Damn, dude. Glad you're all right. Did you go to the hospital just in case?

This happened Friday, March 4th 2011. I was climbing at The Motherlode on a route called Kick Me in the Jimmie. The route is a constant 10-15 degrees overhanging for 55-60 feet.

The last fall of the last climb of the day should have been a routine, clean ~12' lead fall onto the fifth bolt. After the expected catch passed, it became clear that my belayer didn't have control of the rope. I fell about 35 feet to the ground. If someone could pick the spot on the ground to crater on at any given point on that climb, I probably landed on that spot. It was a smooth boulder that sloped gently towards the ground. Another foot in any direction would have been much more devastating.

I remember bracing myself for impact, hitting the ground, and notifying everyone that I was okay about one second after I hit. I was, against the odds, just about completely fine. My ankle was a bit tweaked, and my ass hurt. I was able to walk out of the crag just fine, and now I can hardly even feel the bruise on my butt. The belayer had rope burns on the wrist of his guide hand (non-brake hand).

My belayer has been climbing for ten years (never dropped anyone before this accident), and I've been climbing with him for just over a year. He was belaying with a tube-style device that looked this, although it's possible it was a different model/brand. The rope was a Maxim Glider 9.9 Basically, it sounds like he just took his brake hand off the rope for a split second when he was trying to move into a better position to catch the fall (not sure why he wasn't there beforehand?). Once he realized his hand wouldn't be able to get the rope, he just tried compressing it by leaning forward and just pressing his forearms onto the device/rope (hence the rope burns on the forearm).

This was completely unnecessary, and it never should have happened. It reminds me of the scene in Ocean's 11 when Don Cheadle's character has a partner that screws up something during a heist, and Cheadle's character yells at him, "You had one job to do!"

Relying on a belayer is difficult for me mentally now. I tried climbing on the following Sunday and Monday. Even being lowered is terrifying if I start to accelerate even a little bit (the reasonable variance that happens sometimes). If this accident had at least been with an inexperienced belayer, I could have realistically blamed myself, and found fault with trusting "beginner" belayers. But now, considering that someone with ten years of experience--and no previous dropped falls--dropped me, it's got me in this mode of "How can I really trust anyone?"

It's only my faith in belayers that is shaken now. I believe that if I was comfortable soloing something before, I'd be just as comfortable soloing it still.

My plan is to go to the gym and practice taking larger and larger falls until I can get back to my old self.

Please stay alert while you're belaying, it's your only job.

T

"Thou shalt not let go for any reason with thy break-hand."

I was on belay . . .

I reached down as fast as I could to rub that pebble off (with my brake hand) and as I came back up his eyes and mine made contact.

This reminds me of a climb I was on. Where I had a 'stupid' moment and then a 'come to Jesus' moment.

I was on belay and I'm well regarded as 'solid' in the belay. My climber had just left the anchors and was headed up we were 600' off the deck. He went into a rest as he got gear out to place it. I took this time get a pebble that was stuck into the bottom of my foot off. (I had tried rubbing it off on the ground, my leg, even the ropes stack. It was just pushed that far into the skin that I made it worse.) I reached down as fast as I could to rub that pebble off (with my brake hand) and as I came back up his eyes and mine made contact.

Not a word was spoken, ever. He knew I understood and I knew that I had just had my ass handed to me by a man I regarded as my closest friend on rock. I had learned a vital lesson.

When you are the doorway between another man's life and death you better know which priority is higher. I could have had him clip in with a draw, I could have verbally communicated my intent and he easily could have down-climbed.

The thing that terrified me (now that I understand FF2) is that he was above the belay and had not clipped his first piece. He would have fallen and possibly stripped the belay and it might have been both of us tumbling down.

None of that happened. I learned something and I don't think I'll ever forget it. Jesus was pretty clear:

"Thou shalt not let go for any reason with thy break-hand."

I'm pretty sure that if there was an 11th commandment that's what it would say.

My belayer has been climbing for ten years (never dropped anyone before this accident) . . .

The thing that terrified me (now that I understand FF2) is that he was above the belay and had not clipped his first piece. He would have fallen and possibly stripped the belay and it might have been both of us tumbling down.

Years in service can be misleading. There are some climbers who just never get it: from the moment your climber leaves the ground until he says "off belay" your brake hand must be continuously holding the rope. I've seen beginners who get it immediately and guys who've been climbing since the 70s who don't. You have to assess every belayer individually.

