Rope Failure—California, Yosemite Valley

Publication Year: 1977.

ROPE FAILURE—California, Yosemite Valley. At 5 p.m. on October 5, 1976, Ranger Rick Smith received a phone call from Mirror Lake. Chris Falkenstein reported that his climbing partner, Robert Locke (22), had sustained serious injuries during a 200-foot fall on the South Face of Mount Watkins. Smith arranged to pick up Falkenstein at Mirror Lake with John Dill and

Tim Setnicka and soon learned the details of the accident. Smith immediately called for the contract ship. Dill was to fly a reconnaissance mission in this ship while Smith attempted to obtain a Lemoore helicopter. At approximately 5:45 p.m., Scott and Lemoore notified us that they could not fly because of impending darkness. By this time, Dill had completed the reconnaissance flight. The contract ship, a B-l, had been unable to get close enough to the wall for Dill to pick out the victim; however, he was able to spot the party’s haul bag and based on the victim’s position, the terrain, and time of day, it was decided that the fastest way to reach Locke would be to lower rescuers from a summit of Watkins. A night helicopter operation was started almost immediately, which was only permitted because of clear, calm weather and a full moon.

A heliport in the Ahwahnee Meadow was set up and staffed by Fire Management personnel and included blinking colored lights marking the landing zone, as well as a fire truck spotlight. A heliport on Mt. Watkins was established about 1/2 mile from the rescue site by Dave Bircheff and marked by four or five double spotlights from the cache. A helitack crewman was later sent up to work this heliport. It took approximately five hours to fly eleven rescue personnel to the top of Watkins along with packs and rescue equipment including 1200 foot ropes. The contract ship made each round trip in 20 minutes carrying a payload of 225 to 250 pounds, which consisted of rescue equipment and one passenger.

During this time, a request was placed through Scott Air Force Base for a C-130 flare ship. McClellan Air Force Base declined because of fire danger; however another light source was suggested which was a C-130 from the Coast Guard located in San Francisco. The light is called a “Carolina Moon,” has nine million candlepower, and is powered by its own jet engine fueled with JP-5. Although the C-130 can fly for eight to ten hours, it carries only two hours of JP-5 for the light. Also, there is a 15-minute warmup time for the engine, which makes it difficult to turn the light on and off frequently to save fuel. The C-130 arrived at approximately 10:15 p.m. and circled Watkins with the light off. The Coast Guard C-130 was also able to talk directly on NPS frequencies which eliminated potentially great communication problems.

At 12:15 a.m. on October 6, Dale Bard rappelled about 100 feet down slabs to the edge of the cliff and looked over to establish the correct point from which to lower rescuers to the victim. This first position was 200 feet too far west. The “Carolina Moon” was utilized intermittently during this time as the C-130 circled the area. The light was in a position to be used for 30 to 45 seconds.

At 12:25 a.m., Rick Accomazzo looked from a new position and determined we were still 50 feet too far west. A third position was established at 12:40 a.m. and Dale was lowered over the edge at 1 a.m., tied to the long ropes and was prepared to go all the way to the victim if he was lined up correctly. He felt he was in correct line, so he was lowered 1300 feet to a point just west of Sheraton Watkins Ledge. He pendulumed 30 feet to the Ledge, where he established a directional. We then lowered him the remaining 200 feet to Locke’s ledge. Dale reached Locke at 2:48 a.m. and found him dead. Dale jummarred back to Sheraton Watkins Ledge to spend the night while Rick Accomazzo rappelled down from the summit to join him.

Dale had been lowered on a two ropes system as follows. Each line was fed through a carabiner brake system, backed up by prusiks safeties. One line took the load and the other acted as a belay. The lowering went smoothly. Dale had a radio so slack and tension in the belay line was worked out easily. To reach Locke, about 1500 feet below the top, each line consisted of a 1200 foot rope and a 600 foot rope tied together. The lowering took one hour and 45 minutes.

Rick had rappelled on one rope while being lowered on the other for the following reasons: (1) only one of Dale’s lowering ropes had to be pulled all the way up to be used as Rick’s belay; (2) the rappel rope led directly to Sheraton Watkins Ledge so Rick need not pendulum; (3) the belay line could be used as a lowering line and we could control the climber’s descent safely by radio; (4) spinning had been no problem on Dale’s descent. Consensus was, however, that the first man down should usually be lowered.

