Climbing Accident in Maple Canyon

My friend Paul R., a 47 year old male from Los Angeles, fell between 50' to 60' yesterday while climbing 49 at the Minimum Crag. I was climbing in a different area at the time so this is what I've been able to glean.

His belayer, someone I had just met but Paul has known for a while, was using an Edelrid Eddy. He was using a 9.2mm rope which falls within the manufacturers recommended rope diameters. The belayer claims that the climber was clipping a draw when he fell; the climber claims he was not clipping a draw at the time of the fall. Irrelevant, but part of the situation. From what I have been able to surmise, the belayer felt the rope tug, depressed the device "trigger" and tossed out what he thought would be an armload of rope. This resulted in a 50' fall. A review of the device states, "the design makes it impossible to hold the cam open in this way - it's simply not big enough to hold" (during a fall). The belayer states that he was not holding the climber side of the rope during the fall. By holding the climber side of the rope exiting the device it would render the device useless.

Paul R. states, " I would like to thank everyone involved in my stabilization, evacuation, and medical treatment. The kindness, competency and support from the Utah climbing community, the Emergency Rescue crew from Fountain Green, and the medical crew from Pleasant Grove and the Utah Valley Regional hospital has been amazing. Thank you to everyone. It makes me proud to know members of the climbing community in Utah."

I'm wondering if anyone has any feedback on this device?

Thank you,
Mark Davis

A Google search yielded this Rock & Ice review:

The Eddy is no Grigri, and it costs twice as much. Need to read more? OK: The Eddy, Edelrid’s new auto-locking device, intends to improve on what could be perceived as Grigri “weaknesses”—those being the danger of holding the lever open or not clipping the two side plates together.

Admittedly, there are definite safety improvements with the Eddy. First, the two side plates lock into place with a click, eliminating the chance of only clipping through one side plate. And unlike the Grigri, which relies on rope friction to engage a cam to hold the rope in place, the Eddy uses rope friction to engage a cam that locks into place. I can see how these features improve safety, however, the Eddy snagged up all tasks, from lowering to feeding line. I experimented with holding the Eddy in different hand positions, but the device inevitably and invariably locked up, leaving me scrambling to figure out how to unlock the cam (press it down, and it will release) to continue feeding slack.

The Eddy, a rather heavy bugger at 12.4 ounces (Grigri is 7.9 ounces), will also lock if the user pulls the lever all the way back. This eliminates the risk of the belayer dropping you because he freaked and yarded on the lever. I found this feature especially annoying, and even superfluous to safety. First, it makes the lever’s range of arc that unlocks the cam extremely small—you have to pull it back just right in order to lower your partner.

To sum up, the Eddy is okay. It will catch and lower any climber—even on, thank god, ropes down to 9 millimeters! However, compared to the no nonsense Grigri, I found the Eddy difficult to use.

Found at this address: rockandice.com/inthemag.php…

It doesn't sound very user-friendly. I find this particularly interesting: The reviewer found that a safety feature "eliminates the risk of the belayer dropping you because he freaked..."

Do you think that when the belayer "felt a tug" on the rope, he was actually feeling his climber falling; his subsequent pressing of the "device 'trigger'" what lead to the ground fall? (I'm of course not trying to make accusations; rather glean some knowledge from this accident).

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I wish Paul R. the speediest of recoveries! I hope you are sending routes again before long.

--Marc

I'm glad to know your friend Paul's injuries were not serious enough to keep him from expressing thanks for his rescue! I hope his recovery is speedy.

Marc Horan wrote:A Google search yielded this Rock & Ice review: The Eddy is no Grigri, and it costs twice as much. Need to read more? [snip]

If you really want good beta on the Eddy, contact healyje; he has an article on rc.com on how he uses one for rope soloing. I don't have a very good opinion of the gear "reviewers" who write for Rock & Ice.

JL

I won an Eddy at an SLCA fundraiser a couple of years ago and I totally love mine. It does have a cam that clicks into place very easily when the rope moves through it with very much speed at all.

When the climber pulls out slack you have to manually hold that cam in place so it won't lock up. If you were to be holding it when someone fell it would lock up as soon as you let go. If the belayer held it down so it wouldn't lock up I can see how a long fall would happen. When you feed out line one hand is on the cam and the other is pulling through and if the climber fell simply letting go would make the cam lock up. You would not be able to hold onto the belay end of the rope in this scenario and that's something I'm working out.

