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kylethemonkey
Sep 29, 2010, 10:57 PM
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I took this pic last week in Horseshoe Canyon Arkansas. The Route is a pumpy bouldery 5.12b. The climber (who shall remain anonymous) was at the third clip when he fell. I post more details later...but first...Can anyone tell what happens next based on the photo?
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iknowfear
Sep 29, 2010, 11:02 PM
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half back flip (due to rope) maybe...
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Gmburns2000
Sep 29, 2010, 11:03 PM
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that's either gonna hurt his head or his calf later. maybe both.
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ersatz_radio
Sep 29, 2010, 11:07 PM
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Maybe if the photo wasn't so blurry. Is the rope going over or behind his upper leg?
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bandycoot
Sep 29, 2010, 11:10 PM
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I think he came down, checked the camera to see if the picture turned out, then asked you to hold the camera more steady next time. What do I win?
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robinsmv
Sep 29, 2010, 11:18 PM
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its hard to tell from the angle of the photo, but I'm guessing that tree comes into play.
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edm
Sep 29, 2010, 11:52 PM
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kylethemonkey wrote: I took this pic last week in Horseshoe Canyon Arkansas. The Route is a pumpy bouldery 5.12b. The climber (who shall remain anonymous) was at the third clip when he fell. I post more details later...but first...Can anyone tell what happens next based on the photo? [image]http://www.rockclimbing.com/images/photos/assets/0/458870-largest_Optimized-Falling.jpg[/image] Upside down, rope burn on the back of his left leg, bruised back and/or side, hopefully no head injury.
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pylonhead
Sep 29, 2010, 11:55 PM
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It looks to me like his leg is free from the rope, so no flip.. I'm guessing he fell all the way down to the taut rope running between his belayer and the first bolt and nutted himself hard.
(This post was edited by pylonhead on Sep 29, 2010, 11:58 PM)
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Bats
Sep 29, 2010, 11:59 PM
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I don't know. I give up. What happen next to this climber?
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hafilax
Sep 30, 2010, 12:13 AM
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If he gets a hard catch he'll be slammed into the wall pretty hard. A friend sprained his ankle like that.
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climboard
Sep 30, 2010, 12:19 AM
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He got flossed due to his belayer standing too far from the rock.
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kylethemonkey
Sep 30, 2010, 1:43 AM
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It's looks like quite a few people figured it out. He fell off of the wall spinning, flipped halfway upside down, and smacked his left hip hard into the wall. Only his left hip hit the wall. He was not squared away and his hands and feet took none of the impact. He was about 4 feet off the ground when he hit so the catch couldn't have been any softer (without decking). After the fall his whole body was shaking and his belayer lowered him down to the ground. He didn't move for about 15 minutes as everyone waited for shock to go away and to try to determine if he had a hip/spinal injury. Other than a really big bruise and sore hip there was no lasting injury. As best as the other climbers in the area could tell, his spin was caused by holding on with his left hand while his other hand and feet came off. I wanted to post this for a few reasons: One, anyone have any other thoughts on what could have been done different (he was spinning right off the wall)? Two, overhanging walls do not always mean a clean fall. One of my climbing friends will swear that overhanging wall are perfectly safe. And finally just to remind people to consider squaring away before falling as opposed to just going for the move. Edit: He also landed on the belay part of the rope (below the first bolt), but he was spinning before that. The rope probably sped up his spin.
(This post was edited by kylethemonkey on Sep 30, 2010, 1:48 AM)
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notapplicable
Sep 30, 2010, 3:37 AM
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Falling is as much an art as it is a science. Everybody has to take some rough ones to sort out the mechanics of it all. Glad he's OK though, sounds like a pretty intense fall.
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technogeekery
Sep 30, 2010, 4:33 AM
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Can't make it out in the pic - is the rope in front of or behind his left leg? If it is behind as it appears, you can easily see how he would flip & spin, hitting his left side. Yes its sport, yes its overhanging, yes I personally would have been wearing a helmet (and a shirt).
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technogeekery
Sep 30, 2010, 4:34 AM
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Oh, didn't mean to be nasty - perhaps if i could climb 5.12 and had a 6-pack I might not wear a shirt sometimes... but I'd still wear a helmet. Glad he wasn't hurt.
