John Long decks at gym?

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sac

Trad climber

Sun Coast B.C.

Dec 11, 2012 - 01:56am PT

Just asked my wife...

"Hey, do you know who John Long is?"

She says:

"Porn Star??"

Pause...

"Oh, the guy who wrote those climbing books?"

Positive energy to you Largo.

From us.

Ed Hartouni

Trad climber

Livermore, CA

Dec 11, 2012 - 11:21am PT

probably worth while to take the "unfinished knot" topic to another thread... eh?

BruceAnderson

Social climber

Los Angeles currently St. Antonin, France

Dec 11, 2012 - 12:50pm PT

I used to work at Rockreation and I recall Largo was always getting busted for tying in with a bowline. Wonder what knot he was using at the time?

WBraun

climber

Dec 11, 2012 - 01:06pm PT

I recall Largo was always getting busted for tying in with a bowline.

WTF man.

I've used the bowline to tie in for over 30 years.

I'd tell that Jim Jones owner he's a stupid American ..... :-)

BruceAnderson

Social climber

Los Angeles currently St. Antonin, France

Dec 11, 2012 - 01:12pm PT

For the record I have no problem with the bowline (when it's finished and backed up) and I sure as hell never told John what he should or should not tie in with. Obviously if you were distracted (by a pretty girl or a moment of deep insight for instance) you could forget to finish any knot....but....is it easier to unfinish a bowline?
Regardless- John I hope you get the best care possilble and heal back stronger than ever,

JLP

Social climber

The internet

Dec 11, 2012 - 01:17pm PT

I guess "unfinished" could mean 2 things:

1) The knot was not fully tied. It was an incomplete knot.

2) The last few inches of the rope were not terminated to a fisherman's knot or similar. This is probably more important for a bowline than a figure 8.

I was assuming 1) was the case here, though I could see a "loose" bowline that was "unfinished" causing a problem as well.

I use bowline for single pitch sport, basically so I can untie after repeated falls. I use a figure 8 for multipitch climbing, where I don't want the knot coming loose over time. Most of my partners do the same.

Manjusri

climber

Dec 11, 2012 - 03:43pm PT

I prefer the bowline tie-in to the eight for most climbing, but I've noticed a tendency for bowline users (myself included) to pull the line through the harness while chatting pre-climb and not tie the knot immediately. I don't see this as often with figure eights, perhaps because the pass through the harness occurs in between the tying of the two eights and stopping feels like more of an interruption. Once through the harness it's easy to think you are tied in.

Mountain climber

there and back again

Dec 12, 2012 - 07:24pm PT

Sorry, to hear about your predicament, Largo. I try never to interrupt someone who is tying in. And typically check the climber I am belaying before they leave the ground.

Once you get the bill from the hospital, even with insurance, its going to be pricey.

I think this is a good reason for the annual bash at Todd Gordons; Todd willing. If not for a fundraiser but a celebration of us all making it this far.

I too have found myself at the top of a climb, leaning back to be lowered only to find my knot was only stuffed though my harness not even tied. Some lessons are cheaper than others!

knudeNoggin

climber

Falls Church, VA

Dec 12, 2012 - 08:22pm PT

I guess "unfinished" could mean 2 things:

But, for crying out loud, WHY ARE WE GUESSING?!

The conveyance of "information" via the Net is so
damn fast when unweighted by care in checking facts ... .

Already, there is another "bowline came untied" article fueling
lines of R&I, no doubt building some preponderance of evidence
after the fatal UK case, about which RGold & I tried to point
out that certain key bits of information --i.p., whether in fact
any actual >>knot<< was tied-- were unknown.

HERE, we have connection to the (thankfully, surviving) user;
how about actual-factual details,
vs. the usual this-appears-to-support-my-agenda spewing?

*kN*

shipoopoi

Big Wall climber

oakland

Dec 12, 2012 - 08:40pm PT

so John pulled a "lynn hill" accident. lynn hill famously wrote about her accicent on buffet froid at buoux, another unfinished knot. i've seen the results in a gym first hand, women lowering from forty five feet up, and at 30 feet the knot pulls through and she decks on the peat gravel. nothing broken, but bruised along the entire side on her body.

