Accident involving child at climbing gym

Hey folks, 

At my local climbing gym, there was recently an accident involving a child in a climbing class.  The child ended up with minimal injuries, but it could have been much worse.  Lot's to discuss, but here are the basic details. 

I'm from the US but live in Switzerland.  The climbing and safety practices here are very different from those in the US.  For example, all the floors are concrete, except in the bouldering areas.  Grigris of any kind are generally frowned upon during formal instruction.  Beginners are first taught to belay with a Munter hitch, and later with a Mammut Smart or similar.  Partner checks are emphasized, but there are no formal belay checks.  The staff is skilled and attentive, and usually interceed when something obviously unsafe is taking place.  There are waivers, but lawsuits, especially successful ones with awarded damages or settlements, are exceedingly rare.  The culture is generally conservative, slow to change, and not open to outside opinions and discussion.  

My daughter, who is 12 years old, participates in a weekly climbing class.  There are about 10 other kids in the group, ranging in age from 9 to 14.  They are supervised by a single instructor.  At the same day and time, there are two other similar groups, so it can get pretty chaotic, with all the kids running around, swinging on the rings in the training area, jumping up and down on the mats, bouldering, or top rope and lead climbing.  Yes, that's right.  After a few weeks of instruction, the kids are allowed to belay each other, supervised by the instructors, although obviously the instructors can't keep them all in sight when they're spread around the gym climbing. 

The accident involved two boys, aged 9 and 10.  They were not beginners--they had been in the class for several months.  That said, they were often excited and distracted, and spent lots of time running around and playing, which is not unexpected, considering their ages, and the fact that they are best friends.  Several months ago, the instructor told the parents that the boys were probably not mature or focused enough to remain in the class, but that advice was not acted upon by the gym administration, or the parents.  The behavior of the boys improved, and things continued as normal.  

At this gym, the ropes for top roping are closed with large figure 8 knots with bights.  Climbers are expected to clip the closed loops of the bights to their belay loops with locking carabiners.  

The two boys got ready to top rope.  The belayer loaded his device correctly and locked his carbiner.  The climber clipped into the rope and locked his carabiner.  Except he did not clip through the closed loop but around the strand of the rope.  They did not perform a partner check, because they were excited to climb.  The climber started up the wall.  The knot was large enough that it did not pull through the carabiner, and the rope moved up the wall normally.  At the top of the wall, the climber lowered.  At first, the knot stayed blocked in the carabiner and he did not fall.  About 3/4 of the way down the route, the knot pulled through the carabiner and he fell the remaining distance to the floor.  He landed in a split position, and walked away with a pulled groin muscle, a bruised heel, and a sore lower back.  The wall was high enough that, if had fallen from the top, he almost certainly would have died, or suffered life-changing head or spinal cord injuries.  Obviously, he is incredibly lucky. 

The instructor and other kids who witnessed the fall were shaken, and stopped climbing for the day.  The belayer is an avid climber, and wants to continue, but with private lessons with his preferred instructor first, to regain trust in the systems.  The climber wasn't really into climbing anyway, and his parents will not let him climb anymore.  My daughter definitely wants to keep climbing, but she understands the seriousness of the accident, and the importance of partner checks. 

The parents of the two boys are processing.  They are trying to make a list of failures on the part of the gym, such as group size, inadequate supervision, limited instruction, but as I said above they won't get far with that here in Switzerland.  The perspective of the gym is that the boys simply failed to perform a partner check as instructed.  

Anyway, the most important thing is that the boy is OK.  

Remember those partner checks, and if you are top roping with a closed loop, remember to clip through the loop and not around the strand!

Be safe out there. 

B

Clipping into a locker on a top rope has always struck me as questionable at best, since it adds one more potential failure point to the system. Sounds like these kids found a way to make the system fail that I wouldn't have thought of. When I was volunteering at a local climbing wall I took the position that anyone who couldn't or wouldn't learn how to tie in with a figure 8 follow-through was not ready for roped climbing. My position did not make me popular, and I eventually stopped volunteering. 

