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Rescue on Castleton, left gear on first pitch!

Original Post
Shire-mon · · Moab, UT / Boone, NC · Joined May 2008 · Points: 50

Hi,

Today my partner fell at the top of pitch one of The North Chimney on Castleton Tower and hurt himself bad enough to lower him immediately and begin a rescue. After 2-3 hours of self rescuing we decided to call Search and Rescue to get more hands helping him down. They sent a helicopter, so that happened! ANYWAY,,,, I still have about 10 or so cams up on the first pitch. I intend on going back up to retrieve them ASAP, but weather and time dependent, it could take me until Friday to head back up. So PLEASE, if you get there before me, help me get my gear back. I left it there to perform an epic rescue! My friend is ok with only an injured ankle, which could have been soooo much worse after taking that monster whip! I live in Moab.

Brett Sherman
919-244-8744
shermanbd8744@gmail.com

Shire-mon · · Moab, UT / Boone, NC · Joined May 2008 · Points: 50

Rain today, so cams will be up there another day...

Chris Walden · · Soldotna, Alaska · Joined Aug 2014 · Points: 630

I am believing in the good of humanity and hoping you got your gear back versus some dirtbag climber thinking they hit the booty motherlode?

Shire-mon · · Moab, UT / Boone, NC · Joined May 2008 · Points: 50

Yes, I got all of my gear back! I went up the next day after the heavy wind and light rain day, and a party ahead of me had already collected it all and was holding it for me. Although, the cam that held the fall is nothing more than a wall piece now.... Destroyed! Thanks for the concern, the injured climber is doing great and healing up fast.

-Brett

All messed up.

Scott McMahon · · Boulder, CO · Joined Feb 2006 · Points: 1,425

HOLY SHNIKES!! Glad to hear that he (she) is safe and doing well!!

How far did your partner fall? Any thoughts if it was partially due to placement or straight up whippage?

BigB · · Red Rock, NV · Joined Feb 2015 · Points: 340

Wow! Did that cam still hold the fall? Or did your partner go to the next piece?

Phil Sakievich · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2014 · Points: 131

Wow, yes please give more details. It must have been a pretty epic fall to destroy a cam that size!

Scott McMahon · · Boulder, CO · Joined Feb 2006 · Points: 1,425
psakievich wrote:Wow, yes please give more details. It must have been a pretty epic fall to destroy a cam that size!
That's a number 8 right? It's been a while since I owned one.
Mathias · · Loveland, CO · Joined Jun 2014 · Points: 306

Looks like a Metolius Super Cam. Glad it held and you got down without further incident. And that you got your gear back.

Shire-mon · · Moab, UT / Boone, NC · Joined May 2008 · Points: 50

It was a Metolious super cam that held the fall. It did its job,,, just got mangled in the process... So here is what I gathered about the fall. My friend was at the top of the first pitch of North Chimney on Castleton Tower, he placed the supercam, climbed about 8 ft maybe, placed a medium sized BD nut, climbed a few feet higher, struggled and MAYBE kicked his nut placement a bit, he fell out, nut popped, fell around what I thought was ~50 ft and the rope caught him. It was a whipper indeed! I never belay with extra slack, I consider myself a pretty decent belayer overall. When he kept plummeting down I jumped backwards and finally felt his weight.

After showing photos of the mangled cam to Metolius via email, they believe that the supercam may have slipped when loaded, then re-caught some distance lower. When I retrieved the cam two days later, it was easy to remove and not at all over cammed. That's all I know about details. Let me know if there are other questions... Thanks for all of your concerns for my partner!

-Brett

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Injuries and Accidents
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