CANYONING 12 June 2000 - Carra Beanga Falls, double fatality. Blue Mountains, NSW
Lucas Trihey
Mountains, NSW
Two men died in a canyoning accident in Carra Beanga Falls near Mt
Thurat in the Kanangra Boyd National Park. The accident occurred on the
sixth abseil of the long descent (of between 10 to 15 abseils in total
- with the exact number of abseils depending on conditions and group
experience) in the early hours of Saturday evening. The group of 9 from
a university mountaineering club were seeking a ledge large enough to
camp the night on and continued abseiling after darkness had fallen.
The canyon is normally considered a "dry" canyon, however, due to route
finding difficulties (made harder by darkness) the group chose an
abseil anchor that placed them close to a waterfall that on that windy
evening would have caused spray to blow across the abseil resulting in
those descending the ropes getting wet. The first person to descend
reached the bottom of that pitch on a single rope while the remainder
of the party completed the previous abseil. The abseil was then
re-rigged as a double rope (retrievable) abseil for the remainder of
the group. The second person down experienced difficulties near the
bottom, possibly from a falling rock, and for reasons that are not
entirely clear was unable to descend to the bottom. The first person
then made his way back up to the second person and appears to have
attempted a rescue. The single rope, which was now no longer in use,
was released by those at the top in accordance with a plan that had
been discussed before the two leaders had descended. The group at the
top had been unable to communicate with the two below due to the
confusing echoes and acoustics of the surrounding cliffs. According to
the post mortem report the two probably died of hypothermia but a
perimortem head injury and/or mechanical asphyxiation could not be
ruled out as the cause of death for the second person. The remainder of
the party discovered their companions the following morning and cut
them free of the ropes and continued out of the canyon arriving back at
the Kanangra Car Park on Tuesday morning. The bodies were recovered on
the Wednesday morning by Police using a helicopter.
Editor comments
While an accurate picture of what happened will probably never be known
it is possible to offer some suggestions for other parties undertaking
any long remote canyon:
· A maximum party size of 6 offers speed, efficiency and safety in
long and remote canyons.
· In parties containing a number of novices it is wise to have at
least one leader who has done the canyon before.
· Allow plenty of time to reach an achievable goal and if your group
is not going to make a chosen camp site decide early on a suitable
alternative.
· Thermals, fleece clothing and waterproof shells should be standard
on all winter trips in the Blue Mountains. These materials dry faster,
weigh less when wet and offer superior thermal protection when compared
to natural fibres such as cotton.
· All canyoners, particularly on long, remote or multi pitch canyons,
should know how to prussik and should be equipped with at least 2
prussik loops.
· A person with good technical rope skills should be last down each
abseil and should be equipped with enough gear to improvise a rescue if
needed, preferably with a spare rope.
A detailed article on this accident, based on the witness statements of
the survivors of the trip, appeared in the Good Weekend Magazine (part
of the Sydney Morning Herald and AGE of 20/10/01). Visit
http://www.accidentregister.info/ref.html to read the full article.
LEVEL 3 REPORT