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hamersorethumb
Trad climber
Menlo Park, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 14, 2015 - 05:08pm PT
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I am teaching a young buck about climbing. Recently I taught him how to rappel. By how to rappel I mean I taught him how to slide down a rope backwards with a friction device and a backup friction knot. No big deal, he picked it up beautifully. Now I want him to really understand rappelling, not just how to do it. By that I mean I want him to be able to name and describe all the ways you can kill yourself rappelling, and how to prevent them. Here are the ones I have thought of so far. Please add.
1a. Rappel off the ends of the rope because the rope is too short.
1b. Rappel off one end of the rope because it is not hung from the middle.
2. Place bights of rope in belay device, but fail to clip with beiner. Fall to death.
3. Place bights of rope in belay device, clip with beiner, but forget to connect beiner to harness. Fall to death
4. Connect to only one side of the rope. Fall to death.
5. Fail to connect rope to anchor correctly, lean back. Fall to death.
6. Release break hand during rappel, due to rock fall, bee sting, thorn in rope….. Fall to death.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Apr 14, 2015 - 05:13pm PT
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- rap anchor fails (many examples)
 rope breaks (could be due to your knocking a rock down onto it, then failing to notice - I did this once, but noticed the rope was "clumped/melted together" where the rock had impacted and batmanned back to the anchor)
sheath on rope slips at core shot and you lose one end, then enter other failure mode (non-fatal sheath slip happened to my partner last fall; my fault due to bad old rope)
rope knocks a rock onto your head while rapping or while pulling rap line (many examples, recently Chad Kellog on Fitzroy)
party above knocks rock onto you, or spontaneous rockfall
rope hangs up when you try to pull it, and you don't know how to safely climb up it or climb up the rock (or have a spare rope - Steve Schneider carried a 3rd rope and needed it when one of his hung up rapping down the Central Tower of Paine; happened to me rapping from South Howser Tower; I had a knife and cut off lead line halfway; were able to find anchor to rap with single rope, but needed to leave recovered half of lead line to reach down past bergschrund)
you can't find the next anchor or place any gear that holds and are unable to ascend back up the rope (almost happened to Bridwell on Moose's Tooth)
rap route becomes a river due to rain
rap device is not attached to right part of your harness and breaks off (usually it holds on a gear loop and then person notices it and freaks at bottom of rap)
belay loop on harness fails (Todd Skinner)
you forgot to double back belt on harness and it comes off (happened to me hauling ropes on Half Dome, but I caught myself in the leg loops. :-) )
hair, clothing, skin, etc. catches in rap device and you can't free it
clothing catches in rap device, you smugly whip out knife to cut it free but cut through ropes instead (this infamously happened to Jim Waugh on the Nose, but he had a hold of the ropes above the cut strands and was able to get rescued)
"autoblock" knot cinches down and you can't loosen it
you try simulrapping and do not coordinate exactly with partner
improper knot joining 2 ropes (figure-8 version of EDK caused a Canyonlands rap fatality once - it unrolls under body weight; rewoven figure-8 is what I use)
you have haul bag on your shoulders instead of hanging from belay loop and you turn upside down and can't correct
knot on ends of rope, but it slips through biner brake (Jim Madsen from top of El Cap)
you are rapping down a fixed rope which has knots, and you make a mistake when passing a knot (become unanchored)
biner gets crossloaded and breaks a notch in locking ring, then opens
you are using a single sling to clip self to anchor and it fails (happened to Bridwell descending Cerro Torre, using found sewn hammer sling - he went 165' and broke ribs but lived. Maybe he was downclimbing the diagonal bolt ladder and not rapping at the time.)
rap device does not give enough friction and you fail to realize this until too late (happened to person rapping single 3000' rope on El Cap - they impacted the wall; this is a variation of "letting go") This can happen with a single strand small diameter rope and rap device that is designed for 2 larger diameter ropes; use a Munter hitch instead.
ropes are initially equal length, but smaller diameter rope slips through your ATC a little faster (due to your inattention) and they are unequal when you near the ends; then enter unequal rope lengths failure mode. Partner can help with this.
similar, but rope is also very muddy/dirty and cuts through anchor sling while you are rapping (I have had it cut through 1" anchor sling when pulling ropes down)
you are rapping on a single strand and relying on the middle knot to not pull through a ring. No extra knot/locking biner backup. But the ring is oversized and the knot pulls through (Serenity Crack a few years ago)
Type groups:
1. anchor fails
2. attachment of climber to anchor fails, while waiting to rappel
3. attachment of climber to rope fails
4. rope breaks or is cut
5. insufficient friction on rope - free fall, strike rock or go off ends
6. rope pulls through anchor while climber still on rope (uneven ends, knot pulls through ring, or failure to maintain sufficient friction on both strands)
7. climber cannot locate an adequate next anchor (possible stranding)
8. rope does not reach only next anchor (possible stranding)
9. rope hangs up when pulling down from previous anchor (possible stranding or falling when climbing up to fix problem)
10. falling object hits you
11. weather / water kills you (maybe related to stranding)
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tolman_paul
Trad climber
Anchorage, AK
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Apr 14, 2015 - 05:15pm PT
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Have anchor fail while weighting ropes or during rappel, and fall to death.
