Preventable Accident in Maple Canyon

Earlier this summer, my party of four arrived at the Pipeline in Maple Canyon to find a party of two—a 20-year-old and a 25-year-old male—already climbing. They were shirtless and playing music. Though strong, they seemed inexperienced, and I felt annoyed at the prospect of climbing near them. One of my friends chatted with them about their climbing plans. Later, he said that he was “building rapport before asking them to turn off their music.” 

The 25-year-old started up a steep 11d. He made a difficult move at the fourth bolt and fell. My wife watched, waiting for the rope to catch. Instead, the climber pancaked flat onto his back from about twenty feet. The rope hung uselessly through the quickdraws, detached from his harness. Writhing on the ground, the fallen climber said, “I forgot to check my knot!” 

Thankfully, two of my friends are WFR certified. They ran to the fallen climber and kept him from getting up. They stabilized his back and neck and sent me to call 911. (Turns out Verizon has service at the outhouse near Left Fork.) By the time I returned to the crag, two ER doctors, who happened to be climbing nearby, had joined the rescue. They performed a spinal examination. The San Pete County EMTs arrived after about 25 minutes. They gave the patient IV pain medication, put him in a body splint, and extracted him less than an hour after he’d fallen—impressive work for a small-town operation. 

Later, we talked to the belayer to better understand what had transpired. 

The climber had tied the rope to his belay loop with an overhand knot to “hold” the rope while he stick-clipped the first two bolts. After chatting and lacing up his shoes, he'd started climbing without fixing his knot. When he fell, the overhand had caught for a millisecond before untying, dropping him to the ground. 

Last we heard, the fallen climber was experiencing lower back pain but hadn’t broken his back as we’d feared. Had he flashed the route, he likely would’ve died or been severely injured. His head (no helmet) landed within a foot of a suitcase-sized boulder that easily could’ve cracked his skull. He got extremely lucky.

This accident could have been avoided if 1) the climber and belayer had performed a simple partner check before leaving the ground, and 2) the climber had never tied the rope to himself while stick clipping. 

I don’t know if the fallen climber invented this second practice or if he learned it from YouTube, a friend, or a gym, but tying the rope to something while stick clipping is unnecessary. I just pull a few meters of extra rope through the draw/stick clip and toss it on the ground or hold it in my hand. This has always been sufficient to prevent the rope from slipping through the draw while I get it hung. 

Please don’t add an unnecessary step to a process that must be perfect, and—like Kalous says on the Enormocast—always check your knot.

Note: This accident happened in June, but it took me a while to sit down and write an accident report.  

- Creed

It's good practice to not let conversation or other circumstances interrupt your tying in process. I know it's not what occurred at Maple, but there can be lots of distractions at the gym or busy crags.

I heard of two other accidents like this - climber temporarily ties rope to his harness for stick clipping 1-2 bolts, forgets to tie in.
I agree that partner check would have prevented this.
As extra insurance I changed my routine to tying rope to one of loops on my rope bag when preclipping. 

Do not not knot your knot.

Andrew Jacksonwrote:

It's good practice to not let conversation or other circumstances interrupt your tying in process. I know it's not what occurred at Maple, but there can be lots of distractions at the gym or busy crags.

I agree. If someone talks to me while I am tying in, I ask them not to talk with me, until my knot is finished. I then apologize after I finish my knot. If I catch myself talking to someone else while they are tying in, I apologize and then ask if I can check their knot. I often show my partner my knot.
That said, I was involved in an accident due to an unfinished knot, in a situation where I could not check my partner’s not.
  Be careful; this is an easy mistake to make.

Simple rule - NEVER tie a knot to your harness other than one you would climb on: figure 8, bowline, whatever you use and ALWAYS finish the knot before doing anything else. 

E MuuDwrote:

Simple rule - NEVER tie a knot to your harness other than one you would climb on: figure 8, bowline, whatever you use and ALWAYS finish the knot before doing anything else. 

I agree. If someone really wanted to tie the rope to something before picking up the stick clip, they could tie a figure 8 through both hard points. Problem solved. 

Creed Archibaldwrote:

The climber had tied the rope to his belay loop with an overhand knot to “hold” the rope while he stick-clipped the first two bolts. 

What a weird thing to do.

