Sacred Falls - 510' Rappel

[jdamin]

Sacred Falls is one of the best know waterfalls in the Hawaiian Islands. The bottom waterfall used to be a popular hiking destination before a landslide killed 8 and injured over 50 others back in 1999. Since then, the falls have been “shut down.” Sacred Falls is a beautiful yet ominous canyon with only a few recorded descents. It boasts a 510’ rappel, has very deep, cold slots, and with four streams feeding into it, Sacred has the potential to hold a lot of water. One of our crew, Kitt had formerly been through the canyon and it took a little convincing for him to go back. The trip took 27 hours car-to-car and about 21 of those hours were on the go.





We started our four hour approach shortly after 8:00pm Friday night. It was a good, long, uphill slog with packs stuffed to the brim with 600’ ropes, camping equipment, 5mil wetsuits and all the canyon essentials. At this point, we were still unsure if we could run Sacred because of the weather. The ground was pretty saturated and the canyon was flashing at over 800 cubic feet per second just a few weeks prior (it normally flows less than 10 CFS). Our uncertainty grew as we were woken up several times through the night to downpours (typical for Hawaii).




The next morning, we woke up and check the stream. Everything looked good and we decided to drop in. We got to the first rappel shortly after 7am Saturday and for the majority of the canyon everything was going smoothly. We seemed to be making good time and got to enjoy this seldom explored canyon. It was absolutely beautiful. By mid-day, we were all pretty tired. It isn’t often we need to carry that much gear and the cold was getting to us. I had on a 5mil farmer john, 3mil top and a rain shell to cut down the wind and was still cold by noon that day. The ever present thought of the 510’ flowing rappel made for a bit of a stressful morning. No one said much about it, but it was on all of our minds.





By early afternoon we hit the start of the big drops. The first is a 300’ rappel with the 510’ rappel right after it. The only thing separating the two was a small pool. All you could see from the top was a narrow downward facing shout that seemed to drop off to oblivion. There was a fun amount of water going over too. Enough to make you a little nervous but not enough to cause much of a problem. Matt brought a pair of Motorola waterproof radios to communicate on the large rappels. I went down first to clear any potential knots and set the anchor for the 510’. The line was clean and it was a beautiful rappel; pretty straight forward, solid rock the whole way down to a huge pool and an amazing view. After radioing up, the next 5 came down. I remember watching one of our crew on his descent as he knocked a rock loose that was as big as my torso. We watched as it fell over a hundred feet and slammed into the pool below. The crazy thing is, he didn’t even know he dropped it. Sacred is known for shedding boulders so there’s no fireman’s belaying here…





After we all we down, we started to flake out the 600’ ropes. It was a longer process than it needed to be but we were all pretty tired. Rappelling with that much weight just sucks, no matter how you rig your pack. I was going to be the first one down the 510’ as well. For some reason we dropped the rappel and pull cord at the same time (big mistake, especially on a rappel this big) and there was no chance we were pulling the lines back up. The weight of a 600’ rope being pulled downward by rushing water was a lot more than I expected. I need to used both hand and still struggled to pull enough slack to clip in. This rappel started similar to the 300’. It was about a 20’ long narrow and slightly downward sloping shout. Kitt had a third line he used to rappel down to the lip of the 510’ for photos. With everything set, I started my way down. Just as I got on rappel, I saw the walkie talkie pop off my jacket, go tumbling down the shout and disappear over the waterfall… Matt looked at me in disbelief and just said “really..” There’s nothing we could do now...





I told Kitt as I passed him on the way down that he’d need to stay there to visually communicate with our group so they knew when to send people down. There was a lot of water going over the 510’ and it seemed like the water level was picking up. I made my way down the rappel and did my best to take in the views. Other than one quick stop, I was just focused on getting down. I slung my pack blow me on rappel and the weight was still hard to manage. By the time I got about 2/3 the way down, I couldn’t stop. I was in full break mode on high friction and still slipping down at a good pace. Never before have I felt that sensation. It happened to everybody. The last 100’ or so was just hard to control. About 30’ from the bottom I could see a knot where the two ropes had kinked and twisted around one another. I tried with all my strength and still couldn’t stop. I slid right onto the knot and was stuck 30’ off the ground getting pounded by water. I quickly dropped my pack and kicked off to the side of the waterfall where the flow wasn’t as strong to work on getting free. Using my ascenders, I managed to get my weight off the rappel device but there was no way I was able to untangle the knot or retrieve my ascenders. Still getting pounded by water, I jumped the final 30’ into the pool with ascenders still attached to the rope. The knot and my gear shot up another 10 feet as soon as my weight was off the rope and there was no way I was getting to it. This whole time I was thinking in my head that Kitt probably assumed I died, because I was on rappel and out of sight a lot longer than I should have been.




