Knocking on Death's Door...Luckily No One Was Home

This past weekend while climbing at Indian Creek I had a brush with death and thought I would share the experience in the hope that someone would remember it and not make the mistake I did.

It started on "unknown No. 7" on the Cat Wall. My partner and I had both climbed the route, which was good. However, my partner led the route and came down on his own draws so I could toprope and clean it behind him.

Once I got to the anchors I noticed right away they were pretty ratty. The two point anchor had multiple webbing loops on the same anchor points and some were almost worn through. I seem to remember the anchors were pitons.

I secured myself to one anchor via a metolius personal anchor system (fancy webbing) and used a draw from the backup to secure myself to the other anchor. I then cleaned the other draw and went off-belay. I untied the rope from my harness and began to thread it through the steel link, rap ring, and biner. I ran the rope through about eight feet and the link and biner shifted and pinched the rope. I removed the backup draw from the anchor and secured it behind the rope so it would not shift again.

This is where the stupid shit starts.

For the first time I noticed the rap ring was on the same webbing as the biner. I decided it was more clutter than necessary and removed the biner. After checking the shitty webbing, link, and rap ring I put the ropes in my ATC to rap down.

If you are paying attention here, as I wasn't, you'll notice I never pulled the rope up.

I checked my ATC, locking biner, and harness buckle. Everything looked good. I decided to check the rap ring one more time. I usually am in the habit of looking at the weld on the rap ring before rappel. The weld looked kind of shitty to me. I figured, oh well, I need top get the hell off of here and stop fucking with the anchors. I began to rap off.

From the anchors, as is also my habit, I have one hand above the ATC and one below. Lucky this was the case, as it most likely saved my life. After getting about six or so feet below the anchors I felt the short end of the rope pass through my hand below the ATC. My brain immediately recognized what had happened and my hand above the ATC clamped down on the rope stopping it from running through and sending me to my impending death some 100 feet below.

I looked down as soon as I felt the rope pass through my hand. There was about six inches of tail left that had not run through the ATC yet. The next few seconds were the most scared I have ever been in my whole life. Without even consciously thinking about it my brain thought grab the tail and figure it out or go back to the anchors. Again, my brain decided anchors. I effortlessly hand over hand climbed back to the anchors on a vertical wall. I clipped into the anchor again and began to wig out.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!! I just almost checked out! I was shaking from the incident and was in shock to the point to where my thoughts were a total fog for a while. I kept seeing flashbacks of the tail of the rope and looking down at the ground below. My partner finally asked me what the hell was I doing. He realized the rope was going through my ATC and only one rope was visible. He asked if I rapped. I told him, Yep, almost to my death.

When I started climbing the thought of dieing was a very distant one. Now that I have two 9 month old sons at home, it wasn't very long after hanging at the anchor and banging my head on the wall that those two little guys were in my head smiling at me. The thought of your kids growing up without you is a very sullen and scary one. It near brought me to tears just thinking about it. I thought you dumb shit, how could you not have checked the fucking rope! What would those two little guys have done if you never came home.

Finally, a few minutes later, I ran the rope through the anchors to the halfway point. I checked everything, I even made sure my leg loops were doubled back. I rapped to the ground and spent the rest of the day and night going over what happened. It took me a while to remember the process step by step, as it is written here. Mainly, all I could remember was the tail of the rope and thinking I could have gone for possibly the last ride of my life had my hands both been below the ATC or just one hand below the ATC.

It is somewhat amusing to think of how easy it seemed to climb straight up the rope to the anchors. I tried it again the next day and it was significantly more difficult without a hell of an adrenaline rush to push me up the rope.

You always here stories about long time climbers who rap off there ropes or do something otherwise, which seems unlikely for someone with experience.

I have done quite a bit of climbing (sport, trad, and big wall). I never thought I was in danger of doing something like this.

To all of you out there, me included, please be extra careful and double and triple check everything.

I enjoy climbing way too much to stop because of this. My partner and I climbed two desert towers the next day. Though I was able to lead some of the pitches without any real head trouble, it was the 30 meter free rappel off the last tower which again freaked me out. I couldn't wait to be on the ground again.

Hopefully the fear will fade, but the train of thought to check the damn rope better not!

EDIT-
I forgot to mention. In the unlikely case that I angered the climbing Gods by removing the biner from the sacred anchor, I left it at the base of the climb inside the first pocket hold. So if you find it, beware. There could be possible bad Juju on that thing.

