From waltman@bldrdoc.gov Fri Jul 21 18:43:52 EST 1995 Article: 5178 of rec.climbing Xref: news.nsw.CSIRO.AU rec.climbing:5178 Newsgroups: rec.climbing Path: news.nsw.CSIRO.AU!metro!news.cs.su.oz.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!simtel!news.sprintlink.net!uunet!in1.uu.net!dove.nist.gov!bldrdoc.gov!waltman From: waltman@bldrdoc.gov (Steve Waltman 303-497-5195) Subject: Re: Marking the Middle of a Dynamic Rope In-Reply-To: eboltz@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu's message of 26 Jun 1995 15:32:39 -0400 Message-ID: Organization: National Institute of Standards and Technology References: <3skkkd$ffq@newsbf02.news.aol.com> <3sl57r$2sd@nnrp3.primenet.com> <3smrve$6l1@nntp.ucs.ubc.ca> <3sn20n$bov@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu> Date: Fri, 30 Jun 1995 22:37:21 GMT Lines: 32 Eric Scott Boltz wrote: >I'd go a bit further on this. I *ALWAYS* tie a knot in the end of >a rap line - even if I *can* see the end and even if I know it's >only forty feet down. Once upon a time, I was setting up the third of three rappels on the descent from a local classic. I didn't knot the ends, but the beginner with me questioned this since I had knotted the ends for the other two rappels. To make her feel better I hauled the rope up and knotted the ends. On this particular rap, it is awkward to see the bottom from the ledge, but I knew one rope was plenty. What I didn't know until too late was that the wind had hooked the rope around an edge and the knot was stuck. My partner ended up rapping too far down and had a learning experience at the bottom of the 'V'. Knots can cause problems, too. And another rap story: On our way off of Big Rock Candy Mountain my partner heaved the rope over the edge. He then gave it a tug to get a feel for whether it had made it to the ground. With a crashing sound it tugged back, almost pulling him off of his feet. And it kept pulling. Since I had wimped out of one of the last leads, I got to go first. What had happened was the rope wrapped around the branches of a dead tree leaning against the rock. When he tugged the rope the tree fell over, still tangled in the rope. It took me a little while to free the rope. ..Steve Waltman "Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."