I teach, practice, and preach that knot tying should be a ritual where we disregard distractions and tie our knot from start to finish. get out the candles and incense here. do it from start to finish, every time, or untie your knot completely and deal with the distractions before tying the knot. ss

10b4me

Boulder climber

Somewhere on 395

Dec 13, 2012 - 01:20am PT

i've been ready to rap, only to notice that I only have one strand of cord through the atc. have been fortunate to correct that

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

Dec 13, 2012 - 01:39am PT

If climbers had any brains they would adopt aviation protocols -
maintain a sterile cockpit during critical flight phases and
USE THE f-ING CHECKLIST!

knudeNoggin

climber

Falls Church, VA

Dec 13, 2012 - 01:05pm PT

so John pulled a "lynn hill" accident.

I don't think that was lost on many of us, but it bears note.

Rather, THAT detail remains unstated by either Largo or his agents.
"unfinished knot" is an awkward (or "political'? :-) way to say "untied".
A fig.8 eyeknot with the tail only taken the first step into re-weaving
is unfinished (and might hold some forces); a bowline doesn't offer
such a half-way stage, really.
And, as noted, the Rock&Ice statement has it that a bowline came untied
--which requires starting out *tied*.

Why are the facts so hard to get,
and so easily lived without?

*kN*

Brian in SLC

Social climber

Salt Lake City, UT

Dec 13, 2012 - 01:08pm PT

Long says that he ties in with a double bowline, but this time, distracted and tired after a long day of work, he didn't finish the knot. "I made the two bowline loops," he says, "and threaded the rope through my harness, but I didn't bring the rabbit out of the hole and around the tree."

Adds Long: "A lot of people are down on the bowline, but the same thing would have happened with a trace-8. I just wasn't paying attention."

WBraun

climber

Dec 13, 2012 - 01:17pm PT

John long is the consummate teacher who shows us the actual real world example of what happens when we do it not the way we're supposed to.

Not some sterile book writing, but the real thing, live and in person.

Ho man ....... :-)

survival

Big Wall climber

Terrapin Station

Dec 13, 2012 - 01:30pm PT

probably worth while to take the "unfinished knot" topic to another thread... eh?

Why?

knudeNoggin

climber

Falls Church, VA

Dec 14, 2012 - 12:02am PT

Long says that he ties in with a double bowline,
but this time, distracted and tired after a long day of work,
he didn't finish the knot. "I made the two bowline loops,"
he says, "and threaded the rope through my harness,
but I didn't bring the rabbit out of the hole and around the tree."

Adds Long: "A lot of people are down on the bowline,
but the same thing would have happened with a trace-8.
I just wasn't paying attention."

I'm quoting a quote above; and that quote comes from ... ?

Well, this seems to shoot a hole in the already-multiply-cited
R&Ice assertions about the cause,
but it's an odd-sounding story, IMO : making the double turns
and THEN reeving the line
--presumably one's holding these
don't-stay-formed-by-themselves-turns in one hand and,
so, having to reeve single-handedly (a plus to the bowline is,
after all, that one can form the entire knot AFTER making its eye)--

and then somehow letting loose of the first-formed part,
which is a sort of positive act, rather than the omission of one!?

Or did the *rabbit* make it around to poke its head out
of the double hole, AND THEN ... <distraction>?! At this
point, the corresponding fig.8 has just hope of an advantage,
as would a "water bowline" (that clove-hitch-based variant),
given enough tail pulled through.

*kN*

bluering

Trad climber

Santa Clara, CA

Dec 14, 2012 - 12:15am PT

I teach, practice, and preach that knot tying should be a ritual where we disregard distractions and tie our knot from start to finish. get out the candles and incense here. do it from start to finish, every time, or untie your knot completely and deal with the distractions before tying the knot. ss

How many times do ppl have to deck before people learn that they will potentially die, that this becomes a 'religious ceremony' before they climb.

Check your knot before you launch!!!! And yer f*#king harness straps! F*#k!