ROCK CLIMBING 30 December 2006 - Climber suffers ground fall, The Tower, Grampians, Victoria
Administrator
Tower, Grampians, Victoria
While lead climbing "See the light" a man sustained an 8-metre
ground fall.
He had difficulty in placing a bolt plate over the existing bolt due to
its head size. The hanger was then clipped with a wire gate carabiner.
(The climber only had wire gates on his rack).
As he climbed diagonally above and to the side of the bolt, the
resulting rope angle was holding the quickdraw vertically above the
bolt.
Those on the scene surmised that this position allowed the bolt plate
to drop and potentially jam slightly on the bolt head. And because the
wire gate is much narrower than a standard carabiner gate (and
consequently it does not completely fill the large hole on the plate)
it can sometimes allow the plate to fall off the head of the bolt.
When the climber lowered himself down from the ledge above to rest on
the bolt the bolt plate became detached from the bolt. This did not
happen immediately - there was a distinct noise as the draw and bolt
plate became detached. The climber then fell onto his lower protection
(a #3 RP), which took some of the force before the wires snapped over
an edge. The climber was not wearing a helmet.
Emergency response was highly praised and reported to be well
co-ordinated. The casualty was airlifted by helicopter to Ballarat Base
Hospital for CAT scans and X-rays. He sustained head, back and foot
injuries and heavy bruising. He was released eight hours later and is
expected to make a full recovery.
Comments by the climber
"This wouldn't have happened if a straight-gate had been used."
"I removed a medium-sized cam that was a metre closer to the bolt
than the wire that failed after the bolt plate slipped off the bolt.
[At the time] I agreed with my climbing group that this was redundant
following my clipping [of] the bolt and would reduce rope drag for the
rest of the climb. I will be reluctant to remove gear in future... The
ground fall would probably not have happened [if the cam had been left
in place]."
Editor comments
WIRE-GATES AND NARROW-PROFILE CARABINERS
This instance highlights the inherent dangers of combining a bolt plate
with an ill-fitting carabiner such as -
· Wire gates
· Narrow nose profiles
· Narrow spines
· Small, light carabiners
In each case the small profile of some part of the carabiner can allow
room for the bolt plate to slide off the head of the bolt.
AVOID LOADING THE GATE OF A CARABINER
It should be noted that an equally important issue is that if the gate
on any carabiner is allowed to contact or bear on the bolt plate it is
potentially very dangerous if it is loaded by a falling climber. The
gate is the one of the weakest parts of a carabiner (whether solid-gate
or wire-gate) and it is not designed to be one of the contact points
under load. Carabiners should only ever be loaded along their spine
(with the quick-draw as close to the spine as possible to achieve
maximum strength).
LEVEL 5 REPORT