Injury Accident at Red Slab, Rock Canyon

At 4:18pm, Wednesday, November 22 2006, a young woman fell approximately 70 feet from the top of the Red Slab in Rock Canyon. I was at the top of the Ed and Terry Wall taking photographs; I witnessed and by chance photographed the start of her fall.

When I arrived at the base of the Red Slab approximately 20 minutes later (after calling 911) she was conscious, alert, had feeling in and was able to move her arms and legs. She was lying on her back covered with jackets supplied (apparently) by her climbing party and other witnesses. She had no apparent head injuries (she wasn't wearing a helmet); the only visible injuries I saw were abrasions and contusions on one of her lower legs and on the back of one of her hands. She complained of pain in her hips and back.

The accident as I witnessed it happened as follows: I happened to look down and saw a woman at the top of one of the Red Slab routes (the route "Red Slab", a 5.6 bolted sport route, as it happened). I pointed my camera at her and prepared to take a picture. As I pressed the shutter release I saw her (through the viewfinder) slip down and to one side and heard her give a short shriek. I assumed she was tied in and had slipped a bit when she started to lower. However, she then screamed and continued to fall beyond my view. I heard shouting and screams from the base of the Red Slab but could not see the base from my vantage point.

I called 911 on my cell phone and then descended via the gully on the south side of the Ed and Terry Wall.

When I arrived at the base of the Red Slab the first police officer was arriving as well. Paramedics arrived a few minutes later.

Apparently it was a rappel accident. According to a young man whom I took to be her partner she was rappelling from the top of the route. According to a witness, as she fell one end of the rope was pulled up the cliff, consistent with having only one, rather than both rope strands secured through the belay device and carabiner. She may have led the route first; I saw draws on the bolts for the route.

When the paramedics removed the jackets covering her I saw her harness was partially unbuckled and her belay device and carabiner were missing. I asked where they were and her partner said that he had removed them. He pointed to a tube-type belay device and a locking carabiner on the ground near a backpack.

I'm not sure I will post the photograph so I will describe it:

The picture shows an anchor consisting of two carabiners through the anchor bolt hangers, at least one sling forming a 'V', and at least one carabiner at the master point. At least one of the carabiners through the bolt hangers appears from the photo to be locking. The rope appears to be threaded through the master point.

The victim is falling to the left of the anchor, her left foot is contacting the rock, and she appears to be approximately 10 feet below the anchor at the point of the photo (although because of the angle it is difficult to judge). One strand extends from the anchor to the victim; it isn't possible to tell from the photograph if the rope is attached to her but she does appear to be grasping the strand in her left hand. The other rope strand extends from the anchor away from the victim making an apparent angle of approximately 45 degrees between the two strands. Her right hand and arm are extended down and away from her body; it isn't possible to tell from the photo if she is grasping the rope with her right hand. Her harness appears to be secure about her waist.

A sobering experience to be sure. My thoughts and prayers are with the young woman and her family.

Perrin,
It might be really useful and informative to see that picture.

You are right, of course, and after sleeping on it decided I should post it.

Here is the "actual pixels" crop from the original:

This is an "actual pixels" crop from the whole photo. I altered it slightly by pixelating her face to protect her privacy (although you probably couldn't tell who she is anyway). Otherwise it is as recorded by the camera. I was only recording JPEG that day so I don't have the RAW data.

I "pixelated" her face in the above, but otherwise it is as recorded from the camera.

The whole (resized for upload) shot is here:

This is the full view of the photo as from the camera, except I resized it to 1280x853 for upload (starting size was 3504x2336 from a Canon 30D). The lens is the EFS 17-85 at 50mm, exposure f8, 1/100s, ISO 400. Unfortunately I was still composing when she started to fall so the quality of the photo is the best we've got.

I remember that her belay device was pink or purple. There is a purple-ish blob just below her face that is in line with the rope strand; that might be the belay device.

Unfortunately the image zoom and quality are not sufficient to allow one to draw many conclusions. Also, as I was only recording JPEG that day I don't have the RAW data.

The following photo shows an overview of the accident site. The numbered "X's" are as follows:

1. My location when I took the photograph.
2. The start of the fall.
3. The victim's location when I arrived at the base.

