![]() ![]() Third, the pre-rigged rappellers do not have third-hand back-ups installed. Second, the unknotted strand would need to be shorter than the strand to which the first rappeller is tied-again, unlikely because the rappeller ’s knot will take up close to a meter of rope, thereby meaning he would come tight to his knot before he would go off the end of the rope. First, you’d need to slide off the end of the rope-unlikely but certainly not impossible. Now, before your palms get sweaty and your put all your gear on Craigslist, rest assured, many unlikely problems would need to align to have this occur in the field. It’d be pointless to describe every rope/device combination, but it suffices to say a couple combinations experience some slippage, while one slipped completely. I went out to the cliff and tested several devices on the same rope to check this. ![]() With most combinations of ropes and devices, the pre-rigged device above fixes both strands securely. Should one rappeller go off her/his end of the rope, it could result the rope slipping/feeding through the anchor, ending in an even bigger catastrophe. It’s this element of the system that aikibujin home-tested and found that certain device/rope combinations don’t necessarily fix the strands. This usually fixes both strands of the ropes, so both rappellers can rappel on a fixed strand, not simul-rap against each other. Meanwhile, the leader has put herself on belay on both strands of the ropes-on the backside of her own clove on the red rope (above the first follower) and on the backside of the clove that the first follower built on the orange rope. The free end is hanging (with its figure-8 still in the rope) against the cliff. He puts a third-hand backup on the rope below his rappel device, double-checks himself, asks the leader to do the same, and then he can untie on the orange rope. While the leader belays the second follower (left in photo, black top), the first follower puts an extension on his harness and puts himself on rappel on the backside of the leader’s clove on the red rope. When the first follower arrives, he secures himself by cloving in on his trail (orange) rope. This is page 118 from The Mountain Guide Manual, in the “Transitions” chapter, in the section describing “Three People, Two Ropes, Using Caterpillar Technique (Speed Technique*).” I added the text boxes to reiterate the context - the leader (gray t-shirt, black tights, right in the photo) arrives and belays the first follower (green shirt) on the red rope. At this point his full weight comes onto the strand to which he’s tied. With most ropes and devices, this seems to work – but aikibujin was monkeying with this technique and decided to test out the scenario in which the first rappeller, still tied into his end of the rope (because he was the leader of the last pitch), descends both strands of the rope, but then accidentally rappels off the unknotted strand. It’s this idea that a pre-rigged device definitively fixes both strands of the rope at the anchor that requires more thought. It can’t slide one direction of another, which means only one stopper knot is needed at the ends of the ropes to the prevent first rappeller from going off the end.” First, because the second rappeller ’s device is pre-rigged on the rope, the rope is locked into the rappel anchor. We describe the technique in question on page 110:Īnother strength of the new system is that the leader, by going first as suggested, never unties from the end of the rope. To experience this in the field, it would have to be a series of improbable “ifs,” but you’ve probably read enough accident reports to realize … that’s exactly how a climbing disaster can occur: a series of unlikely glitches and errors, compounding into carnage.Īnd who likes carnage, except in John Wick films and Supreme Court confirmation hearings? Thanks to my buddy aikibujin (MP handle), Marc and I have learned about a very unlikely, but potential failure mode in one of our systems in The Mountain Guide Manual. I’m being a diva, OK, I’ll shut up and get to the point. Especially in the time of COVID, any obsessed mountain guide can lock herself away and pick your techniques, photographs, and text descriptions apart with a fine-toothed comb! The pressure! The microscopic attention! Oh, to release a book to the world, suddenly every fevered kook can sequester himself in an attic and critique your every word. ![]()
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