First of all I want to give a huge shout-out to Tommy Caldwell and his climbing partner Jonathan Siegrist who stopped a near historic climb they were working on (a never before done route on Long's) to rush to the aid of the fallen climber. Down climbing to the injured man, Tommy quickly disapprised other climbers declaring "He's OK." Tommy told them, "No, the guy is NOT OK. He's in shock and he's badly hurt." Tommy then rappelled lower, put in two more ropes so the climber could eventually be lowered, descended to Chasm Lake, and ran the mile back to Chasm meadow and the shelter cabin. There he met a climbing ranger and helped him bring spine board, stabilizing bag, more rope and medical supplies back up to the injured climber.
Here is a description of the rescue written in a climbing blog:
8/19/13 - A climber was hit by rockfall while approaching the Diamond on Longs Peak in Colorado and suffered severe injuries in the resulting 50- to 60-foot fall. The 34-year-old man was working his way up the North Chimney approach...on a busy Friday morning, and the rockfall reportedly hit him while he was leading. Fortunately, he was roped up (simul-climbing [two climbers on the same rope]) and thus did not fall all the way to the base of the east face of Longs Peak. (The climber) suffered a skull fracture, fractured spine, punctured lungs, and other injuries, but was evacuated with the help of Rocky Mountain National Park rangers and fellow climbers, and over the weekend he had successful surgery to treat his injuries. (http://www.climbing.com/news/serious-accident-on-longs-peak/)
For those of you who wondered what all of this looked like, here are some pictures:
Far building is shelter cabin. This is Chasm meadow where it is possible to land a helicopter.
The red oblong shows the area where the climber was ascending when he fell.
The star indicates a place called Chasm View. It sits at about 13,000+ feet. The descending arrow and the ascending arrow (from bottom) indicate how ranger rescuers came from various directions to get to the fallen climber. The rangers coming from the star position had been working to retrieve the body of a hiker who fell and died on the west side of the mountain the previous day.
The long red line indicates the terrain rescuers had to traverse to get the injured person off the wall, down near Chasm Lake, across boulders and scree, over more boulders and finally a tricky, steep descent into Chasm meadow below. There were 20 climbing ranger/medics working on this rescue.
The following week, Tommy and another partner were back up on the diamond working on their project...a free climb of the Dunn-Westbay route. They were climbing the route in a way it had never been done. No mechanical aids were used. Only their own intellect and physical skill pushed them up the wall. The route had to be done all in a piece. If they made a mistake, they had to rappell back to their starting point and begin again. On Wednesday, Tommy successfully completed his goal by doing a free climb of the Dunn-Westbay route. Here is a brief account of the accomplishment:
8/22/13 - Tommy Caldwell and Joe Mills have redpointed the first 5.14* route up the Diamond on Longs Peak, the premier granite wall in Colorado's high mountains. The two free-climbed the full Dunn-Westbay aid line in four rope-stretching pitches, with the 80-meter second pitch checking in at 5.14a. The dead-vertical Diamond wall begins at about 13,200 feet and tops out at over 14,000 feet.
In 2011, Josh Wharton free-climbed the Dunn-Westbay at 5.13b with substantial variations. But Caldwell and Mills both aimed to straighten out the line and free-climb the full, original Dunn-Westbay, a 5.10 A3+ route established in 1972 by Jimmy Dunn and Billy Westbay. Caldwell spent four days on the route last summer, but found it too wet to make much progress. (On one of these days Lee, Pam, and I watched Tommy rappell down and start over and over. We were watching through binoculars from Chasm Lake).
This year Caldwell returned to the route and spent several days working on it with Jonathan Siegrist. Last week, they halted their efforts to assist in the rescue of a severely injured climber below the face. After one more attempt, Siegrist had to give up on the route because of other commitments, and Caldwell teamed up with Joe Mills, who had also been working on the direct line. On August 21, Caldwell led all four pitches successfully, and Mills followed all of the pitches free. "I had the vision of trying to do it ledge to ledge [with no hanging belays], and that meant doing an 80-meter pitch, which made it fully 5.14," Caldwell said. "It was extraordinary. I never expected to find anything like that on the Diamond."
The four pitches went at 5.10+, 5.14a (80 meters), 5.13a (about 68 meters), and 5.12b. The two climbed directly up the Green Pillar on the first pitch, where Wharton had traversed in from the Casual Route. And where Wharton headed left into another crack system on the second pitch, Caldwell and Mills climbed straight up. Caldwell said about half of the route differed from the free line that Wharton followed. Caldwell said the route "protects perfectly—it's G-rated. So rad." The original aid crux was unprotected, but it was "5.8 free climbing and you just free solo it," he added. Caldwell also pioneered the first 5.13 on the Diamond, The Honeymoon is Over, in 2001.
Date of ascent: August 21, 2013
*Class 5: Where rock climbing begins in earnest. Climbing involves the use of a rope, belaying, and protection (natural or artificial) to protect the leader from a long fall. Fifth class is further defined by a decimal and letter system – in increasing hardship and difficulty. The ratings from 5.10-5.15 are subdivided in a, b, c and d levels to more precisely define the difficulty (for example: 5.10a or 5.11d)
We don't pretend to know exactly what is being said here. Suffice it to say it was a magnificent climb. Tommy is definitely one of our heroes.
Today Friday, Pam, Lee, and I went to our usual work as volunteers at Bear Lake. Sadly, while we were talking with our lead ranger, we learned that the climber Tommy helped to rescue two weeks ago, died of complications from the injuries he suffered in his fall.
And so it goes from the mountains. If you would like to see more pictures from our recent hike up to Chasm Lake, check them out here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtnpostpics/9629733353/
We wish you a happy labor day. Tomorrow we are off to Amsterdam. We'll be posting from wherever we have internet connections. Kwaheri (Good-bye in Swahili).
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