Man survives 800 foot fall - ouch!

[Bigtree]

"WESTMINSTER - When Ben Cort went to Longs Peak Saturday to climb with his friends, he never imagined what would happen once he reached the top. Cort, from Westminster, was climbing an area called Lamb's Slide, which is known for its icy and rocky terrain.

 

When Cort was at the top, he lost his footing and fell some 800 feet.

 

"The next thing you know I was just flying down the mountain without my ice axe," he said. "That's when it gets bad."

 

Traveling at speeds witnesses estimate were near 40 mph, Cort stayed conscious for the entire fall.

 

"Total pandemonium," he said. "I was head over heels and I was smacking my face on rocks. Rocks were coming down with me and then this boulder rolled over me a couple times."

 

When Cort reached the bottom, he initially thought he was dead.

 

"There was a very, very distinct feeling that I knew that that's how I was going to die. I was just sure," he said. "My friends were positive I was dead. I've been climbing long enough and have been around this sport long enough that you take something like that and you know that's kind of it."

 

Remarkably, Cort not only survived, but was left with only a broken leg and shoulder, and some scrapes and cuts.

 

"I hit the ground and I felt my feet, I felt my fingers and was just so overcome with gratitude because I knew that God had just decided to save me," he said.

 

His climbing group, which included a man with Rocky Mountain Search and Rescue, immediately came to his aid.

 

Cort says complete strangers also stopped to help him.

 

"It was hailing. It was raining. It was nasty," he said. "And they didn't even think twice."

 

Cort also says the Flight for Life pilot took a risk by flying in the bad weather to land in a tricky spot to rescue him.

 

Cort was flown out of the area that night. He's been recovering at St. Anthony Hospital since then.

 

It's likely he'll be released from the hospital this week, but it will be several months before he's able to climb again.

 

"I'll probably be out of climbing for about a year," he said. "But I'm talking to you."

 

http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNA...47-c589c01ca7bf

[G-spotter]

"I hit the ground and I felt my feet, I felt my fingers and was just so overcome with gratitude because I knew that God had just decided to save me," he said.

 

So if he'd died, would his survivors have been saying to each other "Yup, God decided to kill him, the dirty sinner"?

[catbirdseat]

Goddam, it hurts me to have to admit that is very funny.

[thatcher]

that story sounds a lot like a fall that I had last April. I fell 1600 vertical feet down a 50 degree slope of rock and ice mix. Same deal with the injuries. I have a plate in my leg now, and I have lots of cuts on the stomach from the ice and rock. I lost my footing while descending, and the ax wouldnt grab the solid ice. I was soloing, and the first person to find me was the head of search and rescue for the area who was out hiking that day. And they flew me off the mountain just in time in high winds and bad weather. However a week later some famous climber/sierra guidebook writer fell in the exact spot that I did and came out a lot worse. I think it was because he wasn't wearing a helmet.

 

thats all, just wanted to give my input.

[cj001f]

However a week later some famous climber/sierra guidebook writer fell in the exact spot that I did and came out a lot worse. I think it was because he wasn't wearing a helmet.

 

thats all, just wanted to give my input.

 

Fuck I fucking hate LA. That was R J Secor

[Dechristo]

So if he'd died, would his survivors have been saying to each other "Yup, God decided to kill him, the dirty sinner"?

 

and if Gog didn't do it, I would've killed him. I hates sinners!

[archenemy]

Remarkably, Cort not only survived, but was left with only a broken leg and shoulder, and some scrapes and cuts.

 

Apparently, the rest of his body is smeared along the side of the mountain...

It is incredible this guy lived! What a great story for the campfire, whew!

[thatcher]

Fuck I fucking hate LA. That was R J Secor

 

you and me both.

[still_climbin]

I can relate to the fall. I had a similar fall in April 2004. While sking steep backcounrty at Stevens Pass I encountered hard rough ice and during a turn lost a ski due to the stress the roughness imposed on the binding. The ice was bout 45 degrees and I immidiately lost the other ski and flew ass over tea kettle down 600 ft of open steep icy slope, then another 400 ft off cliffs and through thick forest. As I flew off the frist cliff into the trees I expected to die. I hit many trees and finally hit one hard enough to allow me to grab a tree and stop myself. Since nobody saw me fall I had to self rescue with six broken ribs, broken sternum, sprained knees and shoulders and lots of missing skin. In the end I think wearing a helmet was the only reason I didn't die.

 

Glad you made it through too.

[JayB]

"WESTMINSTER - When Ben Cort went to Longs Peak Saturday to climb with his friends, he never imagined what would happen once he reached the top. Cort, from Westminster, was climbing an area called Lamb's Slide, which is known for its icy and rocky terrain.

 

When Cort was at the top, he lost his footing and fell some 800 feet.

 

"The next thing you know I was just flying down the mountain without my ice axe," he said. "That's when it gets bad."

 

Traveling at speeds witnesses estimate were near 40 mph, Cort stayed conscious for the entire fall.

 

"Total pandemonium," he said. "I was head over heels and I was smacking my face on rocks. Rocks were coming down with me and then this boulder rolled over me a couple times."

 

When Cort reached the bottom, he initially thought he was dead.

 

"There was a very, very distinct feeling that I knew that that's how I was going to die. I was just sure," he said. "My friends were positive I was dead. I've been climbing long enough and have been around this sport long enough that you take something like that and you know that's kind of it."

 

Remarkably, Cort not only survived, but was left with only a broken leg and shoulder, and some scrapes and cuts.

