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Chockstone Forum - Accidents & Injuries

Report Accidents and Injuries

 Page 1 of 2. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 23
Author
wierd stuff abseiling

ChuckNorris
28-Aug-2016
6:17:12 PM
Strange thing happened to me yesterday that was a bit of an eye opener so thought I'd share.

Was At rosea and for various reasons I had to retreat off Mixed Climb from the first belay (pitch 2 belay in the guide). As I rapped off I had to get a few pieces of gear my seconds couldn't get out on the traverse and in the crack/chimney at the start of the traverse. The way I was positioned on the belay was a bit awkward so when I kicked the ropes off the ledge they all got messed up on a ledge a few meters below. Didn't really think it a big deal as I could easily kick them down as I rapped past.

[as an aside I can really see how someone could accidentally clip into a long tail of an EDK. I didn't but in the awkward position I was in I nearly did so and was thankful for the voice in my head telling me to watch out for that - so thanks to whoever posted that a while ago]

Back to the story - I rapped down to where the ropes got stuck and kicked them off and as they fell there was a bit of a tangle between the tail of the rope that was passing through the gear and the tail that was going to the ground. Once again didn't think it a big deal and rapped down to the tangle to free it. This is where the weird shit happened - I freed the tangle and as all the ropes whizzed down to the ground I could see a bit of a twist in the rope below which quickly tightened into a half hitch of the tail that went to the ground wrapped around the tail that was passing through the gear which promptly jammed against my rap device - and I was literally locked off hanging in my harness barely being able to touch the rock with my toes.

It happened so quickly and I couldn't really stop it as both hands were being used on the rap. I should say it only was an issue as one rope was clipped into gear and the other wasn't - if they were both free hanging they just would have untwisted just like they've done on 1000 raps before. Also I don't think it would have been an issue if the rope clipped to gear was straight below me as I could have kept the twists away from my belay device as I went down and took the gear out. But as the tail end that was clipped to the gear end was heading diagonally down there was something for the twist to purchase against and with gravity the twist purchased pretty hard and pretty fast around the other rope and tight against my belay device.

At the end of the day I was fine - it was daylight and I could see immediately what the issue was and easily fixed it with the tedious task of pulling up 50m of rope with one hand and teeth. However if it was dark or the weather was crap or some other piece of epicness was happening I can see how it could turn bad fast.

Lessons learnt - just to be extra careful to make sure ropes are running clean without twists around each other when one end is still clipped through gear.
Jayford4321
28-Aug-2016
6:41:36 PM
^
A literary contender 4 tha Boardman Tasker's WTF Award!

Only thing it needz is a mikl diagram 2 make sense of it all.

Oh, and I heard someone 1nce say that my friend Ed wreckons that ifU wear short knickers then they harder to get in a twist.
I hear he has bought bulk supply of cement 2, and im sure he'd share if U ask him nicely.
patto
28-Aug-2016
6:50:09 PM
On 28/08/2016 gnaguts wrote:
>A literary contender 4 tha Boardman Tasker's WTF Award!

Agreed....

I can't decipher what occurred and I don't understand where the near miss comes into it. There does seem to be some sort of clusterf--- but I've had plenty of them with wind and vegetation it isn't a near miss. Sort it out one handed or go hands free and get to work....

ChuckNorris
28-Aug-2016
9:05:33 PM
Wtf is exactly wot I thought too. I've had plenty of clusterfks in my time but this was weird - a perfect hitch between ropes and belay plate. Hard to describe but even in daylight it was hard to see what was going on.

However I'm prepared to accept that spagguts and paddy have seen it all before and would have done a one handed reverse snake charm and been down in a jiffy - seems that all their one handed typing practice has some practical use after all.

IdratherbeclimbingM9
28-Aug-2016
10:20:47 PM
On 28/08/2016 Stugang wrote:
>Wtf is exactly wot I thought too. I've had plenty of clusterfks in my time
>but this was weird - a perfect hitch between ropes and belay plate. Hard
>to describe but even in daylight it was hard to see what was going on.
>
>
>However I'm prepared to accept that spagguts and paddy have seen it all
>before and would have done a one handed reverse snake charm and been down
>in a jiffy - seems that all their one handed typing practice has some practical
>use after all.

Warning; unsolicited opinion following...
For what it's worth stuey, I too have a hard time envisaging clearly the nature of the clusterjam you tried to describe. Yes I'm a gearfreak and been climbing long enough to have experienced many a clusterjam, along with knowing what a half hitch is too; but am still surprised by your departure from your usual clear writing style...

Did the hitch 'travel' up your rope while you descended, or did you abseil down to it forcing it to compress up against your abseil device?

Another for what it's worth...
The last time I had an issue with a clusterjammed abseil rope, the ensuing struggle to free it up resulted in me popping a rib off my sternum.
:(

Eduardo Slabofvic
28-Aug-2016
10:29:19 PM
On 28/08/2016 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
>popping a rib off my sternum.
>:(

Ooh yeah, that's fun for the whole family

shortman
29-Aug-2016
9:47:39 AM
More to the point than what/when/how....Stu actually went climbing??

