Incorrect accident analysis ANA Boulder Canyon pg 49-50

 ANM 2021 page 49-50 Boulder Canyon Ground fall inadequate protection.

Read this last week and it bugged me so here goes.  Professional climber Molly Mitchel tried to climb Crank It 5.13 c/d Sport on gear instead of using the Bolts. While it has been climbed on gear it is still a Sport Climb and previously another professional climber Brad Gobright broke his back and ankle attempting this.  Molly fell, ripped her gear and broke her back.  The editors did not offer their analysis but simply printed her take.  Molly focused on the why and how that her micro gear ripped.  We had a similar discussion on here recently.  Molly did offer that in retrospect she should have clipped the bolt and bailed on that attempt. She did not however address or face up to the obvious.  It's a SPORT CLIMB. Clip the bolts and move on. There is only one reason for climbing a sport climb on gear and that reason is Ego. The need to prove that you are better than whomever stooped so low as to bolt this crack.  In this case the folks who bolted this line made the right call and were much smarter than the pro climbers who broke their backs trying to prove them wrong. 

Accident report should have read.

Fall on rock, Ground fall, skipped clips.  Letting ego influence decisions.  

Ego guides everything we do, I don’t think we can pretend Molly is overtly egotistical and somehow pretend we are not.

In this same vain if honnold died on free rider we could write skipped gear placements.

For once, I agree with the puppy guy

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

 There is only one reason for climbing a sport climb on gear and that reason is Ego. The need to prove that you are better than whomever stooped so low as to bolt this crack.  In this case the folks who bolted this line made the right call and were much smarter than the pro climbers who broke their backs trying to prove them wrong. 

I'm glad you have magical powers to be able to know exactly what people are thinking and what motivates them to attempt a climb in a certain way.

I am certainly not trying to say that I am never influenced by ego.  Ego is a really tough one to overcome . I am saying that focusing the analysis on why the micro gear failed rather than the fact that its a Sport climb clip the bolts is rather silly.  I also see a huge difference between free soloing and trying to lead sport climbs on gear. Free soloing is about the freedom of being unroped.  leading sport climbs on gear is often about being a dick and simply trying to throw shade on the bolters. Especially when the tard climber works the route using the bolts then leads it on wired gear and then chops the bolts.   Certainly not acuseing Molly of having that chopping mindset but that is a traditional aspect of leading sport on gear. 

Nick, not all sport climbs are well bolted, and some are gear climbs that got bolted anyway. Those "sport" climbs that take gear well are out there. They're great for practice, placing gear and clipping bolts.

Lots of stuff that's in between, too. Sport, that nonetheless would go better with some gear, and gear climbs with fixed hardware. They aren't always labeled as "mixed", and you don't always know what's what. Besides, a proper mixed route should involve ice tools, eh??!?

I know you know all this. ANAM at least has the basic info, and yes, point well taken, for this route. I can understand why it bothers you, especially with more than one accident that's similar. Was there a similar conclusion for Brad Gobright's accident?

Best, Helen

Hellen, there is absolutely nothing wrong with bringing a light rack sport climbing and often its a smart move as you can  sometimes get a gear placement in between the bolt placements which might allow you to have  a greater margin of safety.   Traditionally however when folks climb sport climbs entirely on gear skipping all the bolts they  are trying to make a point that the route should not have been bolted.  Sometimes they may be correct but in this case after two broken backs and a broken ankle I suspect that the bolters made the right call. 

I remember from reading the report that Molly said there was video of the fall and that she planned on posting it. Does anyone know if that ever happened?

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

Hellen, there is absolutely nothing wrong with bringing a light rack sport climbing and often its a smart move as you can  sometimes get a gear placement in between the bolt placements which might allow you to have  a greater margin of safety.   Traditionally however when folks climb sport climbs entirely on gear skipping all the bolts they  are trying to make a point that the route should not have been bolted.  Sometimes they may be correct but in this case after two broken backs and a broken ankle I suspect that the bolters made the right call. 

