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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Mar 15, 2017 - 03:19pm PT
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There is some precedent for people to purposely droping their haul bags. In that very same issue of R&C the gear guy talks about doing just that back in the 80's. Please do not do this. Please try not to drop anything while climbing.
Yes, this is important. Thanks for sharing your story and it is a good place to remind to people to donate to friendsofyosar!
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Mar 15, 2017 - 03:41pm PT
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Peter or Paul, that's one hell of a price to pay for what used to be "cheap thrills," a phrase we uttered with tongue in cheek.
There was one of those disappearing threads here which addressed "dropped" pigs, but it vanished one day.
Mr. Brennan wrote:
"The physics and result of a thrown haulbag connecting with a human on the ground is an inexcusable no-brainer."
The party who is responsible for your injuries is a classic example of what I would call a super-dickhead. They are above responsibility for their mis-deeds. They will surely burn in hell.
WBraun offered his pithiest comments in this post (verbatim):
We used to huck our bags off the top all the time.
We used a parachute. The bag floats to the ground.
Stooopid modern climbers with no brain huck haul bag off without parachute.
They probably would jump off El Cap without a parachute too.
Stoopid modern climbers .....
:-)
Some might say you were lucky it was not a chicken. They can get pretty feisty after a 3,000' "flight."
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Mar 15, 2017 - 04:28pm PT
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Thanks for the update, you have an interesting story to tell. Perhaps you should start another thread....the title of this one is misleading and people who would be interested might not open it.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Mar 15, 2017 - 05:26pm PT
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hey there, say, paul...
thanks for the update...
sad to hear about the 'dropper' never wanting to
check up or help you... :(
thanks for sharing and getting back to us all...
good to see you coming along, the best you can...
job well done, to those that YOSAR wonder-crew, that helped you
so tremendously, >:D<
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, A sailboat, or some time zone
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Mar 15, 2017 - 05:45pm PT
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What Donini said. Worthy of its own thread
Susan
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jaaan
Trad climber
Chamonix, France
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Mar 16, 2017 - 01:51am PT
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I'm confused now. Did the bag accidentally become detached or was it deliberately dropped? I may have missed something here...
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Tobia
Social climber
Denial
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Mar 16, 2017 - 03:27am PT
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Paul, wow a lot of surgeries and PT to save your arm. Your patience and hard work, tell me what kind of man you are, especially considering the record of the accident, i can visualize the nasty wound and overwhelming pain, but only on the ground floor and not tied into a ledge.
Hopefully, the responsible party will see your post and send some kind of message of regret, sympathy and some other essentials.
On the lighter side.
PTPP, did your beloved #4 Friend get recovered? Those are some pretty fish you caught.
As for Werner's posted quote, how does his satire escape everyone? As long as he has been with YOSAR, his comment could only be offered up in this manner. At least that is my belief.
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i-b-goB
Social climber
Wise Acres
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Mar 16, 2017 - 08:11am PT
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^^^^
Right on!
Paul sorry!!!
Pass The Pipe Paul = (PTPP) - delete already taken!
Edit: Pass the Pipe Paul = (PtPP)
vvvv
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Mar 16, 2017 - 11:40am PT
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Be careful up on the walls. Mistakes happen all the time which can lead to accidents like this one, and stuff is falling everywhere all over El Cap!
Funny how a pseudonym in an article got translated to initials rather similar to mine. ;)
From the Rock & Ice article:
"Dropped Haulbag Strikes Climber in Yosemite
At around noon on June 16, a party of three climbers—Pete, Mark and Vlad (all names are pseudonyms per Yosemite National Park protocol)...
...The haulbag had detached from a setup rigged by Jeff, part of a team rappelling from Heart Ledges directly over Pete, Mark and Vlad....
Jeff’s “best guess” was that the locker holding the runners opened, allowing the bag to detach....
...This accident might have been prevented if the haulbag had been backed up with true redundancy. When the single locker holding both slings failed—by either unscrewing or because it was accidentally left unlocked—the bag dropped."
There is an excellent analysis of the accident in the R & I article linked below. BE CAREFUL when rappelling, especially with heavy pigs. Double- and triple-check your system, making sure your lockers are actually locked, and especially check for gate loading.
http://www.rockandice.com/climbing-accidents/dropped-haulbag-strikes-climber-in-yosemite
Glad to hear you are getting better, Paul. Stop by at the Bridge for beers sometimes, eh?
Cheers,
PtPP not PTPP
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ec
climber
ca
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Damn...a steady and 'quick' recovery to you Paul!
I've witnessed the breeze spinning the connection of a non-locking (that shoulda been a locked-locking) that twisted and released a Curry Cot from about 700 feet up Mesca-Dawn. Scary sh*t for those below, as unlike a pig, the cot flew randomly back and forth like a leaf and landed under the Salathé...
 ec
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eagletusk
Trad climber
Boulder, CO
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I am the "Pete" from the accident, my name is actually Paul.
I have indeed survived the incident.
Some of my story can be read here: http://themountainfold.com/?page_id=1071
My story is one of amazing people coming to my aid in a time of need. I am extremely grateful and very fortunate for my life and my arm.
The person who dropped the haul bag has not reached out to me since the incident.
I have written an open letter to Jonathan who dropped the haul bag here:
http://themountainfold.com/?page_id=1059
If anyone is interested to hear more about my story or help in some way you can contact me here or via my website.
At one point I decided to to a gofundme page to attempt to recoup some of the financial losses, I took it down as Jonathan did not have an opportunity to let me know his intentions.
As you can maybe understand it has taken a lot of time and conversations to put down on paper my letter.
I will update my site with Jonathan's response on my website if he decides to have his response open.
I have contacted several lawyers about my case, they have informed me that the case hinges on whether or not Jonathan had insurance that covered him for negligence. It is unclear if he does or not and I have asked him to answer this question in my letter. If you are a lawyer or have some insight you would like to offer me please reach out to me.
An accident like this is incredibly complicated and hard to commit to paper. Since this accident played out here on SuperTopo, in Rock and Ice and in Accidents I thought it would be useful to the climbing community to make my letter to Jonathan an open letter. A respected figure in the climbing community advised me to read Michael Kennedy's open letter in Alpinist 38 hisson Hayden called The Sharp End
You can read the letter here: http://www.alpinist.com/doc/ALP38/11-the-sharp-end
While the topic of my letter is not the same as Michael's perhaps there is something to be gained from making my letter open as well.
I do not know what lessons one can learn from any accident. It is my intention with the open letter to give one example of what to do and to reach out in a significant way.
Thank you to everyone from Jonathan himself aiding in my rappel off El Cap to my climbing partners, my family, the doctors, my physical therapists, and to everyone over at Paradox Sports who very loudly showed me that injury is manageable, and to the climbing community at large who helped me recover.
For those interested in my physical recovery with respect to climbing I physically can climb. Between surgery 7 and 8 I was able to lead up some climbs in the gym, albeit with a much weaker left arm. When I tried climbing outdoors it became a different story every thing that was abovet that fell or had potential to fall or was someone yelling from above me would cause me to flash back to the accident. I have been diagnosed with PTSD from it, luckily my PTSD is related to a very specific activity and I have been able to manage it mostly by not going climbing.
Thanks for your time.
-Paul
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