Climber Falls At Wilgepoort

[Avatar]

Rock-climber hurt in fall

Johannesburg - A rock-climber was injured after falling 15m at Wilgepoort, northeast of Bronkhorstspruit, on Sunday.

Mountain Club of SA spokesperson Jacques Tredoux said members of the climber's party contacted the club's search and rescue team when he fell at a Wilgepoort gorge.

He said the climber was treated on the spot and airlifted to the Unitas Hospital in Centurion.

He was in a stable condition, Tredoux added.

Damn. Anybody we know?

--A

[fanta]

Thats doubtful as he is not a regular climber.

[Avatar]

Still sucks. You know anything about it?

--A

[fanta]

Yeah I was involved in his rescue.

I went to visit the guy in Unitas last night. He is doing exceptionally well considering the fall he had!

An experienced climber set up a three-piece stance all nicely share loaded for some beginners to top rope on; that climber then lowered of that stance. A few people did some climbing. Then the accident happened. The experienced climber scrambled up to see what had happened to his stance and 2 pieces of gear were still there, the third was missing.
More than that I'm not willing to say. I dont think I'm in a position to say more anyhow. I will try talk to the parties involved and perhaps they can shed more light on the sitaution

The patient fell 15m then tumbled down the slope a further 15m. He was not wearing a helmet. He is very lucky! People please wear helmets! They save lives; this guy is very lucky to be walking/hobbling around 2 days after the accident.

[Avatar]

Thanks for the info. Hope you can give us an update later, understand that, being involved, you're not in a position to.

Think the more we know about any accident the better. Everybody needs a reminder every now and then.

Have a good one.

--A

[gator]

ok i am gonna be the ass here but i am gonna ask the qeustions.
1)why were they putting in gear if they were in a sport crag? shouldnt they have used the chains if they were top roping?
2)why if one piece of gear failed did he deck? shouldnt the other 2 pieces have taken up the fall.
3)when top roping you really only fall at most a meter, maybe more but how did he fall 15m?
4) and if he fell 15m and rolled another 15m it implies he wasnt tied on or the harness failed?

fair enough i dont know much about gear placing and so on but can somebody please explain, or give answers too my qeustions!

[megawat]

Q1: It's not a sport crag. Trad gear n all...

[Mark]

I dont know but I guess
2) He fed the rope through one of the legs of the anchor and not through the share loaded point (ie the one leg came loose and the rope came free)
3) Simply with no top anchor you fall to the ground (15 metres to your belayer)
4) And then he rolled down the hill past the belayer with at least 15 metres of slack in the system

I wasnt there but I think its possible / probable

[nosmo]

Ok I'll be nice and answer your questions:

1. Multi pitch Trad Climbing north-east of Bronkhorstspruit in the Gouwsberg valley on the banks of the Wilge river.

Who told you it was a sport crag?

2. If there were three pieces of gear beforehand, and two were still there afterwards, it would seem that the third failed. Why did he deck? Did the rope stretch? Did he get hit by a meteor? By goodness, I don't think so, but possibly the answer lies with the third piece of gear not being part of the anchor afterwards. Fanta isn't saying, so you'll have to think a bit of what could possibly have happened.

3. Hmmm, what you meant to say was 'When top roping, and accidents aside, you only fall 1m'. Something went wrong with the anchor possibly?

4. Harness and rope are not the only two components in a rope system boet.

[Avatar]

Easy on. Nobody said it was a sport crag, he was asking if it was. Fair enough questions I thought. Had a couple of them myself.

Not sure what you mean by answer 2 Nosomo...I was thinking along the lines of what Mark suggested. If it wasn't part of the anchor after it pulled, and it caused the anchor to fail when it pulled, then the other two parts weren't seperate anchors on their own?

--A

[gator]

I dont know but I guess
2) He fed the rope through one of the legs of the anchor and not through the share loaded point (ie the one leg came loose and the rope came free)
3) Simply with no top anchor you fall to the ground (15 metres to your belayer)
4) And then he rolled down the hill past the belayer with at least 15 metres of slack in the system

I wasnt there but I think its possible / probable

ok cool that is a decent answer. i get why he fell 15m and rolled 15m, thanks for that. and the share loaded point thing i also understand. thanks again for the constructive answer.

[nosmo]

Yeah that might have come across as unfriendly, sorry - it seems Mark and I were typing at the same time, and I think we're along the same lines. My thoughts? It sounds like somehow the rope went from going through the shared anchor to only going through one leg of it - the bit where 'some people did some climbing' is possibly where this happened, and then the one anchor pulled <- all my speculative ideas.

Someone tell the dude he shouldn't go gambling - he's used up all his luck. No but seriously, tell him I'm glad he's OK.

Wear a helmet, double check.

[Avatar]

Yeah, and then get somebody else to check it too. Good posts, thanks for clearing it up.

--A

[stephan]

An experienced climber set up a three-piece stance all nicely share loaded for some beginners to top rope on; that climber then lowered of that stance. A few people did some climbing. Then the accident happened. The experienced climber scrambled up to see what had happened to his stance and 2 pieces of gear were still there, the third was missing.

It is clear from fanta's post that the \"experienced climber\" set up the top rope anchors using three pieces of gear. Being an \"experienced climber\", I'm sure he clipped the rope through all three pieces of gear, and then abseiled from the stance.

After the accident only 2 pieces of gear were still in place and \"the third was missing\"! Does this mean it failed, or completely missing (as in gone)?

This suggests that somebody unclipped the rope from two pieces of gear, and in the doing so left just one piece of gear to support the climber (which then obviously failed...).

Is my understanding of this incident correct? If so, who unclipped the rope from the two remaining pieces of gear? Fanta, can you shed some more light on this issue please?

[nosmo]

What you have there, dear stephan, is the 64 million dollar question - the same one that fanta said he wasn't in a position to divulge any more on.

[stephan]

Jip, 64 million dollar question indeed. . .

Didn’t mean to put Fanta on the spot, I understand his position completely.

Still I believe it is important that we know why this happened? If anyone has some answers please let us know?

[fanta]

\"TO ME!\" from what \"I\" learned at the scene of the accident it seems as though 64 million needs to be split between stephan and nosmo.

I deliberatly answered to this thread in the beginning purley so that lessons would be learned! NOT to implicate anyone! Apologies for any violations of confidentialty.

I have as of yet not asked the affected parties to comment on this thread however I still intend on doing so. Lets leave the speculation where it is for now and hopefully I'll try to organise some more responses.