ADAIR v. OLDFIELD
FILE
1. Memorandum from Larry Craig to Applicant
2.
Excerpts from the Deposition of William Oldfield
3.
Excerpts from the Deposition of Greg Adair
4. Release of Liability
5.
Excerpts from the Deposition of Jed Williams
INSTRUCTIONS
1. You will have three hours to complete this session of the examination. This performance test is designed to evaluate your ability to handle a select number of legal authorities in the context of a factual problem involving a client.
2. The problem is set in the fictional State of Columbia, one of the United States.
3. You will have two sets of materials with which to work: A File and a Library. The File contains factual materials about your case. The first document is a memorandum containing the instructions for the tasks you are to complete.
4. The Library contains the legal authorities needed to complete the tasks. The case reports may be real, modified, or written solely for the purpose of this examination. If the cases appear familiar to you, do not assume that they are precisely the same as you have read before. Read them thoroughly, as if each were new to you. You should assume that cases were decided in the jurisdictions and on the dates shown. In citing cases from the Library, you may use abbreviations and omit page numbers.
5. Your response must be written in the answer book provided. In answering this performance test, you should concentrate on the materials provided, but you should also bring to bear on the problem your general knowledge of the law. What you have learned in law school and elsewhere provides the general background for analyzing the problem; the File and Library provide the specific materials with which you must work.
6. Although there are no restrictions on how you apportion your time, you should probably allocate at least 90 minutes to organizing and writing.
7. This performance test will be graded on your responsiveness to instructions and on the content, thoroughness, and organization of your answer. Grading of the two tasks will be weighted as follows:
Task A — 50%
Task B — 50%
Law Office of Lawrence Craig
MEMORANDUM
TO: Applicant
FROM: Larry Craig
DATE: February 28, 2002
SUBJECT: Adair v. Oldfield
Greg Adair was seriously injured in a rock climbing fall at a weekly climbing session that was loosely operated by our client, William Oldfield. Adair has sued Oldfield for damages based on negligence. Discovery has been completed. As I prepare for settlement or trial, I must decide whether a defense of express and/or implied assumption of risk is likely to prove successful.
These are my questions:
A. The issue of express assumption of risk turns on the enforceability of the Release of Liability signed by Adair. Please write a memorandum that evaluates the likelihood of Adair prevailing based on the law and the facts in the materials.
B. Implied assumption of risk turns on whether the risks that Adair faced were inherent in the activity of rock climbing and therefore whether Oldfield was subject to any duty to protect Adair against them. Please write a memorandum that evaluates the likelihood of Adair prevailing based on the law and the facts in the materials. Jed Williams, our expert, has given a deposition. Focusing on his statements in his deposition, your memorandum should also identify what he could, and could not, testify to at trial, and why.
EXCERPTS FROM THE DEPOSITION OF WILLIAM OLDFIELD
EXAMINATION BY MS. SALISBURY, COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFF:
Q. Let's turn to the Wednesday climbing at Handley Rock. How did you organize those sessions?
A. I didn't. When I started climbing, a group of friends would meet at Handley Rock. On summer nights and some weekends we'd get together to climb, practice, and teach ourselves how to climb. Eventually, we got into the habit of meeting on Wednesday nights, and many climbers just showed up. Since I lived nearby, I'd bring over half a dozen ropes and other gear and kind of rig the ropes for the others. That kind of explains what developed over 20 years. No one ever sat down and said, “Let's meet one night a week and put Bill in charge.”
Q. But you were responsible for equipment and setting things up?
A. But I didn't direct what went on. I didn't say who could or couldn't climb or what they could do. If someone showed up who wanted to learn, someone would help him. You know, show him how to tie into the rope, probably direct him to the easiest climbs, and talk him up the rock. I wouldn't call it formal instruction.
Q. You did that as well, helping beginners, correct?
A. Yes, that includes me as well. Sometimes a person would see us climbing and ask to try it, but most beginners would show up with a friend who was a climber or had done some climbing. So I'd say it was more common for folks to show up with someone who was responsible for them.
