Comments on: Fallen Climbing Legend

Fallen Climbing Legend

dbmcd — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 10:00:50 -0800

Todd Skinner falls to his death Sport and free climbing pioneer/entrepreneur, Todd Skinner, died over the weekend in a 500-foot fall. Sadly, it appears that his death was from a "..very worn.." belay loop on his harness. I met Todd about 10 years ago, and was struck by his warmth and enthusiasm. He spent almost three hours at a dingy Seattle climbing gym with about 10 neophyte femail climbers. He helped us all climb better and have more fun. He was generous with his praise, and offered truly helpful instruction - his ego did not get in the way (unlike many climbing instructors/"stars"). He'll be missed.

By: hatchetjack

hatchetjack — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 10:07:15 -0800

He was one of those guys that made me proud to be from Wyoming. This is too bad.

By: Malor

Malor — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 10:10:21 -0800

Skinner, whose stories were generally regarded as 85 percent true[....] What a well-written obituary. That one sentence carries so much. I'm a bit sad, now, and I'd never heard of the guy.

By: found missing

found missing — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 10:20:54 -0800

But, what's a neophyte femail?

By: M.C. Lo-Carb!

M.C. Lo-Carb! — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 10:29:28 -0800

I must have missed the memo about femail entering the PC lexicon. Sad news, though.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 10:29:58 -0800

Between this guy and the base jumper, it's a bad couple of weeks to be mucking around on high stuff.

By: found missing

found missing — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 10:42:43 -0800

So, femails are female emails. Anyway, here is the SuperTop Climber's Forum thread discussing Todd Skinner and his death. In this thread there are lots of people relating their personal remembrances, good pics, etc.

By: dbmcd

dbmcd — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 10:46:14 -0800

Doh!!...I *can't* believe I made such stupidstupid error! I really did not mean to detract from the article. What I was trying to say is that we were all female climbers, and most of us fairly new to the sport (but using fewer words).

By: found missing

found missing — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 10:47:56 -0800

sorry, "SuperTopo"

By: jeblis

jeblis — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 10:57:40 -0800

You've got neophyte femail.

By: jeblis

jeblis — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 11:01:27 -0800

I've done some rappelling/rock climbing and I'm always surprised by how weak the belay loop looks on the harness. Wish there were two loops as this looks like the weakest link in the chain.

By: specialk420

specialk420 — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 11:08:12 -0800

k. this is sad... but FPP why? on the other hand someone who was risking his life for less self indulgent activities was killed this weekend as well - Brad Will killed in Oaxaca

By: shownomercy

shownomercy — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 11:10:57 -0800

Oh wow, that is so sad specialk420. ..

By: jam_pony

jam_pony — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 11:19:39 -0800

GIS Leaning Tower Yosemite; e.g.

By: Ogre Lawless

Ogre Lawless — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 11:24:34 -0800

died over the weekend By which you mean "last Monday". Ah, Monday, my favorite of weekend days.

By: darkstar

darkstar — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 11:36:57 -0800

Isn't this the third well-known climber/base jumper/parachutist that has plummetted to his death in the past couple of months? Gives a new meaning to the "Fall season".

By: quonsar

quonsar — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 11:45:23 -0800

By: dydecker

dydecker — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 11:51:42 -0800

In other of news today, typist gets RSI, miner gets lung disease, singer loses voice, etc...

By: keswick

keswick — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 12:27:32 -0800

Oh, I'd have to say Brad Will was equally self-indulgent.

By: three blind mice

three blind mice — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 12:36:01 -0800

The belay loop is not meant to be used as a tie-in point for your rope (it creates a high center of gravity). He was pushed.

By: damnthesehumanhands

damnthesehumanhands — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 12:41:24 -0800

By: hal9k

hal9k — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 12:53:48 -0800

Slightly to the left of topic: Check out Murdering The Impossible about Reinhold Messner's climbing feats in the new National Geographic. But buy the print issue if only for the pictures of Messner's climbing feets.

By: found missing

found missing — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 12:57:39 -0800

Feets don't fail me now.

By: hatchetjack

hatchetjack — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 13:03:49 -0800

Todd was super tight with Steve Bechtel, a fellow climber who was under great scruitiny when his wife Amy Wroe Bechtel went missing while running outside of Lander back in 1997. Steve actually comments about Todds death from Todds desk here, Amy has still not been found.

By: Manjusri

Manjusri — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 13:08:19 -0800

"I'm always surprised by how weak the belay loop looks on the harness. Wish there were two loops as this looks like the weakest link in the chain." In virtually all modern harnesses, the belay loop is composed of 2 or more independent loops, bar-tacked together. "The belay loop is not meant to be used as a tie-in point for your rope (it creates a high center of gravity). " The belay loop should not be used to tie-in, because you want to minimize wear on it, center of gravity is unaffected. Skinner was rappelling on a device attached to it, which is appropriate use if the equipment is in good shape.

By: The God Complex

The God Complex — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 13:12:20 -0800

k. this is sad... but FPP why? on the other hand someone who was risking his life for less self indulgent activities was killed this weekend as well - Brad Will killed in Oaxaca Thank you for your self-indulgent and irrelevant commentary. Comment why? Thanks for the link dbmcd. He sounded like an interesting character. Interesting that climbers seem to admit it is one of the strongest points of gear that they have, but seem to believe that, because of this, it just won't fail. If I was routinely trusting such small pieces of gear, especially hundreds of feet above the earth, I'd certainly want to replace them at least every year or so.

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 13:21:13 -0800

Knowing the gear was worn and needed replacement and it even being noticed by his climbing partner yet climbing anyways sounds like the fatal consequences of expert over-confidence by both of them.

By: BrodieShadeTree

BrodieShadeTree — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 14:39:57 -0800

sad. when i climbed often, i sometimes thought ," wow how much would it suck to fall from here with all that time in the air knowing you were soon dead?".

By: dbmcd

dbmcd — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 14:42:06 -0800

specialk420 - if you want to post about someone who's life was more "worthy", make your own FPP. If you'd bothered to actually *read* some of what was said about the man, maybe you'd understand why I posted. He was much more than "just another climber/base jumper/parachutist" - and I'd wager that no one who met him ever forgot it (and I mean this in a good way). Sorry to get all defensive, but the man was an incredibly good climber who always had time for folks climbing at the beginning level - his enthusiasm, encouragement, and compliments were rare, coming as they did from someone so accomplished. This kind of thing is rare in humans, regardless of their vocation/avocation - and I think it deserves a shout out.

By: hatchetjack

hatchetjack — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 14:54:02 -0800

"k. this is sad... but FPP why?" Cause the guy was famous?

By: PercussivePaul

PercussivePaul — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 15:33:17 -0800

dbmcd: I agree with you.

By: eriko

eriko — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 19:41:20 -0800

It's a damn shame, because he shouldn't be dead. If your very life depends on a piece of gear, you inspect it every time you go to use it. If it does not pass n every aspect, you do not use it. If this means you no longer have the gear you need, you don't go. Period. This is the oldest safety rule in the book when you're dealing with single point failures, and the vast majority of fatal accidents in recreation come from violating this rule. Damaged safety gear is far more dangerous than no safety gear at all, because you will act as if you've got somethign to save you when it goes wrong, and you'll find out halfway down just how wrong you were. Get religon here. If it isn't pefect, it's trash. Wear trash instead of safety gear, and quonsar will be posting a splat in your obtiuary thread.

By: YoBananaBoy

YoBananaBoy — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 22:55:38 -0800