Report Posted: Top-Rope Accident, Yosemite, 2007

[knightrain]

Friends of YOSAR has just posted a first-hand account and analysis of the chain of events that led to a climber's serious injury after being lowered off the end of the top-rope at Church Bowl in Yosemite, October 2007.

 

http://friendsofyosar.org/rescues/missions/10-12-07_ChurchBowl.html

 

[marc_leclerc]

damn good partner to run underneath a falling climber and break his fall with your body

[Argus]

Seems like the least he could do after dropping his partner.

[111]

I nailed my belayer on a fall a while ago. I now call him "crashpad" and buy him pints whenever he asks.

[dmuja]

 

Sheeite, this one had so much dumb written all over it that I found myself getting more and more pissed just reading as I knew what was coming!

 

Not that I don't error on occasion, but getting a partner like this (or these) is probly what scares me the most about climbing.

 

Glad it ended relatively well though.

[fern]

 

An exercise I highly recommend for anyone involved in climbing/mountaineering/skiing but ESPECIALLY for those new to the sports is to get the last 15 yrs of Accidents in North American Mountaineering from the library, sit down SOBER, and read them in ONE SITTING. The common and repeated mistakes, patterns, missed warning signs etc. will become very clear. The non-issue safety police crises that people agonize over on the interweb should similarly become clear by their non-prominence in reports of actual accident causes.

[Figger_Eight]

Jeebus - you coulda seen that one coming from a mile away.

 

Tough lesson learned I suppose.

[Off_White]

That's a good recommendation Fern. It's been awhile since I've perused ANAM, but the one that stood out for me as most common, at least in the Northwest, was "slip on snow, failure to arrest."

[Captain Crunch]

I typically don't leave the ground unless my belayer is tied to the rope. A stopper knot is OK too, but as this accident demonstrates the stopper knot is not foolproof.

 

In some ways, this is not a a top rope accident.

[sobo]

That's a good recommendation Fern. It's been awhile since I've perused ANAM, but the one that stood out for me as most common, at least in the Northwest, was "slip on snow, failure to arrest."

I look forward to my new issue of ANAM like a kid looks forward to a visit from Santa Claus. I read it a few times, then put it aside. Then I pick up a few of my back issues and re-read them. It seems like there's always at least an issue or two floating around in my truck. Makes for great lunchtime reading, being as how they're sorta like a book of short stories...