Indian Creek -the Wall accident

FrankPS wrote:

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?

No--not the route. It was a joke based on the name of the climb.

Bagel Sendwich wrote:

No--not the route. It was a joke based on the name of the climb.

Ah, thanks. Forgive me for being dim-witted!

Wrong state, too.

Jay Dee wrote: 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. 

I sometimes drive to the crag wearing my helmet.  If everyone wore a helmet all the time, all the problems of the world would be solved 

Unfortunate.
I’m a fan of lowering vs. rapping.

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.”

Rapping/lowering is most common cause of climbing accidents and this was bound to happen eventually and it did.

Bagel Sendwich wrote:

No--not the route. It was a joke based on the name of the climb.

Please guys, no jokes. She got seriously fucked up from an incident straight out of a National Lampoon movie.

Ian White wrote: It's instagram.com/chelleslacks/ if anyone is interested. 

@chelleslacks  I hope you get back on your feet and hands and slack and anywhere else you want to be soon.  I checked your Instagram and you’ve got some rad skills. You literally saved that dude’s life. I hope yours is back to normal and blissful ASAP. 

Tradiban wrote:

Please guys, no jokes. She got seriously fucked up from an incident straight out of a National Lampoon movie.

Nope. Based on your past posts everything  is fair game. 

Sorry that idiot fell on you, Michelle. Hope you get well soon.

Slow down everybody. We need to hear his side of the story before passing judgment.

It's been so hard to not comment... I swore I'd just leave the thread be...

1) Someone used the word "Accident." Incorrect. Failing to ensure the rope is in the middle or both ends are on the ground is not "by chance," that's by negligent action.
2) Sure, she "shouldn't" have been under him. How does that absolve the person rapping of making sure their LZ is clear? Same rationale, I can't just call "rope!" and toss my rope down, I first need to look and ensure that I'm tossing my rope to a clear area. If there's people on the ground (or at the next rap station on a multi), the onus is on me to lower my ends instead of tossing them. Same applies once I start rapping.
3) I'm not in need of passing any judgement but I'm equally not in need of hearing his side if he indeed came off his rope 20ft off the ground. Zero excuse for that, period. Unless she (and any witnesses) are full of mierda, he's the one who effed up here, so hearing his "side" would only be beneficial to explain how he effed up (IMO).

Feel free to flame away if I got something wrong, as I'm always eager to learn, but 1, 2, and 3 have been drilled into me by some pretty competent folks, so I'm a bit unclear as to how this could be anything but a royal f*** up by the person rapping.

Fuuuuuuck. That's about how much I weigh. I've inadvertantly sidechecked someone passing through the door and have been blacklisted from the restaurant, it hurt the dude I made contact with so much. I couldn't imagine falling from 20 feet onto somebody. Here's to a speed recovery.

Guess I'm not so pissed someone dropped their phone on me from the anchor above where I was climbing today.

We're only two pages in, a little early for Godwin to make an appearance.

Really sorry this happened, super lame. Sucks when someone else's stupidity can cause injury, hopefully he will help out monetarily with getting your life back on track.

Also Creekend made me throw up in my mouth a bit.

Lower. Off. Single. Pitch. Routes.

Hobo Greg wrote:

I’m going to respectfully disagree with that one. Overhead hazard is a real objective hazard that all people at the base of a crag need to be aware of. Obviously this dude fucked up massively and is hopefully extremely apologetic and has learned what to do differently in the future, but if there are people above you at the cliff, you have to assume that the can cause a range of random items (including themselves) to come falling down on you.  If this had been mentioned by in the original Instagram post, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation, but she completely omitted it and kinda layed into this guy.  (for good reason) Failing to avoid overhead hazard is an obvious and significant factor that informed the outcome here and has an important place in the conversation debriefing what happened. 

Max Tepfer wrote:

I’m going to respectfully disagree with that one. Overhead hazard is a real objective hazard that all people at the base of a crag need to be aware of. Obviously this dude fucked up massively and is hopefully extremely apologetic and has learned what to do differently in the future, but if there are people above you at the cliff, you have to assume that the can cause a range of random items (including themselves) to come falling down on you.  If this had been mentioned by in the original Instagram post, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation, but she completely omitted it and kinda layed into this guy.  (for good reason) Failing to avoid overhead hazard is an obvious and significant factor that informed the outcome here and has an important place in the conversation debriefing what happened. 

This is worth repeating. She took no responsibility for her part in it. None. (cue the "victim blaming" comments).

Greg Davis wrote:
Also Creekend made me throw up in my mouth a bit.

If I went the rest of my life without ever hearing “creekend” it would not be long enough.