Q. But if a beginner was there, then you or someone would take care of him?
A. Someone would usually help him get started, yes.
Q. Was there anyone else who would always show up on Wednesday nights?
A. The people changed over the years.
Q. Over all the years, you've been the one who's been there consistently?
A. I've been the most consistent, yes. That's one way to put it.
Q. You were there when Greg Adair first showed up, correct?
A. Probably. I remember he started coming out the summer before the accident. He usually came with two friends, his girlfriend and another guy. Greg seemed to be the leader of their little group. He was the one really hooked on climbing, pushing the other two to try harder climbs, and asking for help on climbs, always interested in where to go to climb. He was there often and was eager to learn.
Q. Mr. Oldfield, would you please explain how the ropes were set up at Handley Rock?
A. Most of what we do at Handley Rock is what climbers call “top roping,” climbing with a rope holding you from above, so that if you fall, the rope will hold you and prevent a long fall. You do that by placing an anchor above the rock you want to climb, at the top of the “route.” That anchor might be a sling, that's a piece of nylon rope, around a tree or a boulder. At Handley Rock, since we've been climbing there a long time, we've placed permanent anchors at the top of most of the routes that we climb. We drill a hole into the rock, then hammer in a bolt, usually a 3/8 to 5/8 inch piece of metal driven into the hole with a metal hanger to which you can connect the rope. Some anchors have 2 or 3 bolts. We usually don't trust just one. But more recently we've drilled and placed big construction eyebolts, 3/4 inch by 6 inches. You could haul a tank up with one of those.
Q. Then you run the rope through the bolts or eyebolt?
A. That's not done. A rope should always run through a carabiner, usually 2 of them, if it's an anchor.
Q. What's a carabiner?
A. Metal, usually aluminum, snaplinks. They're oval with a spring-loaded gate that snaps open and shut. Think of a solid safety pin, around three inches in length but without a sharp point. You open the gate, and clip the carabiner to the bolt. Release the gate, and it snaps shut. Then you take the rope, open the carabiner gate again, place the rope in the same carabiner and let it snap shut. The carabiner in effect acts as a pulley. You have the rope connected to the anchor bolt through the carabiner, but the rope can run free, since it's not actually tied to a bolt. Now, a climber can tie into one end of the rope, the rope goes up to the anchor, through the carabiners, and down again to where another climber is holding or securing the rope; we call it “belaying.” As the climber ascends the rock, the climber who's belaying--we usually say the “belayer”--takes in the rope so there's never any slack in the rope. If the climber falls, the belayer holds the rope fast, and the climber shouldn't fall more than a foot or two, depending on how much slack is out, how quickly the belayer reacts, and the stretch of the rope. It shouldn't be much. That way climbers can safely practice or learn.
Q. What happens when the climber reaches the top?
A. Depends. If there's a walkoff, meaning an easy way to descend, a climber could untie and walk down, or the climber could be lowered by his belayer. You just lean back, putting all your weight on the rope, and the belayer slowly lets the rope out and the climber literally backs down the route he went up, but under the control of the belayer.
Q. Is that difficult?
A. No. You are trusting the anchor and your belayer because you're not holding on to the rock with your hands and feet as when you were climbing up. But I guess because it's easier, and we're all basically lazy, lowering is the most common way to descend. You can walk off every route at Handley Rock, but almost everybody just gets lowered. You top-out, look down to be sure your belayer's paying attention, shout “Lower me,” lean back, and you're back on the ground in 10 seconds.
Q. What do you remember of the night of Greg Adair's accident, July 22nd?
A. Not much, at least before the accident. I came home from work, grabbed the ropes, and set up some on the Left Face and Main Wall. Then a group of climbers wanted to try a hard variation on another rock we call The Diagonal. It's about 50 yards south of the main climbing area, and I was there with them, when we heard the shouts from the Left Face area. We ran up there, and found Greg. It was immediately clear that he was seriously injured.
Q. What did you do?
A. Someone had already gone for help, and the rest of us did what we could to relieve the pressure on the obvious fracture of, I guess it was, his right leg, until the paramedics arrived.
