Accident / Incident Reports and Analysis
Pyrenees, 2000
by Koen Viaene, Poco Loco Adventures
No shortage of accidents in the Pyrenees. . . an average of 5 people meet
their maker in canyons on the Spanish side each year. In July/August I
reckon the helicopter crews have to do rescues once every few days
concerning canyoneers getting hurt.
This number is explained by the amount of participants (something like
150,000 each season), with the biggest concentration in those two months - a
huge part of them being novice. In the other months you get much less
accidents - fewer and more experienced people.
The cause of death being 4 drownings to one hypothermia, height-related
mortal accidents are very, very rare.
I always take great interest in every accident I know about because it's an
incredible source of information for all who's involved in the same
activity.
This said, 2000 was a very "safe" year : we had our bunch of broken bones
but I think nobody died.
An aftermath to Interlaken ? This got people more cautious ? Maybe. But
certainly because we had a very dry summer with almost no big
thunderstorms/flashfloods.
I got the official figures from the rescue group of the state police (they're police
but are specially trained for mountain rescues and do nothing else) of the Ordesa
region and north-east Sierra de Guara.
These figures do not cover the whole Pyrenees by far but do include a big chunk
of the most popular canyoning-area, about 70 miles across.
1995: 52 recues which resulted in 2 dead bodies, 50 wounded and 10 unhurt persons being
hauled out of canyons - 40 of these rescues being made in july/august.
1996: 40 rescues, 5 dead, 27 injured, 26 unhurt.
1997: 54 rescues, 4 dead, 41 injured, 63 unhurt.
1998: 38 rescues, 2 dead, 33 injured, 26 unhurt.
1999: 43 rescues, 3 dead, 38 injured, 11 unhurt.
2000: 41 rescues, no dead, 36 injured, 33 unhurt.
Quite impressive eh ! You can just guess at the amount of injured/people in trouble
who were helped out by fellow canyoneers.
From 1999 onwards they checked if the victims were member of some mountain federation:
1999: 8 affiliated, 44 not.
2000: 12 affiliated, 59 not.
Apparently members of a federation are more cautious/better trained/fewer in numbers
or a combination of these factors that keeps them from getting hurt "en masse".
Almost all mortal accidents happened in july/august as well, with 2 deaths in april
'96 as the notable exception (I remember this quite well, more on this later).
What's quite interesting is they also kept record of the percentage of guided/not
guided people that got in trouble.
1995: 87 % of the people that got hurt were not guided.
1996: 85 %
1997: 80 %
1998: 73 %
1999: 70 %
2000: 67 %
When you just look at these figures you might conclude that guides aren't what they
used to be. . .
Maybe, but it doesn't take into account the increase in canyoneers who go with (or
without) a guide - difficult to draw conclusions here with just these figures at
hand.
On a personal note I might say that I've got the impression that more and more guides
start taking bigger risks with their customers, especially when it comes to jumping.
During the season I frequently witness whole groups jumping from heights and into
pools that are not reasonable anymore with unexperienced clients - and I've seen
things go horribly wrong on more then one occasion (broken ankles and legs from
hitting rock and twice a broken spine just from the impact on the watersurface).
I'll relate a few of the more "gruesome/stupid/closely connected to us" accidents, from previous years:
Gruesome #1:
A couple of French families decided to descend the Rio Vero together. This
is a very popular canyon without ropework and rated as very easy. They go
along without a guide and have a great time. Halfway through the canyon they
notice that two of the kids have gone missing (this canyon is huge, in
places it's partly caved in so that you have to find your way through a maze
of house-sized boulders with the water flowing around/under them. Several
routes are possible). After some hesitation they decide that the kids (aged
11 and 16) have gone on in front of them.
When exiting the canyon, you guessed, nobody there.
They alerted Rescue in the late afternoon, which started looking for the two
boys straight away. Rescue parties had to get out of the canyon during the
evening because a severe thunderstorm broke.
The next few days literally a few thousand of rescuers/volunteers looked for
them, hampered by high waters in the canyon and maquis on the sides.
The first body was found after 5 days, the second 2 days later, both still
in the canyon.