 

"I hit the ground and I felt my feet, I felt my fingers and was just so overcome with gratitude because I knew that God had just decided to save me," he said.

 

His climbing group, which included a man with Rocky Mountain Search and Rescue, immediately came to his aid.

 

Cort says complete strangers also stopped to help him.

 

"It was hailing. It was raining. It was nasty," he said. "And they didn't even think twice."

 

Cort also says the Flight for Life pilot took a risk by flying in the bad weather to land in a tricky spot to rescue him.

 

Cort was flown out of the area that night. He's been recovering at St. Anthony Hospital since then.

 

It's likely he'll be released from the hospital this week, but it will be several months before he's able to climb again.

 

"I'll probably be out of climbing for about a year," he said. "But I'm talking to you."

 

http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNA...47-c589c01ca7bf

 

I remember climbing up the slide in late August a few years ago while on the way to a route between the Notch Couloir and Kiener's, and I watched three folks fall while on the route. One person fell off about 100 feet into soloing the low angle stuff at the bottom, a Euro guy with no ice axe or crampons, who was trying to cut steps with a rock he picked up at the base pitched off a bit higher, and a roped leader who took a 100 foot+ slide about 1/3 of the way up the route. The final velocity seemed to double in each case, and I was pretty sure that if anyone fell from a height equal to or greater than the roped leaders, they'd skip down the ice, rocket into the talus, and literally be torn to pieces by the impact. Pretty amazing that the guy lived. I'm also amazed that there haven't been more accidents there.

 

On a tangentially related note, some distant relation of mine was supposedly the first woman to perish on Long's Peak. Her guide on the fateful outing was either the son or the grandson (still bore the family name) of the Rev. Lamb for whom the slide is named...

[Bug]

A friend of mine took a fall like that when we were in Highschool. She slid down a snowfield and dropped over a series of steps for at least 800 ft. We all thought she was dead and took a little extra time with the guy she hit in the face with her feet when he tried to stop her. He was bleeding profusely from a broken nose. When we started down, we couldn't see her. As we got lower and she came into view, it was surreal. She was sitting on a rock at the very bottom of the alluvial fan at the base of the obvious gulley. She had taken her pack off and was brushing her hair. No broken bones or bad cuts. Just bruised over about 80% of her body. She never climbed again.

[pup_on_the_mountain]

My buddies Marc and Willow were there at the scene. Here's what Willow had written about the slide. Back in India,

we have a saying that a man is very lucky if he has a mole on his John Thomas. Looks like this dude had plenty.

 

======================================================

Marc is on his way back to Pullman now, but we had a

couple of adventures in RMNP while he was here. The

last being less our adventure as it was the poor guy

who slid 800 feet down Lambs Slide on Longs Peak.

Marc and I were going to do a route called Kor's Door

(looks awesome) but the weather wasn't very good. We

were just hanging out and exploring the area. We had

met this party of 5 who said they were doing Keiners

or something standard (Marc and fill you in on

details). Anyway, we were on the opposide side of the

cirque, walking up to the cables route to spy out our

future descent, when we saw this huge rock fall down

Lambs slide, then I realized it wasn't all rock, but

mostly human. The guy slid down and then over a small

cliff, ~10ft, and didn't move. Marc and I went as

fast as we could to him, but it took us probably 20

minutes or more. He finally sat up after a few

minutes and I stopped choking on my heart in my

throat. His partners (they were all unroped), carried

him out of the rock fall zone. He was in pretty good

shape considering his fall. He probably had a mild

concusion, lacerations to the face and a couple of

bumps on the head (thank god he was wearing a helmet),

a dislocated shoulder, a badly bruised hip (maybe more

than just a bruise, but it didn't seem broken at

least), and a broken ankle. He was in good spirits

and told the best jokes and funniest stories while we

waited for someone to go get a Park Ranger. There was

another party that was doing the same as Marc and I -

not wanting to commit to climbing with so much moisure

and clouds around - and they were very competant about

rescue. We got him in a sleeping bag and splinted his

ankle. A park service EMT finally showed up at 1pm

(the accident occured at 8:20am) and after getting him

into a litter and carrying him maybe 500ft through a

big boulder field we got him to a big flat rock that a

helicopter could land on - a little helicopter mind

you. The gods were with the fellow (his name was

Ben), and the clouds parted (it had hailed and rained

on us the previous hour) just long enough for a

helicopter to come in. He was so lucky, I wouldn't

not have put money on there being a good enough break

in the weather for him to get flown out. He got flown

out at 3:30pm. By 4pm it was lightening all around

us! Also, not enough Mnt rescue personal had shown up

by then, so if all of us good samaritans hadn't been

there, there wouldn't have been enough people to carry

him to the LZ in time. I guess he just lost his

footing near the top of Lamb's Slide, but the

conditions were terrible, really icy and LOTS of rock

fall coming down there. He was really really really

lucky - wonder if he'll make some a blurb in the

magazines, it was an impressive fall.

======================================================

[arrow]

a friend of mine fell on longs soloing and on the decent the snow was soft and lost his footing slid down a 50% slope bouncing off rocks with his feet smashing his ankels to pieces as he was heading for a 500 foot vert cliff he punched his fist into the snow to arrest himself it worked but it brock his arm. the with broken arm, smashed up legs he crwled out at night. on his way out his knees got frost bit bad, he made it to his car early in the morn and managed to drive to a dunkin donuts where there was a person baking and laid on his car horn untill the guy came to get him. he made it like so many who do. but there are multitudes of those who havent.