Man falls to his death while rappelling in Zion National Park

This one hits a little too close to home. No names released yet, but I'm very concerned I know this person.

  stgeorgeutah.com/news/man-f…

Bit more info here gripped.com/news/man-dies-r…

Tragic loss for his young family.

https://opiniion.com/blog/opiniion-mourns-the-loss-of-justin-bingham-our-ceo/

Does anyone know the details of the accident? Has anything been published determining the cause?

Taylor Maughan wrote:

Does anyone know the details of the accident? Has anything been published determining the cause?

There's an accident report in the works but not yet released.

In the Zion Canyoneering Facebook group, there's been talk of the deceased losing control of his rappel. Specifically he was using a Kong Hydrobot - a device that is apparently difficult to add friction to when on a free hanging rap (the final rap in Heaps is ~300' free hanging). There may have been a rope diameter issue as well with that device.

As that group is a hidden, private group, I'm reluctant to add more here.

Marc…. Tragic event.

I offer my sincere condolences to the Man’s Family and Friends.

You should add more- if this is a technical issue people need to know- the why.

Cheers 

Marc801 C wrote:

There's an accident report in the works but not yet released.

In the Zion Canyoneering Facebook group, there's been talk of the deceased losing control of his rappel. Specifically he was using a Kong Hydrobot - a device that is apparently difficult to add friction to when on a free hanging rap (the final rap in Heaps is ~300' free hanging). There may have been a rope diameter issue as well with that device.

As that group is a hidden, private group, I'm reluctant to add more here.

Damn sad. I looked that device up as I had no familiarity with it, but it looks like a perfect device for that kind of scenario. There are multiple ways to rig it, or add more friction while rappelling....hmmm. Would be nice to get more info in case this is not just a one off accident.  https://www.kong.it/en/product/hydrobot/

Here’s the accident report:

https://canyonaccident.org/heaps-2024-10-05/

More info about Heaps here:

https://www.canyoneeringusa.com/zion/technical/heaps-imlay-intro

Marc801 C wrote:

Here’s the accident report:

https://canyonaccident.org/heaps-2024-10-05/

More info about Heaps here:

https://www.canyoneeringusa.com/zion/technical/heaps-imlay-intro

Marc Thanks 

Very informative analysis.

Guy Keesee wrote:

Marc Thanks 

Very informative analysis.

Yet there are a number of glaring issues with that report. 

Not sure I understand why the rope remained tensioned so long as to strand the rest of the team above overnight when there was a team below 

We might think something like this couldn't happen, to us. Anecdotal sure, but...

8 raps off an alpine rock climb. We were using double ropes that belonged to my partner, they were super skinny (even skinnier these days). I was using a tube-style device, which normally gives plenty of friction. But these ropes were brand new and this was my first time using them. 

First rap, hmmm, I noticed insufficient friction and adjusted by holding the rap rope more behind my back to get additional friction from my hip. All was well, or so I thought. But I didn't account for the effect of the weight of the rope itself adding help with my grip. I noticed, as I descended the ropes, with each passing foot the trailing rope got lighter (of course) and I had to compensate with greater grip strength. Still in control, we continued. I said nothing to my partner and I did not attempt to add friction to my rap setup.

Oh, we didn't use 3rd hands in those days, even though I knew how.

A few more pitches down, and dehydrated from a long, hard (for me) climb in the alpine, I noticed my rap hand was starting to cramp. As we proceeded it got worse. What I didn't realize, until it was too late, was the last 2 raps to the ground were actually overhanging, free hanging raps. 2 ropes from the ground and about 50 feet from the last rap anchor, I genuinely became worried I would lose my grip entirely. Still, stupidly, I did not try to fix it and instead we continued down. 

20 feet from the ground my hand gave out and I zipped the last bit, but didn't ... quite... completely lose control (but I did). I was lucky to be alive, and lucky I didn't get hurt at all. But that episode woke me up to several things:

1. If your rap system isn't up to par, fix it as soon as you notice, not 5 raps later (which may be way way too late).
2. The weight of the trailing rope has an impact on both grip and friction, in a way I didn't understand, that the closer I got to the end, the more grip strength I needed to stay controlled. This made the last couple of dozen feet or so to each rap station an exercise in fear control.
3. I should have said something to my far more experienced partner. On the ground, after the fact, he lectured me on this and said he didn't want to be part of anymore body recoveries in the mountains.

The article mentioned that bottom end rap belays on super long ropes may prove insufficient if the rapper loses control, due to the time it takes to get the stretch out of the system and indeed the stretch may make any catch impossible, so not the same failure mode at all, I get it. 

My point is, it took a near accident for me to understand the dynamic of rappels can be more complex than we might think at first, and over-hanging raps sort of brings out the worst case scenarios.

