Offwidth rescue effort resulting in chipping and drilling to extract climber

I've heard of at least one person getting out of a stuck knee by cutting their pants and slipping out of them.  Anyone know how reliable this method is?  I'm just glad I always wear pants on offwidth in case I ever need to do this and often they are slicker synthetic pants.

Kyle Hwrote:

SAR in Squamish drilled and chipped someone out of a relatively new climb called St Bernard recently. squamishchief.com/local-new…

Wasn't that the 3'd rescue of a climber with a stuck knee on St Bernard as well? 

There are dozens of us!!!

I got my knee (briefly!) stuck in the exact place I had heard about leading p2 of ruper a couple months ago. I sunk my knee in up to my thigh into the off width and it felt super secure, but then I realized it was like, SUPER secure. I giggled to myself maniacally thinking about the conversation my partner and I had on the way up to the route about that rescue event. Then, I took a deep breathe and slowly unweighted my lower body and pulled hard on my knee, praying it would go if I just wiggled and moved at the right angle, and after 1-5 minutes of trying I felt it sliding outward, scraping the shit out of my leg in the process. When it popped free I felt all the tension I had built up about the whole route melt away. Was a really cool experience overall, glad it didn’t result in anything major but definitely see how it happens when you’re gripped . (Yes I was gripped, Eldo is scary and awesome!). Also, p4 of Ruper is the fuckin’ best. 

Cairn War Machinewrote:

Wasn't that the 3'd rescue of a climber with a stuck knee on St Bernard as well? 

Not sure but there has been a few.

Cairn War Machinewrote:

Wasn't that the 3'd rescue of a climber with a stuck knee on St Bernard as well? 

Not sure but there has been a few.

FrankPSwrote:

There have been bolts installed ("drilling") to facilitate a rescue in the US. I forget which climb, but it was fairly recent.

On Peyote Power about 10 or so years ago...

I got my leg stuck once and every way i moved my leg seemed to make it tighter and swell. I was rescued by someone climbing up to me and pulling on my pant leg around my knee while i relaxed my leg. The pants fabric acted as a lubricant enough to get my leg unstuck. 

Are there tips on how to avoid this?  

clee 03mwrote:

Are there tips on how to avoid this?  

None.

If you climb enough offwidths, one of these days you’re gonna get your knee stuck and then shit your pants. It’s just an odds thing really.

I heard it happened on the Three Penguins in Arches NP. I believe there's even a comment about it on MP. That particular climb has a knee slot that eventually pinches tighter higher up while also constricting in the front. It makes it so you can't go up or out, you have to go down to free yourself. 

Watch out for Big Guy in the creek.  It starts out at .75s and barely flares upwardly to 6s 120 feet later. EVERYONE has a place in this crack where their knee can just barely fit and then upon flailing to get that next inch can slip down into too tight. The initial panic of the earth having hold of you may cause you to torque it resulting in swelling which only makes matters worse.  

I have a friend who got her knee stuck in Big Guy for 2+ hours in the sweltering desert sun. Water and sunscreen was the lube used along with a nut tool to chip at the sides. The funny part is she started climbing immediately after another gentleman had been stuck up there for a couple hours. If you inspect the insides of knee width part of the crack, there are many chip marks.

The trick to avoiding this?  Get good at recognizing the width of crack your knee fits and insert your knee 5 feet later.  This takes discipline because once you get your knee in you can rest and wide 4s-5s- wide 5s are heinous.

Nic Nic wrote:

Some time back I remember reading about chipping to remove a stuck climber's knee on the OW pitch on three penguins, Moab (Right chimney). Think it's mentioned in the MP page comments.

 Got my knee stuck in roughly the same place actually. Once got my foot stuck on O’kelly’s crack for like 15 or 20 minutes, too. Was weird.

Once in JTree someome got their knee stuck and the Jaws of Life was used to set her free. This was near the base of the ski tracks and there is scarring on the rock.

I've climbed Big Guy a few times and would consider it to be one of the least likely places to get your knee stuck. All you'd have to do is move your knee up. Far more likely to get it stuck in a more uniform and slightly undulating crack and you suck at removing pro. Like removing nuts, getting unstuck is a matter of reversing how you got stuck in the first place 

Another stuck knee in AZ climbing.com/news/heli-troo…

Maybe someone else has the full story, but at a movement gym in the Bay Area (then Planet Granite) someone got their knee stuck in an artificial crack. The fire department came with expando Jaws of Life and freed them, destroying that section of the crack. The gym repaired it and there is a big discolored section there... 

clee 03mwrote:

Are there tips on how to avoid this?  

Try to avoid just hooking your thigh over a constriction. Instead, actively kneelock: bend your leg at the knee so your foot stays out of the crack.

If you look at the classic photo of Ari Menitove on Big Baby (in one of the Bloom Indian Creek books), you can just barely see he's essentially sitting in his foot.

Clearly they need to go to the source for information on wide technique 

Rumor has it there is other info there too, a lot of it not concerning climbing though -more of a free-fire zone 

http://widefetish.com/

Trad Manwrote:

Once in JTree someome got their knee stuck and the Jaws of Life was used to set her free. This was near the base of the ski tracks and there is scarring on the rock.

I've climbed Big Guy a few times and would consider it to be one of the least likely places to get your knee stuck. All you'd have to do is move your knee up. Far more likely to get it stuck in a more uniform and slightly undulating crack and you suck at removing pro. Like removing nuts, getting unstuck is a matter of reversing how you got stuck in the first place 

Was this Left Ski at the fin pod? Only spot I could imagine a knee somehow getting stuck. Still crazy.