Knot Your Rope Ends When Lowering!

Just a reminder for everyone out hitting the ropes to make sure to knot your rope ends!  My friends and I were climbing at Buzzard Rocks, VA and had to help carry a climber down off the mountain in a stretcher.  The climber was lowering off a 100+ foot route they just climbed with a 60m rope and fell 40 feet down a slab when end of the rope went through the belay device.  He tumbled end over end down the slab and clipped his feet on a ledge at the start, causing him to shoot off backwards.  Another climber managed to brace his fall when he shot off the ledge and stopped him from tumbling down the rest of the mountain.  He sustained some pretty serious injuries but was still conscious and lucky to be alive.  Luckily there was a doctor and an EMT present at the crag and we had reception to call for rescue.

Sorry to hear about him. I hope he recovers well. However, I would not advise blindly knotting the ends of the rope and dropping them down the route in some cases. On several occasions I've seen the wind blow the ends of a rope around the corner and the knots got jammed behind a flake leading to serious epics. A better solution is to clip the ends of the rope to your harness. It still accomplishes the task of closing the system, but it also eliminates the chance of the end of the rope being blown around the corner and it also means dropping down 15m of rope per strand instead of 30m which further greatly reduces the risk of the rope getting hung up somewhere.

I think the OP is referring to a single-pitch climb where you don't know if the rope is long enough to lower.

Clip them in how? (and your tip is about rappelling, right? OP was lowering, but, yeah, knotting is common and important for both)

jg

20 kN wrote:

Sorry to hear about him. I hope he recovers well. However, I would not advise blindly knotting the ends of the rope and dropping them down the route in some cases. On several occasions I've seen the wind blow the ends of a rope around the corner and the knots got jammed behind a flake leading to serious epics. A better solution is to clip the ends of the rope to your harness. It still accomplishes the task of closing the system, but it also eliminates the chance of the end of the rope being blown around the corner and it also means dropping down 15m of rope per strand instead of 30m which further greatly reduces the risk of the rope getting hung up somewhere.

That's good advice but this wasn't a rappelling accident where they rapped off the ends.  The climber was being lowered from the anchor after finishing a single pitch climb and the rope was too short.  A knot in the end on the ground would have got caught in the belay device and prevented them from falling.

Josh Gates wrote:

Clip them in how? (and your tip is about rappelling, right? OP was lowering, but, yeah, knotting is common and important for both)

jg

It's for rapping. Clip the ends of the ropes to your harness. It doesn't matter where. 

And IF there was a knotted rope end that caught in the belay device, how would the belayer get the climber down the remaining 40 feet ?

IcePick wrote:

And IF there was a knotted rope end that caught in the belay device, how would the belayer get the climber down the remaining 40 feet ?

Many possibilities, all better than cartwheeling 40 feet down a slab

Josh Gates wrote:

Clip them in how? (and your tip is about rappelling, right? OP was lowering, but, yeah, knotting is common and important for both)

jg

Just tie a quick overhand on a bight on the ends of the rope and clip them to one of the quickdraws hanging from your rack/ gear loops.

Dident see this was about lowering though. In that case, yea knotting the end is a good idea.

It’s a question to provoke self rescue thinking as I’m sure this type of scenario has and will continue to happen forever 

IcePick wrote:

And IF there was a knotted rope end that caught in the belay device, how would the belayer get the climber down the remaining 40 feet ?

IcePick wrote:

And IF there was a knotted rope end that caught in the belay device, how would the belayer get the climber down the remaining 40 feet ?

Belayer walks / climbs 40ft up. Climber now on ground. Belayer then has various options from a double rope prusik to a mid-height rap.

I have had a similar experience:

https://www.coldmountainkit.com/knowledge/articles/helicopter-rescue-in-the-south-of-france/

Beean wrote:

It's for rapping. Clip the ends of the ropes to your harness. It doesn't matter where. 

Just as long as both tails still have stopper knots.

IcePick wrote:

And IF there was a knotted rope end that caught in the belay device, how would the belayer get the climber down the remaining 40 feet ?

It was on a slab, so the climber would just have to toprope back up to the anchor and then either belay the follower up from the top or walk off.

I will never understand not tying knots in the end for rappelling or lowering.  In both cases, there are easy ways to solve the "what if my knot gets stuck somewhere?" problem and in both cases, a stuck rope is still safer than falling to your death/serious injury.  I've also helped people that have taken grounders from untied ends and I will say it's a crummy experience for both the hurt party, and the people helping rescue.  

Chris Owen wrote:

Just as long as both tails still have stopper knots.

Yes, but I just want to point out that you should knot the stopper knots for safety . 

Rob D. wrote:

I will never understand not tying knots in the end for rappelling or lowering.  In both cases, there are easy ways to solve the "what if my knot gets stuck somewhere?" problem and in both cases, a stuck rope is still safer than falling to your death/serious injury. 

Totally agree. The "rope will get stuck!" argument for not tying a knot in the end is the dumbest thing ever. But, if people actually prefer the risk of falling to their death instead of getting their rope stuck, then I guess they will continue to not knot their rope ends.

I am confused what does a knot at the end of the rope have anything to do with the rope getting stuck? You take the knots out before you pull a rope so the only knot that could get stuck is if you are doing a double rope rappel and you will be at the next anchor or on the ground before that knot gets stuck pulling it. Been there done that and had it happened and went back the next day with a different rope to get the stuck rope.

Beean wrote:

Yes, but I just want to point out that you should knot the stopper knots for safety . 

Confusion. 

Sorry someone got hurt.   But the obvious needs to be pointed out here:

Do the calculations on your route height before you set off:

A 125’ route will require a lot more than a 60m rope (60*3.28’=196.8’) if you are lowering.

Rappeling and now Lowering has become the majority of injuries & fatalities in climbing.

Off topic here: Should an unlicensed inexperienced teen be driving a vehicle without being certified by an authorized instructor?