Larry E. Matthews wrote:Hair caught in rappel rack?
Why would that be fatal? It would certainly hurt.
In fact, that happened to my first wife as she was rappeling into Neversink many years ago. Her long, blond hair fed into her rappel rack, so she stopped and broke them off, a few at a time. Not a lot of fun, but certainly not life threatening. A good self-rescue.
And, acetylene explosion?
That's happened to almost all of us who used to use carbide lamps, but unless you somehow dropped an entire two (2) pound can in a pool of water, then set it off, it's hard to imagine "death by acetylene explosion". A little burned hair? Yes !!! I guess it could happen if you were in a really small, enclosed space and the acetylene gas used up all the oxygen.
Larry E. Matthews
NSS #6792-F
I've been on a trip where guy got his eyelashes melted during the explosion. If he'd been blinded, it could have been a closer-to-fatal accident. Especially if it were on a deep camping trip as the book is focused on. Another guy got second degree burns on his noise from an explosion. He stuck his face in a dry bag caving pack. It's not so outlandish a prospect to my way of thinking. Likely, no, but no accident is "likely."