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!
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!