It’s March, and climbers all over North America are getting ready for some spring cragging. It’s time to inspect your rack…and rope. When it comes to the latter, there’s an old adage that says: Ropes don’t break—they cut. This maxim provides some comfort, as how often do sharp objects truly come into contact with your rope? Before you draw any conclusions, however, check out this accident from May 2024, which appeared in the 2025 edition of Accidents in North American Climbing.
On May 11, 2024, Tom Neary and his younger brother Paul were checking out a new boulder. On top, they tied their 9.5mm dynamic rope to a tree. This created two rope lengths, with both ends reaching the ground. This configuration allowed them to rappel simultaneously, with each of them cleaning moss and dirt from the 20+-foot-high boulder. The first 10 to 12 feet of the rock were overhanging. At the lip, the angle dramatically kicked back. The juncture of the overhang and slab was a straight and horizontal edge whose exterior angle was around 60 degrees.
While on rappel and cleaning below the lip, Paul slid sideways. The brand-new rope, tensioned under body weight, was pulled across the edge. It was cleanly severed. The younger Neary fell four feet, landing on flat rocks below the boulder. Fortunately, he suffered only minor injuries.
It’s never a good idea to run a rope, especially a dynamic rope, over an acute edge. While these climbers felt that the lip was not extremely sharp, they did not account for the motion of the sliding rope. On occasion, a climber might fall or lower over a sharp edge, but the force is not often concentrated on the isolated radius of a loaded rope. In this case, the side-to-side motion acted like a saw blade.
There have been several fatalities when a tensioned rope, often with a climber jumaring on one end, was severed over an edge. By way of experiment, one can saw through a tensioned rope across the edge of a brick (a mere 90-degree angle) in less than a minute.
Just like runnering, avoiding a cut rope takes a keen eye and the ability to predict where nylon might contact an edge or rough spot. When in doubt, use a rope sheath/rope protector or improvise with a T-shirt, jacket, or pack. Athletic tape can be used, if needed, to hold the edge guard in place.
(Source: Tom Neary and the Editors.)
Pete and Jason are back to explain the consequences of a rope running unprotected over an edge, and provide some tips on how to avoid injuring your rope and yourself.
*This is a recreation of the accident. No climbers were harmed in the making of this video, only one rope.
Credits:
Pete Takeda, Editor of Accidents in North American Climbing; IFMGA/AMGA Guide Jason Antin; Producers: Shane Johnson and Sierra McGivney; Videographer: Foster Denney; Editor: Sierra McGivney; Location: Tunnel 1 Boulders, Clear Creek Canyon, Golden, CO
In the recent edition of the AAC’s Guidebook, Pete Takeda sits down to give us the details of the intricate work behind Accidents in North American Climbing. The interview walks us through the process of making the book, the history of the publication, and the challenges facing this impactful publication.
“I’ve been a reader of ANAC since I started climbing. I never imagined I’d become the editor but here I am, five years into the job and working with a great team at the AAC,” says Pete. Read the interview in Guidebook XVII.
https://americanalpineclub.org/news/2026/3/18/the-prescriptionshort-fall-to-ground
