Auto belay accident Sep 22, 2023 · A three-year lawsuit over an auto-belay accident has ended in a $6 million combined payout from the climbing gym and the auto-belay manufacturer. The climbing gym in Fort Collins released a statement Tuesday, and said the auto-belay systems that keep climbers from falling will not be used at least until a full investigation is Yeah, my current (mostly bouldering) gym did 3 things after an autobelay scare: Put all the autobelays in one section and all the topropes in the other (it's a very small roped section to begin with) Oct 21, 2021 · The man’s death came just days after the gym reopened following the end of Sydney’s lockdown. He jumped down and was impaled by a pvc pipe. Edgeworks removed them a few years back I think (there was an infamous fall at their Tacoma location but fairly sure that climber didn’t clip in) but it’s unfortunate the accidents are casting a long shadow over auto belays. This accident will be reviewed by our technical advisor to see if any other measures can be put in place. Jon Heshka of Thompson Rivers University titled “ Understanding Climber Behaviour in Climbing Gyms ” sheds light on climbers’ behavior and attitudes toward auto belay Jul 15, 2021 · Curious what you guys think, our gym is now removing their auto-belays (I assume as a response to both law suits and recent accidents). Is rock climbing safe? Here's the story I've told a few times; I know two very experienced climbers who have had accidents from not clipping in; one died and one was severely hurt. Feb 23, 2024 · BYTOM, Poland – A 22-year-old climber fell 50 feet after forgetting to clip into the belay device at the bottom of the climb in a Polish gym earlier this month. ” ABC auto belay competency test. According to its website, the St Peters facility is the biggest climbing gym in the southern Feb 20, 2021 · The auto belay accident A perfect storm of conditions. Doch immer wieder kommt es dennoch zu Zwischenfällen und Unfällen. The problem with that is that without a helmet if they clip a hold while dicking about they are likely to do themselves some damage. Set up above a particular route, the auto-belay automatically takes in slack as you move up. Auch, weil Sicherheitssysteme einfach nicht genutzt werden. He wasn’t clipped in yet. Investigators did not find any faulty equipment. The climber, presumably attempting to capture a successful climb on camera, filmed the entire thing, with the video circulating around the internet following the incident. The auto belay induction should be treated with the same level of seriousness and respect as a roped climbing induction. e. We have been seeing an increasing number of accidents on auto belay lines which are gaining the attention of H&S and Environmental Health. The pvc pipe was there to hold up plastic ‘fencing,’ since adjacent to the route he was on routesetting was underway. He couldn’t hear the other climbers around him yelling at him because he had headphones on. Vertical World fully cooperated over many years of investigation. However, each owner stressed that these accidents do occur, despite safety measures, and that auto-belay accidents can be severe. See my comment below, TL;DR- the recalls were because the original devices were built for safety backups to be used in construction and industrial venues, where they might catch a fall every year or two, and were built for a max of a few hundred falls a year, but were repurposed for gym use, where there thousands of falls per month. Oct 22, 2021 · Last week, a man fell 43 feet to his death at a rock climbing gym in Sydney, Australia. Herzog, the climber who failed to clip into the auto-belay, is 6-foot-4, so his line of sight may have been above the gate. at the most charitable it's a lawsuit looking to cover the costs of injury because our insurance is a horrible wasteland of shitty. The TRUBLUE iQ is gray with blue handles and a gray sash on the front cover. It should take Jul 16, 2022 · As you will be aware, the use of auto belay devices has grown in the last few years and accelerated during the pandemic. On a mobile temp setup for an army recruiting rock wall, one of the auto-belays got stuck once, as in it wouldn't let the climber down. Mar 3, 2025 · They have Auto-belays set up over an edge that constantly abrades them when a climber is going up under the roof before a slab. “[The accident] involved an autobelay failure,” the gym wrote on Facebook and Instagram prior to reopening on October Sep 23, 2016 · One of the main elements in the auto belay set-up that is different from regular top rope climbing, is the absence of a partner. the guy is claiming negligence of the gym by not clipping him in. even the famous mcdonalds hot coffee Jun 2, 2023 · Creating safety around auto belay use in indoor climbing gyms starts with understanding why accidents happen at all. Oct 14, 2021 · Brandon Barnes of the Fort Collins police said it appeared she became unattached from the auto-belay system. I worked in a gym with