Before the "Pointless Hypothesis based on Hearsay" machine gets too badly spun up, I have an account of the incident on Ape Call (climber being lowered nearly decks) from the person who fell. I don't have her permission to share it but I do want to correct one piece of mis-info that is key. The climber was being lowered using an ATC in guide mode and not 'without a belay device'. Both climbers involved are very experienced and are badly shaken up. When they are ready I expect that they will feel more comfortable in unpacking this and we can make a reasoned attempt at understanding how and why and what not to do next time we are there. Until then, useless comments about Darwinism aren't helpful. It could be you next time, but for the grace of God and all that...

From gunks.com

http://gunks.com/...t_Saturday#Post50922

I was the belayer in the Ape Call accident this past Saturday. Before I give my account, I would just like to say thank you to everyone that assisted. Also, I know that I am going to be ridiculed for whatever I say, but I would like to say that whatever you may say about me or poor judgement from the event has got absolutely nothing on the way that I already feel about what I put my friend/climbing partner through.

I led Ape Call, and belayed my friend to the top of the pitch. I was then going to lower her down, so that another member of our party could climb the pitch. I belayed her using an ATC Guide in autoblock mode. The device was attached directly to the anchor (tree to the right of the top of P1). I thought to switch the belay device over, so that I would lower off of my harness and have the rope re-dirceted through the power point of the anchor, but through poor judgement thought that I would be OK to lower with it in autoblock. To lower her, I girth hitched a sling to the belay biner and re-directed it through the anchor. I then kept by brake hand (left hand) on the brake strand, and used my right to pull on the sling to release tension from the belay device. At first, tension did not release, so I pulled slightly harder and the the rope went through very quickly. The bleay device was set up properly, and at no point did my brake hand let go of the rope. I thought I released the pressure instantly from the sling, but may have been mistaken, or may not have released enough pressure from the sling. I did eventually stop my partner, but not before she hit her head and her hip on the way down. I was able to lower her in a controlled manner the rest of the way to the ground.

Almost instantly there were a number of highly qualified people on scene to help out. Thanks again to everyone that played a part on Saturday, I really cannot thank you enough. I went to the hospital with my partner. She was checked out and they said she was ok, and they helped to clean my brake hand which has some pretty significant rope burns.

I know I exercised poor judgement in this situation by lowering her while still set up in autoblock. I know that many people on this site are going to be quick to chime in about my poor judgement and all the mistakes I made. I know this is going to happen, but I assure you that nothing anyone has to say could possibly make me feel any worse than I already do. Through the years I have spent climbing at the Gunks, all the ambulances that I have heard coming to and from the crag, and even carry outs I have helped with, I never knew what it was like to have the rescue efforts focused on me, now unfortunately I have had the terrible and much worse experience of knowing what it is like to have the rescue efforts focused on your partner, friend, and someone that has put their life in your hands.

That is why it is crucial to practice releasing an auto block belay device on the ground when nothing is at stake.

Or just use common sense.

It sounds like this guy was locking off with brake rope BELOW the device. This is absurd as the device gives no friction like this. Lock off above the device this should be obvious. (If you are going to be lowering for any distance then redirecting the brake rope through a bomber higher piece can be effective and allow you to brake in a more comfortable way.)

EDIT

After reading the gunks page it seems many people do not understand how the belay device opperates in friction guide mode. It is scary.

JUST BECAUSE IT IS A BRAKE ROPE AND YOU ARE HOLDING IT IN YOUR BRAKE HAND DOESN'T MEAN IT WILL BRAKE!!!

You need to hold it at the correct angle. This is fundamental to the functioning of a belay device, think about it.

And the belayer posted there:

If you were to practice on the ground, it would take you all of five seconds to figure that out. I know it is not a replacement for common sense, but it probably would have prevented this accident.

If you were to practice on the ground, it would take you all of five seconds to figure that out. I know it is not a replacement for common sense, but it probably would have prevented this accident.

This always occurs after an accident. The "Pointless Hypothesis based on Hearsay" of people who weren't there come out of the woodwork and second guess what happened. They are the real fucking morans.

I had a similar problem when lowering using the Black Diamond ATC Guide. I was able to recover quickly so it didn't result in an accident but the person I was lowering got a sudden quick ride that I'm sure she didn't appreciate.

I was lowering exactly how BD shows in their video. So if you use one of these be careful. It is very easy to get the lower out of control with a slight tug.
http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en-us/shop/climb/belay-rappel/atc-guide

The correct spelling is morOn.

This always occurs after an accident. The "Pointless Hypothesis based on Hearsay" of people who weren't there come out of the woodwork and second guess what happened. They are the real fucking morons.

I had a similar problem when lowering using the Black Diamond ATC Guide. I was able to recover quickly so it didn't result in an accident but the person I was lowering got a sudden quick ride that I'm sure she didn't appreciate.

I was lowering exactly how BD shows in their video. So if you use one of these be careful. It is very easy to get the lower out of control with a slight tug.
http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en-us/shop/climb/belay-rappel/atc-guide

I just tried to replicate this yesterday. I found that when you pull on the brake strand of the rope in addition to pulling on the pull cord, with a full (115 lbs) of force on the rope, the device will invert completely. At that point you must either completely brake with the brake strand, or *release* the brake strand and release the pull cord, otherwise the climber will fall out of control.

GO

That is why it is crucial to practice releasing an auto block belay device on the ground when nothing is at stake.

Or not use it in "guide mode" in the first place without a really good reason, especially when you might have to lower the climber. Since there is almost always the possibility that you'll have to lower the climber, it stands to reason that you should almost never use the device in this configuration.

Jay

Indeed, when fully weighted, releasing the autoblock turns the whole setup into little more than a redirect, and you must break by pulling the rope in the opposite direction (i.e. up when setup in guide mode), which is incredibly difficult if you have set your anchor high (as is preferable for actually belaying) and you are using your body weight to unlock the device in the first place.

Actually, the interesting thing was that it didn't require me "fully weighting" the release to get this to happen. Basically, once the device started to partially release, a slight tug sideways or upwards on the brake strand caused it to open/release completely. In other words, I initiated the release with the cord, but then pulling on the brake strand of the rope released the block completely. At which point the only way to get the climber back in control was to either pull *harder* on the brake strand (counter-intuitive, as this is what opened the device so much in the first place), or simultaneously fully release both the brake strand of the rope and the pull cord.

GO

(edited to add a word for clarity)