- Joined
- Aug 9, 2007
- Messages
- 12,950
I'm still very new to the activity of canyoneering, but the recent tragedy in the Subway has me thinking of any possible safety measures that could be taken to avoid such a situation. I thought it might be good to open this up for discussion so I, and others, can learn more.
I can't emphasize enough that I am still very new to this sport and the ideas I've thrown out below are just the ideas I've come up with, hopefully more experienced canyoneers will confirm or reject their usefulness. By asking these questions, I am in no trying to point out or suggest any mistakes made by the victim, I'm just trying to identify what the rest of us can do to try and avoid ever being in a similar situation.
From the limited information we have, the victim got his autoblock stuck in his descender, tried to cut out of his harness and ended up hanging from his foot, unable to free himself.
Here are my initial thoughts:
1. Keep all loose objects far away from descender, t-shirt, slings, hair, etc.
2. Have an ascending device that is accessible and know how to use it in an emergency if you need to move back up the rope.
3. Always carry a knife and have it easily accessible while on rappel. We met a guy in Fat Man's last weekend that had modified his helmet so that he could mount his knife on the back of it. The knife's lock kept it locked in the open or closed position so the possibility of it coming open accidentally was slim. Not a bad idea.
4. How to setup 'throw and go' raps? Double strand or with a biner block and send people down single-strand so that if a problem occurs, someone up top can anchor the other half of the rope and rap down to assist or have an extra rope available at the top and use that?
What else?
I can't emphasize enough that I am still very new to this sport and the ideas I've thrown out below are just the ideas I've come up with, hopefully more experienced canyoneers will confirm or reject their usefulness. By asking these questions, I am in no trying to point out or suggest any mistakes made by the victim, I'm just trying to identify what the rest of us can do to try and avoid ever being in a similar situation.
From the limited information we have, the victim got his autoblock stuck in his descender, tried to cut out of his harness and ended up hanging from his foot, unable to free himself.
Here are my initial thoughts:
1. Keep all loose objects far away from descender, t-shirt, slings, hair, etc.
2. Have an ascending device that is accessible and know how to use it in an emergency if you need to move back up the rope.
3. Always carry a knife and have it easily accessible while on rappel. We met a guy in Fat Man's last weekend that had modified his helmet so that he could mount his knife on the back of it. The knife's lock kept it locked in the open or closed position so the possibility of it coming open accidentally was slim. Not a bad idea.
4. How to setup 'throw and go' raps? Double strand or with a biner block and send people down single-strand so that if a problem occurs, someone up top can anchor the other half of the rope and rap down to assist or have an extra rope available at the top and use that?
What else?