Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - Accidents & Injuries

Report Accidents and Injuries

Topic Date User

My ground fall in the Gramps 25-Jul-2003 At 11:36:39 AM The Blond Gecko

Message

Actually, it all gets a little more complicated than that. Since dynamic ropes are designed to be elastic over quite a wide range, a heavier climber will fall further, but not necessarily all that much harder. Basically, the rope will keep stretching, exerting a very gradually increasing force on the climber until they stop (within the limits of normal use). So, in a fall that would give a peak load of (say) 10 kN with a 55 kg climber, the peak load may only be about 10.5 kN for someone weighing 85 kg rather than 15.5 kN as you'd expect if you neglected rope stretch. However, the tradeoff is that they'll fall quite a bit further before being pulled up.

Hope this helps,

Tristan