New Mexico, Peñasco Springs—On May 20, 1956 a fatal accident occurred on a private party trip to Peñasco Springs, New Mexico. The party consisted of Charles M. Williams (24), Sherman Marsh (21), Robert Lee (31) and Isaac Winograd (25). The group had scrambled up to some large ledges high on a sandstone escarpment nearby. Here a rope was used in belaying Williams, who descended part way down a cliff to investigate a white slash which had been spotted from the valley floor. After looking at this slash, Williams climbed back up, and the party began a leisurely descent down a series of easy natural sandstone steps, each 4 to 8 feet in height.

At the top of one such step near the bottom, Lee remarked that he had found a short cut down this step, but the rest of the party chose to descend the original route. They climbed down this without difficulty and looked over about 30 feet to see that Lee had apparently successfully reached the same ledge. The main party had started down again when a noise of some nature turned their attention to Lee, who was seen pitching forward off balance. He landed on the next ledge about 5 feet down but failed to stop there, apparently from having gained too much forward momentum, perhaps in conjunction with being unconscious at the time. He tumbled off this ledge and proceeded down the steps head over heels, falling free the last 10 to 15 feet to strike his head. From here he rolled down the talus about 70 feet. Williams reached him first and found him dead. The autopsy reported that the injuries received on his skull were sufficient to cause instantaneous death.

Source: Charles M. Williams.

Analysis: (C. M. Williams) Several unexplainable facts surround this accident. Lee definitely at no time yelled or uttered any involuntary cry. The rest of the party have the distinct impression that he was not trying to check his fall—he fell as if he were unconscious from the beginning! The original cause of his slip is entirely unknown. His unbalance forward suggests that he tripped. He could have done this by an attempted short jump to a lower ledge, or he may have been knocked woozy by accidentally banging the back of his head on the wall behind him. It has been ascertained that the autopsy did not check for a heart condition.

An analysis of Bob Lee’s climbing ability reveals that he possessed exceptional balance and generally used good technique. He was using acceptable practices when last observed. However, his rock climbing experience was limited, and he had just recently become a qualified climber. His disposition was such that he strove to correct his weaknesses and in so doing was inclined to try the more difficult routes. The rest of the party was not able to find his exact route down, so they can only say that the general region appeared moderately easy, though perhaps a bit more exposed than the part chosen by them.

This fall should ordinarily not have resulted in any serious injury at all if Bob had not gone head over heels—if he had regained any degree of balance after his initial slip, he would not even have reached the last fatal 10 to 15 feet. His build and weight—a stocky 5 foot 9 inches, 185 pounds-— probably aided his forward momentum and increased the severity of his injuries.

An interesting sidelight occurred while Williams was hurrying down to the rescue. He stumbled once and has the recollection that he descended one 6-foot step rather rapidly. He was able to recover his balance, however, and continued on safely down to Bob. An analysis shows how absurd this heedless haste was. If the injured man had needed those few seconds saved, he had little chance of living anyway. It seems as if would-be-rescuers have about the same probability of being killed as do fallers. (See Washington, Boston Peak accident)