falling on a #2 stopper

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TrundleBum

Trad climber
Las Vegas
May 1, 2012 - 02:55am PT

I love it when you worry about sounding brash or offensive...
And then someone says it for you...

Thank you: "yosemite 5.9"
Ol' Skool

Trad climber
Oakhurst, CA
May 1, 2012 - 03:27am PT
Trudat
Good point-
mouse from merced

Trad climber
merced, california
May 1, 2012 - 03:30am PT
How much worse than fatal?

When your fall brings your partner with you, making it a double fatality.

Or when you land on and crater him. That is a nail job, according to Millis.

t*r, hang in there. You can fall all day in the cyber-gym. Deep breath...

and suddenly here is ol' Mousie, hanging upside down again, on the Salathe,

but this time it's not a fall. THANK GOD! I was just minding my own

business, getting ready to jug up to Ross after lowering myself across the

Hollow Flake pendulum. Boy that is easier than you think. I'm getting to

be quite the expert. When up comes our version of an elevator. Ross was

hauling that bag so fast that it comes right up underneath of my feet, and

everything went topsy. I am upside down, the bag slows down because my

weight is now part of Ross's load. I can't tell you how embarrassed I

was for 1) not knowing where the haul line was running and 2) not waiting

until the haul bag was well on its way and above me and 3) for being

upside down insside the Hollow Flake, even though nobody could have

witnessed it besides Ross. Thank god, thank god, thank god. Had I been

wearing a mountaineering chest harness like the one Mammut produced, this

might not have happened, as the chest would have connected to the prussik

above the Jumars, alleviating problems with centers of gravity.



There was a short piece that Pratt did maybe in the laaate '60s in a

Summit, most likely. Grosserman, do you have it? In the article

he detailed how to get out of inversion if wearing a swami and hanging

away from the wall. Grab a runner, twist it once to make the infinity

sign (figure eight), stick your legs up so you can work the sling in

between your tushie and the rope, and stick your feet into the holes, draw

the loops up your legs to your tushie, then lower your legs so the rope is

between your legs and forming a kind of diaper seat. Chuck called this

method the "Monkey Seat." I've tried it, but I had illustrations. For

gosh sakes, try this at home before rigging a test on the crag.

Hang in there, t*r.
Gnome Ofthe Diabase

climber
Out Of Bed
Apr 27, 2017 - 04:16am PT
How Much More Than Fatal ? Far more than some things , less than COPD with Chronic HD
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
Apr 27, 2017 - 08:09am PT
When I got a #2 in on some pillow lava FA to protect a couple hard moves after a 75' runout you can be damn sure there was no way I was gonna test it.
Mark Force

Trad climber
Ashland, Oregon
Apr 27, 2017 - 08:12am PT
Unless you'll hang free of the rock at the end of a fall, a swami is in a lot of ways, safer than a harness, because it solves the flip upside down and either land on your head or thwack the back of your head problem that we see so often in climbing these days.

Metolius seems to be aware of this and have addressed it by allowing for adjusting the rise in their harnesses. I have a BD Alpine Bod and a Xenos and they are both too low - below the umbilicus.

It seems like it's fashionable these days to have the harness hang on top of the pelvis with the tie in point well below the center of gravity. This is probably part of the reason for how common flipping over when falling is these days.

The safest harness for me is a 2" tied swami with separate leg loops and a belay loop. It's a little more involved to put those three parts together, but it feels safer falling and rapping and the comfort is same as the other harnesses I have.

But, then I'm just a fat old trad.
ontheedgeandscaredtodeath

Social climber
SLO, Ca
Apr 27, 2017 - 08:17am PT
I took a sold fall on to a tiny stopper on Mayflower Direct (.11d/.12a) at Paradise Forks. Yikes!!! Stopped about a foot off the ground and I think it was the closest I've come to getting killed or maimed rock climbing. Makes me feel queasy thinking about it 20+ years later.
Mark Force

Trad climber
Ashland, Oregon
Apr 27, 2017 - 08:43am PT
Damn!
AP

Trad climber
Calgary
Apr 27, 2017 - 10:54am PT
So what was it like to remove those small stoppers after the fall?
BASE104

Social climber
An Oil Field
Apr 27, 2017 - 11:43am PT
Duane Raleigh told me that he took a hundred footer soloing the second ascent of an aid route in the Black Canyon, and was held by a rurp. No doubt the other gear that he ripped slowed him down to some degree.

I took a good 35 footer once on a small stopper, a number one or two. The old El Cap routes used to be without bolt hangers. You brought your own, wth nuts and a wrench. We never bothered, and just cinched a small stopper wire over them, or tied them off with thin webbing. Much faster. I ripped one of the early friends out of an expanding flake and was caught by a stopper. I slid the wires up past the nut, put it over a 1/4 inch bolt, and then slid the nut back up to cinch it kind of tight. Worked fine.

Bomber. Didn't blow.
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