2 climbers die in fall from el cap

Russ Keane wrote: Question about simul-climbing:   How many pieces are typically in the system at a given time?  These guys would have had a couple of cams plugged, right?   Would a team ever simul-climb with no pro?

Yes, and I know of a route called "Dos Equis" that was put up that way. I was talking to Thomas Kelly and he was telling me about doing a new route with Kris Kline, I think. One of them was leading, the climbing was 5.10, and he hadn't gotten a single piece in. He ran out of rope, so the belayer took out the anchors and started following. This was the second or third pitch. The two guys in Yosemite were simulclimbing on 5.7 at the 9th or 10th pitch, according to the article. I guess, since they were solid on 5.12, they felt confident with their abilities. The article said nothing about a haul bag, but details will come out and clear things up.

Very sad news. My condolences to the friends and family of those who passed. I'm so sorry.

I was one of the witnesses in the meadow, and wrote the supertopo post mentioning an apparent haul bag.  To clarify, I am not confident that I witnessed a haul bag falling, only that, in the moment, it appeared so.  Given the relative physical scale and time-frame involved in unexpectedly watching this event from El Cap meadow with the naked eye, my initial reaction was that I thought I was witnessing a series of haul bags coming off.  It sounded like that as it came down and made sense given the shouting that immediately precluded it.  It is very possible that no haul bag was involved, and that confirmation bias affected my subsequent observations as the event unfolded.  I apologize if my statements were misleading; I was just trying to relay what I saw or perceived to see.

I am hopeful that YOSAR will write a detailed accident report once the facts are known.

Excerpts from article's account by Jordan Cannon climbing above and then below the team when passed by Klein, Wells and Prince.

By the time they reached a roof on the third pitch, Jason Wells was close behind them, linking pitches and placing minimal gear.

At Triangle ledge, the top of pitch 6, Wells climbed through, leading the next 5.9 pitch without placing any gear.

Around 8:15 a.m., as Wells climbed towards Mammoth Terraces, Cannon heard a thud. Cannon saw Wells fall 60 meters, stop briefly, then fall farther and hit the wall. “Fuck!” He heard Klein scream. Then Klein fell. Their rope momentarily caught behind a block and the fall was arrested. Then their cord severed and both Wells and Klein fell approximately 1,000 feet to the ground. It was impossible to determine if they had gear between them due to the rope being severed a few feet above Klein’s knot. 

explaining how there could have been a third climber but that climber not being pulled off when Klein and Wells came off

Klein jumared up in his approach shoes with a second rope, which he fixed for Prince. The team motored up the wall, making quick time.
After Prince, who was toprope soloing with a mini-traxion on the second fixed rope, cleared the 5.9 section of pitch 7, Cannon started up. He then waited for Prince to finish the Half Dollar pitch and pull the dangling second rope out of the way.

Charlotte Fox and Jason Wells on top of the Happy Submarine, October 2012. Jason lead the crux, a 100' 11+ fist crack, with a single #4 Camalot.

RIP to two hard chargers.

This is a tragic accident, two bright lights snuffed out in an instant.

This sport can and will bite you hard even if your safe.

I offer my sincere condolences to the Families and Friends of the deceased climbers.

All of US need to say I love you and hold tight to your loved ones.

Peace 

I guess I just can't relate to being so good at rock climbing, that to find a challenge  you have to do things so fast and without a lot of protection, just for the heck of it or just because it's harder than doing it normal.  For example, leading a 100' 5.11 fist crack with one cam.  Why?  

Not the time or place to dissect I suppose, but it does seem appropos to the tragedy of two awesome athletes dying while doing their sport.  If you can't do it safely is it even worth doing?   It's just weird, you have Honnold and Caldwell up there continuing the speed game, even with this incident in their midsts, taking photos and laughing with their buddy who's lying there with broken legs.    Shouldn't they walk away from El Cap for a while, in respect to the lives lost and in order to show the humility and patience to nature and the forces of death that are around the cliff?    

Sorry for the rant, please reply or flame, whatever.  Just thinking.

