Two people have died recently in the Moab area in rope swing accidents

[airdog07]

Daredevil dies in rope swing stunt popularized by YouTube

AP 5:15 p.m. EDT March 25, 2013

Warnings at trailhead of "severe injury or death" don't deter daredevils in Utah. Two people have died recently in the Moab area in rope swing accidents.

(Photo: Brian Maffly, AP)





SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A 22-year-old Utah man was killed trying to swing through the opening of a 110-foot-tall sandstone arch in a stunt made so popular on YouTube that state authorities recently banned the daredevil activity by commercial outfitters.
Kyle Lee Stocking, of West Jordan, left too much slack in the rope he was using, and it sent him crashing into the sandstone base of Corona Arch near Moab, Grand County sheriff's officials said. He died Sunday afternoon.
Viral videos have bolstered the activity, which involves swinging wildly from ropes through arch and canyon openings. One video titled "World's Largest Rope Swing" has racked up more than 17 million views on YouTube since it was posted in February.
"Pendulum" swinging is a relatively new form of recreation in Utah's canyon lands, which see plenty of injuries and deaths from rock climbing and BASE jumping, which involves leaping from a fixed object with a parachute. On March 13, another man, Zachery Taylor, was killed rappelling at Tear Drop Arch in Utah's Monument Valley.
It's part of the recreational "craziness" sweeping the Moab area, where the annual Jeep Safari week got started Saturday, another potentially dangerous activity that involves rock crawling in modified vehicles, said John Weisheit, of Living Rivers, a local environmental group.
"People aren't accepting nature for what it is. They have to put an element of excitement into it," said Weisheit, a longtime rafting guide. "People see it on YouTube and then say, 'That looks like fun.'"
Stocking was with a group of five friends authorities didn't identify. His family in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Jordan couldn't be reached Monday.
It wasn't immediately clear how Stocking or his friends miscalculated the distance for a wild swing through Corona Arch. Sheriff's Lt. Kim Neal said Stocking left too much rope loose when he clipped into his waist harness.
"A lot of people are doing it around here," said Sean Hazell at Moab outfitter Western Spirit Cycling, who was planning to make his own jump from the top of Corona Arch. "I'm definitely going to think twice about it now."
Corona Arch is on Utah state trust lands but is set to be turned over to a federal land-management agency as part of a larger trade of state and federal lands. Because of the accident, the Bureau of Land Management is "taking a closer look at appropriate ways to balance and manage these activities on public lands," BLM spokeswoman Megan Crandall said Monday.
The Utah Trust Lands Administration tried to curb Corona Arch's growing appeal by banning commercial jumping effective Jan. 1. But the agency said it can't prevent private parties from using its lands. The agency posted a trailhead warning about the potential for "severe injury or death even if your equipment works."
Stocking's rope and harness didn't fail. His mistake was miscalculating the length of slack rope for the swing, Neal said.
"These people involved in extreme outdoor sports, I admire their courage, but I'm not going to do it," Neal said.

[airdog07]

Rope swing deaths could mean new rules

By Jon Kovash

In a five-week period two men have died near Moab who were engaging in a new extreme sport, back country rope swinging. As a result, the Bureau of Land Management is studying whether stricter rules should be in place. UPR's Jon Kovash reports.

The first death was on March 24, when a West Jordan man perished while rope swinging under Corona Arch, down river from Moab. On Sunday, Adam Jason Weber, also from the Salt Lake City area, died while rope swinging in nearby Day Canyon. Grand County Sheriff’s deputy Brent Pace was on the search and rescue team that responded Sunday.

"A group of people wanted to do the world’s largest rope swing, which they call extreme swinging," he explained. "So they stretched a cable across Day Canyon. They thought it was five or six hundred feet across; it’s not quite that long, maybe 450. Then they had a pulley on the cable. Then they took a 70-meter rope and hooked to that pulley, and then people would harness in on top of the cliff, and jump off and swing."

Pace says two helicopters were involved in the attempted rescue.

"We had a couple, who had done Corona Arch swing before, decided to go together, and I don’t think they had enough training. They made the swing fine, and when they tried to ascend, they didn’t get it right and eventually the male unclipped himself and was just holding on to the rope with his hands and legs. ‘Course you can only hold on so long, and then he slid down and picked up momentum and landed on a rock. His girlfriend was still carabinered into the swing rope, so she didn’t fall."

Rescuers were unable to stabilize Weber, who died on the canyon floor after a 200-foot fall. Extreme swinging has become popular since a video placed on YouTube in February, showing swinging under Corona Arch, which, along with Day Canyon, is on state school land. This spring the state declined to allow commercially guided rope swinging, but both subsequent deaths were not under an official guide. Deputy Pace thinks it might be time for more rules on extreme back country adventures.

"Well I’d like to see it more of a permitted activity, so the people setting it up know what they’re doing, and you’re not having people that just want the adrenaline rush doing the swing and not knowing how to get out of trouble," he added.

This spring the Moab area also saw one death related to BASE jumping, and three apparent suicides in the back country. Grand County Sheriff Stephen White says it’s a big drain on local resources, and permitting may be in order to ensure public safety.

"It seems like we’ve had a sudden pickup of accidents and injuries just this year around here. It’s a huge question to be asking right now. I think you have to bring all the players to the table, from the land management, to the public safety, to the groups that are doing it."

Since the first swinging death at Corona Arch, the Bureau of Land Management has been “poised to address” whether new rules are needed for extreme sports, according to Aaron Curtis, a recreation specialist at the state BLM office.

"We’re obviously monitoring very closely all of these unfortunate incidents down in Southeast Utah. Guided rope swings, these types of high adrenaline sports, what happens when a commercial operator comes in and requests to provide those services to the public?"

Curtis says federal law gives the BLM authority to make new rules to protect the environment, preserve public safety, and ensure compatible uses, but rules can only go so far.

"Part of our niche in the outdoor recreation market is that we don’t have a lot of rules and regulations on BLM land," said Curtis. "In a lot of ways it’s a choose your own adventure type of experience out there."

Curtis says the BLM expects guides to teach its customers environmental ethics and safety, but ultimately extreme sports participants proceed at their own risk. But new rules could keep the sports out of popular areas, and discourage pounding bolts into arches. Sheriffs say the group at Day Canyon on Sunday was trying to establish a new world record. This is Jon Kovash reporting from Moab for UPR News.

[airdog07]