2070 miles separate Wallace Falls in Washington State and Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada. What brings these two closer together is that each of these falls were the scene of a rope rescue within 24 hours of each other.
The rope rescue at Niagara Falls was performed after the victim attempted suicide by jumping off of the 180′ tall falls. The man waded ashore after eddying out and was hauled topside in a Stokes basket attached to the bucket of a Tower Ladder which was used as a high point. The picture below shows the 2:1 system that appears to be operated from within the bucket. No belay line noted, however, there does appear to be a prussik on either side of the pulley that would theoretically catch the load should one of the legs of the 2:1 fail.
More pictures and an accompanying article can be found here:
http://news.yahoo.com/man-stable-condition-niagara-falls-plunge-132328661.html
The second and, in my opinion, more dramatic happened at the lip of the 270′ tall Wallace Falls in Washington state. A 13 year old was swept to the edge of the precipice after losing his footing on a smaller 10′ waterfall that was upstream.
According to the article, he was clinging to the rocks under an overhang on the side of the river opposite the hiking trail, which precluded use of a helicopter hoist operation. Apparently rappelling to the location was a dangerous prospect as well. I’m paraphrasing, but the article references a main line failure caused by rubbing on the rocks, with a subsequent successful belay line arrest. Hairy stuff indeed. Better still is the video shot by one of the Snohomish SAR volunteers. Take a look at that water and then remember that it is only feet away from the edge of a 270′ drop.
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/42556237 w=500&h=281]