Rock climber in California plunges 200 feet to her death

Authorities say the two were experienced hikers and had appropriate gear.

The two climbers were very experienced, he said. The was the fifth waterfall from which they had repelled in the isolated part of Orange County.

“Using two, 200-foot ropes, we used Joy’s Imlay Canyon Fire rope, pulled about ten feet of a tail and used a figure 8 block.”

Casey did not put a twist in the figure 8 block, nor did they secure the small hole of the 8 with a carabiner.

“I slid the quick link away from the edge, pulled away from the webbing with all my weight against the figure 8 block and it was secure. Looking back at Joy, we both agreed and I threw the bag over. When Joy transitioned on Rappel, I watched and talked with her for the first 15-20 feet of her decent until I could not see her. I then walked away to grab my 200 ft rope to attach to the tail as a pull.”

Casey explained his rope was near his pack which was 20 feet away from anchor. Note that the anchor is a large boulder knuckle of granite set on the edge of a 160 – foot waterfall. It is wrapped with two strands of 1 inch tubular webbing (not bolts).

“She was on Rappel for at least a minute or 2. At which point, I heard a clink and looked over and saw the rest of her rope go over the edge and heard her hit. My guess was that while shifting on the face of the falls, the 8 may have been caught on part of the rock, somehow releasing the 8. I have used this block technique and never seen it fail. I yelled for her, no response. I looked over the edge and could not see her. I checked to see if I had service, although it was slight I was able to call 911 knowing I would not have any service at the bottom of the falls. I spoke with dispatch and was able to quickly describe my position in relative to the mountain range and my coordinates, then lost signal.”

Why rap on only one rope?

Why rap on only one rope?

The primary lesson of this accident appears to be that unprotected short tails on contingency anchors should be avoided. This lesson did not appear to be common knowledge among canyoneers at the time of the incident (see SoCal Canyoneering discussion).

this ingenious simple device

This beal escaper is cool.

It's for the "You better know WTF you are doing crowd" ..... :-)

It's goofiest sh!t I've ever seen.

I always went last .....

Why rap on only one rope?

Looks pretty sketchy to me!

Can someone Pls explain WTF happened and how this rig was supposed to work? I can't understand it at all!

Once the last person is down, someone pulls the shoelace and brings everything down to wherever it is you've rapelled to.

I think the other, and more likely use is such: the first individual raps down on a single line of one half the rope length. The folks on top have full access to the other half, and the ability to lower the rappeller using the other half of the rope is a point of massive OCD with canyoneers.

Not usually in play in N. America deserts,

I think the complicated system has to do with canyoneers having to (sometimes) descend into full-on waterfalls, and not being able to self-release for whatever reason. The whole drowning thing that doesn't usually exist in climbing...

They don't have to descend into the waterfall.

Note to partners: If I ever incorporate a tongue depresser as a key link in a rap anchor please punch me in the face

Casey did not put a twist in the figure 8 block, nor did they secure the small hole of the 8 with a carabiner.

totally solid and ingenious

It is easy as a rock-climber to have a holier-than-thou attitude about knowing rope work and to eschew the techniques of another discipline.

After taking these classes, I think canyoneering is like an advanced form of rock climbing in terms of rope rigging, anchoring, and problem solving.

There is not a single right way to do things- rather a variety of choices/tools and situations where they are applicable. It is just a more variable environment that calls for more creativity.

1. Finding mid-point and rapping off two strands of a single rope (or two strands of tied-together ropes) is typical for climbers but is not a first choice for canyoneers for several reasons:

Clusterfvck of extra rope at the base of a short rappel to untangle, wasting time to untangle and repack. Doesn't seem like much time to climbers, but if you are doing a 2000 foot descent with bazillions of 30-40 foot rappels, it adds up.

If only one side is rappelled, then the other is available to rig for another member of the party from above to lower down to the stuck/injured member, to lower down some supplies, etc. More options saved in reserve.

2. As I was just taught, the most common approach for rappelling (canyoneer-style) is this: to initiate a single-rope rappel, estimate the distance to the ground, thread the rope through the quick link, and pull out that much rope from the bag and toss; there is ongoing practice to estimate distances and to be able to pull out that specific amount of rope. They get very good at it. Adjust length as necessary to reach the ground. Tie off with a clove hitch on a biner to brake the rope on opposite side of a quick link from the side you are rapping off. But, if there is an inexperienced party member, of if you can't see the rope touching the ground, if you might get a waterfall pounding you, etc... then you tie a backup knot in end of the rope strand to be rapped (e.g. a fisherman's bend) and rig a figure-8 block near the quick link so people above can easily and quickly transition to unlocking the figure-8 block and lowering the person using the figure-8 device. The rest of the rope in the bag is available to lower a person as needed. The rope bag is tossed at this point (not earlier- so as to reduce confusion about which side of the quicklink should be blocked). This method keeps the unneeded part of the rope still stowed in the bag at the base, so it speeds up the repacking and decreases tangling with the rap strand.

According to what I have learned so far (and I am far from an expert at this point), there is not a good use case for only having 10 feet of rope left and tying a figure-8 block.

While the figure-8 block looks like a mess to a rock climber uninitiated to canyoneering techniques, it is actually pretty easy to rig and about as common for a canyoneer as a climber using an ATC guide on an anchor to belay up a following climber.

