Red Rocks Fatality

Rappelling is usually the most dangerous part of the day. That is when you will be the most mentally and physically fatigued. 

You MUST remain vigilant and paranoid about safety during rapelling. Do NOT turn your brain off. You MUST double/triple/quad check everything, every time. 

90% of people in 99% of situations should NOT be doing any rappelling process that is not a double strand rappel with an ATC. Cutting corners or doing a "fancy technique" in the descent is a fools game. 

Tragedy that could happen to anyone one way or another regardless of the system used.  I  remind my partners at rappels after big climbs. Be methodical, be safe , check everything. see you down there.. 

Sad. Rest in peace fellow climber.

Raps are when most accidents happen. Always function check your system before you start descending. And of course knot your tail(s).

This is another reason I’m pro PAS. I don’t like my rope being part of my tether/back up. 

Hope her partner and those involved find peace and healing.

Matt Himmelstein wrote:

Thanks to the other party in the canyon as it was unusually empty out there, and the surviving climber had no way to communicate with SAR on his own with no cell service and their emergency device damaged in the fall.   

My partner and I used to only have one when we went out for big days but realized that, either damage or the device being on the wrong person, could be a risk.  We now carry one each.

This is a terrible tragedy and I offer my deepest sympathies to all those involved.

Like Valerie, I immediately took note of, and was a bit surprised at the choice of route for the cold weather conditions. We may never know if this was a factor.

As a general comment, to add to the good information that people have contributed, If you have never developed hypothermia, you may not understand how quickly it can come on and what can happen. I’ve had it happen twice to me, on shady walls in colder temps at Red Rock. At least in one of these I went from cold but completely functional to - an altered reality experience. Four pitches up on DOWT, my partner called “off belay” and then for 30 seconds I had no idea what my eyes were seeing. I didn’t know what my ATC was, what that stuff on my waist was, or where I was. I was fortunate that then a jolt of adrenaline shot thru me and snapped me back to reality.  Then, but not before, I started shivering. The second experience, again with no shivering beforehand, I realized I was slow and “confused”. Not quite the right word.
It’s more like a lack of comprehension of surroundings. In both cases, my partner and I went down asap.

These accidents are heartbreaking. 

Black velvet wall gets cold Fast when it goes in the shade...   The best chance for survival when you are super tired,cold and compromised is to have a simple system that works for everything and use the same system every time.  Be methodical, safe and boring. 

Cherokee Nunes wrote:

No Josh. Attaching the rap device to the pull side means you are just pulling with your entire  body. The knot goes with the pull, and the biner goes with the knot. It will not get pulled into the anc hor, it gets pulled away and the tail zips through.

Always weight-test a rap - every time before unclipping from the anchor. Every Time.

Thx for the explanation - 100% agree on weighting any new system before removing the old system!

Cosmic Hotdog wrote:

Its definitely not a method that should be somebody's go-to. A tagline or double ropes are much less prone to this very easy to make error that happened. Carrying a 2 channel rap device is a best practice and this is one of many reasons that the versatility of a 2 channel device is worth the nominal weight of carrying it. 

I'm not advocating for that rap method at all. The deceased was a friend of mine and I don't want to see this happen to anyone else if I can help it.  

Sorry to hear that. Climbing can give us so much but can also take so much away. Agree about carrying an ATC on multipitch. It only weighs 2 oz and besides rapping it's nice to have a backup device for belaying even if you prefer to use a Grigri.

Hello mountain project. I am the romantic partner of the deceased. I would like to start by saying that they were truly an amazing person. Anyone who knows them knows how much joy they brought other people and the impact they had on our local climbing community.

In regards to the incident itself. This is a truly tragic accident. The climber had over 10 years of experience. Although i was not there at the time of the accident. I can assure everyone speculating this accident is no more then an overlook/misstep and it cost the person their life. This type of accident can happen to any one of us when we are not 100% focused on the task infront of us. What was going in there head we will never know. What I can say to everyone is that please DOUBLE CHECK/triple check your system. Of course this incident is preventable etc... It is the type of accident were you don't think it will happen to you until it does. I thought they would be coming home this weekend. I am truly crushed. 

I don't think there is any benefit in discussing this topic further. All of these systems are great and the deceased knew them.

I hope the biggest take away from this is that please don't become complacent, loose focus, etc.. This could happen to anyone of us we all make mistakes none of us are perfect. They chose to make one at the wrong time and it cost them there life.

My condolences go out to there family. They are so crushed. If anyone would like to donate to the family to assist with there funeral feel free to contact me. 

I used to use a carabiner block, but for the last 5 years or so I’ve completely given it up and instead pre rigged an atc on an extension, while the first person raps on a gri gri. As soon as the rope is unweighted the second person can begin rapping, it’s less clutter, and allows both people to double check each others setup. With parties of three two can simultaneously rappel, one on either strand, while the third is pre rigged and locking each strand to the anchor. No matter what when pulling the rope there’s no knot and carabiner to get hung up.

Condolences to everyone involved in this accident. Be careful out there, no matter what system you’re using.

Edit: the post above was being composed as I wrote this, and I hadn’t seen it before I responded. Apologies for discussing something that’s frankly irrelevant to the pain you are feeling. My heart goes out to you. 

Kip Kasper wrote:

I used to use a carabiner block, but for the last 5 years or so I’ve completely given it up and instead pre rigged an atc on an extension, while the first person raps on a gri gri. As soon as the rope is unweighted the second person can begin rapping, it’s less clutter, and allows both people to double check each others setup. With parties of three two can simultaneously rappel, one on either strand, while the third is pre rigged and locking each strand to the anchor. No matter what when pulling the rope there’s no knot and carabiner to get hung up.

