How common are single rope rappels?

How was he planning on undoing the clove hitch once he got to the anchor below?

Guess I am confused on how this works because I am use to going to well established locations which never require a single rope rap.

Akhlomand-Iran

Climbing area info;

Type; Sport climbing, start at the bottom of Akhlomand Canyon
Total vertical distance from bottom of canyon to top; 110 meter
Useful climbing distance: 75 meter
Approach: unprotected class IV to base
Climbing difficulty: 5.9-5.11 YDS
Total number of climbing pitches: 3
Total number of rappelling station: 3 (first from top, 20 m, second 20 m, third, 35 m)
Total rappelling distance: 75 meter
Time of accident; 5:00 PM
Daylight info: The majority portions of the climbing wall was in the shadow
Climbing Team: Party of two, both experienced rock climber
Rope; Beal 10.2 mm dynamic rope
Rappelling device: standard 8
Rappelling backup; Prussic above the rappelling device


On Saturday June 6-2009, an experienced rock climber fell 70 meter while rappelling and died on scene. Based on primary report given by his partner, Mr. Bahram N. had finished climbing the three pitches of sport climbing wall at the Akhlomand Canyon and set his rope for rappelling at the top anchor while his partner was approaching him. Bahram first secures himself with a short sling (webbing) to the anchor and then uses the dynamic rope and attached a short section of the rope (@ 4 meter) to the anchor with a clove hitch and drops the longer end of the rope (@ 46 meter) to anchor below with a fig 8 safety knot at the bottom of the rope and then drops the other short end (4 meter) which had no safety knot. His partner wasn’t sure what had happened but somehow, Braham mistakenly clips his 8 belay device and the safety prussic to the shorter rope and falls from the bottom of the shorter end in to the base of Akhlomad Canyon. Bahram was not wearing helmet at the time of accident however, he did brought one up but then gave it to his partner at top.

Analysis;

This accident happened in the late afternoon and based on partner’s report, both climbers especially Braham was fatigue and tired from climbing in the Canyon and both climbers wanted to get of the wall before dark. Still, it is not clear why Bahram fixed his rope with a clove hitch at top anchor if he was only planning to rappel 20 meter however, One possibility suggest that may be Bahram first wanted to rappel two pitches (total of @40 meter) to save some time and then his partner would had removed the clove hitch and rappel via double rope system to next rappel station while Bahram was resting at top of pitch 1 .

Either way, this accident was easily avoidable if both partners had discussed their rappelling strategy prior to Bahram setting up his rappelling system and also, if his partner had double checked Bahram’s setup, I am sure, he was able to detect that Bahram was about to rappel on the unprotected shorter end.

Note: The original report was published in the local climbing website which did not include any useful information other than reporting that a climber fell 70 meter while rappelling. This incident was the second such accident in the same area since May of 2009 so I personally contacted one of the local responder and asked series of questions to narrow down the causes of this incident and to understand what had happened in the Akhlomand Canyon.

Source; http://www.hamtanab.com
http://hamtanab.com/...x?cat=21&id=1713
Information provided by Sara Edalatian (local climbing group)
Translation and analysis by MS

He just made a mistake and rapped on the wrong end...

Question - why didn't his rappel backup save him? It makes me wonder if the backup was a distraction which contributed to the accident. Did it make him check the main rope less?

Bahram first secures himself with a short sling (webbing) to the anchor and then uses the dynamic rope and attached a short section of the rope (@ 4 meter) to the anchor with a clove hitch and drops the longer end of the rope (@ 46 meter) to anchor below with a fig 8 safety knot at the bottom of the rope and then drops the other short end (4 meter) which had no safety knot.

Good work on the description and analysis, Majid.

I have used the single strand rappel technique with my partners fairly often. Usually we do it when the single strand reaches the ground, even if we have 2 ropes. This allows one person to get back to the ground without waiting for both ropes to be set up. It can speed things up a little bit, because with only one person at the anchor, it is easier to unweighted the rings/chains and set up the ropes.

In this accident situation, I am not sure I would do a single strand rappel for one partner. If the other partner has to do 2 single strand rappels to join up with Bahram, if a rappel hangs up the partners can not easily assist each other to clear it. I don't know the rock type here and if there was a risk of rappel hangup.

I think a key factor in this accident was the 4m end of the rope - it was too long, so it resembled the other end too closely. Plus there is no redundancy if it is clove hitched to a single point. Usually I like to have the rope clipped in twice, to prevent losing the rope if it is dropped when threading the anchors. So having the end of the short section clipped to the anchor would have stopped him from going off that end.

Question - why didn't his rappel backup save him? It makes me wonder if the backup was a distraction which contributed to the accident. Did it make him check the main rope less?

I don't use a rappel backup, or knots in the ends. I prefer a simpler system, with fewer steps so you can focus on fewer things (like whether the rope reaches the next anchor).