BREAKING: Several tourists stranded on Table Mountain

Nerfherder said:
Its really not that hard to walk down Platteklip gorge. Its like a 30 min clamber at most (down).
It baffles me as to why 800 people just stood at the cable station looking like chops....
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Maybe they were all wearing crocs and flip flops...:p
 
Nerfherder said:
Its really not that hard to walk down Platteklip gorge. Its like a 30 min clamber at most (down).
It baffles me as to why 800 people just stood at the cable station looking like chops....

Sorry to hear about the lives lost on the mountain though.
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True.

Done it once and while leading the group, a snake appeared about a metre in front of me. It must have been startled by footsteps. It wriggled on the footpath for few seconds while I stood there. Motionless. My heart must have stopped beating for few seconds.

My most terrifying moment on the mountain.
 
ForceFate said:
True.

Done it once and while leading the group, a snake appeared about a metre in front of me. It must have been startled by footsteps. It wriggled on the footpath for few seconds while I stood there. Motionless. My heart must have stopped beating for few seconds.

My most terrifying moment on the mountain.
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Snakes? Screw that, I'd stay on that mountain 'til Jesus returns.
 
Nerfherder said:
Its really not that hard to walk down Platteklip gorge. Its like a 30 min clamber at most (down).
It baffles me as to why 800 people just stood at the cable station looking like chops....

Sorry to hear about the lives lost on the mountain though.
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It was getting dark when the rescue started, no way WSAR would want 800 people who don't know the mountain walking down Platties in the dark that would most likely end up with yet more rescues needing to take place. During the day, it's an easy run/walk down but in the dark without a headlamp it's treacherous. And most tourists would not have been prepared for a walk down.
 
Nerfherder said:
Its really not that hard to walk down Platteklip gorge. Its like a 30 min clamber at most (down).
It baffles me as to why 800 people just stood at the cable station looking like chops....
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You are stranded because 3 people are in a spot of bother. Average human's mindset is to not try anything risky in the face of this. They could also be with tour guides and it would be in the guides' best interests to not try anything risky with their flock.
 
ChrisJ said:
It was getting dark when the rescue started, no way WSAR would want 800 people who don't know the mountain walking down Platties in the dark that would most likely end up with yet more rescues needing to take place. During the day, it's an easy run/walk down but in the dark without a headlamp it's treacherous. And most tourists would not have been prepared for a walk down.
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Na, sun is still going down at 8:30 at the moment, the last car down is 6:30.

All 800 coming down one path is a bad idea but there are 3 possible paths, the other two that would have faced the setting sun... I'm sure that at least half of the people up there would have been able to go down if they had been told they could.

We bought the annual ticket for the cable station and have been up often this year.. if something like that had happened I would have just taken my wife and kid down one of the paths. I would not have waited for dark.
 
https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-af...-guide-fell-first-ropes-did-not-snap-12587883


Its believed the guide fell first, followed by the other two. The ropes did not snap however, and an investigation is underway, led by police, to determine what happened. Both the guide and the Japanese man died on impact. The female survivor tried CPR on one of victims, but was unable to revive him.

....


Collins said once the survivor was rescued, operations resumed to bring stranded people down the mountain.

“The last people came off the mountain after midnight at 12.30. It was below ten degrees, ice cold,” she said.

Authorities tried to keep the elderly and infirm comfortable in the Table Mountain restaurant and wifi lounges, but there was not enough space for everyone.
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Nerfherder said:
Na, sun is still going down at 8:30 at the moment, the last car down is 6:30.

All 800 coming down one path is a bad idea but there are 3 possible paths, the other two that would have faced the setting sun... I'm sure that at least half of the people up there would have been able to go down if they had been told they could.
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Please don't spread misinformation! They can run cars safely at any time of day or night.

16 December 2017 - 15 January 2018 First car up 08h00 Last car up 20h30 Last car down 21h30
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In summer most of Platteklip Gorge is in shadow from late-afternoon onwards. There were also patches of cloud around, which reduced the light intensity.

This webcam image from Milnerton at 20h00 on Mon 1st shows lighting conditions. There is no way I would have started descending at that time without a head-torch. Platteklip Gorge is in the center of the image, above the tallest palm tree.

hour2000[20180101_cloth_Qs_dusk].jpg
 
Platteklip Gorge is easier going up than going down - and without the correct shoes I wouldn't want to go down with a crowd of people.

Sounds like many of these tourists would not have been capable anyway.
 
daveza said:
https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-af...-guide-fell-first-ropes-did-not-snap-12587883
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Thanks for the update. It is very rare for modern synthetic climbing ropes to snap, instead the anchor points are the most likely point of failure. We may never know exactly what happened, even if the survivor is able to provide some details.

