from Rock and Ice: http://www.rockandice.com/climbing-accidents/rappelling-accident-leaves-climber-shattered
MY HELMET SAVED MY LIFE. STORY NO. 3 PRESENTED BY PETZL
The author Ryan McCauley and friend.
Eager to get down and move on to the next climb, I threw my rope ends and started to rappel. I don’t have another memory until about a week or so later, when the meds wore off in the hospital.
About 80-percent of the time, I remember to tie knots at the end of the rope when I rappel. If I’m being honest with myself, that’s about how often I wear my helmet. I’ve been climbing for almost five years, and the most action my helmet ever saw was a desperate moment in a narrow chimney on Epinephrine, in Red Rocks, where I stood up into a rock ledge.
I was wearing a helmet that day, but I forgot the knots. The two-pitch route I was rappelling wound slightly left, making it impossible to see the belay area below. I rappelled off the end of my rope, with 20 feet to the next rappel station, hit a ledge, and ricocheted another 40 feet to the ground.
Paramedics airlifted me to the nearest level I trauma center.
I broke both femurs (my right in two places), shattered my kneecaps, broke the ball of my right hip clean off, fractured my left ankle, my right arm, broke multiple ribs, fractured my collarbone and shoulder blade, sustained compression fractures on my lower spine and chipped something in my neck, as well as partially deflated a lung and suffered lacerations to my liver and spleen.
“The blood splatter on the inside was evidence alone that I would not be here today had I forgotten to wear it.”
I had three major surgeries while in the ICU, where I stayed for a month and a half to recover and begin physical therapy. There were setbacks along the way, such as pneumonia and a condition called heterotopic ossification, where your body grows unnecessary bone outside of the skeleton. However, despite all the frustrations and pain of learning to bend my knees again, I am forever grateful that I was wearing my helmet that day.
The blood splatter on the inside was evidence alone that I would not be here today had I forgotten to wear it.
I took countless cognitive tests during my stay in the hospital, and as a 7th grade science teacher, it initially enraged me to fail math calculations that I knew were at a middle school level. However, within just a few days, things became easier. By the end of my stay, I tested above average for someone at my age level who has been knocked unconscious.
Regaining my personality has only made me more determined to conquer the hurdles that lay ahead so I can get back outside. Knowing how lucky I am to be able to walk again on day, I celebrated with an outing to The North Face store after being discharged from the hospital. The salesperson watched me struggling to try on down jackets in my wheelchair. “That one is great for wearing around town,” she said.
I stared at her, confused. “Oh no. I’m buying this for alpine climbing.”
—Ryan McCauley
Rapterman
Most canyoneers I hang with use both (DRT and SRT), in just about every long canyon, alternating, depending on what is most expedient.
Suffice it to say, you should be REALLY proficient in both if you are gunning for big canyons.
gajslk
DRT is a little more fool-proof. (Having once watched a companion rig on the wrong side of a SRT set-up.) But you know that nothing can be made completely fool-proof because fools are so infernally clever …
Gordon
ratagonia
SRT is a little more fool-proof. (Having once watched a companion get only one of the ropes in the biner, using an ATC on a DRT set-up.) But you know that nothing can be made completely fool-proof because fools are so infernally clever …
As Einstein is said to have said: “The difference between Genius and Foolishness is that Genius has its limits.”
Tom
Alias_Rice
Seems to me that both SRT and DRT can be done safely if you pay attention but if you screw something up bad things could happen with either one. I find the entrenched camps a little odd to be honest. Granted, I am still very much a noob to the sport but I just don’t buy either of the arguments that one technique is vastly superior to the other.
AW~
Yes…. if you dont know RET, then you are cheating yourself. The less SRTers and DRTers know of RET, the worse it is for them.
I just made that acronym up. Stands for Rappel Escape Technique.
Brian in SLC
Interesting, but, accident data would suggest most folks get the chop on the ascent…
Rapterman
Well….I DO use “stopper knots” – either the single rope end securely terminated to a rope bag (with the end threaded thru the grommet hole in the bottom and triple-cloved to the strap at the base) or the double rope ends tied together and attached to my harness.
I would NEVER rap station to station/ first person down or into “space” (next anchor unseen/ unknown) without anchoring the ends to my person.
Some station to station raps are “squeekers”, as in the rope barely makes it.
One wrong move with only 5 feet of rope left to reach the next anchor and you are done!
Why tie the rope ends to your harness?
Hucking knotted rope ends ahead of you is a good way to stick a rope.
myfingersaresore
In the past, I’ve bought into the knotted rope = stuck rope. My new way of thinking is stuck rope is better than severe injury or death.
