Rope Too Short? What Can You Do?

This is a breakout from a thread about the recent tragedy in Not Imlay where it was suggested that the technical discussion be taken elsewhere.

If you find out on rappel that your rope doesn't reach the bottom of a rappel, here are the options I see that you have.

1) Find another bottom- i.e. rappel to the side or stop early on another ledge where you can secure yourself with an acceptable anchor.
2) If the rope is long enough, and you are on a contingency anchor, then you can be lowered by those above to the ground.
3) If the rappel is low angle, climb/reverse rappel back up the rock/line.
4) Tie off. Get another rope out of your pack or off your harness. Tie it to the one you're rappelling on. Pass the knot and continue downward. Have the guys above fix the problem.
5) Have the guys above lower a longer rope (rope 2). Put another rappel device or a munter onto it and attach yourself to it. Rappel down rope 1 until your weight is on rope 2. Then rappel rope 2 to the ground.
6) Have the guys above lower a longer rope. Tie into it. Have them lower you to the ground.
7) Have the guys above lower another rope. Attach yourself to it. Have the guys above haul you back up, using mechanical advantage as needed.
8) Ascend the rope using a mechanical device or knots such as a prussik or kleimheist.
9) Have the guys above haul you up by the rappel rope.
10) Rappel off the end of the rope and climb/fall to the ground. (fast and easy in the right, low-risk situation)
11) A rescuer comes down on the rappel rope or a separate rope to assist the stranded rappeller with one of the techniques listed above.

If you are rappelling double strand, you may have either less or more options, depending on whether your double strand is two parts of the same rope, or two separate ropes.

If it is two ends of the same rope, you still have options 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11.

If it is two separate ropes, option 2 may still be viable if at least one of the two ropes reaches. You also have the option to ascend a single rope (technically easier than a double rope) or to be hauled up on a single rope (again technically easier to rig.)

If you do need to ascend or haul doubled ropes, you'll need to use a knot-based Progress Capturing Device and Rope Grab since mechanical ascenders don't attach to two lines at the same time (unless I suppose you created the exact same system on both of the lines.)

Skills required:
Tying off
Tying a prussik/kleimheist
Ascending the rope
Passing the Knot
Setting up a mechanical advantage system
Contingency anchors
Tying a munter knot

Gear required: Slings or cord for prussiks, extra biners, sling, etrier or equivalent, maybe mechanical ascenders, extra rope(s)

In an ideal world, every serious canyoneer ought to learn all of these skills and no canyoneer should ever be in a technical canyon without someone who knows these skills (and has the gear required to perform them) still above him in the canyon. I went way too long in my climbing/canyoneering career without learning these skills and carrying this gear. I just got lucky that I never got in over my head. Don't make the same mistake. (It's even worse in climbing. Imagine an unconscious leader stranded 150 feet above you halfway up a 10 pitch climb and work out how you would rescue him when you're both tied to the only rope you have and he has almost all the gear.)

Any other options I haven't thought of?

VT Prusik, Hedden, Klemheist, Petzl Shunt all are useful. Bachman are more problematic. Using cord vs. sling takes experimentation. Cord usually needs to be very clean when tied. I use Mammut Contact sling. It needs to be messy in order to hold well. I have played around with two small ascenders at the same relative location: two Tiblocs or Ropemen. It can get a bit confused. Consider also how to attach them to the harness. I always use one short and one long tether, AKA, cows tails.

The Shunt is cool. Never seen that before. As far as I know that's the only mechanical ascender that can go up two ropes. But it's another heavy, expensive piece of gear you may never need to haul through canyons for the rest of your life. Especially when you need two of them. The Hedden knot is cool too. Never seen that either.

What knot do you use when ascending using your Mammut Contact sling?

Hang and wait for rescue.

Progress capture options with plaquette/autoblock devices (BD ATX-XP Guide, Petzl Reverso, Kong GiGi, etc.). Flexible rope helps a lot.

Tandem-Tibloc can work well on doubled rope, with specific carabiners - see Tom's post below). As always, practice with any new techniques or gear in a safe environment before taking it into the field and using it (or counting on using it) in a real situation.

Note: there are 4 Tiblocs in the photo below (2 on each HMS 'biner*). Thanks to ScottM for pointing out that the photo isn't super clear on that point.
*of the highly symmetrical variety.

Hank,

For clarification, are there a total of 2 or 4 Tibloc's being deployed here? The top appears to be 1, while the bottom grab looks like 2.

