Climbing is dangerous....

This sunday, we got painfully reminded that climbing is a sport with risk. We had headed out to Mt. Nemo, successfully down climbed the decent gully, and set up our gear in front of a 5.9 route. Marc then went up leading the climb, pretty confident. The first bolt was clipped well, he went up to the second bolt, and just one move ahead he slipped - all we could hear was a big bang, and Marc turning upside down, falling on Amy and hitting his helmet on the rock. It was surely shocking. The helmet had cut into the skin of the fore head, there was blood dripping. He had hit is head pretty hard, and got a concussion. Luckily, the party next to us had a first aider....We didn't even bring band aids. Well, instead of climbing, we spent the afternoon waiting in the hospital, luckily all four laughing and joking again.

In reflection, what went wrong? It's hard to tell. One good thing, we all wore helmets, and I am sure to never climb without one. Was there a foot mistake involved that the foot got caught in the rope and made him flip? The rope was running straight in between the legs of the climber, maybe it would have been better on the side? Was there too much rope given out? It's hard to say, given that he was just below the 2nd bolt, which was quite high up, with distance and rope stretch it would be a ground fall any ways. Did we choose the wrong belaying spot? We chose a spot which was about 2 feet away from the wall, as directly below the wall, it was uneven, covered with blocks of rock. It might have been better to be closer for the first 2-3 bolts, as the rope runs closer to the wall, there's generally less rope given out, and thus a tangling of the foot could have been avoided. Was the climber too relaxed and over confident? Should we have started with an easier route (albeit on gear)?

The whole thing makes me reflect. It's hard to find a balance between being over cautious and fearful to overly confident. We have to be aware that our sport is dangerous but it should not block or heads and drain away our power for the climb. There are definitely two points I want to mention: 1) always climb with a helmet, even on sport climbs, when everything seems safe and easy. 2) A first aid course, and carrying a first aid kit with you. The kit is on my next shopping list to Mec, and now I will be looking for dates for the course.