Yes, it’s situational – like if there’s no question that the rope reaches the ground.
When climbing, we also keep a knot in the belayer’s side of the rope. We’ve been surprised more than once with the length of a pitch.
ratagonia
My theme here is that doubled-roped rappelling is dangerous. If you have A rope that is long enough to reach the ground, and then you double it over in such a way that it does not reach the ground, and don’t pay attention, you will go off the ends and at least get hurt. I realize that the doubling-the-rope over thing works MOST of the time. Some of these accidents could be prevented by using single-rope technique.
Well, here is a different one. Stopper knots woulda been a good idea, as would have paying better attention, especially to where the ends of the ropes are. Don’t do this.
From Rock and Ice http://www.rockandice.com/climbing-…y-on-infinite-bliss-rappelling-claims-climber
Rock Climbing Accident: Tragedy on Infinite Bliss – Rappelling Claims Climber
03-Feb-2015
By Jeff Jackson
On September 8, Ross Halverson and a partner topped out late in the afternoon on Infinite Bliss, a 23-pitch 5.10c that climbs the granite slabs of Mount Garfield, 35 miles east of Seattle. They called a friend from the summit to check in.
“At 5 o’clock I knew they were on their way down, behind schedule, racing darkness,” the friend (who wished to remain anonymous) said.
About halfway down, Halverson, age 31, rigged a rappel with two ropes and started descending. For unknown reasons he passed the next rappel station and continued toward a lower anchor. The ropes hung short of that station, however, and Halverson came off the ends and fell to his death.
Analysis
According to partners, Halverson was a safe and experienced climber, a longtime employee of Vertical World gym and a respected member of the Seattle-area climbing community. Halverson’s friend (the one he called from the summit and also the first on the scene after the accident) expressed surprise.
“It’s hard to believe that Ross didn’t know he was passing a station and nearing the end of his lines,” he told me in a phone conversation. “I think there’s two possible scenarios. One, that he didn’t know, or two, that he knew it, and intentionally came off rappel and slipped and fell.” Halverson’s friend explained that the terrain where Halverson fell was “5.2 to 5.7,” and that his partner confirmed that the team was hurrying.
“You know how it is,” Halverson’s friend said. “In situations like these you’re making choices, deciding which safety risks you’re ready to take.”
Regardless of the exact scenario—whether he untied stopper knots and knowingly rappelled off the ends to scramble to an anchor, or neglected to tie knots and accidentally rapped off the ends—the accident occurred because he came off the rope.
Prevention
This accident would have been prevented had Halverson elected to stop at the first anchor or re-ascend the lines when he realized his ropes didn’t reach the lower station. In any case, the golden rule of rappelling is to always tie knots in the ends of your rappel rope/s, and not untie them until you are safely anchored.
Halverson’s friend is correct that in certain situations experienced climbers may choose to take some risks. We all do it. We decide to solo easy terrain to save time, or cross a glacier unroped, or even purposely neglect to tie knots while rappelling for fear of getting our ropes stuck when descending broken terrain.
But consider this: I’ve been writing the Accident Report for Rock and Ice for 10 years, and every year I write up a couple of instances where a climber has died after rapping off the ends of his rope/s.
Always tie knots in the ends and don’t untie them mid-rappel. If you’re descending terrain where the rope might get stuck, coil the rope across your legs and feed it out while you descend. Or simply stuff the rope in the top of your pack and clip the pack to your harness. Again, feed the rope as you rap.
Finally, be disciplined about redundancy and safety. It is tempting to take shortcuts and calculated risks, especially when night and possibly an unplanned bivy loom, but the best course is to stick to safety protocol at all times. Never waver. Your life literally hangs in the balance.
This article was published in Rock and Ice 224 (February 2015).
ratagonia
Here’s another one: http://www.rockandice.com/climbing-…g-accident-gunks-climber-raps-off-end-of-rope
Rock Climbing Accident: Gunks Climber Raps Off End of Rope
12-Aug-2015 By Hayden Carpenter
On July 25, a climber topped out the classic Horseman (5.5) at the Trapps, Shawangunks, New York. When she went to rappel, she was back down much faster than she would have liked.
“I was racking up to climb Retribution when I heard the awful thud of a body hitting the ground,” Rob D., who was climbing nearby at the time, wrote on a Mountain Project forum.
Despite the weekend crowd, no one saw exactly where she fell from but witnesses estimate the distance to be anywhere between 10 and 25 feet.
First responders, including a doctor, were on the scene and the climber was stabilized before park rangers evacuated her to the waiting ambulance.
