Abseiling with a broken rope

Instructional video from a real example:
What to do when a rope is broken while rappelling
Transcript:
Today I will show you how I managed a pretty delicate situation:
A broken rope when abseiling in the night already.
This is something that can happen to anybody and having the technical knowledge as well as cold blood are important to find a solution without taking unnecessary risks.
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This happened in the 2020 winter when I was climbing Supercouloir. A beautiful mixed climbing route in Mont Blanc du Tacul.
You can check the video of this route in my playlist.
After getting to the top, half way through the rappels, I realized that the rope was damaged.
As you can imagine, this was a tricky situation. Not only because I was hanging at the edge of the broken rope, but because we had still 300 meters more of rappels to do.
There were also other factors making it even more dangerous like the cold, the darkness or the wind which was making it impossible to communicate with my partner. Furthermore, we were at high altitude, around 4K and tired after a long climbing day.
The reason why the rope was damaged like that is unknown, but it was probably because we stepped on it with the crampons. The investigation report from the manufacturer concluded that it was cut with something very sharp like a knife.
But anyway, what to do in that situation?
One important thing to notice is that I had the prussik on. Thanks to it, I could release both hands off the rappel line, hang on the prussik and deal with the situation.
Takeaway: always put the prussik!
The first thing that crossed my mind was to make a knot around the damaged area.
There are multiple possible knots for this situation. Just any knot that won't run and leaving enough slack. Overhand, figure 8, alpine butterfly...
Then, I would need to find a way to pass the belay plate to the other side of the knot.
A common approach is to use a double prussik system. This is the same concept used in crevasse rescue to pass a knot on the rope.
Passing the the belay plate to the other side of the knot is a lot of work, specially with gloves and in that windy environment. I have tried in a safe environment and I would prefer not to have to do it up there.
This approach that seems obvious, would only work 50% of the times.
Yes, that's right, only half of the times!
It depends on which is the rope to pull.
Let's see with a diagram what I mean:
If I did the knot and continue the rappel, when I try to pull the ropes from the bottom, the knot wouldn't pass through the top anchor; it gets blocked! In fact, both ropes get blocked.
We needed to pull the ropes to continue the rappels.
It could happen that the damaged rope was the rope to pull. In that case this approach would work.
Although, with all the stress of the situation it is easy to forget which is the rope to pull and I wouldn't be willing to take my chances.
Takeaway: always mark somehow which is the rope to pull. Like for example, clipping a carabiner to it.
In case of doubt, the safest would be to prussik up the ropes to get to the upper anchor.
Once there, make a knot around the damage as mentioned earlier.
This is not easy either. To prussik up double ropes with gloves in a wet environment is pretty hard. Tbocks, microtraxions and these kind of tools do not work with double ropes as they are too thin. They seem to work, but they are not certified for skinny ropes and it could lead to a fatal accident.
Takeaway: carry with you, in your harness enough gear to build a self rescue system.
When we reach an anchor and we manage to pull both ropes, for the subsequent rappels, we can use the good rope only as rappel line and use the damaged rope as pull rope.
To make sure the knot doesn't pass through the anchor, we block it using a carabiner.
This would have been the safest option.
Although, I took a different approach:
I observed the rope and I realized the sheath was damaged, but the core was intact.
The core offers 80% of the strength of the rope while the sheath only the 20% extra.
I thought that to do the remaining rappels, the rope was strong enough.
I continued that rappel until I met my partner at the next anchor. We observed the rope carefully, we discussed the various options and we decided to keep going like that.
To help strengthen he damaged area, it is advisable to cover it with some duck tape.
Take away: bring always some duck tape with you.
This can happen to anyone. It is a good to practice regularly the standard technical skills like crevasse rescue, prussik up a rope or to pass a knot through the belay plate in case you are caught in a delicate situation like this one and you can find a way out safely and smoothly.
Have fun in the mountains and be safe!
References:
docs.google.com/viewer?url=ht...

