Stoned Oven (Black Canyon) Rescue

Anyone have more info on this Black Canyon accident and rescue?
https://www.gjsentinel.com/news/western_colorado/when-a-climber-became-stuck-at-the-base-of-black/article_075a20d6-efd6-11e9-9021-20677ce05640.html

HOLY COW

I was there that weekend. We were climbing up-canyon on the North Rim the day of the rescue. Had zero clue this was happening downstream until we went to drop off our permit and chatted with a ranger outside the station.  

When I had asked how the Ranger's day was, oblivious to the feat they had accomplished, he said casually, "Eh, just hauled a guy 2000 feet up North Chasm from the river."   Rangers were first alerted when visitors at the South Rim heard shouts for "Help", supposedly. Luckily the climber suffered just a broken ankle, he said. Had it been a traumatic head injury, they would have Heli-ed him out somehow. I thanked him for the service they provide. Badass Rangers. It's good to know they've got our back.

Maybe the fella will comment here and tell his story...

Fun Police wrote:

How much more information would one need? 

Side note: did you ever go clean up the trash you left behind in The Black? 

Like most stories from non-climbing news sources, there’s a lot of detail missing that would be good to know.

Side note: yes.

That is amazing... 1800 ft haul.... I would love to see that set up, was anyone around anyone have pics of the pulley set-up and anchors? This stuff is so cool to me.

Jon Hillis wrote: That is amazing... 1800 ft haul.... 

Hold my beer ...Imma speed rap the hell outta dis here rope

Jon Hillis wrote: That is amazing... 1800 ft haul.... I would love to see that set up, was anyone around anyone have pics of the pulley set-up and anchors? This stuff is so cool to me.

We (Zion sar) when i spent time with them used 

All systems were twin tension 

A tripod called the artificial high directional

Rope management from the CMC rescue MPD 

Pulleys from rock exotica 

8mm prussics on 11mm rope

A lot of hands on the haul line 

Am curious about the post-analysis on this one. When you are injured half way out of a ditch, is rapping down to the bottom the best choice?

Never been to the Black. Know little of their circumstances including the route.   So it may not be hard to make a case that my question is stupid.

Fritz, I can't get a link, but there are more photos on the Ouray county Search and Rescue Facebook page, probably the other SAR will write it up too. It is also of great interest to SAR units, I'm sure!

How much does that much rope weigh???!?

Glad the climbers are okay, hope the injured one heals up well and quickly. Great work, rescue teams!!

Best, Helen

Jon Hillis wrote: That is amazing... 1800 ft haul.... I would love to see that set up, was anyone around anyone have pics of the pulley set-up and anchors? This stuff is so cool to me.

Say you set up a three to one pulley system. That means the rescuers had to haul 5400 feet of rope, over a mile. Hopefully there were volunteers to help with that. Lots of stopping and starting, too.

Tim Stich wrote:

Say you set up a three to one pulley system. That means the rescuers had to haul 5400 feet of rope, over a mile. Hopefully there were volunteers to help with that. Lots of stopping and starting, too.

Yes to both of those. I did some pretty large hauls as part of training. ZSAR has hauled folks 1000ft before.

Depending on how much room you have in a top management scenario, you can have 10 responders per system running the rope back as far as circumstances allow. That could be 100ft at a time. So 54 resets would be pretty standard. 

Bill Lawry wrote: Am curious about the post-analysis on this one. When you are injured half way out of a ditch, is rapping down to the bottom the best choice?

Never been to the Black. Know little of their circumstances including the route.   So it may not be hard to make a case that my question is stupid.

From the article, it seems like lack of daylight was a concern, given that the rangers started hauling the next day. The climbers probably preferred the prospect of spending a night by the river in relative shelter instead of exposed on the cliff.

I’ll ask the rangers this weekend for more info (what pitch he fell on, did he rip gear, etc.). Until then I was hoping someone involved might be able to fill in the story.
Major props to the rangers and SAR for taking care of the climbers. 

I'm the guy that busted his leg. This was my first and hopefully last rescue (also my first time in the black canyon) Can't thank all those involved enough for getting me out safely. These people are bad ass, and mostly volunteers. Also I owe my buddy Mitch big time for keeping things cool on the raps down and jumping into the conga line to help with the haul.

On the way down with the litter, they collected every single cam and trundled some big blocks that rained down and exploded all around the little cave we were hiding in. Was quite the show.  
For most of the haul they used a 3-1 on both lines, switching to a 1-1 on one of them towards the top. This was probably because of all the personnel there for training that just so happened to be scheduled that sunday.
Nick Wasser was positioned above me most of the way and navigated some really complicated terrain. Major props to him. Kept me safe and made it look easy. It was a mind blowing ride, would recommend.

