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Topic Date User

Mt York Accident 21-Jun-2010 At 2:07:40 PM daave

Message

On 21/06/2010 nmonteith wrote:
>Actually the best way of making sure this doesn't happen again is to put
>a nice warning in the next edition of the guidebook! That way people will
>approach it with more caution. I know whoever had the accident will certainly
>be more cautious in the future! After wiping an ankle out myself and helping
>drag Mr Pascoe around when he had two bung heels I know how easy it is
>to break things when you are seemingly close to the ground. I'll take a
>look at it, but I doubt i'll be adding yet more bolts to the route. I think
>if you measured distances to the ground when clipping most sport routes
>you would find that a ground fall is a very real possibility if you fall
>off with an armful of rope out. Interestingly I can't think of a single
>time that has happened to me in almost 20 years of continuous climbing?
>I always manage to drop the rope and get my belayer to pull in the slack
>before i plummet!

User: Olbert not Daave
I think it just depends on how determined you are to get the route. I am quite happy with the fact that I have fallen a couple of times on dodgy clips (when its safe)! I fell surprisingly far both times but both times I was stopped at least a couple of metres above the ground. I like the fact that I felt like the clip was iffy but yet went for it anyway (ie didnt soft out and grab draw/downclimb). It has to be said that I do think about this before I do it and decide whether or not it is safe to go for a dodgy clip.