Anyone aware of a fatal rock climbing fall on April 1 in the greater Sacramento or Tahoe area?

Hi I saw a post on Facebook from someone who heard his aunt had a fatal climbing accident on April 1st, 2022.  He said she lived in Auburn but didn't know were she was climbing at the time of the accident.  Has anyone heard of a woman, perhaps in her 40s, who had a climbing accident yesterday at Auburn or somewhere in the greater Sacramento or Tahoe area?  

Bumping this up. I saw the post on FB and hope someone can shed some light on this for the concerned party.

Saw same post. Bump.

I believe it is a lady that I just started climbing with, at Auburn Quarry. She was new to climbing and was doing dangerous scrambling, but we got her climbing with us, taught her how to belay. Told her to stay away from the loose stuff, off route. She was top rope soloing with an ascender. She said she wanted to continue her rope soloing, last week. Don’t know details of actual accident

I was there when it happened. She was toprope soloing with an ascender on the far right of Scale Wall at the Auburn Quarry. I did not witness her fall but it was reportedly from the top. My partner and I were on Human Oddity so couldn't see it but we heard it. There were maybe 6-7 of us who assisted, including an off duty paramedic who was there to climb. 911 was called immediately. She was initially breathing but was never responsive. CPR was started when she stopped breathing. ASRA, El Dorado EMS, and the helicopter responded. I feel for the family members who lost their loved one. 

So sad. I wish she would have stuck with climbing safely, with our group

Craig, Roger: Thank you so much for sharing your info.  The original poster seems to have deleted his post on FB but I will message him to let him know there is more info about his aunt's accident here.  I have walked up to the anchors for the 3 left-most routes of Scale Wall but never to the right side.  I have climbed the Landslide route on the right side of Scale Wall and accessed the anchors from below but never seen them from above.   Since the anchors are on the face of the rock instead of on top, I could see that setting up or cleaning a TRS anchor from above could have some risk, as would switching from ascent to descent mode. 

John F Kimwrote:

Craig, Roger: Thank you so much for sharing your info.  The original poster seems to have deleted his post on FB but I will message him to let him know there is more info about his aunt's accident here.  I have walked up to the anchors for the 3 left-most routes of Scale Wall but never to the right side.  I have climbed the Landslide route on the right side of Scale Wall and accessed the anchors from below but never seen them from above.   Since the anchors are on the face of the rock instead of on top, I could see that setting up or cleaning a TRS anchor from above could have some risk, as would switching from ascent to descent mode. 

Those we were there have been in touch with family since that FB post.

I was also there when it happened. We were on “On Demand” on Memorial wall. Five of us watched the whole fall. Yeah, super intense situation.

It’s impossible to know exactly what happened (although I have a couple strong ideas), but the two most important lessons are to ensure you are properly trained, and use your PAS properly when cleaning anchors.

Super tragic accident and I feel horrible for the family. Definitely a good time to send thoughts and prayers their direction.

Everybody take care of yourselves, this sounds like a real tragedy as I see accounts here and elsewhere unfold. I’m sorry both for the needless loss of life as well as for the traumatic blow of experiencing that event for the first-responders.

I have been unable to find any info on this accident. Can anyone share a link please? 

Some people who were there and assisted with the response posted in Bay Area Facebook groups but I am not aware of any accident report or analysis. The information shared so far indicates the climber was doing top rope solo and fell from the top of the cliff. Unknown if it was a problem with cleaning the anchor, transitioning from ascending to descending, or something else. 

I was one of those climbers who were there. It's unclear how she fell--likely transitioning from ascending to rappelling, but that's just my guess. She fell from the chains at the top of the route and only the left chain was moving when she hit the ground. The whole rope came down with her. I'll be writing what we know for Accidents in N American Climbing, but the information is mostly our suppositions. It did not seem she had a backup for her top rope soling rig--just a single ascender, although maybe she was pulling the rope through her belay device as she climbed.

When you do the writeup, it would be great if you could cover the following

• Was her harness connected to the ascender and was her ascender connected to the rope? 
• Was any anchor left on the hangers/chains at the top of the route? 
• Did she also have an ATC, Grigri or other rappel or belay device with her? 
• Did she have a tether, PAS or daisy on her harness? 
• Does anyone who had climbed with her previously or watched her TRS know if her normal MO after ascending was to clean the anchor, top out and walk off, or did she normally lower herself off the mussy hooks or rappel off? 