Totally within the realm of normal rigging.

The one danger is that you need to make sure that one of the bights is crossing the big hole of the figure-8 rather than running up the side. A half twist in the rope makes this difference. If that piece is missed, then it could conceivably slip under a load. From the report on canyoncollective:
Casey did not put a twist in the figure 8 block, nor did they secure the small hole of the 8 with a carabiner.

It sounds like this is exactly the mistake that was made. When making the figure-8 block, the rope was not properly twisted to ensure the rope diagonally crossed the big hole, and a biner not placed in the small hole clipped to the pull-side rope. My training emphasized both of these to keep the rope in place for desired functionality. Perhaps the biner was missed because of not having enough rope on the end, waiting for the two ends to be joined.

It's easy to second-guess what actually happened or what a person does in the moment, because there are so many moments for decision-making, balancing efficiency vs. margin of safety, and that is something that makes rock climbing and canyoneering such a fun and rich experience.

After careful analysis we might all arrive at a consensus of an optimal approach in a situation and learn from it.

We would all hate to lose the freedom to take risks in rock climbing, and similarly, we should respect the same right for folks who are into canyoneering as a separate discipline.

Sometimes mistakes happen, for unforseeable or for preventable reasons. Sometimes we are tired, have a brain-fart, or for inexplicable reasons just make a mistake- we are human.

If we all wanted to be as safe as possible, we would sit on the couch and watch TV or sit behind our computers and type on this forum all day.

But there is much beauty in the world, and rock-climbing specific rope rigging is not sufficient to safely get in and out of some of these places.

If you are ignorant from a realm of knowledge, unfamiliar with the problems that are being solved by a set of techniques, not tuned in to the spirit of the activity and what makes it interesting for some of its participants, it is better to listen first and learn before working from your different realm of experience and passing judgment.

Look how easy a figure8 block is to re-rig for lowering while loaded!

I tried to rappel that 3 post million word WOT, but rapped off the ends of my 200m in the process.

Bruce- this concern about single-strand rappels and assumption of rope-lengths was the biggest question I had going into the training I just did. What I learned was that you should have 3x the amount of rope for the longest drop, spread over two ropes. At least one rope should be double the length of the longest drop. I was also taught a minimum party size of 4 for safety margins (e.g. 1 injured person, 1 stays back, and 2 can safely proceed to exit canyon to a spot with reception or to go get help- you often need to work as a team to get past obstacles). As in any activity, people cut corners on that. I've been assuming I would do canyons with just 2 people like in rock climbing. This illustrates a situation of what can happen if we make that choice.

That voodoo figure 8 sh#t is nuts

If you truly need to lower on rappel or anticipate one in a potential situation you should use a munter mule knot as I saw also listed on the referenced canyoneering site as an alternative to this odd ball technique choice. I'd hate to be the last guy that has to rap on the 8 device not clipped off if you are going to leave it in the system as pictured too and re-rigging the anchor otherwise multiple times with new systems seems needlessly complex.

The munter mule is still an advanced technique for the inexperienced, but at least it can be readily visually verified. It should still be tied off and clipped off appropriately.

The canyoneers seem to want the excess rope up at the anchor, so they can have some lower capability if required. In this case, about 40 ft, which might be enough to get someone down or to a ledge.

Comment all you like

And just to be clear, there are climber deaths every month that would have been avoided by using Single Rope Technique, and other skills transferable from canyoneering.

All this pontificating is much easier for people of limited imagination.

And canyoneers who don’t know about climbing think climbers are stupid too.

Why are canyoneers so obsessed with lowering someone

WBraun just told us a climber died because of the inability to lower. There's your ONE incident.

But really, I think, we’re the ones who just don’t understand it, and we don’t have the humility to admit that

Clearly also, more careful rigging of a double-rope rappel would have prevented these accidents too, but...

DON'T rap down the waterfall! (Really? There is NO other way down into the canyon than via the waterfall???)

You re-framed your challenge, and I believe I met your reframe.

But you are correct - my original claim was excessive.

However, it is also clear that all climber deaths and accidents do not make the paper. And are we talking worldwide, or just North America?

And I have other things to do.

Some people would also advise DON'T climb mud. ;-)

you very apparently cannot imagine doing otherwise

Ratagonia is as good as it gets, and if we’re not going to believe him, we might want to ask ourselves why, or just go learn to be better than he is at it, if we think that’s something we can do.

I'm not impugning your motives. I'm observing your total ignorance

Stuck on an overhanging rappel underwater is a pretty standard possibility in Canyoning

So, why not go straight at controlled lowers from the start!?!

^^^ So, your argument now seems to be that these voodoo rigs are designed TO introduce risk, because, well, rapping down a waterfall isn't risky enough, so canyoneers are intentionally adding even more "excitement" to the game.

It seems that we need to be clear about what "the game" is. I didn't realize that intentionally contrived, over complicated rappel rigs was part of how this game is defined. I thought that the game was to negotiate canyons WITHOUT unnecessary risk. Silly me. I thought that if there were better ways to reliably rope people into canyons that the canyoneers would be all over that.

Writing software code is not "engineering", no matter what the code monkeys would like to think.