Fatal accident in Zion on 'Touchstone'

thanks for posting that one Kay. i'm not sure if i ever saw James without a beard.

Kay wrote: The picture of the person in the article is the author, not James. Here is a picture of James (borrowed from rc.com)

thanks for the correction Kay ~ what an awesome photo..!

I found this over on supertopo:

Here's basically what happened:

The team was climbing as 3. They climbed pitches 3 and 4 separately but decided to link the hauls in one shot. Matt was at the top of pitch 4, James and Perry were at the top of 3, and the bags were hanging on the haul line near the top of pitch 2. Matt had finished pitch 4 and fixed the haul line onto a pro traxion and backed it up. James was to jug the haul line while perry cleaned pitch 4 because the rope was in reach of the 3rd belay, albeit weighted already with the bags. I'm pretty sure they were using James' 9.5mm 70 m static line -- the same one we used on the Salathe a week before with no issues.

James somehow malfunctioned the attachment of his jumars to the taught haul line, but after he had released his daisy chains from the anchor. He began sliding down the haul line until one of his jumars finally engaged some 30 feet later or so. There was a sheath piling found on the scene, so we know he broke the sheath first, initiated a sheath fall, and finally the core broke after the sheath fall ended and shock-loaded the system. He and the bags fell 300 feet to the base. Other details are not known yet. We do not know how James failed to attach the ascenders properly, but we do know that he is used to using the new BD ascenders and for just that pitch he used the petzl jumars.

Please folks, understand that jumaring taught haul lines is not safe and should always be avoided. I had a close call on the Nose in 2003 when my partner jumared a taght haul line and we broke a pro-traxion in half during the lower out. It cut the sheath, and the backup knot I tied saved his life. I only use pro-traxions these days with a full strength swivel and a big locker in the bottom hole.

When climbing as 3, the second should always jumar the slacked haul line first so he can be backed up with knots or a gri gri, then the bags can be lowered out. In their case, it was not possible because they linked the hauls. If you link hauls like that, the second should clean the upper pitch first, then the third should jumar the lead line after it's been cleaned rather than grabbing the taught haul line and comitting to it. Plus, linking hauls like that is usually not possible anwyay because the haul line hardly ever hangs within reach of the intermediate belay. And also, saving time by linking those hauls is counterproductive when you consider that to get the other two up safely, you'd need to wait until the upper pitch is cleaned before the third can come up.

If a taught haul line is going over a lip, you cannot pass it with 2 jumars and because you cannot be backed up with a gri gri or knots, you are only on one jumar during the maneuver. It's also too much strain for the hauling device and is more likely to chop ropes going over sharp edges. It doesn't save time to do it this way either. Just avoid it no matter what. I've climbed many walls with 3 people and always jug an unweighted haul line. The one time we did otherwise (on the Nose) my partner almost died.

--Pete

supertopo.com/climbing/thre…;tn=40

If you follow the link there is a discussion/analysis of how this could have happened...

I can admit, during the course of a climb, I can see myself doing that (starting a jug on a taut line) assuming that it'll be fine, not really thinking it thru, being caught up in the moment.

I am saddened that one of us had to "show" the rest of us the danger in this. Thank you James for the lesson. It won't be forgotten. Peace be with you.

I've jumared static and dynamic weighted haul lines and never thought too much about it other than the wear and tear on the rope over edges... It's pretty common practice.

What I am imagining is that with the rope stretched taught, the sheath became more 'cable like' and made it hard for the ascender to bite into the sheath. You reach over clip onto the rope, etc. not really paying attention to how 'locked' into the rope they are, unclip from the anchor, and...

I think there are a combination of factors here. Rope diameter, sheath characteristics, method of checking the ascenders were ready to go, etc. But my point is that I can imagine myself doing the same thing.

John J. Glime wrote:I think there are a combination of factors here. Rope diameter, sheath characteristics, method of checking the ascenders were ready to go, etc. But my point is that I can imagine myself doing the same thing.

Yep. Plus a heavily weighted 9.5mm rope is roughly a true diameter of 8.5mm (depends on load and model). Petzls are designed to handle 8mm so that's getting close to the limit. As others have pointed out on ST, jugging weighted lines is not an uncommon practice and can be done safely. But there is much less room for error than with an unloaded line. Sadly, this case proves the point.

At some point hopefully we'll see how the taught haul line with the bags was in relation to James at his anchor. None of these anchors seem to be directly above each other on climbs, so there's a bit of swinging out one has to do to get completely plumb to climb free. Did the sequence of events have James set to free the haul bags so they would swing out for clean hauling? Did he intend to swing with them, climb the taught line, and then help haul once with the others?

Jed Pointer wrote: A lot of people don't like those Petzl traction haulers because they can also cut up the rope. That he got on a 9.5mm with a haul bag, all hooked into that thing - seems he was doomed one way or the other before the top of the route.

Not really. I was the third man (aka counterweight) on a steep El Cap route. Every haul, I was on the rope with the bags, set up through a petzl mini-traxion. I still use that same static rope two years later.
I also use the BD jugs and find that the pivoting handle engages the rope well.

This is a simple case of getting off of one system (the anchor) before you are certain you are on another system (the rope/jug). All the equipment functioned within its known specifications.
This sounds strikingly similar to the banter about double belay loops when Todd Skinner died.

I feel bad that a brain-fart killed what sounds like a really nice and thoughtful guy. I pray for his friends and family during this time of heartache.