This photo shows the locations of 1. The photographer (me) 2. The start of the fall 3. The victim when I arrived at the base

The only news story I have found so far:

deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1…

The article mentions "[h]er fall was broken by her fiance..."; I overheard one of the witnesses tell a police officer that her parter had tried to catch her. Whether he reached her or not I don't know.

Although the picture might be interpreted as showing lowering, it is unfortunately ambiguous.

Her partner was adamant that she was rappelling. My assumption based on what I saw from above was that she had cleaned the anchor, threaded the rope and incorrectly tied in. (I didn't look at the picture until I was at the base).

When I got to the base I asked, "Was she lowering?" Her partner (her fiance, I presume) replied, "No, she was rappelling." Some time later someone else asked about lowering (it might have been one of the paramedics) and her partner again said she had been rappelling.

Also, after I discovered there was no belay device on her harness I specifically asked about it and her partner said he had earlier removed it.

Unfortunately the photo isn't clear enough to definitively answer the question. I think we have to assume she was rappelling based on the eyewitness accounts.

My guess is that "rappelling" means different things to different people. The way that left rope is running, it seems like there is tension on it running out to the left... that doesn't seem to jive with rapping. The system looks pretty weird, nice picture Perin (all things considered.) More information is needed, preferably from the two climbers. User error, or mis-communication is probable, but it is always nice to know for sure. Hopefully someone who was there can shed some light.

What a nightmare. No helmet, full fall from the anchors, tons of sharp quartize rocks all the way down. She is lucky to be alive.

What is this talk about her boyfriend trying to break her fall? Trying to catch a 120 pound person falling 80' should have put him in the hospital also. Of course, perhaps that is the only reason she is alive.

I hope everything turns out for the best. It is sobering to realize how your whole life can change in just a few seconds.

Rappel-cleaning is a nightmare alright. People doing sport routes who expect it are a hazard to their partners.

Rappel cleaning, as a way to prevent anchor wear, should never have been encouraged by either the Access Fund or the climbing magazines. Until the AF and mags make an effort to end rap cleaning, there will be more of these rap-cleaning accidents.

If you are willing to risk your friend's neck, just to save the rings, then take it a step further. Learn how to replace worn anchors. All you need are some quick-links from the hardware store and a small crescent.

Even better, learn how to do hooks. This link leads to a photo of anchors that are easy to replace when worn. They also don't require untying.
mountainproject.com/v/color…

Not trying to be a jerk but this story sounds really fishy. If she was rapping and her fiance noticed something was wrong in time to try to catch her, why didn't he just grab the lose end of the rope? I can't see by the pic if it is touching the ground or not. Why would he remove the belay device from the harness? It looks to me like she was being lowered off the v anchor and like maybe there was some miscommunication. I hope that is not the case. Like I said, I'm not trying to be a jerk and mean no disrespect to anyone involved. Anyway, best wishes for a speedy recovery for the girl and everyone who witnessed her fall.

Ok, here are my questions.

Why rap when you can be lowered?
Why rap and clean when you can be lowered and clean.

You said she was 70 feet up, with a standard 50-60m rope she had enough not to have to rap.

I guess I want to make sure I am not missing something.

Spiro wrote:Why rap when you can be lowered?

While there are a lot of reasons that makes lowering more practical, I'd respond by saying that lowering puts twice as much weight on the anchor as rapping. So if anchor strength is at all questionable, rapping is a good idea.

Also, if the rope is threaded through a fixed anchor in order to be used for descent, lowering will lead to substantial wear and tear due to the weighted rope and sand running over the fixed gear. In this case as well, rapping would be indicated. Some fixed hardware can wear through rapidly, especially in the sandy desert, and can be difficult to repair without pulling the bolts and replacing from scratch.

Ken Trout wrote:Rappel-cleaning is a nightmare alright. People who expect it are a hazard to their partners...Rappel cleaning, as a way to prevent anchor wear, should never have been encouraged...

Pretty strong remarks. Cleaning a 5.6 route on rappel normally requires no skill beyond that of basic rock-craft and to declare it unsafe is pretty pathetic. Now if this were an overhanging 5.11, rapping might not have been a good idea, but on this 5.6? Give me a break.