Q. Where was Greg?
A. At the base of the Left Overhang route.
Q. Had you set up the rope on Left Overhang that day?
A. Yes.
Q. What do you remember about how you did that?
A. Nothing in particular.
Q. Do you remember clipping the rope to the anchor at the top of Left Overhang on July 22nd?
A. I can't say that I have a specific recollection. It's something I've done a hundred times. I can't recall anything different that night.
Q. Then you can't say that you connected the rope to the anchor on Left Overhang that night?
A. Not specifically. You develop habits or I should say practices. The Left Overhang anchor is one of those big eyebolts I told you about, 3/4 inch by 6 inches; it's never coming out. I'd clip a couple of carabiners to the eyebolt. Find the mid-rope mark on the rope, open one carabiner at a time, and clip the rope to the carabiner. Coil each end of the rope and toss them over the overhang. can't say I remember doing exactly that on July 22nd, but that's exactly how I've done it for 20 years on each route there. And of course, if I hadn't anchored the rope, the whole rope would have gone down when I tossed the ends.
Q. Mr. Oldfield, if you anchored the rope, then how did it become unclipped when Greg was climbing?
A. I don't know. I set it up correctly, I'm sure of that, but what happened after that I don't know. I know others climbed the route before Greg's fall, and were lowered without any problem. The rope must have been anchored. Someone, somehow, unclipped it.
Q. Who unclipped the rope?
A. I don't know.
Q. Just to make clear what we may be assuming is understood: The rope and carabiners on Left Overhang on July 22nd were yours?
A. Yes.
Q. You set up the rope and carabiners?
A. Yes.
Q. When you found Greg at the foot of Left Overhang, the rope and carabiners that were there were the same ones that you had set up?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you claim that anyone else was in charge at Handley Rock on July 22nd?
A. No.
Q. And despite your role as the owner of the equipment and the one who set it up, you don't have an explanation for what happened?
A. I'm at a loss. I just don't know.
Q. Mr. Oldfield, at some time you started to ask climbers at Handley Rock to sign a form called a Release of Liability?
A. Yes.
Q. Why did you do it?
A. Well, one of the climbers was a lawyer, and he kept telling me that I should do it. Then he brought me a form he prepared and said I should make copies and ask climbers to sign.
Q. Why did he say you needed to do it?
A. We'd heard of climbing accidents involving mountain clubs, like the Sierrans, that ruined the mountain clubs financially and caused them to cease all climbing instruction.
Q. And you then made people sign the Release of Liability?
A. Asked them, that's all. When new people came out, I'd give them the form and ask them if they didn't mind signing. I couldn't make people sign. It was a favor to me.
Q. What did you say was the purpose or intent of the form?
A. That it was to prevent our climbing sessions from getting involved in litigation.
Q. Did you explain what the form said?
A. Only as I did just now.
Q. How did you get them to sign?
A. I'd usually give it to newcomers. Ask them to please read it over and sign. Then I'd come back when I remembered it, and pick them up.
Q. What happened if someone refused?
A. It never happened. But a lot of people just didn't sign. I didn't ask friends or old timers, just newcomers. If someone was climbing when I brought the forms, I couldn't ask. And many times I'd forget to pick up signed forms. Sometimes people would come to find me afterwards to give me their forms. Frankly it was pretty hit-or-miss.
Q. Did Greg Adair sign one?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you remember if he read it first?
A. Actually I don't remember. I spent some time going through the box where I kept the signed forms to find Greg's. That's the only reason that I know he signed one.
Q. So you can't say that he read it first?
A. Well, as I said, I'd give people the form, so they could read it, and pick them up afterwards. I don't remember anyone just grabbing one and signing. I think I'd remember that.
