Incidents:Fall in Middle Fork of Lytle Creek
| Fall in Middle Fork of Lytle Creek | |
|---|---|
| Date | 2014-4-12 |
| Location | Lytle Creek (Middle Fork) |
| Severity | Injury |
| Canyoneering-related | Yes |
| SAR involvement | Yes |
| Navigation problem | No |
| Environmental problem | No |
| Communication problem | No |
| Planning problem | No |
| Skills problem | No |
| Body movement problem | No |
| Rigging problem | Yes |
| Rappel problem | Yes |
| Insufficient gear | No |
| Gear failure | Yes |
Summary
A canyoneer fell during a guided rappel on the last drop of Middle Fork of Lytle Creek. A second group aided SAR in locating and extracting the injured party.
Accounts
Duffy Knox:
At the bottom of the last rappel we met another group of people who had a rappeling accident. After making sure the victim was warm enough and had water, food and pain meds, we went to the confluence with the main creek and met another member of the injured man's party there. We helped talk the helicopter in, then ran back up to the waterfall's base to help in any way we could. We helped get the victim onto a stretcher, then carried him to the closest open spot and stabilized him until they could lift him out.
Randy Worth:
The guy that got hurt was using a petzl Williams screw lock biner. After rigging a guided rappel yesterday and testing out possible failure modes; my personal opinion is that the guy did not lock his biner and was not taught on the rappel line when he started down the guided rappel. His rappel biner cross loaded and popped the gate out and to the opposite side of the carabiner nose causing him to descend too fast. This slammed him into the ground and injured his hip.
Party of three ahead of us. On last rappel they did a guided rappel. Last guy down fell. We don't know the exact failure. His tether on the guided line held. His rappel carabiner was either: cross loaded and popped or unlocked and came out. I inspected his petzl Williams carabiner after. The gate was on the wrong side (outside). He had somehow forced it open in an improper way.
