Climber lowered off end of rope

[old_school]

I'm still alive 'cause my main partners and I value a goood belay. It's not negotiable...... ever.

Hard to argue that point....

[Admin Al]

t's not negotiable...... ever.

 

right on John...

[tinker]

I just poured myself a beer-

I know a "very experienced" NH guide who I would not trust to wash my fucking van. 30 years and he doesn't know shit. I gave him shit back in the early 80's and he still didn't learn.

EX- give a beginner some slack so they learn about falling

DIE

I'm not shittin'- this was a real conversation

   I think I Have run into this same guide.   My partner and I were at the base of Dracula and he lowered two clients down on us (Completely poaching the route)!  Client #1  harness one leg loop completely undone the other not double backed!  client #2 mis tied figure8 and no backup knot.  F*&^%ing minor details I know!  There is no excuse for shitty belays or slack attitudes out there.   What we do is dangerous.  When you take or give the rope to another person you enter a sort of sacred trust.  With another human life as the bargaining chip.  Nothing to be taken lightly.  I feel bad for this women but it does serve as a sobering reminder. 

[strandman]

Well that was fun....

On a similar situation, I know a guy who insisted his rope was long enough to lower- it wasn't. he worked for a rope company at the time and has climbed for 30+ years. Still should  have had a knot.

[steve weitzler]

Good thing John has never been opinionated!!!!! However I do agree with him. There are some things that are just not acceptable.

[Mike G]

I'M sorry, but as soon as she was done spoon feeding me and helping me wipe I would have tied the knot around her neck. That would stop the rope from going though the belay. I'm just sayin.

[strandman]

AH, the famous double noose knot !  Not taught at most gyms

[cjdrover]

Seems there was a typo...

"How many people will have to die before safe bolt anchor practices become standard?"

"How many people will have to die before safe belaying practices become standard?"

It must have been a typo, right?!?

[strandman]

YA a typo 
I'd rather have a good belay off 1/4" bolts than a bad belay from 3/8 any day.

[Mike G]

Again I'm sorry, but the part that got me was She made note of where on his body he hit the rock so she could give attention to those places. OK, so if those observations could be made with such quick reaction then what was going on before when she should have been watching for the rope? Her head was so far up her ass she needs a window where her bellybutton is.

[darwined]

Maybe she found out about his bachelor party .

[JBrochu]

I can only assume the conclusions she reaches regarding fault are just a personal defense mechanism kicking in. Often there is a ton of second-guessing, soul searching, and personal blame that occurs after bad accidents even in situations where the participants were deemed to have used good judgement. It must be pretty hard to deal with the aftermath of something like this.

[DNorlin]

I know we all need some humor now and then, but I have to say that the some of the comments concerning a near fatal accident seem a bit over-the-top.  If you want to see the comments from a couple of other climbing forums on this incident:

http://gunks.com/ubbthreads7/ubbthreads.php/topics/56206/7

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1379530/Help-a-Climber-Round-2

I see plenty of instances of folks lowering partners without tying in or tying a knot in the end of the rope (Including myself). I'm sure if I asked, the answer would be that it's not needed because the climb is well under half a rope.

We all do the right thing nearly all of the time, or we would all be crippled or dead. We should admit though that it is just possible this could happen to any of us some day and take a lesson from someone brave enough to write about their incredibly difficult experience.

[strandman]

Sure it's possible that this could happen to anyone... I think a bit of prevention goes a long way though. A couple of seconds thought would have prevented many an accident.
I find no humor in bad belaying, only anger.

[strandman]

One more point- i finally finished reading the Drama Queen's "story". I just could not get through it before.

The f/a team is to blame ? Good thing you didn't have 45m ropes.

Your health plan is to blame ?

NO- you are to blame

Sure it sucks that this happened, but it didn't have to