Date of Event: 6/7/2016
Canyon involved: Monkeyface Falls
Region: Southern California
Country: USA
Submitted by: Danielle Monroy
Source: Facebook
Injury: Psychological
Cause: Rappel error, Stuck rope, Inadequate equipment, Hypothermia.
Description of Event: A canyoneer reported two ropes becoming stuck during retrieval, one of which required a 90 foot ascent in a slippery waterfall. He reported:
Monkeyface Falls last Saturday saw two stuck ropes, one by me, the other by another in our group.
I stuck mine at the top of the wet corridor with the chockstone bolt station inside it. I went down last and knew I had the rope on the riskier side, but thought I could flip it over from the bolts at the chockstone halfway. I found I could not. I then pulled most of my rope and somehow got the end stuck above (not surprising). At that point there was no way to ascend it safely. So I cut it and left about 20′-30′ behind. I had been careless – I knew it was not on the best side and could see a risky pinch as I descended by, and chose not to remedy it immediately. I also chose not to ascend and fix it when I could not flip it into a better position.
The other stuck rope was at the platform just below the corridor, 3rd from the last rappel. On this trip, everyone was given a chance to set anchors and retrieve the rope. The last person to rappel made 2 errors: (1) did not do a test pull with the second to last before descending (the rule of the day was every rap gets a test pull with second to last person) and (2) selected a path to minimize penduluming without bothering to consider the rope pull. The last person in this case had, unbeknownst to me, been rattled earlier having seen another in our group pendulum and crash into the wall. Understandably, the last rappeller chose a route with an easier entry.
However, what should have been a very easy rope pull from the bottom was completely impossible with the pull side extended, ascender attached, and my full weight and thigh muscles applied. The rope didn’t budge a fraction. So I ascended the 90′ waterfall with a bum knee and ankle. By the time I got below the chockstone I experienced cramps in my legs and arms, had run out of energy quicker due to the cold water (no wetsuit, just rain jacket and pants) and was a bit fearful of the rope being cut. I knew it was jammed tight in the crack west of the chockstone, and as I got closer saw that the rocks jamming the rope were not smooth. Since the chockstone was above my head, it prevented a direct ascent up and over, and when I initially pulled the rope out from the crack (angling more horizontally) the rope and rocks creaked in the crack and reminded me of my 240 pounds and that tensioned lines are easily cut. I could not assess the sharpness of the rocks back in the crack and worried that I might be sawing myself. After trying a few different things with ascenders and footloops, I sucked it up and climbed past the chockstone using footholds on the wall, which I should have done from the beginning. At the top I found the rap rope buried in a rocky crack underneath a piece of wood the same diameter as the rope. The rope had pushed into the wood and past it to be buried 1/2″ below the surface for a length of about 4-5″ as well as jammed in the crack. No amount of flipping from below could have possibly freed it. I was a little cramped in arms and legs, pretty much depleted, and chilled and struck by bouts of uncontrolled shivering. I let the bottom know I was taking some time to rest and warmed up in the sun for about 5-10 minutes before moving the rap rope out of the crack, directing it over the chockstone, and heading back down.
My lessons learned:
Fatigue and chill inhibits good decisions. I was cramped and tired from ascending the wet 90′ and habituated to no footing at all for 80′ of a slippery wall as I arrived near the top. My thinking was muddled and I did not see the marginal but dry and workable surfaces right beside me at the chockstone.
Waterfalls can chill you quickly, even with just a trickle.
Analysis:
-Setting up a rope retrieval for success before the last person descends can avoid an incident like this. One technique is extending the webbing over the edge in order to avoid a difficult retrieval. In this way the screw link can be placed at the very edge of the rappel. The rappel start may be awkward, for the last person, but the pull will be unobstructed at the top.
-Hypothermia can play a significant role in incidents like these. Adequate thermal protection is mandatory. Poorly functioning muscles and mental confusion can turn a minor incident into a major accident.
-Good communication is an essential part of the learning process, and teamwork. Having everyone set up stuff is great, but issues such as rope retrieval, rappel line, etc., should be discussed prior to rappelling.
ICAD Analysis:
Test pulls are valuable in situations where pulls appear to be difficult, but can require some coordination and discussion beforehand. An important consideration when descending canyons is having enough experience and equipment to descend the canyon safely and successfully in the event people are incapacitated or equipment is damaged/lost (eg. a contingency plan). Consider the level of experience in a group and evaluate if there are key members who are critical for the safe descent of the group; if there is only one person, or if you think to yourself, “if this one person gets hurt we’re going to be in trouble,” evaluate whether it is wise to descend a canyon in that scenario.
The same consideration should apply to equipment. If ropes are cut, lost, or become damaged; will a safe descent be feasible? In the event ropes get cut and are too short, they can be combined with knots such as European Death Knot (EDK), but passing a knot becomes necessary for at least one person. Others can potentially be lowered from the end of the rope, but this takes considerable time and can result in getting a rope stuck on the pull back up for the next rappellers, and may not always be safe depending on the conditions. Other advanced techniques can be used, but carry their own risks. Thus, tying two short ropes together isn’t preferable to having long ropes sufficient for each drop, and redundancy in ropes such that if ropes get damaged, stuck, or need to be cut, descent can still be made relatively safely and easily.
Extra ropes, or ropes longer than absolutely necessary are extra weight, but pay dividends when problems occur. If ropes do get stuck or need to be cut, always evaluate the risk vs the benefit of the decisions that follow. Remember, a rope is never worth someone’s life; if rope recovery is too risky or ill-advised, leave it for another team or another day. The more prepared canyon teams are for this kind of scenario, the easier this decision will be.