. it's got me in this mode of "How can I really trust anyone?"

It's only my faith in belayers that is shaken now.

Damn Spike, glad you threaded the needle on that one. It sounds like your belayer was able to create enough friction that you were not in complete free fall, is that right? Could you feel the friction on the rope as you fell?

I wonder if skinny ropes are exacerbating this phenomenon. Not that it excuses bad belaying, but a 10.5 is certainly going to be more forgiving in an ATC than a 9.9 if you are a second late in arresting a fall.

Personally, I've never been dropped, but I would have a LOT of confidence in a belayer with experience who HAS dropped someone in the past, as they would most likely be the most attentive belayers from that experience.

Glad you are OK, brutha... I remember watching Mike Reardon get dropped by a very experienced belayer some time ago at Malibu.

Personally, I've never been dropped, but I would have a LOT of confidence in a belayer with experience who HAS dropped someone in the past, as they would most likely be the most attentive belayers from that experience.

No, you were belaying. Your partner was on belay.


Correction. You weren't belaying, and your partner was not on belay.

Jay

I'm glad you're OK. I'm going to get a lot of shit for saying this but I believe that if your belayer had been using a gri-gri this would not have happened. Gri-gris really do give you that extra edge of safety.

That is correct. It definitely wasn't 100% free fall. It's about what you'd imagine if you tried to catch a fall with the climber's waist about 4-5' above the last bolt, but used your wrists to brake--which is, of course, what happened. Hard to say if I could feel the friction. I do know that I could hear the rope whizzing over a material (probably the belayer's jacket and/or wrist). With a complete free fall, I'm not sure if I would have heard that at all.

I'm just trying to think how much friction an arm jammed in the middle of the ropes would produce and I feel it would be very minimal at slowing a free fall. Possibly a kink in the rope temporarily jamming in the atc might have played a hand in your remarkable outcome? Any feeling of a slight snag for a second? Just trying to picture how anyone could crater from that high and literally walk away. You are a very luck man, but you already know that.

If I rub your belly, can I get some of your good luck?

It's hard to accept that even an experienced, competent, attentive belayer could make a mistake at just the wrong moment, but in my opinion that's the reality, and if you can't accept it, you shouldn't be climbing.

The attitude of handling the grigri is correct. Just because "auto" locking devices are supposed to, does not mean they will.

Years ago I was solo aid climbing with a grigri and while I was cleaning dirt and crap out of a shallow crack. Some of it managed to lodge in the device preventing the cam from operating properly. I found this out when a piece pulled and I started sliding down the rope slowly to the backup knot.

all it takes is one moment of inattentiveness .... even the most "experienced" can have a lapse in judgement

the worst is when someone starts talking to the belayer ... happens quite often in the gym or more popular crags ... usually its some guy trying to hit on some girl

just this weekend i caught a girl i knew take her brake hand off the gri gri when some guy i knew started chatting her up ... i quickly reminded her that her climber is now "dead"

if i see my belayer yaking away or flirting ... i just lower down and tell em to go flirt instead of climb ...

two questions

1- belay device brand/model
2-how old was your rope

I already gave as best a description of the belay device as I could (its in the OP). The rope was ~a year old. That said, I only use the 70m in areas where I will actually use the 70m (otherwise I use my 60m). Thus, I never use it in my home crags. It's probably been used on less than 50 pitches.

Be carefull with those figure 8 belay devices.
They can provide 'little to no friction' and unscrew your screwgate.

IF used incorrectly.

I'll never understand why people drape the rope over a foot. I see that a lot and I just don't get it. When I'm on belay I want to be able to dance and move about.

I believe that in this case, you're likely correct. Although, I'd rather say that there is only a "good chance" that it may have been prevented. A gri-gri may not automatically grab a rope without any braking hand action (and should absolutely not be belayed with in such a way), but it at least does have a chance.

That being said, I stick by my usual statement that if I don't trust someone to belay me with a tube-style device, then I wouldn't trust them to belay me with a gri-gri.

Potreroed is right...

Good chance is more closer to 100% than you prolly think. a gri-gri 2 will most definitely catch on a 9.9.