Q. Nothing further. Thank you, Mr. Oldfield. Any questions, Mr. Craig? BY MR. CRAIG: No questions.
EXCERPTS FROM THE DEPOSITION OF GREG ADAIR EXAMINATION BY MR. CRAIG, COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT: * * *
Q. Mr. Adair, would you provide your best recollection of what happened on July 22, 1998, the night of the accident?
A. I'll try. It was a Wednesday night, and I decided to go to Handley Rock to climb. I usually went with my girlfriend, Andrea, but she couldn't make it that night. I couldn't get my friend Russ to go. I hadn't been climbing in almost a month, and we were going climbing that weekend. I wanted a climbing session before the weekend. We were going to a new area called Jailhouse Rock, and I wanted to get some route information from some of the others who'd been there. Anyway, I decided to go to Handley Rock without a partner. I guess I got there around 7 o'clock, and, after putting on my harness and shoes, walked down to the base of the Left Face area. It has some good moderate warmup routes. I started climbing with a couple of guys who were there, trading off climbing and belaying with them. After doing those routes we moved over to do Left Overhang, since there was a rope on that route as well, and Left Overhang is one of the test pieces at Handley Rock. I hadn't been able to do it until that year, and it was one of the climbs I wanted to do in preparation for the weekend. Some of the others had already climbed Left Overhang, and we were talking. Well, I was asking them about Jailhouse Rock, and I guess I wasn't hurrying. I wanted to be rested for Left Overhang. Finally I roped up and started up. And that is all I remember. My next recollection is of intense pain, almost all over my body, but really excruciating in my right leg and left ankle. It turned out both were broken, and I was lying on the ground. I didn't know how I'd gotten there, and all I was conscious of was pain like I'd never known. I guess I wasn't thinking of what had happened.
Q. So between starting up and then lying on the ground you have no recollection at all of what had happened?
A. None. Some kind of traumatic amnesia, I guess. But the pain...I'll never forget that.
Q. Well, how far up the route do you remember going?
A. I don't remember going up at all. I just remember saying to Joel, who was the one belaying me, “Got me?” and starting up. That's it. Then I was writhing and screaming on the ground. I remember people being around me asking, “What happened, what happened?”
Q. What did you respond?
A. You mean while I was lying there screaming? I don't know. I don't think I could have said anything. I didn't know, and I couldn't think of anything except how much I hurt. I'd never felt anything like that.
Q. OK. Did you learn subsequently what happened?
A. I was told that the rope had not been anchored by Bill Oldfield, and when Joel went to lower me, I fell from the top of the Left Overhang to the base, the full length of the route.
Q. Who told you that?
BY MS. SALISBURY, COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFF:
You can answer as to what anyone else told you, since it may lead to
discoverable information. However, you shouldn't mention anything that you
learned from me; that would be covered by the attorney-client privilege.
A. That's what I was told by the other climbers who were at the scene. They came to see me at the hospital. BY MR. CRAIG:
Q. That was Joel and the others you were climbing with? What did they tell you?
A. Joel Samuels and Mike Griffith. They said that I cruised the climb and pulled over the overhang. I shouted or said something, probably jazzed or pumped that I'd been able to do it without falling or hanging on the rope. Then, the moment that I leaned back to be lowered, I fell straight down next to them on the ground. The carabiners that should have been clipped to the anchor were still attached to the rope, and lying there on the ground. Obviously they hadn't been attached to the anchor as we'd assumed. We'd been climbing Left Overhang without any real top rope anchor. They were as angry as I was. We were all hugely upset. We'd trusted that Bill had set up the anchor, and he hadn't. One of us could have been killed, and my life will never be the same--crippled, fused ankle, and all.
Q. Did they say that Bill Oldfield had not set the anchor properly?
A. It was obvious to all of us. None of us would have climbed a route as stout as Left Overhang without a top rope properly anchored. At Handley Rock we trusted that there was a top-rope anchor. What if one of us had just flamed out on the climb, and just wanted to rest and hang on the rope, counting on the anchor and the rope to hold him there? None of us bargained on putting our lives on the line by climbing without an anchor on a practice climb.
Q. But if, as you say, you would not have attempted the climb if you'd known the risk, then why didn't you check the anchor? It'd have been easy to go around to the top of Left Overhang and check before you climbed it, correct?
