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fitzontherocks
Oct 7, 2008, 9:13 PM
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Anyone have details about an accident with injuries at HCR this past weekend (Oct 4-5)? May have been newbies.
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majid_sabet
Oct 7, 2008, 9:54 PM
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what city and state?
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fitzontherocks
Oct 7, 2008, 9:56 PM
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It's between Jasper (population 327) and Ponca (population 13), Arkansas.
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zeubanks
Oct 7, 2008, 10:36 PM
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The story I was told by witnesses is as follows:
The climber was on Starboard List, a 30 ft. 5.11a crack on the downhill side of the Titanic Boulder. This route starts on a ledge that is at ground-level when accessed from one end of the boulder, but drops off 20-30 feet behind the route. This leaves the belayer with roughly 10 feet of room between the base of the route and the edge.
When the accident occurred, the climber was hardly off the ground, only having placed a hex. He fell, the piece pulled, and he went tumbling off the ledge along with his belayer.
The climber was supposedly unharmed, but the belayer had to be carried out and was helevacked. The only injury info I have is that his leg was broken badly.
This was the belayer's first time climbing outdoors. Also notable is the fact that a bomber .5 inch cam can be placed from the ground before starting the route, then again after two moves to protect a difficult section.
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kane_schutzman
Oct 8, 2008, 1:51 AM
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Ah man, I had those same thoughts at the base of that route. Do you know if they were locals? The guy first fucked up when he placed a hex for his first piece, multidirectional please.
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zeubanks
Oct 8, 2008, 2:02 AM
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For real. That was my first thought...why not just place a cam? Jason said that he had seen the climber several times before, so I assume he's from somewhere nearby.
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fitzontherocks
Oct 8, 2008, 3:02 AM
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Is that route on the same face (south) as Cracked Rib?
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zeubanks
Oct 8, 2008, 5:23 AM
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It's the next route from Cracked Rib, moving counterclockwise around the boulder. That would put it on the East face.
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socalclimber
Oct 8, 2008, 11:52 AM
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zeubanks wrote: The story I was told by witnesses is as follows: The climber was on Starboard List, a 30 ft. 5.11a crack on the downhill side of the Titanic Boulder. This route starts on a ledge that is at ground-level when accessed from one end of the boulder, but drops off 20-30 feet behind the route. This leaves the belayer with roughly 10 feet of room between the base of the route and the edge. When the accident occurred, the climber was hardly off the ground, only having placed a hex. He fell, the piece pulled, and he went tumbling off the ledge along with his belayer. The climber was supposedly unharmed, but the belayer had to be carried out and was helevacked. The only injury info I have is that his leg was broken badly. This was the belayer's first time climbing outdoors. Also notable is the fact that a bomber .5 inch cam can be placed from the ground before starting the route, then again after two moves to protect a difficult section.
Out of curiosity, is there any way the belayer could anchor in on the ledge to prevent this from happening?
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pendereki
Oct 8, 2008, 12:02 PM
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socalclimber wrote: zeubanks wrote: Also notable is the fact that a bomber .5 inch cam can be placed from the ground before starting the route, ... Out of curiosity, is there any way the belayer could anchor in on the ledge to prevent this from happening?
I think you questioned your own answer.
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socalclimber
Oct 8, 2008, 12:28 PM
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Well, not really. Either there is a way to anchor and they didn't do it, or there is not.
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fitzontherocks
Oct 8, 2008, 2:00 PM
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If he was indeed a new belayer, anchoring in probably didn't occur to him (but should have occurred to his more experienced partner). And having climbed at HCR and on Titanic before, I know the vibe is pretty laid back so someone could easily think "Pft. this ledge is only 10' off the deck; I don't need no stinking anchor." Just goes to show you.
Anybody know the climber or belayer? Details would help avoid this kind of thing in the future.
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zeubanks
Oct 8, 2008, 2:37 PM
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The belayer could build a solid anchor, but the gear at the bottom is bomber enough that it should never be necessary. However, there was talk on Sat. night of putting in a two-bolt anchor at the base of the climb  .
