{"id":2650,"date":"2022-10-04T21:33:51","date_gmt":"2022-10-04T21:33:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kineticmag.com\/?p=2650"},"modified":"2022-11-02T15:45:10","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T15:45:10","slug":"accident-prevention-communication-is-key","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kineticmag.com\/rock\/the-kinetic-staff\/accident-prevention-communication-is-key\/","title":{"rendered":"Accident Prevention: Communication is Key"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Accident Prevention: Communication is Key<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s early August and your friends from the local gym are itching for the cooler temps of Send-tember. It\u2019s decided you all should make the drive out to the National Park and go climb. A prominent rock face with an easy hike out on the backside. There\u2019s only one issue <\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u2026it\u2019s mostly trad climbing and you haven\u2019t done any of that.<\/h5>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n
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On the upside, your friends that you\u2019re climbing with took the first lead and let you \u201cpinkpoint\u201d a 5.6 route as your first trad lead. Lucky for you, they also gave you a few pieces of gear to \u201cplay with\u201d and practice. But you run into another problem. They\u2019re much more confident than you, and even though it\u2019s a 5.6 route, you get a little freaked stuck between two pieces of gear roughly 10 feet apart. You go to grab one of your \u201cextra\u201d cam pieces only to find it doesn\u2019t fit in the crack you\u2019re laying back on. Elvis’ leg starts up and your foot slips.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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After smacking into the rock, you roll down the slab, hitting the end of the rope but you\u2019re not in a good way. Your helmet lining cracked and you’re a little scared because your toes are tingling. Search and Rescue is already on the way. Lucky, there was some signal.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Lembert Dome, Yosemite National Park<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n
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Yosemite National Park Search and Rescue<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n
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Now that the adrenaline is wearing off you notice that your lower back feels like it went through a meat grinder, super tender. The rescue team opts for caution based on the tingling in your toes and your back hurting. They put you in a full-body splint and carry you out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turns out it was the right call. You\u2019ve suffered a fracture in one of your lower vertebrae and had to be airlifted from the local hospital to a bigger hospital in the next state over since it\u2019s the closest available that can conduct a special surgery.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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This story is based on a real accident report from Yosemite National Park during a climb up Lembert Dome<\/a>, a popular hiking and climbing spot visible from the Tuolumne Meadows Store parking lot. Originally published in the 2021 American Alpine Club Accident Report, Search and Rescue\u2019s recommendations were pretty straightforward to avoid this kind of incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big sighs of relief and a couple of tears as the neurosurgeon tells you how lucky you are. She lets you know that, from the imagery, it looks like the fracture is stable. You\u2019ll only need to be in a brace for the next two to three months.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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\u201cBe honest with yourself (and your partners).\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important to clearly communicate risk, but also emotions and sensations. The less experienced climber in this scenario had clearly communicated their skill level, wanting to progress and follow more experienced friends. What they hadn\u2019t communicated was their level of apprehension. The experienced partners also failed to communicate. Assuming the unprotected section was 10 feet from piece to piece, it has the potential of a 20-foot fall on low-angle terrain. Knowing that fall potential might have caused our injured climber to make different decisions.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n

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\u201cGym routes are not comparable to outdoor routes.\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Another area of communication lacking in detail. While our injured climber had spent time in the gym and on sport routes, they hadn\u2019t done much trad climbing. A layback crack might be a cakewalk to some climbers, but many new climbers have no experience with them, especially climbers that are just venturing outdoors. It\u2019s a hard scenario to replicate in a gym and the lack of \u201cpolished\u201d footholds and the challenge of knowing what gear to place is nonexistent. Properly communicating not only your skill level, but also your experience with different environments and styles makes for not only more fun climbing, but safer climbing.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Accident Prevention: Communication is Key It\u2019s early August and your friends from the local gym are itching for the cooler temps of Send-tember. It\u2019s decided you all should make the drive out to the National Park and go climb. A prominent rock face with an easy hike out on the backside. There\u2019s only one issue \u2026it\u2019s mostly trad climbing and … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kineticmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kineticmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kineticmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kineticmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kineticmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2650"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/kineticmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2731,"href":"https:\/\/kineticmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650\/revisions\/2731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kineticmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kineticmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kineticmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kineticmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}