Creed Archibaldwrote:

Earlier this summer, my party of four arrived at the Pipeline in Maple Canyon to find a party of two—a 20-year-old and a 25-year-old male—already climbing. They were shirtless and playing music. Though strong, they seemed inexperienced, and I felt annoyed at the prospect of climbing near them. One of my friends chatted with them about their climbing plans. Later, he said that he was “building rapport before asking them to turn off their music.” 

The 25-year-old started up a steep 11d. He made a difficult move at the fourth bolt and fell. My wife watched, waiting for the rope to catch. Instead, the climber pancaked flat onto his back from about twenty feet. The rope hung uselessly through the quickdraws, detached from his harness. Writhing on the ground, the fallen climber said, “I forgot to check my knot!” 

Thankfully, two of my friends are WFR certified. They ran to the fallen climber and kept him from getting up. They stabilized his back and neck and sent me to call 911. (Turns out Verizon has service at the outhouse near Left Fork.) By the time I returned to the crag, two ER doctors, who happened to be climbing nearby, had joined the rescue. They performed a spinal examination. The San Pete County EMTs arrived after about 25 minutes. They gave the patient IV pain medication, put him in a body splint, and extracted him less than an hour after he’d fallen—impressive work for a small-town operation. 

Later, we talked to the belayer to better understand what had transpired. 

The climber had tied the rope to his belay loop with an overhand knot to “hold” the rope while he stick-clipped the first two bolts. After chatting and lacing up his shoes, he'd started climbing without fixing his knot. When he fell, the overhand had caught for a millisecond before untying, dropping him to the ground. 

Last we heard, the fallen climber was experiencing lower back pain but hadn’t broken his back as we’d feared. Had he flashed the route, he likely would’ve died or been severely injured. His head (no helmet) landed within a foot of a suitcase-sized boulder that easily could’ve cracked his skull. He got extremely lucky.

This accident could have been avoided if 1) the climber and belayer had performed a simple partner check before leaving the ground, and 2) the climber had never tied the rope to himself while stick clipping. 

I don’t know if the fallen climber invented this second practice or if he learned it from YouTube, a friend, or a gym, but tying the rope to something while stick clipping is unnecessary. I just pull a few meters of extra rope through the draw/stick clip and toss it on the ground or hold it in my hand. This has always been sufficient to prevent the rope from slipping through the draw while I get it hung. 

Please don’t add an unnecessary step to a process that must be perfect, and—like Kalous says on the Enormocast—always check your knot.

Note: This accident happened in June, but it took me a while to sit down and write an accident report.  

- Creed

It’s called “Pullin’ a Llynn”. Even “experienced” climbers are forgetful.

Tradibanwrote:

It’s called “Pullin’ a Llynn”. Even “experienced” climbers are forgetful.

Not exactly, Lynn got distracted while tying-in to climb but this individual purposely tied an inappropriate knot to his harness, apparently as a matter of routine, as a very unnecessary part of his stick-clipping process.

Alan Rubinwrote:

Not exactly, Lynn got distracted while tying-in to climb but this individual purposely tied an inappropriate knot to his harness, apparently as a matter of routine, as a very unnecessary part of his stick-clipping process.

Ok, so it’s just a sport climber thing.

I'll come out and say I've done the same "overhand on the belay loop" while stick clipping a rope for my partner's lead. Obviously not a problem if they actually lead the climb but I never thought about how problematically confusing this could be if I end up leading the climb instead. Thanks for posting.

I’m impressed by that EMT response time at Maple since it’s not really close to anything.

Tradibanwrote:

Ok, so it’s just a sport climber thing.

The perfect follow-up to Alan's post. 

Adam Wwrote:

I’m impressed by that EMT response time at Maple since it’s not really close to anything.

The ambulance was a pickup truck and two of the EMTs were sister wives, but they got the job done. 

Sooo many ways to forget critical forget-me-knots. Could be a whole other thread for cataloguing them and what led to them.

If we could only sprinkle a little OCD on many of us. Instead, KISS habits and processes will have to do.  

For example, either put your harness fully on or take it fully off.  No long periods with, say, a buckle undone.

this is why I always just tie in first and then pull slack through and then stick clip. glad everyone was okay

Tradibanwrote:

It’s called “Pullin’ a Llynn”. Even “experienced” climbers are forgetful.

I think you meant "Pulling a Long".

Jake Joneswrote:

I think you meant "Pulling a Long".

No, John was distracted by the hotties in the gym, totally different scenario.

Always double check your partner. Always double check yourself. 

And this underlines the growing need for mentorship as we see more gym-to-crag momentum.