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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 31, 2008 - 10:08am PT
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The clock radio woke me to some cheery news.
Someone took a hundred footer at Suicide yesterday (Saturday 8/30) with head injuries and an injured belayer.
Anybody know anything more?
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Llama
Big Wall climber
The bubble that is Irvine, CA
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Aug 31, 2008 - 10:20am PT
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Yeah, it was my friends Trevor and Claire. Trevor was unconscious at the time the rescue team arrived and is in critical condition at the moment. I don't think he had a helmet though I'm not 100% sure of that. He is new to climbing, only been out a handful of times, mostly with me. His partner Claire is very experienced; she's been climbing since she was 3 years old and has climbed all over the world. Claire is in stable condition but also suffered numerous injuries. I haven't gotten in touch with her yet to get more details.... I'll post when I do. In the meantime, let's all keep them in our thoughts and prayers.
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esoteric1
Trad climber
san dieco, ca
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Aug 31, 2008 - 10:39am PT
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I hope both of them get out of this without any lasting problems.
they`re both in my prayers.
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WoodySt
Trad climber
Riverside
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Aug 31, 2008 - 11:40am PT
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What route? Details if you have them. Good luck on recovery.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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Aug 31, 2008 - 12:14pm PT
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Will certainly pray for both. My heart goes out, of course, to all family members and friends that are hurting now for their loved ones. My thoughts and prayers are for them also.
Lynne
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L
climber
Just surfin' the tsunami of life
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Aug 31, 2008 - 01:20pm PT
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Llama,
Really sorry to hear about your friends! Hope everything turns out OK--and please, keep us posted as to how they're doing.
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esoteric1
Trad climber
san dieco, ca
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Aug 31, 2008 - 01:54pm PT
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clark headed up the rescue, I guess the guy is in pretty bad shape, he came off head first and has neck trauma and a bad head wound...broken helmit and everything.
there was no gear on the rope, so from a speculative viewpoint he was either soloing off the anchor above captn hook or he fell off the ledge before he daisy`d in.
there was a bad hail storm up there that day so no helicopter, and had 6 people to carry the liter out to the road to a waiting ambulance.
be careful out there guys!
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Aug 31, 2008 - 02:16pm PT
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God bless 'em, sounds nasty.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Aug 31, 2008 - 07:23pm PT
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Best wishes for a good outcome for these folks.
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Llama
Big Wall climber
The bubble that is Irvine, CA
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Aug 31, 2008 - 09:43pm PT
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Thanks for all of your concern! Trevor had just started the second pitch, not sure what route yet. He fell, he said he pulled gear but maybe he was confused about that detail as the rescuers apparently saw none. Their anchor failed and sent both Trevor and Claire to the ground. Trevor broke his neck and was unconscious most of yesterday, came out of it a bit and was heavily sedated until late this afternoon. He has a blood clot on his brain and some swelling but is expected to recover. He is NOT paralyzed. Claire broke her arm and some of the bone structure in her face but has been released from the hospital so no life threatening injuries for her. Trevor is expected to be released within a week so it appears that the doctors are hopeful that there will be no complications with his injuries.
Again I really appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers as do their families. Thanks!!
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dmalloy
Trad climber
eastside
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Aug 31, 2008 - 09:47pm PT
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>>He fell, he said he pulled gear but maybe he was confused about that detail as the rescuers apparently saw none. Their anchor failed and sent both Trevor and Claire to the ground.
I can understand how a failing anchor could be thought of as "pulled gear".
Failed anchor....wwhhhooooooaa. Such a scary thing to contemplate. Sounds like some serious injuries, but it seems like it could have been much worse. Best hopes to them for a fast recovery.
Thanks so much for posting some details.
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Llama
Big Wall climber
The bubble that is Irvine, CA
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I finally got to talk to Claire tonight to get the real story so... here it goes.