There's a quick trick to avoid this, if you want it.

Glad it wasn't worse.

whew!
good story. especially that you lived to tell it. thanks for sharing!
i thought you were gonna say the pins pulled or the webbing broke or something.

we've all done stupid shit, man. but it would be really stupid if we repeated them, or didnt learn from others.

Glad to hear you made it!! I sometimes feel a little "overboard" checking 3x's but I feel beter now!!

Wow...good job self-correcting. Things happen, we all make mistakes, no doubt you won't make that one again.

One of my favorite quotes:

"Experience is the sum of mistakes we have made and what we have learned from them."

Glad you caught it and were not hurt.

Glad it wasn't worse. I had a shit for brains moment this weekend that didn't end so dramatically.

Anyway, its a reminder to tie stopper knots every time you rappel. I've been saved by them.

Evan

I did that once, too. Only thing was, when the end of the short rope ran through my brake hand I was 6 feet below where I had just gone free from the wall and 40' off the deck. Holy SH*T!

My partner, who unlike me, still had his sh*t together, grabbed both ropes up at the anchor and squeezed like hell to keep them from moving through the anchor while I quickly rapped down on the single line.

So here's what I do now, EVERY TIME I go on the rope, either to climb or to rappel. I repeat a nemonic (like SEReNE but actually useful) I made up: CB BLAK. I say it every time. It's my mantra which I repeat to myself before I climb up, lower off, rappel or anytime I make any transition move. CB BLAK. Every time.

Stands for: Check Buckles, Belay, Landing, Anchors, Knots

Buckles: Duh. Make sure they are buckled correctly and snug.

Belay: Confirm that I'm on belay. I do this, not just when I'm about to lead or TR a pitch, but also when I'm about to take and lower at the top of a sport or gym route. Eye contact with your belayer is good.

Landing: Good one for starting a rappel. Can you see BOTH ENDS of the rope ON THE GROUND? If not, tie knots.

Anchors: Check all that are appropriate. Keeps me attentive at the top of a sport route and makes me check one last time before I start to rap. If you're starting to lead a route high up on a multi-pitch route, is the belay secure for an upward pull? Based on what I see at the crags, I'd say usually not.

Knots: Check all of them all the time.

Climb safe,
Mal

Stopper knot! Never forget the Stopper Knot. Prusik's are good too. When I first started climbing I read a story of a lady who rappeled off the ends of her rope and died. Ever since then I always tie stopper knots in the ends of my rope before I rappel, even if Im rappeling of a 60ft single pitch route.

Glad to hear you were able to manage the situation!

I watched this same scenario happen to my climbing partner as he rapped off a short (45') single pitch route. Same lucky left hand placement on the ropes above, same adrenaline-rush-recovery-grip-ascend-to-safety result, same Holy-Shit realization for both of us.

Since then, I always tie knots in the ends, even if I can SEE them land on the ground. Rappelling truly is the most dangerous part of climbing, at least for those of us who don't free solo.

Again, glad to hear you made it home to tell the tale.

Richard Stone: That would require me to be strong enough to do a one-arm pullup on a hanging pair of ropes, lock it off, then be dexterous enough to tie a knot with one hand. That's a tall order for having just 6" of rope to work with. Wade Frank: A prussik or kleimheist, used below the device as is now recommended, wouldn't help. The rappeller would be holding the prussik in his brake hand and it would go through the blocking knot just as it did his hand. Maybe even less likely to feel it pass through.

+1 for bicolor ropes. Doesn't eliminate this from happening, but lowers the odds.

Glad to hear you lived thru that one, and thanks for posting. Puts a fresh perspective on everything (I know a similar occurrence did for me)... including our own ability to be Darwin candidates now and again.

Like Malcolm, I like the safety a basic mnemonic can provide when rapping. Mine's a bit different than his, but all the same principles are there. Mine uses the word "HARD"

H... Harness: check your buckles and whatever else to make sure your harness doesn't slide off or is worn thru in places

A... Anchor: make sure the anchor you're rapping off is sound

R... Rope: is going through the anchor properly, midpoint is at the anchor and ends are knotted or confirmed on the ground

D... Device: is connected to your harness, ropes are going thru the device as intended (for an atc, "2 in, 2 around, 2 out")

I've hammered it into my head that every time I'm about to disconnect from an anchor en route to rapping, that HARD mnemonic is the last thing I do. Usually twice. And if a partner somehow interrupts me, say, after H-A-R... I start over. If the rap is anything questionable, I throw a prussik/auto-blok on there.

