Rock Climbing: Where there's a wall, there's a way

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > The Great Outdoors > Rock Climbing: Where there's a wall, there's a way

myownsavior: Dec 21, 2004; I operate a nuclear reactor.

My university gym is finally opening back up again!! It's been closed the last few months due to a climber decking on lead (supposedly due to a horrid belay but I don't know the full story, just hearsay). Watching Dosage 4 to get pumped.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2013 08:51

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 00:17

myownsavior: Dec 21, 2004; I operate a nuclear reactor.

MiamiKid posted:

Was this at U of Iowa? They must be sorting out the liability issues still. This incident had an effect on the wall at my local university, where they started clamping down on some safety protocols and wondering if lead climbing was a good idea. Seems quite obvious that this incident in Iowa was something far outside safe climbing practices.. (http://www.iowacityowl.com/posts/613-Accident-on-Iowa-City-Rock-Climbing-Wall for those that haven't seen it.)

After this Iowa incident, one way they were strongly enforcing the rules at my wall was to make sure all belayers were anchoring to the floor. Something I find unnecessary since my climbing partners are of similar weight, we're typically top roping through belay bars, limits the belayers movement, and so on. One student employee thought this was so important, that while a person was climbing, she noted that the belayer had failed to anchor. With a person 30 feet in the air, the employee unscrewed the locking biner on the belayer, passed the anchor sling into the 'biner, and re-locked the biner.

And thought that process somehow made the climber safer, rather than simply correcting the belayer when the climber returned to the ground.

Anyway, I'd be interested to know if you find out any more details regarding the incident at Iowa (if that's where you're from.)

Yeah this was at Iowa, and I think you're right about liability issues. I was concerned for a while that the wall would never re-open, thankfully that's not the case. We're going to have some new safety protocols here as well, no word on what specifically though. Part of the problem with the university gym is that not all employees are climbers necessarily, they've just been taught the rules on paper and don't actually know anything about the equipment / how things work, leading to situations like you just described with the anchor...

Anyway, I've heard two different things about the fall at Iowa. First was that the belayer was using some sort of autolocking belay device, but was blocking the camming unit, and not holding the brake end of the rope - the climber fell, the belayer didn't react in time, etc. Second was that the climber was resting after clipping into a draw, so the belayer tried to tie some sort of blocking knot into the brake end of the rope, but did so improperly WHILE blocking the camming unit on the belay device.

Either cases are totally egregious and there's no way that belayer should've been belay certified, much less lead belay certified. I'm sure they'll be more careful these days.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2013 19:03

myownsavior: Dec 21, 2004; I operate a nuclear reactor.

RRGCC bought 309 acres of undeveloped rock, the Miller Fork Recreational Preserve! The Red keeps getting bigger & better.

http://rrgcc.org/community-news/introducing-miller-fork-recreational-preserve/

# ¿ Jun 3, 2013 19:08

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > The Great Outdoors > Rock Climbing: Where there's a wall, there's a way