Hiker seriously injured by rock at Fisher Towers

Too bad about the victim.

“The rock was only about the size of a basketball.”

That statement astounds me. That is a huge, huge, huge rock to hit a human with. It is the fist sized rocks that scare me the most. We never pick a campsite near the bottom of a precipice where there are a lot of small rocks for that reason. We have heard them fall in the dark.
 
I agree that's a big rock. I'm also careful to not camp where rocks can fall. I was camped out at Dalton Wells one night, right under the quarry but far enough out to not be in danger, and I heard what sounded like a rifle shot - looked up to see a big chunk of rock coming down. I have a photo of it falling as my camera was already in my hand (taking photos of the dogs). You can see where it came down if you look, as the cliff there's a lighter color.

When living in Moab, I witnessed two really big rockfalls coming off the rim with their huge clouds of dust. I could hear them from clear across the valley. I came within seconds of having my car smashed when I lived in the Roaring Fork Valley (Colorado). The car behind me took the hit, but nobody was hurt. Rockfall is very common there.
 
Camping at Priord Lake last summer, we heard rockfall basically all night, that rock around there is of a really crappy quality. Some trip report that I read said (iirc) they felt the ground shake after a particularly big rockfall.
 
Seems like at least half the nights I spend in desert canyons, I hear rocks sliding at night at least once. Not sure if it's from animals walking on talus or from rocks falling down naturally, but it has made me choose my campsites a bit more carefully.
 
regehr said:
Camping at Priord Lake last summer, we heard rockfall basically all night, that rock around there is of a really crappy quality. Some trip report that I read said (iirc) they felt the ground shake after a particularly big rockfall.
Click to expand...

I had the same thing going on a few years ago. It was a bit creepy at night when everything shook.
 
ya it's worth keeping in mind that quite a large proportion of "accidents in north american mountaineering" each year are due to rockfall
 
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