Me and two friends were waiting for mitch to get up the burn when we heard the noise. We dropped our kit and made our way over to the drop zone. At first we didn't see anything and then we looked down onto the trail that leads off Roy Gap Road up to the drop zone. Three other climbers who were about to head up skyline had made their way over and sent someone down to call 911. My two friends are nurses so we were going through the ABC, checked pulse and realized that the climber had expired.

At first I didn't see a tie-in so I thought perhaps he had fallen somewhere on the lower broadway and down into the drop zone. The amount of rock fall we heard along with the fall made me think he had simply slipped on some rocks up close to the top of the buttress- mnay of us unrope after we have finished that route and are about to traverse over to lunch ledge on the west face.

After examining closer though I saw the core strands and then realized that part of his rope was wrapped around his leg- I couldn't tell maybe 5-8 feet- which had probably occurred during the tumble.

A guide closeby who saw the whole thing was busy getting his clients down and at the same time talking the partner above through calmly rapping down to safety. The partner rigged a retrievable rappel on his anchor (which was about the base of the second pitch of La Bella Vista or basically the top of skyline P1. He made it down to the Candy Corner anchors and fixed a single rope and came down. Me and my friend's wife were there at the bottom to kind of calm the partner down and keep him from walking down to the fallen climber.

Everyone came together in the community and was extremely helpful and outgoing in the most sincerely humane way. It reminded me how much I love climbers and of the bond we all have in this sport. I know the partner was very appreciative of this.

La Bella Vista is an interesting lead. The second pitch is the money pitch and no one climbs the first pitch. if you've ever topped out on P1 of Skyline buttress and looked straight up and the thin, somewhat overhanging arete that's Bella Vista. Is climbs te spine of the arete.

The climber's partner mentioned that the leader was about 10 feet above his last piece when he fell and that there was a tug on the rope but not the tug he was anticipating. He kept waiting for the standard 20 foot lead fall YANK and it never came. The piece held, which means that the rope severed somewhere between the leader and his last piece. Furthermore, if a piece is rated for 10-15KN, the rope rated for 25+KN the rope simply didn't snap, or else the gear would have been severely compromised- we would have had that evidence. The only reason I mention this is because one person that morning mentioned that he thought the rope just snapped from the fall alone. This is probably not the case.

I've seen some other posts here so no need to replicate information: rope was brand new; rope was 9.4mm blue water; rope was 60 meter.

After talking through this with many of my friends who also climb I have made an estimate, that I wholly put to everyone as my own, I am by no means stating what indeed happened. I don't want to speculate wildly and honestly we may never know what truly happened. But after going through it in my head here's what I beleive [believe] happened:

The leader was climbing a very thin flake that at one point is overhung. After the overhang the angle backs off. One can see this in the silouette of the climb. I'm afraid that as the leader progressed above the belay, a height I do not know of, he crossed from one side of the flake to the other- climbing the way we all do which is going where the holds are. This also might have meant that his rope transversed teh [the] flake depending on where his gear was. No matter though, he was 10 feet above his gear and there was 5-8 feet of rope attached to him in the drop zone. His rope cut after the final piece. My estimation is that he was on the east face of the flake and his rope was dangling below him on the west face and that it was hung up on eihter [either, eater, ether] a small ledge, flake, or rope eating constriction. We have all gotten our ropes stuck in one of those stubborn rope-eating cracks and know how tough they are to retrieve- especially after rapping from a long day's climbing.

I'm afraid that the initial light tug the second felt was the rope beginning to become taught through the constriction, an that the constriction cut the rope, or at best tightened down on the 5 feet of rope. Put this length on on a 20 foot fall, and that's a factor 4 stress on the rope. They aren't designed for that purpose, although I imagine it could withstand that force without the presence of any sharp objects. Throw in a few dirt particles in the core, or the slightest sharp edge and at that tension I bet you could look at the rope acutely and it would snap.

I'm really sorry this is probably a horrible description. My heart goes out to all climbers about this whole thing and to the family and friends of the leader.

One after thought is that doubles are safer on this terrain where there is a risk of one rope cutting exists.

All climbers are intellectuals and climb taking calculated risks, accepting responsibility for our actions. I encourage everyone to keep climbing in light of this horrible season we've had so far. It truly has been horrible. Think deeply about the joy you have when you climb and the freedom it brings you and the bond you form with other climbers.

Again sorry for the poor penmanship here.

James Curry

I talked to the guide who recovered the gear just a week ago or so (8/10 or so). He told me that the gear was placed well, and the climber went much higher on the route than he initially thought.
The guide did not see any rope abrasions on the rock, or any glaring edges that he would immeditally expect would have sheared the rope.
From the length of rope attached to the climber, and the belayer descriptions however, it sounds like the fall occurred, the rope nearly immeditally caught on an edge above all the gear placed, and broke.

This doesn't really answer any questions, but I thought I would let you all know what I had heard.

-Just a personal note, I guided for many years various places. I have been through many ropes over the course of that time, and have noticed certain trends about how different rope brands perform. With this said, I have seen more unwarranted core shots on Blue Water ropes than any other brand name out there. Having seen their sheaths fail under non-extreme circumstances, I personally would never buy a Blue Water, especially one as thin as the one in question.
I have no doubt that the rope was new and full strength (i.e. not compromised by corrosion by acid), it simply caught on a sharp edge, and the rope performed in the same way I have come to expect from many other ropes from that manufacturer.
Just a few personal thoughts for better or worse.

Gaia_Mind