False Rescue in The Cirque 6/29

False Rescue in The Cirque 6/29

At around 10:00pm on Saturday 6/29, from our camp in the Cirque basin, my partner and I saw a headlamp on the East Ridge of Wolfs Head. They must have seen our headlamps as well because it soon became clear that they were signaling us. They flashed their red light, sent several SOS morse messages, and shouted at us, although we couldn’t distinguish any words. We responded with our own lights the best we could to let them know that we knew that they are in distress.

My partner and I weighed our options and discussed all the possible scenarios we could think of. We were very close to hiking up to the base of where they were and bivying for night, with the goal of getting in earshot range to determine what the problem was. We feared the worst. We decided against hiking up to the base as it was already 11:00pm at that point, it was going to be roughly an hour+ hike through post hole snow, and weather was rolling in for the night. It ended up raining all night.

There was a hiker camped in the valley that we had met earlier that day that said he was going to hike to Big Sandy the next day. So we woke up at 4:30am after a stressful night of almost no sleep, re established headlamp communication with the party in distress (they sent more SOS messages), and hiked out in the rain to find the hiker. While in the valley searching for the hiker, we shouted out for him. The party on the wall heard our shouts and again sent SOS messages over headlamp. We found the hiker at around 6:00am. We told him the situation, and I gave him the locations of the party on the wall as well as our own camp, with photographs circling the exact locations of both. I had climbed the East Ridge before so I recognized exactly where they were (in the alcove belay just before the squeeze chimney). He left at about 6:30am with instructions to send for a helicopter.

On our way back to our camp we noticed that the party was in a bivy, which gave us reassurance that they were protected from the rain. We decided to hunker down in camp for a few hours, dry out, and see if the weather would clear. We knew that we couldn’t climb up there because of the weather, so we felt there was nothing else more we could do at the moment.

At around 11:00am we heard shouts coming from the wall. I had a monocular with me and I was able to see two people rappelling down the slabs at the base of the wall. We were thoroughly confused, yet decided to hike up to meet them. While hiking up through the post hole snow, we saw the party coming down the valley towards us. They were moving fast and were glissading down the snow. Again, we were thoroughly confused.

Upon reaching them we discovered that they were two young men (early twenties) from Utah. They were both very jovial and full of energy. They had camped at Big Sandy and hiked up from camp the previous day to climb the East Ridge. They got to the base at 2:30pm and began their climb. While squeezing through the chimney pitch, the leader had somehow dropped his belay device. I don’t recall what time this was, but they didn’t know what to do and they decided to bivy on the wall for night. Luckily they had an SOL blanket with them (which he had mistook for a bivy). They called emergency services with their phone and established contact. They told EMS their situation and were told to re established comms with them the next morning to inform them of their status. In the morning they contacted EMS again and told them that are going to attempt to rappel. They rappelled the south face directly from where they were, and found tat the whole way. They bailed with one 60m rope and left no gear behind, aside from one nut on the slab at the base (presumably it was too wet to walk down comfortably).

I did not bring up the conversation with the party, but my partner and I were both pretty upset about the situation. Yes, we understand that they were scared and didn't know what to do, however I feel that they created a false rescue situation. This was not an emergency. Getting overnighted in the Cirque, especially on the East Ridge, is to be expected and planned for. Being overnighted on the wall is not an emergency. My partner and I were very close to putting ourselves at risk to help these guys, and if a SAR team was deployed, they would be putting themselves at risk as well, all for nothing. There was no injury nor threat to their lives. The fact that they were able to bail from the exact point of which they bivy'd showed that they were not only in no real danger, but that they hadn't even exhausted their options before calling for a rescue.

I will not name them, but I know that at least one of them is an MP member and I would have expected him to read the beta about the Cirque. There are plenty of warnings on the East Ridge page stating that this is a grade IV climb, that it is a bad idea to start late, and to not overestimate your ability to do this route quickly just because it is rated 5.6. Furthermore, this is the Cirque, a basic understanding of self rescue techniques is strongly advised. The fact that a simple dropped belay device was the cause of this is not only upsetting, but disturbing, a munter is a very basic technique that should be known to anyone climbing in this environment.