Ken,

First let me say that I have a great deal of respect for you and your contributions to climbing, but I am going to have to call BS on your statement that rap cleaning should never be endorsed, etc. The only times that lowering should be encouraged are

a) if the wall is very steep and requires significant tramming.
b) if the wall is incredibly traversing and requires tramming
c) in the event of an emergency/injury that might necessitate lowering.

aside from the (previously mentioned) fact that rapping puts less force on the anchors, and that it reduces anchor wear by about a billion percent, it also puts the responsibility of getting down safely on the ONE person who should have that responsibility.

sure, lowering is 'handy' on the 3 bolt routes at table, etc, but less experienced climbers take this philosophy to the longer routes at clear creek, eldo, boulder canyon, lumpy, red rocks, indian creek, devil's tower, etc, etc, and the results over the last 10 years have been sobering. if you look through the last 15 years of 'accidents in north america', as well as other sources, the increase in the number of lowering accidents is a real buzzkill.

take for instance the route 'tofu crack' at the second meat wall at indian creek - 2 serious lowering accidents in about 2 months. what about 'darkness til dawn' at eldo? i know of at least 3 lowering accidents over the last few years. clear creek canyon? yeah, been a few there as well.

there are several problems with endorsing lowering over rapping. first, it leads to complacency. after a while a person gets used to lowering, or being lowered, and gets complacent about BOTH members of the team double checking everything. this doesn't just happen to beginner climbers. wolfgang (and others) got lowered off the end, and n beckwith (and others) lowered a person off the end.

second, it prevents climbers (particularly newer climbers) from routinely practicing an essential climbing process. do people lower each other down the diamond? or levitation 29? although these sound like funny questions, i will describe an experience i recently had.

my partner and i climbed wunches dihedral on a windy november day. me met a couple who had climbed the center route to class act to the summit. they rapped off the summit to the shoulder. we waited for quite a while to give them a good head start. then we rapped to the shoulder and they were still there.

a pitch below the shoulder, on the anchors in the middle of the face was a party of 3. we had seen them earlier,and they were going to climb the center route. they made sure to mention that they were 'solid 11 climbers'. well, they made it most of the way up the center route (5.9) and bailed from the chockstone anchor halfway up the last pitch. we waited for them to leave the anchors on the face for 2 FVCKING hours!!! i'm not sh1tting you, 2 hours. in the wind, as the sun was wanting to go down. it turns out that 2 of these 3 jokers had NO idea how to rappel, and the 3rd one had to lower both of them. on a MULTIPITCH route. can you believe that? unfortunately, i can. what if something had happened to their fearless leader?

getting back to the problems with endorsing lowering.... a LOT of climbers (both new and experienced) make NO effort to LEARN anything about what type of anchor they are on. a great example of this, i was climbing at eldo last spring and some guy was lowering his girlfriend through a SINGLE aluminum rap ring. Ken, i'm sure you know which type i mean (the hollow ones with wall thicknesses not much beefier than an old schlitz can). i have seen some of these rings worn halfway through, and that is a scary sight. i've seen this climber since, and he is a very good climber (in terms of numerical ability). again, this is a good example of where bringing the gym mindset outside could lead to disaster.

finally, one of my biggest disagreements is that lowering puts the outcome of the climber in the belayer's control UNNECESSARILY. whenever possible, the responsibility of one's own fate should be in his/her own hands. particularly in the rapping/lowering argument. when rapping an accident will occur if the climber f's up. when lowering, an accident will occur if EITHER the climber OR the belayer f's up. in circumstances where communication is compromised, this could be disastrous.... a story about this....

so, a group of us were climbing near scorpio dome on a long face/slab route requiring 2 ropes to get down. the last guy up, we'll call him 'frenchy', TR'd the route, and when he got to the anchor (which was out of sight) he yelled 'off belay'. the belayer took him off belay. after a few moments, the rope started slowly moving upward, we figured he was pulling up the rope to rap. after another few moments, frenchy appears over the bulge, essentially lowering himself hand over hand on the other rope. he looks down, realizes that nobody is lowering him, and begins screaming at us. we put him on belay and lower him the rest of the way. none of us heard him ask to be put on belay again, if 'frenchy' would have just rapped, it would have been a lot safer. 'frenchy' is an experienced climber (although after climbing around him 3 times in a row where he did something completely stupid that could have killed him or his partner, i would have to say not a particularly safe climber).

