Mountain Guiding; Mountain Safety
An Experienced Professional

Guiding Newsletter

Accident Analysis Archive -October 1999

Subscribe

ANAM - End of Rope accidents, inexperience, exposure

The latest edition of "Accidents in North American Mountaineering" is out, in time for a Halloween reading. I have not finished it yet but three types of accidents seem to me to stand out.

The first is a category which could be called "end of rope" accidents. The editor even inserted at least one comment on the prevalence of these this year. People rappelling off an end, an end going through the belay device when lowering, and other misc. variations. This is carelessness, perhaps along with ignorance in some cases. Remember that it's usually a good idea to keep the end of the rope tied into something and/or to have a knot in it so it won't pass through a belay/rappel device.

The second category is what I would call mountaineering inexperience. Many of these accidents happen on technically easy routes. Fortunately these often seem to provide a sobering learning experience without being fatal. To paraphrase a statement about avalanches once made by Andre Roch, "the mountain doesn't know you climb 5.10 at the sport crag". Many of the climbers involved in this category are gymnastically strong. They got into trouble because they underestimated the length of a route, were unable to move quickly on easier terrain, were unable to implement even very basic self-rescue techniques such as using prusiks to ascend, etc. Keep in mind that mountaineering involves much more than raw gymnastic climbing skill - you need to move quickly through efficiency, be able to navigate and routefind in a variety of conditions, etc.

The third category is perhaps not all that prevalent but hits home. This is long falls on easy terrain when climbing unroped. Usually there is not much comment on these since they tend to occur where this is common practice and often considered necessary. The results of these falls should remind us that there is a difference between moving quickly through efficiency and rushing, and also that care is needed when moving over exposed terrain even if we are comfortable with the difficulty level. To some extent this is a risk we take, but we do need to think about the tradeoff between the benefits and the potential consequences. This equation is one which is different for each of us.

My partner who fell on Mt Shuksan 14 months ago is still recovering from what will hopefully be his last operation. And all things considered he was pretty fortunate. Another accident reported this year occurred near Nelson BC and when I read it I recalled learning of it this winter when we met the recovered climber at the Whitewater ski area. He took a long fall and suffered spinal and head injuries. While his partner (a guide-in-training) sought help he moved himself and ended up in a worse position. He only survived because Parks Canada was able to respond with a helicopter quickly even though it was outside their formal area of responsibility. (They were somewhere nearby with a helicopter on hand, by chance.) Last winter he was skiing and has had a largely full recovery. Another very fortunate unfortunate climber.

Subscribe

Guiding Newsletter Archive