— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “hesse15”
Sad. Kinda reminds of the gal who was climbing in Zion, Moonlight Buttress, 4th pitch. Lead the last bit in the dark, was going to rappel down the long pitch. Threaded the lead rope, but, forgot to tie in the haul line to facilitate a full length rappel. Rap’d off the short end, and miracle of all miracles, didn’t come off but got tangled up in the remaining rope. Amazing. Anyhoo, was a long thread about it on rockclimbing.com.
Yikes.
Brian in SLC
Koen
4. DO STATION RAPPEL CAPTAINS at rap stations, to manage people getting on and off rap, and cleaning up at the end. It is unglamorous, but in very large groups, especially at Rendezvous, it is a very good thing to do. >
True, especially with unexperienced people, then the station captain should behave as a guide. But a station captain, certainly in the “between friends mode” isn’t foolproof… in case one and four the guy taking the plunge WAS the station captain.
And in the Greece incident I don’t know: either the guy who installed the rappel was still there but wasn’t paying the slightest attention to who was doing what (!), or there was a language problem somewhere along the line so by the time Raf got there it was all unclear.
Anyway, a rap setup should be as simple as possible for the given situation, clean, straightforward and “easy to read”. And NO dud ropes, those are death-traps.
Koen
Tom Jones
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “Koen” wrote:
> brake device on the wrong end of a 300-foot rope hanging below the > wall camp. Instead of the long end, Drew rappelled off a short, 30- foot knotless stretch dangling in the wind
> I’m hearing more and more about this kind of accidents or > near-misses. People hang out several ropes but rappel only on > one (especially with the “new” canyon rope techniques). > Murphy’s law says that all kinds of horrible things can and will > happen in that case…
Four incidents come to my mind:
Thanks, Koen, for the sobering examples. For those who missed it or would like it reinforced, here are some suggestions, in the form of a stern lecture:
1. DON’T have ropes that head downward that don’t work. Keep all ropes that are not rappellable up at the top, neatly stowed and out of reach.
2. USE GOOD HABITS, especially around people you don’t know, people you have not canyoned with, large groups, and people who do not speak the same language. It is easier to set up raps so they can ONLY be used one way, than to communicate how they are supposed to be used.
3. DO BLOCK double strand rappels, so they can also be used single strand. It is easy and a good habit to rig the rap for retrieval, THEN ANCHOR each strand independently. People can rap either single or double, whatever works for them.
4. DO STATION RAPPEL CAPTAINS at rap stations, to manage people getting on and off rap, and cleaning up at the end. It is unglamorous, but in very large groups, especially at Rendezvous, it is a very good thing to do.
Tom
Koen
device on the wrong end of a 300-foot rope hanging below the wall camp. > Instead of the long end, Drew rappelled off a short, 30-foot knotless > stretch dangling in the wind
I’m hearing more and more about this kind of accidents or near-misses. People hang out several ropes but rappel only on one (especially with the “new” canyon rope techniques). Murphy’s law says that all kinds of horrible things can and will happen in that case…
Four incidents come to my mind: – 2004: in an Italian canyon a 200 ft drop gets equipped next to a waterfall with two ropes, rigged single line on a contingency anchor. Everybody but the last person gets down. That quite experienced guy undoes the munter hitch and also rappels down – single line… what the guy didn’t do was weigh the rope before unclipping his safety tether. What he forgot too was that the knot joining the two ropes was not wedged against the anchor but dangling in the wind 60 ft down ! Because of these two mistakes he should have died. But some god was lenient that day so the guy took a 60 ft plunge until the knot jammed against the anchor. He somehow managed to hold on to the rope, the rope didn’t break and neither did his back nor the anchor… people told me that he arrived at the bottom white as a sheet . Serves him well as a lesson, better people have died behaving less foolishly ;-).
– 2004 too, this time in Greece. A waterfall in a canyon is equipped multi-pitch. A multinational group is going down (Belgians, French and Greek). The last rappel is a 120 footer and equipped single-line by someone of the group but other strands are hanging down as well. A Greek is standing at the anchor. One of the last guys down is a Belgian, a very experimented guy both in caves and canyons. And here the versions diverge. Raf told me the Greek showed him which rope to take. Some others say Raf knew very well which was the good one but took the other one to save time. Anyway, ofcourse he takes the one that’s not long enough (otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this)… it was hanging into the waterfall so he couldn’t see it was only 30 ft long and he rapped off it… now Raf is a strong fellow and doesn’t give up easily ! When he was falling down he somehow spotted the good rappel rope, managed to grab it while wrapping it around his arm, stop himself dangling in the waterfall, spot tiny ledge for a foothold and clip in his descender. So there, cliffhanger ! Whew, but he should have died too…
– 2005 in Spain. We were going down this dry canyon with a lot of rappels. After the first 3 raps we bump into a mixed group (it was during a RV), some French, some Spanish, a lost Italian . The group before us had set up a 70 ft guided rappel to avoid a pothole full of dirty water. Followed by a 30 ft normal rappel. While I was chatting with the lone Frenchman on top a Spanish girl raps down the guide, then proceeds down the other one. But at the moment she put her weight on the rope, she falls out of sight head over heels. We here a big “bump” followed by a cry of pain. Glups… apparently this group had set up all raps as single line before that, but not this one… the rope was rigged double line, without any knot to block the lines on top. The girl wasn’t very experienced so she had just rigged her descender single… she was lucky to land on a ledge halfway down and escaped with a dislocated elbow. Very tough woman, didn’t complain once while we jugged her up the rappels again. She recuperated well and is now taking canyon courses .
– 2005, Spain too, right nex to where I live. A French couple rap down a very steep canyon. The last rappel is a 300 ft vertical drop but still touching the wall. They have two ropes, but one isn’t long enough. They know that. The guy sends down his girlfriend on the good one, inexplicably takes the one that isn’t long enough himself. The rope almost reached all the way down, but not the last 40 ft. Enough to have the guy rap to his death in front of his girlfriend…
Morale: keep it simple. Contingency anchors, loose ends, knots etc all increase the odds heavily in favour of Murphy. One should know those techniques and definitely use them where necessary, but keep away from them where it’s not. And use a “system”, be it through standard techniques or good communication. And always load a rope before unclipping the safety tether. Basic.
This said, letting rope ends that aren’t long enough dangle over the edge… that’s close to criminal negligence. If a rope isn’t long enough to reach bottom it shouldn’ be hanging there next to one that does. If it’s needed as the other end of the contingency anchor it should be stashed away somewhere on top.
Koen