Date of Event: 5/6/2018
Canyon involved: Monkeyface Falls
Region: San Bernardino Mountains, California
Country: United States
Submitted by: Sarah Perlotto
Source: Canyon Collective
Injuries: Sprain/strain, Fracture
Cause: Rappel error, Fall or slip, Health
Description of Event: A canyoneer was not feeling well but chose to descend the canyon according to prior plan. Water flow was low and she had descended the canyon a few weeks prior. She was the last to descend on rappel # 7/8 and “chose not to re-rig at the chockstone since the new bolts were placed at the top.” Upon deploying the rope bag and reaching for the rope, she sustained a fall and landed with her “left ankle jammed into the chockstone.” She was able to “crawl/rappel” through the canyon and call SAR at the exit, where she was taken to a local hospital. Her injuries included compression spinal fractures (T11, T12), a stress fracture to her tailbone, and a severe sprain to her left ankle. She is not certain of how this occurred – she guesses she may have used the non-blocked side of rope or mis-rigged her rappel device (though she does not remember removing the rope). A group descending the canyon after the incident found the original anchor to be in good condition, so the fall was not due to an anchor failure.
Analysis: Canyoneers should be in good health before beginning a canyon descent. Vigilant safety checks of self and others should be done, including double-checking rigging and rappel device. Attaching to the retrieval side of the system is a relatively common error. To mitigate this, some canyoneers keep the retrieval side in a bag or attach the rope to the anchor with a carabiner. The last person would free the retrieval side before descending.