Ken, not sure if you are still reading this, but first and foremost i don't want you to think that i dislike you for the mussy hook lowering stations that you have been installing, or for your pro-lowering stance. the platte is my all time favorite climbing area, and i have spent many joyful days on routes that you and your friends have put up. i have a great deal of respect for your climbing ability, and the fact that you have done so safely for such a long time. i simply ask that you really think hard about the long term effects of lowering on the future of climbing, in terms of the dulling that it does to one's senses, the neuturing of responsibility that is a cornerstone of the real climber's experience, and the continuing education of a climber's skill set. the lowering station MIGHT make that particular route a bit safer, but in the overall scheme of things, i have some serious apprehension about the long term, wide ranging effects.

Don't let the capitalization of my responses offend you. I just couldn't get the "reply with quote" to happen. I've learned some thing from your comments. Thanks!

John's quote: "there are lots of reasons that make lowering more practical"

I AGREE!

Next quote from John: "if anchor strength is at all questionable, rapping is a good idea."

ALSO TRUE! BUT THE REASON THE ACCESS FUND ADVISED THAT WE RAP-CLEAN SPORT ROUTES WAS TO PREVENT ANCHOR WEAR. NOT BECAUSE SPORT ANCHORS ARE TOO WEAK TO HOLD. AND NOT BECAUSE THERE HAVE BEEN LOWERING ACCIDENTS (easily avoided by knot!).

Third of John's points; "Some fixed hardware can wear through rapidly, especially in the sandy desert, and can be difficult to repair without pulling the bolts and replacing from scratch."

REPLACING ANCHORS FROM SCRATCH IS INEVITABLE BECAUSE FIRST ASCENTIONISTS DID IT WRONG, ME INCLUDED. I REALLY LIKE HOW TOULUMNE AND THE PLATTE HAVE BEEN UPGRADED. FIXE SINGLE-RING HANGERS ARE PERFECT. HOOKS AND GIANT LINKS DON'T BELONG.

BUT FOR THE UGLY AREAS USE THE LINK TO SEE HOW TO POSTPONE THE INEVITABLE.
mountainproject.com/v/color…

John's final point: "Pretty strong remarks. Cleaning a 5.6 route on rappel normally requires no skill beyond that of basic rock-craft and to declare it unsafe is pretty pathetic."

I'M USING THE SHAGGY DEFENSE: "IT WASN'T ME." IT WAS ROYAL ROBBINS, IN HIS BOOK BASIC ROCKCRAFT, WHO WARNS US THAT RAPPELING IS ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS THINGS WE DO BECAUSE THERE IS NO BELAY. THEN THERE IS THE BOOK, HOW TO ROCK CLIMB by JOHN LONG. HE WARNS THAT RAPPEL ACCIDENTS ARE SECOND ONLY TO LEADER FALLS, AND A CLOSE SECOND AT THAT.

Slim, I trust my belayers! Too bad your French friend didn't read Royal: "never trust a single piece of gear." If an experienced climber, like yourself, prefers to rap-clean, then of course do what makes you feel safe. It is the novices that are worrisome to me. What I am observing, on easy sport routes, is that experienced leaders often leave the rappel cleaning to their less competent followers. Too many near misses!

What I'm hoping is that people start putting more value on preserving life and less on preserving cold metal.

i can't believe this is going to be my first post on this site. i generally don't get involved in discussions like this, but my Sherlock Holmes-like mind is in full tilt.

how about this scenario (which is very common):

he says she was rappelling.
maybe she cleaned the anchors and tied back in assuming she was going to be lowered.
he assumed she was going to rap and took her off belay.
she weights the rope and falls.

in this scenario he would still assume she was rapping off, when in fact she was not. it would validate his side of the story and the discrepancy with the photo.

that's all, i may never post here again.

Ken, you can safely clean a route either way; unless the route overhangs and/or traverses -- you could still attempt to clean it; but there is indeed a safety consideration because the rappeller can introduce slack in the system when they clean an overhang/traverse.

