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near death experiences (well, falling..) 25-Mar-2015 At 4:47:15 PM Imaclawfan

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My ground fall in the Gramps Monday, 21 July 2003 At 9:53:45 AM nmonteith
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I had a near miss (of sorts) on the weekend. I was attempting a ground up new hard (24?) trad line in the Grampians. The rock was slick polished marble like the Bluffs @ Araps. Some of the holds were a little wet from previous days rain. I began the thin overhung line by traversing in a line of jugs above a deep chasm. Kent was belaying on a ledge opposite the chasm without an anchor. The start moves were easy and I got situated below a rooflet. A slot in the lip of the rooflet was the only obvious piece of gear. If i had a big hex it coudl have been thrown it in and be bomber. I didn't have one so James threw me up a large tricam. I had never used these pieces before but the wedge shape seemed fairly straighforward. I sunk it in the crack and coudl see it had not much surface area touching on one one side - but the other side was almost hidden - wedged deep in the slot. I placed a small offset wire below it as a shoddy backup. I grunted through the rooflet and tried to jam the horizonatal crack above. It was slick and awkward and my hands slid out and I fell back - thinking I would be fine as my wasit was just above the 'bomber' tricam. Of course the next thing i felt was the ground smashing into my side and i slid down the chasm and was stopped just short of hitting the ground for the second time at the base of the chasm. Kent had managed to pull me up with his bare hands even though both my bits of gear had popped out. There was a lot of blood all over my hands, rock and rack but after mopping it up I discovered it was only a few cuts on my hands. The major injuries were only a big scratch on my arm and left side and a bit of bruising. I got away with a 5m+ groung fall onto rock on my back with almost no injuries. Stupidly my helmet was in my pack. If i had fallen backwards more my head would be mushed over the rock i reckon. Lesson learnt. Don't trust a single bit of gear, don't use gear you are unfamilair with and wear a helmet if there is a possiblity of a lead fall.

Video of fall can be found here

http://www.mrppp.com.au/nhb/movies/neil_tower_fall.mpg

DEAR NEIL ....this video had my brain and eyes bulging 10 years ago .... and its haunted me a few times since when Ive ' played ' it in my mind ...

Its one hell of a cautionary tale for new trad climbers ...

Any chance of re-imbedding it .... PLEASE ....... MAAAAAAAATE ...