Ashima GriGri Fall

nationalgeographic.com/adve…

"Ashima Shiraishi, .... fell 45 feet to the floor of the Stone Summit climbing gym in Kennesaw, Georgia, on July 7. Her father, Hisatoshi “Poppo” Shiraishi, was belaying her when the rope accidentally slipped through his hands—an error that, while not common, is also not unprecedented.

Miraculously, Shiraishi survived the four-story fall relatively unscathed, with only some back bruises."

...

"According to a source who was present at the gym, Poppo made a mistake with his belay device, preventing it from locking down on the rope as it slipped through his hand."

Keep this click bait on reddit where it belongs.

Thanks for getting another Gri-Gri thread started. Six pages of "don't take your brake hand off the rope" and "don't hang on the climber's strand when they fall."

Holy shit.

Glad she's ok.. but this will probably get in her head. Hopefully her dad admitted he was wrong. Fathers can be stubborn.

Her poor dad probably feels worse than she does. Hope she is fine and able to compete

Nathanael wrote:http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/activities/climbing/rock-climber-ashima-shiraishi-injured-in-fall/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_fbadv20160708adv-ashima&utm_campaign=Content&sf30561247=1&sf47350172=1 "Ashima Shiraishi, .... fell 45 feet to the floor of the Stone Summit climbing gym in Kennesaw, Georgia, on July 7. Her father, Hisatoshi “Poppo” Shiraishi, was belaying her when the rope accidentally slipped through his hands—an error that, while not common, is also not unprecedented. Miraculously, Shiraishi survived the four-story fall relatively unscathed, with only some back bruises." ... "According to a source who was present at the gym, Poppo made a mistake with his belay device, preventing it from locking down on the rope as it slipped through his hand."

Where in that article does it say he was using a Gri-Gri????

Marc801 wrote: Where in that article does it say he was using a Gri-Gri????

Good point - the answer to your question is "nowhere."

Marc801 wrote: Where in that article does it say he was using a Gri-Gri????

Its assumed because if you slow the rope down enough the Gri-Gri won't activate, but the rope will still feed. Or that something kept the camming side of the device from moving(thumb on the device??).

All that can really mess up with an tube style device is letting go of the rope completely, or freezing and keeping your brake hand held out in front of you. I don't see how an ATC could keep feeding more rope through if you had enough hand strength to grip the rope.

Marc801 wrote: Where in that article does it say he was using a Gri-Gri????

"Belay Device" basically means GriGri in 2016

Eliot Augusto wrote: Its assumed because if you slow the rope down enough the Gri-Gri won't activate, but the rope will still feed. Or that something kept the camming side of the device from moving(thumb on the device??). All that can really mess up with an tube style device is letting go of the rope completely, or freezing and keeping your brake hand held out in front of you. I don't see how an ATC could keep feeding more rope through if you had enough hand strength to grip the rope.

It's "assumed" because you have zero first-hand knowledge of the accident in question, nor of how a ATC could drop someone either.

In 11 years of climbing, I've been dropped three times, all of which occurred with a tube device; contrasted with thousands of belays using gri-gri with zero drops.

JL

Ok well the other reason is people who were there (in the gym when she fell) posted on reddit and said they saw him using a GriGri.

reddit.com/r/climbing/comme…

FrankPS wrote:Thanks for getting another Gri-Gri thread started. Six pages of "don't take your brake hand off the rope" and "don't hang on the climber's strand when they fall."

Whoa

Eliot Augusto wrote: I don't see how an ATC could keep feeding more rope through if you had enough hand strength to grip the rope.

Off the top of my head, these two things would cause an ATC to fail even if you had enough hand strength to grip the rope:

• Failure to install the ATC correctly.
• Failure to apply that magnificent hand strength. In other words, not gripping the rope correctly -- or at all -- in the first place (regardless of how much hand strength you actually have).

The article simply says that he made a mistake with his belay device and that the rope slipped through his hands...

saxfiend wrote: In 11 years of climbing, I've been dropped three times, all of which occurred with a tube device; contrasted with thousands of belays using gri-gri with zero drops. JL

You have been only climbing for 11 years and have been dropped 3 times!? Holy fucking shit! Sounds like you need to find better partner. The gri could just be a band-aid and drop number 4 is around the corner...

Nathanael wrote: "Belay Device" basically means GriGri in 2016

I totally disagree. Likely others do as well, judging by the repetitive threads about all sorts of devices in addition to the Gri-gri. I also see a lot of devices other than the Gri-gri at the crags (and I predominantly sport climb now).

Nathanael wrote:Ok well the other reason is people who were there (in the gym when she fell) posted on reddit...

Reddit?
Who reads that nonsense?

From Rock and Ice rockandice.com/climbing-new…:

Though well versed with a belay device, Hisatoshi Shiraishi succumbed to an all-too-common user error. According to [her agent] Retseck , he accidently clasped down on the Grigri 2’s brake release lever that he was using to belay Ashima, which caused her to drop 45-feet to the padded floor.

A note from her on Instagram: instagram.com/p/BHnkgeDjgXZ/

could have been much worse.

From the Rock and Ice Article, it sounds like the dad accidentally disengaged the cam. It sounds like his hand was on the climber's end of the rope and caught the break lever...?

Ted Pinson wrote:From the Rock and Ice Article, it sounds like the dad accidentally disengaged the cam. It sounds like his hand was on the climber's end of the rope and caught the break lever...?

I'm thinking it was probably the scenario at 4:08 in this video:

youtube.com/watch?v=V9hsWjA…

Also explained in this video (around 4:30):
youtube.com/watch?v=FHdqjjy…

most folks with a grigri always belay in the fast feed method ... despite petzls instructions not to stay "parked" in that position except when feeding clips

to be fair with thicker ropes one is often forced to use the fast feed method as the grigri wont feed ATC style

however many folks

- grip the entire grigri rather than just with the index under the lip
- keep the thumb parked on the cam all the time rather than keeping it off except when actually feeding
- dont have the reaction to pull down hard on the rope on a fall if they havent practiced with an ATC ... rather they just keep gripping the grigri without pulling down on the brake and expect it to always catch
- some also death grip the climber side of the rope sharply

if you do use a grigri constantly in fast feed method because of rope thickness ... dont do the above

and its a very good idea to practice catching whippers with an ATC so that you keep that brake hand reflex

with all these assisted locking devices, belayers are becoming an "accessory" to the system ... folks expect the device to do the work every time no matter what

unfortunately as these accidents (there have been others with well known folks) show ... these devices can be misused, and in certain circumstances not catch at all

the DAV, BMC, Petzl, etc ... have whole videos and articles dedicated to the various "failure" modes and proper techniques of the many assisted locking devices out there

as these devices become more popular, when these accidents do happen ... folks will likely be left scratching their heads and asking ...

"why didnt the autolocking device catch??? ... its supposed to be safe!!!"