From: kjones@yoda.eecs.wsu.edu (Kent Jones - EECS)
Newsgroups: rec.climbing
Subject: Re: Cathedral Pk. Accident, Yosemite
Date: 18 Aug 92 16:35:23 GMT
Organization: Washington State University!

In article <1992Aug18.012617.21434@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> jmorton@euler.Berkeley.EDU (John Morton) writes:
>I have some more details from the recent Cathedral Pk. accident.
>The information comes from a former Yosemite Mtn. School instructor who 
>spoke at length with the people involved in the recovery.

Thanks for the informative post!

>
>The couple were an experienced man ("a 5.11 climber") and an
>inexperienced woman, climbing on the SE Buttress of Cathedral Pk.,
>a 5.6 route which I would guess to be 800 ft. in length, at an
>angle of maybe 60 deg.  
>

....

>
>I have never liked this belay method, which I believe has come
>into common use since the advent of belay devices.  A plate is
>pretty quick in a lower belay situation, but the upper
>belay is always a hassle because the plate is so far away from
>your body.  This forces you to lean way over and take very small 
>bites as you uprope.  For this reason you see many climbers set
>up the belay so that the rope runs upwards (as is natural) to a
>piece, then down to the climber.  Europeans frequently transfer
>the device itself to one of the anchor points.
>
>The consequence of a severe fall is that this piece rips first,
>spins you around, then shock-loads the next thing in line.
>(The poor devil who clipped his/her device to the piece is left
>holding the rope with palm-friction.)
>The first piece is not contributing to the anchor at all:  
>either it holds the fall (and you don't need your body anchor)
>or it pulls and your anchor is subjected to more than it would
>have seen if you had used a trad-style braced-feet position.

I was taught to always have a minimum of 3 anchor points. I was also
taught to equalize the anchor points so that no one point is bearing
all the load.  

On the other hand, I have also learned from practical experience not to put 
in a particular anchor point if it is questionable... I was climbing up at
snow creek wall in Leavonworth Wa. with a friend of mine. I had finished leading
a pitch and put in a belay station. I had two anchor points that I knew were 
bomber points, but I was having a hard time finding a third point that would
help equalize the anchor. I finally decided on a point that would hold, only
if weighted in the right direction... My climbing partner followed me up, and
as I was to lead the next pitch as well we traded positions. In the process,
the questionable piece popped out... 

Even though the other two points held securly, this almost scared my partner
to death. After he got over his shock, I had a long time in convincing 
him that the other two points were secure... In fact the points were secure
because we had to leave one of the nuts behind in the crack it was wedged 
in so tightly.

So my question is: Should I have used only the two points I was pretty sure
to be secure, or should I have spent as long as necessary to find a third 
anchor point? As I have only 2-3 years experience, it still takes me quite
a while to set up an anchor point that I am confident in.  This can be
frustrating to the person who is following me. How should I handle the 
temptation of using only two anchor points when it seems that there is 
no place where I can put a third? 

Both times in my vast (ha! ha!) climbing experience, where I have placed a
piece that I knew was marginal, I have come to regret placing that piece.
The other time was at Joshua tree. I had climbed up about 20+ feet and still
had not found a place to put a piece. I finally found a little crack which
in which I managed to wedge a nut. I knew the placement was marginal and 
figured that it would maybe slow down a fall. Well, I managed to then 
gain some confidence to climb up to where I was able to place some bomber
protection. The mistake I made then was to not remove the piece I knew was
marginal. After about 20 more feet and some very good protection I fell off.
The marginal piece popped out... In the mean time my belayer had moved off to
one side so that he could take a picture of me climbing. When the bottom
marginal piece popped out, that gave the rope a considerable amount of 
slack. As a consequence I fell about 10-15 feet and managed to place a huge 
bruise on my right thigh. (I couldnt sleep on that side for several days)

So much for my experience with marginal protection... 
What does everyone else think? 

>
>Let us all be careful in the future!

Agreed!

>
>John Morton					University of California
>jmorton@euler.berkeley.edu			Mechanical Engineering
>{decvax,cbosgd}!ucbvax!euler!jmorton		Machine Shop

Kent Jones
kjones@yoda.eecs.wsu.edu
Xref: sparky rec.climbing:3002 rec.backcountry:6121