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taylor_donahue
Oct 8, 2008, 2:53 PM
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alright!!! my god i have been looking day and night trying to find some info about doug and ben.. I was climbing the other side of titanic when this happened.. located on the 5.9 on the other side, we heard a smack really loud and immediately ran through the briar patch and thorn bush to get there in time. here is the injury list (Eli and I were the only people who were cpr certified and had to kinda take control of the situation cause we were more scared that if noone did anything ben's state of shock could of made him pass out... which would forward our actions of cpr). Eli and I walked to the scene and accessed that 2 were hurt but only one bad, so Eli treated doug(the climber)who had fell off the cliff and hitting his head on the tree. he had recieved a laceration starting from his eyebrow continuing to his hair line deep to the skull. Now ben on the other hand, god i hope he's okay (he was my patient) had a broken ankle, collis fracture (where your radial and ulna sit above your wrist), broken wrist, broken femer, and a contusion across his face too which wouldn't stop bleeding until the ambulance recieved on the scene 25 min later. they were heli evac to fayetteville regional hospital in arkansas. All i wanna do is talk to them again cause that hour and twenty minutes of caring for him got me pretty close to them. climb safe guys, think before you act cause i'm not trying to go all emergency medical technician on someone again lol
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sungam
Oct 8, 2008, 3:03 PM
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Ouch, sounds like the belayer got it BAD. Neither were wearing helmets?
No sign of concussion or anything, no?
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moose_droppings
Oct 8, 2008, 3:04 PM
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Good thing you were there and able to help. But;
In reply to: ben's state of shock could of made him pass out... which would forward our actions of cpr)
Please study up again on CPR. Its for a person who has no pulse, not because they passed out.
Again though, thanks for doing what you could and thanks for the report.
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taylor_donahue
Oct 8, 2008, 3:13 PM
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no man neither were, i mean it would of caused much less head trauma but the body of ben would of been about the same shape
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taylor_donahue
Oct 8, 2008, 3:17 PM
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haha your so right, i was thinking one thing and typing another! i just got on rockclimbing.com because this was the only place i could find "any" information about the accident. ya they were in very bad shape, but we managed to calm them down and stop the bleeding so nothing more could happen to them while in our hands. it was a very scary situation that i hope will never happen again...
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sungam
Oct 8, 2008, 3:18 PM
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taylor_donahue wrote: no man neither were, i mean it would of caused much less head trauma but the body of ben would of been about the same shape
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taylor_donahue
Oct 8, 2008, 3:24 PM
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sungam wrote: taylor_donahue wrote: no man neither were, i mean it would of caused much less head trauma but the body of ben would of been about the same shape Cool. I wasn't judging, I was just curious.
i figured as much.. its funny how everything you have learned and everything you expect just get thrown out of the window when something like that happens. freak accidents like that have only happened at hcr less than a handfull of times but luckily we were there climbing too! i hope if i EVER get hurt someone will jump in and help like we did. i felt obligated in some manner, even though i didn't want to see the trauma, i knew it was up to us! lets just say that night i didn't get much sleep... worried about them too much
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boymeetsrock
Oct 8, 2008, 3:48 PM
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I'll second the props for your response. Sounds like you did the right thing, by keeping them stable and offering morale support. It is very important that we all look out for each other.
Condolences to the climbers. i hope they recover smoothly!
-Boy
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taylor_donahue
Oct 8, 2008, 3:52 PM
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boymeetsrock wrote: I'll second the props for your response. Sounds like you did the right thing, by keeping them stable and offering morale support. It is very important that we all look out for each other. Condolences to the climbers. i hope they recover smoothly! -Boy
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fitzontherocks
Oct 8, 2008, 6:15 PM
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So Taylor, you know Ben (?) well enough to say "hey, everybody on rc.com wishes you a speedy recovery, but they also want to know what happened so it won't be repeated"?
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