Climber injured/died at Rocky Butte today?

[ryland_moore]

Anyone know any more details?????

[billcoe]

PORTLAND -- Portland Fire and Rescue responded Saturday afternoon to a rock climber who plummeted over 60 feet at the popular Rocky Butte State Park.

 

The victim, a male in his 20s, was climbing with some other young people shortly before 2 p.m. on the northeast side of Rocky Butte in the "Video Bluff" area when he fell. They had the 11A route "Damaged Circuit" clipped with a single locking carabiner in each chain, then 2 doubled up sewn runners stretching to 1 locker which the rope ran through.

 

THEY HAD NO BACKUP ROPE OR SLINGS. Meaning they were unroped during the dangerous scramble to the lip of the cliff to clip the chains.

 

The rope and setup remained and appeared in good condition after the evacuation.

 

The victim was transported to a local hospital and treated for non life-threatening injuries whch were judged to be serious (not critical).

 

Anyone who decides to climb at Rocky Butte should be aware that the northeast side of the butte is in shade most of the day and therefore the rocks are covered with moss, making them slippery. It is not uncommon to see gym climbers arrive expecting that reaching over the edge to clip the 2 or 3 little chains, to be acceptable. Being unroped at the top of a cliff is a recipe for disaster, a disaster which the news announced happened a surprising 10 times last year.

 

Given that the TV news showed the fire crews at the lower trail, it can be surmised that the fall could have most commonly happened from one of 3 places: 1) The top of video bluff while setting up or getting to the cliff edge to rap. 2) While belaying (stepping off of the flat base "trail" could be just as catastrophic as falling off the top. 3) Falling on the descent/ascent trail just to the NE by the tree.

 

Ok Ok, I confess. I lifted most of that from a 2004 accident and added a bit. Channel 8 showed this on the news last night. Where's Brian Barker, he works for that station and they had a camera crew there.

 

 

That is some help, but I'm not sure where or why the guy fell.

 

The news mad it sound like he'd recover OK, that could mean anything.

 

Here's wishing a speedy recovery dude!

 

Thats what I know Ryland, anyone want to add anything?

 

Regards:

 

Bill

[Couloir]

Ok Ok, I confess. I lifted most of that from a 2004 accident and added a bit. Channel 8 showed this on the news last night. Where's Brian Barker, he works for that station and they had a camera crew there.

Not sure how regurgitating a story from last year and "adding a bit" [what bit did you add?] helps explain THIS particular accident.

 

Good tips though on how to handle that area though.

 

BTW, Brian works for KATU.

[billcoe]

Not sure how regurgitating a story from last year and "adding a bit" [what bit did you add?] helps explain THIS particular accident.

 

Sorry, I should have more fully explained. It was almost word for word exactly what happened (to another climber) a year ago. Based on what I saw in person and what the news reported Sat night. My story was a combo of what I saw, and what the news reported. So I copied/massaged and pasted from a fall in the same location a year ago. Anybody who knows me will tell you I'm lazy, this is just another opprotunity for me to reinforce that idea:-)

 

 

BTW, Brian works for KATU.

- DOHHHH, Sorry Brian.

 

Coulior: The full story is I was going to do some bouldering at the top, as I drove by the fire truck/ambulance folks were still talking to a young girl who was in the process of taking off her harness. After bouldering, I swung by to try and find somebody to climb with. I saw a red truck parked there, so I walked back and the place was deserted except for their rope and setup. I figured that the red truck/gear owner rode the ambulance and would be back for the schizzel the next day or so. I didn't climb there Sunday but went elsewhere, so the gear might be there yet for all I know. The rest of the info came from Kgw.

 

Regards:

 

Bill