Baraboo Scanner reports a 38yo male fell at the Lake on Saturday 9/29/18.

jon jugenheimer wrote: The gentleman in question was on Brintons direct for his first lead at DL. It was the end of the day, slowly getting dark and had just sprinkled.  He said that he chose the direct, as he just spoke with another climber that was on the regular route in their approach shoes and reported the traverse to be “slippery”. He thus thought going straight up would therefor be safer. Climbing into the crux he reported both route finding issues and the arrival of “Elvis Leg” while downclimbing and rerouteing.  

One cam pulled (and is reported to be quite damaged) during the fall from above the alcove.  The climber did not have a ground fall, but did sustain a concussion from the fall hitting the wall somewhere.  He was then lowered to the ground and carried out.  

I meet the climber and the belayer yesterday and those were some of the details that were reported.  The cam, which I did not see was “Yellow, a .3 or a .4”. Only knowing BD cams personally, I can say neither the .3 or .4 from any style is yellow, so I am not sure what was placed. 

The climber was from Iowa, the belayer was from Chicago.  They were reliving the experience on Sunday when I meet them and he seemed fine and healthy.  I didn’t ask about any specific injuries but from the outside, it looks like he will make a full recovery from any issues.  
 

Brintons Direct for a first lead, because it would be safer?! Welcome to da Lake!

If they guy had made the ascent... that would have been a pretty good/great notch in the belt.  Ha!  I am so glad to hear the climber is OK. 

Agree Burt.  That's kind of a heady onsight lead even for a seasoned DL leader.  Glad to hear of good outcome on this one.

Did he have a helmet on? Did the concussion occur despite the helmet? 

Btw, great sleuthing Jugs, nice work.

jon jugenheimer wrote:

 The gentleman in question was on Brintons direct for his first lead at DL. It was the end of the day, slowly getting dark and had just sprinkled.  He said that he chose the direct, as he just spoke with another climber that was on the regular route in their approach shoes and reported the traverse to be “slippery”. He thus thought going straight up would therefor be safer. Climbing into the crux he reported both route finding issues and the arrival of “Elvis Leg” while downclimbing and rerouteing.  

One cam pulled (and is reported to be quite damaged) during the fall from above the alcove.  The climber did not have a ground fall, but did sustain a concussion from the fall hitting the wall somewhere.  He was then lowered to the ground and carried out.  

I meet the climber and the belayer yesterday and those were some of the details that were reported.  The cam, which I did not see was “Yellow, a .3 or a .4”. Only knowing BD cams personally, I can say neither the .3 or .4 from any style is yellow, so I am not sure what was placed.

The climber was from Iowa, the belayer was from Chicago.  They were reliving the experience on Sunday when I meet them and he seemed fine and healthy.  I didn’t ask about any specific injuries but from the outside, it looks like he will make a full recovery from any issues.

I am the climber from Iowa (Joel), and in case it puts anyone’s mind at ease or helps someone in the future, I’ll clear up a few details.

First, I am recovering well and appreciate all the kind words here, not to mention the aide of first responders and EMS. Thank you so much, Alex, for cleaning my cams and slings and shipping them. Jon, I appreciate your feedback and advice when we ran into you a couple weeks after my fall... trying to sort out what had happened, why I’d taken an unexpected, unexpectedly long fall on what was by all published accounts a moderate, popular route (5.8+ with “adequate” pro per MP, per the DL guidebook, and per one local climber I’d met... subsequently “a Lake 8” and “PG-13”).

