Date of Event: 7/26/2019
Canyon involved: 7 Teacups
Region: Kern County California
Country: United States
Submitted by: Dan Halim
Source: Published Report from Canyon Collective by Individual Involved, 1st Hand
Injury: Near Miss
Cause: Rigging error, Inexperience/Lack of Training
Description of Event:
“I have been wanting to post my experience in Seven Teacups (7TC). Not only is this a great story, but I hope to learn more from the community and possibly help others learn from my mistakes. I thought I was going to drown in the middle of a waterfall. I made several errors, one of them being underestimating the force of swift water.
Last Summer, my family headed to California for a short vacation. I was excited to add a trip through 7TC since we would be in the general area. I researched the cfs flow in the Kern river to try and get an estimate of the conditions in 7TC. The flow in the Kern river was about 2400 cfs the day before the trip and one trip report talked about “low” flows being around 300-400 cfs. I figured that I was not measuring the right area/segment because the difference seemed too large. It turned out that the Kern was in fact raging and 7TC was in extreme condition. I took my then 12 yo son, Jack, with me on this adventure. We went into this adventure well equipped with the appropriate gear. I have been canyoneering for about 15 years and back in my 20’s was a pretty strong rock climber. 7TC was however our first class C canyon. Crossing the Kern to get to the top of 7TC was intimidating, but we made it. We bushwhacked up to the top of 7TC and suited up.
The first rappel is off an arch where you rig a retrievable anchor. The space under the arch was completely covered with water, plus about 4 more inches up. We rappelled down a couple of drops into the 3rd teacup. The drop into the 3rd teacup usually looks like a waterslide, but that day it was just a waterfall. While standing on a ledge in the corner of the 3rd teacup we were intimidated by how much water was pouring over. The anchor to next rap we could see on the other side of the teacup. The challenge was to swim in between the waterfall and the next pour-off. This next pour-off was a through a narrow constriction and I underestimated the force of the current. Oh yeah, I made the mistake of tying an overhand-on-a-bight into the end of the rope and clipping that onto my harness before I made the swim across so I could set up the next rappel. As I swam towards the anchor, I was filled with terror as the current swept me over the edge! I was stopped at the end of the rope about 30% of the way down the waterfall where the water flow begins to widen.
For the next minute I was drowning. I fought to push my head out of the flow of water, I could only get gasps of air. I prayed that I wouldn’t die leaving Jack trapped in the middle of this horrific situation. I remember thinking that he would likely be forced to spend the night there by himself, with his dad, dead on the end of the rope. From where Jack stood he couldn’t see me. My backpack (another mistake having it on) had been ripped off one shoulder and managed to pin my arm behind my back. The force of the water was immense. I was able to unclip the waist belt of the pack, sending the pack down the waterfall and freeing my arm. I was able to get my knees up against the wall and keep my head out of the water. I had a small pocketknife clipped on my harness and knew that was the only way I was getting out of this situation. My fear in cutting the rope was that it would leave us stranded in the middle of 7TC and I didn’t know if I would be able to get back up to where Jack was. I waited to cut the rope for now.
I struggled for the next 15 minutes fighting for my life to keep my head out of the water attempting to make progress upward. I did make it to an improved stance where I was out of the waterfall from my waist up. At that time I saw Jack appear on an elevated area in the teacup. He had swam over to where he could see what was going on with me. He told me later that he thought that I was dead. We were able to communicate with difficulty and I told him that I had to cut the rope. I told him to return to the corner where he came from, the safer corner, and wait. I watched him push off towards the other corner when the current swept him right past me over the waterfall. I turned and watched him swim to the edge where he was able to climb out of the water. Once I knew Jack was safe I cut the rope. We rested for 10 minutes in that spot overcoming the intense exhaustion.
Jack spotted my backpack circulating in a lower teacup. Then we watched it drop into the next teacup and drift to a quiet edge. We worked our way down and recovered the backpack. I did have an InReach Mini, phone, and other things that I was glad to get back. I did lose my camera which probably sits at the bottom of the teacup. Jack and I were able to hike around back to the top and get the rope. We made our way back across the mighty Kern and back to the Johnsondale bridge where my wife and daughter had been waiting for us for the past hour. I wept as I hugged my wife thinking about the foolish decisions that nearly cost me my life and threatened Jacks’.
I couldn’t sleep for 3 days following this incident. I sleep fine now but still think about how close I came to not being able to make it out of 7TC.
I will do this canyon another day when the conditions are better. Please share any comments, advice or experience. Thank you for reading and thanks for sharing your stories, experiences and skills with the community.”
Analysis from Subject:
1) Respect the forces of water
2) Every person carries at least one knife
3) Don’t swim with a backpack on in dangerous currents or around waterfalls
4) Don’t tie yourself into a rope when there are potential consequences
5) Better to have another experienced adult or two with you in difficult canyons (Jack is quite experienced for a 13 yo kid, I have dragged him around with me for years doing challenging canyons)
6) Being physically strong and in good shape may mean the difference of survival when poor decisions are made
ICAD Analysis:
Canyoning tends to be safer with groups of four, at a minimum, with a balanced level of experience appropriate for the canyon and conditions. Although some skills are related across disciplines, serious introspection and thought needs to be given before trips occur, in the planning stages. Although this report ultimately had a benign outcome, consideration should be given to likely contingencies or potential problems beforehand. If the author got injured or was otherwise incapacitated, Jack could have been left alone, stuck, without adequate equipment to even summon help. If a pack was lost, or a rope damaged, critical gear to descend the canyon safely could be lost without contingencies in place for these and other relatively foreseeable scenarios.
If the loss of a single piece of equipment would cause one to further risk life and limb on the uncertainty of its necessity in the future, we should reevaluate whether we were truly prepared and well-equipped. Single points of failure can be mitigated by having bigger groups with distributed and redundant equipment and skills. But the most important piece of equipment we can bring to any trip is the equipment between our ears. A good mindset and good decision-making trumps any material piece of equipment. Part of that includes the ability and skill to honestly evaluate your own condition and capability before and during a trip, and it also includes the ability to assess the overall group, scenario, and condition at hand. If there are any doubts about whether a course of action is wise, everyone must have the courage to speak up.
In the case of questions about beta or conditions, resources are available online via Facebook, Canyon Collective, Ropewiki, or other sites. Another point of consideration, though only briefly mentioned, is what some would consider to be the most dangerous part about 7 Teacups in high water; the Kern river crossing. Swift water is extremely dangerous, particularly in the case of canyoning, where being on the Kern river itself isn’t the primary objective; as canyoneers often don’t carry swift water specific gear (eg. PFDs, rescue throw ropes, inflatables), high caution is advised when crossing rivers or swift water obstacles. Dangerous approach or return conditions in swift water, which can change throughout the course of the day, may warrant cancelling the canyon trip.