Date of Event: 7/21/2017
Canyon involved: Seven Teacups
Region: California Sierras
Country: USA
Submitted by: Danielle Monroy
Source: www.ropewiki.com
Injury: None
Cause: Rigging error
Description of Event, from Ropewiki:
Here we are, at the corkscrew. The plan was for me to go first so I can get shots of “C” rappelling in the flow. So I set the rope, threw it out, and quickly got on rappel. I stood hanging at the lip, taking in the feeling of water massaging my side. I laid down into the heart of the flow feeling the full brunt of the corkscrew on my body and was anticipating to soon be shot out from the waterfall. But wait… There’s a knot next to my brake hand. My head and body was being pounded on from the flow from a constriction. I’ve ascended quite a few waterfalls in the flow and this was the worst of them, flow wise. I moved to get my head out of the flow for better breathing by smearing against the wall. Lucky for me I’m on the down canyon right side of the flow, making it easier to maneuver my head into a less annoying spot. I tried playing with the knot, maybe it could come undone. Nope, I merely made it tighter as my hand slipped and the knot inched closer to my extended device. I can unload my device, I thought. No, that would be even more annoying while in the flow. Alright, I’ll just cut it. Extension or rope? Rope, it’ll be easier for “C” to fix should he choose to reset. Okay, I’m so glad my knife is easily accessible and I’ve grabbed it several times to know where it is. Yet, it wasn’t the easiest to grab. The majority of the water was pounding on my torso and legs now making tactile feeling pretty dull. I patted around my harness a few times hoping to just feel the knife handle protruding out like it usually does. I couldn’t feel the difference besides that there’s something hard there with all the tactile noise. My mind wandered to take a break from the stress. Maybe it’s my neoprene making it hard to feel? Wait, that doesn’t matter now, I just need to get to that knife. I patted my harness again but this time tracing it from the waist until I found a shape that made me happy. I fingered a familiar hole and pulled my knife out easily.
I took a deep breath and brought my knife to above my brake hand in what felt like slow motion. My mind was still racing: Man, this would suck if I had my knife on a carabiner hanging on my gear loop. Even more if I had to open it up. I fell into the pool below with a glimpse of the calm behind the waterfall curtain flashing before me. Not wanting to lose either I held on to my knife and the new cut rope. Dark green water filled my view as I was pushed under the falls and I took my first easy breath.
Analysis: Contingency rigging and pre-coordinated whistle commands can quickly resolve a situation like this. Care must be taken when deploying a rope into moving water.