10 kids per instructor, age 9-14, sounds like a recipe for disaster, especially if two of them are "not mature or focussed enough" for a climbing class. Putting 2 or 3 classes like that in the same gym pretty well guarantees that something is going to go wrong before too long. 

I'm inclined to fault the parents more than the gym ownership/management, since an instructor told the parents that the kids weren't behaving properly. The kids should have been pulled out of the program until they matured a little, or possibly put in separate classes. 

Bruno Schull wrote:

...

The accident involved two boys, aged 9 and 10.  They were not beginners--they had been in the class for several months....  

So, you're saying two boys who are 9 and 10, who have been occasionally going to a climbing class for several months are not beginners?

That's a really odd take on the situation.

Bruno Schull wrote:

I find this a bit concerning. This incident proved that 9-10 year olds can't be trusted to do safety checks properly, especially in a potentially chaotic environment with large groups and limited supervision. I take groups of kids climbing all the time and would never let a 9 year old belay another in this type of situation. The consequences for a mistake are just too great.

slim wrote:

So, you're saying two boys who are 9 and 10, who have been occasionally going to a climbing class for several months are not beginners?

That's a really odd take on the situation.

Slim, you're absolutely right.  I would definitely consider a 9 and 10 year old beginners.  What I wrote didn't come our the way I intended.  I guess I meant to say, by the standards of this gym, where children receive a small amount of instruction, and then are allowed to belay alone, these two were not beginners, as they had been climbing for weeks.

Bruno Schull wrote:

Hey folks, 

At my local climbing gym, there was recently an accident involving a child in a climbing class.  The child ended up with minimal injuries, but it could have been much worse.  Lot's to discuss, but here are the basic details. 

I'm from the US but live in Switzerland.  The climbing and safety practices here are very different from those in the US.  For example, all the floors are concrete, except in the bouldering areas.  Grigris of any kind are generally frowned upon during formal instruction.  Beginners are first taught to belay with a Munter hitch, and later with a Mammut Smart or similar.  Partner checks are emphasized, but there are no formal belay checks.  The staff is skilled and attentive, and usually interceed when something obviously unsafe is taking place.  There are waivers, but lawsuits, especially successful ones with awarded damages or settlements, are exceedingly rare.  The culture is generally conservative, slow to change, and not open to outside opinions and discussion.  

My daughter, who is 12 years old, participates in a weekly climbing class.  There are about 10 other kids in the group, ranging in age from 9 to 14.  They are supervised by a single instructor.  At the same day and time, there are two other similar groups, so it can get pretty chaotic, with all the kids running around, swinging on the rings in the training area, jumping up and down on the mats, bouldering, or top rope and lead climbing.  Yes, that's right.  After a few weeks of instruction, the kids are allowed to belay each other, supervised by the instructors, although obviously the instructors can't keep them all in sight when they're spread around the gym climbing. 

The accident involved two boys, aged 9 and 10.  They were not beginners--they had been in the class for several months.  That said, they were often excited and distracted, and spent lots of time running around and playing, which is not unexpected, considering their ages, and the fact that they are best friends.  Several months ago, the instructor told the parents that the boys were probably not mature or focused enough to remain in the class, but that advice was not acted upon by the gym administration, or the parents.  The behavior of the boys improved, and things continued as normal.  

At this gym, the ropes for top roping are closed with large figure 8 knots with bights.  Climbers are expected to clip the closed loops of the bights to their belay loops with locking carabiners.  

The two boys got ready to top rope.  The belayer loaded his device correctly and locked his carbiner.  The climber clipped into the rope and locked his carabiner.  Except he did not clip through the closed loop but around the strand of the rope.  They did not perform a partner check, because they were excited to climb.  The climber started up the wall.  The knot was large enough that it did not pull through the carabiner, and the rope moved up the wall normally.  At the top of the wall, the climber lowered.  At first, the knot stayed blocked in the carabiner and he did not fall.  About 3/4 of the way down the route, the knot pulled through the carabiner and he fell the remaining distance to the floor.  He landed in a split position, and walked away with a pulled groin muscle, a bruised heel, and a sore lower back.  The wall was high enough that, if had fallen from the top, he almost certainly would have died, or suffered life-changing head or spinal cord injuries.  Obviously, he is incredibly lucky. 

