Eldo dangerous rockfall incident (west ridge)

Yesterday I climbed at West Ridge Zone C with a few friends. When we arrived, a buddy cautioned me to put on my helmet right away because another party had notified them that a duo on Handcracker was moving carelessly. Sure enough, about 30 minutes into our time there, multiple head sized blocks started raining down on us. I was on route (Mesca-line), able to desperately cling to the wall underneath a slight overhang. My belayer was narrowly missed by a large block that tore a hole in my rope tarp.

The party that caused the rockfall profusely apologized when reaching the ground, and I was still too shocked (and I'm also not super confrontational in the first place) to say much about it. But upon some further thought and chatting with some friends, I felt it'd be appropriate to write something up about this incident to quickly address both sides of what happened.

From the climber side: what the hell are you guys doing? Eldo is dangerous, and if you can't avoid causing huge blocks to fall from a mega popular route on a crag full of people, frankly, go climb somewhere else or don't climb at all.

From the ground side: pay close attention to what's going on above you. As I mentioned, we heard warning that there were people above who looked reckless. In the future, I'm absolutely going to move myself and my friends elsewhere in this type of situation. I believe everyone at the crag was wearing a helmet, and I'm still not sure if someone would have survived one of those blocks connecting with them.

Scary stuff. Stay safe everyone.

A scary and humbling reminder that no matter how we feel on any terrain you can’t always know what’s going on above you or below you. Traveling across loose terrain requires so much caution. Glad the parties are safe, but everyone please take so much care climbing above other climbers.

Good write up, Ben, thanks for the reminder to us all. 

I don't know if this was at all a factor, but it is worth being extra careful after big snow/ice storms like we just had. Freeze/thaw can loosen blocks that were once solid. Snow covered ledges can hide precarious blocks. Avoiding snow covered ledges can mean untrafficked loose terrain.

Thanks Greg and Alex! And great point about the freeze/thaw. This is the sort of thing I was hoping people would add to make this a learning experience for myself and other folks

Ben,

I had a similar experience years ago at Poke-O moonshine in NY. We showed up later in the day to avoid roasting in the sun. We watched a party struggle up the first two pitches of the climb we were gunning for. Like taking multiple hangs 6 feet off the ground on the easiest pitch kind of struggle. This should’ve been our sign to turn around and go elsewhere.

By the time the aforementioned party finally left the p3 belay, we started moving. We somehow caught up to them just in time to watch their leader on p4 go way off route into some nasty licheness rock. She ripped two blocks the size of ski boots off the wall, both narrowly missing our heads at the belay. I felt the hair on my head move it was that close. I was maybe 3 inches away from having my skull caved in. Their apologies were also quite profuse.

That’s the day I learned there’s no number of stars on a mountain project route that make a compelling case for putting your life at the whim of another party. Although I see conga lines on popular routes in eldo regularly… I highly recommend always having a back up plan to climb something else if you’re below others. You live and you learn sometimes. Sometimes you don’t.

As mentioned above, we just thawed out about a foot of snow over the last month, and not to mention going from -20 to 60 degrees in the span of 8 days. This will cause extra loose rock on just about anything, especially in eldo.

Glad to see you leading some rad stuff my friend! Safe ventures!

Glad you are okay! sounds like the party above might have been on Handcracker? I don't recall any particularly loose sections on that thing, especially with large blocks. Hopefully we all an remember to be extra careful about sending rocks down- and if anyone climbs this route soon - do a little "landscaping" to move precarious blocks back to safer locations if things have shifted due to snow. 

I climbed Handcracker yesterday and found nothing exceptionally loose for Eldo on either the climb or the descent. Sounds like you guys got lucky and these climbers were either careless, clueless, or both. I'm noticing more people climbing on West Ridge than in the last few years. Inevitably there will be some novices who have no clue about not dislodging rocks. I recently watched a climber on the approach to Blob carelessly trundle rocks above us, then stared in shock as a bowling ball size rock stopped just short of the road.

I wouldn't hesitate to lecture folks who are clearly doing stupid shit at the crag. Beware out there people. Stay vigilant at all times. Especially during the "thaw" season around Boulder's crags.

Bug Boy wrote:

Glad you are okay! sounds like the party above might have been on Handcracker? I don't recall any particularly loose sections on that thing, ...

Just to clarify: The rock fall was triggered on the walk-off, which just so happens to be above one of the most popular/crowded areas in Eldo: The Pony Express staging area (including Positively 4th St), which was particularly crowded on Mon with maybe ten climbers. Handcracker itself is quite clean, but you can find a bit of rocks on the walk-off. So, to anyone playing near Pony Express, keep an eye to your right. If you see anyone starting there (or packs), expect them to walk down an hour or three later (on a trail with loose rocks on top of Pony Express and leftwards). 

On Sat, I saw rockfall on Positively 4th St. I had only seen one soloing dude heading up Handcracker that time and I can't imagine him kicking off rocks (and I think he headed down east towards Redgarden). This fall was most likely triggered by the heavy snow melt.

Eldo is (in)famous for its loose rock/rock fall. There are a few areas more prone to rock fall:

The walkoffs on top of Pony Express/Handcracker, Over the Hill, and the left half of Cadillac all have quite a bit of loose rock. 

Wind Tower: Even though this formation is quite clean, the abundance of beginners make it risky. Beginners tend to find objects (rocks, gear, shoes, water bottles, pizza ovens ...) to pull off in the most unlikely of places. 

