Team Thor: Thor Expedition 2006

[Kelly]

Hope the rumors are not true!

I found this about the guy that fell which is dated 6 days later than the other article: www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavut/briefs.html

[Sharon Faulkner]

There is another article on the net that implies the park ranger was rappelling with a group of U.S. climbers. However, Team Thor has not been identified as the group of U.S. climbers in any of the media reports that I've seen. For all I know, there may have been multiple teams from the U.S. scaling and rappelling Thor.

Park employee dies in fall
A horrifying fall killed an on-duty Parks Canada patrol officer on July 25. Phillip Robinson, 26, was rappelling from Thor Peak with a group of nine U.S. climbers in Auyuittuq National Park when he plummeted close to 600 metres, and reportedly died on impact, RCMP Cpl. Randy Slawson said.
www.nnsl.com/newsum.html

Regardless of which group of climbers was in the vicinity of Thor, the young ranger's death is a tragic and sad event. Condolences to his friends and co-workers.

[madratdan]

This is very sad news. I too will look foward to reading the final report before drawing conclutions.

[Kelly]

I'm at convention this week, and the rumors are flying!!! Hopefully one of the "06" Thor group will come on here to straighten it all out soon. Though, from the sound of it they may need a few days just to let it all sink in...

RUMOR WARNING***
I heard that 7 of the 9 made it down, though. Congrats to those guys!!! (If this rumor is true)

[L Roebuck]

kelly said:

I'm at convention this week, and the rumors are flying!!! Hopefully one of the "06" Thor group will come on here to straighten it all out soon. Though, from the sound of it they may need a few days just to let it all sink in...

RUMOR WARNING***
I heard that 7 of the 9 made it down, though. Congrats to those guys!!! (If this rumor is true)

Gosh isn't the latest caving news and caver happenings always discussed at Convention?

IF the rumors are true, would Kroll count as one of the 9 team members or not?

[eyecave]

well, i am afraid the ideal scenario did not take place........he didn't fall off the backside of the mountain...........does anybody know if he had ever used a rack before?

[madratdan]

Sooooo......your hinting he was on repel?

[eyecave]

no.....not at all....i am just reading the articles that some other people have reported on this very site.....the guy, philip robinson, died via a rappel..that is not speculation........google "Mount Thor expedition and ranger death" or something like that......while i am on the internet stuff...anyone with a tip on the melbourne sydney game?......

my purpose in the question was actually directed at the english understanding part of the world in general.....i was just curious if any of the people visiting the site who might know the guy would be aware of his experience level with using a rack.....i'm guessing that that was the device he was attached to........you can't do the rap via a biner wrap or biner bar.......an arm wrap or that crotch thing those early srt weirdo guys would use would not be possible.....cracked ribs and wriists and worse would result........and the rope is too heavy for a figure 8 or probably anything but a rack..........i have seen a regular rack used successfully on elcap but....i always wondered.. why take away.. the cadillac control.. of a shiney thor rack..........so....i am guessing he was using a rack.....maybe his or maybe a borrowed one, i don't know if it was long or short rack, or thor rack....me just curious if anyone who knew this guy was aware of whether or not he knew how to use it?.......

[L Roebuck]

Here are some quotes from the posted news articles for clarification.


" was rappelling from Thor Peak with a group of nine US climbers in Auyuittuq National Park when he plummeted close to 600 metres, and reportedly died on impact. "

" A Parks Canada patrol officer fell to his death while rappelling down the face of Mount Thor in Auyuittuq National Park last Tuesday. "

" Police and Parks Canada are investigating the death, which is believed to be caused either by equipment failure or human error. Robinson was considered an experienced climber, Slawson said."

" The RCMP say it's still not clear how the accident happened and they are continuing their investigation. A group of tourists from the United States was rappelling in the area at the time, and police are talking to them to gather more information. "


What a sad tragedy, my condolences to Robinson's family, friends and co-workers.

[madratdan]

Thanks for pointing those quotes out Lynn.

I've never heard of a Thor rack. I take it to be longer than a regular rack with maybe an extra bar? Just curious.

[L Roebuck]

I understand the Thor rack was specially made for the Thor expedition but don't know any specifics. Perhaps someone else can provide details.

Hey Tim do you know the specs?

