Fall absorption tether?

[flashover604]

Hi all. I've been doing some research into srt and the various devices and hitches that go along with them lately. Since I'm not a professional or even well versed recreational climber, this may be a common knowledge question to you folks. How common is it for you guys to have slack go out of your line? Maybe the rope rolls off of a small knot in the tree or a small branch breaks that you didn't know you were over? I would imagine it wouldn't take TOO far of a drop to hurt once everything stops. I wonder if there would be reason to have a system in place to dissipate this force before it was transferred to the body? I picture a tether between your saddle and the Rope Wrench that is sewn in a way that it rips the stitching in a controlled manner therefore absorbing some of the force?

Maybe there's no need, I don't know. I was just wondering and figured I'd ask the experts!

Thanks in advance!

Zach

 

[MasterBlaster]

Dynamic climbing ropes 'bout eliminate the need for one of those, I imagine.

I fell straight down about 10' w/o any damage to me at all.

 

[Altissimus]

Prob over thinking it , small falls into your gear are part of climbing ... Though usually a surprise at that moment.

 

[Altissimus]

...also those stitched deceleration lanyards w ladder snaps are bulky junk in my opinion.

 

[matdand]

I used to climb with a croll and a hand ascender as backup. I did put a shock absorber on that hand ascender after seing what a toothed cam can do to a rope. I was new worried about physical injury though.

 

[matdand]

Physical injury from the fall I mean.

 

[Climbhigh]

Dynamic climbing ropes 'bout eliminate the need for one of those, I imagine.

I fell straight down about 10' w/o any damage to me at all.

Damb. That must have been a scary moment. Most I ever fell was about a foot and a half a couple years ago on velocity, pretty stretchy rope, still gave me whiplash. my neck was sore for a week.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I happened so fast I didn't have time to be scared.

 

[treebilly]

I've never had a straight fall so I don't know. Usually if a twig breaks or line rolls off a nub I'm kinda leaning on the rope and it's a small swing instead of a drop.

 

[SouthSoundTree-]

Depends on how much rope is in the system. If you are DdRT, you get half the stretch, and half the deceleration roughly.

If you're 5' from your TIP or 50', that is a difference of 10x's the rope in the system.

In rock climbing, the fall factor is fall distance/ amount of rope in system (almost always like SRT with one single strand of rope. twin ropes are skinny and stretchy). Maximum fall factor is 2. Generally its less than 1. If you fall 5' with 50' in the system, its 0.1 fall factor.

 

[woodslinger]

+1 what MB said.
Plus if you're using a mechanical they slip at a few hundred pounds, thus softening the "catch" as its referred to in rock climbing. I've taken lead falls into a "hard catch" when rock climbing (due to inexperience in lead falls and catching), results in about 5 to 10 ft fall before the rope catches with no ill effects. It's not a direct comparison as the anchor on the other end of the rope in rock climbing is a person who will be pulled up as you hit the end of the rope, but its another bit of info to take into account.

 

[SouthSoundTree-]

Rock ropes are relatively dynamic, and tree ropes relatively static.

For a super static rope like HTP, they have the Snake anchor, IIRC, what is made to rip stitching and absorb energy.

 

[Climbhigh]

When I had my little fall the crappy harness I had would not hold me upright at least the way I had it adjusted. DMc was the one to enlighten me to the fact that when you let go of the rope your harness should be adjusted so it holds you in a more upright position, at least for SRT. That was probably common knowledge but something I had never really thought about.

 

[Brocky]

I use the Kong Kisa for a shock absorber. It is a rethreadable device that has rope that slides through it. Getting older and using static ropes only I decided it was a good idea.

 

[Merle Nelson]

I picture a tether between your saddle and the Rope Wrench that is sewn in a way that it rips the stitching in a controlled manner therefore absorbing some of the force?

Zach

Sounds like you just invented (re-invented) the Yates Screamer. Wespur sells them and Nice Guy Dave describes using them at times.

 

[Raj]

Tend slack is about all I do. Keep good solid redirects. I climb on cherrybomb and vortex with a HH. If I have a high TIP and the tree structure allows me to climb it, I'll clip my rope into a foot ascender, and just climb the tree, every other step pulls the slack out, well sometimes a kick or 2 is needed.

A few weeks back a little old lady stopped on a sidewalk to watch me "free climb" a norway maple, she didn't see the climb line and my set up, of course. When I reached my TIP I just leaned back and she screamed in terror. I look at her, she said she sorry, she didn't see the rope that was holding me and thought I was just going to fall out of the tree.

 

[pantheraba]

hahaha...that's great.

 

[Limbrat]

Prob over thinking it

If you're set up where something could cause a fall, reset your TIP or do whatever it takes to eliminate it. Remove the hazard, keep slack out of your system and there's no need for fall arrest devices (which may or may not work anyway). Plan not to fall.
Great story Peter!

 

[flashover604]

Sounds like you just invented (re-invented) the Yates Screamer. Wespur sells them and Nice Guy Dave describes using them at times.

Well, good deal. It kinda makes me feel good that someone else thought of it too. I don't know how often it would be utilized in the trees, it was just somethin I was wondering about. Thanks for the replies!

 

[Merle Nelson]

Wespur has vid of it up on youtube.