Second, Brinton’s direct was not my first climb at Devil’s Lake. For context, I have almost two decades’ climbing experience. I comfortably lead 5.7-8-9 on gear on all sorts of rock, and don’t mind getting on 10s, though that is about as far as I like to push it on gear. If there are bolts, I routinely lead 12s and project 12d-13b. Before Brinton’s direct (one of maybe 10-15 other moderate DL pitches I had read about, inquired about, and aspired to lead)  I had bouldered some V2-5 the weekend before, then sampled first a 5.4 on Cleo’s needle followed by Queen’s Throne (5.4), King’s Throne (5.6), and Berkeley (5.6). Besides an (enjoyably) pumpy move or two (King’s) I found those routes fairly graded relative to YDS ratings elsewhere in the US. I had heard from several climbers over many years that Devil’s Lake quarzite is slippery, with a propensity to eject gear, and that rhe grades are sand-bagged, so I had no intention of hopping directly on 9-10s as I might in areas with a better reputation for safety and grade-accuracy. As for this specific climb, the route descriptions on MP and the Devil’s Lake guidebook didn’t say anything about sparse pro or a cryptic, run-out crux. Once I heal (injuries from my fall included 10 spinal fractures and a contused lung), I plan to rap this route, figure out what went wrong, and then re-lead it so I can speak with more confidence about the grade. Maybe there really is a 5.8(plus) sequence up there, and I totally flubbed it. Commenting on a route grade without sending a pitch clean (ground-up) is not my style... other than to say that this is the first sub-10 climb on any type of rock that I can remember shutting me down in many years.
Third, I was happy with my placements. I placed solid pro, and I’m not sure I could have made any better placements, as best I can tell. I used all the good spots the rock offered, spaced every 5-8’ pretty evenly up to the (?run-out) cruxy bit about 50’ off the deck. I remember placing the cam the quarzite spit out (a yellow BD micro) because it was such a perfect, parallel crack/slot for that piece I had commented aloud that it was a lovely placement. The piece below it, which held my fall, was bomber too, as was basically everything up to that point. I fell not high above the yellow cam (5 feet above it maybe) and I remember a safe, normal fall intially, but then seeing and hearing my yellow cam pop. I don’t know exactly what happened between then and awakening on the ground, in pain. That piece popping or the longer than expected fall may have spun me away from the wall, but I can’t exclude flipping upside down. In either case, I hit my back on the wall at the bottom of my fall and crushed a bunch of spinous processes and hit my head, losing consciousness briefly. The broken bones hurt, and will take time to heal, but all things considered I was lucky not to require surgery or suffer a more serious spinal (cord) injury. 
I hope this is helpful. Thanks again for all the supportive comments.

The cam that popped had mild scratches on most lobes, one of the trigger wires scraped off entirely (lost), and the other popped loose). The trigger and cam action all work normally as best I can tell, and it seems that the rock just couldn’t hold this piece. (Though I am interested to hear any other interpretations — this is the first time I’ve ever had a cam I placed pop, so I’m no expert in cam forensics).

Joel Geerling wrote: The cam that popped had mild scratches on most lobes, one of the trigger wires scraped off entirely (lost), and the other popped loose). The trigger and cam action all work normally as best I can tell, and it seems that the rock just couldn’t hold this piece. (Though I am interested to hear any other interpretations — this is the first time I’ve ever had a cam I placed pop, so I’m no expert in cam forensics).

Hard to say without seeing the placement itself. The "solid" range on such a small cam is pretty small. The smallest piece I have whipped on at DL is a purple c3 but it was probably the best placement ever ( was on Code of the Sea). Jugs was there actually.

God speed!

Glad you’re doing ok, Joel.  I’ve led Brinton’s a few times and looked up at the Direct and said a quick “Hell no!”.  Kudos for going for it!

That’s a yellow...0.2 X4?  One of the smallest cams in the line, and not rated high...I believe BD claims they are not rated for free climbing, although everyone of course uses them for it.  Being that two of the trigger wires snapped, I’m willing to guess that the cam pulled because the gear failed, but I’m curious what more experienced people think, as I’ve fallen on gear but never broken a cam.  Jugs/Nick/etc: do you think the broken trigger wires could have caused the cam to rip?  What was the piece that held?

The only role of the trigger wires is to retract the lobes when placing and cleaning the cam. If you place a cam properly and cut the trigger wires, the only difference is that it will be a pain to remove.

I don't have x4s on my rack, but the three smallest sizes are single axle cams with no cam stops, no? It certainly looks like the lobes of the cam inverted (umbrella-ed, as the kids say) as it was being dragged out, breaking the trigger wires. That would have been after the piece failed.  If you look at the first picture posted, there are scratches on the inside of the left inside cam lobe. Again, I don't have x4s in hand to check, but I don't think it's possible to get scratches there without inverting the lobe.

As noted above, small cams are super finicky to place, and Baraboo quartzite has a low enough friction coefficient that it's certainly possible to pull a cam. Even if it slid a just little bit, that could have been enough that it wasn't in a good placement anymore.

BD says that the .2 x4 is rated for 6 kN and they don't give any special cautions as to it being aid only (unlike some of their smaller nuts).

Joel, glad to hear that your prognosis is good, and relieved that your injuries were not as serious as they could have been.

X4 certification: https://safety.theuiaa.org/front/product_detail_page_certified_labels.php?id=3536&x= 
Frictional anchor cert that they're under: https://uiaa-web.azureedge.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/UIAA125-Frictional-Anchors.jpg