The two were on Captain Hook. They had finished the first pitch and had started up the second. Claire was belaying from the ledge atop the first pitch. The anchor consisted of one nut (size unknown) and a #3 BD cam. The anchor was skimpy because Trevor wanted to conserve gear for the next pitch. He began the second pitch of which the first 20 or so feet was unprotectable (at least with the gear they had). After this section, Trevor placed a #1 BD cam and proceeded to climb above it. He complained of some difficulties with the climbing and suddenly pitched off backwards. He came tight to the #1 which he was roughly 5 feet above. The cam pulled and he continued falling backward, now head-first, toward the belay. Claire locked off the rope through her ATC and braced inward against the wall to arrest the fall. Trevor hit Claire causing her to slam into the wall leading to fractures of her cheek bone, arm and wrist. Claire also was knocked unconscious at this point. Trevor continued his fall and as the rope came tight through the anchor, the two pieces failed. Luckily for Claire, she had collapsed onto the ledge when she passed out. Her unconscious state also led to a relaxed grip on the rope. Thus, as Trevor continued falling, Claire remained on the ledge despite the anchor blowing. Had she not been knocked out, she would have certainly kept a tight hold on the brake and undoubtedly would have been pulled off the ledge into a fall with Trevor. Sadly, under these circumstances, there was virtually nothing that would have kept Trevor from decking but Claire somehow escaped the same fate.
Trevor was wearing a helmet and this surely saved his life. As he fell head-first for nearly 120 feet, he hit his head several times and broke his helmet. He also, as mentioned before, broke his neck. He'll be in a brace to immobilize his neck for 3 months. The doctors are surprised, however, at how quickly he is recovering and said he may be released as early as Tuesday, a short hospital stay for such an injury in my opinion. The blood clot on his brain is being monitored and has not grown since yesterday. This will obviously need to be continuously monitored.
He is also alert and talking so it appears that the likelihood of permanent brain damage is minimal.
Claire is at home and in good spirits. She was her normal cheery self on the phone though notably shaken when she was describing the scenario to me. She'll need some re-constructive surgery on her face from the fractured cheek. She also, if the initial injuries weren't enough, suffered numerous contusions from some very sizable hail which began to fall during a nasty storm that rolled in shortly after the incident. She was stranded on the ledge for approximately two hours before she was rescued and unable to find any shelter from the elements.
We all hope for a speedy recovery for both of them.
A big thanks goes out to all of the climbers/SAR members who assisted in their rescue!! The first two to find Trevor at the base happened to be EMTs and jumped right into action stabilizing Trevor and orchestrating his extraction. There were a number of others who helped to carry them off the mountain on the litters which is no easy task. Also, a special thanks goes out to Ryan Moore (sp?) who hiked back in the the route to retrieve their gear and Claire's car which he then drove down the mountain to Riverside County Hospital where the two had been airlifted.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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my best wishes to Claire and Trevor
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Wow, they are lucky to have survived. Thanks for sharing your report of the details.
Some ideas for possible future accident prevention in this type of situation (I'm not familiar with the route, so some of these may not have been possible):
 bring more gear, so you don't have to use a minimal belay anchor
divide the pitch if you run out of gear (assuming you have enough to build an anchor or can downclimb to such a point)
it's also sometimes possible to climb to a stance, place a good temporary anchor, go off belay, drop a slack loop back to the belayer, have them clip on gear from their anchor, and continue the lead. This is maybe more useful if you need a particular size of gear for the lead that is in the anchor below.
place 2 pieces of lead pro, if there are hard moves coming up and nothing else in above the belay anchor
try to position the belayer so they can't be hit by a falling leader (or falling rock). Sometimes they can hang 20' below the anchor (using 20' of the lead rope) if there are hard moves directly above the anchor.
Maybe, Ryan = Ryan Mattock ? ("pyro on the mountain" on supertopo). He posted in the thread on the snakebite rescue.
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S.Powers
Social climber
Jtree, now in Alaska
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Is this trevor that works/worked for nomad ventures?
Speedy recovery and best wishes either way.
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Llama
Big Wall climber
The bubble that is Irvine, CA
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Not the Trevor that used to work for Nomads... he is safe behind Degnan's Pizza Loft cash register =)
Clint - Those are all some very good suggestions. As we know, different routes present different problems/solutions. In this case I'm afraid it was mostly a combination of inexperience and overconfidence that led to the fall. Trevor has a strong lead head and isn't afraid to take a fall. Unfortunately he hadn't been climbing a very long time and the routes he'd been on thus far all offered great pro throughout the climb where this time he had fewer options. Having not been in a similar situation he didn't recognize the reality of the danger of this route I think.
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Russ Walling
Social climber
Nutsonthechin, Wisconsin
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WOW!!!!!! Speedy recover to both of them. That there is quite a story.
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originalpmac
Trad climber
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man, it is always sad to hear about accidents, but hearing about random people rallying together and saving lives and returning gear and cars always makes me happy. people rock. best wishes on the recoveries.
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Beatrix Kiddo
Mountain climber
Littleton
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Amazing. Best wishes to both of them.
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