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Chockstone Forum - Accidents & Injuries

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Rescued in Blue Mountains May 31, the analysis 28-Jun-2015 At 7:26:54 PM Drake

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>>>While I am aware of numerous abseiling incidents/accidents where anchors have failed, people have slid off the end of their ropes, or got themselves jammed on abseil ropes, does anyone know of any incidents where the person has lost control of their abseil rope and come to grief?

I assume that some of the deaths from abseliing off the end of the rope could have been prevented with a prusik/autoblock backup. That is, I think that some of these people lost control of their abseil rope when they weren't close to the ends of their rope, got going too fast, slipped off the end, and aren't around to advocate for abseil backups/brakes.

Yes I know that a backup won't stop you abseling off the ends, partially because of the rapid decrease in friction as you approach the rope ends, and yes I know that the best way to avoid abseling off the end is to tie stopper knots (I generally do). However I think using a autoblock brake on an extended device is an easy and quick way to minimize the chance of losing control of an abseil, particularly when it is dark/wet/unknown territory.