UKC

Deep Water Soloing Gets A Ban In the USA

© www.dwsworld.com
The USA has an incredible coastline, both on the Pacific and Atlantic seaboards, but very little sea cliff climbing. In the lower contiguous 48 states, the State of Maine has Otter Cliffs on Mount Desert Island and I'm sure there is some in the Pacific Northwest; San Franscisco has Mickey's Beach and there is some crumbly sandstone beach bouldering around San Diego. So not much chance for Deep Water Soloing, you have to go inland for that....a flooded quarry in Massachusetts, some Texas limestone near Austin, or one of the best places, the perfect sandstone of the New River Gorge in West Virginia, specifically Summersville Lake (click on photo up left)

Daimon Beail at Deep Water Soloing World (www.dwsworld.com) reports:

"A ban on deep water soloing and cliff jumping has been introduced at Summersville Lake in the US. Anyone jumping or diving into the lake from anything higher than their own body height will receive up to a $5,000 fine!

The ban was introduced on May 25th 2007."

The ban was implemented by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) - who built many of the man-made lakes in the USA - and manage many lakes in the Huntington District of West Virginia. Their reason for this ban? The high number of deaths resulting from "cliff jumping and diving." They state that there has been "69 water-related deaths in this area since 1993 and seven deaths in 2006." None as we know were climbers, more than likely drunken partiers who frequent the lakeside beaches, marinas and properties in the humid Eastern USA summers.

Full press release here at: www.lrh.usace.army.mil

Some American climbers are very upset:

Chad Heddleston sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers who posted the ban (link) .

"This Memorial Day weekend 17 friends and I went on a vacation trek from Virginia and Maryland to visit a place we love. We came to the beautiful, wild and wonderful, Summersville Lake. For the last seven years I have fallen in love with the place while safely falling from many of its cliffs. Over these past years I have spent many of my vacations here rock climbing. This year my friends and I came to do my favorite thing in the world, deep water soloing.

Deep water soloing is one of the purest, and to me most rewarding, forms of rock climbing where a climber ascends a rock overhanging deep water sans any gear. It is the most complete feeling of freedom I have ever experienced.

You might imagine my heart break when I received a notice that cliff jumping / diving is now prohibited on all Huntington District Lakes and that I would be risking $5,000 and six months imprisonment to do something I love and have done safely for so long. I felt me freedom had been ripped away."

But there again, as long as you don't fall or jump in, you might be OK and escape the whopping fine.


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27 Jun, 2007
I must add, "The rule that specifically bans deep water soloing is “Entering the lake from a height greater than one’s own is always prohibited.”
27 Jun, 2007
That's not a ban, it's just telling you not to fall off. If you do, your banned!
27 Jun, 2007
Its funny - the yanks being more inhibited than us! The DWS RF guide is Genuis - they could learn a lot from the big man.. Si
28 Jun, 2007
Maybe it will happen in the UK? Man in hospital after cliff jump A man has been taken to hospital after jumping into the sea from cliffs and knocking himself unconscious. The 29-year-old man had to be rescued by the local lifeboat off Trevaunance Cove, St Agnes. A member of the public also leapt into the water to try to help him. Coastguards say they believe the man had been "tombstoning". Coastguards have warned once again about the dangers of jumping into water from a height. James Instance, Falmouth coastguard watch manager said: "This is the second incidence of people jumping off cliffs into water - sometimes known as tombstoning - which coastguards in the South West have dealt with overnight. "In the first incident a man lost his life. This incident could just as easily have resulted in a fatality. This man lost consciousness as he hit the water and became severely hypothermic." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/6761041.stm Coroner rules on cliff death jump John Hodgess had graduated with a degree in management science The death of a Leicestershire man who jumped off a cliff in Utah for fun was the result of misadventure, a coroner has ruled. John Hodgess, 23, of Groby, suffered a head injury and drowned after jumping 70 ft (21.3m) into Lake Powell in September 2004. The inquest at Loughborough Magistrates' Court heard Mr Hodgess failed to resurface after the leap. Mr Hodgess was the ninth person to die cliff jumping in the Glen Canyon. A post-mortem examination found he had died from the effects of "blunt force head trauma". http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/4952216.stm Warning over cliff jumping craze Lifeboat volunteers in South Tyneside say teenagers who take part in a cliff jumping craze are putting their lives at risk. The practice of 'tomb stoning' involves walking out to unsafe clifftop areas and plunging into the sea. On Friday, an RAF helicopter was called out to rescue three teenagers stranded on rocks at Sandhaven. Tom Fennelly, secretary of South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade condemned the cliff jumping craze. He said: "A certain group of young people get some kind of thrill from going down to these areas of the cliffs and simply jump off into the water. "It is an extremely foolish and dangerous practice." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/3595988.stm Rescuers in Devon and Cornwall warn that it is only a matter of time before someone is killed while "tombstoning" along the counties' coasts. 30 Jun 2006 http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?q=cliff+jumping&x=0&y=0&scope=all&edition=d&tab=all&recipe=all
28 Jun, 2007
Unfortunately I wouldn't be surprised if local authorities would blindly introduce a ban that would be all inclusive to any sports involving a combination of cliffs and water, which would include DWS. Our local paper started using the term tombstoning about 10 years ago, due to it being a local rag not having much news the smallest story needs to be given the maximum impact. It was used to describe the "new craze" of jumping off high cliffs. In fairness it was probably a reactionary story to the coastguard giving out a warning of people jumping into the sea at low tide. Its just a shame that the story has been repeated each year in an effort to stop people it has only sensationalised the acts of the foolish whilst increasing safety awareness has been forgotten. It seems that this sensationalist term to describe what was simply cliff jumping is now being used by everybody, more notably with the people posting videos of cliff jumping on youtube. So in that part I would have to congratulate the media for their part in increasing the hype around this. There have been several deaths around the torbay area due to people hitting rocks in shallow water after attempting a jump. Invariably these people have been either drunk or had no knowledge of the tides. So far the count is two this year. The first was a man at berry head who jumped of a disused building at low tide, hitting rocks below and tragically dying as a result of his injuries. The second was a school girl from paignton who was jumping with a group of kids unaware of the depth of the water. As a result she has spinal injuries. These are typical of the cases each year and clearly as this will only be in the media more and more the council will be pressured into being seen to doing something. Rather than being a measured reaction it will more likely take the form of a total ban with a couple of boats patrolling the cliff lines. This in turn would be publisced/sensationalised further by our local, developing a social unacceptance of all who enjoy jumping, climbing or just generally exploring what is a wonderful coastline. Cliff jumping in torquay itself is part of the towns heritage.. one of our very few olympians can be seen high diving from one of the cliffs in a photo on the sw coastal path. It is a safe location for others to do the same, and after seeing that photo I was also inspired to try and replicate it. Ironically just around the corner is a sign stating anyone found climbing on those cliffs faces a £200 fine. In my experience the locals that go cliff jumping regularly have a knowledge of the tides and where you can and can't jump, which has been passed down through the generations, through school folklore. How impressed was I to hear Steve had dived of Gold or another Steve had jumped ultimate 3?! Both high jumps with an element of risk but neither as dangerous as the papers would have you believe. These places have been established for over 20 years (as long as I knew of there existence) and as far as I know nobody has died on an well known jump in Torquay. It would seem a great shame if we loose our freedom to enjoy this coastline be it either through DWS or cliff jumping. The only thing I can say is if you want to DWS in torbay get down there now and enjoy it before anyone has the idea of banning it.
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