On November 28, two experienced climbers impacted each other when the lead climber fell off Darkness at Noon (5.13b). He pulled his belayer (42) into him, and the collision resulted in several neck and back compression fractures to the belayer.

A SAR volunteer who was hiking in the area at the time of the accident called for help. The call went in at 11:10 a.m., and the SAR team was hands-on with the patient by 12:36 p.m. They assessed injuries and transported the climber to higher-level care.

ANALYSIS

It’s not uncommon for a belayer to be pulled off their feet and even strike the wall when catching a falling leader. In this case, the belayer was pulled significantly upward because the leader was more than 100 pounds heavier. The pair had reportedly climbed together for years, including many catches of the heavier male by the lighter female. It is not known what made this particular catch so much more significant.

One can assume that it was a long fall or that the belayer was positioned in such a way that the forces generated pulled her violently upward. [Editor’s Note: A tool specifically designed to address this situation is the Edelrid Ohm, which is clipped to the first bolt and mitigates the forces generated by a leader that is much heavier than the belayer.] The belayer was not wearing a helmet.

The fact that the patient was wearing a climbing harness made maintaining spinal precautions while repositioning the patient into the litter for transport much easier. As a side note, SAR was initially requested only to assist in walking the injured climber to her car, when she in fact had life-threatening spinal injuries. (Source: Caleb Bryce, Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue.)