Basically, its just like any other device in that you have to practice and deliberately work with it to learn its 'ins and outs'. That R&I review doesn't do it justice at all. I think lowering is fantastically smoother and easier. So it locks up when you pull the lever too far - big deal, you simply ease it back down and still keep on lowering.

If it were lighter and a lot cheaper it would be selling a TON more than it does. (read:trango cinch)But I'll be using mine for a very long time. So psyched I bought all those raffle tickets!

I was one of the climbers at the Minimum Wall in Maple during the accident. I also was a member in a party of four climbers, two of which were involved in the accident.

I had used the same Eddy and rope used to belay the climber involved in the accident only moments before it occurred earlier in the day. The rope was practically brand new and the sheath had not been broken in at all. It felt quite slippery to the touch. Another important determinant was the 9.2 mm thinness of the rope. Due to these two factors, I found that I could yard rope through the device quite quickly without either engaging the cam or having to hold it down. There simply wasn't that much friction between the device and this thin rope.

I believe this is the primary cause of the accident. Because the belayer was not holding the brake end of the rope, the fallen climber did not activate the cam in the device due to lack of friction between the rope and the Eddy. The belayer believed the cam would engage in the event of a fall and therefore was not vigilant holding or keeping close tabs on the brake end of the rope.

Tenesmus states:

"When you feed out line one hand is on the cam and the other is pulling through and if the climber fell simply letting go would make the cam lock up. You would not be able to hold onto the belay end of the rope in this scenario and that's something I'm working out."

However, after the accident, consultation with the Eddy manual clearly indicated that the manufacturer describes a way to feed out rope to a leading climber without having to fully release the brake hand from the rope. The assumption that letting go of the rope would make the cam lock up is a common one but unfortunately it is incorrect. The accident that happened to my climbing party is proof of that.

Even with a gri gri, when you take your hand off the brake to feed rope, you are betting that you will be able to anticipate a fall and return your hand to the brake before the rope starts moving too fast. I know that many people have used this system to belay for many years, including myself, however the increasing popularity of thin ropes is changing the rules of the game.

I hope people will learn from this tragic accident. If you are using an auto-locking belay device and a very thin rope, particularly a new one, extra care must be taken.

oooh. Thank you for clarifying this. Went back too and I am totally wrong. I'm breaking out my new rope tomorrow and I'm very glad I read your post. I still love the eddy and more caution will be taken.

More important, I hope your friend is allright.

Right on man.

The climber, Paul, was lucky. He will have vertebrae fused together and have a long recovery, but he will return. From that height, this is easily the best case scenario.

First off I would like to say I am glad to hear Paul is going to be OK.
I was also at the Minimum wall that day and witnessed the accident. It is interesting to read the discussion on the hardwarwe (the thin rope and the eddy) but I think the main lesson to be learned here is that no matter your hardware combination you owe the climber your full attention as his or her belayer.
I saw Paul right before he fell, when he fell and when he impacted with the ground. I witnessed Paul clip the bolt and then continue to climb above it for about 2 feet. He then started to crux out (elbows flaring and grunting) it was obvious to me that he was about to fall, or at least very likely he was about to fall. An attentive belayer should have noticed this and have been somewhat prepared,(i.e. put a hand on the brake end of the rope). Im not trying to point fingers, but I think people have become to complacent and rely soley on the active belay devices. I always use a Gri Gri sport climbing and this has been a good reminder that we should always be paying attention as we hold the climbers life in our hands. Hope I didn't sound preachy but witnessing the accident has shaken me up. All the best for a good and speedy recovery.

Is it possible to have this thread moved to accidents/injuries so more readers can find out about not only this accident, but the device that was used as well?

I saw Paul's name mentioned many times. He was but one person involved in this terrible accident. What about the belayer? How is he handling this?

I still can't believe this happened to Paul. I remember him always being very particular about how he was belayed.

My heart goes out to Paul. I have no doubt that he will have a full recovery. At the hospital in Provo he told me "they say that what doesn't kill you, builds character. I have enough character." Those of us who know him, also know this all too well.