Gruesome #2:
A (French again) family was surprised by a thunderstorm and the resulting
high waters in the Yesa Superior canyon. They were carefully trying to
continue when the boy slipped and disappeared in a maelstrom of water. The
father jumped in for a rescue and promptly disappeared as well.
The mother (being the sole survivor of the family. . .) waited until the
water subsided a few hours later and went looking for help.
Both bodies were recovered the next day, one by the first group down the
canyon!
Really Stupid #1:
A guide decided to abseil a 40 meter drop together with one of his clients
who was afraid. They each took one strand of the rope and off they went.
10 meters from the ground the rope broke and down they went. The guide came
off with minor injuries but the young boy broke his skull (he survived).
Observations: the rock was slate, very abrasive for the ropes (the guide
must have known that, being very familiar with the canyon). The ropes were
not fixed at the top (if one of the strands break, down go both). They were
not connected to each other with their life-lines (I'm not sure if they had
any). They were wearing no helmets.
Really Stupid #2:
Two friends decide to go down the Mascun Superior. This is a canyon which
goes underground/gets very dark in a few places. There's running water but
they wear only long john neoprene suits, being high summer with at least 35°
Celsius outside.
Almost at the end of the last dark (and very chilly) stretch one of them
gets really cold. All through the "oscuros" it's cold and slow (a lot of
swimming and small rappels, not really easy ones). One of them decides to
leave his friend there and try to get help.
By the time the next group of fellow-canyoneers pass through, they find one
very dead guy, hours before rescue is warned.
Extremely Dumb and Completely Avoidable #1:
A few days after the Interlaken drama, out goes a group of us (two guides, 8
customers) to the Trasito Inferior. That's a canyon just around the corner
from where we live. Dry at that moment but choosen because the weather is
rather unstable, you can see the whole "bassin" of the canyon and you can
get out of it almost everywhere.
After an hour or two Luc and Bart, the guides, see a thunderstorm coming.
They pause at a site where there's a small track leading back to the cars.
The thunderstorm lets go just over the bassin and they decide to go and have
a beer instead of continuing.
At that same moment a group of 6 Spanish youngsters come down. Luc goes up
to these guys and points to about ten waterfalls coming over a rock ledge in
the bassin about a mile upstream (the canyon is still dry where they stand).
He also invites them to come along on the path (hard to find), 5 minutes to
the cars.
He gets laughed at because these guys were "not afraid of a little water"
and "know what they're doing".
I stood next to these guys watching a helicopter trying to get near the body
of "the most experienced" one, drowned 300 meters downstream from the path.
. .
He had gotten stuck on his rope while rappeling through a waterfall (by then
the water had arrived in force) and his friends (not knowing what to do) had
all seen him drown slowly.
Extremely Stupid and Completely Avoidable #2:
A bunch of five friends have come over to do the Miraval. This is a very
aquatic, narrow canyon without any ropework. Very dangerous with high water.
It's been bad in conditions for the whole duration of their holiday but they
absolutely want to do it.
Despite of repeated warnings by guides, locals and the camping-owner they
decide to go ahead the last day of their vacation.
All five are found drowned downstream, some end up floating in a lake 25 kms
further on.
I could go on like this for a while but it's starting to get to me (it's
Christmas and I'm telling stories of death and mayhem !?!).
I think all of us can draw his/hers conclusions in these cases, in some
others it's not so black and white.
I thought of a more "happy" and certainly funny accident a few years ago:
A French couple was going down the Miraval when the woman broke a leg while
jumping (jumping taking care of more than 90 % of all canyoning-accidents
around here).
This guy puts his companion somewhere comfortable and goes on looking for
help. He warns the rescue service, who comes dashing in with a helicopter.
At that point in the same canyon another French couple is having a good time
until the woman also breaks her leg. They're just wondering what to do when
this helicopter comes sweeping out of the blue, bundles up the woman and is
gone in a blink - leaving behind a very impressed husband who thinks very
highly of the Spanish rescue services (they're good).
When dropping off the victim at the nearest hospital, with the other anxious
husband waiting, the "mistake" is discovered, the helicopter goes back and
all end up safe and sound.
Comments? Do these things need analysis, or are the mistakes here obvious?
Report from Koen Viaene, "Poco Loco Adventures" (pocoloco@skynet.be)