Sorry to hear this news and my condolences. May they rest in peace and best wishes to celebrating their beautiful lives. Tragic as this is.....much respect to their bold and fast style. I have led that last pitch before the terrace s and given their competence, it's hard to believe they would have slipped on their own accord.
    If a haul bag collision  was involved in the accident it should be part of the evidence on the ground.
I apologize if I missed any details in this regard.
Sad as this tragedy is, it would be much sadder if it was due to someone else's negligence.
May their spirits soar on!

Russ Keane wrote: I guess I just can't relate to being so good at rock climbing, that to find a challenge  you have to do things so fast and without a lot of protection, just for the heck of it or just because it's harder than doing it normal.  For example, leading a 100' 5.11 fist crack with one cam.  Why?  

Have you ever led a 5.2 pitch while placing minimal or even no protection? Why

Not the time or place to dissect I suppose, but it does seem appropos to the tragedy of two awesome athletes dying while doing their sport.  If you can't do it safely is it even worth doing?   It's just weird, you have Honnold and Caldwell up there continuing the speed game, even with this incident in their midsts, taking photos and laughing with their buddy who's lying there with broken legs.

Recall that they fell off of a 5.7 pitch - a difficulty level far easier than their upper limit. And Hans broke his ankle and heel when an aid piece he was standing on popped. Even Hans doesn't think speed was a factor (and he wasn't training for any kind of speed ascent).

Shouldn't they walk away from El Cap for a while, in respect to the lives lost and in order to show the humility and patience to nature and the forces of death that are around the cliff?

Different people deal with death differently.

"For example, leading a 100' 5.11 fist crack with one cam.  Why?"

More than likely the leader was walking the cam up the crack with him as he climbed.

"More than likely the leader was walking the cam up the crack with him as he climbed."

Yes, I understand that, but two cams would be prudent.  Just saying, one gets so bold and confident that he/she starts taking shortcuts.  It really sucks that two expert climbers died on an easy pitch.   (Died at all, but insane that it happened on 5.7.  I mean, both guys and luckily not the third.)   Something has to be aggregiously overlooked for both climbers to die.  Either that or a freak of nature weather-related scenario.

Marc801. Most normal people do not put all theirs eggs on one  aid piece yet it is a practice that is routine for speed climbers. 

really bummed to hear this news.  both of these guys were really nice people.

for good or for bad, some of us are drawn to that kind of flow / fluidity.

a close cousin is when in the alpine with a well-known partner, effortlessly moving together between free soloing, simul-climbing and climbing with fixed belays.  and transitioning between them in whatever  sequence the terrain and your own capabilities dictate - albeit with ever present imperfections.

and here are two lives cut short. and close friends and most significantly young families struggling to cope.  heart-felt condolences for your severe loss.

I am a hack really, I can pull a 5.10 trad pitch out of my butt every now and then, but I can totally see where anyone can bite it on 5.7 (or easier) pitches. My closest calls, and I have had a couple have been on easy terrain when holds have fallen off in my hands.   Luckily, I have never fell because of it, but the last time in Red Rocks I would have taken a 100+ footer, certainly died, and might have ripped the belay out.  We were off route on seldom climbed terrain, without the best of belays.   It scraped the crap out of me.

slim wrote: really bummed to hear this news.  both of these guys were really nice people.

Word, Slim. That's probly the shittiest part about this deal.

I was fortunate to meet Tim Klein on the Nose when he was doing a NIAD with Jim Herson a few years back. He exuded confidence and kindness.

 I guess Tim's deal was to tackle the second block with most of the direct aiding. He told me he didn't even bother bringing rock shoes anymore, preferring to do his block in approach shoes. His rationale was, "I can aid any 5.8 pitch on El Cap."

kevin deweese wrote: Already posted on this thread 2 days ago. 

Whoops, sorry just saw that.

Brooke Silagy wrote:

Whoops, sorry just saw that.

There's no need to apologize, posting a link that has already been posted is perfectly okay. "kevin" is just a bully with low self-esteem

Looks like these guys saw what happened:

https://www.climbing.com/news/eye-witnesses-recount-tragic-accident-on-el-caps-freeblast/