As Saxfiend said, I do use an Eddy as my belay device for roped-solo free climbing and have logged a couple hundred pitches on it at this point. I use it because there is no spring involved with the cam locking on the rope and there are some rope orientations the device can be in relative to both sides of the rope in which it can't lock up regardless of the tension put on the rope - the combination of those attributes is what makes it ideal for roped soloing.

As a preface to any further comments, I should point out that I only very rarely use the Eddy for anything other than roped soloing - I pretty much exclusively use ATC's for belaying (as I also only climb trad).

So, I guess on my reading the OP's post, the statement "depressed the device 'trigger'" is fairly worrisome right off the bat, particularly when using a 9.2mm rope. Unless the main locking cam had been 'tripped' while belaying because the climber had fallen or rested, I don't belive there should be a need to release the cam with a 9.2mm. The cam should be in the unlocked position and your brake hand should always be doing the belaying just like an ATC - tension on that brake side of the rope is what you are counting on 'tripping' the main locking cam, but clearly, resting or agressive tension while belaying would also continuously 'trip' the cam.

I'm guessing what happened here is a [less than attentive] belayer pressed the cam release 'button' (it's really just the top surface of the cam) with their left thumb and started yarding out rope with their right hand (or vice-versa) as the climber started to move above the clip, mistakenly assuming he was in fact clipping. So I would bet when the climber fell the belayer's thumb was still 'on the button' and that new, slick, skinny rope got moving and kept moving. Thirty to fifty feet of such a rope would fly through an Eddy in a blink of an eye under such a scenario if it were nicely flaked out.

You have to remember gravity works really fast. I had a marginal piece pull on me a couple of hours ago and I took a pretty substantial ride and it was all over about the time I realized it had even happened. Bottom line in this sort of accident - autolocking devices don't stop falls, brake hands do. Hoping or counting on an autolocker to do your job is simply bad belaying. In this case, while I think that was a contributing factor, I think the belayer just wasn't paying attention and thought the climber was doing yet another clip rather than knowing exactly what the climber was up to at that moment. Petzl just released some modified guidance on how to yard rope out on a grigri without taking your brake hand off the rope; I'm guessing it would be good idea for Eddy users to adapt that advice in whatever means necessary to do the same with the Eddy.

Also, this sort of mind-numbingly repetitious and routine rope handling breeds inattentiveness and is an inherent peril in both sport and aid climbing. It is a really bad idea to allow yourself to get sucked into this mode because that's exactly when Murphy is going to rise up and bite you directly on the ass.

My condolonces to Paul, and here's to hoping for a speedy recovery...

Glad to hear Paul is doing OK, and I wish him a very speedy recovery.

Seems like the basic lesson is exactly as Healyje says: don't take your break hand off the rope. Ever.

There may have been other factors in this accident such that even had the belayer's hand been on the break end of the rope he would not have been able to arrest the fall. His chances of arresting the fall would have been much better had his hand been on the brake end.

Right?

JulianM wrote:There may have been other factors in this accident such that even had the belayer's hand been on the break end of the rope he would not have been able to arrest the fall. His chances of arresting the fall would have been much better had his hand been on the brake end. Right?

I would think probably not because the locking cam on the Eddy triggers quite easily as, I believe, Marc or tenesmus mentioned above. Simply holding the brake-side rope in your hand tight enough so it doesn't run through your hand would impart more than enough rope tension on the rope path inside the Eddy to trigger the locking action of the cam. In this case - similar to the myriad grigri cases that caused Petzl to issue new usage guidance - the name of the game is keeping a hand on the brake-side rope. But as I said above, I think the more significant error in this particular case was not knowing exactly what the leader was doing at that specific moment.

I used my eddy today with my brand new rope and I'm really psyched that Gary spoke up. That thing lowered much faster than it did with my thinner yet extremely worn out old rope. The right hand was on the brake side of the rope with gloves and I felt very self-conscious of the whole lowering experience.

Still love that Eddy but I'm using better technique.

Healyje, did you write up your self-belaying technique because I'd love to read how you solo with that rig? Thanks in advance

Lynn Griese wrote:I saw Paul's name mentioned many times. He was but one person involved in this terrible accident. What about the belayer? How is he handling this?

With all due respect, who cares how the belayer is doing? What's the worst that happens to him/her?

S/he doesn't climb anymore? Maybe not such a bad thing.

S/he loses a few night's sleep? Deservedly so.

I feel bad for the man that hit the ground; may have some vertebrae fused; and is in for a long recovery.

