Date of Event: 9/3/2017

Canyon involved: Englestead Hollow

Region: Zion National Park, Utah

Country: United States

Submitted by: Sandy Crow

Source: Canyon Collective, KSL News, Mountain Project

Injury: Fatality

Cause: Rappel error, Diminishing friction on long rappel

Description of Event: On the morning of September 3, 2017, a 38 year old New Hampshire man died while rappelling on the first 300 foot entry rappel of Englestead Hollow in Zion National Park. According to a doctor who was with another canyoneering team at a nearby rappel station, and who was the first to respond to the injured man, the victim had to adjust something and instead of using his free hand, he took his break hand off the line. Being first man down, there was no fireman belay to capture him as he started dropping. He was unable to regain control and fell the last 80 feet of the 300 foot rappel. He smashed into rocks multiple times on his way down and suffered leg, hip and back injuries. A Department of Public Safety helicopter, which happened to be in nearby Garfield County at the time, was dispatched to the scene after another medical helicopter was unable to land at the canyon because of trees in the area. The DPS team, a nurse from the other helicopter, and a National Parks search and rescue team were eventually able to reach the fallen man but he died at the scene of internal bleeding. The victim was rappelling with an ATC on a brand new 8.3 mm Canyon Fire rope.

It is unknown how experienced he was in canyoneering.

Analysis: A 300 foot rappel is not something to take casually. Everyone must be aware of and appreciate the importance of friction and how it acts upon a weighted rope on a long rappel. It’s not uncommon to be overly confident at the beginning of a long rappel as the weight of the rope itself acts as a fireman’s belay and can slow the descent. But as the descent continues and the rappeler get closer to the ground (i.e. less rope under or “belaying” you), friction diminishes and speed increases. An inability to add friction on the fly, can quickly lead to a loss of control. It seems that a number of factors contributed to this individual’s death:
1) Being an Easterner, it is likely this man was not an experienced canyoneer. A route with a 300 foot rappel right out of the gate was perhaps not a good choice.
2) Beginner canyoneers should not be the first down a long rappel. That person can then provide a bottom belay for the others.
3) The rope was a brand new 8.3 mm rope. This is a small diameter and often slick resulting in a fast rappel. This is all the more reason to have an experienced person descend first.
4) In this case, the rappel device was an ATC. That makes adding friction on the fly difficult, but not impossible. A better choice for this particular route might have been a canyon-specific device such as a Pirana, CRITR or a Sqwurel, all of which enable adding or subtracting friction mid-rappel.
5) Having the knowledge to apply friction by other methods may have resulted in a different outcome. Some possible options with a tube device such as an ATC are:
a) using TWO locking carabiners side by side with the ATC to double the friction
b) using another locking carabiner placed on the leg loop to thread the brake-hand rope through and be used as a “re-direct” to increase friction
c) using an auto-block as a back-up in the event of releasing the brake hand, although auto-blocks can create some of their own unique problems.