GYM ACCIDENT- C. Springs??

I just heard from a friend who climbs at one of the local gyms (name witheld- gym & friend) that a lead climber fell and was severely injured? Is this confirmed news?? Who was it and is he/she going to be ok? What happened? This is unfortunate news.

Can anyone confirm this?

I can confirm that it DID NOT happen at the Sport Climbing Center. That only leaves the other one....

I hate hearing that. Hope the injured party is doing OK.

Oh man, so sorry to hear about another accident. Best thoughts going out to the injured climber.
Everybody be careful out/in there as the case may be.

I haven't heard about a lead climber accident, but there was an auto belay accident about a month ago at city rock. Could this be what you heard about? I'm not sure of his name, but an experienced climber clipped in to the auto belay and stepped up to the wall to climb, when he realized he hadn't put on his shoes. He left and put them on, then he stepped back up to the wall and began climbing, completely forgetting to clip back in... he fell from about 30 feet, breaking two vertebrate in his back and i believe his ankle too. I send my condolences to him and i hope his doing well. It was a very unfortunate accident and the climber said that when he was told that forgetting to clip in is the number one cause of injury with auto belays he had thought,"seriously? i would never do that". No joke. This shows that this can happen to anyone, and we all need to remember never to let your guard down even inside of a gym on fake rock.

Just so you guys know, i work part time at city rock as a floor supervisor but i was not there when the accident happened. We try very hard to be as safe as possible, and unlike a lot of gyms we don't just give people a rope and belay device and set them loose . Every climber must pass a belay test before they can belay, and even after that they are closely inspected down on the floor for their first climb (as in we stand right next to them the whole time watching), and after that there is a person always watching the floor for hazards, i.e. bad belaying/technique, and when we spot them we step in and try to correct them. Before anyone can use an auto belay they must go through an orientation describing how to use them, do's and don'ts, and common ways people are hurt using them (like not clipping in)... the climber who was injured received the very same orientation. I know that some of you will use this to bash city rock, but sometimes no matter how effective a safety system is someone will manage to slip through and hurt themselves. We are not perfect and are constantly trying to get better, so any constructive feedback is always welcome.
JasonT- I've seen some previous posts of yours and i was just wondering what makes you so negative towards City Rock? I'd love to hear your opinion and see how we can improve.

Thanks for sharing Michael. I do believe that is the one, it sounds very similar to what I heard. That is unfortunate- complacency is a killer is any gym/environment.

I can attest to the belay protocol- my one visit while belaying my son, I was checked on my technique as it was my first time there. I hope the fallen heals well, its a very unfortunate accident

As for Jason T's posts, I wouldnt worry much about them. Seems he has more time to negatively flame then climb.

Again- thanks for sharing- its good to know the facts.

There are signs for auto-belays in the gym I climb in here in London... but there are no auto-belays. I once asked where they went. Dude told me that they got rid of them 'cuz so many people forgot to clip in and just started climbing. Weird, but I guess it does happen.

Hope the injured climber gets better soon.

Michael - If my posts come off as negative towards City Rock then I apologize. I was critical of it at first, but have climbed there many times and have nothing against the place. I am primarily a boulderer so I prefer the setting/setters at SCC. If I were a rope climber I am sure I would spend my time at City Rock instead. I know several people who set there and they are all good people and strong climbers. Honestly though, what were they thinking letting Loc set problems there??

JasonT wrote:Michael - If my posts come off as negative towards City Rock then I apologize....Honestly though, what were they thinking letting Loc set problems there??

Wow, you walk out of the room, and you leave with that?

youtube.com/watch?v=XwPSSG5…

This "forgetting to clip in to the auto-belay thing" is a phenomenon that happens at many gyms. So much so that a few companies are developing warning systems with friggin' lasers on them.

At the gym I work at we decided not to go with them for that reason. I feel bad when someone twists and ankle bouldering and I don't want to imagine someone breaking their back.

It probably hurts the business in some respect because climbing isn't as convenient for those without partners but we do our best to get people like that hooked up in a group.

Anyway, I think you will see some regulations in the future requiring these warning systems (which aren't going to be cheap).

Evan...if you knew Loc, youd know exactly what I meant with that statement.

Good clip, Ive never seen that episode before.

Nick Rhoads wrote:This "forgetting to clip in to the auto-belay thing" is a phenomenon that happens at many gyms. So much so that a few companies are developing warning systems with friggin' lasers on them. At the gym I work at we decided not to go with them for that reason. I feel bad when someone twists and ankle bouldering and I don't want to imagine someone breaking their back. It probably hurts the business in some respect because climbing isn't as convenient for those without partners but we do our best to get people like that hooked up in a group. Anyway, I think you will see some regulations in the future requiring these warning systems (which aren't going to be cheap).

yep, VE for one has lasers that sound off a buzzer if you climb to high without clipping in. I thought it was ridiculous but I guess it's necessary?

Evan Horvath aka Evan1984 wrote: Wow, you walk out of the room, and you leave with that?

+1 Seriuosly.

@ Jason T.
I know Loc, and I think your staement is lame too. You need an etiquette class and need to learn to not be such an over-voiced, judgemental critic. In EVERY post you put up. FYI: your s$%# stinks too. Look in the mirror- do some constructive criticism there. For real- what the he!! is your major malfunction???

