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Exploding Rope


nmonteith

5-Sep-2005
11:08:11 AM

Twas at lovely Weribee Gorge on Saturday and had a disturbing thing happen. I was happily dogging
on the last (4th) bolt of Pocko Wall on the far right of the of the crag. The climb is a dead vertical face
with no sharp edges or other features. I had fallen off on the same bolt about five times already (no
more than a metre above the bolt every time). I slumped on the rope once more - and suddenly the
sheath 'exploded' in a puff of nylon. I was now looking at the core - and at the ground 15m below me. I
quickly got lowered back to the ground. My belayer was stunned to see the actual damage - she
thought I was exaggerating abouting my rope 'exploding'. This rope was no more than two years old, I
think it was a Beal 10.5mm. Before this incident the sheath had no obvious wear marks but was 'soft'
from repeative falls. So, I guess the lesson is - retire your ropes if you have doubts - and especially if
they are a few years old!


manacubus

5-Sep-2005
11:10:40 AM

You're gonna have to lose some weight Neil-o!

Some climbing tape will have that rope looking as good as new.


nmonteith

5-Sep-2005
11:17:20 AM

The funny thing is I have a new rope (still in plastic bag) in my cupboard which has been there for 6
months. I just wanted full value from 'old bluey.


dot

5-Sep-2005
11:18:10 AM

I was there on Saturday and the truth is Neil's belayer had a good go at the rope with her pocket knife before he jumped on the route...

Well done, Neil, for having the courage to still let her belay you for the redpoint! :)


oweng

5-Sep-2005
11:20:46 AM

Could that part of the rope been exposed to a solvent like petrol? It seems very odd. Definatly brown trousers time!


nmonteith

5-Sep-2005
11:20:52 AM

Luckily I borrowed Adam's "it's only 5 years old" spare rope for my redpoint. At least it wasn't his classic
'my first rope' (ie 10+ years old) that he keep bringing to the Grampians.


nmonteith

5-Sep-2005
11:22:53 AM

On 5/09/2005 oweng wrote:
>Could that part of the rope been exposed to a solvent like petrol?

At worst it possibly copped some exhust fumes from a petrol drill late last year. I have been using it all
this year with no problems - until now!

Onsight

5-Sep-2005
11:48:39 AM

>I just wanted full value from 'old bluey.

Sounds like you got it!

rightarmbad

5-Sep-2005
12:12:50 PM

5 falls with no recovery on the exact same spot. No wonder it broke.


kerroxapithecus

5-Sep-2005
12:13:12 PM

Oh dear! ....Too much information

....just started climbing.


nmonteith

5-Sep-2005
12:25:28 PM

On 5/09/2005 rightarmbad wrote:
>5 falls with no recovery on the exact same spot. No wonder it broke.

I have been doing this for over ten years (falling multiple times on the one section of rope with no rests).
This was a minor dog-fest - sometimes I will fall off 10-20 times before giving up.


sabu

5-Sep-2005
12:30:31 PM

:O (shiver)!!! be thankful it didn't happen at a bigger crag!!

mockmockmock

5-Sep-2005
12:31:44 PM

never mind the rope, who is the belay bunny?? Not P.C. here but I thought it was a trick photo and there was actually no rope.

Ralph

patto

5-Sep-2005
12:40:23 PM

On 5/09/2005 rightarmbad wrote:
>5 falls with no recovery on the exact same spot. No wonder it broke.

By the sound of it, it was a very low fall factor - 4th bolt ~1m fall means a low fall factor. Rope should be able to handle in 1000s of times. Certainly gym rope does.

The sheath probably got a bad cut in it at some point from something sharp. When the rip did break through it spread and 'exploded'. Mind you it is the core that takes most of the shock and the weight. The situation isn't as dangerous as it looks. Though of course it is time for that rope to take a trip to the 'great rope rack in the sky'.


shmalec

5-Sep-2005
12:52:51 PM

looks like the sheath has somehow taken the tension load when the core should have been. From the photo the sheath looks like it has retracted from the break point suggesting it was under tension when it failed.
Could it be possible that the sheath in this area has been pulled particularly tight from rapping or something and then when you fell it's broken in tension on the outside of the bend at the biner? You'd expect to see some bunching up of the sheath around the rope ends if this was the case...unless the core has seen mega stretch.

Can't think of any other reason.....shouldn't be taking load at all.


Richard

5-Sep-2005
1:21:46 PM

another good reason to climb on doubles .....

Goodvibes

5-Sep-2005
1:23:31 PM

Two years of dogging and whipping off sport routes will trash any rope (obviously that depends on how often you use it, but ). You just have to keep an eye on the ends and when you notice dead spots, trim them off. No need to throw the whole thing away, just make sure to keep track of how long it is.


rodw

5-Sep-2005
1:24:00 PM

Its happened to one off my rope fresh outta the bag on its first use....about same distance above the bolt and the sheath went on second try..we put it down to the sheath getting caught on the biner gate somehow.......I cut the end off and still use the rest of the rope with no probs....as was said earlier, its the core that gives it the strength anyway.


IdratherbeclimbingM9

5-Sep-2005
3:19:21 PM

Scary stuff.

My 1st thought (like rodw also) was that it may have got caught in a karabiner gate.

This could* (*ie a question?) be more likely if that particular portion of rope is stiffer from not having fully recovered from a number of falls in fairly quick succession while either side of affected area is more supple???

What brand and diameter was the rope?

dalai

5-Sep-2005
3:21:30 PM

On 5/09/2005 M8iswhereitsat wrote:
>Scary stuff.
>
>What brand was the rope?

>On 5/09/2005 nmonteith wrote:
>...I think it was a Beal 10.5mm.

There are 62 messages in this topic.