Date of Event: 8/10/2017
Canyon involved: Seven Teacups
Region: California Sierras
Country: USA
Submitted by: Danielle Monroy
Source: www.ropewiki.com
Injury: Psychological.
Cause: Rappel error., Swiftwater. Inadequate equipment or clothing., inexperience
Description of Event: As reported on ropewiki by two persons on the trip:
Last Person At Risk: “This trip to Seven Teacups was a first time class C experience for one of the 6 party members. I was manning the Corkscrew rappel anchor on a short tether to the top bolt. I had each member swim to me positioned as to not get sucked over the waterfall, I attached a tether, made sure each got rigged for rappel properly and lock off (or high friction setting), brake hand rope around back and down at legs (everyone is right handed), I removed the tether, each swung around and rappelled. This work[ed] fine for everyone getting onto rappel without having issues getting disconnected from the station in the moderate-high water flow once over the waterfall lip. All members did fine rappelling except one, who spent an awful long time on this short rappel. I monitored the rope tension, and kept feeling it release significantly in spurts as the member made rappel progress. I was ready to release the contingency figure 8 block if I detected that progress had stopped. I did not want to lower him unless necessary because this would add extra rope in the pool and thus the swimming disconnect could become much harder with a tangled mess of extra rope. As the rope was set, there was only a few extra feet, which we should have reset to zero, but no one that went down signaled to me to raise the rope slightly. I had another member at the bottom watching each rappeler (spotter) and he could arm signal me if he saw an issue with the rappeler, since I could not see anything from the top. I raised my arms in question once, and he signaled OK, although I could tell my spotter was intently watching the situation. I don’t think this took much more than a minute, but it was concerning nevertheless.
The member made the pool, disconnected, swam across teacup #4 and climbed up onto the rock slab with everyone else. I was the last person at risk. I tossed the pull side way out with a float. Another person grabbed it. I rapped without issue and climbed out on the slab where all 6 were taking a short break. All seemed to be good. But all was not OK, as the member that had taken so long to rappel was freaked out from being “in over his head” as his first class C experience. Even being a solid class B canyoneer did not prepare him for the water pounding, issues breathing in the waterfall, wet swimming disconnect in an aerated pool, the cold water, and difficult climb out of the pool. He was simply “shut down”, had “greatly exceeded his comfort zone”, and was not talking. When we finished the break and we started moving again he just sat there. Once moving he was excessively hesitant to even move down the dry rock slab. I was already all the way down at teacup #6, since it’s just walking and sliding down to that point (no rope work). I watched as others helped him verbally down the slab and there was extensive discussion once down to the escape exit. The decision was made without my involvement (since I was physically too far away, but watching) that he and his girlfriend would exit the canyon via the easy escape route. The remaining 4 decided that we would continue the Seven Teacups descent, and we had no further issues.
There was also some indication after all members were back to civilization, that he may have had the brake hand side rope tangled in his backpack, and this would have caused slow progress on rappel. I could not confirm this, but this does bring up an issue. In strong waterfall force, it is often easier and safer to toss most or all the packs down drops after 2 or 3 members are in the pool below to retrieve them. I did not think about suggesting this for this drop, even though this is how we did this on my only previous trip to Seven Teacups. If in fact he did have rope backpack entanglement, that would explain much about his slow rappel progress. Tossing packs down would have solved that problem. Also for those new to class C waterfalls, removing the backpack from the equation is extremely helpful.”
Trip organizer/ subject’s girlfriend: “I think the biggest thing I will take away from this is to make sure the group knows how to communicate. Our party had no clear leader — I organized the trip, the last person at risk had more swiftwater experience, and “Canyoneer J” had run Teacups most recently. However I don’t think any of us truly embodied a leader. I had printed and distributed paper beta in ziplock bags to all members (contrary to what was stated in the original post) but wasn’t actively referring to it during the trip, as others seemed to have “taken charge.” Canyoneer J was giving advice on where we could jump/where anchors were.
However at no point did any of us gather the group and make sure we were clear on signals, or make sure everyone understood what unique challenges we’d face. (Rather, this was inconsistent; info was communicated really well on the first jump, but not so much on the corkscrew rap).
I don’t think anyone is to blame for this — we were a ragtag group assembled from the internet. I don’t think there was anything fundamentally wrong with the beta. I don’t think any individual failed in a responsibility. I don’t even think anyone was “in over their head” in terms of skill level. (Some of us were new to class C, sure, but what caused the incident had little to do with skill. And could have been much more quickly remedied with better communication.)
What I’ve learned from this is that even if I’m not the most technically experienced, I can and should still step into a leadership role and ensure that we all understand each other and know how to work together to solve problems. And if I don’t know the other people in my group well, I should make doubly sure I’m educating myself by reading beta and practicing techniques before I leave.
Having talked to my boyfriend a lot about this, what I can piece together is he got stuck and was unable to continue lowering himself, right on the part of the rap where the water flow is the strongest. This may have been caused by a rope caught between his back and his pack, but it’s unclear. I saw it there as he was getting on rap and tried to get my boyfriend & the last person at risk’s attention but didn’t; I didn’t realize this was such a tough rap and figured my boyfriend could easily correct once on rap. My fault for not reading the beta and not making a bigger deal of what I saw. Getting stuck caused [the rappelier] to get flipped forward, and with the pressure of the water, it was almost physically impossible for him to right himself which possibly made things worse by having shoes that were not gripping the wet rock at all. He waved to those already down to try to signal his distress, but they either didn’t see or didn’t understand what he was trying to say. I was still at the top and could not see anything.”
ICAD Analysis: Good communication is important; groups should establish common signals and communications at the beginning of the trip and the canyon. Proper contingency planning and awareness of skill levels and team dynamics are an important consideration before any trip, as are other traditional factors such as weather, conditions, etc. Individual skill level can be difficult to determine. Even if a person is “experienced” with Class C canyons, important questions can be asked to help determine whether a group will have good dynamics. For example, the roles people played during their canyon trips (trip leader, assistant, rigger, bagger, safety, belayer, pack mule, etc), whether they have been in emergency situations in canyons, who they have canyoned with (those people can serve as references), and technical questions or hypothetical problems can help elucidate an individuals’ level of experience.
Experienced canyoneers may not necessarily have good group and team dynamics, and can make situations more difficult by going ahead of everyone, not looking out for other team members, or having a cavalier attitude because of their experience. Due caution and contingency planning should always be done, even if the team is highly experienced.
At difficult or dangerous rappels, removing packs is incredibly helpful. In addition, those experienced with the canyon and/or the rigger for that drop should be constantly communicating information and monitoring the situation, from both rappelers and the team members behind. It is advisable to inform each rappeler about the hazards of approaching the anchor, the hazards of the rappel, and how to behave in the event of an emergency.