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Chockstone Forum - Accidents & Injuries

Report Accidents and Injuries

 Page 1 of 2. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 24
Author
Abseiling Mishap - Araps

steph
11-Dec-2007
9:20:22 AM
Just heard from a friend of mine that a girl (her friend, who is an experienced leader) recently got airlifted from Araps to Melbourne after an abseiling mishap due to possibly inexperienced abseiling belay? I don't have many more details other than that so if anyone else does, please fill us in on how & where it happened...

She broke her leg, a couple of vertebrae, ankles and gashed her head but is otherwise aparently recovering.

Wish her all the best, hope we can all learn something from it too.



*Sorry for any inacuracies, this is a 2nd hand version of events.
Duncan
11-Dec-2007
10:44:54 AM
On 11/12/2007 steph wrote:
>She broke her leg, a couple of vertebrae, ankles and gashed her head but
>is otherwise aparently recovering.

Little bit more than a "mishap"!

belayslave
11-Dec-2007
11:44:45 AM
wow steph, that all sounds pretty serious. are you in position to share who it was? would like to pass on
my well wishes.

steph
11-Dec-2007
12:07:22 PM
Nah I don't know them, a friend of mine missed out on the trip and then found out pretty quickly that this accident happened to the girl she would have climbed with. That's all I know, I was hoping someone/anyone else could shed some light on it...
kieranl
11-Dec-2007
12:55:17 PM
This info is not firsthand but from others at the rescue (and the Wimmera mail-Times).
Incident was last Thursday on Agamemnon. Apparently she was being lowered from the top to retrieve some stuck gear and the less experienced belayer lost control of the rope.

Phil Box
11-Dec-2007
3:41:30 PM
Ouch, damned bad luck for her. Best wishes for her of course.

muki
11-Dec-2007
4:53:16 PM
Hard to have much experience when your only twelve!
kieranl
11-Dec-2007
5:14:41 PM
On 11/12/2007 bomber pro wrote:
>Hard to have much experience when your only twelve!

Is that how old the belayer was? I had no information on the age of the belayer just that they were not experienced.
dalai
11-Dec-2007
5:31:57 PM
I feel sorry for the belayer - not the experience to have to go through at any age but definitely not at 12!

Wishing for a speedy recovery for the climber in question and hoping some support / counselling will be organised for the belayer!

nmonteith
11-Dec-2007
5:59:14 PM
a grigri might be a good xmas present.
citationx
11-Dec-2007
6:39:48 PM
On 11/12/2007 nmonteith wrote:
>a grigri might be a good xmas present.

now now neil, the gyms have told us that grigris are bad, bad, dangerous things, even in the hands of well experienced climbers who belay leaders outdoors all the time, can you imagine how fatal it would be to put one in the hands of a 12 year old?!?!

steph
12-Dec-2007
8:48:37 AM
Wow that's traumatic for a 12 y/o.

Sarah is now recovering well and is apparantly very prone to bumps, bruises & outdoor battery!

Thats all the info i have, i'm trying to pass on recovery wishes from chockstone to Sarah through my friend... cheers all.

IdratherbeclimbingM9
29-Dec-2007
7:44:03 PM
Have just read this thread (late I know).

My best wishes go to the injured person for a full and quick recovery.

The injured person obviously trusted their young partner to lower them, so it is highly likely that there is more for us to learn from this unfortunate experience (yet), as some young folk are very capable.

Like Dalai, I also hope the younger participant is looked after through this experience.

Richard
14-Jan-2008
12:43:59 PM
There is a hell of a difference in the skills / difficulty between belay someone, and lowering them. Lowering requires you to hold their full weigth, while allowing the rope to run through at a controled rate. Belaying, you probably never take any weight at all....




cruze
14-Jan-2008
1:04:07 PM
Sorry Richard, I do not follow. Are you suggesting that in terms of skills progression, lowering a climber is more advanced than belaying? I do not agree.
lost1
17-Feb-2008
12:40:17 PM
I was at Araps that day and heard Sarah fall. My friend and I found her sitting on a ledge just after she had fallen (semi-controlled by her sister's belay) about 30m or so and organised the rescue.

This info. is first hand and accurate: She was being lowered from the top of Agamemnon after climing it by her sister (aged about 12 or so). There was some gear left in so they set up to have sarah lowered from the top to clean the climb. Just as she started to decend the slack in the anchors was a bit more than expected and the belayer could not hold the rope. Sarah fell about 30m before the fall was arrested and she came to rest on a ledge (end of 1st pitch). When I saw her she had a bump to the head which would have been nasty without her helmet on. Her sister was very calm and able to assist in the rescue.

I never heard about all of her injuries so its good to hear that she's recovering well. Pass on my best wishes if you konw her.

Her sister did a good job after the accident and 12 yrs old or not she manage to minimise the impact of the fall as best she could - just to clear up some discussion below. I think the only lesson here is to always use an auto brake of some kind(prussik) when lowering - and check your system!! Oh and helmets do work!

I hope both Sarah and her sister continue climbing (when recovered) and can learn from this.

Matt.


patto
17-Feb-2008
4:58:50 PM
I never understand it when people lower or abseil off edges with slack still in the system. The number of accidents and near accidents that I have heard of when people put their weight onto the abseil only to find that the anchor/belay doesn't take the tension. Personally I never unclip until my weight is completely on the belay and anchor.

Richard
18-Feb-2008
1:17:23 PM
On 14/01/2008 cruze wrote:
>Sorry Richard, I do not follow. Are you suggesting that in terms of skills
>progression, lowering a climber is more advanced than belaying? I do not
>agree.

No - that's not what I meant, they both require skills, but lowering can (can not will) be more physically demmanding if the rope is connected directly to the belayer, rather than the anchor (which you may do to avoid running the rope over a sharp edge). ie it can be more difficult than you anticiapte to lower someone when their full weight is being taken by your body position.

cruze
18-Feb-2008
1:48:27 PM
Ok I think I know what you mean now. Lowering someone off the belay loop of your harness that is attached to the anchor is more physically demanding than lowering someone off the anchor directly. Yeah that makes sense.

steph
21-Feb-2008
5:51:32 PM
On 18/02/2008 cruze wrote:
>Ok I think I know what you mean now. Lowering someone off the belay loop
>of your harness that is attached to the anchor is more physically demanding
>than lowering someone off the anchor directly. Yeah that makes sense.

yeah i do this most often if my seconder is new to getting gear out or if a fall is likely. takes a hell of a lot of stress off the hips and makes the whole thing more managable.

 Page 1 of 2. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 24
There are 24 messages in this topic.

 

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