ashw_justin

I was relaxing in the sun, watching one of our party climb Thin Fingers from the comfort of a large flat rock. I was on the verge of napping, wearing my helmet only out of habit, and thinking its only real purpose was to cushion my head from the rock underneath. My pack was lying right next to me since I had been rumaging around for food and gear. RUMBLE/LOOK UP/ROCKS/F*CK/UP AND DIVE. We were pancaked to the wall in a split second, which happened to be slightly shorter than it takes for several cooler-sized granite blocks (and many smaller ones) to fall 40 meters and smash into the area at the base of our climb. One of us got tagged in the head by a fist-sized rock, and a small amount of blood was running down his face from a small gash. We otherwise came out unscathed. The person who was climbing (and the belayer) fortunately were not hit, and the ropes escaped being chopped. We knew that there had been climbers out of sight on a route above us, but there was no verbal warning because the climber, who brought down what he described as a HUGE flake while following, explained that he was simply in shock when it happened (it was unintentional). And now here is my pack. It was unburied from a pile of rocks, EXACTLY were I had been lying down. So... watch out for rockfall at the crag. Especially at the base of Thin Fingers and the surrounding area, because large pieces of the flake are presumed to still be up there, perched precariously and waiting to be rained down upon unsuspecting climbers.

Mr. Badass Mountain Guy, It is our sincere apology that our employee failed to identify you as a customer. You see, recently at REI, in order to maintain an image of being a climbers' establishment, we have contracted several mean-looking hardass climbers like yourself to just stand there staring at people manacingly. We feel it makes the experience more fulfilling for our customers (and to some extent imtimidates them into buying more stuff out of insecurity). We are sorry for the confusion. By the way, have you ever considered working at REI? Your truly, The REI Team

Sweet, free cameras!

I guess this means somebody thinks that Mt. Everest isn't extreme enough in pop culture anymore.

Maybe there was more ice back then?

One of those (#7) sort of looks like the Adams Glacier from the North Ridge?

Accidental/intentional? Apology? He should pay you the amount of a new rope. Which he can obviously afford, since he's probably wearing $1000 on his feet. It's too bad you couldn't treat him to a little base-work with your crampons...

Somebody should have done 6 volcanoes in 6 days starting on 6/1/06.

Does St. Helens count?

I don't think Gary was being facetious...(?) Who'd a thunk yah could fall off a mountin?

When does the one with nicotine and ibuprofen come out?

That sounds tragic. Hope it doesn't ruin climbing for those involved. People are the number one objective hazard. To others, and of course to themselves. It's a bad idea to be climbing below or near other unprotected climbers in conditions like that. I don't completely understand the timing of the three falls, but do you think that the latter falls could have been a result of people letting themselves get distracted by the original slip?

and you! you're too fucking... BLONDE!

You can pretty much drive to the TH, yeah there is some snow, so climb to camp early in the morning if you don't have skis or snowshoes. Have fun.

Yeah sorry about that, just my inflammatory way of saying that the awareness of personal responsibility is really the most important type of safety.

Oh I'm sorry, how dare I try to debate an issue brought up by someone else. Tell me oh wise ones, is the answer to turn the world into a fabricated amusement park? Or is it to ignore the lessons of painful mistakes, in favor of calling everything an unfortunate accident? Again none of my criticism is toward the victim, it's toward the pathetic reactions people have to this accident.

Fair enough. But is there really any point to a thread that says: "A guy fell." "Bummer, hope he's ok." -the end? It's called a forum.

As if he is asking for your pity? I've never tripped or taken a misstep in my life AND BLAMED THE CURB. (ps. this comment is not directed at the victim) And don't try to make this thread about protecting the victim. This is a thread in a discussion forum, not a recovery room. Of course I feel sorry for him. But there are some flawed ideas going around and I am compelled to debate them. Hopefully without resorting to meaningless personal insults.

lol, yeah I mean there's no reason to be half-assed about it.

I climb at Little Si, I know the traverse is a little sketchy. But that's not an excuse to fall there, and for the most part nobody does. But I applaud your call to action, s_c. Develop away. oooo, actually you know what would be like totally sick? You bolt on some cool holds for the traverse, and maybe while you're at it you could chip out some routes that climb directly up to the ledge from the trail. Man, that would be awesome.

Soon after you put this stuff in, some little kids come hiking by, see the iron invitation to climb around up there, one falls off. You feel strangely responsible, crag gets shut down for while, authorities remove all signs of development.

Well maybe I'm defending the climber. Maybe they don't want to feel like their fall inspired the installation of monkey bars?

matt_m, I understand your disgust at the recurring via ferrata topic. But this has nothing to do with the bolting debate. via ferrata is exactly what's being proposed by some in this thread.

To the fixed-assistance people: is this what you want to see at your local crag? At the risk of sounding insensitive, moral of the story is don't fall. "Accidents" like these are caused by bad decisions. If you didn't think you had to be careful while traversing that ledge... now you know. Rebar isn't going to protect you from bad judgement. And if there are people in the way, you're just going to have to come out of the depths of hardcoreness for a moment, to ask them to accomodate your passage.

You know come to think of it, I think this thread might be in the wrong forum..? But to be fair, a few saving graces of REI: - (some) climbing shit is right by the front door. (Except for the pro and the ropes. Why isn't this stuff all together? Is it so that I have to wade through yuppie paraphernalia that you want me to buy, on my way between islands of useful goods?) - There's no shitty music or subliminal consumer-babble going over the PA system. - The employees are low-energy. (This is good.)