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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Sep 13, 2008 - 11:40am PT
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Holy frig, Donny - I just read this thread! Sorry for not replying sooner. Best wishes to Claire and Trevor in their continuing recoveries. Thank God they are both still alive - a true miracle.
To the rest of you reading this: bring PLENTY of gear and KNOW how to use it! This accident should never have happened, and would not have happened had the two of them been climbing with a bigger rack.
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Organbear2
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Sep 29, 2008 - 09:03pm PT
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Fall factor much greater than 2
I think crøtch (post 40) has the best idea of what probably happened, and it's made me realize a common situation is much more dangerous than I had ever imagined.
I want to expand on what happens when falling climber lands on his belayer and "shock loads" the belay anchor. Think of the the fall factor of just the tie-in to the belayer. The classic example of a fall factor 2 is a climber 10 feet out and falling 20 feet on 10 feet of rope to absorb the impact. So imagine that same 10 foot fall being absorbed by just the short piece of climbing rope to the belay anchor, say 2 feet long. That would be a fall factor of 5! And, worse, in this instance there is no belay device to slip and give a "dynamic belay."
Oh, and that "Jesus nut" will not save you either. ;)
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