Repel Self Rescue

I’m making this post to ask people’s advice on a self rescue situation. Last week I was rappelling off of the top of a crag after setting up a top rope anchor. I knotted both tails of my rappel rope but made the mistake of not verifying that both tails were on the ground because there was a tangle obscuring my view , and reached the end of one of my tails about 30 feet up.  My solution to this was to secure the repel with a backup knot and an autoblock, to tie myself into one of the ends of the rope with a figure 8, and adjust the atc guide i was rappelling on so that it was only clipped through the other strand of rope. I then lowered my self like I was lowering a top-roper. What do you guys think of this, would you do anything differently. Would it have been safer to switch the belay into guide mode and ascend the ropes with that and a prusik?

All you had to do was hold the short end tight and let the other (longer) strand slide through the ATC.  So much simpler and less prone to screw-up compared to what you did.

Well, you didn't die.
Since you were setting up for TR, you could've just lowered yourself instead of dealing with rappel.

If somebody else was on the ground I would have just had them put me on belay, tie into the shorter strand, rap until my new tie in gets weighted and then they finish lowering me to the ground. 

And if your rappel was truly short -- as in you're at the end of both ropes and still off the ground -- my order of options would be something like:

1. Build a trad anchor where you are and rappel from there
2. Is it a sport route?  Find the nearest bolt (prussik up if need be), secure yourself and rappel from there
3. Truly no place to anchor between you and the current rappel anchor?  Prussik back up to the top, single-strand rappel and then come back later with a second rope to retrieve

All these options sound safer to me than trying to mess with taking any of the rope out of your device while on rappel.  But I would love to hear from others more experienced in this situation to see what fast & safe options there are.

Tiernan Kennedy wrote: What do you guys think of this, would you do anything differently. 

Why wasn’t the rope hung from its’ middle? Or maybe it was at first but then slipped unobserved ? Or did I miss something?

Thanks for the replies everyone.  Felt pretty comparable adjusting my repel because i was backed up and standing on a ledge. I had to do the same thing again I would’ve used a second locker during the repel strand trantision.

It looks like the easiest thing to do would’ve been to simply try to feed one end of the rope through while keeping the other taught. Is this as simple as it sounds; can anyone verify?

Bill Lawry wrote:

Why wasn’t the rope hung from its’ middle? Or maybe it was at first but then slipped unobserved ? Or did I miss something?

You’re right. The rope was originally hung from the middle, but the middle mark was worn so no one noticed how much it slipped 

Bill Lawry wrote:

Why wasn’t the rope hung from its’ middle? Or maybe it was at first but then slipped unobserved ? Or did I miss something?

Exactly. Did you not have a middle mark on your rope?

Edit: I see you answered this. Pay attention to your middle mark, and you can avoid this situation entirely. Glad it worked out for you.

And the word is "rappel."

Tiernan Kennedy wrote:

You’re right. The rope was originally hung from the middle, but the middle mark was worn so no one noticed how much it slipped 

It happened to a trio of us a couple weeks ago - first time that I recall over the past 15 years.. 

Ours was a case of a bunch of one strand landing on a closer ledge while the other strand kept going and so the rope weight was off-balance. And none of us kept track or prevented what was happening up at the anchor.  The rope even had a pretty discernible middle mark, it was daylight, etc..

Tiernan Kennedy wrote:

You’re right. The rope was originally hung from the middle, but the middle mark was worn so no one noticed how much it slipped 

How did it manage to slip 30' when all you did was hang it and then get on rappel? There's something here that dosen't make sense.

Bill Lawry wrote:

It happened to a trio of us a couple weeks ago - first time that I recall over the past 15 years.. 

Ours was a case of a bunch of one strand landing on a closer ledge while the other strand kept going and so the rope weight was off-balance. And none of us kept track or prevented what was happening up at the anchor.  The rope even had a pretty discernible middle mark, it was daylight, etc..

Very sobering. We fell asleep at the wheel ... perhaps enjoying ourselves too much in the warm winter sun.

Pretty similar to what happened in my case, definitely sobering. How did you solve your situation?

If you are lucky enough that during this mess up you can get on a ledge, then yes, you can stop and adjust the ropes through your device.

But if you are in a freely suspended in space rappel, a different solution is needed.

One solution:
Hopefully you have a third hand friction hitch backup below your rappel device (if not, a thigh wrap of the rope would work).
After securing the ropes so you can go hands free, attach another friction hitch to the short rope above your device and connect it to your harness.

Now, when you resume the rappel, the short rope being connected to your harness results in not a rappel but a lowering (this only safely works if the rappel ropes run through a metal link (biner/quick link) and not a rope on nylon sling rappel).

Either lower all the way to ground (if sufficient rope allows) or when rope ends are equal, release/remove upper friction hitch and continue rappelling to ground.

Sounds like an overthinking the problem. Just rappel until the knot got stuck in your ATC, then continue to rappel to the ground. That's it.

Tiernan Kennedy wrote:

Pretty similar to what happened in my case, definitely sobering. How did you solve your situation?

First person down noticed a difference in the strands below him. And the ends had no knots as is usual for my climbing kin.

The rap had a very low angle part where he was.  And we had good communication. So he just stood on the slab with a loose grip while we at the anchor moved the rope about 15 feet. 

Not a very technically involved solution, I know.

Marc801 C wrote:

How did it manage to slip 30' when all you did was hang it and then get on rappel? There's something here that dosen't make sense.

That's the thing about complacency, it doesn't make sense. I just kind of sneaks up on you and no amount of knowledge or experience can protect you from it. 

Out of curiosity, did you hit/touch the knot? Would you have noticed you were out of rope if the knot weren't there?

Tiernan Kennedy wrote: 
It looks like the easiest thing to do would’ve been to simply try to feed one end of the rope through while keeping the other taught. Is this as simple as it sounds; can anyone verify?

Read my first reply. I wouldn't have written that if it weren't true. But don't take my word for it - try it next time you're out. It's truly a simple, simple adjustment.

Tiernan Kennedy wrote:
It looks like the easiest thing to do would’ve been to simply try to feed one end of the rope through while keeping the other taught. Is this as simple as it sounds; can anyone verify?

What post on this thread has the most thumbs up?

amarius wrote: Well, you didn't die.
Since you were setting up for TR, you could've just lowered yourself instead of dealing with rappel.

Amarius, and others: Is there any reason not to self-lower on a single pitch climb? Is there any reason TO self-lower on a single pitch climb, barring the situation OP presented? I hadn’t ever really considered it, but now I am intrigued by the possibilities.

Tough crowd, eh?

... though, as you appreciate, understandle given how unforgiving this can be.