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Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 15, 2011 - 11:29am PT
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Helicopter and lights on east wall till midnight, what happened? Petch?
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GhoulweJ
Trad climber
El Dorado Hills, CA
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May 15, 2011 - 12:23pm PT
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CD
What were you doing at LL at midnight???
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Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
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Topic Author's Reply - May 15, 2011 - 12:47pm PT
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Not me, Tim was there at the Club House, watched the drama in the snow.
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PSP also PP
Trad climber
Berkeley
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May 15, 2011 - 02:13pm PT
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Bump; anybody know about this ?
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labrat
Trad climber
Nevada City, CA
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May 15, 2011 - 02:35pm PT
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Hope everything is ok. Good thing they did not spend the night. Serious weather over night with snow down to Nevada City (3000 ft). Talked to two guys that did Bears Reach yesterday, East Wall approach was good, walk off was messy snow with climbing shoes!
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Petch
Gym climber
knapsack crack
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May 15, 2011 - 02:44pm PT
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Eighty foot fall on bears reach. Lower back injury but don't know how bad. He was able to climb after fall
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labrat
Trad climber
Nevada City, CA
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May 15, 2011 - 03:00pm PT
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Ouch! Feature break? Lot of thin stuff flexing holds on that climb. Hope he is ok.
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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May 15, 2011 - 06:54pm PT
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Double yikes. I think that was a friend of mine. He has posted a self-portrait photo of himself in the hospital on facebook. Looks like he got whacked hard, but luckily survived.
All I know if what he wrote: "Survived a 100 foot 2x lead fall at Lovers Leap with minor injuries. Ridiculously lucky. Got rescued by a navy helicopter and SAR folks from the middle of the cliff in a snow blizzard in the dark. Pretty exciting weekend."
Healing wishes Kush K!
Edit:
Posted on his partner's page: "My partner took a lead fall pulling out all gear and falling about 100' before I stopped him. We got stranded about 250' up the cliff for about 5 hours of darkness and snowstorm before being rescued by a navy chopper and local search and rescue. Maybe I should have stayed home."
Scary.
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pc
climber
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May 15, 2011 - 07:10pm PT
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Yikes indeed! Hard to imagine falling 100' on that cliff. Glad he's well enough to post up about it.
pc
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labrat
Trad climber
Nevada City, CA
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May 15, 2011 - 08:16pm PT
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250 feet up would seem to to put them at the not so bushy ledge. Did he fall on the 3rd (last) short pitch? If so, it seems strange that gear would pull because it's a great seam with bomber placements (many of them nuts). Glad he is ok. Erik
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Port
Trad climber
San Diego
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May 15, 2011 - 09:35pm PT
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He might not have been placing much gear, maybe only a piece or two. We've all done it, but this dude took the whip. One lucky mother f*#ker.
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michaeld
Sport climber
Near Tahoe, CA
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May 15, 2011 - 10:57pm PT
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Was the dude in a green shirt? My buddies and I saw a dude following up the first pitch really slow around 4:30pm. A group below them waiting to hop on. The clouds were moving ridiculously fast and the wind was freezing. He was probably rushing up trying to get off quick before the rain.
At least the dude stuck in the OW on Traveler's Buttress rapped after being stuck in the OW for close to a half an hour.
Aren't fast moving storm clouds a sure sign of "yer gunna die" if you climb now?
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tantrikclimber
climber
San Francisco, CA
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May 16, 2011 - 01:07am PT
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Hi everybody,
I'm the guy who took the whip. Thanks for all the comments and concern.
Yes we were on Bears Reach, and my partner was belaying me on the last pitch. My hands and were numb and I think I made some mistakes in a hurry to finish up the climb before the snow storm rapidly approaching us. I'm going to write up a trip report soon.
In the meantime, I'm back at my home in san francisco. Only a sore back, a swollen eye, and some mild bruises across the body. I think the helmet saved my life. Got very very lucky indeed.
Thanks again.
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Tripod? Swellguy? Halfwit? Smegma?
Trad climber
"The 3rd crappist place to live in England"
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May 16, 2011 - 01:17am PT
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I was working as a Firefighter/medic that covered the Leap several years ago when a fellow from SLT took a 140 foot fall (per TM Herbert who saw it) on the last 5.8 direct OW finish on Bears Reach. He was climbing with a new girlfriend and it was her first outdoor climb so he was scant with the gear. He fell out of the finish, hit the ledge and thought "I wish I would stop here" but didn't and proceeded to tumble down the face. His partner was sitting at the belay and just saw piles of rope landing in her lap and looked up to see her partner tumbling toward her. He said the he made 'eye contact" as he flew past. His only nut held and he came to rest 40 feet below her unconscious. She didn't know what to do and grabbed the ropes as he fell, suffering nasty 2nd degree burns to the hands. He came around and pulled himself to the belay. Some other climbers helped him to the top where he conked out. By the time we made it up it was just dark and his girlfriend was still being brought up by the other climbers. I remember looking over at her in the faded light and seeing her climbing with her elbows. He was fully oriented but not looking too good with a full thickness scalp laceration that ran from his eye brow to below his occipital area. As I recall, both ankles were fractured and one being an open fracture dislocation. He was in tank top and shorts and looked much like a guy who fell from a motorcycle onto black top at 70 miles an hour with little clothing. It took about 4 hrs to get him down the trail in a Stokes litter building lowering systems on a few sections. He ended up doing well I think, but not before being shipped from Barton hospital in SLT to Reno trauma center as he was showing signs of intracranial bleed.Not sure if he’s still climbing?
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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May 16, 2011 - 01:23am PT
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Kush - you are one lucky mofo! So happy you are doing so well. Buy a lottery ticket TODAY! :) And thanks for posting up.
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mcreel
climber
Barcelona
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May 16, 2011 - 01:32am PT
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Congratulations on being alive!
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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May 16, 2011 - 01:46am PT
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Not such a tantric experience, tantrikclimber. But hey, you're alive to talk about it, which is a Good Thing.
Only a sore back, a swollen eye, and some mild bruises across the body.
Ha! That's what you think now. Wait till you wake up tomorrow and try to get out of bed. Every atom in your body is going to be hurting. Which will suck, but nowhere near as much as the alternative.
Heal well.
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nutjob
Gym climber
Berkeley, CA
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May 16, 2011 - 01:46am PT
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tantrik, glad to hear you're still in one piece. Climbing with numb hands is spooky! I've backed off from just 10 feet up after a 2 hour snowy approach to avoid dealing with that. It would suck to face it on the sharp end in mid-climb when there's no easy way out.
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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May 16, 2011 - 01:53am PT
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welcome home.
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John Moosie
climber
Beautiful California
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May 16, 2011 - 02:01am PT
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Ditto on healing up.. Ghost has a point. I hope you have someone checking up on you in the morning. I woke up one morning after wrenching my back and couldn't get out of bed.
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