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General Climbing Discussion

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Self Belay Devices 18-Aug-2005 At 10:04:17 AM dr_fil_good

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Ha ha! It's a pity those guardian angels aren't as universal as originally said ;-)

As for static, I'm actually quite scared to self belay on a static line - I've definately got the lengths from caving & canyoning around places. My experience is from a small body length fall, as small as it was I definately felt the jarring right through my back - I was prussiking (¿spl?) up a fixed line in a cave in New Zealand when the movement of the rope caused the rope to move off a ledge, fortunately not too far ... ever since then the fear has been there and I spend a lot more time teaching people how to watch their line whilst abseiling before letting them on

Might look into the price of screamers eh ...

As for undoing troublesome static rope notes, I've always used my nut tool - wedge the nose bit into the first loop of the knot (from the standing end) - jimmy enough slack out to get a bit more of a blunt end in get yourself some more slack then follow around the knot (in cases of knots with two standing ends, like alpine butterflies work each end before going towards the centre) - this also is great for undoing water knots that have felt the full brunt of your load. To avoid additional hassles always brush off any dirt, mud, etc. etc. where you are going to tie the knot.