A. That wasn't my responsibility. Bill Oldfield was the one responsible for the anchors. He and others, I guess, drilled and placed the bolts. I started going to Handley Rock because it was supervised. You could go there to learn from experienced climbers like Bill. You didn't even need to own a rope or gear. Well, just your own harness and shoes. Bill provided everything else, and they'd teach you how to tie in, belay other climbers, do basic climbing movements, like how to climb a crack or a chimney or get over an overhang. And you'd learn about all the other techniques and equipment you'd eventually need to climb real mountains, but mostly you got to practice and improve by attempting and repeating progressively harder and harder climbs with the help of better climbers and with the safety of a top rope.
Q. By the time of the accident weren't you one of the better climbers, since you were doing harder climbs like Left Overhang?
A. I wasn't a beginner and was just starting to get on the tougher climbs, but I still went to Handley Rock to learn from Bill and the other good climbers. I'd only done a couple of trips to do real climbs in the mountains. No one at Handley Rock would have considered me one of the experienced climbers. No way. Not with the others there.
Q. What had you done, doing real climbs as you say?
A. Well, the first year I was learning to climb, after going to Handley Rock for most of the summer, Andrea, Russ, and I went to a climbing area near Lake Tahoe called Lover's Leap. We went there twice that fall, and did most of the easy and a few moderate climbs. Then, the next year, about a month before the accident, we went to Yosemite for the Memorial Day weekend.
Q. What did you climb there? A. Let's see. First we did one called the Nutcracker. Then the next day we tried one of the classics, Royal Arches, but didn't top out till after dark, got lost trying to find the descent route, and spent the night out. Not a very good start to our climbing, but others have said that it also happened to them on their first attempt of Royal Arches. So we didn't feel too bad about it.
Q. Andrea and Russ, they had started climbing with you?
A. Yes.
Q. Had they climbed more than you?
A. Probably less.
Q. On your trips to the mountains for real climbs, there were no instructors or supervision, correct?
A. No one else but us three.
Q. You wouldn't have been doing those real climbs on your own if you hadn't thought it was safe, correct?
A. I guess so. Yeah.
Q. You believed you were qualified to climb without instructors or supervisors, correct?
A. The climbs we were doing, pretty moderate ones, yes.
Q. Mr. Adair, may I show you a document entitled “Release of Liability,” and ask you whether you recognize the signature?
A. It's mine.
Q. (DIRECTED TO COURT REPORTER): Will you please mark this as Defendant's 1?
Q. Do you recall signing the document?
A. Kind of.
Q. Under what circumstances did you sign the document?
A. It was at Handley Rock. Bill would come around sometimes with the forms, and ask each of us to sign.
Q. What was your understanding of what you were signing?
A. That it was necessary to protect Bill, so he wouldn't have to get insurance or something like that.
Q. Didn't you read it?
A. Bill just came up to a group of us, and asked us to sign. Since I was going to sign it anyway, I didn't really read it. It didn't make any difference to me what it said.
Q. You had a chance to read the Release of Liability, but didn't because you didn't think it made any difference?
A. Right.
Q. Did Bill say that if you didn't sign you couldn't climb at Handley Rock?
A. No. All I remember is that Bill asked us to sign.
Q. What was your understanding of what would happen if you didn't sign?
A. I don't know. It didn't come up.
Q. Did anyone say, “Sign or you can't climb,” or “We won't help you,” or “You can't use the ropes, unless you sign?”
A. I never heard that.
RELEASE OF LIABILITY
I understand that rock climbing is an inherently dangerous activity and can result in injury or death. I waive and release all participants in rock climbing at Handley Rock from all liability and claims of damages for my injury or death which is the result of rock climbing at Handley Rock. I intend this release of liability to include Bill Oldfield and all other participants in rock climbing activities at Handley Rock.
By this release of liability, I understand that I am giving up the right ever to sue Bill Oldfield or any other participants in rock climbing activities at Handley Rock. I intend this release of liability to include all liability for my injury or death, EVEN IF CAUSED BY THE NEGLIGENCE OF BILL OLDFIELD OR ANY OTHER PARTICIPANT. I understand that this means that I cannot sue for injury or death resulting from falls or falling rock or resulting from defective equipment, ropes, or bolts, or resulting from improper or careless instruction, advice, or supervision.
