Climber accident on Apron Aug 23 and SAR

[squamish climber]

I see from local news reports there was an accident Saturday on the Apron. A climber fell and had a lower leg injury and possibly a back injury. Does anybody know anymore? What climb were they on?

The Global item says the Apron was so busy Squamish SAR had to drop two members at the top of the Apron to perform crowd control before they could longline the climber off.

I have not heard of crowd control needed on the Apron before. I wonder if this is just standard procedure when there are other climbers on the route.

Hope the climber is OK and heals up quick.

[natsdad]

I see from local news reports there was an accident Saturday on the Apron. A climber fell and had a lower leg injury and possibly a back injury. Does anybody know anymore? What climb were they on?

The Global item says the Apron was so busy Squamish SAR had to drop two members at the top of the Apron to perform crowd control before they could longline the climber off.

Hi,

Yes, we were waiting on Memorial ledge with two other parties of two when the S.SAR heli came right over us - it was very L O U D. Eventually they realized that they needed to be over slightly, as the injured party was on Rock On (we didn't know anything about this at the time). When we finished climbing Memorial Crack, the heli came back and longlined 2 S.SAR personnel very close to us and they asked us if we were with the injured party. We replied "no" but then two other climbers, over at the top of Rock On, gave them the details. As we hiked up to climb the butt-face, we watched more longline efforts (from above) and noted a couple of heli trips back and forth.

My understanding (from third parties) is that the climber is OK (all things considered), but I can not confirm that. I hope they recuperate fully and quickly.

Oh, as far as "crowd control", they roped off an area above the top of Rock On to make sure that any other climbers passing through, did not knock off any loose rock onto the rescuers or climbers below. But I wouldn't believe everything I read in the media regarding rock climbing.

cheers,
Steve

[pbeckham]

I was one of the 4 SAR members HETS in to help the injured climber on Rock On.
The media coverage was inaccurate and described a problem that didn't exist.
There was no need for "crowd control" but rather, what we refer to as containment to protect the rescue team, subject and bystanders, particularly when there's a helicopter involved.
I recall there was a team on top who were associated with the injured climber and another couple climbers topping out on Memorial Crack.
As is generally the case, these folks graciously cooperated with us in our efforts to help the injured climber who fortunately, wasn't as seriously injured as we were initially led to believe.
We appreciate it as always.

PB