There was a time when waterfall was a popular choice for extreme sports enthusiasts. The name is pretty straightforward, rappelling is the use of ropes to slide down a waterfall from a cliff.
Although the extreme sport of waterfall has been popular in China for a long time, it is not well-known among the public. However, a waterfall accident changed all this, and an athlete suffered a misfortune in the waterfall, which caused widespread attention and discussion in the society, making the sport of waterfall gradually enter the public eye.
One of the main reasons behind this incident has aroused widespread concern in the whole society is that it has triggered the public's deep thinking about the dangers and limitations of extreme sports, and at the same time, it has also allowed more people to understand the concept of "waterfall sports" for the first time.
Now, let's review this "Dishuitan Waterfall Death Incident" and deeply analyze the current situation of China's waterfall movement industry.
Dishuitan Waterfall is located in Guanling Buyi and Miao Autonomous County, Anshun City, Guizhou Province, only 6 kilometers away from Huangguoshu Waterfall. This waterfall is composed of three major waterfalls and dozens of small and medium-sized waterfalls, and the whole is divided into three sections, layered on top of each other, as if it is a flowing landscape painting.
The waterfall cascades down from a height, the mist is filled, and the beautiful rainbow formed by the sunlight is amazing.
According to local ** news, at around 20 o'clock in the evening of August 23, 2020, a dangerous situation occurred at Dishuitan Waterfall in Guanling County, and two travelers were trapped. **Immediately organized a rescue, but due to the bad weather conditions, the rescue lasted more than 40 hours, unfortunately, the remains of the two travelers were bruised in many places all over their bodies after being hit by rocks many times, and the picture is distressing.
So, why are the two travelers trapped on the cliff of the waterfall? Why is it so difficult?
According to the news, the two travelers who died were from Chongqing, one of the male team members is over 68 years old, and the other is a 33-year-old female team member. They belong to the same adventure club and are accompanied by four other team members.
So, this is an expedition group of six outdoor enthusiasts, and according to the rest of the team, their main purpose is to go on foot, and the extreme sport of "waterfalling" is not a planned activity.
So, why did the two victims choose to "descend from the waterfall" at around 8 o'clock in the evening of the same day? The reason was that it was getting late that day, and the original plan was to hike down the mountain.
However, at that time, it was proposed to use the method of "waterfall descent" to descend the mountain faster, and this suggestion is said to have been made by Zhang, one of the victims.
Four years ago, Zhang became a member of the expedition team with a successful waterfall experience. The advantage of being young made her a favourite in the team, and when the decision was made to take on a waterfall challenge, the other members did not object.
However, after securing the rope upstream of the waterfall, Zhang began the last adventure of her life. Surprisingly, she didn't equip herself according to the standards of waterfalling, and instead of wearing a short-sleeved wetsuit, she carried a lot of equipment.
This seems to indicate that Zhang is not professional when it comes to waterfall. In addition, rappelling, as a type of rope sport, has an unwritten rule that the first person to descend must be the most experienced person in the group.
However, Zhang violated this rule, causing people to think deeply about this adventure.
Rope sports, despite its certain dangers, are often the first to go down as the most experienced ones to ensure safety, both to make a full assessment of the surroundings and to check the safety of the ropes.
However, the young victim Zhang was clearly not the most experienced person in the team, so he should not have been the first to try rope sports.
According to other hikers, Zhang went quite smoothly in the initial stages of the fall, and he soon reached the third and final level of the fall. At that time, below him was a waterhole with a depth of about 130 meters.
In this position, Zhang chose to rappel. Downhill is a more exciting but also more adventurous way to descend. It is done by reducing the time spent on the cliff face, using the thrust of the waterfall water flow to speed up the descent.
However, in this accident, Zhang chose this method, which further increased the danger.
When Zhang was descending to a position about 60 meters away from the waterhole below, he was suddenly trapped, and several travelers above realized that something might be wrong after they found that the rope was no longer descending and Zhang did not respond.
At this time, Wang, who was 66 years old, immediately went to the rescue. However, when Wang descended to a position of about 140 meters, his rope became entangled with Zhang's rope, causing Wang to also be trapped in the waterfall.
Seeing this, the other four people tried to rescue, but because it was late and the others did not have rich rescue experience, they could only call the police**. After arriving, the rescue work was very difficult due to the light rain and the extremely special position in which the two people were trapped.
It was not until August 25 that the two were finally rescued after many efforts, but sadly, the two had no vital signs at this time.
Although the official did not clearly state whether the two died of suffocation due to lack of oxygen or drowning, there is one thing worth noting. Prior to the accident, heavy rainfall in the area had increased the flow of water and increased impurities in the water, which may have contributed to the tragedy.
In addition, professionals also point out that two people should be avoided at the same time during the waterfall movement to prevent rope entanglement. The 66-year-old Wang may have been in a hurry to save people and did not consider this risk, and eventually died in the turbulent water.