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majid_sabet
Sep 30, 2010, 6:42 AM
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I am sorry but this is climbing and you are expected to hit and die at any given time. If I was him, I would consider wearing helmet cause I do not want to die young.
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socalclimber
Sep 30, 2010, 1:02 PM
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I saw a guy at a Tahquitz this summer who took a whipper and had the rope behind his leg. Big time rope burn. I have a picture of it somewhere, I'll see if I can dig it up. He was running on pure adrenalin. He was definitely in for a long painful hike back to the car. I always try to manage the rope for just this reason, but still happens from time to time. Hard move, bad set up, now the rope is behind your leg. He's lucky this didn't turn out worse.
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fresh
Sep 30, 2010, 1:35 PM
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kylethemonkey, was the rope behind his leg?
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lrossi
Sep 30, 2010, 3:08 PM
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kylethemonkey wrote: And finally just to remind people to consider squaring away before falling as opposed to just going for the move. Yes, you can usually control what happens before the fall, and sometimes can react right as it begins or during the fall, but people who think they are in control at all times are wrong. If you are in control then you wouldn't be falling. So wear a helmet and have a good belay.
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blueeyedclimber
Sep 30, 2010, 6:30 PM
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kylethemonkey wrote: It's looks like quite a few people figured it out. He fell off of the wall spinning, flipped halfway upside down, and smacked his left hip hard into the wall. Only his left hip hit the wall. He was not squared away and his hands and feet took none of the impact. He was about 4 feet off the ground when he hit so the catch couldn't have been any softer (without decking). After the fall his whole body was shaking and his belayer lowered him down to the ground. He didn't move for about 15 minutes as everyone waited for shock to go away and to try to determine if he had a hip/spinal injury. Other than a really big bruise and sore hip there was no lasting injury. As best as the other climbers in the area could tell, his spin was caused by holding on with his left hand while his other hand and feet came off. I wanted to post this for a few reasons: One, anyone have any other thoughts on what could have been done different (he was spinning right off the wall)? Two, overhanging walls do not always mean a clean fall. One of my climbing friends will swear that overhanging wall are perfectly safe. And finally just to remind people to consider squaring away before falling as opposed to just going for the move. Edit: He also landed on the belay part of the rope (below the first bolt), but he was spinning before that. The rope probably sped up his spin. Really? I was going to say that his n00b, very young but very attractive belayer, said "Wow, that looked so cool," and he totally got some tail that night. Josh
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altelis
Sep 30, 2010, 10:19 PM
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lrossi wrote: kylethemonkey wrote: And finally just to remind people to consider squaring away before falling as opposed to just going for the move. Yes, you can usually control what happens before the fall, and sometimes can react right as it begins or during the fall, but people who think they are in control at all times are wrong. If you are in control then you wouldn't be falling. So wear a helmet and have a good belay. i disagree
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kylethemonkey
Oct 1, 2010, 2:09 AM
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fresh wrote: kylethemonkey, was the rope behind his leg? No, the rope was in front of his left thigh.
technogeekery wrote: Oh, didn't mean to be nasty - perhaps if i could climb 5.12 and had a 6-pack I might not wear a shirt sometimes... but I'd still wear a helmet. Actually he couldn't climb 5.12 either. He just had the mindset that he can try anything, especially with a clean overhanging fall. The climb had just been led by another climber and was already clipped through the first 2 draws.
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fresh
Oct 1, 2010, 7:57 PM
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OK. In reply to: As best as the other climbers in the area could tell, his spin was caused by holding on with his left hand while his other hand and feet came off. I'm guessing at his experience, but it seems like if his reaction to falling is to hold on, he really hasn't practiced falling enough. it doesn't matter how many times you tell yourself to square off and fall like a cat, you react however your reflexes have been trained. the default program for falling is to grab onto anything nearby, which leads to awkward falls. the default program is stubborn. it takes repetition to change it. as long as we're talking about overhanging climbs not always being safe, another example would be kelly cordes' humble description here. edit: fixed link.
(This post was edited by fresh on Oct 4, 2010, 3:42 PM)
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