Moab - 2nd Rope Swing Death

[hesse15]

Condolences to the family and anyone else involved.
Unfortunately this is really starting to put a black eye on the sport...

never understand why people think those swing stuff are interesting at all?
i found the Spain nepalese bridges over river fun,but they are super safe and just pure fun!!!

seems like a lot of people in Utah just like to kill themselves doing unsafe stuff!

[rockgremlin]

seems like a lot of people in Utah just like to kill themselves doing unsafe stuff!

yup, that it's it. you nailed it.

[jguest]

From the article, as well as personal experience off the corona arch swing last year my friends and I did.......after you stop swinging, you uncoil your rappel rope (which is attached to you), step into a stirrup and then transition from the swing rope to the rappel rope. It's similar to passing a knot on a rope. A lot of people out there think that you just uncoil the rope and slide down the rest of the rope....but I have never seen it done that way.

So my guess is, he wasn't clipped into either ropes (well, clipped in securely) when he was transitioning from rope to rope and fumbled up the connection somehow.

What a awful way to go!...

Agreed. When we did the Corona Arch Rope swing last year I almost forgot to clip onto the rope with my belay device once when I was getting off the carabiners to rappel down. The adrenaline was still there and I was distracted by the people below who where talking to me. Luckily I caught my mistake before it was to late, but I can see this same mistake happening with this couple where he was distracted with her safety and whatnot and forgot to clip himself into the other rope before he got off the swing rope. We all just need to be careful and double check what we are doing.

[phatch]

Adrenaline clouds your thinking. You have to have built the muscle memory and safety training through practice beforehand as Iceaxe mentioned for these sorts of activities.

[Wasatch Rebel]

I think I might know his parents. I need to call them and see. They're my neighbors.

[recinutah]

Condolences to the family and anyone else involved.

Unfortunately this is really starting to put a black eye on the sport...

Climbing deaths have been around for decades and don't get much attention these days. Rope swings, on the other hand, are new and exotic. Probably no more dangerous, but people will think so due to the media exposure.

[recinutah]

...Probably no more dangerous, but people will think so due to the media exposure.

Actually, I take it back, they probably are more dangerous, but probably conducted mostly by people with more skill in rigging, anchoring, etc.

What I meant was rope swing fatality rates are probably no worse than climbing. That's still debatable, but makes a more accurate reflection of the opinion I was trying to express.

[jman]

Agreed. When we did the Corona Arch Rope swing last year I almost forgot to clip onto the rope with my belay device once when I was getting off the carabiners to rappel down. The adrenaline was still there and I was distracted by the people below who where talking to me. Luckily I caught my mistake before it was to late, but I can see this same mistake happening with this couple where he was distracted with her safety and whatnot and forgot to clip himself into the other rope before he got off the swing rope. We all just need to be careful and double check what we are doing.

Well well well...look who it is...

Thanks for showing up Jeff, that just reminded me...I need to post our Dragonfly vid.

[bioject]

I'm guessing this is the video that will be blamed for this accident.

I've rapped off the Corona Arch, but never swung off it. Thought about making a swing after seeing this video, but after going through the logistics in my head I decided that I didn't have enough experience to do it safely.

To my understand you would need at least two dynamic ropes as the swing and two additional dynamic or static lines. One static line would be packed away in a backpack that the person swinging would carry with them and would be attached to the two ropes via a prusik in order to rappel down once the swing was concluded. Another rope would be used to hoist the two dynamic ropes and rope for descending back to the jump site.

From what I recall in the video, they used every single bolt available and a lot of webbing. I think it was something like 16 individual anchors.

Finally you would need something that weighs about 160-200lbs to throw off the edge in order to test the length and stretch. I imagine you would want to throw it a couple dozen times at different weights just to make sure.

[jguest]

Well well well...look who it is...

Thanks for showing up Jeff, that just reminded me...I need to post our Dragonfly vid.

Hi Jman! Yes, I would have posted already, but have been busy at work. Go ahead and post it if you have the time.

[Wasatch Rebel]

So I found out for sure that it was my neighbor's son who was killed. I've talked to the parents about him in the past and he was pretty experienced as a peak bagger at least. Even experienced folk can make mistakes. Aron Ralston, for instance.

[Tlaloc]

...We all just need to be careful and double check what we are doing.

What do you mean by "WE"?

[ratagonia]

... but probably conducted mostly by people with more skill in rigging, anchoring, etc.

the evidence before us suggests otherwise.




Perhaps the FIRST people to do this were very careful and highly skilled in rigging. But now that anyone with a GoPro, a Red Bull and rope is looking to get in on that action, may I suggest that the people doing it NOW are not up to the task.

Tom

[xxnitsuaxx]

Perhaps the FIRST people to do this were very careful and highly skilled in rigging. But now that anyone with a GoPro, a Red Bull and rope is looking to get in on that action, may I suggest that the people doing it NOW are not up to the task.

Tom

I wish I had saved some of the e-mailed questions I got after the first video:

"Do you use static or dynamic ropes?"
"Will wakeboarding ropes work?"
"Do you guys just leave the ropes up there for us to use?"
"I've never used ropes but I'm good with engineering. Could you just send me a diagram?"

[Slot Machine]

But now that anyone with a GoPro, a Red Bull and rope is looking to get in on that action, may I suggest that the people doing it NOW are not up to the task.

[Eric Holden]

I wish I had saved some of the e-mailed questions I got after the first video:

"Do you use static or dynamic ropes?"
"Will wakeboarding ropes work?"
"Do you guys just leave the ropes up there for us to use?"
"I've never used ropes but I'm good with engineering. Could you just send me a diagram?"

wow..... got to love it.

[Iceaxe]

I wish I had saved some of the e-mailed questions I got after the first video:

"Do you use static or dynamic ropes?"
"Will wakeboarding ropes work?"
"Do you guys just leave the ropes up there for us to use?"
"I've never used ropes but I'm good with engineering. Could you just send me a diagram?"

Dang... that had me laughing so hard I squirted Red Bull out of my nose all over my GoPro.


Tap'n on my Galaxy G3

[Stray]

Dang... that had me laughing so hard I squirted Red Bull out of my nose all over my GoPro.


Tap'n on my Galaxy G3

LOL