I can't figure out why they would want to do a combined haul of two pitches, with the whole team well above the pig. What if the pig gets stuck? Now somebody has to go back down and free it. It is true that the route in question is relatively free of roofs and other snags. But in my own modest wall experience, it seemed the pig was always getting stuck every possible way it could.

Certainly a sad accident, and somewhat improbable in my view. I've never experienced a Jumar or Petzl slipping, but then again I've never jumared a rope under tension. I've always felt safe tying backup knots, but if your jumar slips and cuts the rope, the backup knot wouldn't save you. Scary stuff ...

I keep having a sinking feeling that James had his jumars engaged properly and the sheath failed as soon as he transferred his weight from the anchor to the haul/fixed line.

In Pete's & Haradin's preliminaries, there is too much in the assumption that the jumars were not engaged while still allowing for a weight transfer from anchor to fixed line ??

Opposed to nothing really discussing rope condition & inspection (or condition of the jumars, for that matter) -- other than a visual about seeing a pile of sheath; which does confirm a failure with the sheath.

If we are indeed to learn a lesson here, let it be the correct conclusion of what actually failed the system.

Jed,

You keep talking about BD Ascenders being hard to engage and maybe they are, personally I've never used them. But the post on the accident clearly states that he was using Petzel Ascenders. Also James was no more a beginner than Todd Skinner was.

I've only briefly played with the BD ascenders, but enough to confirm that I won't be throwing my Petzl ascenders away. I certainly had no problem with the BD's from gripping. They have teeth that are more aggressive for sure.

I also always been amazed that people will rapel or jumar from a tooth cam. If I rap off a protaxion (which I don't believe is a piece of crap), then I have the weight on a prussik rather than the cam. Wen you get back up to the anchor or start hauling the prussik becomes loose and can work as a backup.

Here's a pic of what I'm talking about

The other thing is that I think sometimes we forget that climbing in inherently dangerous and no matter how careful or skilled you are shit still happens.

Jed Pointer wrote: I guess I missed the rest of a sentence where it was explained that he regularly used the BD, but on this particular incident was using the Petzls.

I agree that it really doesn't matter which brand, as long as whatever brand was used that they were in good working order.

Jed Pointer wrote: The point is the same, though - that just clipping any brand of ascender to a rope with no backup, no top biner, no short tie in - it's been the cause of many deaths.

We've just had somewhat a "back-up" discussion. There is really nothing that should fail a properly rigged, edge-protected system, and one that is in good condition, from 2 ascenders. With a jumar line, you can't tie-in short. The top biner does prevent popping the rope off -- which is critical for traversing/change of angle from straight vertical, [edit strikethrough] but it doesn't really address cam engagement.

About all you can do for back-up either throw a hitch on, a traxion, or gri-gri. But would these do any good anyway if you failed the system at the point of the upper ascender? Basically, the back-up is used if you have to take the top ascender off the line for some reason like passing an obstacle.

Jed Pointer wrote: I would never jumar a rope with a haul bag hanging from it, certainly not one being held by an ascender cam and/or a prussic knot, so how best to do it is moot to me. I've seen too many destroyed haul lines from just the bag weighting it.

This is where the discussion needs to go; as well as sheath separation/rope condition & strand diameter. It is important to note that jugging a loaded haul line is published as a method (review Mountaineers - the Big Wall technique edition) as well as doing it off a backed up traxion.

Is any of this indeed a safety concern that the climbing team couldn't have anticipated? That is really what's important to find out with this technical system failure.

Another theory.

Maybe he was using the ascenders properly.
As he was jugging the already tensioned, static rope maybe one of his ascender's hit a rough spot on the previously used haul line and severed the sheath..intiating a slide. The piling may have kept his ascenders from locking onto the rope...then at some point the top ascender could have cleared the sheath piling and latched onto the exposed and weighted core strand's, sliceing right through.

We've seen accident's before were the sheath was severed causing a sliding fall. I know of one persoanlly were soeone was cleaning the 3rd pitch of TT(the infamous one)...he sevred the sheath and went for a 20ft slide before the pilin's built up in his ascender and stopped him. That was on an unweighted(other than him) dynamic rope.

.....just a thought.

josh

Jed wrote: "11mm and this accident would never have happened.
I would pin it as the root and main cause of this accident."

Those are pretty interesting statements to make when we don't actually know the facts yet.

My personal opinion is that the line being weighted by haul bags(inaddition to the climber) is the "root and main" cause of this accident.
But it's still just theory until the investigation reveal's the facts.

josh

Jed Pointer wrote: Yes it does. Review Petzl literature for their device

yes indeed it does; corrected on that. Thank you though for adding another of your Jed-isms

Was the weight transfer from anchor to fixed-line a straight vertical load, or did he have a big directional? It read to me it was just a matter of moving off the anchor & straight onto the line. If so, this seems more than just improper ascender set-up.

J. Thompson wrote: But it's still just theory until the investigation reveal's the facts. josh

I completely agree, but the preliminary is a focus on how the climber put an ascender on the rope; which doesn't make sense at the point of weight transfer if the ascenders are in good working condition which they would have to be in order to begin to transfer weight and be able to un-weight the anchor.

Jed Pointer wrote: The line snapped in half and he hit the ground and died. Be sure to post up if you find out something different happened. EDIT: If the safety margin is so thin that 100-200 lbs of static weight is the difference between you living or dying from a stupid mistake - and you're okay with that - have fun with that 9.5mm because stupid stuff like this happens all the time.

...and Jed looks like a jackass once again!
Anyone surprised?

josh

Perhaps it's time to take your meds "Jed"?