UKC

What went wrong?

https://web.stagram.com/p/BlztChkDNC7

In reply to stp:

Ouch!!

In reply to high fall factor into a short length of rope combined with the dead rope being almost 90degrees from the direction of loading. Low resistance, high loading and lack of elasticity within the system.

Will think twice next time.

In reply to JohnBson:

Add to that, she seems to have had the lead rope in her right hand during the jump, thereby introducing more slack. Very strange.

Main issue though I'd say was the very poor choice of where the belayer is standing - should definitely be lower than the clip.

In reply to stp:

Ouch. Looks like the belayer nutted his head into the bargain.

In reply to stp:

No helmets?

But then again, it was only a sport climb...

In reply to stp:

What went right? 

In reply to john arran:

I assume she just accidentally caught the rope as she raised her hand to jump. It didn't look deliberate to me.

In reply to stp:

First rule of safe climbing: pick your team with care.

In reply to Wiley Coyote2:

It was originally posted on Jernej Kruder's Instagram account.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BlxTtD_DN7y/?taken-by=kruderjernej

He's not exactly a novice so I think it would be fair to put this down to a momentary lapse of judgement rather than general incompetence.

In reply to stp:

Why such a long extension on the bolt?

In reply to Luke90:

Never heard of the guy (I don't suppose he's heard of me either) but the belaying looks a bit lackadaisical, especially considering the terrain and the set up. Maybe he expected her to cruise the move.

In reply to stp:

The belayer's not even holding the rope. Oh wait, it's a GriGri. Looks like the self-locking did its job!

In reply to stp:

Good lesson in why it's good to have an auto blocking belay device.

In reply to chiroshi:

He was using a grigri?

In reply to stp:jumped to make a softer catch, but a bit too soft.  BelAying on the edge of a cave looks 'interesting'.  Where is this?

 

 reply to stp:

I don't seer any sign of the belayer jumping.  The leader caught her hand in the lead rope during her reach, which is probably why she didn't latch the hold.  The belayer was placed horizontally to the side of the loading point without any kind of bracing, so the result of applying of a load several times body weight was a foregone conclusion---no way he could have resisted that impact just standing there.

People get used to holding falls in the usual vertical orientation, in which the belayer's body weight provides an anchoring force.  With the load off to the side as in this picture, the belayer's body weight plays no roll and there really isn't anything counteracting the pull from the falling leader.  This means that the intuitions acquired from normal belaying are not in effect, as the party quickly discovered.

In reply to rgold:

Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capstan_equation

Because the belayer is level with rather than under the anchor the rope is not bent round the anchor as it would be in a normal belaying situation.  So there's not the same capstan effect reducing the amount of force on the belayer side of the rope. 

Plus the fact as you point out they are getting pulled sideways instead of upwards against gravity.   

 

In reply to tom_in_edinburgh:

Reduced friction is a part of the issue; with a 1/4 turn friction reduces the load to the belayer by about 10% rather than the usual 33% for the more typical half-turn.  But the main point is that some force on the belayer has to act in the direction opposite the belay load, and if the belayer's body weight isn't going to be involved, then some kind of anchor is required, and this regardless of the carabiner friction encountered.

I don't think sport climbers think much about anchoring a belayer on the ground, as they want the belayer free to move for "soft" catches.  This video depicts a case when the belayer should have been anchored.

In reply to Mr. Lee:

He is though.

In reply to rgold:

I agree. Poorly thought out and sloppy belaying, coupled to the fact that he wasn't really paying attention - look at the beginning of the clip, he isn't even looking at her. 

Pity the clip stopped there, it would have been interesting to see how they extracted themselves with him jammed up against the crab, and her dangling in the crevice

In reply to Wiley Coyote2:

He's one of the top climbers in the world, making the only repeat of Sharma's famous 9a DWS sea arch in Majorca, Es Pontas, and currently leads the boulder world cup. His sister, in the vid, is also no slouch, making semi finals regularly last year.

 

In reply to jon:

No. The grigri locked and off he went. With a tube device, he would have had a chance to make a soft catch. Not that this would have prevented him from hanging under the first bolt though, but maybe he would no have hit the rock as hard.

In reply to Stefan Jacobsen:

Or he might have dropped her totally.

In reply to Stefan Jacobsen:

No. The result would have been the same except that he would have probably let go the rope and dropped her.

In reply to stp:

She should buy a clip stick.

In reply to stp:

I've seen this route. It's in the upper bit of Massone in Arco, it's one of the classic 7cs and the hold seems to be a  good jug (hence they probably didn't expect for this to happen).

It's a tricky one, belayer position seemed bad, however I have no idea if he was directly below the clip he might be risking head injury (even with a helmet) when he is catapulted upwards towards the rock.

Maybe the safest way to climb this bit might to lose a style point and just preclip the 2nd bolt (bolting in Arco is in general excellent and I bet the 2nd bolt is normally where the first bolt might be on many other crags).