As I slowly swam across the giant pool towards my pack, I wondered how I would possibly let everyone up top know what had happened. Once I reached my pack, I lifted it out of the water and set it on a nearby boulder. I looked up and saw a tiny red spec which was Kitt still dangling on the edge of the waterfall. When I glanced down and couldn’t believe my eyes. Like a gift from the canyon gods, that yellow Motorola walkie talkie was sitting there, wedged between two rocks with water flowing over it. I tried to contain my excitement figuring there was no way it still worked… but it did. I radioed up what had happened and we tried to figure out how to get the knot untangled. We decided the easiest thing to do was to attach a shorter rope up top and lower the knot down to where I could untangle it. It took about 15 minutes to untangle, but after a long debacle, we finally had the next person coming down. Kitt changed lines and began his descent. Pretty quickly, I saw him stop and seem to be jumping out of the watercourse. There was now a few high tangles that he had to duck under and around before he could continue his descent. Before long, Kitt was at the bottom too and we had the two lines separated.





By this time, the flow had noticeably increased. It was still runable, but we were getting nervous. It had rained on and off throughout the day. Once we had 5 of our group of 6 down, Tim and I continued down canyon to set up the next rappel. It was nearly dark and the next rappel was pretty scary. A two tiered winding waterfall with lots of water and no way to see the bottom till you fully committed. Not to mention a visibility of less than 3’ below you at times because of the water. Kitt said it was less than 300’ but it was really tough to tell. Once I hit bottom, Tim followed. We both sat down there in the dark and waited for the rest of our group to meet us. We sat down there for a very long time. We weren’t sure if something had gone wrong but there’s nothing we could do. We couldn't go back up that waterfall. Both of us were exhausted and freezing. I set an alarm on my watch for 3 hours in which if I hadn’t seen them, I was going to try and continue downstream. Then Tim and I pulled out our bivy blankets to try and warm up. I don’t remember when I fell asleep, but I was woken up over an hour and a half later by Kitt’s headlamp. Wondered what the heck took them so long, Kitt began explaining as a packed up. Apparently Matt, the last one down the 510’ got to the edge and realized the rope was missing it’s sheath… we’re guessing it was a combination of raising and lowing the line and the consistent weight of the rope that caused such damage so quickly. Matt had to re-rig and wound up rappelling down the pull cord (which was just another 600’ 9.2’’ canyon rope). Props to him for managing a very difficult re-rig and huge rappel in the dark.

By this point, we were all pretty over Sacred Falls. It was amazingly beautiful, but we were spent. There were a few more short rappels, swims and jumps followed by a 40 minute hike out to our cars. As we made our way down canyon, I noticed everyone laughing behind me and a comment to the likes of “hey JJ, do you feel any breeze down there.” Throughout the trip, I tore a massive hole in the butt of my wetsuit… I’ll spare you the pictures, but it was pretty funny. I was amazed I didn’t realize it. I guess if you’re wet and cold long enough, everything feels about the same. We made it out around 10:30pm Saturday and went straight to Dominos. As we sat around the table to discuss the trip; fingers hurting to the touch from being so waterlogged and cold, we all decided Sacred was beautiful and challenging, but not a canyon any of us were in a rush to descent again anytime soon.

[oahu_canyoneer]

Sacred Falls...where every trip's an epic

[ratagonia]

Wow!

[Canyonater]

Awesome!

[ilipichicuma]

Strong work, JJ, as usual! And don't worry, you join excellent company with the whole "hole in the butt of your pants/wetsuit" thing. I've been there a few times. Sweet pictures!

[Kuya]

WOW! Nice TR :)

[Slot Machine]

WOW! Great photos, and even better story!

A couple of questions...

What is going on with the three ropes in your photos (red/yellow/white)? Just curious.

Also, with respect, I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around the 27 hours it took to do this route. How many raps did you do? How many miles traveled?

Perhaps I'm thinking too much like a Utahn... is the jungle the biggest (i.e most time consuming) obstacle?