I went on to correct my deficiencies. Big wall climbing was very helpful for that, rapping on El Cap with haulbag attached to harness is a perfect example.

Cherokee Nunes wrote:

But that episode woke me up to several things:

1. If your rap system isn't up to par, fix it as soon as you notice, not 5 raps later (which may be way way too late).
2. The weight of the trailing rope has an impact on both grip and friction, in a way I didn't understand, that the closer I got to the end, the more grip strength I needed to stay controlled. This made the last couple of dozen feet or so to each rap station an exercise in fear control.
3. I should have said something to my far more experienced partner. On the ground, after the fact, he lectured me on this and said he didn't want to be part of anymore body recoveries in the mountains.

4.  Use a third hand friction hitch (every time).  Especially after reading about the fireman's failing.

Thanks for the report Cherokee.  Glad you didn't get creamed.

The deceased even had a fireman's belay (person pulling down on the bottom of the rope) and it didn't save him. I suspect that with 300 feet of rope, and reportedly it was only semi-static, not static, there's too much rope stretch in the system for a fireman's belay to save the day if the rappeller loses control. 

Marc801 C wrote:

Yet there are a number of glaring issues with that report. 

What's jumping out at you Marc?  Not questioning your statement at all, just curious.   Reading it I felt like I didn't know enough about canyoneering systems to fully understand.

I found the idea interesting that a less dynamic rope would introduce less stretch/slack into the system below the desending climber, and that could affect the efficacy of a fireman's belay from below (if this is indeed what they were doing--I wasn't sure). 

Sad and thought provoking.  

Jay Anderson wrote:

4.  Use a third hand friction hitch (every time).  Especially after reading about the fireman's failing.

Thanks for the report Cherokee.  Glad you didn't get creamed.

In canyoneering, when in water obstacles, many times you would NOT want a 3rd hand. It can be deadly to do so.
Just pointing out that canyoneering is a different sport than climbing so your advice is solid for the climbing space, but not accurate for canyoneering space.

Bruno Schull wrote:

I found the idea interesting that a less dynamic rope would introduce less stretch/slack into the system below the desending climber, and that could affect the efficacy of a fireman's belay from below (if this is indeed what they were doing--I wasn't sure). 

A little quick math sheds light on the issue. A normal dynamic climbing rope elongates 10% under static load of 80 Kg. So 300 feet of rope would stretch 30 feet or so. That would lead to a very bouncy rappel, Among other things. A typical "static" rope stretches 1%-3% under the same load. So 3-10 feet of stretch. The rope in question was an Edelweiss model that lists its stretch as 4.5%. So 4.5% of 300 - approximately 15 feet of stretch in the system.

We also don't know how much the individual weighed with their gear. Could have been far in excess of 80 KG. 

Mr Rogers wrote:

In canyoneering, when in water obstacles, many times you would NOT want a 3rd hand. It can be deadly to do so.
Just pointing out that canyoneering is a different sport than climbing so your advice is solid for the climbing space, but not accurate for canyoneering space.

Thanks.  I stand corrected.

Bruno Schull wrote:

What's jumping out at you Marc?  Not questioning your statement at all, just curious.   

Actually I stand corrected. The way it’s worded I didn’t realize it was a fireman’s belay until several rereadings and the comments here.

Not saying this happened. Or that this prevented Justin from keeping his rap under control. Still, once the belayer starts pulling down on the rope and taking out some stretch - especially just in anticipation, hasn’t all hope of adding friction at the rap device been effectively abandoned?

I have no experience with devices designed for adding friction while on rappel. I imagine some are easier than others for someone to effectively overcome any tension on the brake strand to do what’s needed to increase friction.

Edit: Also curious to know what “strange oscillations” in the rope meant. I have observed a stretchy skinny rope cyclically a) shoot through the belay device for many feet, b) stop, c) stretch again as the rap continued, and then repeat ‘a’ ‘b’ ‘c’ many times. That would cause the tail of the rope to go up and down in a periodic way. This was on a double rope rap with one rope wetter than the other and so stretchier. Just relaying an experience and not necessarily attaching it to this accident.

Bill Lawry wrote:

Edit: Also curious to know what “strange oscillations” in the rope meant. I have observed a stretchy skinny rope cyclically a) shoot through the belay device for many feet, b) stop, c) stretch again as the rap continued, and then repeat ‘a’ ‘b’ ‘c’ many times. That would cause the tail of the rope to go up and down in a periodic way. This was on a double rope rap with one rope wetter than the other and so stretchier. Just relaying an experience and not necessarily attaching it to this accident.

This is what I meant by a "bouncy" rappel in my post above. I've experienced it on overhanging longer raps on a normal climbing rope. I can imagine it would get pretty wild with 300 feet of rope.