Because of the extreme friction at the start produced by the weight of the rope, Rick used only two carabiners for brake bars. After 100 feet or so the friction decreased to where it was insufficient to control his descent and control fell to the belay rope, as expected. For this reason, the belay rope was tied to his seat harness rather than around his waist as in a standard belay. Rick began his rappel at 4:15 a.m. and finished at 4:40 a.m.

From 5 a.m. to 6 a.m., one hour sleep for all of the crew.

Lemoore Naval Air Station Angel 3, UH-IN, arrived at 7:00 a.m. according to schedule to bring up three more people, food and more rope. Angel 3 also flew a reconnaissance of the area and it was later decided that a raising by helicopter from Locke’s position was feasible though tricky and would have been tried had he still been alive. The actual recovery was accomplished as follows. A solid stokes litter was rigged on top with the capacity for either horizontal or vertical raising. A Millet sack containing extra gear for Rick and Dale was attached to the litter. One 1200 foot rope was pulled up and the litter was attached to it and lowered in a vertical position. A directional from the litter to the second rope (Rick’s rappel rope) allowed the litter to be guided in a sort of vertical tyrolean system, directly to Sheraton Watkins. No tail rope was used due to the overhanging nature of the wall, inaccessibility of the base of the wall, and extreme distance and weight of tail rope. An alternate plan of lowering a person from the top to assist the litter if necessary was feasible though not needed in this case.

The litter was first lowered to Sheraton Watkins Ledge where the guide rope was attached directly to the litter so both long ropes could be used to raise and/or lower the litter. The litter was then lowered to Locke’s ledge and Bard rappelled down separately using 165 foot ropes and independent anchors he had placed on Sheraton Watkins Ledge. Bard was able to get Locke’s body into the litter by himself and he rigged the litter in the vertical position.

After the body was safely secured, Dale jumared up to Sheraton Watkins Ledge where he and Rick were safe from falling rock.

We had decided to raise the litter rather than lower it to the base for the following reasons: (1) From Locke’s position to the summit the wall was slightly overhanging and free of loose rock. Therefore, the litter would not require an attendant until very near the top, which would make raising much easier. Dale and Rick would then be minimally exposed to rock fall. (2) Below Locke on the other hand, there were ledges covered with loose rock, an attendant would be required and would be more exposed to rock fall. (3) We had never tried such a long raising before.

The raising was accomplished by using a simple Z system (3:1 theoretical) with two inch pulleys, 7 to 8 people pulling, and a range of approximately 50 feet each pull. One rope was the haul rope and one knot was passed using a block and tackle as a secondary hauling system.

The second rope, a belay rope, was pulled up by 6 to 7 people using jumars in time with the haul rope ascent. Both systems used prusiks and/or jumar safeties and the belay rope had a belayer using a friction system in case of problems. When the litter reached the summit slabs, the haul rope became wedged in a crack. This, combined with the friction on the slabs, increased the drag to the point that Mike Graham had to rappel 200 feet to the litter and jumar beside it helping it along.

The litter raising, about 1500 feet, was begun at 12 p.m. and completed at 2:30 p.m. After the litter was past Sheraton Watkins Ledge, Bard and Accomazzo started rappelling to the ground. The litter was immediately started toward the helicopter with six stretcher bearers while the remainder stayed behind to pull ropes, tear down the system, and clean up the area. All personnel started toward the Watkins heliport by 3:10 p.m. and all gear and personnel arrived at the scene at 3:45 p.m. The Lemoore Naval Air Station helicopter arrived on schedule at 4:15 p.m., according to prior arrangement, and began transporting people from Mt. Watkins area to the Ahwahnee Meadow. Five round trips were necessary to pick up all gear and personnel, including Bard and Accomazzo, who had meanwhile reached a one skid landing zone in Tenaya Canyon. The operation was concluded at 6:30 p.m., October 6, 1976. (Source: R. Smith, Yosemite Nat. Park)

Analysis: No further details as to why/how the rope was cut were available at the time of publication. The narrative of this rescue was presented to give the reader a sense of the difficulties and commitment involved in technical rescues. (Source: J. Williamson)