Thanks for the nightmare kindling.

Richard: I agree that the pull and lock off to tie a knot is a viable option. Had it been a free rappel or had i run 20 feet of rope through the anchor it would have been my solution (I assume). As I mentioned though, I didn't even weigh the options, my eyes saw only a six inch tail and my biceps were off and running. I can't even tell you if the signal went through my brain first.

In different circumstances I would have done exactly what you said. Although I might have added biting the rope while all the pull slack an tie knot was going on.

I also wanted to say thanks for all the replies. It is nice to see such a response from the climbing community.

I hope to see you all climbing one day...just don't stand underneath me!

My 2 Cents:

Always tie a figure 8 knots into each end of the ropes before the rap. Get in the habit of doing it even on stupid 1 pitch climbs that you know the rope is long enough for. You can never be too careful.

Glad you are OK

I had one of those moments once.

A friend of mine had just lead Killer (Killer Cave, Lander, Wyoming) but he didn't make it quite to the anchors; Killer has a large roof near the end, and he lowered off of a 'draw on the roof.

For whatever reason, I decided to TR the route and then finish leading it when I got to his high point. We pulled the rope through so I was TR'ing up through his clipped 'draws. Each quickdraw I came to I just unclipped as I climbed past.

You can probably see where this is going-- I got up to the roof, climbed past the first bolt on the roof, and unclipped the rope. At that moment the rope went from my knot, through one remaining quickdraw, then back down to the ground. I climbed one more move and then stupidly began to unclip the rope so I could continue on, completely forgetting that it was the high point of my TR. The gate of the 'biner was actually open when I realized this.

A brief moment of panic set in before I was able to reach back to the previous quickdraw and clip the rope back into it, so at the very least the rope was running through 2 bolts.

Had I unclipped that final draw I would have turned the final part of the route into a free-solo that I likely would have fallen from. No way I would've survived the fall either. This probably would have been the last picture of me .

...

These things happen, and they're a hell of a reminder to keep your head in the right place until you're safely packed up and walking back to the car. We get so damn casual sometimes that mistakes start to spring up.

John Maguire wrote:My 2 Cents: Always tie a figure 8 knots into each end of the ropes before the rap.

The couple of times I have tried figure 8's they have unrolled on the way down (on NC slabs at least). Stopper knots work better, but are problematic in many places, especially the desert. I prefer a rope with no middle mark. That way you have to match ends and check where the middle is every time.

scary dude.
i am still really slow when it comes time to rappel (but purposely). I obsessively think through the process at every rappel I'm at.
This only wastes a little time (an extra 3 minutes at each rappel)--thats only like 30 minutes over 10 full length rappels. Make up for the time elsewhere, and take your time when rappelling....as we all know its the most deadliest part of this game.

I don't have a neumonic but I literally think through all the components that are necessary for a safe rappell....harness + me, rope, belay device, and anchor. Think it's what I learned back in the day from Freedom of the hills. If I think about every component and make sure its good, and then visualize the rappell itself, I feel safe and know I am.

Malcolm Daly wrote: Wade Frank: A prussik or kleimheist, used below the device as is now recommended, wouldn't help. The rappeller would be holding the prussik in his brake hand and it would go through the blocking knot just as it did his hand. Maybe even less likely to feel it pass through.

I dont use the prussik below my atc like most, I actually use an autoblock above my device.

Wade Frank wrote: I dont use the prussik below my atc like most, I actually use an autoblock above my device.

Same here, prussik above the device. It's more of a pain to loosen once fully weighted, but the added protection is well worth it (for me anyway). Try this the next time you have a long rap where the ropes touch the ground: rap down as usual, with prussik above the device, touch down on the ground (safe and sound) and walk back from the cliff until the rope ends come to within a foot of the device, then give a good lean back. The rope ends zip thru the device, but the prussik locks on the before the big "plummet". I redo this test a couple times a season when I have a rap that touches me down with just a few feet of rope to spare - it reaffirms my confidence in the system to see it work.

I think the auto-blok below the device has its place though in situations like when riding a haul bag or large pack on rappell where you have the rap device extended away from your body via a sling. The extra distance allows the auto-blok to function as designed (plus you'd have no chance of unweighting a prussik above the device).

Anyone know why the recommended method for auto-bloks is below the device, even when the rap device is directly attached to the harness with just one biner (no sling extension)?