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Ankles busted in the Bluies 24-Apr-2009 At 6:28:30 PM rolsen1

Message

On 24/04/2009 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
snip
>I thought several good reasons had been presented.
>Whether the reader/s (experienced or otherwise), choose to do so is another
>matter entirely.

On 24/04/2009 evanbb wrote:
>On 24/04/2009 rod wrote:
>>Exactly and plenty provoked a rethink on my part.
>
>Ditto. I've been thinking long and hard about this. The thing that needs
>to be remembered is that it won't be 100% effective, so it's a balance

Hey, I'm happy to be proved wrong about this. Obviously I'm so much more competent than all of you. Out of hundreds, thousands of raps I've never come close to letting go of the rope and plummeting to the ground! Sure my hand has got hot a few times but I know how to thread a belay device properly and I've threaded it correctly every time, I know how to control my own descent.

How many times have you guys dropped yourself, to have your backup save you?

Again, I wouldn't want anyone belaying me that thinks they might drop themselves while they are rapping. If they haven't got confidence in themselves to complete an easier task that seems reasonable to me.

We live in a cause and effect world, I don't believe in ghosts ( I gladly walk around the house with the lights off in the middle of the night ) and I'll rap without a backup every time.

Sure use a backup if your prone to seizures.

My points are:

1. If you thread (the appropriate gear) right and are competent then you don't need a backup.

2. The backup can get you in trouble if it locks and you can't undo it

3. Any reason for using the backup has a solution without it eg. wrapping the rope around your leg to remove gear or untangle a rope

4. If a falling rock, in that rare circumstance, knocks you out and your backup saves you then unfortunately your partner probably won't know how to save you anyway.

Sure do your superstitious activities, use a prussick backup and read your horoscope before you set off but don't try to tell me (and the novices on this site) that it constitutes safe practices.

Of course, maybe I'm just the world's best abseiler and totally wrong on this!