My Rappelling Accident in Moab
So my friend and I had this trip planned out for Moab from Last Sunday till this Thursday.
We planned to do Big Horn, Corona Arch, Tierdrop, Elephante Butte, Medieval Chamber, Hunter Canyon and a few other hikes.
On Sunday afternoon we drove down from Northern Utah and found a good campsite along the Colorado. The entire area was soaked and mini streams and waterfals were abundunt. Also, on Sunday the campsites were nearly full and most hotels were full.
My friend Ian and slept in till 8:30 and decided to do The Tunnel and Big Horn first. We arrived at the cottonwod wash around 9:30. I have previously visited the tunnel on a previous trip but Ian has not. We reached the Tunnel and all of the sandstone was covered in a lot of dust and mud which made running up to the entrance virtually impossible. We both wanted to enter it so got creative and did a packtoss of my bag and got right inside the "pothole" at the entrance. We attached about 20feet of webbing to it and successfully climbed the webbing and entered the tunnel. Good practice and very cool!
So we continued on and worked our way up the scree slope to the top of the Plateau. That ascent is a beast but it paid off with all of the streams and waterfalls flowing over the rocks (btw - blue sunny skies). After 20 min on top of the plateau we found Big Horn and found some entrance webbing that people would use as a handline to descend it. This seemed a little boring to us so we decided to go back on top of the plataeu and look for another canyon. Either one one or two canyons above Big Horn we found our canyon.
The first 200ft is downclimable but only by experts due to the very steep slopes, wider canyon, and a few 4-5ft overhangs leading to the next pothole with a lip. We continued on and came to a 55ft rappel in a grotto. The grotto was very flat and there was no holes in the rock to create anchors and on all sides was very steep. And before you entered the grotto, there is a 20ft vry steep slide to enter it. Climbing out naturally would be nearly impossible without the aid of ascending gear and potshots, hooks, etc. So we were in this unescapable Grotto with only 3 rocks the size of basketballs. We found a few plants in there and dug with our hands and placed a deadman anchor behind the plants. We then successfully descended the 55 foot free rappel.
After that it led to more downclimbing and soon we found a ramp down the base of the cliffs and within 200 yards of downclimbing we hit the road and walked back to our car.
When we were in there, we found no bolts, no webbing, not even 1 single rope groove in the sandstone and figured this was a first descent in many months. The canyon was unimpressive and would not suggest that canyon to anyone. We named it "Not-BigHorn."
After this we had lunch at 4pm. We had a few options of what to do next and decided on Corona Arch Rappelling.
We were on top of the arch by 5:30pm. On top we took our time, laughed and talked, rested, and took lots of pictures. My friend Ian got cold-feet due to the free-rappel length and climbed back down to the bottom of the arch. I then clipped in and was ready to go! This would be my 5th time on this rappel. As I lowered myself down the rope (Imlay Fire 8.3mm, single strand on Biner block) I first noticed that I was going pretty fast. I stopped about 1/4 down and tied off to let my right hand rest and let my glove cool down. After 30seconds or so I continued down very slowly using my leg carabiner to slow me down too. At about 30-40 feet from the ground, my braking hand started to spasm and I was losing control of the braking. I tried immediately to stop the descent by pulling up and tieing up, but my hand would not budge...
End result..I dropped (AKA cratered) anywhere from 30-40 feet with no friction on the atc to slow me down. I dropped like a fat man. I didn't black out or anything and remember vividly of coming to the ground and landing on both ankles, which then immediately threw me on my back. When I landed, I also bit into my tongue and left 4-5 deep puncture wounds. I didn't bite anything off fortunately, and all the feeling has returned to all parts of my tongue, but initially it was bleeding for 30minutes or so.
As soon as I landed, I immediately thought that I broke both ankles, broke a rib, broke my back and possibly had some internal damage (from the compression of landing from so high up). I was in shock and was trying to make sense of my body's situation as I was almost crying while saying "ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ouch....." (I'm EMT-B certified) and my friend who was taking pictures of me from far away run to me immediately, and told him my instructions. Check my eyes for equal-ness, reactive-ness, and dilation. The told him to do a rapid body sweep checking for protruding bones or rigidness in the stomach, or neck abnormalities, etc. By this time, I was gaining control of the situation and confirmed I didn't hit my head or neck, and there was no back pain. Then I proceeded (while laying down of course) to wiggle my toes and fingers to see if there was any back nerve damage. I could move them! We continued checking my body for other damage besides the extruciating pain in my ankles. By this time it was after 7 and getting chilly, and the sun was starting to set. After about 10minutes of evaluating me, I told him to leave me the water, food and all the clothing he had and to elevate my feet. He then ran down to the Gold Bar campground (a mile+ one way) to ask to get some volunteers to create a harness and save me.
(We didn't have cell phone reception at all up there and I gave him my 2way radio to keep in communication while he ran for help).
What seemed like 20minutes to me as I was alone in my thoughts and said a small prayer of asking God to send some help for my friend, Ian came back with 3 other people which turned out to be more than an hour. By this time it was black outside, and everyone was running towards me with headlamps on.
To be continued later tonight......