[eyecave]

i don't have my rack in frount of me but its either 24 or 28 inch and holds 8 bars.........it is a little bit of a problem getting over the lip.........but lord what control........you can actually add the bar you will add before you need to let it slide to the bottom.. and then control your rap with the bar above it............when you actually lose control of you speed with the upper bar and then you just grasp the lower one slide it up an inch or three and immediately regain control.....

[eyecave]

you know....i just noticed that the article said he plummetted 600 meters....if he rapped off the top of thor and the team had rigged a 4200 foot drop......shouldn't that be that he fell over 1300+ meters if he was with the thor team when it happened?......

[Tim White]

pretzlgirl said:

I understand the Thor rack was specially made for the Thor expedition but don't know any specifics. Perhaps someone else can provide details.

Hey Tim do you know the specs?

Dan does good describing a Thor rack and how it is used. Guess he should know... he has used one on the first Thor expedition. Dan, do you know who first came up with a long rack?

I’ll take some measurements on the 3 long racks that Berta and I have and post how they are set up tomorrow.
I’m not sure if there is a standard way of setting up a long rack. Most of the time the user sets it up for their weight and style of use. One thing that most long racks that I’ve seen have in common are spacers. It's common to have spacers between the top bar & 2nd bar and the 3rd & 4th bars. (BTW- I don’t know how the ’06 Thor team had their racks set-up.) I am well aware that there have been years of debate over the use of spacers on racks. But we are not talking standard 6-bar racks here. Some of these really long drops require special equipment, borrowing design and use from standard gear, but still very different.

[L Roebuck]

Had to Google 'Long Rack'.

On Rope 1 has the BMS 24 Long Rack. It says it is an open-frame rack with tubular bars and the rack has a 24 frame and is suitable for the big drops such as El Cap or Mt. Thor. Anyone know if this the same rack that we are currently discussing?

A rack photo is located at the following link.
www.onrope1.com/index.php?mode=store&submode=showitem&itemnumber=bms-r65

[Tim White]

pretzlgirl said:

Anyone know if this the same rack that we are currently discussing?

That is a commercially available version, the only one that I know of. The 3 long racks that that we have are all homemade. I’m sure that the original Thor expedition must have used homemade racks, as BMS was not in business back then.

[L Roebuck]

Does anyone have a photo of the Thor Rack that they could post?

[eyecave]

my thor rack is 25 1/4 inchlong...shiney stainless steel, that i keep polished......it has a three curl base, no weld, and uses smc bars......the first ones were made by buddy lane...they were made because the long racks available for elcap didn't have that slick cadillac ride we wanted........he made several......i don't remember who, but it was yoemans or holmes (clinkscales) who requested them.....but ya know it might have been buddy's idea....

spacers have to be used because of rope weight....the length of the spacers varies from 1 1/2 inch between the first and second and one inch spacers 2 to 3...some people use spacers between 3 and 4....the width of the spacers and the number of spacers can vary....practice on a short drop with the projected rope weight hanging onto or added to the rope is the safe way to set yours up.......the extra length of the rack allows spacers that would kill you in a regular length pit.....you have eight bars so as you might guess 6 and 7 are the mainly used ones.....though you might start with five depending on your spacer config and end up adding numero 8.........

as far as the controversial ideas about spacers....as the instigator of that argument.......the correct spacers to use in normal cave rappeling and exploration is the space the spacer occupies between your first and second bar is the exact width of the diameter of the rope you typically use....this prevents the rope from jamming and locking up your rack and rap......the big thing isthat it makes the rack more predictable....you see....the greatest friction is exerted on the second bar.....that one should be your big bar if you use one, the top bar should be a normal one....by always jamming the first two bars as tightly as possible and never pulling number two down....unless ya gotta.....you kinda set a predictable stage where most of the friction is....and if something pushes or pulls the first two bars together it can only go so far till it can't slow things down no more....do ya see?.......this argument was one of the ones that pissed tagnetoldfogierope"experts" off with me.......

i wonder when we are gonna find out the story?......

[L Roebuck]

eyecave said:

i wonder when we are gonna find out the story?......

Thanks for the rack description Dan. ;D

Tim indicated in an earlier post that an accurate account of the Thor expedition's events and what occurred should be forth coming after the team returned. Maybe Tim can tell us when or something?

[Tim White]

pretzlgirl said:

Does anyone have a photo of the Thor Rack that they could post?

A Thor type long rack.

[L Roebuck]

Thanks for posting the Thor long rack photo. It is easy to see the difference between the Thor rack and the BMS 24 Long Rack.

[eyecave]

www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavut/60811_10.html