Indian Creek -the Wall accident

Anyone know what happened today up at the wall? Saw a chopper flying around till 6pm. Hope everyone’s okay

I believe this was the incident (shared publicly on facebook)

I am in the hospital in Grand Junction with the worst pain I’ve ever had in my head and neck. My neck is not broken but I have a minor brain bleed that’s being consistently monitored by CT scans. Luckily my amazing boyfriend Stephen Burns is here with me and this hospital is amazing with great staff.
Yesterday I was at The Wall at Indian Creek, and while I was collecting my gear from the base of the climb I just put up, the person who TRed it last was cleaning it. He did not make sure that when they pulled up the rope to rappel, that the other end reached the ground. Nor did he pull it up all the way to the middle mark on the rope, which there was one, perhaps because our rope is an 80 meter and it was taking too much time? He pulled up some rope and descended with it in a saddle bag for some reason. If he did tie a knot in the end of the saddle bagged rope as he said he did, it clearly was not a sufficient or secure knot and worked it’s way out. They also apparently did not notice as they were reaching the end of one rope, and fell 20+ feet to the ground on to me. The 185 pound man who fell on me was wearing a helmet and was more or less completely okay, it seems I broke his fall.
I was knocked unconscious for 30-45 seconds, until I remember coming to and seeing Stephen rushing over to me, I couldn’t hear much, the world was going in and out, and I was unable to move my body or say any words. I finally was able to spit out “I need help” over and over again. Many people at the crag had wilderness first aid experience and someone called Search and Rescue on their satellite device. My head and neck was secured and eventually the helicopter arrived dropping off two paramedics and more hiked up. I was carried down the steep rocky trail all the way from the crag to the parking lot in an absolutely heroic and admirable team effort by search and rescue and my incredible friends, where I was air lifted to St. Mary’s in Grand Junction, where I’ve been since about 11 pm last night, after the incident occurred around 4pm.
I am fully unapologetic about the fact that this person’s sequence of safety choices during rappelling was completely inappropriate. ALWAYS make sure a secure knot is tied at the end of both ropes, if your not is loose and too close to the sharp end, it can work itself out. ALWAYS make sure that your rope is on the ground. For a single pitch rappel in no wind, there is no reason to saddle bag. The rope had never gotten stuck in the features below the other times we were on this climb. There was a half dozen people at the base who this person could have communicated with. The 80 meter rope he was rappelling on did have a halfway mark, and for some reason he decided not to pull the rope all the way to the halfway mark. If he didn’t know whether or not there was one, we were all at the base and could have easily communicated.
I am not trying to attack or belittle this person, but instead everyone who’s reading this PLEASE take this as a lesson. Short cuts in the climbing world can be deadly. He could have died from the fall. His fall could have snapped my neck and i could have died on the spot. If my brain bleeding was worse I could have died on the spot. Rope systems and standards occur for a reason and because of one person’s choice to not abide them or to abide them poorly, I am now in extreme pain, at an extremely unfortunate time, as things are ramping up in Moab.
That being said, these upcoming two weeks require a lot from me. I am a manager of GGBY and rigging the whole festival begins this Thursday, and there is an endless amount fun coming up that I could be having. I will likely miss my last week of work, my last chance to make money before my December travels. My last creekend for the week was cut short. I have no idea if I will be able to perform the tasks that are my responsibility for GGBY, teach the workshops that I am on the schedule for, or even attend at all. That being said, please practice patience with me over the next couple weeks, and I’d still love to see all my friends who are coming into town, even if I am unable to move much.
As of right now I am still in the hospital and I don’t know when I will be released. Thank you already to those who have reached out, my headache still allows me to look at my screen from time to time but I am not in a mental state for too much of anything. I am beyond grateful for my friends who helped me yesterday, as well as the strangers and the absolutely incredible, top notch search and rescue team in this area. Thank you thank you thank you.

holy fuck. 

I hope the person who fell on her covers her medical bills.

Don't hang out in the landing zone for a rappeller. Stand off to the side, or back, several feet.