Condolences to everyone involved in this accident. Be careful out there, no matter what system you’re using. 

You should just be doing a standard double strand rappel on an ATC. If a partner can't do this without a buddy check they are not ready to multipitch. 

A buddy check is good, but should NOT be NEEDED for you to rappel. You need to be self sufficient. 

Kip Kasper wrote:

I used to use a carabiner block, but for the last 5 years or so I’ve completely given it up and instead pre rigged an atc on an extension, while the first person raps on a gri gri. As soon as the rope is unweighted the second person can begin rapping, it’s less clutter, and allows both people to double check each others setup. With parties of three two can simultaneously rappel, one on either strand, while the third is pre rigged and locking each strand to the anchor. No matter what when pulling the rope there’s no knot and carabiner to get hung up.

Condolences to everyone involved in this accident. Be careful out there, no matter what system you’re using. 

I was going to mention this as well, I do this a lot on long routes because it's fast and safe. 

Maybe, out of respect for the dead climber and her friends and family, everyone who wants to discuss rappelling techniques and their failure modes could start a new thread?

Robert, I'm so sorry for your loss. 

grug g wrote:

You should just be doing a standard double strand rappel on an ATC. If a partner can't do this without a buddy check they are not ready to multipitch. 

A buddy check is good, but should NOT be NEEDED for you to rappel. You need to be self sufficient. 

Well, yes and no. 

I do what you do but there are a number of legitimate ways to get the job done. The sport "progresses" and sometimes for the better. 

I would say it is important to develop a safe process while understanding when to adjust. Sometimes when rappel anchors are questionable it is prudent to place a temporary backup or use a body belay backup. You cannot be complacent and as suggested the cold and impending darkness were almost certainly contributing factors. Hypothermia quickly debilitates. I almost lost a partner to it while rapping the Lotus in a snow storm. 

As to partner communication, I expect my partner to be self sufficient but we follow a process and we always verbally agree which end we're going to pull before starting the rappel. Check the knot, check the rap. Understand as a team what the plan is.

Condolences to all affected.

Andrew Rice wrote:

Maybe, out of respect for the dead climber and her friends and family, everyone who wants to discuss rappelling techniques and their failure modes could start a new thread?

Robert, I'm so sorry for your loss. 

Agreed and I'm so sorry Rob (this is Chris from SNA). Let's leave this thread be and respect Rob's wishes.

Use this thread instead

grug g wrote:

You should just be doing a standard double strand rappel on an ATC. If a partner can't do this without a buddy check they are not ready to multipitch. 

A buddy check is good, but should NOT be NEEDED for you to rappel. You need to be self sufficient. 

Agree about being self sufficient and not taking people who aren’t ready for multi-pitch, but I really don’t see a good argument against doing stacked rappels and buddy checking each other’s system. I wish this would become the norm in the climbing community, I try to do it with all my climbing partners. It makes both people more vigilant. We tend to get complacent with ourselves but for some reason are more watchful of others. Maybe it also has to do from seeing the system from a different angle.

I’ve had a few instances where a partner immediately caught an error, as I was making it. Not saying I wouldn’t have caught the error myself, it’s hard to say, but just goes to show that it definitely helps. Takes all of 10 seconds. Just my 2c.

Condolences to the deceased’s romantic partner and family and friends. I’m sorry you’re going through this right now, I can’t imagine what it’s like.

This is a tragic accident.  Empathy to everybody involved. 

Because the deceased touched so many lives in the climbing community, perhaps a memorial thread would be a good idea?

As this is an accident and injuries thread, it will naturally be the place for people to discuss details, techniques, and so on.  

Great points Cherokee. Thanks for your perspective, I luckily haven’t gotten my ropes stuck rappelling, but I’m sure it’s bound to happen. I check things like which side of the rope I’m pulling, how the wind will affect it while pulling etc, but doing the pull test before you’re both at the next station sounds like a great idea.

Maybe you could still buddy check the first climber, and it might bring more awareness to the second and remind them what to look for in their system.

When you do your pull test how much rope do you pull? I’ll try it out next multipitch

grug g wrote:

Please don't give advice right after telling us how unprepared for multipitching you were. 

You clearly missed the point. Any situation can happen no matter how experience you are. I was traveling for a business trip, did not have all my regular gear I typically have at home and other factors played a role in that situation.  The point is, like anyone else who encounters situations they are not prepared for, (getting lost on route, taking to long, weather change, getting to cold to continue, etc..) is to ALWAYS test the rappel while clipped in with a PAS or similar device before fully trusting the rappel. Everyone who has climbed over the years will make mistakes, but doing this will hopefully prevent further fatal accidents.

I started climbing at 13, now 53 and every time a rappelling tragedy happens it makes me sad because they are most all so preventable.

Don't descend using a gri, use an extended atc, with a tether/sling to weight test the system. 

Always close the system with knots, side saddle ropes if catching is an issue.

Always slow down when descending, moving deliberately and smoothly is key. 

I've seen two fatalities, both of them while parties were rapping.

chongo told me to always set up systems that you can do stoned as hell. 

I think about that when folks are cutting corners in epc doing simuls, single rope raps and not weight testing every single rap and using a backup prusik.

It's much like speeding in a car, you don't really shave much time off the arrival, you're just putting yourself at higher risk.