Hair in Rack

[Scott McCrea]

Just saw Sanctum. The hair-caught-in-rack scene was nasty but probably realistic. This prompted a question for y'all...

Have you seen or do you know of any successful self extrications from serious hair in rack situations? Tell us about it.

I have seen it twice. Both involved debilitating pain. Both required assistance. One happened at a cliff, 10' of the bottom. Someone climbed the rock and cut the hair with a knife. The second time was 25' off the bottom of a pit. We had two ropes rigged, so the next person down did a long, sloppy pick-off.

The easy solution is to put your ascender on the rope above the rack and step in the footloop, releasing the tension on the rack--freeing the hair. But, with the pain involved neither was able to help themselves.

Previously.

[NZcaver]

Have you seen or do you know of any successful self extrications from serious hair in rack situations? Tell us about it.

Yes, twice. But not in a cave.

The first time was rappelling at a cliff many years ago. My friend got some of her hair stuck, but yanked it out of the rack and continued her descent. She was relatively calm about the whole thing. We were both in our late teens at the time.

The second time was only a year ago, instructing a group of teens descending from a 25 meter natural bridge karst feature. We were using a two rope system, with a releasable main and a belay (a good risk management plan for this type of activity with youth groups). One of the girls had long hair, but it was tied back and tucked into her sweatshirt. However once she got down into the free hang part of the rappel, she was apparently enjoying herself so much looking around at the view that her hair got loose. It caught in the rack, and we heard a little shriek. We couldn't see her directly because of the overhang and trees, but we quickly understood what was going on.

My co-instructor held tension on the belay, while I immediately released the locked Munter hitch securing the main. We informed the subject that we would loosen the rope so she can pull her hair out of the rack. However this message may have been lost in translation and/or she wasn't able to extract her hair, so we simply ended up lowering her all the way to the ground using both ropes simultaneously. She suffered no ill effects, and after we reset the ropes she went right back up and rappelled several more times.

With an SRT situation, my answer would be to throw on the upper ascender and stand in the footloop like Scott said. But what do I know? I've never had long hair in my life, and I certainly don't plan to start now.

[SuperM]

My grotto did a vertical workshop this past January and a friend of mine had her hair in two braids. While practicing a changeover just a few feet off the ground, she managed to suck a whole braid into her rack. Luckily, a bunch of us were talking her through the changeover, so we saw what happened right away and two taller guys could scoop her up and take tension of the rack so she could get her hair out.

Not serious, but it served as a nice reminder for those of us with long hair.

I'd agree- If you're able, attaching an ascender and stepping into a footloop sounds like the best solution. But then again, I'd imagine that it would be painful, not to mention really restrict the amount you could move your head (if the hair had been caught up to the scalp anyway).

[self-deleted_user]

The first time I was on rope in a tree I didn't think about the hair thing enough first. It was October and colder so I had my hair down for warmth. <3 long hair for warmth. Hair tucked behind ears, helmet keeping it there so I didn't think much about it. Bit of wind comes along....got a bit in the in the rack (about 1/4 inch diameter if it was a circle amount or so) i just locked off the rack and pulled the strands out that would come and some didn't and whatever - I saw it happen right away so it had only gone through one bar so most of it pulled out fine, and by pulling it towards my head away from the rack it wasn't really painful even the strands that broke it wasn't at the root so it didn't hurt. I had a hairtie on my wrist (I had brought one in case I needed to put it back) so I put my hair up right then and finished the rappel. Between caving and capoeira and karate I just keep a hairtie on my wrist all the time now which comes in handy to have it around when I forget to put it up in advance!

[twhitehurst]

I've seen several hair-in-rack experiences. Painful, but all but one managed to pull it out of the rack without help. The one case requiring assistance was when my sister was rappelling off the observatory on top of the Physics Department at the Univ. of Alabama. She was good and stuck, but only about 7 ft off the ground. Fortunately a campus policeman was watching and was able to push her up by her butt enough to allow her to work her hair out. I don't know which one of them enjoyed it more.

The scariest foreign object in rack I've seen is a bandanna. That could have been fatal if the victim hadn't been able to work it loose quickly. NO bandannas!

[trogman]

I've had my glove get pulled into my rack once or twice. Since I always have my QAS handy, I just stopped my rappel and attached my QAS, then climbed back up enought to release the glove. I imagine it would be much worse if it was hair.

Some of us don't have to worry about getting hair caught in the rack, if you know what I mean!




Trogman

[gdstorrick]

Post deleted.

[chh]

I got a bit of my beard caught in a rack once when it was longer. No QAS necessary though. Rip. Ouch! Continue...

I rescued a lady once. She got something of hers caught in a rack. It wasn't hair. It looked painful . Couldn't use a knife.

I'm not kidding.

Gary

Yikes!

[Squirrel Girl]

I almost started this thread when the movie came out, but we had this thread going a couple years ago (do a search). Nonetheless, I'll repeat myself here.

Me: When I was in high school, I was practicing vertical work in a swingset in our apartment complex and got my hair caught. I was able to stand on my tippy toes and get it out.