auto belays for a long time I have seen alot of falls on them and even more close calls. We may assume that climbing "accidents" should occur more often in beginners, but researchers found that about 17% of the accidents occurred with beginners (experience of <20 climbing days) while 53% climbing accidents were with climbers with "intermediate experience", climbing about once a week. Aug 19, 2021 · There have been a lot of fatalities involving the auto-belay, including Mark Hesse, a climber with decades of experience. m. **The man was climbing without belay** The accident at the Skarpa Bytom-Rozbark Climbing Center occurred on Friday, February 2, 2024, after 4:00 p. It was a failure to clip into a belay (auto or otherwise). Sep 21, 2023 · Gym and Auto Belay Manufacturer to Pay $6M in Settlement for Auto Belay Accident September 21, 2023. This was not an auto belay accident. In June, a woman died at Ascent Climbing & Fitness in Fort Collins, Colo. A carabiner was affixed to the bottom of the cable and clipped to a mat at the base. Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym has since reopened, albeit now without any autobelays. Today, the gym confirmed that the incident involved an auto-belay system. Wire Shark:. ” He cites ‘gross negligence’ on the gym’s part. Edit: SinRopa, auto belays usually have auto twist Sep 24, 2024 · Each wall at the centre had an auto-belay system which involved the use of a cable attached to an automatically-retracting friction device at the top of the wall. It’s interesting a lot of Seattle gyms seem to have issues with auto belays. We at the ABC, and our partners in the […] Aug 4, 2016 · What the article doesn't mention is whether the kid was treating the auto belay like a funfair ride like 90% of the kids in climbing gyms and spinning in circles or leaning back and screaming. IMO the issue with auto-belays is that people fail to double check things and don’t take personal responsibility for the condition of the Apr 24, 2025 · September 21, 2023 – Perfect Descent Auto Belay and a climbing gym have reached a $6 million settlement following an accident that led to severe injuries, raising concerns about safety and liability in the industry. I cant count how many people I had to remind to clip into an auto belay Nov 29, 2019 · Even though full liability was admitted by the climber in the case of Sam's auto belay accident, TCA reviewed and changed the following: - Location of auto belays - staff ensured they are distinct from other lines and - where possible - visible from the main area May 24, 2024 · Eigentlich sind die Auto-Belay-Systeme sehr sicher. Their statement reads: We are sad to say that on Saturday there was a tragic event at the gym. All accidents I've heard of have been where someone didn’t clip in. They should be closing their auto-belays regularly for inspection and maintenance. As it turned out, he was climbing without belay. Like when I crash my car it isn't a failure to operate a motor vehicle, it's a car accident. he's been there over 30 times and did it successfully all those times without fail before so he knew how to use it. " SO it's not clear (to me) whether the climber contributed to the accident. Sep 19, 2023 · A climber forgot to clip into an auto-belay, climbed to the top of the route and then sat back, thinking that he was clipped in. Feb 8, 2024 · Odds of that happening? Nearly impossible odds, but in climbing we need to account for the unexpected and use stringent safety measures including double checking that our belay device is locked on. The 'SafeWork' mentioned in the article is a government department in NSW investigating the incident. For media inquiries, please contact: Josh Kerns for PCVA 206-920-1482 (voice or text) [email protected] The thread title is not correct. Hector Diffut, 26, fell approximately 30 feet from the top of a 5. While traditional auto belays use a top roping format with the device hanging from the top of the route, in 2021, a new type of auto belay–the lead auto belay–was developed that used a lead climbing format (i. this is sadly a lawsuit looking for a payday. And this has rattled the indoor climbing gym industry. Fort Collins Police Services spokesperson Brandon Barnes told The Coloradoan that the climber fell from about 40 feet up in the auto-belay area. Jun 16, 2021 · The accidents all seem. In September of 2023, a three-year lawsuit over an auto-belay accident ended in a $6M settlement. In the auto belay scenario you lack an extra set of eyes. Jun 20, 2023 · Now that most auto belays have a feature (such as a nylon tarp clipped to the wall and rope) to prevent individuals from simply climbing without being reminded to clip in, these accidents are becoming more infrequent. Colorado-based C3 Manufacturing and Seattle’s Jan 25, 2023 · Your monthly dose of climbing accident analysis from the editors of "Accidents in North American Climbing. I would guess that auto-belays have 2x as many accidents per climb, but almost entirely due to people