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bearbreeder
Feb 11, 2012, 9:49 AM
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Hendrickson was climbing near by when a 200-pound boulder fell some 50 feet, crushing the man's chest.
"When his friend fell, his gear actually pulled a boulder off of the wall," said Hendrickson, "and because his rope was pulled tight, he was pulled into the boulder's path."
http://www.wrcbtv.com/...r-in-prentice-cooper
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camhead
Feb 11, 2012, 2:56 PM
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bearbreeder wrote: Hendrickson was climbing near by when a 200-pound boulder fell some 50 feet, crushing the man's chest.
"When his friend fell, his gear actually pulled a boulder off of the wall," said Hendrickson, "and because his rope was pulled tight, he was pulled into the boulder's path." http://www.wrcbtv.com/...r-in-prentice-cooper
Whoa, be cool if we could get some local input on this. The area almost certainly is T-Wall, I would be interested to know which route this happened on.
Best wishes to the climber and his family.
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drivel
Feb 11, 2012, 3:01 PM
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definitely looks like T wall. so sorry to hear about the climber getting injured.
Sounds like the boulder hit him on the way down, but didn't land on him? From the quote about "the protection worked," I assume he didn't deck out? Really good on his climbing partner and those around him for getting him to the ground and stabilized and out of there. Best wishes to him for a full recovery.
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abrock5
Feb 11, 2012, 3:46 PM
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It's T Wall. That's where I climb most of the time and I park in the parking lot they showed. Didn't recognize the route, but from the clip comments, somebody said either Prerequisite for Excellence or Love Handle. Looking at the guide book, that appears to be right. Prereq is a popular route; in fact, I was planning on climbing it next time I went. Good to see the news including the quotes about how the placed protection worked. Hope the guy is ok. It's my local news station so I'll post if I hear anything else.
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johnwesely
Feb 11, 2012, 4:24 PM
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abrock5 wrote: It's T Wall. That's where I climb most of the time and I park in the parking lot they showed. Didn't recognize the route, but from the clip comments, somebody said either Prerequisite for Excellence or Love Handle. Looking at the guide book, that appears to be right. Prereq is a popular route; in fact, I was planning on climbing it next time I went. Good to see the news including the quotes about how the placed protection worked. Hope the guy is ok. It's my local news station so I'll post if I hear anything else.
The route is definitely whatever is directly to the left of Love Handle.
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neekwan
Feb 12, 2012, 11:04 PM
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I did not witness the accident and cannot give a complete account of the accident or rescue.
I was climbing at Suck Creek (just down the road) on Friday - the day of the accident. I came to T-Wall on Saturday. I heard Saturday morning of the accident the day before. There was a note on the trail sign explaining that there had been an accident and requesting someone to collect the gear left behind on Prerequisite to Excellence.
We hiked up and saw blood on several of the rocks at the base of the route. The block which had been dislodged was lying on the trail. I knew it was a "new" block because it had fresh "scars" on it and plenty of chalk. I wouldn't estimate it's weight to be as much as 200 lbs, but sizable nonetheless - certainly capable of generating much more than 200 lbs of force. It was about the size of a 35 liter backpack.
Looking at Prerequisite to Excellence from the ground, we couldn't tell where the block had come from. There was gear about halfway up the route. I led up to the first small roof and did see the scars on the rock where the block had been. I also saw what appeared to be cam scars on the wall under the roof. I presumed that a cam had been placed here, loaded, and had dislodged the block. (Note: The remaining rock directly above the fresh scar shows a thin seam about twelve inches up. It's still subject in my opinion. I believe it may be fully attached on only its smallest side. I question its quality and would recommend against placing a cam behind it.)
Later in the day we eventually met a lady who had been active in the rescue the day before. She was a physician. She confirmed that the cam had in fact dislodged the block and that it was not the climber who was injured, but the belayer. She said that the belayer was wearing a helmet. She explained that when he caught the fall on the GriGri, he was actually pulled up and into the plummeting boulder. She said the belayer suffered a broken arm, ruptured spleen, and a "destroyed" knee. In spite of these injuries, he still managed to safely lower his climber after the fall. She said the climber and belayer were both in their 40s and both experienced. The lady indicated that she may go back into town that evening to check in on the victim. So we gave her the gear we collected from P to E.
It was only a matter of time before that block came down. Few would have guessed it was even subject. It had been climbed thousands of times - a classic route. The block had much chalk on it. This is an accident that could have happened to anyone and would have been very hard to avoid - beyond just not putting a cam there or not falling.
(This post was edited by neekwan on Feb 12, 2012, 11:09 PM)
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camhead
Feb 13, 2012, 12:05 AM
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Wow, really good belayer. I hope he recovers fully. Thanks for the details.
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Traches
Feb 13, 2012, 1:45 AM
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camhead wrote: Wow, really good belayer. I hope he recovers fully. Thanks for the details.
Second this. That belayer deserves a medal-- can't help but admire the self control and presence of mind required to do his job after sustaining those injuries.
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bearbreeder
Feb 13, 2012, 5:07 AM
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props to you neekwan on getting their gear back ...
belayer is a hero ... despite getting hit by a large rock, he did his job ...
i would climb with that person anyday when they recover ...
(This post was edited by bearbreeder on Feb 13, 2012, 5:12 AM)
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patto
Feb 13, 2012, 9:27 AM
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Thanks for the update.
neekwan wrote: I wouldn't estimate it's weight to be as much as 200 lbs, but sizable nonetheless - certainly capable of generating much more than 200 lbs of force. It was about the size of a 35 liter backpack.
Incidentally, a 35L sized rock would weight pretty much 200lbs.
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lena_chita
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Feb 13, 2012, 3:14 PM
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camhead wrote: Wow, really good belayer. I hope he recovers fully. Thanks for the details.
+1.
Best wishes for the recovery.
I am thinking from reading the description that it was actually a "lucky" thing (well, avoiding the boulder would have been luckier...) that the belayer got pulled up and hit by this block, instead of being crushed under it on the ground.
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