WTF??
One Day Hero
29-Aug-2016
5:40:51 PM
The part which confuses me is how doing a gr12 at Rosea is any sort of preperation for Bungers. I mean.....maybe if you did two laps on Mixed Climb it would add up to the total distance and grade you're going to have to climb?
Jayford4321
29-Aug-2016
7:29:12 PM
On 29/08/2016 One Day Hero wrote:
>The part which confuses me is how doing a gr12 at Rosea

A Gd12?
IMPROVED!
simey
29-Aug-2016
8:39:39 PM
On 29/08/2016 shortman wrote:
>More to the point than what/when/how....Stu actually went climbing??
>
>WTF??

I'm with you Shorty. WTF?! And to think that Stu was up on Rosea instead of faffing around at Camels Hump.

By the way, I am a fan of Mixed Climb at Rosea at grade 12. I think it is quite interesting and pretty full-on, but not everyone rates it.

Keen to know if anyone else has an opinion as I would like to know how many stars we should give it in the next guide.
One Day Hero
29-Aug-2016
9:24:34 PM
On 29/08/2016 simey wrote:
>Keen to know if anyone else has an opinion as I would like to know how
>many stars we should give it in the next guide.

Grantoss and I went up to Rosea in May hoping that it would be drier than Northern Gramps (it wasn't), and the whole crag looks overgrown and in serious need of attention. Seriously, even the classics of Rosea look a whole lot less than classic at the moment.
Maybe the Nati crowd who are psyched on the "approachability" of routes could take a break from sinking retrobolts into obscure crap at Araps and go on a lichen brushing mission to Rosea?

Sabu
30-Aug-2016
8:11:49 AM
On 29/08/2016 simey wrote:
>By the way, I am a fan of Mixed Climb at Rosea at grade 12. I think it
>is quite interesting and pretty full-on, but not everyone rates it.
>
>Keen to know if anyone else has an opinion as I would like to know how
>many stars we should give it in the next guide.

I'll bite. I thought it was poxxy vegetation bashing!

ChuckNorris
31-Aug-2016
12:54:55 PM
Underneath the shrubbery there might be a good climb but in its current state is shit.
Jayford4321
31-Aug-2016
1:04:14 PM
On 28/08/2016 Stugang wrote:
>I'm prepared to accept that spagguts and paddy have seen it all
>before and would have done a one handed reverse snake charm and been down
>in a jiffy - seems that all their one handed typing practice has some practical
>use after all.

Strange U should mention that.
I once had a job helping a one armed typist.
She needed me when it came to punctuation.

It was mostly shift work.

ChuckNorris
31-Aug-2016
1:32:23 PM
Or in your case - shaft work.
Jayford4321
31-Aug-2016
1:53:10 PM
On 31/08/2016 Stugang wrote:
>Or in your case - shaft work.

uno bout that 2? RU psycik or sumthn?
Some years back I was dating a dislexic woman & after a great night out I took her home.

She ended up cooking my sock.

JamesMc
31-Aug-2016
8:05:31 PM
Mixed Climb. Half rock climbing and half bush walking

Its only merit that I can see is that its one of very few easy climbs at Rosea. I don't think that earns it 3 stars.

Mugs Alley (if you only go to the chains) is vastly superior.


ChuckNorris
1-Sep-2016
2:50:25 PM
On 31/08/2016 gnaguts wrote:
>On 31/08/2016 Stugang wrote:
>>Or in your case - shaft work.
>
>uno bout that 2? RU psycik or sumthn?
>Some years back I was dating a dislexic woman & after a great night out
>I took her home.
>
>She ended up cooking my sock.

Ahhh so you are a kiwi - that narrows it down.

ChuckNorris
1-Sep-2016
9:14:15 PM
On 28/08/2016 patto wrote:
>On 28/08/2016 gnaguts wrote:
>>A literary contender 4 tha Boardman Tasker's WTF Award!
>
>Agreed....
>
>I can't decipher what occurred and I don't understand where the near miss
>comes into it. There does seem to be some sort of clusterf--- but I've
>had plenty of them with wind and vegetation it isn't a near miss. Sort
>it out one handed or go hands free and get to work....

thanks mate your insightful contribution has made me remove the ambiguity of the thread name.

ChuckNorris
1-Sep-2016
9:30:09 PM
On 1/09/2016 stugang wrote:
>On 28/08/2016 patto wrote:
>>On 28/08/2016 gnaguts wrote:
>>>A literary contender 4 tha Boardman Tasker's WTF Award!
>>
>>Agreed....
>>
>>I can't decipher what occurred and I don't understand where the near
>miss
>>comes into it. There does seem to be some sort of clusterf--- but I've
>>had plenty of them with wind and vegetation it isn't a near miss. Sort
>>it out one handed or go hands free and get to work....
>
>thanks mate your insightful contribution has made me remove the ambiguity
>of the thread name.

in simple terms for you simple folk. i just kicked the ropes down and ended up with a hitch of one rope against another which locked the whole abseil thing off very successfully.

as i said - it only happened cos one rope had gear clipped in off to the side. ive learnt the lesson of taking an extra half a second to double check the ropes are clear when one of them is still clipped to gear.

please continue the banter and one upmanship but dont expect me to contribute.

 Page 1 of 2. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 23
There are 23 messages in this topic.

 

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