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General Climbing Discussion

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Sling angle 16-Oct-2008 At 2:56:03 PM davids

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The fatality report from the "bailing" thread today wrote

54-year old male rock climber with over 30 years experience died
while abseiling off "Battlements" a 118m, multi-pitch route in the
Columns area of the Organ Pipes on Mt Wellington.
The climber and his partner were abseiling off the climb due to the
late hour and impending darkness. The climber placed a large nut anchor
in a vertical crack. He clipped the abseil rope to this anchor and then
backed it up with a sling placed around a large rock on the ledge. The
sling was approx 1.2m below the nut. The sling was 25mm tubular-type,
knotted and rated at 18kN (1800kg) and was a snug fit around the rock
with an approximate sling angle of 150 degrees. It is not known whether
the rope was threaded through the sling or attached by a carabiner

What does the 'sling angle' mean in this report? Is it the angle that the sling makes as it comes round the rock? If so, I imgine that the sling angle is always quite large if there is a snug fit of a sling around any rock or bollard. A large rock, with a snug fit would always make nearly a 180 degree angle. Even an extra long sling with a knot cinched up onto the rock would have a 'sling angle' at the knot of 180 degrees still.
Should one always loop the sling loosely around the rock/bollard so there is a long V hanging down giving a smaller sling angle. Or have I got this wrong? I think there may be a safety issue here that I don't understand.
Advice anyone?