There has always been controversy about the merits of permanent bolts versus temporary anchors, in an aesthetically unique place such as Table Mountain. See: http://www.climbing.co.za/2011/10/mcsa-response-to-table-mountain-bolts/

Oct 24, 2011
Table Mountain Bolting Arrow Final bolts

Recently a Climb ZA member reported on the forum that bolts had been installed near the top of Arrow Final on Table Mountain.

Most people probably did not believe it, however pictures of the offending bolts soon appeared. There was much confusion as to who and for what purpose these bolts were placed? The one bolt had also been poorly installed.

56 or so replies later a well known Cape climber and guide owned up to placing the bolts for guiding purposes. Discussion regarding the bolts ensued and they were chopped (removed).
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During the early 1990’s bolting debate and subsequent development of a sport climbing management plan for the peninsula, it was agreed with the South African National parks and the climbing community that Table Mountain is a bolt free zone. It was also agreed for safety reasons that a limited number of abseil anchors were to be installed on Table Mountain.
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http://www.capetalk.co.za/articles/286671/two-dead-in-table-mountain-accident

The threesome were on the route, going up the mountain, when something happened which caused all three of them to fall. They were, however, attached to ropes which prevented them from falling all the way down. But they fell quite a long way, while they were each attached to a rope. And in that process, two of the three persons sustained injuries which proved to be fatal.

— Johan Marais Spokesperson Wilderness Search and Rescue
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Not sure how they died if they were still attached to ropes.
 
daveza said:
http://www.capetalk.co.za/articles/286671/two-dead-in-table-mountain-accident

Not sure how they died if they were still attached to ropes.
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Possibly hit an outcrop or swung into one once their fall had been arrested by the ropes - the woman is lucky to be alive considering she was on the same rope.

Modern climbing rope has elasticity which dictates how much of a fall it can safely arrest (for it's rated elasticity). Climbing rope loses elasticity over time which reduces this margin...
 
daveza said:
Not sure how they died if they were still attached to ropes.
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The ropes used by climbers are long - 60m is a common length, and if all three fell that means the safety equipment (basically what holds the climber and rope to the rockface) most likely failed.

Even a 10m fall on a rope could be fatal if the climber swings into the rockface with sufficient force - and that particular climb is pretty big, 3 to 4 pitches (+/- 100m). If they were high enough they could fall a long, long way.

107967767_medium_1494254185.jpg
 
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daveza said:
ATTACH 488396
488398
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The caption on the first photo is wrong, it was subsequently reported to be the female survivor applying CPR. (Still in daylight, before the rescuers abseiled down in the dark).

The second photo was taken from ground level, and is quite remarkable! I saw it on twitter, but did not attach it, since I thought it does not add information not already in the first photo.
 
Moderately factual front-page news story on BBC website: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-42541740

The bodies of a tourist and his guide have been recovered from South Africa's Table Mountain following an accident which trapped hundreds of people at the top of the popular attraction.

The man, his local guide and a second tourist are reported to have been using ropes to scale the front of the Cape Town mountain when they fell on Monday.

Rescuers then used the cable car to reach the surviving climber.

But the bodies were not recovered until first light on Tuesday.

The tourists are understood to be of Asian origin while the guide was a South African, a spokeswoman for South Africa's Sanparks, which runs the country's national parks, told the BBC.

According to Table Mountain Cableway, the service - which takes thousands of people up and down the mountain every day - was out of action for about four hours, closing an hour after the group was first spotted.

John Marais, of Wilderness Search and Rescue, told South African news site TimesLive the two climbers were seen "dangling" on ropes about 150 metres (490ft) below the cable car station just after 17:00 local time (15:00 GMT).

A picture shared on social media shows one rescuer administering CPR to a person on a narrow ledge.

Mr Marais said an initial attempt to use a helicopter to rescue the climbers was unsuccessful, leading the team to decide the best way to reach the three would be to abseil from the cable car.

But they were only able to rescue the surviving woman on Monday evening, with the cable car resuming its service at around 22:15 local time (20:00 GMT), when there were still about 500 people at the top of the mountain.

The last people were brought down at 00:33, the cableway said in a statement.

The recovery operation, which involved 30 people, continued throughout the night until just after 05:00 on Tuesday.

According to the South African Mountain Accident Database, 133 people have died on Table Mountain since 1980.
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Nerfherder said:
Its really not that hard to walk down Platteklip gorge. Its like a 30 min clamber at most (down).
It baffles me as to why 800 people just stood at the cable station looking like chops....
Click to expand...
That's fine for people who know the mountain, but not necessarily a good idea for the average tourist.

Cray said:
Maybe they were all wearing crocs and flip flops...:p
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Even that depends on the skill and knowledge of the walkers. Can even walk barefoot if you're used to it.
 
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