Two mile long rope in rescue on Denali?

[Stefan]

Is this true? A two mile rope used in a rescue? Or....just a common journalistic mistake that happens all too frequently?

 

Korean rescue on Denali

[iain]

I think that is just poor journalism. Most rescue lowers do not exceed 600ft. They are run through stations progressively down the mountain. Ropes longer than that become difficult to get in place. 2 miles! Maybe I'm wrong but that seems pretty ridiculous.

[Bug]

There was a 1700 ft rope from 17,000 down the rescue gulley when I was there a couple years ago.

[iain]

Wow well I may stand corrected. That's still a bit less than 10560 ft. That amount of rope in 11 mm would be approaching 600lbs.

[rbw1966]

Steve Schneider set up a rap line down el cap when he did his trifecta way back in the 80's or early 90's.

[Bug]

"We were just lucky that this person had fallen above Denali Pass," said mountaineering ranger Gordy Kito, who led the rescue. "Another 15 or 20 minutes, he would have had a 1,500-foot ride, rather than 400-foot ride."

 

Il was semiconscious and could not move after his fall, Kito said. His fellow climbers wrapped him in layers of down clothing and descended to camp at 17,200 feet to find help.

 

But deteriorating weather kept them from returning with emergency provisions and prevented a high-altitude rescue helicopter from reaching him.

 

Friday afternoon a five-person rescue team reached Il, devised a rope system and fastened him onto a "sked," a combination litter and toboggan, Kito said.

 

Using two ropes, they lowered Il to the high camp five hours later. The dangers of altitude and frostbite made it clear Il would have to be moved to a lower elevation soon, Kito said. Rangers decided to lower him to their camp at 14,200 feet using a rope almost two miles long.

 

That rope is 1700'. Two miles is a journalistic gaff. The rescue gulley stretches from 17000 to 14000. At most, the rope would be 3000' and that would only make it harder to manage overall.

[klenke]

If the vertical drop of the gully was 3,000 ft, then the only way the terrain distance could have been almost two miles (10,000 feet) is if the angle of the slope was 18 degrees. That's not improbable. It would be a shallow angled gully for climbing purposes but still pretty steep for rescue lowering.

 

It is certainly a gaffe, though. Where would enough rope come from to make a two-mile long combination? You'd need something like 30 100m ropes tied together to make a two-mile long combination. 30 is a lot of ropes to be lugging up the mountain just for a rescue of one man.

[mothboy88]

Where would enough rope come from to make a two-mile long combination?

 

Sandy Pitman's porters.

[cj001f]

Hmm. 1% rope stretch on a 10,000 ft rope would be 100ft.

 

Don't they normally use cables for such things? I know a number of the 50's Eiger rescue used 1-2,000ft cables.

[Bug]

The 'rope' on Denali is used like a cable on a winch.

[Jedi]

Two mile rope! They have cable cars from 14K to 17K now? Damn European influence!!

Silly journalist, they're so crazy.

 

What would the rope weigh? 70gm/m at 10,400'?

I'll tell ya. too heavy.

[Dru]

Two mile long rope. Perfect for top roping Mount Dickey.

[Jedi]

O that would be great! When the climber sits on the rope, The rope stretch will have them loosing half a pitch. hehe he

[rbw1966]

Better not fall down low or you're going to crater.

[Dru]

I don't believe on a two mile long rope that the entire rope would stretch if loaded. More like the end nearest the climber would stretch and the amount of stretch would decrease with some function of distance from the climber. The belayer might not even notice the climber had fallen....

[rbw1966]

I can't imagine trying to yard in the slack.

[mr.radon]

The Russian para team set fixed lines up Rescue gully two years ago and over Denali Pass! Anyway I used the rope to aid in solo descents on a summit try and on summit day. the ropes were +50M ropes fixed together, just laying in the snow. They could have just used a two rope system running down the mountain to 14K, more then likely they descended R-gully since its a straight shot to camp and set up a line like the Russians did.

I raised an eyebrow at this quote too. Sounds like they overheard a joke and thought it fact? Here is a picture from the entrance to the gully on the Russians line. (they were so cool to camp next to, free live music)

[robert]

I don't believe on a two mile long rope that the entire rope would stretch if loaded. More like the end nearest the climber would stretch and the amount of stretch would decrease with some function of distance from the climber. The belayer might not even notice the climber had fallen....

 

I think also that the self weight of the rope would cause quite a bit of stretch prior to any load being applied. Most of that stretch would occur on the top half of the rope. This of course assumes that the friction of the rope on the slope is not greater than its own weight. I agree that the belayer would never know that there was a fall.

[EWolfe]

Two mile long rope. Perfect for top roping Mount Dickey.

 

[Terminal_Gravity]

I don't believe on a two mile long rope that the entire rope would stretch if loaded. More like the end nearest the climber would stretch and the amount of stretch would decrease with some function of distance from the climber. The belayer might not even notice the climber had fallen....

 

I think also that the self weight of the rope would cause quite a bit of stretch prior to any load being applied. Most of that stretch would occur on the top half of the rope. This of course assumes that the friction of the rope on the slope is not greater than its own weight. I agree that the belayer would never know that there was a fall.

 

Rope weight, colossal friction, fallen or not fallen climber...all those would pale in comparison to the wind loading of a nice stiff breeze.

[Bug]

I don't believe on a two mile long rope that the entire rope would stretch if loaded. More like the end nearest the climber would stretch and the amount of stretch would decrease with some function of distance from the climber. The belayer might not even notice the climber had fallen....

 

I think also that the self weight of the rope would cause quite a bit of stretch prior to any load being applied. Most of that stretch would occur on the top half of the rope. This of course assumes that the friction of the rope on the slope is not greater than its own weight. I agree that the belayer would never know that there was a fall.

 

Rope weight, colossal friction, fallen or not fallen climber...all those would pale in comparison to the wind loading of a nice stiff breeze.

THe winds are usually mild on Denali. That's why they can have a two mile rope laying around.