Seonunsan September 30th 2012 accident report

[wheelis]

This is an accident report from the incident at Seonunsan this past weekend.

On September 30th Lyndsie Coon was lowering off a 5.10a sport route on the lower left section of Soksal Bawi at Seonunsan when the rope separated from her harness and she free-fell roughly 10 meters to the ground.

According to witnesses at the scene she was cleaning the route after successfully climbing the route via top-rope. The belayer recalls hearing a “snap and a scream...near the fourth bolt” as she was being lowered. The rope was inspected and discovered to have a single figure-8 knot (not rethreaded) still tied in the end, but not attached to her harness.

The consensus from those present at the scene of the accident was that the figure-8 knot was not tied properly into her harness, and it was not checked by either Lyndsie or the belayer. She did weight the rope numerous times on the ascent. On the descent, right before she fell, she swung away from the wall, putting more force on the improperly tied knot, causing it to fail.

Witnesses recall that Lyndsie landed on her feet and crumpled face-first into the clay. Her left leg and hip took the force of the impact, and was her chief complaint. The initial assessment also revealed bleeding from the left elbow, but no other obvious injuries. She remained conscious throughout the evacuation. She was awake and oriented to her name, time, and place, but could not recall what had happened.

EMS was activated immediately and took 30~40 minutes to arrive from Gochang. She was packaged in a litter and air-lifted to Wonkwang University Hospital in Iksan, Jeollabukdo. Total time from accident to helicopter was roughly 1.25 ~ 1.5 hours.

At the hospital she was discovered to have broken several bones: the most serious being several major fractures in her pelvis and a fractured left femur near the hip joint. She also had a fractured left elbow. She underwent emergency surgery for the fracture in the femur and elbow, and received several blood transfusions in the first 48 hours due to internal bleeding. No internal organs were affected, nor were her neck or back.

Lyndsie is doing well now and has really appreciated the support she has received from the community. She really enjoys reading people’s words of encouragement on facebook, so keep it coming! She’s not really taking visitors at the moment, but please please send some love on facebook, keep her and her family in your thoughts, and remember to be safe when you’re climbing.

[skinsk]

Lyndsie had just returned to Korea and was not covered by the Korean insurance. Please check out this link and contribute to her evacuation and medical costs. Even small amounts . . . if enough people give. . . can really add up. Perhaps someone could get/set up a bank account here for those who don't have paypal.

[skinsk]

from FB:

So for people in korea who can't use a US account please deposit the money into Lyndsie's korean account here is the info: kb bank,#567001-04-261293

[shanja]

I would love to donate, but like some others without a US credit card or Paypal account I hope we can get an alternative way of sending her money and wishes.
This is also unfortunately a time to think about dreaded insurance issues everyone.
Your "regular" Korean Health Care Card employer paid insurance DOES NOT cover hospital stay costs or ambulance fees. Lyndsie's costs will be huge, but even if she had obtained that 'Health Care' it would only off set a fraction of her costs. Sadly anyone of us (without specific extra privately obtained insurance) would be in the same financial boat. Yikes indeed! So if you are serious about your climbing, kite-boarding, windsurfing, surfing, skiing-boarding, mountain biking, scuba-diving or paragliding I really must recommend you look into obtaining insurance that covers those activities (often called a sports rider cover - check details!). I am trying to get some basic English info from some Samsung Insurance agents I know, but there are many options and I don't want to push people to one company or other, nor do I represent any company or get a commission. If you think such accidents won't happen to you, or that you are too experienced or safety conscious to be a victim I suggest you take up knitting or Starcraft and permanently stop any climbing. Seriously. In the 11 years I have been climbing in Korea I have seen numerous experienced climbers (ex-pat and Korean) have accidents/ make mistakes/ get injured etc. Greg Foote, Sonia Knapp, Eddie Park, Quasim Anwar, Dan Kopperud, Han Sanghoon, Jo Sungkap, Danielle Arsenault etc etc etc can back me up on this (not all these folks were to blame - but have been involved in or witness to some serious incidents). Accidents happen, again and again. It's not always even the victims fault or mistake. Falling rocks, breaking holds, wasp attack, miscommunication, storm, old bolts, bad luck...
My heart goes out to Lyndsie and her family. No-one deserves this and I can only hope she recovers fully and quickly. Honour her and this trgic accident by being more vigilant and double checking all your calls, safety points and so on before you climb, and yes, seriously think about buying extra insurance.

[skinsk]

Good point, Jake. You forgot Dave McAllister^^

After multiple surgeries in Thailand without insurance, I think I've replied to every "I'm going XXX" by saying "GET insurance!!" I get it every time I leave Korea from Medex (because they will cover me in the USA) and have a hazardous sport rider for little extra.

I will say my Korean insurance covered me when I got back to Korea (for 2 more weeks in the hospital) and it's covered me in subsequent cases where I tend to keep rebreaking those metatarcels. but yes, there is a copayment, and no helicopters.

I know Americans can join Alpine Associaitions and get free climbing insurance. Makes me want to look into it!

I also just noticed that GoFundMe is taking 5% off the top and paypal also does, so if you're in Korea, maybe just transferring direct to Lyndsie's account is best!

[Eric]

Hi,

I've received this website URL from Lyndsie's cousin: http://www.donationsforlyndsie.com/ Please share with all of your climbing friends.

Eric

[DavidPowell]

Posted to reddit. People there tend to be good about helping with things like this; hopefully this holds true in this case, too.

[sameer.a.bhat]

Hi. The link for donations at http://www.donationsforlyndsie.com/ does not work. Any guidance how to donate would be appreciated.

Thx.

[skinsk]

If you are in Korea, best to do a direct transfer to Lyndsie's account (so no website skims off the top. kb (Kookmin) bank,#567001-04-261293

[sameer.a.bhat]

Cool. Thx.