I am going to be decending Englestead Hollow this month and I keep reading that there is a rap that has a high danger of getting a rope stuck. Can anyone elaborate on this. And are there any changes that anyone is aware of.
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I am going to be decending Englestead Hollow this month and I keep reading that there is a rap that has a high danger of getting a rope stuck. Can anyone elaborate on this. And are there any changes that anyone is aware of.
I'm guessing this is the big two-stage entry rappel?Quote:
Originally Posted by Biner
:ne_nau: Iceaxe?
Don't know where you are reading the stuck rope part from..... but its not true if you rig your ropes correctly.Quote:
Originally Posted by Biner
We always test the pull before the last man slides down. That extra little effort will greatly cut down on the chance of sticking ropes. Sometimes the third (?) rap is a hard pull if the sling is not extended to the edge of the rappel. The problem is the anchor takes a lot of webbing to rig correctly and folks try and be miserly which creates a difficult pull.
I did stick a rope once on the entrance rappel, but it was a freak thing. The girl I was with tied a knot in the end of the rappel line because she had heard that was a good thing to stop you from rappelling off the end, I told her "don't do it", but chicks never listen to me...... :ne_nau:
Anyhoo.... she was rappelling to the mid-wall transfer station and the rappel rope stretched and the knot stuck in a crack. Now the girl was really stuck and couldn't do much because the knot created a bomber fireman's belay. I just rigged a rope with a biner on the end and lowered it to her, she clipped into the biner and released her belay device and I lowered her to the transfer station. Then I was able to release the stuck rope from above.
Just check you pulls before the last man down and you should be fine.
:popcorn:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Iceaxe
Oh man - what a mess!! :popcorn:
I'm really not sure how I would have handled the situation if it had of happened to the last man down. The rappel line was strung really tight. If I were last, I guess I could have climbed down with my t-blocs or made some prussic's from webbing. This is anther good example of why you should learn to climb with your pack on. I hate it when guys lower their packs or just toss them down. If things screw up they have very little to work with. If your pack is on your back you have more options.
......this reminds me of anther story. I was once canyoneering with a guy who kept tossing his pack. During our second canyon of the day he tosses his pack, only problem was he forgot to remove our only rope before tossing..... :doh:
Lucky I was able to downclimb the drop, but it was really sketchy and not something I would normally downclimb. Major penalty points if I had of peeled off....
I'll be nice and not mention any names..... cause it was a member of this forum :wave:
:lol8: 1...2...3...NOT IT!!! :lol8:Quote:
Originally Posted by Iceaxe
Last year we were at the bottom of the entrance rappel and pulled our ropes (300 footer, 200 footer and 100' pull cord). We were in the process of packing them up when another party arrived at the top. I happened to be looking up when the guy threw out this rope. Well he wasn't paying attention and threw his rope right into the big downed tree that hangs out into the abyss over the entry rappel. Huge, tangled mess. We watched as a guy tried to shimmy out (tied to who knows what), then chicken out and retreat. After watching them for about 30 minutes we finally gave up and continued down canyon. I always wondered what they did. I've attached a few pics to show the location and dead fall tree.Quote:
Originally Posted by Biner
Last September, right? I was in that party. (Not my rope, not my toss.) It quickly became clear that it was hopeless to simply yank on the rope. While me *might* have succeeded in dislodging the snag, we could still hear your voices down below, and who knows if we could have held onto the rope once the tree fell--and if we could have pulled the rope up and later trusted it if the tree remained attached.Quote:
I always wondered what they did. I've attached a few pics to show the location and dead fall tree.
We took turns clipping into a tree, then dangling a smaller branch to try to unthread the loops of rope from amongst the snag. This was very difficult to do without feeling dreadfully exposed. Almost there, and then, doh! Looped around two more branches. The rope's owner despaired that it would remain there indefinitely, never mind missing out on the canyon. Finally, after an hour, one of us found a large 10-15 foot tree limb and at long last maneuvered the rope off the snag. We completed the canyon, with thankfully much less excitement the rest of the day.
Been there - done that - slept with her.... err...... I mean been there and done that. :haha:Quote:
Originally Posted by nelsonccc
This toss and tangle happened to us in Heaps. One of the trees/bushes overhanging a pothole drop combo..... took about 1/2 hour to get the rope free. Moral to the story.... watch where you toss.
:five:
Just curious, were rope bags used in either of these two errant tosses? Ever since I shelled out the shekels for Tom's rope silos, that problem seems to be diminished greatly 'cause you can aim the bag a bit better and the rope is confined to the bag not a big flailing mess. I am a believer in rope bags. I had the same problem at the two stage rap in Behunin once with the bushes below the big pine tree anchor. Not any more since we added the rope silo to the arsenal.
I wasn't using a rope bag...... and you are probably correct about rope bags helping with the problem. But I did watch the Emperor himself stick his rope bag in the top of the tree at the exit rappel to Not Mindbender. :haha:
Do you mean Mindbender? There aren't any trees either at the top or bottom of Not Mindbender.Quote:
Originally Posted by Iceaxe
Mindbender is a different story -- you practically drop right into a forest at the bottom of the exit rap.
Yeah... it was Mind Bender. I had to go to the video tape to verify which was which.... good thing canyoneering has now adopted instant reply :haha:Quote:
Originally Posted by rockgremlin
Quote:
Originally Posted by Iceaxe
Speaking of instant replay and mindbender. I was reading that mindbender actually had bolts at the final rappel for a period of time. The bolts were pulled by the madboltchopper a little while back. I never noticed the patches.
does anyone have any good photos of these patched up bolt holes?
Honestly.... if someone does a good job of pulling and patching bolt holes you will never see them unless you look really hard for them.