The instructor and other kids who witnessed the fall were shaken, and stopped climbing for the day.  The belayer is an avid climber, and wants to continue, but with private lessons with his preferred instructor first, to regain trust in the systems.  The climber wasn't really into climbing anyway, and his parents will not let him climb anymore.  My daughter definitely wants to keep climbing, but she understands the seriousness of the accident, and the importance of partner checks. 

The parents of the two boys are processing.  They are trying to make a list of failures on the part of the gym, such as group size, inadequate supervision, limited instruction, but as I said above they won't get far with that here in Switzerland.  The perspective of the gym is that the boys simply failed to perform a partner check as instructed.  

Anyway, the most important thing is that the boy is OK.  

Remember those partner checks, and if you are top roping with a closed loop, remember to clip through the loop and not around the strand!

Be safe out there. 

B

All was as it should have been, the gym has no responsibility for their mistake, injured or dead. Americans like to blame others for their mistakes, euros don't. 

Being only injured the climber learned his lesson the hard way and the belayor is probably scared straight. 

I would say in general that kids should be at least 12 before climbing and belaying without direct supervision.

While climbing (both indoors gym days and outdoors) I consider it normal practice to observe and, if necessary,  intervene in unsafe climbing practices. Example: young boy climbing top rope in a gym, young boy belaying.  About 25 ft up I passed him and noticed his figure-8 was only through one contact point. I told him to stay put on the wall and reached over and put a carabiner into the second contact point. After he completed the climb I spoke to him and his belayer about the importance of safety checks being completed every time,  they likely won't make that mistake again. Good educational moment for them.  

Glad this child only suffered minor injuries. Important to point out the climbers parents made the decision to prevent the kid from climbing in the future, they'll have one less way to experience the outdoors due to a preventable accident. 

Perhaps the coach/instructor should witness the belay check and act as a third set of eyes before kids leave the ground?

@ Tradiban--I basically agree with you, but I do think the gym could make some structural changes.  For example, maybe 8 students per instructor max, 2 groups in the gym at any time max, classes for children up to 12 in the bouldering room only, and if an instructor expresses safety concerns about particular kids, those warnings should be trusted and supported by the gym administration.  I'm also a believer in climbing in groups of 3 during the early learning phase: one climber, one belayer, and one to hold the brake end of the rope.  That would not necessarily have prevented this acccident--it was not a belay failure--but it would have provided another pair of eyes during the partner check.  Last, I think the GriGri + is a great device for beginners and children (I'm ducking for cover as I write that).

I know the gym managers and several instructors, and they would likely agree with these points.  The owner is a different story.  Apparently, he's not a climber.  For him, more kids, more groups, less instructors, less training = more money.  

I’m glad the kid is mostly unhurt.

Some of the practices you describe are also in place in US. E.g. the climbing team kids allowed to belay each other, and kids running around all over the place with little supervision. I’m not at all involved with kids programming, so I don’t know the details, but just being a gym customer at the time when they have kids programs going, 12:1 ratio seems approximately what is going on in the gym here. I have seen the coaches back up younger kids, by standing between two climber/belayer teams climbing on nearby routes, and holding two ropes, one in each hand.  But I’m not sure at what age they stop doing that. Overall, it seems like a miracle that there aren’t more accidents, given what seems like a very inadequate training and supervision.

Not to be callous and i guarantee my take would be different if it were my daughter but…

We are soft stateside, and train our kids to be soft. We can discuss a million ways to make things safer, but you will never solve stupid or irresponsible.

Kids are fully capable of being responsible for themselves if they learn life has consequences.

One of the reasons i love climbing is it forces me to be more self aware, engaged and less distracted.

Rather than build a bigger safety net lets teach being responsible for our actions.

If you are old enough to remember to wipe your own ass, you are old enough to remember to do a safety check.  Failing to do so can have shitty consequences.

The most important thing isnt that the boy survived, the most important thing is that he taught him and his partner a valuable lesson, hopefully one he carries for the rest of his life.