UKC

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/82969624/

One for the masses to chew over.

In reply to jonnie3430:

Top roping on a steeply overhung route, lol.

In reply to jonnie3430:
That is a pretty dumb accident, surely the consequences of falling off a steep overhang on a top rope are obvious?

In reply to Reach>Talent

The swing, yes, but the amount of vertical fall that occurred first would suggest there was perhaps a bit much slack out...

Neil

In reply to jonnie3430:

I was quite surprised that she penduled as far as she did, it didn't seem consistent with where the belayer's end of the rope was leading. I can only assume that if the top-rope was in-situ, it has been directed through intermediate clips to reduce swing potential.

In the normal run of things, a climber on top-rope would unclip these as they ascended, then swing in and re-clip these on the way down. However, if the climber ties onto what should be the belayer's end, which is running straight up to the lower-off, problems arise. This appears to have been what has happened.

This used to happen periodically on a couple of steep top-rope routes at the wall I used to work at. We realised that we couldn't just assume that all climbers would figure out which end to climb on, so attached a big laminated card to the belayer's end, telling them to tie onto the other end and making it impossible to use for a knot.

Of course it may have been a lead-rope that was partially unclipped from the draws - either way she was still on the wrong end. Hope it didn't hurt too much...

In reply to Neil Williams:

Because the length of rope needed to follow the overhang is longer than the vertical height of the wall (its the hypotenuse of a right angled triangle). As soon as she comes off the rope doesn't need to follow the overhanging wall any more.

In reply to Neil Williams:
Didn't see any slack in the belayers rope, but I did see a hell of a lot of rope stretch. Looks like a lead rope that was not clipped in to the draws.

In reply to Snoweider:

Possibly so...

Neil

In reply to Snoweider:


It was clipped into something other than the lower off (see my theory above). The point that the belayer's end is leading to is not the point that she penduled from, or she wouldn't have gone so far.

In reply to jonnie3430:

She tied on to the wrong end and no one noticed (or bothered).

E

In reply to Jamie Bankhead:
Ah, I see that now, and that friction at the belayers end would explain how the belayer didn't get pulled in to the wall, as I thought he did well there to just stand there blithely as she sailed by! Still think its a lead rope, with all that stretch, and she tied in to the wrong end as a second.

In reply to Neil Williams:

Re slack in the system, isn't this a good thing in this scenario because it means you swing in less aggressively? I deliberately give a more dynamic belay in this type of context to give the climber more vertical drop before he falls inward so he can respond.

In reply to jhw:

That's on lead not top-rope ofc but I think same considerations apply.

In reply to Jamie Bankhead:

That was my thought, belayed well back from the top of the route and the cameraman in the right spot to be swung into.
Reminds me of some of the choreographed videos on "you've been framed"

In reply to jonnie3430:

Clearly, she should have been climbing on the other end of the rope and unclipping as she went, however, that didn't happen. What did happen though was that this becomes a 'fail' video, and gets seen by countless people who then get the impression that climbers are reckless and don't know what they are doing, or worse, think that that is a normal occurence.

In reply to jhw:

To some extent, though I think for the fall to go that close to the floor there was a bit much. As others have said, it might be because he was belaying on the end through the clips (rather than her seconding properly) and friction was the cause.

Neil

In reply to jonnie3430:

Ever heard the term "Hit the ground on stretch"?
That's almost what happened here. She's a big girl and you can deduce from the swing and the bounce that the route was long and very steep.
Someone f*cked up big style letting her go on the wrong end of the rope.
She should have been on the other end of the rope unclipping as she went and the guy belaying should have been standing near the thing she clattered into.

E

In reply to Neil Williams: How about giving slightly more slack to increase friction when she responds to the floor thus reducing the occult danger of pendulum?

In reply to jonnie3430: Reminds me of table skittles.

In reply to Enty:

Agreed, it's stretch....and a bit of general 'thickness'!

In reply to jonnie3430: I can see a "Campaign to check your Buddy".........

In reply to Removed User:

Indeed, and doesn't it give us that lovely feeling of notoriety...

In reply to jonnie3430:

Lucky she wasn't tied in with a bowline or it could have been nasty!

OP

In reply to jonnie3430: Looks a lot like they borrowed the toprope from several routes over to climb a lead route.