forgetting to clip in, and that they’re actually safer than a human belay when used properly. We were climbing at Chuckwalla in southern Utah when we witnessed a belay accident. Moved Permanently. It was a very busy day, she had a lot on her mind, but didn’t think that would impact on her climbing. Seeing auto-belay sections closed is a sign of good safety practice. The document has moved here. Sep 6, 2023 · A young climbing coach took what could’ve been a deadly ground fall at Vertical Rock gym in Manassas, Virginia last week. A typical auto-belay gate. , in an auto-belay accident. Jun 20, 2024 · This recall involves TRUBLUE iQ Auto Belay Devices, which enable climbers to safely descend while climbing. The "unclipped" is the biner not fully closing around the belay loop (pinched between gate and nose) and when weighted it slips off. In 2014, a man died while climbing at a gym in Apr 24, 2023 · An auto belay is a mechanical device that is used in rock climbing to provide an effective and efficient way of lowering a climber to the ground after they have completed their climb. the climber clipped into the quickdraws like a normal lead climb on a sport climbing route), where the device was fixed to the bottom of the route. Sep 15, 2023 · The theory of this law firm was that an auto belay device produced by C3 Manufacturing, called “Perfect Descent”, failed to arrest the climber’s fall as intended resulting in serious injuries. Sep 21, 2023 · Seattle’s Vertical World and Colorado-based manufacturer C3, which produces Perfect Descent auto belays, have settled in a lawsuit following a severe climbing accident that occurred on August 1, 2019. Jan 22, 2025 · Gym and Auto Belay Manufacturer to Pay $6M in Settlement for Auto Belay Accident Vertical World and Perfect Descent manufacture settle with climber who sustained 30-foot fall Delaney Miller Jun 17, 2021 · Fatal accidents at climbing gyms are rare, though there have been several high-profile auto belay-related accidents and injuries at climbing gyms. 11 after he forgot to clip into an auto belay before hopping on the wall. We do not know which auto-belay system was in use on that day, and the company was not at fault in any way. Seattle’s Vertical World and Colorado-based manufacturer C3 have settled in a lawsuit following a severe climbing accident that occurred on August 1, 2019. Jul 11, 2023 · In January 2023, we reported an auto belay accident that sadly occurs with some frequency. Sep 22, 2023 · Seattle’s Vertical World and Colorado-based manufacturer C3, which produces Perfect Descent auto belays, have settled in a lawsuit following a severe climbing accident that occurred on August 1 Oct 29, 2018 · Once Weekly Climbers Experienced Highest Injury Rates. We first responded by removing our Perfect Descent auto belays (Perfect Descent was a defendant in the lawsuit, as it was their device) and then began a deep Aug 31, 2023 · More information about the C3 Perfect Descent Auto Belay Recall is available here. The recalled auto belay devices have a serial number within the serial number range: TBSD00098 through TBSD01180. The climber died as a result of the injuries received Jul 21, 2016 · Enter the auto-belay, a specialized device common in many gyms that takes the place of a real live person on the other end of the rope. In September, after a four year long legal battle over an auto belay accident, Vertical World publicly announced a shocking $6m settlement. They set up a big dino right in the worst spot, a heavy climber jumped and it snapped the webbing. Every auto belay I’ve been on has an auto locking biner. The only actual mechanical failure of an auto-belay I've ever heard of/seen was the opposite problem. forgetting to clip-in. I’ve never heard of one unclipping. Nov 22, 2021 · Has anyone died on an auto-belay? It’s the first death at a climbing gym in 2021, but not the first time auto-belays have been implicated in the death of a climber. Sam, who started climbing 15 years ago with her daughter, had been climbing constantly on auto belay for around an hour, on the day of her accident. We are all busy people. Apr 29, 2021 · Seattle’s Vertical World climbing gym is, according to the Climbing Wall Association, fighting a $1,000,000 lawsuit brought by an injured gym member, who allegedly fell off an auto-belay route after failing to fully clip the auto belay’s carabiner into his harness. Aug 19, 2021 · On June 17th, Brandon Frohbieter climbed about 12 feet up an autobelay route when he decided it looked fun and he wanted to try it. “This pause will allow us time to participate in industry conversations as they relate to the continued use of auto belays and make decisions on when, how or if they will be reintroduced into our facilities. Then, when you reach the top (or fall), it gently lowers you to the ground. to be the person coming "unclipped" These accidents have been happening regularly for many years. This lawsuit really amped up the conversation. Hector Diffut then fell to the ground