Accident- Big Cottonwood Canyon, UT

Incident Report- Ledgemere, BCC, UT 21Aug2018

It is with a heavy heart and humility that I offer this report of an accident that took place at the practice area in Big Cottonwood Canyon, UT.

Attendees: Sara Morger, Charleen Angell and Wendy Underwood
I asked 2 of my friends that I knew were available during the day to practice with me for an upcoming assessment. They agreed to meet during the day at 14:00. I had set the agenda to go over many items to include a guided rappel, which I was not as familiar with. After practicing setting up hand lines and other items it was agreed we would set up a guided rappel.
We climbed to the top of the Ledgemere rock where I set the anchor with webbing around an existing tree and used a biner block and I then continued on to rappel from the top of the rock successfully. I was the only one to rappel and the others walked down. We all met at the bottom rappel and started talk about what to use for the guide anchor. A ‘bomber rock’ was discussed as something others had used an option but none of the three attendees knew which rock that would be. A dead tree that was 3 foot+ tall was discussed as a good option and group decided not to use as it may slip up the broken tree. The next option discussed was a huge rock laying on top of another rock at the river edge. This has been used previously successfully (I had personally seen this used at a practice in the past and Wendy attests this was used in a session the week before). Doubled webbing was placed around the rock at a large pinch point and rigged with a totem using Plaquette mode. The guide line was tightened and group discussed who would go down the guided rappel. I had gone done the first part of the rappel so offered Charleen or Wendy to go down. Charleen went up the Rock to descend the guided rappel. At the half-way point on the guided rappel the rigging on the bottom rock failed, levering the rock upwards and out of place, causing the rigging to come completely out and fly past my head as Charleen fell 10 feet down onto her back. She was able to walk after 15 min+ to Wendy’s car, denying the need to call an ambulance. I highly suggested a hospital visit to ensure she was not hurt more than very sore. She was driven to LDS Hospital by Wendy. Her injuries include a fracture to L2 and 2 Right Pelvis fractures also spending a night in the hospital.

Opinion: Per Charleen’s self-report, she does not blame anyone, understands that accidents happen and takes responsibility for her role. She states she is very sore, lucky, and stable and will be able to get back to canyoneering within 90 days.
We discussed after the accident what we did incorrectly; we all take personal responsibility for ourselves in this sport and our role, and none of us blamed each other and still do not. No one was in charge of this practice. We understood we were there to practice and have learned a huge lesson.

Issues: Pinch Point of the rock was a bad choice, whether used before or not. The rocks weight was mostly behind it. The tightening of the guide line acted as a lever to the rock and as Charleen was halfway down on the guideline when the vector force levered the rock up and completely released the entire rigging (which was intact) out from under the rock causing Charleen to fall 10 feet.
There were better options we should have used. We want the community to be aware of using pinch points and how they can lever rocks when weighted. Accidents happen, we want to continue to learn.

This is my personal report. It was also sent to both attendees who agreed with the content.

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