[moab mark]

That there is big boy Canyoneering!!!!

[jdamin]

WOW! Great photos, and even better story!

A couple of questions...

What is going on with the three ropes in your photos (red/yellow/white)? Just curious.

Also, with respect, I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around the 27 hours it took to do this route. How many raps did you do? How many miles traveled?

Perhaps I'm thinking too much like a Utahn... is the jungle the biggest (i.e most time consuming) obstacle?

Hey Slot Machine,

I figured someone would ask about the three ropes. That was the 510' rappel. The white rope was the rappel line, the yellow was the pull and the red was just the line that Kitt sent over the edge to dangle on and get some awesome pictures. The red line doesn't go far beyond where you can see in the photo.

As for the 27 hours... we slept about 6 of those on top the mountain so it was really just 21 hours of canyoneering (approach + descent). We did have a few big mishaps that cost us time but no more than a few hours. It's a hard canyon to leapfrog through because some of the rappels are fairly spaced out and you need the man power for the big pulls. Being very optimistic, I'd say if everything went perfectly and you weren't sprinting through the canyon, it would probably be 18-19 hours. I also don't think it's doable in a single day and was really grateful we decided to do the approach the night before and sleep above the drop-in. On Kitts last trip he started the approach hike at 5am and hoped to be out that same night - they spent a miserable night in the canyon and didn't make it out till mid-morning the next day.

No, the jungle wasn't even bad on this trip. There was an old hiking trail that was mostly clear the whole way up. The canyon itself is just very long. I think there was 13 rappels. The section with the 300' and 510' took up a lot of our time. Canyoneering in the dark also isn't the most time efficient method. In Hawaii, the canyons are huge. When you see posts of Maui descents that took 5-8 hours, they're only running a small section of the actual canyon. Believe me, I'd much rather do that most of the time but on the Island of Oahu, we don't have that luxury. The Island is much older and geologic features make it very hard to get on top of the canyon. The canyons here are set pretty far back. The shortest Oahu canyon we've done was about 15 hours. I'm not sure how many miles we traveled. Using google earth, our rough route took us over 6 miles but that was all measured in straight lines, it's definitely more than that.

[jman]

JJ, you said you were using high friction mode, but on what device?

I might of overlooked this - but what was your equip to descend the 510'?


-Brett

[antdun]

Way to be ridiculously awesome JJ!

[jdamin]

JJ, you said you were using high friction mode, but on what device?

I might of overlooked this - but what was your equip to descend the 510'?


-Brett

I was using an ATS which has the option to add more friction on the fly. I figured I'd do that closer to the bottom anticipating the rappel getting "faster." Unfortunately, you could only see so much. There were plenty of times on rappel where you couldn't see very far below you with the water and by the time I thought to add friction, I wasn't able to slow down enough to safely do so. It sounds crazy because all I needed to do was raise my arm and wrap the rope around another horn but I simply couldn't - I've never felt that before. I had the rope below my device pulled all the way behind me and rubbing as much of my body as I could to keep more friction on. I was also gripping the rope with both hands and was still rappelling pretty fast. Everyone had a similar problem on the lower 100 feet or so of the 510' rappel and we had a pretty mixed back of devices. Our group used the ATS, ATC, and Parana. I prefer the Totem but I hadn't yet replaced my old one.

Anyone have any thoughts on this other than having more friction on from the start?

[deagol]

... I prefer the Totem but I hadn't yet replaced my old one.

Anyone have any thoughts on this other than having more friction on from the start?

throttle mode with 2 carabiners ??

When I did that on a stiff rope, it was automatic stop unless I leveraged the Totem downward. Also from my experience, no rope twist in throttle mode.
I love it on bigger drops (not that I have done anything even remotely this big).

Oh, EPIC trip, BTW

[Renatomic808]

I was using an ATS which has the option to add more friction on the fly. I figured I'd do that closer to the bottom anticipating the rappel getting "faster." Unfortunately, you could only see so much. There were plenty of times on rappel where you couldn't see very far below you with the water and by the time I thought to add friction, I wasn't able to slow down enough to safely do so. It sounds crazy because all I needed to do was raise my arm and wrap the rope around another horn but I simply couldn't - I've never felt that before. I had the rope below my device pulled all the way behind me and rubbing as much of my body as I could to keep more friction on. I was also gripping the rope with both hands and was still rappelling pretty fast. Everyone had a similar problem on the lower 100 feet or so of the 510' rappel and we had a pretty mixed back of devices. Our group used the ATS, ATC, and Parana. I prefer the Totem but I hadn't yet replaced my old one.

