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Quasimodo
Trad climber
CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 10, 2015 - 11:48pm PT
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Bruce and I just warmed up on a 5.9 at Echo Cliffs off the Backbone Trail. I was feeling especially nimble that morning. We were packing up to move on when two young bucks approached us and asked if we were done. Bruce and I said go ahead. With my back turned to the wall, I heard a yell from above only to turn around and see one young fellow speeding towards me at what appeared to be Mach 1. Frozen, I watched in horror as the poor lad impacted a blunt five foot tall pillar with right butt cheek and then crumpled to the ground. The sickening “thud” made me squirm. I thought to myself, “That was the worst lead belay ever!”
The leader, Mister M, was 22 years old and his belayer, Mister J, was a few years older. They had come to Echo to train. Mister J said, “Mister M likes to skip bolts and run it out. He does it all the time.” I asked Mister J, “Where did Mister M fall?” He said, “At the ledge.” The first ledge is about 50 feet up the climb. Mr. M clipped only one bolt at 20 feet. He was 30 feet out above second bolt 50 feet from the ground ...that’s when he broke the hold. Mr. M skipped the first bolt, clipped the second, and then skipped the third through fifth. Running out chossy Echo volcanic rock held mostly together with epoxy is probably not ideal for trad "training". Too bad the boy did not do some simple math like 30 feet minus 20 feet equals -10 feet. Those negatives are a bitch especially with loss rock!
Mr. M, being 22 years old, decided that he would just jump up right after a 50 foot grounder! We convinced Mr. M to lay still. He had a small scalp laceration (no helmet) and a few boo-boos but he was alive. His color turned pasty and pale but vitals were strong. Two very nice EMT trained climbers pulled out surgical gloves and a full first aid kit. Mr. M’s pain got worse but he remained fairly alert.
Ventura County Fire and Search & Rescue were amazing. Luckily, my climbing partner Bruce has a Verizon cellular account so we could call 911 immediately (ATT no signal at all). Ventura Fire dropped a guy in less than twenty minutes and had Mr. M off to the ER in less than one hour from Bruce’s call. I still have dirt in my ears from the prop wash.
There is a happy ending. Mr. M only has only one broken vertebrae and a very sore butt.
If Mr. M had fallen at any other angle onto the blunt pillar the rescue would have become a recovery! This young lad is the luckiest guy alive on Sunday. I told Mr. J that if Mr. M walked out of the hospital he should immediately buy a Lottery ticket!
YOUNG PEOPLE PLEASE DO SCARY STUFF AWAY FROM OLD PEOPLE!!!!!
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
extraordinaire
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Mar 11, 2015 - 12:14am PT
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Youth is not to blame.
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Flip Flop
climber
salad bowl, california
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Mar 11, 2015 - 12:16am PT
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Pull their cards.
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Delhi Dog
climber
Good Question...
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Mar 11, 2015 - 12:22am PT
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Glad he's okay, butt with balls that big and a brain that small I wonder how many more lives that cat has.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Mar 11, 2015 - 01:36am PT
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Jesus, Mary, and Joseph...
you send'em to the nuns and they still can't do arithmetic!
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Mar 11, 2015 - 01:54am PT
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hey there say, qusimodo... oh my... :O
lucky to be alive, from what you just said...
his family will be very thankful for his life, still to be lived...
prayers for his recovered health, and his recovered way of learning to
climb...
good that you guys were there, too... quasimodo...
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EdwardT
Trad climber
Retired
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Mar 11, 2015 - 04:02am PT
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Darwinism in action.
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couchmaster
climber
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Mar 11, 2015 - 05:41am PT
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It seems like us old guys use to have personal growth stories that were almost just like that many years ago. Except for the helicopter and cell phone of course. You get older climbers around a campfire and give em a couple beers. Soon they all start fessing up to learning about expanding flakes and pitons via groundfall/trip to ER, climbing unroped and falling into the only chimney within 200 miles and thus being spared a groundfall/trip to ER, or clipping the only pin and your belayer (not tied in to an anchor and giving a hip belay) steps off the ledge 200 feet up as he is bracing for the impact of your 80 foot fall/trip to ER....it goes on and on. You're gonna have to ply me with some alcohol to pry mine outta me now but old climbers almost all have at least one. If not more. I was feeling like I might have another one just last Saturday unroped 3rd classing over a short steep and slick dirt slope followed by a 200 foot precipice following a 24 year old. He brushed off my cautionary words with a simple "I come up here alone all the time, even my dog comes up here with me". The old school version of that is "STFU and do your 60 meters". LOL. Too busy pissing my pants and clawing at the dirt to snap a photo.
