Incapacitated Seconds

What's up with all these incapacitated seconds lately? Are things getting more dangerous?

Seriously, I can see plenty of reasons why the lead would be injured and incapacitated, but the probability of having an incapacitated second seems low enough that I wouldn't even worry about it.

Ken Noyce wrote:

Seriously, I can see plenty of reasons why the lead would be injured and incapacitated, but the probability of having an incapacitated second seems low enough that I wouldn't even worry about it.

I think that the leader knocking a block down on the belayer is really not that exotic. I believe there was a fatality on the East Buttress of El Cap 2 or 3 years ago, and a serious leg injury in the Owens River Gorge last year.

Ken Noyce wrote:

Seriously, I can see plenty of reasons why the lead would be injured and incapacitated, but the probability of having an incapacitated second seems low enough that I wouldn't even worry about it.

Yeah, except for pendulum falls on traverses where the leader ran it out, knocked off loose blocks, lead falls pulling a second up into a roof and knocking them out...  Not to mention it can be more difficult logistically and technically for a leader to rescue an injured follower than vice versa.

Mechanical injuries aside, there are a whole slew of incapacitating medical emergencies.  Seizures, myocardial infarction, heat stroke, acute hypoglycemia, and stroke to name a few.  You can never know too much about self rescue.  

Excellent points.  Self rescue is like a motorcycle helmet, something I hope I'll never need, but it's there just in case.

Nathan Flaim wrote:

Mechanical injuries aside, there are a whole slew of incapacitating medical emergencies.  Seizures, myocardial infarction, heat stroke, acute hypoglycemia, and stroke to name a few.  You can never know too much about self rescue.  

I've got my trusty belay knife. What more do I need.

Nathan Flaim wrote:

Mechanical injuries aside, there are a whole slew of incapacitating medical emergencies.  Seizures, myocardial infarction, heat stroke, acute hypoglycemia, and stroke to name a few.  You can never know too much about self rescue.  

Agreed, but the chances are extremely small.  I've never had an incapacitated second in 60 years of climbing, and no one I know (and that's a lot of climbers) have ever had an incapacitated second either.  I have read about one or two cases.  Not arguing against self-rescue practice, just sayin' you're practicing for something that probably won't ever happen to you.

Which is good in many ways, not the least of which is no matter how much practice you do, a real self-rescue scenario is likely to call for considerable ingenuity and creativity to pull it off.

I think the real reason people focus on rescuing the second is that it is easier than rescuing an incapacitated leader.  Like the joke about the guy who loses his ring in a dark part of the street but goes searching for it under a streetlamp "because that's where the light is."  Another reason is the self-rescue industry is to a large extent run by guides, and from their perspective it is only the second who will need to be rescued.

Guy. no paycheck or tip. those are just my friends. then there are all the poor folks who get suckered into the real buisness :) So there is the thing I have been looking at. seems pretty cool, I think you would like it;) it's only a 45min approach and  there are no bugs,snakes or poision ivy (cough,snicker, cough, try to keep a straight face)  I got the rack and a rope, you don't mind sneaking this tag line,the bosch and an extra battery in your pack do you? ;) Oh, you might want to tell the wife don't worry if we get back after dark;)   2 hrs into the approach. It just up arroud the next corner, honest :)

The frequency of a particular scenario does not matter. Just pick one / any and exercise your mind a little. Then set it down and go climb until next year. :-)

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

Guy. no paycheck or tip. those are just my friends. then there are all the poor folks who get suckered into the real buisness :) So there is the thing I have been looking at. seems pretty cool, I think you would like it;) it's only a 45min approach and  there are no bugs,snakes or poision ivy (cough,snicker, cough, try to keep a straight face)  I got the rack and a rope, you don't mind sneaking this tag line,the bosch and an extra battery in your pack do you? ;) Oh, you might want to tell the wife don't worry if we get back after dark;)   2 hrs into the approach. It just up arroud the next corner, honest :)

I am down....   sorry for thinking you were a guide, knot a knock on guides mind you. My wife knows not to get to worked up till a day or two late.... good wife, she knows I got the big life insurance, her LOTTO    

Guy Keesee wrote:

That's totally my wife and my MO.

A friend of mine who has a guide service has me listed on his roster but so far I have been able to avoid actualy working ;) I hear Kurt Winkler was known for doing first ascents with gulliable clients ;)

Marc801 C wrote:

I've got my trusty belay knife. What more do I need.

Parachute, and some solo skills ;)

JB

Incapacitated before they left the van... LMAO!