Anyone have any thoughts on this other than having more friction on from the start?

The moment you realize it is taking quite a bit effort to control yourself/stop is the moment you start adding friction. Whether it is 300ft from the bottom.. or 10ft from the bottom.

My opinion is.. you start with higher friction from the start. If you can master rappelling fast with high friction and an autoblock/prusik.. you can rappel anything. This is basic practice you do on smaller drops. Try practicing a rappel with higher friction, so you can smoothly stop on a dime without effort.. yet still rappel near falling speed.

Love ya JJ.. glad it was an epic!

[Renatomic808]

Sacred Falls...where every trip's an epic

Can Melissa and I come along next time? haha

[ratagonia]

I was using an ATS which has the option to add more friction on the fly. I figured I'd do that closer to the bottom anticipating the rappel getting "faster." Unfortunately, you could only see so much. There were plenty of times on rappel where you couldn't see very far below you with the water and by the time I thought to add friction, I wasn't able to slow down enough to safely do so. It sounds crazy because all I needed to do was raise my arm and wrap the rope around another horn but I simply couldn't - I've never felt that before. I had the rope below my device pulled all the way behind me and rubbing as much of my body as I could to keep more friction on. I was also gripping the rope with both hands and was still rappelling pretty fast. Everyone had a similar problem on the lower 100 feet or so of the 510' rappel and we had a pretty mixed back of devices. Our group used the ATS, ATC, and Parana. I prefer the Totem but I hadn't yet replaced my old one.

Anyone have any thoughts on this other than having more friction on from the start?

On a long rappel (and we will let the 510' squeak by as "long" ;-)), the wise canyoneer does not expect to use one setting all the way down. The weight of the rope (about 30 lbs, when DRY) mean that in order to make progress on the upper part of the rappel, you will need to set the friction on your device at "low". Perhaps every 150 feet or so, you will need to make an adjustment to add more friction.

Going over a top horn on the ATS is a BAD way to add friction. In this case, I am not questioning your morality - it just does not work very well. The accident in Insomnia (Arizona) was due to "going over the top horn to add friction" or, really NOT doing so, missing the hook, and loosing control in the process, cratering in from about 100 feet. Thankfully the guy on the ground got it all on camera... though perhaps a bottom belay would have been a BETTER (morally) choice for the guy on the ground's attention.

But I digress. As you noted, the point at which to add friction is BEFORE you are out of control, while you can still stop and do stuff. Hard to judge in the sensation overload of being IN a big waterfall. There are several ways to add friction, but my favorite system is to go to a left-leg loop carabiner as the first adjustment. In private, this is referred to as a "Lap Dance". I am right handed, so from my EXTENDED rappel device, the rope goes across to my left leg loop (carabiner), then across my lap to my right side and over my thigh. Then I can vary the amount of friction produced by rotating my hips. Rotating toward the rope straightens out the rope path reducing friction, while rotating away from the rope path runs the rope over more of my hip and thing, increasing friction. The rope can be clipped into the "left leg loop carabiner" while you are dangling in space - one of the subtleties is that it is very difficult to bring the rope to the carabiner, it works much better to rotate the hips and bring the carabiner to the rope.

The next phase in the system is to convert to a Z-rig. A carabiner is added to the eye of the Pirana, or the slot of the ATS, and the rope is clipped into this. Thus the rope goes Pirana/ATS to Left Leg Loop Carabiner, up to carabiner in the eye of the Pirana, down to the brakehand (and the ground). Which has additional friction over the Lap Dance.

It takes a little getting used to, so it is good to practice. No, you don't have to find a 500' cliff to practice on, only a reasonable size cliff with a buddy down at the bottom to adjust the weight of the rope for various situations.

The better, more adjustable system is to use a caver's rack, but then you are just overwhelming the problem with technology and where is the fun in that!

Glad you survived. And again, WOW! When is the best season out there?

Tom

[Rob L]

I had a small accident just reading that! Fantastic trip report, one I hope to wait many years before I report similarly!