Rewritten: Combine loose rock with crowds of beginners and you get the worst case possible. Even though this line has seen thousand upon thousands of ascents, there are still rocks to break off. 

Gambit: Another beginner line with the upper pitch being seriously unstable. 

There's only one area in Eldo where you won't have other parties pulling down rock onto you: Hawk-Eagle Ridge. Check it out!

This is a somewhat notorious location for rockfall incidents, both spontaneous and climber-induced. I've heard of at least 3-4 close calls here over the years. As mentioned above, extra care should be taken in winter-spring when there's lots of loose stuff on the ledges. Glad to hear no one was injured!

Ryan Enright wrote:

Ben,

I had a similar experience years ago at Poke-O moonshine in NY. We showed up later in the day to avoid roasting in the sun. We watched a party struggle up the first two pitches of the climb we were gunning for. Like taking multiple hangs 6 feet off the ground on the easiest pitch kind of struggle. This should’ve been our sign to turn around and go elsewhere.

By the time the aforementioned party finally left the p3 belay, we started moving. We somehow caught up to them just in time to watch their leader on p4 go way off route into some nasty licheness rock. She ripped two blocks the size of ski boots off the wall, both narrowly missing our heads at the belay. I felt the hair on my head move it was that close. I was maybe 3 inches away from having my skull caved in. Their apologies were also quite profuse.

That’s the day I learned there’s no number of stars on a mountain project route that make a compelling case for putting your life at the whim of another party. Although I see conga lines on popular routes in eldo regularly… I highly recommend always having a back up plan to climb something else if you’re below others. You live and you learn sometimes. Sometimes you don’t.

As mentioned above, we just thawed out about a foot of snow over the last month, and not to mention going from -20 to 60 degrees in the span of 8 days. This will cause extra loose rock on just about anything, especially in eldo.

Glad to see you leading some rad stuff my friend! Safe ventures!

Ryan, great to hear from you! And thanks for sharing another cautionary tale. As someone who has been climbing for just a few years, I'm learning about these nuanced situations that can be the difference between safety and perilous injury. Just another little thing to think about to stay safe out there, especially in areas where rockfall is prevalent or after a big freeze/thaw.

And yeah, it's cool to be out here leading some gear routes finally! Still seems like yesterday when you took me trad climbing for the first time.

Patrik wrote:

Just to clarify: The rock fall was triggered on the walk-off, which just so happens to be above one of the most popular/crowded areas in Eldo: The Pony Express staging area (including Positively 4th St), which was particularly crowded on Mon with maybe ten climbers. Handcracker itself is quite clean, but you can find a bit of rocks on the walk-off. So, to anyone playing near Pony Express, keep an eye to your right. If you see anyone starting there (or packs), expect them to walk down an hour or three later (on a trail with loose rocks on top of Pony Express and leftwards). 

On Sat, I saw rockfall on Positively 4th St. I had only seen one soloing dude heading up Handcracker that time and I can't imagine him kicking off rocks (and I think he headed down east towards Redgarden). This fall was most likely triggered by the heavy snow melt.

Eldo is (in)famous for its loose rock/rock fall. There are a few areas more prone to rock fall:

The walkoffs on top of Pony Express/Handcracker, Over the Hill, and the left half of Cadillac all have quite a bit of loose rock. 

Wind Tower: Even though this formation is quite clean, the abundance of beginners make it risky. Beginners tend to find objects (rocks, gear, shoes, water bottles, pizza ovens ...) to pull off in the most unlikely of places. 

Rewritten: Combine loose rock with crowds of beginners and you get the worst case possible. Even though this line has seen thousand upon thousands of ascents, there are still rocks to break off. 

Gambit: Another beginner line with the upper pitch being seriously unstable. 

There's only one area in Eldo where you won't have other parties pulling down rock onto you: Hawk-Eagle Ridge. Check it out!

Thanks for the clarification Patrik! And thanks for your early warning at the crag as well as sharing some more helpful information here. It's great to be able to have some increased awareness around these things without having had to learn the hard way... Appreciate the notes on the various popular Eldo areas you gave. And good rec on Hawk-Eagle! Bit of a hike, but I had a great time playing around on Heart of Gold the other day.

Im bored, so here’s another relevant story/ situation that relates;
A few years ago many parties were casually cragging at the single pitch routes at Wizards Gate in Estes. Another party was maybe 4 pitches up a climb called white raven. That party kicked off a large rock that tumbled onto the parties below, resulting in the causality of one of the climbers. Many showed up well after the multipitch party left the ground, and were honestly unaware of their existence. The lesson here; be aware of the potential for climbers to be on routes high above you even if you yourself are just doing some single pitch business.

Think about how many “second pitches” exist on mega popular climbs at places like Indian creek that have much exfoliating left to do, that can result in really fucking up someone’s day/life. Koyne crack at supercrack buttress comes to mind. Many people were projecting p1, a party came along claiming they wanted to send the rarely climbed second pitch. We all nicely asked that they choose not to for the amount of traffic on the ground below.

I have a hard time calling rock climbing a sport, as with the majority of sports you can buy the equipment and can begin practicing with little to no serious repercussions. Applying that logic to climbing, or more specifically trad climbing, is more like giving someone without a license or driving experience a motorcycle. Bad shits going to happen without proper training or guided practice. And, you don’t know what you don’t know.

I dunno if I showed up somewhere and someone told me to put on a helmet because there were people above us who may be careless (?) and/or may be causing rock fall....I'd probably just go somewhere else - maybe it's just me, but I HATE climbing below people and avoid it whenever I can.