Life is full of learning opportunities. Happy to know that this experience turned out well and even more happy to know how well you processed what happened to learn from it yourself and to help others. Kudos.

Good job trouble shooting in the heat of the moment. Glad you learned from the incident and no one was hurt! First rule of canyoneering...... Always Rig Contingency!!! Unless the person on rope has the means (equipment and skill) to free themselves from a problem. Keep up the learning. The rescue course is one of my favorite because of all the problem solving scenarios like this. It's fun to create solutions to situations with the gear on hand. Nice Work!!

For the second improvement I think a Mariner's Hitch might have been better than the VT Prusik. The Mariner's is meant to release safely and controlled with all the friction you might want. What I remember from a rope rescue book i read is that you pull up the rope with a pulley system and you capture the pull with the Mariner's hitch. Then replace the block with a contingency, then undo the Mariner's hitch to snug up the block against the rapide/rappel ring. Glad you made this work :)

Thank you for posting this It makes everyone safer when they learn from others and it takes a lot of guts to put up a post incident video where you constructively criticize yourself This this was extremely helpful and a great learning experience for those who have watched it, thank you and well done on a successful rescue

Thanks for sharing this. Stories like yours will help us be more prepared can definitely prevent others getting into trouble. I would add that an auto block hitch can also be used (rather than a VT prusik) for the "ratchet" in the 3:1 pulley system. This can also be released under load, takes up less space than the VT and is "self tending" in my experience. (Be sure to set it and make sure it's holding the rope though!)

"At the last rappel of Pine Creek (off the boulder), my friend's VT Prussik jammed on the rope, leaving him stuck 70ft above the canyon floor." Carry a knife and know how to use it.

Im glad that you pulled this rescue manouver but it was a very simple fix and you used to much gear. All you had to do was to clip one of your lanyards to the blocker carabiner instal the blocker like you did on the quickdraw and use your weight as counter weigh to pull the rope slightly up so you could load the blocker and remove the knot on the carabiner blocker then you could put yourself on the rope and blocking your descender, using again counter weight to free the blocker and from then you could lower your partner directly from your descender. Very simple manoeuvre when you know what to do. It’s a basic rescue on the canyoning guide course and believe me a small guy can counter weight a bigger guy. This was one of those times that a simple releasable system could have avoided all this. Biggest lesson is always work with releasable systems. 😉

Great video! I'm just thinking out loud and I would have put in a vt prusik in place of the first grab, then you could have released it to weight the totem.

Great analysis of your strategies and improvements you could have made. Good work

Super sweet problem solving! Nice work!

WOW

Great job. Super good analysis of your strategies.

I did that canyon last may and it was the coolest slot canyon I have ever done

Sorry not understanding what happened with the VT Prussik. Did it become jammed in the rappel device?

Can you describe it better yet simulate and provide picture of how the VT prussik got him stuck and how it would have been rigged different to avoid the issue Thanks

I would skip what you did and use the same rope after the totem and put a MMO or a grigri on my harness and make a 1:1 to free the carabiner

Instead of building a totem block could you have done a sort of indirect belay directly of the anchor with the totem? Seems like it would have been a little easier to lower.

I'm not familiar with your rappel device but could you fix the second strand to the anchor and drop it to the stuck person and have him use it to free himself? For example, could he tie a foot loop on a second fixed strand, stand on it and then unjam the rappel device? Great video and great job rescuing your partner!

Great Job Trouble Shooting!!!!!! Was his VT used as an auto block underneath the Sqwurel?

part of me feels that with new tech and popularity in canyoneering that everyone is complicating things. I've been into canyons for 20 years leading multiple youth groups down canyons. Its a different story when you have someone's kid hanging at the end of the line. I aways tie everything off with two static lines and I top belay each kid down until they are all on the ground. Then I clean it all up and go down double strand myself with a prussik. Its a lot of work but at least I know everything is backed up and redundant when the kids head down. I also keep my back up well above my device so I don't have issues with it getting in the way of my device. It simple, straight forward, and yes slightly slower then ripping down a canyon but the more time i can spend in the canyon the better. We always let faster groups run down our ropes so the canyons don't get backed up. Pine Creek has been a favorite of mine for years and i have been down it over 10 times. Good for you for having the wear Withall to get your friend out. but I still like the saying keep it simple.

I think I'm doing it easier with a simple pulley a tibloc or ropeman and a piece of rope or long sling, just counterweight your partner and when the locked binner has slack then you can add your preffered releasing system, then release your partner weight from your pulley. its easy and faster