That is great news... I still can't accurately picture this:
“Basically, they had a rope cut above the point where the three people were secured to the rope,” said Tierney, who said he’s climbed Otter Cliff about 100 times a year for the last 20 years.
The male climber and the guide fell off the side of the cliff, a drop of about 22 feet, Tierney said. The female climber was at the base of the cliff, waiting for instruction from the guide, he said.
“She was on the ground below. She was the one having difficulty. The guide went down to coach her through a difficult move and when the guide fell, it ended up pulling the other climber off with him,” he said."
So... my typical set up for top belaying there, which I think was kind of invented my Tierney, is to fix the middle of the rope and have a "rappel line" for the climber to go down (lowering over a harsh edge ain't good), so the active climbing end of the rope is only loaded in the event of a 2nd's fall...
So if the guide was going down to coach, I would think he would go down the fixed side, maybe he went down the delay strand to be able to still belay her while below... still how would he pull the 3rd client off if the rope cut above him... and if it cut above the 3rd guy on top that means it cut back the edge? What the hell cut the rope there?... I can't picture this at all...
