Rope and Belay Breakage

Question
Hi.  I am doing a piece of work and I am required to find cases where the belay device or the rope has broken.  Would you be able to provide me any incidents that you know of in this situation?

Answer
Dear Leo,

The most notorious example of a rope breaking during a fall came during the first ascent of the Matterhorn on July 14th, 1865.  Edward Whymper led a party of seven.  After the first successful ascent of the mountain, their party suffered one of the most famous mountaineering accidents in history while descending the Hornli Ridge.  They were tied together with two ropes and were moving together in the old alpine style of climbing.  One of the least experienced climbers slipped and pulled others over the precipice with him.  The manila rope (natural fiber, braided and pulled) broke and four men fell several thousand feet to their deaths.  Had the rope been a modern synthetic model, it is likely all of the men would have been pulled off the mountain.  Modern ropes can be cut, but they almost never break.  

Clint Cummins offers a list of fatal El Cap incidents on his website.  I've pasted them below.  The one I remember most vividly (cited below) involved the failure of an anchor which dropped three climbers to the deck.  

Todd Skinner died while rappelling off the Leaning Tower in Yosemite.  His device was found attached to the rope.  His harness, old and worn, broke during the descent.  His new one was in the mail.

I hope this helps a bit.

Yours,

Bob Walton





1-2. Two people who fell off the Trip.
   1 - fixed rope cut by sharp/rough rock while jumaring back to top of p2
       (late 70s?).  Maybe the same as #17 below.
   2 - Carol Moyer, 1983 (ANAM 1984). Following a downward diagonal
       pitch 4 on jumars, when they came off the rope (she wasn't tied
       in to end of rope).

>3-5. The "American Triangle" accident--three guys?
   I presume you are referring to the 3-guy fatality while rapping
   down the Stovelegs on the Nose.  The hanger they were clipped to
   had a pre-existing crack, and they weren't clipped to the other
   hanger(s).  It was an old Dolt hanger, which was made of metal
   that was too brittle.  I have heard they loaded it beyond their
   combined weight when a haul bag was cut loose, I'm not sure if
   this was confirmed.  (early 70s)

>6-7. Japanese on the Nose (2)
   Sadatamo Keiso, Kenji Yatuhashi, November 17, 1984 (ANAM 1985).
   They froze on the last pitch (50' from the top), in a snowstorm.

>8. the careening body that John Long mentioned off the Nose (1)
   Vague reference.  Do you mean:
     Mike Blake, 1973 (ANAM 1974).  He was jumaring the last pitch,
   Jumar or tie-in failed,
   but he was tied into the end of the rope.  However, the rope
   broke.  It was never determined exactly why, because there
   were no obvious sharp edges.  Perhaps a defect in the rope.

>9-10.  He thought two others on the Nose.
   1 - Wolfgang Schrattner, 1987 (ANAM 1988).  Was following the
       Great Roof pitch on jumars.  He was on the final traverse when
       he fell when one of his jumars was off the rope.  He was tied
       in to the end of the rope, but he hit his head on the rock
       after going 150' and died.
   2 - Robert Dietmar Kuhn, 1988 (ANAM 1989).  Was leading Pancake
       Flake, when he pulled off a 3' loose block.  It cut his
       rope and he fell to the ground.

11. Matt Baxter, Zenyata Mondata, 4/1/1996.
   Rope cut on a flake during a leader fall on pitch 3.
   Fell 300' to ground.

>More?