Weekend Whipper: Rock Breaks at Third Bolt
A reminder to everyone to stay vigilant (and wear helmets!) no matter what kind of climbing you're doing, be it trad or sport. Rock breaks in both!
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This one comes to us from James Huang, who runs niceclimbs.com. James submitted it on behalf of his friend Arnold, who filmed it.
The climber, Lingyang, was on a route called Ray of Sunshine (5.12a), at a crag called Miaonanyu, in Zaozhuang, Shangdong Province, China.
James told Rock and Ice, “I witnessed this near deck when a hold blew at the third clip. The route is definitely harder now. Lingyang limped back to his car, but otherwise no injuries, fortunately.”
Near deck is right: the climber comes within inches of the ground after the rock breaks. Doesn’t look like there’s much he could have done—when a rock is ready to come off, there’s not much to do—but helmets would have been a great idea. The rock that came off was big; had it hit the belayer, he likely would have been seriously injured. That it missed him was just pure luck.
Happy Friday and climb safe this weekend!