Then years later in Huautla, I had gotten my hair cut short on the way down. So it was short--no need to worry about it getting caught, right? Wrong. The short little bits sticking out the sides did get caught. My caving partner rescued me, but I should have just slapped my Jumar on and did a self rescue. I had my set of Jumars handy on my harness. Was a little distracted by the situation and relied on my buddy instead.

However, it's not just women. I've known two men to get their beards caught, and each of them just let the hair rip out.

Sometimes it's BOTH men and women. During a practice session at a bridge, a newbie woman got her breast caught in the rack. I'm not sure how that worked itself out, but I don't recall hearing that any vital body parts were removed. Nonetheless, my male friend (who told me this story) was at the top of the bridge. He was thinking 'How stupid can someone be?' He tossed his sweater down to the woman just in case she might need it. He then rappelled down to join her and GOT HIS CHEST HAIR CAUGHT! He then realized how stupid someone can be!

And yes, it's not just hair. My old ridgewalking (hobbling) buddy from years ago (before I met him) was doing a practice session on a cliff. It was raining. He was wearing a poncho. It got sucked into the his rack. He got his knife out and yes, the rope was accidently cut. He fell ~45 ft and has a permanent limp and a colostomy bag, and who knows what other permanent injuries. NEVER USE A KNIFE ON SOMETHING CAUGHT IN YOUR RACK!

[mgmills]

I almost started this thread when the movie came out, but we had this thread going a couple years ago (do a search). Nonetheless, I'll repeat myself here.

Me: When I was in high school, I was practicing vertical work in a swingset in our apartment complex and got my hair caught. I was able to stand on my tippy toes and get it out.

Then years later in Huautla, I had gotten my hair cut short on the way down. So it was short--no need to worry about it getting caught, right? Wrong. The short little bits sticking out the sides did get caught. My caving partner rescued me, but I should have just slapped my Jumar on and did a self rescue. I had my set of Jumars handy on my harness. Was a little distracted by the situation and relied on my buddy instead.

However, it's not just women. I've known two men to get their beards caught, and each of them just let the hair rip out.

Sometimes it's BOTH men and women. During a practice session at a bridge, a newbie woman got her breast caught in the rack. I'm not sure how that worked itself out, but I don't recall hearing that any vital body parts were removed. Nonetheless, my male friend (who told me this story) was at the top of the bridge. He was thinking 'How stupid can someone be?' He tossed his sweater down to the woman just in case she might need it. He then rappelled down to join her and GOT HIS CHEST HAIR CAUGHT! He then realized how stupid someone can be!

And yes, it's not just hair. My old ridgewalking (hobbling) buddy from years ago (before I met him) was doing a practice session on a cliff. It was raining. He was wearing a poncho. It got sucked into the his rack. He got his knife out and yes, the rope was accidently cut. He fell ~45 ft and has a permanent limp and a colostomy bag, and who knows what other permanent injuries. NEVER USE A KNIFE ON SOMETHING CAUGHT IN YOUR RACK!

Early in my caving days I got a few wisps caught. Since then I pull my hair back and wear a bandana. During the times my hair was been too short to pull back I always wore a bandana under my helmet. In assisting with training newbies I've always cautioned about hair and beards. . . . even short hair can get caught . . .

[graveleye]

This thread reminds me of one of the first threads I ever started on cave-chat. I've since kept my hair short though so it's not a worry for me. Those of you who know my wife though - her hair is pretty long. She has never had a problem though since she keeps it pulled back in a ponytail, either braided or not.

She always wears a sports bra too keep her girly parts out of harms way too.

Really, the whole thing is to just pay attention to where your head is in relation to the rack and you'll be fine.

[mgmills]

Really, the whole thing is to just pay attention to where your head is in relation to the rack and you'll be fine.

Kevin, that works fine on many drops but sometimes in some multi=drop caves or tight pits one must do contortions to negotiate the drops putting the head in very close proximity to the rack/rappel device. A problem in a tight spot would possibly preclude help from a rescuer in many instances.

[graveleye]

very true there.

Maybe the long haired ladies can wear their hair in a Princess Leia buns on the side?

[Scott McCrea]

The girl that I saw get her hair stuck was in serious pain from a small section of hair between her temple and ear. You know, the part that usually falls out of pony-tails first.

[Anonymous_Coward]

Besides the usual few strands that get caught from time to time, I've seen this happen once where it became a serious situation. It was in a canyon, not a cave and involved an ATC, not a rack. Our friend Sonny made it about 20 feet down the 130 foot entrance rappel to Alcatraz Canyon, UT. He got one of his very long dreadlocks sucked into his ATC. As Sonny is not a caver, he did not see the need to wear ascenders until this incident. You can see in the photo that he has wrapped the rope around his foot in order to stand up, but was unable to release the dreadlock. He was hurtin bad until Paul rapped down on a separate rope and cut the hair out of the ATC. I use this situation as a good example for explaining why you should always wear full vertical gear. Also, it is a good idea to have extra rope in the truck, as Paul did. For this canyon, the truck is the rig point, so the rope was at hand and ready to use.




Here's almost the full rappel with someone else on rope for scale.