I have used gris basically for as many years as they have been around on everything from A4 solos (have caught numerous 30-50' aid falls) to 5.13s (probably 100s-1000's of falls here) and really get siked out when someone wants to belay on a fig8 or atc....plaquettes/cinch/etc are a bit better brake but still not even close to the GG2. Sometimes it helps me send even on the safest routes because I am so gripped, but usually it is just a tweak in the back of my mind that makes me take b4 even fighting thru the hard moves.

It doesn't help that I watched a near deck with a cinch @ the lode 2 years ago and also have seen several decks with other atc style devices, including a horrific one from the top of a climbing gym.

What the heck are you doing working sport routes in the lode being belayed by a tube? Sounds like you got super lucky! A shoddy belay on a gri-gri is damned safe(r) compared to any friction device....

This^^ all sounds like a problem with belayers, not with belay devices.

Potreroed is right...

Good chance is more closer to 100% than you prolly think. a gri-gri 2 will most definitely catch on a 9.9.

I have used gris basically for as many years as they have been around on everything from A4 solos (have caught numerous 30-50' aid falls) to 5.13s (probably 100s-1000's of falls here) and really get siked out when someone wants to belay on a fig8 or atc....plaquettes/cinch/etc are a bit better brake but still not even close to the GG2. Sometimes it helps me send even on the safest routes because I am so gripped, but usually it is just a tweak in the back of my mind that makes me take b4 even fighting thru the hard moves.

It doesn't help that I watched a near deck with a cinch @ the lode 2 years ago and also have seen several decks with other atc style devices, including a horrific one from the top of a climbing gym.

What the heck are you doing working sport routes in the lode being belayed by a tube? Sounds like you got super lucky! A shoddy belay on a gri-gri is damned safe(r) compared to any friction device....

Cinch accident was 100% belayer error. Gri gri has had plenty of people deck etc and i'm sure gri gri2 will have plenty of accidents associated with it too..

good belay devices can't help bad belayers.

A shoddy belay on a gri-gri is damned safe(r) compared to any friction device....

Cinch accident was 100% belayer error. Gri gri has had plenty of people deck etc and i'm sure gri gri2 will have plenty of accidents associated with it too..

good belay devices can't help bad belayers.

I couldn't possibly disagree more - a shoddy belay with any device is a shoddy belay - if you could look at the number of people who are dropped annually by their belayer I would bet dollars to donuts in the vast majority of cases they were belaying with a grigri. And that could just have easily been the case here.

Anyone who thinks a device can make up for shoddy belaying is seriously deluding themselves.

Way to read out of context. hey, I'll take a no hands catch on my gg2 and you take one with a tube, I will even bet you $10000.00 that my fall is "safe"(R)..I'll even fly out to OR....

Yer math is poor as well...

Takers?

Any1?

He was belaying with a tube-style device that looked this, although it's possible it was a different model/brand.

No one really knows about the DS tragedy. We replicated a way that the cinch "unlocks" at certain angles when weighted and postulate that given the steepness of the wall and where the belayer may have stood that it's possible that the cinch went out of lock mode...

Kind of like "clam shelling" in this report, well worth a close look for several possible cinch failures...

http://www.caves.org/section/vertical/nh/51/Hang_Em_High_Final.pdf

Equivocation doesn't really work when cinchs have broken while lowering...generation 1, whatever, still, cinch is not as good as gg2...

Way to read out of context. hey, I'll take a no hands catch on my gg2 and you take one with a tube, I will even bet you $10000.00 that my fall is "safe"(R)..I'll even fly out to OR....

Yer math is poor as well...

Takers?

Any1?

...(I) really get siked out when someone wants to belay on a fig8 or atc....usually it is just a tweak in the back of my mind that makes me take b4 even fighting thru the hard moves.

I'm really not comfortable being belayed on ATCs anymore.

good thing you are okay.. thanks for sharing..

interesting that you guys where using an ATC instead of a grigri at the motherlode where falls/hanging abound...

I'm sure you'll recover with time, but how is the dude that dropped you taking it ? you guys still climb together ??

I've moved out of state, but I'd climb with that guy any day of the week still.

Here's an update on my mental progress:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2htUpUyryfk

It takes consistent to work to fight back to getting into a healthy, positive mental state after I take time off, but it's doable. I was scared during that fall (the one i just linked), but not terrified. Certainly not anymore scared than I would have been before my accident.