[@renaudwalder3115]

Very nice thank you for sharing your tricks! There is a way to climb up the rope quickly using the Reverso and a prussik knot, it's very useful in these situations or when you have missed the anchor :)

[@wellsee2297]

I thought you would do that with duck tape. Ever option is what i would have done thank you for affirming that my mountaineering skills are not so forgotten. Awesome content

[@nelsonianb1289]

Seriously well put together, even if it isnt what you did the thought process of what you could do in an odd situation. Thanks so much!

[@jonmurua]

Thank you!

[@ThomasWuyts]

Very well explained, Jon! Either putting a knot over the damaged area (when you're already abseiling and don't want to prussik back up and the damage is on the pull-side of the rappel) or rappelling on one line and using the damaged chord as a pull-chord (When you noticed the damage while installing the rappel) are the 2 techniques to use! I'm an alpine instructor for the Belgian/Flemish Mountaineering Federation and I will share this video with my colleagues. Extremely clear explanation with focus on safety! (For passing your belay plate over the knot, it is less work to use a long accessory chord (5m) with an extra overhand knot close to the rope. you can stand up in the bottom loop and clip your harness into the smaller loop (extra knot) when standing up, de-weighting the whole system below. Definitely in a freehanging rappel, you just wouldn't manage to clip into that short prussik above the belay plate.)

[@jonmurua]

I'm glad this can be useful. Good point about the long accessory cord to pass the belay plate. I understand you suggest to place it first thing, above the belay plate. This way, the whole system underneath gets released making it very easy to pass the belay plate and original prussik over the knot. 👍🏼

[@mitchellbarnow1709]

That was absolutely incredible, I’m so glad that you have so much knowledge! Thank you so much for sharing this incredible set-rescue story!

[@Cragcloud]

Really great technique, Jon!

[@yuriykashnikov6296]

Very nice vid! Please keep on going!

[@mitchellbarnow1709]

I am a loyal subscriber with notifications turned on!

[@Kmalmsheim]

Thanks for sharing!

[@lukaslans]

thanks for the advice, never got to such a situation, but now knowing what to do is helpful thanks :)

[@pieter1108]

Great video! Very informative.

[@fab1000]

Very clear Jon! I love the duct tap trick ;)

[@Vicentecarmonagonza]

Excellent vídeos and channel!! Your activities are awesome!! Enhorabuena y gracias por compartir

[@SWISSPOWERJET]

thanks for telling us

[@lincespain]

Son las tipicas maniobras que si no ensayas , luego te pueden costar caras. GRACIAS

[@FNicod]

Hi Jon, thanks for your vid, and good job with the climbing. The firsts options you show here are great. I have a doubt on the duck tape that by experience can block your belay plate under tension and, if unlucky it get stuck on the top of the rapelle... Give it a try home ;)

[@jonmurua]

Thanks for your feedback François. I would use the damaged/taped rope as pull cord only and use the healthy rope as single rappel line. In this case, only the healthy rope would pass through the belay plate and the damaged/taped rope would not pass through the anchor either.

[@MtJochem]

I had the same, on a rappel my partner triggered some big rockfall. One of the rocks cut the rope in two (we were using a single rope). Luckily I was tocked away in a small cave underneath, so I could fully enjoy the storm around me. Also lucky: It was the last rappel. So my tip would be to not damage your rope until you are at the end of your last rappel, way easier than rebuilding your prussik system and all.

[@jonmurua]

Wow! That must be frightening to have the rope fully cut and to have a rock shower! I note your tip about not damaging the rope till the end :D

[@alltoone]

Which model of rope was this? Do you think a rope with a bonded core and sheath would have been more suitable?

[@jonmurua]

It was the Mammut Twilight. In this case, the sheath made its job protecting the core so that I could continue with the rappels

[@enricociuppa7093]

can the reverso pass trough duct tape?

[@jonmurua]

On thin ropes yes

[@jonmurua]

On thin ropes yes