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| Messages 1 - 9 of total 9 in this topic |
Forest
Trad climber
Tucson, AZ
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jun 21, 2004 - 07:42pm PT
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Last month while traversing on an 8.3 mm static line from lost arrow spire, my friend was alarmed to smell burning plastic when he came across (he had the rack and pack so weighed more than the first two across.)
The jumars did not create any friction or heat, so it would seem that the smell was generated from the heat within the rope during the load/unload cycle of ascending.
In retrospect we probably could have done a few things differently, starting with a few physics calculations. We really didn't leave ourselves much of a safety margin by not leaving any sag in the system. Fortunately, we made it across alive.
I'm curious to know if anyone has smelled burning plastic while jumaring a static line. And if so under what conditions?
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funkness
Boulder climber
So,Ca.
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Jun 21, 2004 - 08:26pm PT
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Uh..no.
and you guys are whacked to use a 8.3
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FTB
Trad climber
Near the Vally, CA
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Jun 21, 2004 - 09:04pm PT
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Way Whacked!!!!!!!! You are not catching my soloing ass hanging from a 8.3 shoe lace up there. Done it several time and would gladly carry my thick lines up one more time.
To the lucky ones - just spent one more of the 9 lives.
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Tradboy
Social climber
Valley
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Jun 21, 2004 - 09:18pm PT
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If you're using the real Jumars, they're not rated for an 8.3mm, though I've jugged 8mm lines with them when I've had to. The Petzl Ascenders might be.
If your friend picked up some speed going towards the lowpoint of the Tyrolean, the heat created in the jugs might have started to melt the nylon on the rope, which is actually okay. This also happens on long, fast rappels. Note that this is different from jugging a fixed line since you simply can't jug fast enough to create the heat necessary to melt nylon.
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Bob Jones
Trad climber
san luis obispo
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Jun 22, 2004 - 03:23am PT
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maybe when all the little tiny pieces of the rope that get torn off from the ascenders sit on hot metal for a while, they start to melt, causing a smell of melting plastic? smelled the same thing after some long raps with a haulbag.
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Forest
Trad climber
Tucson, AZ
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 22, 2004 - 12:55pm PT
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We were using petzl ascenders, which are rated down to 7.0 mm. The rope had only been used a couple of times, so there shouldn't have been much wear on them.
And my friend definitely hadn't picked up any speed whatsoever, since there was little enough slack in the system that there wasn't much of a downhill slope to start with.
Obviously, taking the slack out of the system was a mistake, but what we want to know is how close to dying did we come?
The rope was a real static climbing rope (Sterling, I believe), supposed to be perfectly strong for all normal uses of a static rope, though it's obviously going to be less strong over a sharp edge or something, not an issue in this case.
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Wayne Arly
Social climber
Prescott, AZ
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Jun 22, 2004 - 03:38pm PT
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"...since there was little enough slack in the system that there wasn't much of a downhill slope to start with. "
REDFLAG!
"The rope was a real static climbing rope (Sterling, I believe), supposed to be perfectly strong for all normal uses of a static rope, though it's obviously going to be less strong over a sharp edge or something, not an issue in this case. "
I'd say you boys were pushing it. "A real static climbing rope"??? What's THAT? "All normal uses"??? Forest, give Sterling a call and see if they have any idea what you're talking about.
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Forest
Trad climber
Tucson, AZ
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 22, 2004 - 07:27pm PT
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Yeah, that's next on the list to do (calling Sterling.)
The reason I mentioned that it's "real static climbing rope" was because someone above posted that they'd never want to be on an 8.3 mm rope.
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Jun 22, 2004 - 11:16pm PT
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obviously much better to leave some slack in the rope when doing the LA Traverse...makes jugging up to the other side easier too...and the exposure is the same...
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| Messages 1 - 9 of total 9 in this topic |
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