• Was her harness connected to the ascender and was her ascender connected to the rope? 

I don't know the answer to this. Her harness was stripped from her immediately so that we could initiate CPR and I don't think anyone paid much attention to what was/was not on the rope.

• Was any anchor left on the hangers/chains at the top of the route? 

None.

• Did she also have an ATC, Grigri or other rappel or belay device with her? 

GriGri only.

• Did she have a tether, PAS or daisy on her harness? 

No, nor did she have anything that might have been used as a tether. Not even a sling.

• Does anyone who had climbed with her previously or watched her TRS know if her normal MO after ascending was to clean the anchor, top out and walk off, or did she normally lower herself off the mussy hooks or rappel off? 

No one had climbed with her previously. She was 100% without any local partners.

Christian, thanks. Just on the last point, 2 local climbers said on FB that they had climbed with her once or twice and encouraged her to get formal training or instruction.

Very true John. I just submitted the report to Accidents in NA Climbing.

So, I posted this on my personal Facebook page soon after it happened. I actually did get a solid look at her kit before I cut it off. Here are the facts as best we know them:

1. She was top-rope soloing and had climbed the route several times before the accident (the route is named Landslide 5.8, and is 80’ tall)

2. She had (most certainly) used a knot of some sort to affix her rope at the anchor, with both ends touching the ground.

3. She was using a Petzl Ascender to self belay.

4. Her gear also included a Petzl ATC, a prussic cord, 2 screw gates, 2 wire gates, one Dyneema runner affixed around her chest with one of the wire gates, and a bicycle helmet.

5. She did not have a personal anchor system

6. Her equipment setup did not seem to meet manufacturer recommendations for her activity (top rope soloing).

7. She had used this setup to climb up to 12 times in the past.

8. On the ground, only one lobe of her ATC was threaded with her rope.

9. Her prussic cord was lying on the ground near her unattached to her person. (I cannot guarantee this item was hers, but it seems likely).

10. Her Ascender was not attached to the rope.

11. Only one anchor was swinging immediately after the fall.

12. One end of the rope lay distant from the wall, seeming to indicate that it had been pulled through the chain.

13. She had be climbing for 1.5 months and had turned down at least two offers for guided sessions

Based on these facts, there seem to be two possible scenarios. First, she was endeavoring to clean the route without a PAS, and was halfway through attaching her ATC when she slipped and fell. Second, she had finished cleaning the route, and mistakenly weighted her ATC, thinking it was properly setup for a rappel (considering she had been ascending only one line that day, it could  have slipped her mind to pass the rope through both lobes). We can never be sure of exactly what happened, but I tend to think it was the latter.

At the end of the day, though, the key takeaway for me is to always double check my system by properly weighting my rappel or belay prior to detaching my PAS. It also highlights the importance of actually using a PAS when cleaning the anchor. The $50 is worth the investment.

Alec Baker wrote:

Was the ascender used the Petzl Ascention handled ascender or something else like a Microtraxion?

Where was the ascender after the fall? What if anything was it attached to?

Could you provide more detail on the anchor that you mentioned was swinging? Was this a cord/sling top rope anchor on two bolts, or something else? You mentioned the rope was attached to the anchor, does this mean the dynamic rope was fixed to a cord/sling anchor rather than fixing the rope directly to the hardware?

What does the loweroff hardware on this climb have? Specifically, is bottom link something you could pass a bight of rope through, or would a climber need to untie to thread this anchor? Chain, quicklinks, rings, or fixed carabiners?

Alex, I wasn't there but I've climbed this route a few times.  This climb has two anchor bolts with chains and mussy hooks. Likely he means one chain was swinging after the fall, implying the rope had been threaded through one anchor. Normally the last climber clips the hooks and lowers off. One can also thread the chains or clip the hooks to rappel. At the top, there is one good juggy handhold  (and maybe a hand jam in a crack) above the anchor to the right and maybe some slopers on top of the cliff directly above the anchor bolts. You stand (or at least I stand) on a slightly slanted horizontal crack/ledge below and slightly right of the anchor hooks while building or cleaning an anchor. I find the stance there awkward when building or cleaning an anchor.