scary reminder

[zman]

The video reminded me how quickly things can go bad in the mountains and the awful feeling when you're stuck in a potentially serious situation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/..._1647109.html?utm_hp_ref=denver&ncid=webmail4

 

[Raven]

The video reminded me how quickly things can go bad in the mountains and the awful feeling when you're stuck in a potentially serious situation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/..._1647109.html?utm_hp_ref=denver&ncid=webmail4

Brings to mind the saying, "timing is everything."

 

[DougPaul]

Welcome to spring ice climbing...

The title includes the phrase: "nearly falls to his death". The climber in question is roped (you can see a double rope heading down in the later portions of the video). We can't see his protection, if he is on belay, and what is below him, but it is quite possible that he would have only taken a short leader fall. Depending on the details and his luck, the outcome could range from completely unhurt to death. (It isn't the fall that kills or injures the climber, it's what he hits...)


After writing the above, I read the first page of comments below the video--only one commenter noticed that the climber was roped...

Doug

 

[blacknblue]

Yeah, typical overblown reaction by both whoever titled the piece, as well as the commenters. He was roped, as DougPaul pointed out, and it looks like he was only about ten feet above his anchor, so probably not a big fall was in order. The route was probably fine until the last short stretch that we saw. Had he gone to his right (as he did after the 'fall'), then he would have been fine. The rope from above helped him, but it most likely didn't "save" him.

 

[griffin]

Yeah, typical overblown reaction by both whoever titled the piece, as well as the commenters.

You know all those loudmouths who stopped posting comments on UL now that they require even a smidgen of verification? They're now on HuffPo.

 

[TomD]

The headlines on HuffPo, which I read all the time, are often way too sensational regardless of the story. "Shocking" is the most overused word in their repertoire. They play up the most mundane stuff with "OMG" breathless headlines. There is a lot of fairly amateur reporting there from people who don't know the simple basics of journalism and are bloggers of one kind or another.

I can't tell where he was belayed below, but it looks like any kind of a fall, would not be that much fun. Hard to say how well his partner was tied in if the ice was that sketchy. I'm no expert, but that whole scene looks dicey to me.