Rescuers work save trio trapped in NZ cave

[Wayne Harrison]

Police check sale of cavers' frayed rope

Police are investigating whether the rope sold to a group of climbers rescued from Harwood's Hole on Wednesday was second-hand, as a 2m section of it had been stripped of its outer sheath.

Tasman police district search and rescue coordinator Inspector Hugh Flower said the three tourists rescued from the popular caving system on Takaka Hill were part of a group of eight, all using the same rope.

Briton Tom Harvey, 22, was the sixth person to pass over the section of rope when he realised it had frayed, and was left dangling about halfway down the hole.

Mr Flower said the third climber to use the rope, who was one of four who were already in the Starlight Cave exit system when the others became trapped, told police she had felt a "bump" when abseiling down that section of rope.

The climbers were using metal "figure-of-eight descenders" to climb down the rope which were not recommended for abseiling in Harwood's Hole as they caused friction, wear and tear, and could lead to fraying, Mr Flower said.

Police believed the fraying had been caused by Mr Harvey's figure-of-eight descending device.

Mr Flower said the group was not carrying ascending equipment, so were not able to go back up the rope to get out of Harwood's Hole themselves.

The climbers were using the rope for the first time after buying it through an outlet at the Hangdog Camp in Takaka, Mr Flower said.

Police were now trying to establish whether it had been used before being sold to the climbers.

Although it was possible that the rope had been defective, Mr Flower said it was unlikely.

He urged people wanting to enter Harwood's Hole to take the right equipment to get down as well as up, and said there were plenty of very experienced cavers in the area willing to give advice.

"Don't go in on a one-way ticket, and make sure you go with experienced cavers."

Full Story | Harwood's Hole Photo Gallery

or

Google Cache of story

[Jeff Bartlett]

wow, so we have - based on the evidence from various articles - 8 cavers (split into groups of 4) using an unprotected dynamic rope and figure 8s to rappel into a 560' pit, apparently with multiple rappellers on rope at the same time, without even having ascending equipment should something go wrong?



i mean, does it even MATTER if the rope was secondhand? it was the wrong kind of rope, used improperly.

ps - i like how this article describes the figure 8s as "metal." what they heck else would they be made of?

[Cheryl Jones]

"figure-of-eight descenders" to climb down the rope which were not recommended for abseiling in Harwood's Hole as they caused friction

Well yeah! They'd be difficult to sell if they didn't.

[fuzzy-hair-man]

A group of cavers from Sydney, who had planned to visit Harwood's Hole Thursday, also arrived and offered to do whatever they could to help.

In an effort to find out who these Sydney cavers were, I came across a couple of SUSS (Sydney Uni Speleo. Soc.) trip reports which I though you guys might be interested in:
http://www.ee.usyd.edu.au/suss/Bulls/36(1)/harwoods.html
http://www.ee.usyd.edu.au/suss/Bulls/37(4)/harwood.html (Another example of why not to throw rocks off cliffs if one were needed )

[Jeff Bartlett]

"figure-of-eight descenders" to climb down the rope which were not recommended for abseiling in Harwood's Hole as they caused friction

Well yeah! They'd be difficult to sell if they didn't.

they're metal AND they cause friction? WHAT A DEATH TRAP