Date of Event: 2/17/2017
Canyon involved: Cerberus
Region: Death Valley, California
Country: United States
Submitted by: Danielle Monroy
Source: www.ropewiki.com
Injury: Fractured left forearm radius head, fractured metacarpal, bruised or broken rib
Cause: Anchor error. Damaged Tubular Webbing.
Description of Event: A person was rappelling on a deadman anchor. It had been fully inspected, and had a preexisting piece of tan Bluewater 1” tubular webbing as the anchor point extension. Several people descended the 2-stage rappel without incident, with a meat anchor backing up the deadman. A long break between the 4th and 5th rappeler led the meat anchor to remove himself from the backup for a break. When the 5th person was descending there was no backup. This person rappelled the first part of the drop, and when the rope was re-tensioned at the second stage, the webbing snapped and the rappeler fell about 10 to 15 feet and landed on his back in wet sand. Though somewhat cushioned by his pack, he sustained fractures to his hand, arm, and ribs. He was lowered with assistance down the remaining 13 drops of the canyon.
Analysis: All natural anchors need to be thoroughly inspected. It can be difficult to accurately judge the condition of webbing that is in place. Possible problems can be UV damage, animals chewing on it, and damage from moving rock and water. Replacing the older webbing with new may have prevented this incident.