Using a daisy chain or long runner to keep you anchored when you test weight the rope is a good way verify the belay device is properly attached to the rope and harness.
Also worth adding that getting a rope snagged while retrieving it can lead to unplanned 4th classing to free the rope, and falling to ones death.
when using two ropes to rap, having the knot fail.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Apr 14, 2015 - 05:21pm PT
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Yikes. Grum Grum.
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rlf
Trad climber
Josh, CA
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Apr 14, 2015 - 05:31pm PT
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I can tell you how to die rapping:
1) Tie big old knots in the ends, make sure it's extra windy out
2) Whatever you do, don't pay attention to where your rope ends are
Guaranteed results.
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cintune
climber
The Utility Muffin Research Kitchen
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Apr 14, 2015 - 05:44pm PT
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1. Get complacent.
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Flip Flop
climber
salad bowl, california
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Apr 14, 2015 - 05:47pm PT
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How to teach rappelling.
How to die ( disasters narrowly averted)
-rap East Ledges with haul bag on back with no jumars. Fatigue and slide off end off rope or alternately, commit to unprotected ledge while partner tries to find rap. Fall.
- decide to drop from end of ropes in the dark because it's probably not too far. It's too far.
Alternately, slide off end while dicking around with jumars and finding rap station.
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Apr 14, 2015 - 05:50pm PT
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Harness not doubled back (if required)
connected through belay loop that is chafed through
Catch nipple between the rope and belay device, bleed to death
Bad timing/coordination when lowering over a roof, smack face, lose consciousness (dropping break hand and dying) or mess up perfect smile, die of embarrassment
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Rudder
Trad climber
Costa Mesa, CA
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Apr 14, 2015 - 05:54pm PT
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Is that a girth hitch from the sling to the harness belay loop? What do we think of girth hitches these days? I used to use them more but read they weaken the slings significantly?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Apr 14, 2015 - 05:55pm PT
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Frozen goldline won't feed through brake - freeze to death.
What? Maybe he wants to save money or try some retro styling?
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Apr 14, 2015 - 06:10pm PT
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Frozen goldline won't feed through brake - freeze to death.
It don't have to be goldline. Kernmantel nylon ropes can get wet, then freeze, then not feed through your rap device.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Apr 14, 2015 - 06:13pm PT
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And one more:
Doing everything right, you smoothly rappel many ropelengths down the wrong side of the mountain.
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Apr 14, 2015 - 06:37pm PT
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Choked on my spit a little while laughing on that one Ian!
Edit: Letting mind wander while rapping, remember supertopo jokes, choke on spit while laughing, suffocate.
Edit edit: Rappelling while blissing out on one of the best songs of all time, then realizing that you just realized the art of dying:
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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Flip Flop
climber
salad bowl, california
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Apr 14, 2015 - 06:47pm PT
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Skittle-ee bee- bop
We Rock
Scooby doo
Guess what America?
We Love You.
(I like hot butter on my breakfast toast.)
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Poloman
Trad climber
Anna, Il
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Apr 14, 2015 - 07:05pm PT
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When My roommate was teaching me to climb I had a very close call.
This was in about 1971. I was in college. I knew absolutely nothing.
He set me up on a single rope, gold line, rappel. The braking system was a baby angle piton across a single, non-locking carabiner. No belay and I had no gloves. It was about 70' to the base of the cliff.
He got me started and over the edge. As I made my way downward, my U gloves hands started to really take a beating from the goldline. I let go and started accelerating. Realizing that I was in trouble I grabbed the rope in front of me. I proceeded at a breakneck pace to the bottom.
Fortunately. The geound at the bottom was very steep. I came off the unknotted end of the rope and slid down the hill.
I was overjoyed to be alive but my hands took several weeks to heal.
This was one of my first rock climbing experiences.
A bad instructor can kill you!
That was the last time I "climbed" with him.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Apr 14, 2015 - 07:23pm PT
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2a. Place bights of rope in belay device, but fail to clip BOTH bights with beiner. Fall to death.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Apr 14, 2015 - 07:57pm PT
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Keep things simple, remember that 99% of rap deaths are do to PILOT ERROR....in one for or another.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Apr 14, 2015 - 08:05pm PT
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Jim, even I don't use a piolet for a brake.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Apr 14, 2015 - 08:07pm PT
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Typo elert...will change!
I guess that was pilot error in action.
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mongrel
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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Apr 14, 2015 - 08:19pm PT
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A lot of the many ways to die rappelling can be safely detected before it is too late by the simple and incredibly quick method of just clipping in to the anchor, and fully weighting the rappel setup before you unclip that sling. Not all, but a lot of them. Teach your friend to do this, every time.
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