Smith Rock Fall on Oct 6

[Seamstress]

A young man fell from Rabbit Stew on 10/6/2012. It was a long leader fall, maybe 50', impact with his head. He is from WA. I have not seen any newspaper articles or forum posts about him. I am hoping that he is doing well.

 

All of the people on the scene were very generous with their time and clothing to tend to him.

 

I am not particularly interested in instigating any finger pointing. Sending him best wishes for a speedy recovery.

[ivan]

did he deck or just bash his head against the wall? hard to imagine decking head first and not getting taken out in a bodybag...

[Seamstress]

I did not witness the fall, but I spoke to him (and witnesses)about it. I was with him until the paramedics arrived and am an EMT. There was significant drag caused by the pro in place and sliding down the corner. He did hit the ground head first and was bleeding from the back of his head with very little injury anywhere else on his body. I was amazed. Of course we are all worried about what we could not see at that time.

[glassgowkiss]

helmet or no helmet?

 

[Seamstress]

No helmet. I was more focused on the details of his medical condition than anlyzing the climbing accident. He had a couple of pieces still in the route. His last piece was a wire, not tested. I don't know if he fell while clipping or if that piece pulled. He mentioned something about his fingers being stuck, so there was trouble with the process of protecting. He has been climbing for a year and a half.

[jeb013]

Seamstress, I was out there climbing next to you when this happened. I have also been looking for any info on the young man but have not been able to find any.

 

I was impressed by yours and everyone elses quick response to help this person, and would like to thank all of you, even though I was not involved nor do I know the gentleman. It is just always nice to see those who can help actually go help when they are needed, and the amount of trained personnel this hobby of ours has that are capable.

 

Best wishes to him for a speedy recovery.

 

Jeb

[Seamstress]

I was so happy to see so many willing hands and so much cooperation. When an accident happens on my own turf, I get news at the next meeting regarding the outcome. I hope he is doing well.

 

We also had a fatality in our area a short time ago, and 21 different mountaineers with no medical training performed CPR on a man at altitude for an hour until a paramedic could be flown in. I wish that outcome was different, but that kind of response by the climbing community is awesome and unknown. The general public sees us as demented and uncaring folks who will ignore the suffering of another to achieve our personal goal. We have seen evidence to the contrary.

Edited October 9, 2012 by Seamstress

[Dave7]

I hope everything works out well for him. It is awesome how the climbing community tends to come together to help someone in need. Hope he has a speedy and full recovery.

[glassgowkiss]

No helmet. I was more focused on the details of his medical condition than anlyzing the climbing accident.

in my 30 plus years of climbing, a vast majority of accidents I have seen or heard of, were mostly due to human error. I am not interested in bashing people, but hearing about mistakes, usually helps me to avoid them. In the last 2 or 3 years I started using helmet on all gear climbs. At this day and age helmets are so light and well fitting, that they don't really effect the performance on even hard climbs.

Hope he recovers well.

 

[Seamstress]

As I sit back today, there are factors I could have looked at closely to help understand what happened more clearly. However, I was consumed by trying to make the best decisions about caring for him until the paramedics arrived. I have wondered about the ultra conservative approach I used nor not moving him versus a choice of moving him for greater comfort or expediting transport. I asked the paramedics in my unit about the choices made, and they were helpful in processing the situation.

 

As a climber, I, too, would like to understand how the accident unfolded and what could have mitigated his injuries. It was a long fall. His injuries on the surface didn't reflect the long distance of the fall, so somehow the forces were mitigated. Could a helmet reduce the head trauma that he had, probably. So many factors went right for him to be alive and lucid given the height fallen. I am intensely curious about all those factors that I chose not to look at on that day. Still wishing I knew how he is doing.