Scenario
On 5/7/2018 at approximately 1:30 pm Yosemite Dispatch received reports of a climber ground fall from the route Lunatic Fringe at Reeds Pinnacle. Extensive injuries were reported.
Accident
On May 7th 2018, two climbers went to the Reed’s Pinnacle climbing area to climb the route Lunatic Fringe (single pitch 5.10c). The leader was fairly experienced and had been climbing about 4-5 years. The belayer was newer to the sport, having about 1.5 years of experience. The two had been in the park for 2 days and had climbed the day prior. Lunatic Fringe was at the leader’s limit for lead climbing in the area, and he hung twice while on route.
After arriving at the anchors (having lead on a blue 65m rope), the leader clipped in direct. After clipping in, he pulled the rope up through the gear, and dropped the end back down to the belayer. The leader then tagged up a second (green 60 meter) rope.
The climb is roughly 140-150 feet long and requires two ropes to rappel or top rope. Once the leader had the green line, he tied the ends together using a flat over hand with a backup. He placed the knot on the side set for the green line to be pullable. In this moment, the leader was perfectly set up to rappel down to the ground safely. However, in a moment of confusion, he tied into the green line approximately 1m below the joined ends. This essentially left the leader on the end of his 65m lead line. Once he had done this, he unclipped from the anchor and asked the belayer to lower him on the Blue rope.
Patients rigging at the time of the accident. The overhand on a bite in the green rope was the climbers connection point. Because of this rigging, he was essentially on the end of a single rope.
As he was being lowered he never realized that he was still only at the end of 65m of rope. When the belayer got to the end of the blue rope, it passed through her ATC and he fell approximately 30’ to the ground.
Rescue
After receiving the call from Yosemite Dispatch, two Yosemite climbing rangers and an ambulance quickly arrived on scene. Due to the nature of the accident and the patient’s body positioning, spinal precautions were of the utmost concern. The team put the injured climber into a full body vacuum splint and relocated him out from behind some large rocks. They then performed further patient care and packaging while waiting for the litter team to get on scene for extrication.
Once the litter team arrived they moved the injured climber down to the road where a ground ambulance took him to El Capitan Meadow for air evacuation via helicopter. Among other injuries, he had suffered a compression fracture of his vertebrae, a pneumothorax, multiple broken ribs, and a broken pelvis. However, at the time of his accident he was not suffering from any loss of motor skill or sensation in his extremities.
Lessons Learned
● Close the System – In this case no knots were tied in the end of the blue rope which could have prevented the accident. A knot was found at the end of the green line.