Now these guys will be able to participate with the rest of us in that campfire scene and laugh about their good luck, like we all do for ours. Congrats to the 2 young bucks on having the sense to have this occur right in front of 2 savy old dudes with a working cell phone. You got 8 lives left now. The rest of us, not so many:-)
Locker style edit - Re: DMT posting the same time as me, I think it's OK to laugh and joke about missing the reaper, and some of those posts crack me up. (math camp, heh heh) So I'll toss in the bonus ultimate old guy quote here as an add on to up the seriousness level:
“Still, the last sad memory hovers round, and sometimes drifts across like floating mist, cutting off sunshine and chilling the remembrance of happier times. There have been joys too great to be described in words, and there have been griefs upon which I have not dared to dwell; and with these in mind I say: Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are nought without prudence, and that a momentary negligence may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do nothing in haste; look well to each step; and from the beginning think what may be the end.” ― Edward Whymper, Scrambles Amongst the Alps
.....and I borrowed this from the Todd Gordon appreciation thread (one of the smartest, most experienced dudes around) to emphasis my point:-)
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L
climber
California dreamin' on the farside of the world..
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Mar 11, 2015 - 06:28am PT
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If Mr. M had fallen at any other angle onto the blunt pillar the rescue would have become a recovery!
This single line marks the difference between comedy and tragedy; a good campfire story vs. a condolence thread. It's my impression that if someone appears to be laughing at a mishap, it's actually nervous laughter...because the main character got a little too close to that dividing line. And almost any climber knows what that's like.
The thing about Echo--and anyone who's climbed there knows this--is that the only trustworthy holds are the ones that have been glued back on. Everything else is just detritus waiting for you to exfoliate it. :-)
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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Mar 11, 2015 - 06:43am PT
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Mr. M, being 22 years old, decided that he would just jump up right after a 50 foot grounder!
This isn't all that uncommon when someone is in shock. Seen it a couple times where people want to stand their totaled motorcycle up or close their car door after an accident . And these people need to stay still till emergency services arrive. It can be hard to keep them still.
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Jones in LA
Mountain climber
Tarzana, California
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Mar 11, 2015 - 06:45am PT
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Very glad to read about a tragedy that didn't happen. Heal quickly, young man. Thanks, @quasi, for your excellent account.
Rich Jones
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Alpamayo
Trad climber
Davis, CA
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Mar 11, 2015 - 07:33am PT
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Aren't you guys so smart.
When yall get hurt maybe someone will mock you.
DMT Some stupidity deserves a good mocking. Many years ago, I got a good public mocking after a youthful climbing accident that got some press. I may not of appreciated it right then, but it sunk in a while later and I realized much of the criticism was spot on.
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High Fructose Corn Spirit
Gym climber
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Mar 11, 2015 - 07:46am PT
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"Too bad the boy did not do some simple math like 30 feet minus 20 feet equals -10 feet."
:)
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mhay
climber
Bishop, CA
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Mar 11, 2015 - 08:44am PT
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There but for the grace of stochasticity go I.
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skitch
climber
East of Heaven
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Mar 11, 2015 - 09:34am PT
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That is what pisses me off about poor bolting in places like the ORG and Smith, even on "easy" terrain holds break so it isn't entirely up to my climbing ability to keep me off the deck, it also isn't completely unheard of for old bolts to break. . . I have friends that don't like climbing every other move, but none of them are doing so because they are trying to impress others with their badassness, it's typically just cause they have climbed that route 100+ times and are decent at math.
(30ft-20ft = 10ft)
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rbord
Boulder climber
atlanta
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Mar 11, 2015 - 09:44am PT
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Believing that simple math is simple is what we're good at.
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son of stan
Boulder climber
San Jose CA
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Mar 11, 2015 - 09:46am PT
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Agree young climbers should not fall in the presense of old climbers.
Thoughtless youth. Shame teaches a lesson never forgotten.
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Caveman
climber
Cumberland Plateau
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Mar 11, 2015 - 09:48am PT
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"Aren't you guys so smart.
When yall get hurt maybe someone will mock you."
Just because you have done the same thing doesn't mean you have to get mad at us!
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looks easy from here
climber
Ben Lomond, CA
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Mar 11, 2015 - 09:50am PT
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Luckily, my climbing partner Bruce has a Verizon cellular account so we could call 911 immediately (ATT no signal at all)
FOR 911 CALLS SIGNAL DOES NOT MATTER
If you call 911 your phone will use any available carrier. You can even use a phone that doesn't have a plan. If you have power, you can call 911.
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Flip Flop
climber
salad bowl, california
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Mar 11, 2015 - 09:54am PT
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If I go out like a dumbass then you guys better mock me.
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