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Date of Incident
10/08/2019
Country
Peru
Area
Route
Activity
Sport rock climbing
When
Descending
Injury
No injury
Incident
I had just fiinished climbing a sport route and had reached the bolted anchors. This particular route ended in a small “cave” so there was no visibility between the belayer and I. Once I was out of my belayer’s view and inside the “safety” of the small cave, my belayer fed me rope so I could pull the rope up easily and clip into the anchor’s draws. It’s also important to note we were trying to be efficient and climb as many routes as we could that day. With that mindset, I quickly clipped my draws and rope as soon as I saw the anchors. And then proceeded to lean back in order to weight the rope and be lowered. With plenty of slack, I fell about 5 meters. Besides a brief terrifying moment, thankfully I wasn’t injured.
Lessons
I should have let my belayer know I was ready to be lowered off before leaning back off the route and weighting the rope. Also performing as fast as you can in a sport where a small mistake can lead to death is not a good idea.
Causes
Belaying failure or error
Anonymous?
No
Reported By
Partner
Wearing Helmets?
Yes
Rescue Services Involved?
Author
Heechae Chon
28 August 2019 at 06:01:45
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