Analysis
Horseman—first climbed by Hans Kraus and Fritz Wiessner in 1941—can be climbed in a single, 120-foot pitch, or in two pitches with a belay at a small, mid-route ledge.
According to Mountain Project, the best way to get down from Horseman is to walk off using the Uberfall Descent or to rappel the route with two ropes when no other parties are below. Mountain Project mentions that one 70-meter rope “may” get you close to the ground, “but the last 40 [feet] of the rappel are free-hanging.”
The climber was rappelling Horseman with a single rope from the intermediate anchor. She and her partner believed that their rope reached the ground and they neglected to tie knots at the ends. The first to descend rapped into space and off the end of her rope.
Prevention
1. Walk off when you can. Rappelling makes you completely reliant on gear and setups.
2. Consult a guide or website about the descent. Is your rope long enough? Ask locals. Inspect and assess a rap route from the ground. Onsite, look for anchors that are rigged for rappels.
3. Never rap into space unless you can see your rope ends, and ascertain that they reach a ledge or the ground.
4. Always tie stopper knots in the rope ends.
If high winds pose a risk of flying the rope ends, there are a few methods of rope management—such as the Saddle Bag technique, rapping with the rope feeding from a backpack, or clipping the rope ends to your harness—to prevent the knots from potentially becoming stuck.
Mountaineer
Paying attention is always the key. Proper technique. However, having a knot on the rope bag dangling by the bird perch helps the mind.
ratagonia
I don’t use stopper knots; instead, I pay attention to where the end of the rope is.
On occasion, when rapping with an ATC, I have stopped 20 feet from the end and tied knots in the end, because getting to the anchor was “close”. It WAS close, but not that close. 15 feet short. Climbed back up, had a drink of water, rapped 30 feet diagonally to the next anchor down, and we rapped from there. A bit of excitement for sure!!!
Tom
Kuenn
That works too, if/when you are experienced; apparently this woman (even with 5 years of climbing experience) was NOT watching the end of HER rope.
Her comment, “The two-pitch route I was rappelling wound slightly left, making it impossible to see the belay area below. I rappelled off the end of my rope”. Sounds like some details could be missing, because I’m not sure how you can not see the end of the rope when you get close to it. And given her experience, it’s not like this was her first rodeo.
Distracted by something else going on? Maybe, but that’s an excuse and not a very good reason. She certainly should have known/done better.
I can’t think of a time rappelling when I reached the bottom and thought, “hmm, this must be the bottom, because I’m out of rope”. If you can’t see the bottom of a rappel, a stopper knot may be good form…and sometimes it could be very dark down there, too. But I digress.
ratagonia
Five years experience climbing does not translate into five years experience rappelling. Climbers rarely rappel these days.
Tom
Brian in SLC
I think a segment of the population, kids coming out of climbing gyms who lower off sport routes, might make your statement somewhat realistic.
But, climbers rappel. A lot. And, given that their numbers are kinda exploding (a recent estimate from 2012 is 4.6 million folks have at least tried climbing in the US…!), you’d only need a small percentage to rappel on any given day and still have a huge number of climbers rappelling. By some estimate, there’s around 500k climbers in the US.
15k+ AAC members. 10k+ Access Fund members. How many CAC members?
So, to counter, climbers rappel commonly as a method of descent, and, often. And, using double ropes, safely.
My intuition is that the numbers of climbers rappelling double strand in the US would dwarf the numbers of canyoneers using SRT, by, what? A factor of 10,000 to one? Or more?
Yet, there’s relatively few rappelling accidents given the HUGE volume of climbers rappelling in the US on any given day. The ANAM stat’s show this.
Given the few participants who canyoneer in the US (compared to climbing, and, maybe even water polo), they have a disproportionately higher accident rate with regard to rappelling. Which, given the primary activity for technical canyoneering might make sense. But, it also could be related to SRT.
There’s a fair number of accidents in canyons involving rappelling on single strands of rope. There’s not that many from double strand.
Yeah, pay attention. Let’s not have rappelling accidents.
Mountaineer
Yeah it is. Was in City last weekend, and couldn’t get to any of our primary targets. Long lines. Had to reload to alternate routes. First time that has happened to me. Seems to be a lot more.
Kuenn
True that – especially in her case.
Moral of the story: The climb isn’t over just cause you reached the top.
gajslk
Oftentimes, the dangerous part starts when you reach the top …
Gordon
Kuenn
I imagine she will rethink the 20% no-knot no-helmet complacency policy for future endeavors. I’m not suggesting stopper knots are required for all raps, but when rapping to a station or missing the bottom is potentially high-risk, I prefer stoppers every time.