Thank you everyone for your responses. I really got a kick out of how many people thought this was a fictitious scenario, such as
rgold wrote:... and on the remote chance that it is real,...
In fact, this really happened. And the story gets more unbelievable….
First, I admit this was just not our day. Things just did not work out. We have taken steps to prepare ourselves better for future events. This question was intended to see how I could have rectified the situation after things went bad - and there were some very good answers that have got me thinking and alluded to what it possible and what is not.
Second, as I found out later, just one week prior, another group had to be rescued via helicopter from the rappel. In the guide book (a very recent edition), the rappel appeared to be standard. This apparently was not the case. Friends of the authors of the guide told me they would pass along this information.
Third, I should comment that since my partner was over an edge, I could not communicate with her well and I could not even see her.
To continue the story…
We were in Kalymnos, Greece doing a multi-pitch climb that goes over the Grand Grotta. The climb was 2 or 3 pitches and was only rated 6b for a few moves and then 5b in most spots (French grades). So the climb was not difficult.
After we got stuck, my partner called down to some other climbers to get help. Fortunately, it was not yet too late in the day and there were still climbers at the crag.
Making things complicated, the climb we were rappelling over was probably a 7c - very difficult route.
To our amazement, a very happy fellow in a brown stetson hat and an slight Irish accent came floating up the route and rescued my partner by throwing her a rope and pilling her into the rap station.
From there, you would expect the story is over…. well… it wasn’t…
Seeming that everything was remedied, our rescuer went back to his climbing on other routes. My partner tied into the rap station and tied the rope into the rap station so that I could rappel down to her. I did so, and then we proceeded to pull the rope for the next rappel…. except that … well…. the rope was stuck.
Rough day. To this day, I am baffled that they rope got stuck. The chains it was threaded through must have twisted or something. Unfortunately, no amount of pulling on either end would help the rope come loose.
So, we were stuck again. At least this time were at a chained anchor. We called down for help once again.
The same brilliant fellow returned to our rescue, dashing up the 7c route to our aid. We then descended on his rope to get us off the rock and he went on ahead to retrieve our stuck rope. He soared up the second pitch, which was harder, probably 8a and retrieved our rope.
On the ground, we dashed to our water bottles to hydrate after baking in the sun for hours on end.
Then we went to thank our savior and praise him for our rescue.
He left, and some other climbers mentioned to us, "Isn’t that the climber Sean…."
We had no idea who Sean was, but it turns out that our hero was none other than the amazing Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll,
We are very grateful for Sean’s multiple rescues of us. I doubt that there were even other climbers on the island at the time that could have done what he did.
Well, that was our story. Either you’re now amazed that this happened or, it seems for a good portion of you, are even more in favor of thinking that this is made up. But this actually happened.
Some responses:
Russ Keane wrote: Sounds crappy and we would love to hear how things turned out.
Thanks Russ for your kind words. It was crappy. Makes for a good story though.
Em Cos wrote: By the way, just a thought - I'm not sure it's correct to suggest the OP was wrong not to rappel first. The experienced leader in a party should go first, but these two may have been partners of equivalent inexperience and unpreparedness.
Indeed, my partner had more experience in climbing and had done many long multi-pitch climbs in the past. None ever had a rappel into space like this as they were in better maintained areas. She had also not climbed as much in the past few years and I am unclear on whether she had ever used a rappel block before.
Old lady H wrote: Doesn't sound like a rap route at all.
I would agree. Unfortunately, the climbing guide lead us to believe otherwise. I’m also pretty sure this was the only available rap route from the multi-pitch.
I believe that the only way to properly rap this route would have been for my partner to place some quick draws on the way down to clip the rope into to keep closer to the wall and work her way to the next rap station. But I have never heard of anyone doing this before.
rgold wrote: In particular, I certainly knew how to prussik up a rope, had practiced it, and was equipped to do so, which means that even as a rank beginner I could never have gotten into the (fictional) mess described by the OP.
I understand that we need to be more prepared - this is obvious. We have taken step to do so. As some others were mentioning, many new climbers these days are venturing into the outdoors without having taken a self rescue course. In fact, I am not aware of any of my climbing friends that have taken a course. In general, these courses are expensive and it is unclear which courses to take.
In my preparation for multi-pitch climbing, I attended a climbing training camp called Red Rock Rendevouz, where I went on my first multi-pitch climbing experience with guide. This seemed logical in how to learn to do multi-pitch and unfortunately, no where in this trip did anyone mention anything about the importance of knowing how to ascend a rope.
I had also done several other multi-pitch climbs since then with various skilled partners that also never mentioned this.
Many climbers are starting in gyms these days, climbing sport indoors, and then transitioning to sport outdoors. Nowhere in any gym I have been to have I seen people practicing ascending ropes or has there been tutorials or courses offered on the topic. This seems common sense, and yet, is not common practice.
Unfortunately, much of climbing knowledge seems to be passed on through friends training other friends. Without the right friends, it can be very expensive to learn the proper skills. I am the only one of my friends that I know that has purchased a book on climbing techniques by the AMGA. I have not read this book cover to cover - somehow I never noticed if this book even mentioned ascending. I left the book in my office at work and will have to check this on Monday.
Recently, I have found that youtube videos are the most helpful - of the AMGA courses, climbing magazine, and other reputable sources, along with many non-reputable sources that seem to have good advice.
Thank you all again for your comments. I am very pleased with this discussion and have learned a lot.
My thoughts on the answer to my question:
1. Using techniques described, it seems that the only play here would be to descend on prussiks, passing the corner.
2. A new option that no one considered, was that after descending part way, I could try to swing my partner to the rap station. I honestly don’t know if this was feasible. At the very least, I could have connected to the wall somehow and gotten her closer to the wall so she was not hanging in the air. Maybe then I could have worked to the rap station myself and bring us there together.
3. If Part 2 did not work, then I would either:
3a: Provide my partner gear to ascend on
3b: Try this fancy trick of transferring her onto one stand than loweing her as I ascend. Unfortunately, with this trick, we would have run into problems because the rope was stuck and would not have budged.
After getting us to the rap station, unfortunately, I would then have to ascend the rope to get it unstuck, and then come back down.
I appreciate some of the other comments and ideas. For instance Paul’s recent idea. Unfortunately, there was a major communication barrier between me and my partner, so orchestrating such a plan would be difficult.