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General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Upside down 9-Jun-2007 At 3:14:04 AM shmalec

Message

couple of points
most helmets with internal straps and no polystyrene type foam are designed for falling rocks ie vertical impact. the ones with foam will act like bike helmets and should reduce impact in any direction.
the actual length of the fall is not as relevant as the fall factor. Dan Osman survived a jump off El cap (I believe) using only a climbing rope. (don't want to go into all the other issues with D.O.)
the original post was about falling backwards and banging your head. not about length of falls or cause of death. hemets reduce the impact of hits to the head just like they do on bikes.

From "Climbing Accidents in Australia 1955-2004" (may be a newer version around).

Full report is here http://www.vicclimb.org.au/Site/includes/file.php?id=61