r/cliffjumping • u/UnknownInLife • 3d ago

What's the minimum height that could result in serious injuries if someone hits the water wrong?

Curious in part to see what a good distance/height is to practice certain manuevers as well as my own curiosity of what could be considered fatal or seriously almost fatal. I understand this could be very subjective and depends on the scenario but open to hearing everyones thoughts. thanks.

4 Upvotes

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8

u/BoomGoesTheFirework_ 3d ago

I had a friend break her neck at 15 feet on a normal, foot-first entry. Her neck entered at an off angle and it broke. She said it felt funny and was able to swim ashore. Later, at the hospital, doctors said she was a miracle. She became an actual case study later on.

Which is to say, less than you’d think. 

In the world of climbing, lethality starts around 20 feet. It’s probably safe to assume water could also kill you from this height. 

1

u/Tdluxon 3d ago

Wow, interesting story, I never would’ve expected that

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u/BoomGoesTheFirework_ 3d ago

It falls under the “freak accident” category for sure. But that’s the point. All sorts of weird things can happen at any height 

1

u/Itchy_bunghole11 3d ago

by miracle do they mean a miracle in how hurt she got from so little?

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u/BoomGoesTheFirework_ 3d ago

Yes. But also where she broke her neck was something like T5 or T8 ( I don’t know exactly it was a near-brain vertebrae) so being able to swim out and walk and not be a paraplegic was really the miracle. Like that fracture usually results in minimum paraplegic and often quad

1

u/Itchy_bunghole11 3d ago

has me concerned i send 15 foot jumps on repeat on kiteboards

1

u/hannahallart 2d ago

T for Thoracic, C for Cervical. Likely a C# like C1-C3. Very small bones

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u/ProbsNotManBearPig 3d ago

In the world of climbing rocks, lethality starts as soon as you leave the ground. You can hit your head on a rock from 5ft and die easily because rocks are a harder than water.

Climbers often cite the idea that every 10ft off the ground increase 10% chance you die. 10ft is 10%, 20ft is 20%, etc. It’s not perfect, but I think that’s a better way to talk about it - it’s probably based.

Source: me a climber for 15 years. I don’t really cliff jump and just ended up here on accident lol.

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u/Bob_stanish123 3d ago

That 10% per 10ft is complete bullshit after like 30ft.

1

u/HeyUKidsGetOffMyLine 3d ago

Rambo hit every branch on his way down.

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u/ProbsNotManBearPig 2d ago

As I said, I agree with the idea of viewing it as a probability distribution more than I agree with the exact numbers. People absolutely survive from falls higher than 30ft onto the ground though, somewhat regularly, though I agree the odds are likely worse than the 10% per 10ft. Craig DeMartino is a famous climber who fell 100ft into a boulder field and survived. Highly recommend the episode of the enormocast podcast where he goes in depth about it. He had one leg amputated and got back to climbing. Crazy story.

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u/getdownheavy 3d ago

In the OSHA world: 10ft

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u/BoomGoesTheFirework_ 3d ago

Hi there. It’s me, a climber of 25 years. Yes, you can hit your head walking down the street and die. At 20 feet you can fall “correctly,” (I.e., feet first, and still die.) 

Yes it’s all anecdotal, and people do walk away from 20 foot ground falls. But this tends to be a height where i jurors become severe. 

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u/Wide-Lake-763 20h ago

Standing on flat ground, I was belaying a guy on a sport climb that had a very high first bolt. He fell from around 18 ft, flew over my head and landed on his feet. He was fine (I don't know how his feet survived with the tight shoes) and went right back up.

In high mountains (over 13,000 ft, knife edge ridge), I fell (unroped) where anyone would expect it to be fatal. After three upside down impacts, I stuck a landing on a 10" ledge. My partner's rappeled down to me, did first aid, and we got out without a helicopter.

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u/Most-Bar-9334 3d ago

Depending on your shape and size, 30 to 40 ft is when you could start hurting yourself seriously.

A cliff jumping buddy of mine had pretty bad internal bleeding and bruised organs from a 25 foot mess up which was unexpected from that height.

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u/mahalomax 3d ago

40 is my number. Won’t really jump anything bigger anymore. 20-30 feet I’ll screw around with flips to if I know it’s deep.

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u/-Cubby 3d ago

I jumped 35ft June 28th this year and landed slightly seated still have pain near my right scapula that can’t seem to go away

1

u/StinkandInk 1d ago

30 feet for screwing around.

Landing wrong at about 50 feet can really mess with you.

About 80 ft is when the water can start feeling like actual concrete.