These guys made plenty of bad decisions to get themselves in this situation, all of which withstanding the current snowpack conditions, however I do not write this to belittle or shame them. Again, I can put myself in their shoes and understand their fear, and I was also once ignorant to common self rescue techniques in situations where I needed to know them. I write this to gather opinions on this matter and to inform others of the seriousness of this area, and particularly this climb. Their were two parties on the climb that day, and both of them bivvyed on the wall, only one called for a rescue.

What are your opinions on this? Is being overnighted with no injury or threat to life sufficient reason to call for a rescue? Am I out of line to think that due diligence and basic rescue technique should be a minimum for this area? How would you have handled this situation if you were in my shoes, or in the distressed parties shoes?

I will send this to one of the guys who was on the wall that night, I'll let him decide if he wants to tell his side of the story publicly. I think this would be a great resource for others to learn from.

TLDR: Party was overnighted on Wolfs Head due to dropped belay device. Called for rescue. Bailed directly the next morning, one rope, left no gear behind. No injuries, no threat to life. Did not do due diligence, did not know basic self rescue techniques.

A sidenote about the ignorance of the seriousness of this climb: My partner and I ran into a party at the top of Pingora a couple days later who had planned to start the East Ridge. It was 12:30pm, they had never done the climb before, and had no knowledge of the descent or bail options. They were "just going to figure it out when we get to the top", "its 5.6, we'll just run up it real quick before we hike out, should be fun". We had to inform them that this was a terrible idea, and that the descent required descending down the steep snow covered col, which luckily deterred them.

I hope you taught them how to use a munter hitch...

There are many many climbers today who do not know how to belay/rapell without a device. I have met several, one of which took a grounder and broke their leg after jury-rigging their way down. As for these two [insert your own derogatory description], they both get scorn for poor judgement and crying wolf while acknowledging they descended on their own.

Baped Caldy wrote: This outta be good

Agreed! Needs a better title though.  "Pups cry on the wolf??"  Munter or goodnight??

Allen Sanderson wrote: There are many many climbers today who do not know how to belay/rapell without a device. I have met several, one of which took a grounder and broke their leg after jury-rigging their way down. As for these two [insert your own derogatory description], they both get scorn for poor judgement and crying wolf while acknowledging they descended on their own.

Again, I don't want this to turn into a bashing of these climbers. We all must learn sometime. I just hope that they do in fact learn something from this. I also do not want to dissuade the individuals from sharing their experience.

I didn't bring any of this up to them when I spoke with them, partly because I had not composed my thoughts enough to not be influenced by anger, and partly because I just felt so much relief that the ordeal was over and that they weren't injured.

I am interested to find out how they both rappelled with one device though. I presume that the first rapped, tied the device to the rope, and the second pulled the device back up to him.

Shitty that they weren't prepared. Shitty that they could have put other people in danger for the cost of a belay device(~$25 for an atc?) and a nut($12). Lots of people prepare physically for climbing but don't prepare mentally for wilderness travel. Anything can happen and real self reliance is important. Glad everybody walked away.

Hey Adam I understand that what my partner and I did was fueled by a lot of bad decision making and we should've been more prepared for that type of situation. As you mentioned above it rained all night and a good bit that next morning. That evening, we were deathly afraid of the incoming thunderstorms that were forecasted for the next morning so we tried calling for help that evening. Stupid. We would never have called if we knew that the forecast was in our favor. There was about 1hr 30 min of light left we thought that they'd be able to come help us that night. Stupid. We saw you guys down in the basin and were signaling to you because we weren't sure if the call would fail while we were on the line with help. At this point I knew the munter hitch could be used for belaying but I was way too nervous to rely on something I've barely practiced using before. I also was refraining from rapping from the spot we were at because the belay device that I know can be made out of locking carabiners was something I also never really practiced. We ended up getting ahold of 911 again in the morning as it was storming on us. After the operator gave us the forecast for the next hour or so, we told her that we were gonna try to get off the climb ourselves that day. The weather broke for the next 2 hrs so we used it to rap off the south face. Both me and my partner were very skeptical if the rappell would actually go or if we'd have to put in our own anchors. Luckily the rappells were all there... Overall a lack of skills and good decision making on our part caused a lot of unneccessary pain and stress to be brought onto a multitude of people. I'm truly sorry for ultimately making that decision.