You can offer a fireman's belay if the climber wants to rap; unless the route to be cleaned is overhanging and/or traverses, there again is a possibility of introducing slack in the system.

You can also have the rappeller use a third-hand friction hitch. There are other safety considerations to address also.

If the fixed pro is setup better for replacement, this would only help to address conservation concerns; however, you will still have not made a crag safe.

There really is no fool-proof way to make sport climbing safe by advocating one method over another for gear proficiency.

Decision making, mis-communication, & inability to assess a situation is what causes these accidents. I appreciate your method and adapting anchors that are better suited, it enables a gym rat to get outside and use the same method to clean a route as they would in a gym; thus, more people will participate in climbing & access conservation. However, I feel it is also important that climbing partners educate themselves and become proficient at route assessment, gear set-ups/rigging, & communication.

Mark, thanks for your comments! By the way I almost took you up on your offer to climb Splatte spires in the cold. We did that aid route left of Sphinx Crack in double boot weather, twisted for sure!

I'm glad you brought up gyms and education. Someone was just telling me that there is a gym in Denver that requires rappel cleaning as part of the lead test. That alarming news and climbing in the Mammoth/Bishop area this summer, where rappel cleaning is rare, convinced me to do something.

Misinformation from the media makes if very hard for novices to know what to do. Your comment: "you can safely clean a route either way" is true for us, but bad advice for beginners.

Agreed that I have not made Golden Cliffs a safe crag, just more like California. My biggest worry is that another route will collapse. After a cold winter of drilling around hollow blocks, I find the place scary.

Ken Trout wrote:Rappel-cleaning is a nightmare alright. People doing sport routes who expect it are a hazard to their partners. Rappel cleaning, as a way to prevent anchor wear, should never have been encouraged by either the Access Fund or the climbing magazines. Until the AF and mags make an effort to end rap cleaning, there will be more of these rap-cleaning accidents. If you are willing to risk your friend's neck, just to save the rings, then take it a step further. Learn how to replace worn anchors. All you need are some quick-links from the hardware store and a small crescent. Even better, learn how to do hooks. This link leads to a photo of anchors that are easy to replace when worn. They also don't require untying. mountainproject.com/v/color…

This is much different than your original post. I wonder if people are commenting on this one, or your original post.

Either way, I read both of your posts and I guess I should have quoted the original because it was very scathing of The AF and the mags. Now it simply says:

Ken Trout wrote:Until the AF and mags make an effort to end rap cleaning, there will be more of these rap-cleaning accidents.

I think it's slightly amusing that you think that The AF and the climbing mags are responsible for people making mistakes at crags and hurting/killing themselves.

It appears as though you are putting blame in the wrong place. If and when I take a new climber to a sport climbing area (which rarely, if ever, happens) then I teach that novice climber how to safely descend from the top of the route, all while preserving the 'cold metal' as well as their 'life'. I definitely don't think that you have to make a choice between the two. Anyway, my point is this: If an experienced climber takes a novice out climbing, it is the responsibility of the experienced climber to teach the novice about safety, preservation (including 'cold metal'), and etiquette.

Ken Trout wrote:What I am observing, on easy sport routes, is that experienced leaders often leave the rappel cleaning to their less competent followers. Too many near misses!

I would assume that this probably leads to more accidents at sport climbing areas than The AF and the climbing mags espousing rap-cleaning vs lower-off cleaning. In your above statement, it appears as though you think that experienced climbers bringing rookies out to the crags (and not teaching them properly) is more dangerous than a magazine printing that it's better to rap-clean than lower-off-clean. I'm still unclear why you have beef with the AF and the climbing mags; it really doesn't make any sense to me.

--Marc

Marc, you are right-on to be an Access Fund supporter. The Access Fund played a key role during the Golden Cliffs Preserve transition from private to public. We should all be members. (You may have noticed that I change my posting when they are fresh. I think I'm done as of 1/19. Sorry for any Alzhiemer scare.)

But the photo of the girl falling shows the result of a paradigm shift in climbing safety. The change is, that we've gone from thinking rappels are dangerous, to telling novices: "Anyone can do it!" The Access Fund and climbing mags published articles that helped make the change.