Yeah, we aren't in disagreement, except for what seemed like a pretty sweeping statement of all sport routes everywhere all the time, lol! I climb where "sport" gets....pretty sporty, sometimes. My first real lead fall? Was when I weighted a dinky nut I was trying to use to cheat off of, as a handhold when I couldn't reach where I had to go.

Ripped right through the dirt and crud (where no gear was ever placed in this millennium) the instant I pulled on it.

So my first lead fall was on a sport route....ripping out gear! 

Best, H.

Nick, when did you forget that climbing is about testing oneself against the rock.  So she failed the test - this time.  That doesn't make her wrong to want to test herself.  It may make her stupid but then whom among us hasn't made stupid decisions when climbing?  Some of them we live thru, some we don't.

Here’s a dude leading a sport route with trad gear.

Old lady Hwrote:

So my first lead fall was on a sport route....ripping out gear!

Lol.

Nick Goldsmith wrote:
Accident report should have read.

Fall on rock, Ground fall, skipped clips.  Letting ego influence decisions.  

I’d rather see written the true objective culprit:

Climbing beyond ability without adequate protection.

Clear enough that someone’s judgment failed them.

How is your way more beneficial to readers of ANM?

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

 ANM 2021 page 49-50 Boulder Canyon Ground fall inadequate protection.

Read this last week and it bugged me so here goes.  Professional climber Molly Mitchel tried to climb Crank It 5.13 c/d Sport on gear instead of using the Bolts. While it has been climbed on gear it is still a Sport Climb and previously another professional climber Brad Gobright broke his back and ankle attempting this.  Molly fell, ripped her gear and broke her back.  The editors did not offer their analysis but simply printed her take.  Molly focused on the why and how that her micro gear ripped.  We had a similar discussion on here recently.  Molly did offer that in retrospect she should have clipped the bolt and bailed on that attempt. She did not however address or face up to the obvious.  It's a SPORT CLIMB. Clip the bolts and move on. There is only one reason for climbing a sport climb on gear and that reason is Ego. The need to prove that you are better than whomever stooped so low as to bolt this crack.  In this case the folks who bolted this line made the right call and were much smarter than the pro climbers who broke their backs trying to prove them wrong. 

Accident report should have read.

Fall on rock, Ground fall, skipped clips.  Letting ego influence decisions.  

It's a climb. It's your call. Pick your poison.  

what an incredibly rude and myopic post.

Bill Lawrywrote:

Lol.

I’d rather see written the true objective culprit:

Climbing beyond ability without adequate protection.

Clear enough that someone’s judgment failed them.

How is your way more beneficial to readers of ANM?

I think the more accurate the description would be: Fall on rock, inadequate protection.

The beauty of climbing is that you can climb how you like and Molly can climb how she likes, and it’s all good. Judging someone’s style after she has an accident isn’t all good in my book tho.

The ANAM/ANAC, or whatever it now is, has never been a resource of great accuracy, with fact checking to boot. And having someone else report accidents that go unremarked by the AAC is common. You have come to your own conclusion based on the information provided. Perhaps that's exactly what the AAC thought was in everyone's best interest in publishing this account - they were deciding that we can all read between the lines. 

I am not sure why anyone cares, really. Do we need to jump all over Molly? Not me. I enjoy reading the accident reports. It is usually obvious when there might be more to the story. It's a reminder to be careful, like church. And, mostly, it's just rubbernecking.

Jeebus, Molly obviously has the aspiration to complete the entire Viceroy (gear extension to Crank It) line on gear, just like nobody seems to "only" climb China Doll to the sport anchor on gear anymore.

Makes no difference to me what you want to call it.

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

Traditionally however when folks climb sport climbs entirely on gear skipping all the bolts they  are trying to make a point that the route should not have been bolted.

People climb for many reasons. I, and many others, climb to challenge ourselves, not to make some grand statement. To assume to know the motivations of people climbing bolted routes on gear is the height of egotism, yours.

curt86irocwrote:

For once, I agree with the puppy guy

A broken clock is still right 3 times a day.