and suffered serious leg injuries. . You are correct that it was not an autobelay device failure. This accident had a happy ending and contained a powerful lesson. They eliminate the need for a climbing partner who belays the climber, belaying is manually controlling the rope to hold the climber… Sep 21, 2023 · Seattle's Vertical World and Colorado-based manufacturer C3, which produces Perfect Descent auto belays, have settled in a lawsuit following a severe climbing accident that occurred on August 1 Oct 21, 2024 · The model TRUBLUE Speed TBSD150-20 and serial number are on a label located on the handle. Usually the person forgets the clip in. Sep 27, 2023 · As reported last week by Delaney Miller at Climbing. The climbing centre's instagram page reported 3 days ago that it was auto belay failure, and they've removed all auto belays and will never use them again in that centre. Unfortunately these accidents are still occurring in the UK even though best current practice is in place. Sep 24, 2023 · The fraught relationship we climbers hold with the ubiquitous auto-belay has since become even more precarious, as a multi-year lawsuit against Vertical World in Seattle recently drew to a conclusion in the favor of the defendant, Michael Vandivere, who was awarded a collective sum of $6 million—$1 million from the gym’s insurer, and $5 So this crazy thing happened to me while speed climbing. Exactly. - We received the report at 4:44 p. A limited number of TRUBLUE Speed Auto Belay devices may have been assembled with a component that was incorrectly manufactured. 2 AUTO BELAY INDUCTION For people who are not roped climbing competent (or fail the auto belay test) a specific auto belay induction is required. In late 2022, a commissioned study conducted by Prof. Most of the accidents have happened when climbers were well into their climbing session. That’s why today Jun 17, 2021 · The climbing gym in Fort Collins released a statement Tuesday, and said the auto-belay systems that keep climbers from falling will not be used at least until a full investigation is completed. I say he was either high on shrooms and unclipped himself, or botched the clip-in at the base and lost the teather, then fell on a free solo trying to retreive it. After extensive testing, neither VW nor investigators hired Jul 2, 2021 · Climbing gyms around the world have seen tragedy strike when auto-belays are not used correctly, especially when climbers become complacent. By far, auto belay misuse it the number 1 reason for major falls in a gym. I do apologize for the inconvenience if the gym made the decision to remove the auto-belays due to my accident, but the auto-belay was not the factor - I'd put that on the pipe up my rear, and I wonder if they have removed . " This month, we cover an increasingly common gym accident involving an auto belay; and the risk of rock fall at outdoor crags. 0. The police report that a 22-year-old man fell off the climbing wall. Experienced climber Sam talks about the moment she fell after climbing on auto belay without clippin A comment above indicates he was not: “Vandivere is suing Vertical World on the basis that the gym staff should’ve clipped him into his auto belay. Media coverage about the settlement: Gym and Auto Belay Manufacturer to Pay $6M in Settlement for Auto Belay Accident, Outside, 9/21/23. Jan 15, 2024 · Most auto-belay accidents happen because of human error–i. Photo: masT3rOD/Flickr; CC BY 2. Oct 25, 2021 · The gym closed following the accident last week, just two days after it had reopened following the lifting of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. We all get tired or distracted. Here's the scenario behind one of the accidents, and it appears to be a fairly typical accident scenario: a very experienced climber was running laps on a route. But it was an auto belay accident. However, if the staff said there was an accident, it suggests they weren't closing the stations regularly enough. Oct 25, 2021 · In reply to. Your two eyes are your only double-checking mechanism. Feb 6, 2020 · A larger auto-belay gate will be put in place and auto-belay inductions with competent climbers will remain in place. The 99% was just a metaphore to make a point, yes auto belays are way safer than that. Dabei ist der Kletterer durch ein automatisches System gesichert – das Sicherungsseil verkürzt sich von alleine. com, a multi-year (and multi-million dollar) lawsuit related to an auto belay accident at Vertical World in Seattle, Washington, was recently settled. Jun 21, 2021 · A woman has died following an auto-belay accident at Ascent Studio Climbing & Fitness, in Fort Collins, Colorado, on Saturday, June 12. Climbing gym managers and owners are worried. Last month, the Climbing Wall Association (CWA) released updated Auto Belay Guidance in hope of reducing auto belay incidents and improve the culture of responsibility in the sport of climbing. ujsuoiwtdluvdsofnqqqrybyllkvqanyewfwdvwiwofyjcxwzlrvvtyaadfronvkttofzrwcbskmxhvhxm