[jdamin]

On a long rappel (and we will let the 510' squeak by as "long" ;-)), the wise canyoneer does not expect to use one setting all the way down. The weight of the rope (about 30 lbs, when DRY) mean that in order to make progress on the upper part of the rappel, you will need to set the friction on your device at "low". Perhaps every 150 feet or so, you will need to make an adjustment to add more friction.

Going over a top horn on the ATS is a BAD way to add friction. In this case, I am not questioning your morality - it just does not work very well. The accident in Insomnia (Arizona) was due to "going over the top horn to add friction" or, really NOT doing so, missing the hook, and loosing control in the process, cratering in from about 100 feet. Thankfully the guy on the ground got it all on camera... though perhaps a bottom belay would have been a BETTER (morally) choice for the guy on the ground's attention.

But I digress. As you noted, the point at which to add friction is BEFORE you are out of control, while you can still stop and do stuff. Hard to judge in the sensation overload of being IN a big waterfall. There are several ways to add friction, but my favorite system is to go to a left-leg loop carabiner as the first adjustment. In private, this is referred to as a "Lap Dance". I am right handed, so from my EXTENDED rappel device, the rope goes across to my left leg loop (carabiner), then across my lap to my right side and over my thigh. Then I can vary the amount of friction produced by rotating my hips. Rotating toward the rope straightens out the rope path reducing friction, while rotating away from the rope path runs the rope over more of my hip and thing, increasing friction. The rope can be clipped into the "left leg loop carabiner" while you are dangling in space - one of the subtleties is that it is very difficult to bring the rope to the carabiner, it works much better to rotate the hips and bring the carabiner to the rope.

The next phase in the system is to convert to a Z-rig. A carabiner is added to the eye of the Pirana, or the slot of the ATS, and the rope is clipped into this. Thus the rope goes Pirana/ATS to Left Leg Loop Carabiner, up to carabiner in the eye of the Pirana, down to the brakehand (and the ground). Which has additional friction over the Lap Dance.

It takes a little getting used to, so it is good to practice. No, you don't have to find a 500' cliff to practice on, only a reasonable size cliff with a buddy down at the bottom to adjust the weight of the rope for various situations.

The better, more adjustable system is to use a caver's rack, but then you are just overwhelming the problem with technology and where is the fun in that!

Glad you survived. And again, WOW! When is the best season out there?

Tom

Awesome stuff Tom. It looks like me and the crew will have to get our lap dance on ;) I've never tried that method but it's something I'll experiment with. There are a lot of canyons out here with rappels that big (and bigger) that I'd love to descend but need a better way first. Something I'm curious about; since the Totem is my preferred device and it's quite long, would you still extend it?

Our best season depends on what your after. The best time of year to do big, scary or unexplored canyons would be August - September because the days are long and the ground is dry so you can capitalize on extra daylight and less flow. The best flow is often between the months of November - March (Hawaii's "wet" season). The ground is very porous and there is a ton of vegetation that soaks up the water pretty fast here. Unless it's been raining consistently for a few days most canyons are runable.

[ratagonia]

Awesome stuff Tom. It looks like me and the crew will have to get our lap dance on ;) I've never tried that method but it's something I'll experiment with. There are a lot of canyons out here with rappels that big (and bigger) that I'd love to descend but need a better way first. Something I'm curious about; since the Totem is my preferred device and it's quite long, would you still extend it?

Our best season depends on what your after. The best time of year to do big, scary or unexplored canyons would be August - September because the days are long and the ground is dry so you can capitalize on extra daylight and less flow. The best flow is often between the months of November - March (Hawaii's "wet" season). The ground is very porous and there is a ton of vegetation that soaks up the water pretty fast here. Unless it's been raining consistently for a few days most canyons are runable.

Thanks.

On long rappels, I like having the rap device at about face height. Holding my MASSIVE chest and upper body upright is easier with my hand below the device, but still at shoulder height. Doesn't matter the device so much, as the highest point you can grasp with your hand. Your hands work better when they are in front of you, too, rather than lower down.

Tom

[hank moon]

Great story and survival tale :)

Not sure if Tom was kidding about cheating with a rack...but i would begin cheating ASAP if I were doing that kinda stuff. Beats cheating death. :)

How did the other members of your party handle the 510' drop? What kind of rap setup, etc? I highly recommend experimenting with racks for long, single-rope drops. I can't imagine doing such drops with an ATS or any standard canyon device - I would die for sure. Glad you guys didn't!!!