BTW- Mountinproject rule #1- DONT BE A JERK. Epic fail dude. Epic.

@ everyones else in this thread-

Good info. Ive heard alot of stories about auto-belays. They are convienient and allow climbing w/o a partner, but, seem like to much potential liability. I use em', but I remeber my first time....a bit nerve racking that first let go, waiting for the AB to catch.....lol. Ill stick with a real person until they improve the technology!!

Again- best wishes to the fallen. I hope he isnt paralyzed in any way from his spinal injuries. Like Schuler posted- be careful out/in there everyone!

LOL Shane! Do you have a crush on me or something? Im blushing right now.

We should get out and climb sometime ;)

Thanks for the dialogue on auto-belays. I'm the general manager at CityRock and we did have a climber fail to clip in. He's doing relatively OK - he shattered his heel and has two broken vertebrae - but hopefully nothing he won't be able to recover from.

He's a great guy and we feel horribly that he was injured in our facility and are taking steps to make sure it doesn't happen again. Watch for a fundraiser in the near future to help him out with some medical bills.

We visited other gyms before introducing auto-belays to ours and they told us that their #1 issue with them is the failure to clip in.

We have found that, apart from the one unfortunate individual, auto-belays are a huge asset to our customers. Like one of the posters on this thread, I originally thought they would detract from the social aspect of our gym. Instead, I've found they give flexibility to those on tight schedules and actually increase people's abilities to climb with others - even right next to them.

Our policy is to try to share stories like this so hopefully others can learn from them. The climber who was injured is OK with us letting people know what happened so we tell everyone using our auto-belays about the incident so they will keep him in mind when they clip in and do buddy check on themselves.

Thanks to all those of you who are taking the time to learn more about what is required to be a safe climber.

I'm not a gym climber and have only seen auto belays in use, but isn't clipping in basically the only thing that you do before you start climbing? I'm trying to picture this in my head, someone takes off basically soloing and doesn't notice? Help me understand what's happening here and how it can possibly be a common mistake?

JasonT wrote:Michael - Honestly though, what were they thinking letting Loc set problems there??

DUDE!!! I have said my fair share of stupid shit on this website. but not cool, I know Kyle, Joe, Lara, and a few others have no clue who "loc" is. I will say City Rock sets some terds, just the same as EVERY OTHER GYM, they also set some gems. and for the record Kyle, his setting resume should speak for it's self, he can now add world cup to it, as he spent all of last week up in Vail.

The only thing that I would like to have changed is a little more padding in the bouldering area, for me the landing is a little hard. A couple more big Asana style pads for the floor would be awesome.

markrineer wrote:I'm not a gym climber and have only seen auto belays in use, but isn't clipping in basically the only thing that you do before you start climbing? I'm trying to picture this in my head, someone takes off basically soloing and doesn't notice? Help me understand what's happening here and how it can possibly be a common mistake?

You got it. I sounds crazy but it happens everywhere. Every gym I've been to (there's been many) has had this happen at least once. People just get into The Zone I guess and space out.

I have failed to clip in to the autobelay several times but fortunately either I or someone nearby noticed before bad stuff happened. It has happened when I was autobelay lead clipping, that is, trailing a rope and clipping draws. It was always on harder routes (11+ or harder). I get focused on the moves and dont check that I'm in both the trailing rope and the autobelay. In the worst instance I was almost to the top (42 ft) when I noticed I had clipped the trailing rope into the draws but didnt have the autobelay; I grabbed the rope below the last draw and lowered off but it could have been very messy.

I no longer practice clipping on autobelay since I cant trust myself to do it right. I have not had any problems with autobelays otherwise though.

Before anyone starts railing about gym climbers and lack of experience I have been rock climbing over 40 years (started in the Gunks in 1969), have lots of experience in most kinds of climbing and many climbing areas around the world. I have retired to sport climbing (the result of a deal with my wife; sport climbing worries her less). I observe that being too comfortable leads to this sort of error which I classify along with not placing enough pro on long leads and sequence errors threading sport climbing anchors.

At Vertical Endeavors in St. Paul, the rope is clipped to a bolt at the start of the climb. A climber would have to be pretty oblivious to miss it. As someone already mentioned, VE has a Nicros warning system in case someone does begin to climb under an auto belay without clipping in.
nicros.com/safety.cfm

Keith H. North wrote: DUDE!!! I have said my fair share of stupid shit on this website. but not cool, I know Kyle, Joe, Lara, and a few others have no clue who "loc" is. I will say City Rock sets some terds, just the same as EVERY OTHER GYM, they also set some gems. and for the record Kyle, his setting resume should speak for it's self, he can now add world cup to it, as he spent all of last week up in Vail. The only thing that I would like to have changed is a little more padding in the bouldering area, for me the landing is a little hard. A couple more big Asana style pads for the floor would be awesome.

Keith - As I said, I know several of the people who set there and feel they set some great problems. I go there from time to time when the setting at SCC gets stale...but I assure you, they all know who Loc is. If you havent experienced Loc, youre lucky.