Regarding the actual fall: After the airy traverse on pitch 6, I took an unfortunate fall on easier climbing (the nice flake leading into the corner below enduro) and clipped the right facing ramp below. It was obviously poor judgement on my part not to place another cam when entering the flake.

Bill Lawry:
I thought they would probably be hauling me up, but we had no idea anyone knew we needed help until about the last rap when we heard the loudspeaker. It was actually a beautiful bivy on a clear night and my partner had a hydro that was much appreciated. The following nights were much worse pain wise.

Tibia and fibula closed displaced fractures. Just got screwed back together this afternoon actually.

Aaron Hedges wrote: Bill Lawry:
I thought they would probably be hauling me up, but we had no idea anyone knew we needed help until about the last rap when we heard the loudspeaker. It was actually a beautiful bivy on a clear night and my partner had a hydro that was much appreciated. The following nights were much worse pain wise.

You remind me of a couple points in that decision to go down and the aftermath, Aaron.

Even without an injury, an overnight bivouac or longer can be uncomfortable.  The size and relative flatness of the site can make a big difference in how one feels / functions over the long haul - more so with an injury.  And access to water matters.

Going to the bottom probably afforded room to maneuver out of harms way from the overhead trundling.  I know of a rescue by helicopter where the overhead activity dislodged rocks resulting in a second person being injured.

Best wishes in your recovery. I have a remarkably similar image of my right ankle from nine years ago.  I suspect you will also recover well with time.

Man how much does 5400 ft of rope weigh? do they chopper in all the directional tripod and rope? Someone said 1000 ft rope was used, is that on a massive spool or do you super men hump that in? I saw a video once of a line like this being used on El Cap. I think that was a continuous 2kft line on a massive spool. It was choppered to the top then spooled out down the face. I don't recall if that was for rescue or just training. 

Aaron Hedges wrote: 

Ouch!!  Damn but that looks like a fun one.  Best wishes on the recovery, hope you're back on your feet soon!

Old lady H wrote: 
How much does that much rope weigh???!?

Using Camp 11mm static line as a reference. Claimed weight is 2.7oz/ meter. 1800ft is about 549 meters. 549x2.7=1482oz÷16=92.6 pounds of rope.

Jon Hillis wrote: Man how much does 5400 ft of rope weigh? do they chopper in all the directional tripod and rope? Someone said 1000 ft rope was used, is that on a massive spool or do you super men hump that in?

You can drive almost to the rim of the wall. Unlike Yosemite, all roads, services, campgrounds, etc are at the top, with the walls below.

Aaron - glad you made it out and are on your way to recovery.  Can't even imagine how much pain you were going through on the raps to the floor....fuuuuuck.  The calm collected demeanor of Mitch and the rescue Team was incredible to witness....as was the massive haul sunday morning.  Just another day in the Black I guess.  With all the rangers in town, sounds like it was the best weekend to huck your meat.

Heal up soon and fully expect to see you back in black next spring / fall.

More insight that might be helpful: Obviously in a place like the black if you were to get injured half way up the wall usually the easiest and fastest way to get rescued is to stay put and rescuers will come in from above and haul you out, assuming they know you need rescue. In Aaron and I's case we knew immediately we were pretty fucked. We didn't have a spot or any emergency transceiver and although we called for help we were both pretty sure that no one could hear us and that we were on our own. Obviously this was not the case, somehow tourists heard our calls and alerted rangers very quickly after the accident happened. My plan was to get us off the wall and get Aaron in a place where he could lay down, elevate his leg, we could get more water, he could take the narcotic pain pills I brought, and I could climb out the cruise gully to get help.

The raps were nightmarish and I left over 800 dollars of gear as anchors and our ropes got stuck at one point and I had to leave Aaron and ascend our 9.0mm rope that was clearly rubbing on some sort of edge. Not fun at all. Obviously. After getting to the terra firma rangers met up with us immediately which was awesome. I was informed that if we stayed put they would have tried to haul us out that same day, or if Aaron was more injured they had a Helicopter from grand canyon NP on standby so that they could short haul him out. They told us that going down was a good call and were happy that we came prepared with narcotics, warm layers, ect. Huge thanks to all the rangers, and rescuers who enacted a complex rescue effectively and efficiently all while keeping everyone in good spirits. It was a very cool operation to be a part of, and Aaron got the god damn ride of his life. This experience highlighted the fact that falling in the black is never ideal and bringing pain pills, emergency transceiver, and warm layers is always a good idea.

Mitch Friedeman wrote:
...I left over 800 dollars of gear as anchors...

BOOTY ALERT!

Glad everyone made it out safe though...