Original Post

C D · Joined Sep 2017 · Points: 166 Jul 29, 2019 · Los Angeles Cal Fire Helicopter picked up an injured climber near Lunch Rock yesterday. He fell from p1 on Fingertrip. Stoppers ripped. A BD#1 held but didn't keep him off the ground. Real bad leg break. He also wasn't wearing a helmet and banged his head. One of climbers who helped with the rescue said it looks like he's going to be ok! Another climber who helped out said the injured climber threw a thumbs up as he was being hoisted onto the helicopter. A few folks got some great footage of the rescue thats floating around facebook. Not sure sharing the story helps much other than as a reminder for everyone to be careful out there and to wear your helmet.

master gumby · Joined Jan 2016 · Points: 262 Jul 29, 2019 · Unknown Hometown I feel bad for the guy, but how would a helmet protect your FACE (the parts that were injured on the climber)?



Placing proper protection and not ripping gear on what might be the best protected 5.7, proper rope management (leader was hogtied), and not falsifying your experience on MP is more important and should be discussed here. Not helmet wearing.

TaylorP · Joined Oct 2016 · Points: 0 Jul 29, 2019 · Unknown Hometown master gumby wrote: I feel bad for the guy, but how would a helmet protect your FACE (the parts that were injured on the climber)?



Placing proper protection and not ripping gear on what might be the best protected 5.7, proper rope management (leader was hogtied), and not falsifying your experience on MP is more important and should be discussed here. Not helmet wearing. Sounds like you got cat-fished. My helmet hangs over my head a bit (mammut wallrider) so maybe it would stop some of the damage to the face? Doesn't hurt to wear it either way. Hope the dude heals up!

Greg Davis · Joined Aug 2008 · Points: 10 Jul 29, 2019 · Unknown Hometown Accident was pretty gnarly. I think wearing a helmet when you are learning to trad climb is a great idea. May or may not have helped much, I don't think we know exactly the extent of his injuries, but flipping upside down is a real possibility climbing long routes. I don't always wear one, in fact I didn't on Friday in the NW recess. Doesn't mean it's a great idea.



Climbing is inherently dangerous, accidents happen, luckily it wasn't too bad and there were people around to help.

Jesse Podero · Joined Jun 2019 · Points: 0 Jul 29, 2019 · Unknown Hometown I’m not sure how you fall on this route all together, but I’m glad the climber is going to recover. I don’t always advocate for helmets, but they are necessary for some routes. A full face is the only thing that would have prevented the facial injuries. People who are learning trad shouldn’t be learning on multipitch routes to begin with. If you gear in bomber cracks is blowing you need to be on some single pitch 5th class climbs practicing placements.

apogee · Joined Nov 2009 · Points: 0 Jul 29, 2019 · Unknown Hometown Ummm, wearing a helmet at Tahquitz is a good idea any time. Especially on weekends. Especially on weekends on a trade route like Fingertrip.

Guy Keesee · Joined Mar 2008 · Points: 312 Jul 29, 2019 · Moorpark, CA A broken leg. Glad that the other folks helped out.

The tradition is still alive.

I have a question..... was he really on Fingertrip?

Tons of people can’t find the start to that one.

I hope the injured climber recovers 100%



And please save us the helmet BS, OK?

Jesse Podero · Joined Jun 2019 · Points: 0 Jul 29, 2019 · Unknown Hometown The blood is at the start so I’d say it’s pretty positive he was unless he was dumb enough to mistake the 10b slabby face climbing of Ten Years After as a 5.7 lie back.

apogee · Joined Nov 2009 · Points: 0 Jul 29, 2019 · Unknown Hometown Gotta love the compassion and Monday morning armchair QB'ing of the interwebz!



Hope the guy is ok.

Matt Himmelstein · Joined Jun 2014 · Points: 184 Jul 29, 2019 · Orange, California James Boisvert wrote: People who are learning trad shouldn’t be learning on multipitch routes to begin with. If you gear in bomber cracks is blowing you need to be on some single pitch 5th class climbs practicing placements. We are all learning Trad. No, someone who does not know how to place gear and build anchors does not belong leading at Tahquitz, but I would venture that most of us learned by doing.

master gumby · Joined Jan 2016 · Points: 262 Jul 29, 2019 · Unknown Hometown Michael J P wrote: It seems like you have some additional information not shared by the original poster? I saw the helicopter from town and was hoping it wasn't anything serious. How did you know he hit his face and falsifying his experience? Were you there or his partner?



I agree to a certain extent. BITD, none of us wore helmets, ever. I've grown used to them for certain routes, but no helmet will save you from one of the death blocks in the NW Recess or in the larger peaks. TV sized blocks means a closed casket no matter what you wear. It's all about risk management and what's comfortable for you.



I too am happy the climber was able to give the thumbs up, and will make a recovery. Best wishes to the young gentleman.



We agree on helmets.

Edit: sorry read your initial comment wrong. Got information from one of the first responders.

. Edit: sorry read your initial comment wrong. Got information from one of the first responders.

C D · Joined Sep 2017 · Points: 166 Jul 29, 2019 · Los Angeles People also used to smoke/drink a lot more and not wear seatbelts. It should go without saying a helmet doesn't make rock climbing go from inherently dangerous to safe. Pretty sure the jury has returned on this one. Wear helmets. Or check out the American Alpine Journal reports with "no helmet" in the title. If you have been climbing forever and you are making an informed decision to not wear a helmet I 100% support that. That said, for anyone who hasn't been climbing for forever, maybe we shouldn't be telling those folks that wearing a helmet is pointless since thats not true.



Also hate to the be bearer of bad news but people lower off single pitch climbs now instead of rappelling. : O



Having heard this climber hit his head without a helmet it sounded like helmets were a relevant topic. Perhaps if it was only his face and leg that was hit, maybe in this case its not.



Maybe he was ready for the climb and this was a freak accident because there is usually some risk/factors out of our control. Or maybe he was in over his head, which I’m sure has happened to many of us at some point, and shit went south. Definitely sounds like a great outcome considering the circumstances.