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Totem Pole accident 22-Jul-2020 At 8:13:12 AM davedave

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Could OP please change the title of this thread to "11/02/2019: Candlestick accident Tasmania" or something similar to make this thread more searchable ?

Thanks again for putting this together, it looks really comprehensive, as other posters have noted tyroleans, while being iconic, are actually pretty rare in recreational climbing in Oz. Running a steep tyrolean like this even less common.

From everything you've said it just sounds like a bunch of minor errors which we all usually get away with conspired to lead to the accident.

I strongly suspect your team collectively had better judgement and skills then when I and two mates got on the candlestick many years ago. I still shudder when I think about the candlestick side anchor we used (non-redudant boulder slung with skinny cord, I think?), our training consisted of a quick read of the Phil Boxs chockstone article on tyroleans and a dry run on some trees at Fortescue Bay. Our take off point on the candle stick was lower, using half ropes and minimal tension it was a lot of diagonal ascending to get back to the mainland.

Please do not take any of the following as criticism, or as in any way informed or instructional as I've no practical knowledge of this system.

As you mentioned in person when discussing the accident, the (apparently) elegant solution for this sort of steep tyrolean seems to be setting up guided lower/rappel system. I'd never even heard of this system until you mentioned it to me.

The doubled tensioned rope with second rappel rope setup sounds workable, but would it require two separate rappel anchors to prevent the rappel line rubbing on the tensioned doubled tyrolean lines at the anchor point when it is pulled ? Also the guided rappel system should allow a rappel the full length of the tyrolean with one line for the tensioned tyrolean and one for the rappel on the backside of the biner block.

I agree with the general premise of getting professional instruction, but I worry this sort of skill/experience is pretty rare outside of the technical canyon guide/enthousiast scope (they seem to be into all sorts of rope tricks I've never heard of).

At the end of the day rigging would be a lot simpler with anchor points at a similar height. The most basic approach if all fails would be just returning to the mainland and ascending back up which must be horribly slow with 3 (with or without mechanical ascender setups) or rappeling/ascending a very loose tyrolean (FYIs diagonal prusiking somehow sucks even more then regular prusking in my experience).

I look forward to reading a public accident report on the 25-26/12/2019 candlestick accident which was a formal trip by a club. I understand one is in the process of being produced.

From my very limited, second hand understanding there are many, many lessons to be shared from that one.

Please forgive my exceptional talent at mspaint.

Hope you're all doing well.