I carried the Shunt for years, never really used it. It can work on a single strand of fatter rope. But my weight (160 lbs) on new 8 mm rope single strand did not work. I just slipped down the rope. It only grabbed on double strand skinny rope. So eventually as the fat ropes disappeared in the canyons and skinny ones showed up, I stopped carrying it. My rule of thumb as to which hitch to use is: trial and error. I have not been able to find a consistent method. It depends on size of rope, material used, clean, dry, dirty, wet. And it also depends on the cord or sling you use. The only real pattern I notice is what I already said, with sling; tie it dirty, cord; tie it clean. You should know how to tie a few of them. Practice. That way when the need arises, you can experiment for the first few feet until you figure out what will work in that situation. In your backyard, get a system all dialed in. Perfectly functioning. Then "drop" a piece of gear and figure out how to continue ascending. Then drop a second, etc., etc. When you get down to the nitty gritty, keep in mind some descenders can work, sort of, in the ascending mode. And last of all, remember you have a tail of rope beneath you. Pull it up. It often can help a lot. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake's_hitch
In the real world, if you get to the point of barely having enough gear to ascend with, consider tying a figure eight and clipping into it periodically as you go up. That way if your jury-rigged system fails, you are still attached to the rope, albeit a painful catch if you pop off your ascending system.

Nice listing of all the options, I think.

But one must take into account that communication with the upstairs people is likely difficult.

I know some are eager to dissect this right now. I am not. Perhaps we can give it a rest for a week, before diving in.

Tom

There are 4.

Helps to have the right biners for that; meaning symmetric HMS biners like the Petzl William or Petzl Attache. An Assymetric HMS biner (ie, D shaped) would not load the two strands equally, and might not work.

Tom

Scott, please don't tell me you're looking at this on one-a them EYE-fones! Post edited to clarify, thanks.

What he said ^^^ True that ^^^ Thanks, Tom

LOL...I intended to incorporate into the initial post: "Assume 1 ea. HMS biner for 2 ea. Tibloc's", but I didn't want to be too presumptuous.

a lot of methods like this are easy to understand on an intellectual level, but pulling them off a hundred or so feet off the deck can be seriously daunting.

we practice when we can, but it's difficult

I edited my post to clarify a bit on 'biner selection. Note that not all HMS 'biners are created equal; the ones in the photo are especially symmetrical. There are models that are less symmetrical, which are not worth a plugged nickel. Good for neither hitch nor tandem-tibloc duty.

I've started keeping 2 skinny slings with their own biner and tibloc each over my shoulder all the time.

For a long time, I kept these items separately on my harness or in my pack. Having them sort of pre-rigged and hearing them jingle reminds me to use them if things get a little tense and decisions need to be made quickly.

I can attach to a single rope with a tibloc (or 2) or I can wrap multiple ropes by simply using the sling as a prussik. I don't have to fuss with trying to assemble the pieces and parts from various locations on my harness or having to dig through my pack.


They came in super handy on several occasions on my last series of trips. Where I would usually choose a more difficult method to tackle the problem at hand, I've learned to work smarter, not harder by keeping these items where they can be quickly and easily deployed.

I usually carry two prussik loops around my neck.

Have moved away from the "shoelace" 3mm amsteel theory (due to friendly community prodding) to 7mm cord.

@Bootboy, I like this idea. Do you have the biners and tiblocs just clipped into the slings and moving freely? Or do you have them attached in someway so they stay in a specfic spot on the slings? I could see the biners and tiblocs being annoying or potentially more if they are able to move about freely while downclimbing and such.

The biners get clipped to a gear loop on my harness to keep them from swinging around.

@Bootboy and @Mountaineer: What length slings/loops do you like and why?

The problem with this thread is that there isnt enough information to discuss the accident. As the accident thread said, we might never know what happened.

If the question is what do you do if the first rope is short and you are carrying a 300ft rope at least at one point, then it points to something else being the issue. With the status of that 300ft rope and a description of the death scene, we may get additional information, we may not....but it wont be "not enough rope"

I don't think this thread has any problems, as I don't think the intent of it was to discuss the particulars of the recent accident.

The point of this thread is to discuss what to do if YOUR rope is too short. Having longer ropes at your disposal was mentioned in multiple options given by the OP.

24" or 60cm. The standard shoulder length sling. They keep well and they're long enough to have much utility but not so long as to become a nuisance. If I carry anything longer, it's in my pack.