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Topic Date User

Sara Gillers on Helmets 30-May-2014 At 4:58:49 PM kieranl

Message

On 30/05/2014 Dave_S wrote:
>If you take a cinder-block sized rock to the head at 60kph, you'd be very
>lucky to survive even with a helmet.
According to my friends, the one I stopped in the centre of my skull when I was 20 was the size of 2 house bricks. It had probably fallen 50-100m down the gully I was in, hit my head, fell off and stopped on the tiny ledge I was standing on. A corner of the rock pierced my helmet and cut my head. A few stitches and a few days in hospital but no major injuries though my neck still spasms up fairly regularly.
Without the helmet I am sure that I would have died. With the helmet I was very lucky and I suspect that a glancing blow to the head would have killed me.
>
>I think better advice would be to consider where you're standing while
>you belay.
What do you think would be a safe distance? When a falling rock hits the ground or anything on the way down it often shatters and sends smaller rocks out laterally. How far they spray is entirely a matter of luck as to how the rock shatters and momentum is transferred to the smaller pieces. In my experience, anywhere within half the length of the height of the rock fall is highly exposed and being further away than that is no guarantee of safety.
Chris Baxter received his head injury while observing from what he believed was a safe distance (I don't know how far that was).