Knot on rappel in corkscrew rap Seven Teacups
| Knot on rappel in corkscrew rap Seven Teacups | |
|---|---|
| Date | 2017/07/21 |
| Location | Seven Teacups |
| Severity | No loss |
| Canyoneering-related | Yes |
| SAR involvement | No |
| Navigation problem | No |
| Environmental problem | No |
| Communication problem | No |
| Planning problem | No |
| Skills problem | No |
| Body movement problem | No |
| Rigging problem | No |
| Rappel problem | No |
| Insufficient gear | No |
| Gear failure | No |
Summary[edit]
Knot formed from throw & possibly water leading to a stuck canyoneer. Cut rope below descender to fall ~4' to a deep enough pool.
Accounts[edit]
Why Knives Matter
Here we are, at the corkscrew. The plan was for me to go first so I can get shots of Cody rappelling in the flow. So I set the rope, threw it out, and quickly got on rappel. I stood a hanging at the lip, taking in the feeling of water massaging my side. Alright! Time to drop in and get taken away by the current! I laid down into the heart of the flow feeling the full brunt of the corkscrew on my body and was anticipating to soon be shot out from the waterfall. But wait... What's this on my left hand?
YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME..
There's a knot next to my break hand
My feelings of excited anticipation immediately hit a wall at 120mph while the feeling of irritattion and disbelief overflowed me. Meanwhile, my head and body was being pounded on from the flow from a constriction. I've ascended quite a few waterfalls in the flow and this was the worse of them, flow wise, but the feeling was the same—that nagging head pounding water with the knowledge it won't get better until you're out got old quick. I sighed while on rappel, I moved to get my head out of the flow for a better breathing by smearing against the wall. Lucky for me I'm on the DCR of the flow making it easier to maneuver my head into a less annoying spot. I tried playing with the knot, maybe it could come undone. Nope, I merely made it tighter as my hand slipped and the knot inched closer to my extended device.
I can unload my device, I thought. I killed that thought quickly.
No, that would be even more annoying while in the flow..
Alright, I'll just cut it.
Extension or rope? Rope, it'll be easier for Cody to fix should he choose to reset.
Okay, I'm so glad my knife is easily accessible and I've grabbed it several times to know where it is. Yet, it wasn't the easiest to grab. The majority of the water was pounding on my torso and legs now making tactile feeling pretty dull. I patted around my harness a few times hoping to just feel the knife handle protruding out like it usually does. I couldn't feel the difference besides that there's something hard there with all the tactile noise.
My mind wandered to take a break from the stress. Maybe it's my neoprene making it hard to feel? Wait, that doesn't matter now, I just need to get to that knife. I patted my harness again but this time tracing it from the waist until i found a shape that made me happy. I fingered a familiar hole and pulled my knife out easily.
"OH, HELL YEAH!"
I took a deep breath and brought my knife to above my break hand in what felt like slow motion. My mind was still racing: Man, this would suck if I had my knife on a carabiner hanging on my gear loop. Even more if I had to open it up. I'm so glad Cody wasn't on this rappel, it could've been w— I fell into the pool below with a glimpse of the calm behind the waterfall curtain flashing before me.. Not wanting to lose either I held on to my knife and the new cut rope. Dark green water filled my view as I was pushed under the falls and I took my first easy breath.
Holy shit
I was still in disbelief that happened
•Being a 15' rappel and having just done the rap a few minutes ago, I was careless in throwing my rope for the corkscrew leading to a bight getting caught in an overhand. Flow does crazy things with ropes, be cautious out there! Imagine if this was a longer rappel with a not so deep pool? Although I do think a knot would be easier to form at the bottom of the rope.
•Having a serrated knife in a spot that's easily accessible made my problem easy to fix. If I were to be using a fold out knife I would have had a much more difficult time to free myself. It might've been easier to try to tend the knot through my device than deal with a fold out knife to cut it—but that would leave my partner to go and fix it if he can figure out what I'm saying to him.
•My knife has a cord that's attached to my harness, this gave me ease of mind of not losing it should I somehow let go.
Analysis[edit]
- This is a textbook swift water canyon rappel situation, and is a good example of where a contingency anchor and pre-coordinated whistle commands can quickly resolve an otherwise sticky situation.
- In this incident, the rappel was <30', and had no sharp rocks at the bottom, thus the knife solution worked well. The repeller was also fortunate in that the knot in a place where the repeller still had some dexterity, while some geometries do not afford that.
- Multiple valid solutions always exist for any given scenario. Canyoneers are recommended to routinely practice a carefully selected set of skills (sometimes referred to as one's "toolbox") and be prepared to choose the best technique within their toolbox for a given obstacle or incident.