the sticky lobes problem...I bought on the first batch at rei and have not seen any sticky lobes on the rei batch. But the lop-sided stem was there for sure.

So this is an interesting claim, to say that 3 any pieces pulled out, at all, but so is bigfoot...it isn't past the realm of possibility