I further understand that the risks from climbing are varied and difficult to anticipate. I intend this release of liability to include ALL RISKS AND CAUSES OF INJURY OR DEATH, even if the risk or cause of injury or death is not specifically identified in this release or anticipated by me at the time I sign this release.
I ACCEPT AND TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH ROCK CLIMBING AT HANDLEY ROCK. I give this release of liability freely in exchange for the benefits that I may receive from my participation in rock climbing at Handley Rock.
Dated: July 9, 1997
Greg Adair
EXCERPTS FROM THE DEPOSITION OF JED WILLIAMS
EXAMINATION BY MS. SALISBURY, COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFF:
Q. Let's turn to what you've done in this case, Mr. Williams.
A. Well, coming out here, I read the two depositions that were sent to me, Bill Oldfield's and Greg Adair's, and then today I met with Bill and the two witnesses at Handley Rock. I got each of them to tell me what happened, and then I recreated the events, including repeating the Left Overhang climb.
Q. So, what do you think happened?
A. Let's start with what we know. A group of experienced and novice climbers got together at Handley Rock, as they did most Wednesday nights in the summer. Bill went up to a small alcove where there is a fixed anchor at the top of the Left Overhang route, tossed down the rope ends, and folks started to climb.
Q. Can you easily see the anchor for Left Overhang?
A. No. In fact, to see the Left Overhang anchor, you have to get into the alcove itself, either by scrambling down from the top of Handley Rock, as Bill did to set up the anchor, or by climbing up the Left Overhang route.
Q. Not being able to see that anchor, didn't that make the Left Overhang route unsafe, at least for novices?
A. No, not at all. It's very common not to be able to see the top anchors from the base of climbs. As a climber, you have to trust that the rope has been properly anchored by whoever set it up — your climbing partner or even some other climber. When the anchors are bolts drilled into the rock, as they are at Handley Rock, almost any climber should be able to set up the anchor. So even if you can't see the anchor, you expect it to be all right. And we know that two other climbers did Left Overhang, and then were lowered down from the anchor. When Adair fell, the rope came down with him. Attached to the rope were the two carabiners that should have connected the rope to the anchor. Obviously, they were connected to the anchor when the other two climbed, and were not connected when Adair climbed.
Q. But if the rope wasn't connected when Adair was climbing, wouldn't it have fallen down immediately, or at least as the rope was being pulled in as he went up?
A. It would seem so. There are two possibilities. One is that the rope was anchored, and Adair unclipped it himself when he got to the top. That's almost incredible, but I have to concede it's possible. Second, and this is what I think happened, between the time when the others climbed and when Adair climbed Left Overhang, the carabiners and rope were unclipped from the anchor, but the rope was laid or dropped back over the anchor. It's an eye-ring bolt that sits up about one inch. The rope ends then would have gone down to the base of the climb. Adair tied into one end, and the other end was held by the belayer. Since the forces on each end were downward, the rope could have stayed looped over the anchor, even though it wasn't really connected to the anchor.
Q. You think so?
A. Yes. I tried it myself. Twice. I laid the rope over the anchor. Then climbed Left Overhang from the ground, while Bill took in the rope. The rope stayed up as I climbed.
Q. If that theory is correct, then why did it fall after Adair got up?
A. When Adair got over the overhang at the top and stood up, he was standing above the anchor. The rope would go from his waist, where it was attached to his harness, down to the anchor at his feet. Since one end of the rope was then above the anchor, the rope would have slipped over the anchor. So, when Adair said to lower him, the rope was unattached or held in any way, and he fell completely unsecured.
Q. That's quite a theory; what makes you think that is possible?
A. Not just possible. I'm sure that standing at the anchor will lift an unclipped rope off the eyebolt. I stood there tied in to the end of the rope, tried it six times, and six times the rope slipped off.