It's instagram.com/chelleslacks/ if anyone is interested. 

Nolan Yahok wrote: I hope we find out his name....

Why so we can have public lynching?  On mountain project.  I hope she recovers well. A terrible incident, which she has every right to be upset.  Accidents in climbing are a reality and can happen to any of us.  

Sounds like he was showing off his ability to saddle bag a rope, and that takes extra time and work when you're on vertical terrain with no wind. That IS weird and unnecessary, and almost got someone killed. I've seen people make lazy end knots, or no knots, everywhere I go.

Wow, what a nightmare. I'm glad she appears to be ok. Hopefully she'll make a quick and full recovery.

Obviously he failed to close the system, by seeing the rope ends on the ground or tying adequate knots. These are concepts most know but occasionally disregard. Being lowered instead would have prevented this, nevertheless rappelling remains a reasonable alternative with proper technique.

The lesson I take from this event, however, is to avoid standing below people climbing above. I'm always worried about this from a rock-fall (and gear-fall) perspective and never hang out for long at the base of a busy climb. Although almost all his fault, this is also partly her fault--she could have more aware of her surroundings.

Matt Desenberg wrote:

Obviously good practice (especially for rockfall, etc.) and something that I think most people generally do. But, in all fairness, when someone is rapping, my first thought isn’t necessarily, “I better get out of the way in case they randomly fall 20+ feet onto my head.”

It might now. Can happen. Did happen

I think we need to have a talk about dirtbag on dirtbag violence.

(Just to speculate: Perhaps there were a group of folks below the climb and he didn't want to drop the rope on them because they were packing up there gear so he decides to saddle bag the ropes (not to practice but out of curtesy to those below), but it not being his rope he didn't know if there was a middle mark so he pulled up what he thought was enough, but alas he was mistaken.)

Paul Hutton wrote: I've seen people make lazy end knots, or no knots, everywhere I go.

I've seen knots come out from being whipped around 100's of feet - but it just came out by itself basically resting in his lap?  Sounds weird, or must have been a seriously careless knot.  Did anyone see him actually tying it, or is he just trying to sound less negligent?

Bagel Sendwich wrote: (Just to speculate: Perhaps there were a group of folks below the climb and he didn't want to drop the rope on them because they were packing up there gear so he decides to saddle bag the ropes (not to practice but out of curtesy to those below), but it not being his rope he didn't know if there was a middle mark so he pulled up what he thought was enough, but alas he was mistaken.)

It sounds like he fed an end through rings, so this should not have been an issue.

Being aware of your rope ends is the most poignant lesson here. With people on the ground, there’s no excuse for not having both ends on the ground/rope fed evenly.

Really sorry to hear this happened. It sounds like quite a few things went wrong with both the climbers process and the injured persons location. Never has the phrase wrong place, wrong time been more accurate 

Wonder if she was wearing a helmet. Seems odd, though not impossible, for her to have a brain bleed if she was. And if she was, was it a hard shell or one made to disperse energy? I often see way too many people standing under walls being climbed without wearing a helmet. I know not all wear them but it could've made a definite difference. 

Whoa. Well, sounds like she’s gonna be OK and she probably saved the dude’s life by playing the role of a human bouldering pad. He had better pay her deductible and owes her a lot of beer. Or kombucha. 

And having a large man fall on your head and smash it into some sandstone is a pretty easy mechanism for a brain bleed of some sort.

what climb ?

matt, and everyone else. never stand under a rappeller. you will get hit with something, possibly even a falling body.   Didn't watch the video but if you absolutely have to place blame  (seems to be the new normal)  anyone that gets hurt when hanging out directly below a rappeler has no one to blame other than themselves. 

Matt Pesce wrote: what climb ?

​https://www.mountainproject.com/route/107634175/its-raining-men​​​

Too soon?

Bagel Sendwich wrote: https://www.mountainproject.com/route/107634175/its-raining-men

Too soon?

They were using an 80 meter rope on a 45 ft. climb, and the ends didn't hit the ground? (yes, it could/did happen, but...)

Are you sure this was the route?