{"id":38794,"date":"2018-09-25T17:48:52","date_gmt":"2018-09-26T00:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=38794"},"modified":"2018-11-11T22:12:12","modified_gmt":"2018-11-12T06:12:12","slug":"lowering-accidents-on-the-rise-american-alpine-club-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/lowering-accidents-on-the-rise-american-alpine-club-finds","title":{"rendered":"Lowering Accidents on the Rise, American Alpine Club Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Countless times a day, all over the country, a rock climber reaches the top of a pitch, attaches the rope to an anchor, and leans back so their belayer can lower them safely to the ground. But every now and then, something goes horribly wrong. Suddenly the climber is in free fall.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the editor of <\/span>Accidents in North American Climbing<\/span><\/i><\/a>, I\u2019ve observed an increase in such lowering accidents. <\/span>Accidents, <\/span><\/i>a book published each August by the <\/span>American Alpine Club<\/span><\/a>, is designed to educate climbers by documenting mistakes of all kinds and sharing the lessons learned from them. In general, the publishers of <\/span>Accidents in North American Climbing <\/span><\/i>have found that the number of reported climbing injuries and fatalities has not increased significantly in the last few decades. But the pace of lowering accidents appears to be increasing, though it is difficult to attribute the trend to any one cause. <\/span><\/p>\n

The reports collected by <\/span>Accidents in North American Climbing <\/span><\/i>come from U.S. and Canadian climbers, national park rangers, and search and rescue volunteers and professionals who contact the AAC directly or respond to inquiries. We don\u2019t hear about every single accident that happens, but the numbers still reveal common causes. In the 2016 edition of <\/span>Accidents<\/span><\/i>, the first year we tabulated reported lowering accidents, we recorded six such incidents. The following year, we identified seven. In the 2018 edition, we documented 12 reported lowering incidents. Year after year, these accidents involve new climbers and highly experienced veterans alike. <\/span><\/p>\n

The good news: Lowering accidents can be avoided. In the majority of cases, a few simple steps would have likely prevented an injury or death. \u00a0Here are some takeaways from recent lowering accidents. <\/span><\/p>\n

Not Enough Rope<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

On July 3, 2017, Yosemite Search and Rescue responded to two separate but similar climbing accidents, each involving a climber lowered by a belayer with a rope that was too short. In both cases, the end of the rope passed through the belay device and the climber fell to the ground. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The Problem<\/b><\/p>\n

There are a few common reasons a rope may come up short: 1) A climber may have borrowed the rope and been misinformed about its length; 2) The rope may have been cut at some point and the climber didn\u2019t know this or forgot about it; 3) A climber may underestimate the length of a route or the distance to be lowered. Guidebooks and other sources sometimes misstate the height of the anchor. Other times, a route may traverse over a drop-off or hillside and more rope than expected will be needed to lower a climber.<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Get

Get in the habit of typing a stopper knot in the belayer\u2019s end of the rope befeore any single-pitch climb. (Either a double overhand or a figure 8 on a bight is simple and effective.) A stopper knot prevents the end of the rope from slipping through the belay device in case the rope is too short for lowering a climber from an anchor. Photo Credit: Ron Funderburke<\/p><\/div>\n

Solutions<\/b><\/p>\n

Every single time\u2026 <\/i><\/b>Close the belay system so the end of the rope can\u2019t pass through the belay device. You can do this by <\/span>tying a <\/span>stopper knot<\/span><\/a> in the end of the rope. Alternately, <\/span>the belayer can tie into their end of the rope with a figure 8 knot or tie the end to a rope bag with a snug overhand knot.<\/span><\/p>\n

More Smart Moves:<\/b><\/p>\n