Diamond rescue today 7/21

We climbed Lamb's Slide today and then to Long's Peak summit. On the summit there was a helicopter rescue of a climber on the diamond. The ranger at the trail head told us that a girl was left on the route overnight because she got off route on rappel. Her partner apparently found the correct anchor and rappelled the wall without her! This sounds weird to me and there must be more details. Anyone know anything about it?

holy shit, thats insane. i pray thats not the real story.

+1

shumin's last sentence is the key thought for the day.

timescall.com/news_story.as…

How one got down and the other didn't just blows my mind and that someone would leave their partner in conditions like that on a big wall still makes me wonder what some people are thinking. Luckily she got down alive

Although improbable, I could see it happening...just postulating here.
Say the first climber raps down and misses the next rap station or the ledge you are supposed to traverse on to get to the next rap station. While rapping, the first climber goes over a large roof, keeps rapping down, meets the cliff but comes to end of their rope. Deciding that they can not jug back up the rope (due to exhaustion, lack of knowledge, lack of equipment - prussiks, etc) they set up a quick anchor and clip in. The second climber raps down but finds the correct way to the next rap station. Now they have a dilemna. The second could keep rapping and get help while the first climber sits there or the second could stay at the next rap station and try to improvise a way to get the first climber back up. If the party is not particularly savvy in self-resuce techniques, perhaps the better solution is to go and get help. Maybe the solution is to rap down to the first climber and leave gear to try to get back on the correct rappels, but that can be just as dangerous if the rappels move far enough left or right on ledges.

Either way it makes a good case to come prepared both equipment and knowledge-wise for a bad situation.

Being on a wall, in a party of 2, without the means and ability to ascend a rope is foolish, and could at best involve putting others at risk or at worst, contribute to your own demise. Hopefully we'll get more details so we can all learn from their mistakes, but at first glance it seems that lack of experience or judgement is at work here.

Glad everyone got home safe.

Being on the Diamond without being able to prussic a line is crazy talk. We don't know if that's the case but holy cow I hope that's not true :o

Very interesting. Number one rule- you don't leave anyone behind.
Back in the day (excuse me I'm old) we didn't have the technology that's available today.We were pefectly aware that if we got into a bad situation,We had to get ourselves out of it, period.
I have no idea what went down here. It will be interesting to get more info on this. It's not just a commitment to the climb, its a commitment to the person on the other end of the rope.

Yea, the idea of using your own gear to set up anchors to rap the face is out of the question. Better to cut her loose and stick with the established anchors.

There are literally perfect stopper placements about every 5 feet on that whole section of the wall. Not to mention over 10 fixed anchors and literally dozens of pins and fixed stoppers.It sounds like exhaustion has led to yet another epic on the Diamond.

that wasn't funny-
it's a serious place up there...seriously.

examiner.com/x-58437-Rocky-…

A slightly more detailed article says that the rescued climber had climbed the route twice in the year so it is hard to believe they didn't know what they were doing. It would be interesting to hear exactly how someone gets stuck there...

getting off a rap route could happen to any of us, but being able to get out of it is just as important to climbing as any other aspect. I still don't understand the situation and how one could get stuck and the other could get to her, yet continue down the raps. Does anyone understand how this could be possible without an obvious way out (prussiking, etc.)?

Reece Henson wrote:getting off a rap route could happen to any of us, but being able to get out of it is just as important to climbing as any other aspect. I still don't understand the situation and how one could get stuck and the other could get to her, yet continue down the raps. Does anyone understand how this could be possible without an obvious way out (prussiking, etc.)?

I cannot come up with a good explanation. The best explanation scenario I can come up with:
First climber raps down the rope. She doesn't make it to the anchor, but finds a ledge to wait on.
Second climber raps and sees the anchor x feet off to the side and above and heads for it. There isn't enough rope for the second climber to reach the anchor and for the first climber to keep the ends, so the first climber releases the rope thinking that once the second climber gets to the anchor, he will pendulum back to her and she can get back on rap.
Second climber gets to the anchor, pulls the rope and sets up the next rap thinking he will pendulum to his partner but cannot make the pendulum.

First climber is stuck on a ledge with no rope and the second one is on the rap route and can make it down.

I have no idea if this is what happened, but it is the only explanation that I can imagine.

Why would they remove the helicopter from the park? Doesn't make to much sense.

Julius Beres wrote: First climber is stuck on a ledge with no rope and the second one is on the rap route and can make it down.

Yah there is an easy way to fix this problem if it happens (which it shouldn't). The second climber can swing or throw a loop of rope (tie some cams or something to it) to the stranded climber.
The stranded climber then can lower out (like on a big wall) off their gear anchor until they are back in plum with the second climbers anchor. Then pull the ropes through the gear anchor and continue rapping.

I don't know what really happened, but i will say that Carolyn is a very experienced and intelligent climber. I imagine that something really weird happened up there...

Nick D'Ambrosio wrote:Why would they remove the helicopter from the park? Doesn't make to much sense.

The helicopter is from Teton Helitack, an interagency ship that is based out of Jackson Hole. It was in Rocky for support for the Cow Creek fire.

A few years ago, a friend and I encountered a near dilemma that might have led to such a situation.

We had done a route on the Diamond. We were rapping the D7 rappels. I rapped 1st on one of the middle rappels. I see one station to the right. My friend raps, sees another "better looking" rap to the left at the same level. My friend considers stopping there and pulling the ropes...at which I yell, "NOOOOOOO!!!!"

Awoken from the stupor of descent on rappel of a longish day, we escaped this situation without a chopper.

While it might be fun to speculate, lets just remember it's speculation, and take care in how much we spin off of things. I know both climbers personally, and neither one would EVER leave the other unless it was the ONLY option. I say this with absolute certainty. They are competent, proficient climbers; they are passionate, calculated, and some of the most humble climbers I know. They approach the alpine world with respect.
Reece, the climbers were not able to rejoin.

I would trust both climbers with my life any day. I think Eli sums it up perfectly.

Glad they're both safe and back home.

i would really like to hear the details of the situation. i honestly can't think of any case in which it would be necessary to leave an un-injured climber in that location. there are probably a 1000 options available, particularly given the number of crack systems and available protection up there, to a semi-competent climber with any sort of technical knowledge.

i think a lot of times "competence" is confused with being able to climb at a certain grade level. they aren't necessarily the same thing.

wow!! you guys have some pretty strong opinions!! apparently you have never had "shit happen". well , it does! and it doesnt help when people dont know the details and still want to put in thier 2 cents worth. im glad they got off safley and nothing bad happened:) being prepared is one thing....but when you are prepared and shit happens, then what do you think? oh im a jackass because because i didnt prepare for something that is very improbable, no you think "oh shit, i wish that wouldnt have happened!" now lets find the best option and and go with it. so apparently leaving one person there was the best option, otherwise they wouldnt have been stuck there. jmo