Hair caught in Rappel Device on Pine Creek

[Sombeech]

Just a reminder to watch for long hair and/or loose clothing when rappelling. A friend of mine just posted this on her facebook:

Went canyoneering in Zion today. Rappelled off a 100' cliff and 5' from the bottom, my pigtail gets stuck in the rappel device... Thank goodness Cody could reach me so I could sit on his shoulders while Brad cut 3" of hair off with a pocketknife.

44838

[ghawk]

interesting. I took some friends through pine creek yesterday and same thing happened to a girl in my group with her pigtail, but not as bad. It was near the top and we almost had someone come down and set up a prusik for her but she was able to cinch up on her device a bit and pull it out, left behind some hair though. No pigtails!! a pony tail would be good and if its long shove it down the back of your shirt or something. watch out for scarves too. We were doing a canyon in January a few years ago and my friend's scarf got pulled up into his device, kind of scary with that thing around his neck, but he was able to get out okay. Same friend once got a pull cord pulled up through his device because he was rappeling single strand the pull cord got twisted up with it and sucked up through his atc. be careful.

[peakbaggers]

Years ago on the 3rd flatiron in Boulder, some guys rappeling off ahead of us on a very windy day got into trouble. One of them had fairly long hair & it got caught in his rappel device about midway down a 75 ft drop. They called for help and we set us a parallel rappel. I went down to him & pulled out a pocket knife to cut the hair & the guy said, "You're not going to cut my hair, are you?" I responded, "That's the only way we're gettin' you out of here." He finally relented & I cut a couple inches off. Could hardly believe how worried he was about his hair!:roll:
More recently, had a girl in our group one time that got her shirt caught up. Could have been rather embarassing.:oops: So now, I constantly remind people, tuck away everything loose - shirts, pack straps, hair, belts, you name it.

[Scott Card]

Ummm, a joker (releasable rap) at the top would be a very easy fix to this problem. I am now of the opinion that if you take upon yourself the duty of leading anyone in a canyon you ought to know this setup. You can lower to the bottom in mere seconds anyone who is hung up.

[canyoncaver]

As Scott said, this is a great example of when a contingency anchor would come in handy.

Another approach that would save hair and use of knives is to have everyone wear and know how to use ascenders, or at least some prusiks. You could transfer weight to the ascenders and easily retrieve your hair. This approach requires no communication to the top, no knives near weighted rope, and no loss of hair.

For your consideration...

[Sandyfeet]

I got my sternum strap caught in my ATC in Neon on the last rap and I was able to do the triple leg wrap with the ropes on my right leg and lifted myself up and cleared it my knife was handy but this worked for me. And I am alway the one harping on getting everything tucked in too...

[nelsonccc]

She looks hot.

[tcott]

We had one girl get her shirt stuck followed by another girl getting her hair stuck on the final rap in mystery last year. Ended up rigging a haul system off a tree and getting them both free without cutting anything.

[Pubalz]

:iagree:
She looks hot.

[BLUEberryBOB]

Hmmm.... This reminds me of a movie that just came out where a girl had her scalp torn from her head from her hair being caught in the friction catch.

[jumar]

Ummm, a joker (releasable rap) at the top would be a very easy fix to this problem. I am now of the opinion that if you take upon yourself the duty of leading anyone in a canyon you ought to know this setup. You can lower to the bottom in mere seconds anyone who is hung up.

Got a link describing this?

[Brian in SLC]

Another approach that would save hair and use of knives is to have everyone wear and know how to use ascenders, or at least some prusiks. You could transfer weight to the ascenders and easily retrieve your hair. This approach requires no communication to the top, no knives near weighted rope, and no loss of hair..

Might sound nice in theory. You ever practised holding on to a rappel, thinking about having your hair stuck, and with one hand rigging a Prusik knot? Not an easy thing to do.

Getting your weight off a rappel isn't that easy when you're "on rappel" especially when you've sucked your hair (or anything) into your rap device.

Snapping on a handled ascender pre-rigged with a foot stirrup might work. Who rappels with a rig like that handy? I guess maybe some should...

Contingency anchoring would be the trick. I like a figure eight locked off m'self.

I get super nervious when folks start talking about having a knife around a loaded rope...

Out of all the epic rappel issues I've heard over the years, the hair in the rappel device has to be one of the worst. Glad she turned out ok.

[canyoncaver]

Might sound nice in theory. You ever practised holding on to a rappel, thinking about having your hair stuck, and with one hand rigging a Prusik knot? Not an easy thing to do.

Agreed. This is why I would advocate ascenders over prusiks. They can be attached very quickly and easily. Not talking about theory here, as you imply, but rather good habits and daily practices that can keep us out of trouble. What would this team have done if the girl was more than 5' off the ground?


Getting your weight off a rappel isn't that easy when you're "on rappel" especially when you've sucked your hair (or anything) into your rap device.

It can be quite easy if you have practiced changeovers until they are second nature and happen to be wearing the appropriate gear to do one.


Snapping on a handled ascender pre-rigged with a foot stirrup might work. Who rappels with a rig like that handy? I guess maybe some should...

Contingency anchoring would be the trick. I like a figure eight locked off m'self.

Now you're catching on. Cavers rappel with a rig like that handy, because sometimes we get ourselves into trouble and need to have it handy.

