Bonehead mistake

I made a bonehead mistake today. Luckily, I got off without paying for it.

I rapped off of one of the ends of my rope. Fell 30 feet and then bounced a bit down a gully.

Only ill effects were a couple of holes in my softshell pants from ice screws, a big bruise on my leg, and a sore neck. (also melted the plastic covering on my belay device cable.)

I had set the rope up with the middle mark at the rappel biner, but I slid the rope through the biner when I was messing with a big tangle. So, I ended up rapping down on a rope pair with one end significantly shorter than the other. Hit the end of one of the ropes, and it was a free-fall from that point on.

I didn't bother knotting the ends of the rope, which I normally do, because I knew that the ropes were long enough to reach the ground. I didn't even think that there was any chance I'd rap off an end. It was just a "casual" day at a local ice crag, and I let my guard down.

So, the moral of the story is be careful. I'll be knotting the ends of my ropes from now on, even if I know they'll (theoretically) reach the ground.

Don't beat yourself up too much. You're alright, your partner is alright, and you got a free lesson, which it sounds like you're taking advantage of.

Wow! Great to hear you're ok, Kai - that must have been beyond scary.

Way way WAY better to read a 'bonehead report' than an RIP.

Here's another bonehead report: Last Christmas I was completely smitten with this gal. I wanted to show her the rock (sound familiar anyone?). We were in JTree, in a two-party queue, and had to hustle when we were offered the front. I led, she hung numerous times over a 60 foot drop with me saying "just hang there awhile and rest. You can do it!" When she got to the anchor, I saw that her harness wasn't doubled back. Although she didn't think it was a big deal, I couldn't stop thinking about it for at least a month.

I've come close to doing this twice in the last 15 years. Once when the AMGA guide I use to climb with set up the rap and I was use to trusting him with my life so I didn't check it and the 3rd guy of our team rapped. He came oh so close, he got lucky. The 2nd time I put the bicolor rope right so the middle was perfectly on the anchor. We both saw it and I can't say what happened as we were monkeyfucking around since it was a new route on a small stance still well off the deck with another rap to get to dirt. We had shit raining down on us as we pulled the rope and we were ducking under cover etc etc, but thank the good lord that my partner caught the error after it had moved, but before he got on rap. None of us are immune.

We only will get one chance unless we are crazy lucky: so congrats on that Kai. You get 2 chances!

Earlier this past summer I rapped off on doubles with nothing but by sticht plate and harness, I didn't even have my chalk bag which I use a cord instead of a belt in case I'd need it for an emergency.
At about 80' off the deck I rapped up to within 4" of an overhand knot on one line, and like I said I had nothing else with me to make a prussik. And it was in a hanging rappell situation too. All I could do is wrap the rope around my brake hand, then untie the knot one-handed with some help from my teeth. 2 big errors there, not checking the ropes when we tossed them and not having any back up.

Thank goodness this turned out to be a great way to remind everyone to always double-check for safety, instead of a report of a serious injury or worse. Thank you for sharing your story.

Although our group of friends have all been climbing for 15 - 20 years (and some even longer), we always make it a habit to check each others' knots, anchors, and rappel set-ups. I remember going out climbing with a new friend once who had also been climbing for many years. When we reached the top of a climb, I tied the 2 ropes together for our rappel and held the knot out in front of him, asking him to "check my knot." He laughed it off, saying that he was sure I knew how to tie the ropes, since I was an experienced climber. For me, it wasn't a matter of doubting my own ability -- it was all about avoiding a mistake due to distraction or whatever. Hey, I'm not proud. I make mistakes -- double-check my knot!

Be safe out there.