Lost Ropes on Mayflower at Poke-O

Hey I'm embarrassed that this happened, and embarrassed to be posting about it.

We left my ropes on Mayflower at Poke-O. We rapped off the top this afternoon with my two double ropes (blue and purple) tied together with the EDK.

Somehow the knot got jammed when we attempted to pull the ropes. We were able to un-jam the knot but every time we tried to pull them again, from whatever angle, the ropes got stuck again. We tried many many times. Luckily for us the two ends reached the ground with stretch so we weren't stuck on the cliff.

Eventually we decided it was hopeless.

The only way to get the ropes back would be to climb the three-pitch route again. The route doesn't go to the top of the cliff so you can't walk around. I don't know if you can rap in but I doubt it. Anyway we aren't that familiar with Poke-O and likely would not have been able to locate the right spot.

I wasn't prepared to climb it again. The route took us a long time the first go-round and I still had to drive all the way back to NYC.

But in retrospect I think we should have done it anyway.

I feel bad about littering the cliff with my ropes and I feel no right to demand them back. So if you want them, please note that they are 9 years old even though they don't appear all that worn. I was considering retiring them. Also I cut a few feet off of each of them several years ago after I put an ice axe through one of them. Caveat Emptor.

If you are the sort of person who likes to recover things like this and return them, I would be more than happy to accept your generosity! I am in NYC and my partner Adrian lives in Montreal. Let me know if you retrieve the ropes and I will gladly meet you in the Gunks or the Dacks and I can treat you to a meal or something. Or we can arrange something else.

Dang! I hope you get your ropes back! You weren't able to prussik back up the rope to figure out what the problem was?

^^ thought the same thing why not just climb the rope. You can prussic your way up double ropes or anchor one side of rope and climb the one strain with any of the many methods of climbing a rope. You definitely didn't have to reclimb the route to save your ropes.

You guys are absolutely right. We should have done that. We did discuss the idea of prussiking up-- I just failed to mention it above. A good portion was free hanging and neither of us have done much prussiking. I think that would have taken us as long as climbing the route, honestly.

Been there (done that). At Poko, coincidentally. In our case the problem was that the "pull strand" was lying under the other rope, so every time we pulled it, the EDK would come down just a few feet before being trapped under the un-tensioned-but-still-heavy other strand.

it's raining today and tomorrow.

I thought that might be the issue (EDK trapped under the other line). There were no obvious rope-eating cracks or flakes on the rap line. In fact, 90% of it, the rope was hanging in space. We tried flicking the other line to free it, but to no avail. If there was sufficient daylight and energy, we would have jugged up, but...

I suspect crossed ropes binding the knot as well, a problem whose severity increases the more rope weight (eg from free-hanging ropes) is holding down the non-pull strand.

This is not meant as a comment about the OP's situation, about which I know nothing, but it seems to me that in general there has been a substantial decline in the practice of having the first person down rigorously test the ability to pull the ropes. I rarely see people do this any more, and in some cases the party has pre-rigged the second's rappel, which means the first person can't test the pull even if they wanted to.

I think the decline in pull-down testing is related to the profusion of fixed rappel anchors. Folks just assume people have been using the anchors and retrieving their ropes, so no test is required. But every now and then, for example, the configuration of the rock below the rap anchor makes it better to have the knot on one particular side of the anchor, and one usually can't judge this ahead of time.

ascending stuck ropes is asking for disaster.

tim naylor wrote:ascending stuck ropes is asking for disaster.

If I have time, and they are still there, I'll retrieve them at some point in the next couple of weeks. Bummed to hear you had to leave them behind!

rgold wrote:This is not meant as a comment about the OP's situation, about which I know nothing, but it seems to me that in general there has been a substantial decline in the practice of having the first person down rigorously test the ability to pull the ropes. I rarely see people do this any more, and in some cases the party has pre-rigged the second's rappel, which means the first person can't test the pull even if they wanted to.