Q. Well, Mr. Williams, have you also got a theory for how the rope got unclipped before Adair climbed?
A. Unlike what I've already explained, how the rope was unclipped is conjecture. We know the rope was attached when the two others climbed; thus I can say that Bill must have properly set up the anchor initially. The rope was not attached when Adair was ready to be lowered. After the accident, the others inspected the rope and carabiners that came down with Adair and landed on the ground. They found two carabiners attached to the rope. Two carabiners placed with opposing gates is standard practice for top rope anchors. They found two carabiners with opposing gates attached to the rope. In that position, it would be impossible for the rope to come out on its own. Someone unclipped it.
Q. Yes, but whom?
A. There are several possibilities. As I said, Adair could have done it. I doubt that, but even he doesn't know what he did. Second, someone else in the group could have started to take the anchor down, been interrupted, put the rope down or dropped it down, and it looped on the eyebolt anchor. We know that there was some time between when the others climbed Left Overhang and Adair did. And as I said, the climbers below would not have seen anyone in the alcove. Then again, someone else may have done it. It's a public area. The others say that there are usually adolescents around. Maybe someone did it as a prank.
Q. So, you cannot say how the rope got unclipped?
A. No.
Q. Since there were several ways that the rope could have become unclipped, then, as an expert on safety and as an instructor, you would agree that Bill Oldfield should have checked the anchors before each person climbed, since he was in charge?
A. No. Not even in an instructional setting. I'd say that once an anchor is properly set up, I would not expect an instructor to go back up to check the anchor each time someone climbs.
Q. Are you claiming that it was Mr. Adair's responsibility to check the anchor set up by Bill Oldfield, the experienced person in charge?
A. No. It's common for climbers to trust that a top rope has been properly set up. I'd have to say that Adair could assume that the anchor was properly set up. I'd have done the same thing he did.
Q. You would agree that the top rope that had already been used by other climbers becoming unclipped would be unexpected?
A. Yes.
Q. And it would not be an inherent risk of climbing?
A. I wouldn't put it that way. I'd say that human error in an unpredictable natural environment is an inherent risk. It could have been from the anchor being unclipped or from Adair's failure to check his anchor before lowering.
Q. If Adair's conduct was reasonable, how could what he did be an inherent risk of climbing?
A. When Adair got to the anchor, he should have checked the anchor. Once at the anchor, he should have checked to see that the rig was properly set up, and decided whether he was willing to entrust his life on it. Properly done, climbing can be relatively safe, but we're all human, and mistakes cause most climbing accidents. Human mistakes are a part, not a necessary part, but a common and understood part of climbing.
Q. But isn't top-roping expected to be safe, or at least safer?
A. Sure, but you can't have climbing without risks. Basically what you're trying to do is to manage a large number of variables. But you can't eliminate them, not in a vertical environment, where any mistake, no matter how minor, can mean a brush with death. After all, what climbing—or probably any adventure sport--is all about, is putting yourself in a situation where your survival depends on your wits, skills, and probably a little luck. That's the essence of what it means to be alive in an unpredictable world.
Q. Let me make sure I've got your qualifications.
A. Well, I've climbed for 30 years, almost all of that full time. Done everything from big walls like El Capitan in Yosemite to expeditionary climbing in the Himalayas. For the last 20 years, I've been a professional climbing guide with Grand Teton Mountain Guides, the largest and oldest guiding company in America; I'm now the Chief Guide. I guide clients on mountains around the world.
Q. Including Mt. Everest?
A. Yes, that's become almost obligatory.
Q. Ever had a client or student seriously injured?
A. Of course.
Q. Any get killed?
A. Yes. It comes with the territory.
Q. Have you ever been sued as a result of a climbing accident?
A. No.
Q. Would it be good for your business for instructors to be sued for climbing accidents?
A. Probably not.
Q. What's this other position you hold, as editor of the annual report that analyzes climbing accidents?
A. Yes. For 15 years I've put together the Journal of Mountaineering Accidents in North America, sort of our bible of accident analysis.
Q. Mr. Williams, what is your rate of compensation, that is, for testifying in this case?
A. I'm to receive $500 a day.
Q. Thank you, Mr. Williams. I have no further questions. Any questions, Mr. Craig?
BY MR. CRAIG: No questions.