Cathedral Ledge fall today?

[The other tomcat]

So I'm guessing the climber was on the second part of KC where the pro is trickier? And when people say " second half of the fall", did he deck at the ledge halfway first?

Ouch.

[NEAlpineStart]

If the fall was from 50 feet I'd say it had to bee from after the midway ledge... I watched a climber hit that ledge last season after slipping of what I think of as the "2nd crux", that one move you gotta make to get to better hands on the upper portion.

The fact that 2 pieces ripped though speaks volumes. The gear is not particularly "tricky" in that section. You can get a bomber nut there if you don't own modern smaller cams. A truck of a passive tri-cam placement is available in the horizontal when leaving that big ledge, which I think would keep you off the deck with good belaying.

IF the fall was actually 50 feet, and IF two pieces ripped, this one will go down as "inexperience", and ain't nothing wrong with that. We've all been inexperienced. Glad he/she seems to have escaped major injury (and was wearing a helmet).

[tradmanclimbz]

most people don't have a good real judge of distance when estimateing a lead fall or a ski jump. Climb to the top of a 28ft ladder someday and look down. know that you are actually only 24ft off the ground then ask yourself if your last 30 footer was really that big?

 some of that rock over there is so greasy that its  a  stroke of luck if your gear actually holds.  I know a very experienced climber who decked at the start of Three Birches when his feet and his cam greased out....

[Admin Al]

The following was posted on the NEClimbs FB page by someone who say the incident:

"He fell on Kiddy Crack (5.7) from near the top."

"Yes, gear pulled. As far as I know. Several climbers, including myself, looked at the pro and didn't notice anything unusual (like a broken cam). The kid who cleaned the route also said he didn't see anything unusual. All of us who helped in the rescue/clean up all came to the same conclusion ...that gear pulled. He was unconsciousness for about 3-5 minutes before barely remaining conscious when Conway FD arrived about 10-15 minutes later. I commend all the climbers who were there, everybody played a role in the rescue from First Aid, to calling for help to returning the fallen climbers gear and much more."

Like many of us, I've done this climb quite a few times over the years and the gear IMO is pretty darn good, especially if you have modern cams. I could imagine that if you only placed nuts, and you fell outward, you could pull your gear. However, I would think that pulling 2 pieces and going all the way to the ground means that you were either pretty close to the ground to start with, which apparently wasn't the case, or you hadn't placed a lot of gear.

[NEAlpineStart]

I decked on Three Birches start, and the cam held... just rope stretch. It was a "soft" deck but my first leader fall about 12 years ago.

"near the top" to me must be that 2nd crux, unless you fall on the easier moves to the anchor (possible I guess if you got worked up on the crux).

... I would think that pulling 2 pieces and going all the way to the ground means that you were either pretty close to the ground to start with, which apparently wasn't the case, or you hadn't placed a lot of gear.

Option C I am afraid: You didn't place good gear. Two pieces pulling up high & decking means he placed plenty of gear, it just didn't hold.

[Nemesis]

most people don't have a good real judge of distance when estimateing a lead fall or a ski jump. Climb to the top of a 28ft ladder someday and look down. know that you are actually only 24ft off the ground then ask yourself if your last 30 footer was really that big?

True!  I've been in the trades for twenty years now and a forty foot ladder still terrifies me

[shoo]

Update from 2nd hand (but very reliable) information: the climber has (remarkably) no major injury from his fall. A bit generally beaten up, but nothing broken.

[tradmanclimbz]

40ft ladders are absolutly terrifying! and are really only 36ft when completly extended past the OSHA recomended point...

[Admin Al]

Update from 2nd hand (but very reliable) information: the climber has (remarkably) no major injury from his fall. A bit generally beaten up, but nothing broken.

that's good news...

[Admin Al]

tall ladders really do scare me...

[strandman]

ANOTHER grounder at the north End.....I think only Black Lung has seen more

[SA]

John,

I really cannot understand why Black Lung would be the site of many ground-falls. There is bomber pro all the way up the climb, and the jams at the crux are super solid, ( if you know how to jam).

[strandman]

i never understand either but..i have personally assisted in 4 rescues from there that were all grounders. In the time I spent at Cathedral that number seems astonishing   But then again 3 on They Died as well so....

A buddy of mine who assisted the mentioned fall said the leader was resting on a piece and it blew out along with the 2 below  YowZa

[DGoguen]

i never understand either but..

As Steve alluded to earlier, that one usually gets the strong young man that immediately busts into a strenuous lay back at the crux not using the killer jams.
They take and hopefully that one holds.
I saw it just the other night.
I'd bet for every grounder on that one there are twice as many "regular" falls that result in broken lower parts of some sort.

[eyebolter]

We've got one at Rose Ledge, the Guillotine, that is a 5.8 crack/corner, G rated, that has had multiple groundfalls and one fatality.

You need multiple #3-4 is the problem.  All the grounders have been people with not enough #3 and up stuff putting crappy gear in the widely spaced horizontals.