We did haul one belay device to get down.

Mulch wrote: Hey Adam I understand that what my partner and I did was fueled by a good bit of bad decision making and we should've been more prepared for that type of situation. As you mentioned above it rained all night and a good bit that next morning. That evening, we were deathly afraid of the incoming thunderstorms that were forecasted for the next morning so we tried calling for help that evening. Stupid. There was about 1hr 30 min of light left we thought that they'd be able to come help us that night. Stupid. We saw you guys down in the basin and were signaling to you because we weren't sure if the call would fail while we were on the line with help. At this point I knew the munter hitch could be used for delaying but I was way too nervous to rely on something I've barely practiced using before. I also was refraining from rapping from the spot we were at because the belay device that I know can be made out of locking carabiners was something I also never really practiced. We ended up getting ahold of 911 again in the morning as it was storming on us. After the operator gave us the forecast for the next hour or so, we told her that we were gonna try to get off the climb ourselves that day. The weather broke for the next 2 hrs so we used it to rap off the south face. Both me and my partner were very skeptical if the rappell would actually go or if we'd have to put in our own sketchy anchors. Luckily the rappells were all there... Overall a lack of skills and good decision making on our part caused a lot of unneccessary pain and stress to be brought onto a multitude of people. I'm truly sorry for ultimately making that decision.

Hey Mulch!

I'm glad that you shared your experience with us! Also, I'm glad that you know the munter hitch and the 4-biner rappel method. I completely understand your hesitation to use these techniques, since they don't get practiced very often it can certainly be unnerving to employ them in a real life scenario.

I'm glad you guys made it down safe. Truly. And again, I don't mean for any of this to be offensive to you. You certainly are not the first people to have made these mistakes. Like I said, I had to tell another party just two days later that they were about to make some terrible decisions if they started the climb.

I would like to ask some questions though.

- Did you read the beta on the MP for the East Ridge? There are several comments there foretelling the seriousness of this route. Do you think this was a case of overestimating your abilities to climb this route quickly because of the grade? Did you consider that hiking in from Big Sandy would be too long of an approach to leave you enough time to complete the climb?

- What was the conversation like when you dropped your device? Did you discuss trying to use the munter and continuing the route, or did you immediately decide that it wasn't an option? Did you feel as though you were prepared to bivy and wait for help? I'd really like to know what was going through your guys' heads at this crucial moment.

- How did you guys end up rappelling with only one device?

- Why was your partner wearing cotton sweat pants!?   

Thanks!

Calling SAR, especially in bad weather conditions, puts many others in danger.

If you aren't confident in a Munter you don't know it. If you don't know it you don't have any business being roped up in the mountains.

Thanks for posting on here and not hiding. 

leaveing gear on the mountain is part of climbing. you were hesitant to rappel because you thought you might lose some gear yet you put into motion a rescue what would have been tens of  thousands of dollars and put other peoples lifes at risk??  think about that long and hard. 

Good topic to be discussed; thanks for posting, Adam, and I'm glad everyone is ok.

I also think that Mulch seems to have accepted that he and his partner made some bad decisions, and it seems like they've learned a lot from this experience.  It would be nice if we maaaaaaaybe lay off of the reprimands at this point.

Unfortunately, some will call for rescue to avoid leaving gear. But, in this case, Mulch also indicates concern about whether they could make or would find good enough bail anchors.

I’m not excusing what happened. Just mentioning their reasoning as it should lead to discussion of other skills we all should be comfortable using before heading up in the wilderness ... besides alternate rap devices.

Mulch, thanks for being willing to discuss your experience.

In general, SAR and 911 can take care of themselves.  I guarantee you they get trivial calls regularly.  The  professional attitude is "better safe than sorry", and if inexpert people find themselves in a situation that an expert would not really consider an emergency, that is par for the course.  You cross a line, however, if you call for emergency help when you know it is not an emergency.

Considering climbers as potential rescuers makes the situation more complicated.  A minority of climbers are familiar with self-rescue techniques, and almost no climbers know and practice techniques for rescuing others.

