Ray forwarded to me a brief summary of ZNP SAR activity this year (to date):
We have experienced 27 major SARs to date in 2014 which is an average year for us. A major SAR has unprogrammed costs in excess of $500 (overtime, helicopters, etc…).
9 Technical Canyoneering
8 Non-Technical Canyoneering (Narrows, lower Orderville, Hidden Canyon)
1 Semi-technical canyoneering (Orderville) We have not had a major SAR in the Left Fork this year which is unusual.
5 Hiking/Backpacking on trails
2 Base Jumping
2 Rock Climbing
The 9 Technical Canyoneering Events were:
Jolley Gulch. Multi-system trauma after a fall due to anchor failure. The anchor was a 2×4 wedged into a crack.
Right Fork. Leg laceration.
Mystery. Exhaustion, hypothermia
Imlay. Knee injury. 15 foot fall while using a hand line.
Refrigerator. Back injury. 20 foot fall after loosing control on rappel.
Pine Creek. Ankle injury. 30 foot slide down an angled rock.
Pine Creek. Ankle injury after jumping off an obstacle.
Kolob Creek. MIA route. Search for an overdue party.
Pine Creek. Ankle injury after jumping/sliding.
Ray O’Neil
Plateau District Ranger
Wilderness Coordinator
Zion National Park
Moe Witschard
The second incident listed on technical canyoneering events is a leg laceration. This event occurred on a trip that I was on last May. The patient took a fall and seriously impaled her lower leg on a manzanita branch that was broken off and very sharp. The accident occurred while we were on non-technical terrain. We had not even reached the goods in the Right Fork. So, technically the accident occurred on a technical canyoneering permit, but it really should not be listed as a technical canyoneering event.
Rick Demarest
“found a chunk of 2×4 and unsuccessfully used it to establish an anchor.”
This may be in the “commandments” department, but since you’re using a static rope it’s probably a bad idea to use a dynamic anchor.
Cameron
2×4 wedged into a crack?
ratagonia
Which brings up another RULE of canyoneering – Know what you are going to do for the next rappel before your pull the rope off the previous rappel.
In this case, a short, second drop is usually rappelled off the same anchor – what we usually call a 2-stage rappel. This group pulled the rope and then figured out that there was no established anchor for the second part of the rappel, found a chunk of 2×4 and unsuccessfully used it to establish an anchor.
Tom
ratagonia
I’m disappointed to see that 9 of the 27 major SAR events in Zion were the result of technical canyoneering trips. Considering how few visitors go canyoneering, this is amazingly high.
Tom
Alane Urban
And many of the incidents go against the commandments we mostly (hopefully most anyway) live by. No uncontrolled slides, no jumping and use a fireman on rappels. Avoidable accidents.