The crew I usually go into canyons with are cavers and we always wear some sort of lightweight ascending rig. Usually not handles, I have a croll with a long spectra sling attached for a footloop. It is tethered to my harness by some of that skinny Titan cord that is super strong. When daisy-chained up the whole thing is really small, about as bulky as two large carabiners. We also wear a croll on a chest harness (think webbing loop) which I know is weird to some canyoneers based on the looks we get. Anyway, our background and school of thought is just a little different than that of most canyoneers but we wouldn't think of rappelling without wearing some up gear for contingency. The hair in the device thing is just one of many incidents that can be self-corrected if you are wearing your climbing setup.

I have long hair, and in 18 years of caving I have gotten some hair sucked into my descender on at least three occasions. Didn't need the ascenders in any of the cases, but I could have (and still could) end up in the same situation as Sombeech's friend. If I did, I would attach the upper ascender, stand up in the footloop, and attach the seat croll. Thinking it through in my head, allowing for fumbling to get the gear off my harness with one hand, I think I could have the weight off of the descender in about 10-15 seconds.

As Scott stated, and I reiterated, and then you stated again, the contingency figure 8 anchor is also another good way to go, although it does not help the last guy down.


I get super nervious when folks start talking about having a knife around a loaded rope...

You and I certainly agree 100% on this point. There are other options, usually better ones.


Out of all the epic rappel issues I've heard over the years, the hair in the rappel device has to be one of the worst.

Can't agree with you here. I can think of many actual rappel incidents that are much worse, like people getting knocked unconscious by rocks and people getting stuck and freezing to death on ropes in waterfalls. Getting hair in a rap device is one that can definitely turn serious, but one that can be easily solved by trained canyoneers with a small amount of gear. We've already identified several ways in this thread that the knife could have been left in the pack.

I'm not trying to preach here guys, just wanting to share the wealth. I have learned a lot of good techniques by hanging out with canyoneers. Occasionally I think that there are ideas and techniques from the caving world that are worth sharing in the other direction. Maybe this will be a good tool in the toolbox for someone out there.

[Brian in SLC]

Can't agree with you here. I can think of many actual rappel incidents that are much...

I guess what I meant was friends' rappel epics (ie, stories I've heard from friends). Had a friend stuck on a free hanging rappel by her hair for a number of hours on a spire. Crazy. Sounded awfully painful.

Good points above. I wear a mechanical ascender for most "adult" type canyon stuff. Rarely rig a contingency anchor, though. Usually not an issue with long hair for most of the folks I do canyon stuff with.

Ever seen the cover photo of the "How to Rappel" book by Luebben from Falcon Press? Hilarious. Long hair, shirt not tucked in, and, figure eight rigged upside down.

44885

[accadacca]

She looks hot.

:lol8:


I guess what I meant was friends' rappel epics (ie, stories I've heard from friends). Had a friend stuck on a free hanging rappel by her hair for a number of hours on a spire. Crazy. Sounded awfully painful.

Good points above. I wear a mechanical ascender for most "adult" type canyon stuff. Rarely rig a contingency anchor, though. Usually not an issue with long hair for most of the folks I do canyon stuff with.

Ever seen the cover photo of the "How to Rappel" book by Luebben from Falcon Press? Hilarious. Long hair, shirt not tucked in, and, figure eight rigged upside down.

44885

$9.95 and you can learn from the pros: :roflol: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1560447591/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=bogloutdcomm-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217153&creative=399349&creativeASIN=1560447591

[Scott Card]

Got a link describing this?

Here is one from the ACA

http://www.canyoneering.net/forums/showthread.php?2500-The-Totem&p=12809#post12809

[canyoncaver]

Ever seen the cover photo of the "How to Rappel" book by Luebben from Falcon Press? Hilarious. Long hair, shirt not tucked in, and, figure eight rigged upside down.

44885

I just saw that the other day at REI! I believe WTF were the first words out of my mouth.

[Brian in SLC]

I just saw that the other day at REI! I believe WTF were the first words out of my mouth.

Get a chuckle out of it everytime I see it. Keep looking for the caption that reads, "examples of what not to do" but haven't found that yet. Silly.

The book seems fair, though.

[nielse2]

If your taking noobs, its a pretty common thing. Last year I had a girl 100 feet off the ground on the last rappell in Behunion... Good we were using two ropes and not a pull cord, otherwise we may have had some difficulties...

44886

Now I always rig my totem in a releasable anchor. Its the simplist way to avoid a very common problem. I was stupid not to do it in the first place, and so is anyone else who doesnt. Plus its a hell of a lot easier than trying to teach a noob to ascend...

[jman]

Tsk tsk.....Noobs with boobs...so many problems...lol

I didn't realize how common this incident happens. I've heard stories here and there...but it seems like most of you have a personal experience with it.

It's all you dang hippies with your long hair...haha

[trackrunner]

Ummm, a joker (releasable rap) at the top would be a very easy fix to this problem. I am now of the opinion that if you take upon yourself the duty of leading anyone in a canyon you ought to know this setup. You can lower to the bottom in mere seconds anyone who is hung up.

good point. not just a joker but any contingency anchor rigging would have allowed her to keep her hair: 8 block, munter mule, even an ATC can be rig for contingency.

[trackrunner]

And Ram has a great Ram's Tales on this topic (http://www.math.utah.edu/%7Esfolias/canyontales/ram/?i=amyhair)

[tanya]

I learned that even long braids get stuck. No helmet in this shot, but have the tight shirt and hair up! Brian that cover is funny. I started wearing a helmet shortly after this trip too.

44916

[Sandyfeet]

My knife that was handy was folded (it locks open and closed) in my zippered pocket in my front pants pocket, nowhere near the ropes. it can be opened and closed with one hand. No its not a swithblade..