That's just my $0.02.

--Marc

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Healye wrote:Petzl just released some modified guidance on how to yard rope out on a grigri without taking your brake hand off the rope

I'd be interested in seeing these guidelines if you could provide a link. Thanks.

--Marc

Check out the video Belaying the leader with a GriGri

It shows the classic technique (brake-hand thumb up) and the new technique (brake-hand thumb down). The latter provides better control of the brake side of the rope when feeding clip slack.

Both methods are endorsed by Petzl.

Marc, the link Ron just posted is the one, though I believe somewhere they have a print version of it as well.

tenesmus, I did write it up some time ago on rc and then told the folks there I'd clean it up as an article, but still haven't be able to get around to it. Here is the rc thread where I posted up a description of what I do... My post is most of the way down the first page - the one with the pictures...

Anyone know anybody that lives in LA and has 5-6 months off from work to help Paul once he is able to leave the hospital?

There is one guy I know of but I heard he's continuing the rest of a climbing trip...

Marc Horan wrote: With all due respect, who cares how the belayer is doing? What's the worst that happens to him/her? S/he doesn't climb anymore? Maybe not such a bad thing. S/he loses a few night's sleep? Deservedly so. I feel bad for the man that hit the ground; may have some vertebrae fused; and is in for a long recovery. That's just my $0.02. --Marc ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'd be interested in seeing these guidelines if you could provide a link. Thanks. --Marc

My husband just pointed out to me that I was being ambiguous with that statement. I was trying to be nice, since Guideline #1 is "don't be a jerk." I was also hoping that someone else would "out" the belayer, since I don't know his name and only have second-hand accounts of what happened. I know Paul. And I know that he is not OK right now. He will be OK, but right now he is not.

Healyje wrote: tenesmus, I did write it up some time ago on rc and then told the folks there I'd clean it up as an article, but still haven't be able to get around to it. Here is the rc thread where I posted up a description of what I do... My post is most of the way down the first page - the one with the pictures...

thanks- I'll be reading up later today.

Ron Olsen wrote:Check out the video Belaying the leader with a GriGri

I like it. Thanks for the link!

--Marc

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Ben Banks wrote:There is one guy I know of but I heard he's continuing the rest of a climbing trip...

Lynn Griese wrote:I have been telling every climber I know about what happened to Paul and to spread the word about a climber on a 6 month road trip using an Eddy.

Please tell me you guys aren't talking about the same guy.

--Marc

I have mixed feelings about this thread. On the one hand I think it is very beneficial because there has been some really great conversation about proper use of equipment, checking ourselves and our 'lazy' bad habits often, and seeing what we can do personally to making climbing safer for ourselves and all of the people we climb with.

On the other hand, I am disappointed because towards the end, we seem to have degraded into pointing fingers and attacking an 'unknown' belayer behind his back like a bunch of elementary school kids.

I was at the scene of this accident. In fact, I was the primary first responder on the scene, throughout the entire rescue. My wife and i had just met Paul and his companions the day before, at the pipe dream. Immediately i thought he was one of the most friendly, non-egotistical climbers i have ever met. When this happened to him of ALL people, one of the only sport climbers i know to wear a helmet, it broke my heart, and has truly shaken up my wife. But i'd like to remind everyone that holding on to bitterness towards the belayer will only prolong this accident, and create many more than one victim of the fall.

During the accident, Paul was very upset with the belayer, and has EVERY right to be. He was so shocked and angry to have fallen, and KNEW that he had done nothing wrong and nothing to deserve this. But now that it is over, ask yourselves, do you really think his belayer meant to do this? Do you really think he has any good feelings about this whole incident? At the moment, it sounds like he isn't exactly being supportive to Paul, which is sad. But I can tell you, no one, from the moment he took the fall, was exactly supportive of the belayer. There is nothing like being treated like an outcast, to make you an outcast. I was with everyone that day at the crag, and I can guarantee that the belayer was white with fear, shock, and guilt. It didn't help when people began to bad mouth him and blame him. We are all capable of mistakes, and we are all engaged in sport where mistakes come at great costs.

Paul, my heart and thoughts are with you. When you are feeling up to it, i would love hear from you. Your bro has my email address. I wish we could have done more for you brother. It was an honor to be there when you needed help. Take care of yourself.

-Scott