A few years after the Access Fund helped create the Golden Cliffs Preserve, there was an article about anchor wear in the AF's monthly bulletin. This is the first time I remember being told by the climber-press to clean by rappel and top-rope only through draws. No one really rappel-cleaned pitches before that, we normally just cleaned as the second.

In the well-intentioned article, there was a photo of a grooved, yet new, anchor ring, on a route of mine called Naturita. Bolters and AF staff were some of the same people back then. For a while, everyone thought the hanger had become worn too quickly because the route is very popular.

After publication of the bad advice, Mark Rolofson figured out that the extreme grooving was caused by a rough spot on the ring's weld, not popularity. Instead of letting the ring revolve, the rough spot was holding the ring in the same position. After the panic over a flawed hanger, no correction was evey published. The dogma spread fast because people like to do good, but it seriously interfered with the chain of command.

In the zoom photo, the rope angle, no visible belayer watching, draws at the anchor, and arm position tell me that permission was not given to go off-belay. It not the first time a defensive belayer has squawked "rappel" excuses either. Now you know where that excuse came from.

Since then, others have figured out better techniques. If you want to see how sport climbing is done correctly, go out to the Owens Gorge or Mammoth area to climb.

I see my fellow bolters at the crags all the time. They never rappel-clean. I observe at popular crags that novices almost never thread and lower. So I'm hoping to get the truth out to at least a few of these novices, that it is fine to lower and top rope through anchors. Apparently it can't be found elsewhere.

Perin ~ please forgive my inability to distinguish so I am asking for clarity if possible (dang what a horrible thing to witness)

It appears there are still 2 draws attached to the anchors? If she was cleaning the route and had threaded only one side of her rope through to rappel, then wouldn't she have already removed the draws..? Also, the other rope (not tied to her) appears to be off to one side (angled) and away from being directly under her. Once the rope is fed through the anchor and lowered to the ground, it usually lies parallel to the other rope (I've cleaned & rappelled many sport routes) I agree with tracy it appears something is amiss but I'm not sure what

Communication = important mentioned by Ken & redundancy by Joe

Best wishes for her complete recovery - she's a very lucky girl

Ken

I believe Royal called Rappelling "Class 6". In that one has his/her complete saftey relying soley on equipment. It shares that catagory with "Direct Aid" or aiding as we now call it. That is why he goes to great lengths to inform readers of its dangers.

But the part about rapping vs lowering got me thinking about this. I wanted to tell you that I too read that article you mentioned, and it did change the way my partners and I got off the top of sport routes! We would hang draws for T.R. folk to follow and then the last person up would set up the Rap. I believe you are correct in your thinking that lowering is safer because it can be less complicated. But because some areas are prone to excessive wear, I still believe it is morally my duty (as just a user of someone else's anchor bolts), to try to save the anchors as much as possible.

Besides you know us, we were never good enough to require that tramming stuff! ha

Thanks again for your assistance back in 1990! Sat Aug 4/Sport Crag/Clear Creek

jim

kirra wrote:It appears there are still 2 draws attached to the anchors? If she was cleaning the route and had threaded only one side of her rope through to rappel, then wouldn't she have already removed the draws..?

Presumably (although it appears to actually be a sling, not draws; your assumption stands regardless). Recall that I wrote that my assumption based on what I saw from above had been that she was cleaning. Either she wasn't cleaning, or she fell before she got started.

kirra wrote:Also, the other rope (not tied to her) appears to be off to one side (angled) and away from being directly under her.

The rope strand on the left (climber's right) actually lies closer to the fall line from the anchors. It appears that she initially fell somewhat to the right (climber's left).

It isn't possible to tell from the photo if the rope is tied to her or if it is passing through a rappel device. My opinion is that it is probably running through a device attached to her belay loop because I think the straight line of the rope strand on the right of the image would point closer to her navel area if it was tied through the normal tie-in points.

kirra wrote:Best wishes for her complete recovery

Keep in mind that this occurred 14 months ago. Perhaps she is already recovered. And yes, she was certainly lucky. I fully expected to find a body at the base of the climb.