The first incident of the waterfall descent in Dishuitan not only sparked a heated discussion among the public, but also made the waterfall movement the focus of attention. Many people can't help but ask: is waterfall really that dangerous?
The answer is undoubtedly yes.
An advanced version of river tracing, the waterfall movement, which uses the power of the water to move down the cliff, is also known as canyoning because of its characteristics. The sport originated with foreign explorers in the last century, but it has been developing in China for nearly three decades, but the number of participants is only.
Six or seven thousand people, there is still a long way to go from specialization.
According to Shao Feng, chairman of the Yichang Outdoor Sports and Adventure Association, waterfall is developing rapidly, but the professionalism needs to be improved, and at the same time, many people ignore the risks of the sport.
Shao Feng, the pioneer of China's waterfall movement, started China's waterfall movement journey with the experience of crossing Yichang Haogou in 2005. At first, they all relied on foreign ** to study and research, and explored equipment and routes on their own, and the process was as difficult as stepping on a stone to cross a river.
However, after professional training, the sport has gradually become popular in Yichang, with more and more participants. However, with the popularity of waterfall paradging, people's awareness of safety has gradually faded.
So, what are the dangers of waterfalls?
Participating in waterfall descenting sports requires extremely high physical strength. Because most of the excellent waterfall sites in China are in closed deep mountain canyons, such as Dishui Beach. Waterfall is not just about descending down a waterfall, but also about crossing multiple streams and waterfalls.
Once started, there is no possibility of quitting halfway, therefore, the waterfall has strict requirements for the physical strength and perseverance of the participants. Taking Dishuitan Waterfall as an example, three large waterfalls and dozens of small and medium-sized waterfalls are superimposed, and participants cannot have any rest.
In addition, the environment of the waterfall movement is complex and emergencies are frequent, so the participants must be professionally trained and have a strong ability to adapt.
Rappelling is a unique environmental feature that distinguishes it from other rope sports. First of all, the focus point of the waterfall descenting process has been washed by the waterfall water for a long time, which is slippery and easy to overgrow moss, and the participants' feet need to be extremely controlled, and the slightest carelessness will slide down.
Secondly, the impact of the water during the waterfall can affect the judgment of the participants, which is one of the reasons why many enthusiasts are keen on this sport. However, waterfall movement also has its main risk points, such as turbulent water flow in some locations, too much water vapor, and less oxygen content, which may lead to dangerous situations such as drowning and hypoxia.
Therefore, waterfall descent requires not only common mountaineering equipment such as harnesses, ropes, helmets and descenders, but also professional waterproof clothing, river tracing shoes and descent protectors, as well as emergency equipment and basic emergency rescue skills.
The danger and professionalism of waterfall sport make rescue one of the biggest challenges, which is one of the reasons why the survival rate of those in distress is relatively low. So, what is the current state of the waterfall sports industry?
While people's living standards are improving, extreme sports, such as waterfall rappelling and cave diving, are becoming more and more popular. As a result, related industries have sprung up in recent years.
However, judging from the clubs or groups that offer waterfall sports on the market today, most of them only emphasize the excitement of the waterfall process, and ignore the danger of the sport.
In order to attract customers, some clubs even put up irresponsible slogans such as "no threshold restrictions" and "on-site training can be experienced in half an hour".
Some clubs have even replaced hands-on training with teaching**, leaving many participants with no experience of waterfall or even basic rope sports. However, they claim that the waterfall is easy to master, taking only half an hour.
Of course, while emphasizing the thrill of the waterfall experience, they also lightly warn the guests of the dangers of the waterfall. And in the contract, it is stated that there are unpredictable dangers in outdoor sports, and in the event of an unavoidable safety accident, the insurance company will pay for it, and the organizer will not be liable.
Such an exemption clause can only be said to be self-comforting, and in the event of a safety incident, it is difficult for the event organizer to get rid of responsibility. This approach can only be said to turn an adventure into an adventure.
Some voices pointed out that at present, many clubs that provide waterfall sports in China have the problem of lack of professional ability, in addition to providing equipment, they lack professional rescue teams, and many team leaders and coaches themselves are not rich enough to lead inexperienced participants into the canyon.
For waterfalling, the team leader must have many years of experience in waterfalling, understand the risks of the whole process, and have rescue skills. Shao Feng also emphasized that rescue capabilities are crucial to the waterfall movement, taking the Dishuitan Waterfall accident as an example, Wang's death was mainly due to the lack of rescue ability and emergency skills, and the risky action eventually led to the tragedy.
The rescue lasted more than 40 hours, not only because of the harsh weather environment at that time, but also because the rescuers were not familiar with the terrain and lacked experience in similar rescues.
However, the most important thing for waterfall rappelling is to prevent dangerous situations from occurring, rather than to rescue them after the fact. Therefore, the fundamental solution is to enhance the professional competence of the participants and provide more comprehensive protection before they occur.
With the popularity of extreme sports, the excitement of sports is important, but safety during sports is even more essential. Behind beauty there are often hidden dangers, but we must put safety first whenever and wherever we are.