Mulch, I think calling 911 was fine.  And I understand your concern about failing phone batteries, so I'm reluctant to second-guess your decision to signal nearby climbers on the ground.  But in hindsight that was probably the most potentially dangerous thing you did.  Worth thinking about?

Doug, IMHO, you’ve given sound perspective on calling SAR as opposed to calling on other climbers who happen to be in the area in this kind of situation.

Seems so basic that the minimum standards were not met

So, seems basic, a standard list :
 (Not when Top Roping half pitches, or indoors)
almost always my personal "kit"  ~ my rig includes things I  rarely use,
 but when the need arises these things are often indispensable.
Whistle
Knife(Cut All serrated)
superlight headlamp
Loops of 6ml Cord
Fifi Hook/ Flat w/3 holes = emergency Placet style belay device
extra belay/rap,device

& a Mix, mission specific
in the bottom of the pack:& top pocket
High Protein food/sugar/salt/ food/water
fuel &s/sort of/cooking/melting/heat source
"Spot" or GPS Emergency Locator Beacon
2nd light source (of 3 )
waterproof layer/ hat /socks
First Aid kit/ beefed-up/Duration/Dependant
w/Cloth reinforced Duct tape, (et Als)
Space Blanket/Ground cloth/Bivybag
Always A multi-Function pack with removable frame-sheet/Pad (w/Aluminum Stays)

Adam, Suggest changing the title of the thread (and 1st line of OP) as a gesture of good will ... much as I get how significantly this impacted your party. But I don’t suggest changing anything else.

Heh - I actually liked the title suggested by coldfinger : “Pups Cry on the Wolf” assuming Mulch and company are ok with it.

Pnelson wrote: Good topic to be discussed; thanks for posting, Adam, and I'm glad everyone is ok.

I also think that Mulch seems to have accepted that he and his partner made some bad decisions, and it seems like they've learned a lot from this experience.  It would be nice if we maaaaaaaybe lay off of the reprimands at this point.

... and I’ll also suggest someone at MP be asked to moderate the crap out of this thread. Some stern admonishment is warranted here. But any personal attacks should be summarily cut off at the knees.

Enough from me for now ... maybe too much already. :) But Wolfs Head is familiar, and I and my partners have had many discussions before trips to such places about the role of self reliance and what is reasonable to hope for from other climbers who happen to be around. 

Plenty of inexperienced climbers being all too ready to trigger happy to call for a rescue.  In the Blue Mountains Australia there is a 900foot sport climb 5.9 or 5.10.  Pretty basic stuff, especially now because the approach is relatively short and well worn.  It has a reputation of getting gym/sport climbers benighted because they have no clue.

Here is the comments from thecrag.com:

There is a blue emergency bin below Pitch 6, with some water, food, clothing, torches, and basic shelter. Don't call 000 just because you are benighted, so the police don't have to go out at night to babysit you. Please arrange to replace anything you use.To ESCAPE if you've had to retreat- see notes above!

Part of the reason this seems to be happening more and more is that folks in the early part of their journey hear how cool the Cirque is and go up without any experienced person as a guide. Its only 5.6, right? Dumb and Dumber.

The whole apprentice style of learning has been hijacked, and people are jumping in feet first to a world they are not prepared to deal with. This is a perfect example of that. How hard would it have been to find a more experienced climber to go with them? I'm gonna guess not hard at all. The Winds are a beautiful and magical place.

As much as I don't care for Boy Scouts, the training leaves young men more prepared to deal with the inevitable epic. Because you never know what you don't know.

Stories like this are why I try to have 1-2 "apprentices" at any given time. I know a lot of self rescue techniques, and I try to take the time to teach other people those techniques. I am fully upfront that I am not a professional rope access person, nor do I have any official training, but I am lucky to have a good climber friend who is a professional rope access tech., and I do know how to read instructions and PRACTICE various methods hanging in my garage and on local crags. Knowing and practicing a handful of basic rescue skills can make the difference between life and death, or the difference between a normal bail scenario and the boondoggle described above.

I am curious how many members on this forum have taken time to actually teach people some of the skills they know? In my experience, a lot of established climbers are selfish and don't want to "waste" their time teaching someone when they can just go climb, even if they themselves may have had someone take time out of their lives to teach them.